The drama of Bump Day definitely hit all of us this year for the first time in a long while. There was rain and big names that were close to missing the race (Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti).
Usually Monday and Tuesday after the weekend of qualifying are a couple of days to catch your breath before race weekend. Well, not this year.
There was tremendous anger around the Speedway over the last two days.
Anger over Michael Andretti writing a large check to A.J. Foyt to put Ryan Hunter-Reay, who got bumped out of the race by teammate Marco Andretti, into a car for the 500, replacing Bruno Junqueira.
The problem is that Hunter-Reay, one of the nicest guys in the IndyCar series, is getting blamed for the move. I want to make it clear to everyone though…he had NOTHING to do with it. His employer (Michael Andretti) told him what was going on, so he had to follow suit. Would you not do what your boss told you to do? You have to listen and act accordingly.
And the other issue is that this is happening to another very nice guy in Bruno. This is the second time in three years he has qualified for the Indy 500, but didn’t drive come raceday. Alex Tagliani replaced him in the field in 2009 since he was Conquest Racing’s primary driver at the time. He just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When will this guy get a full-time ride so that this won’t happen to him again?
One last thing to…the fans that watched Bump Day won’t understand why RHR is back in the field, let alone in an A.J. Foyt car. Good luck to IndyCar officials trying to explain what has taken place to the casual race fan.
I was upset RHR didn’t make the field. But, that’s part of it. If you miss the race, you miss the race. That’s what makes the Indy 500 different from everything else.
Unfortunately, money talked this year, which leads to the question, does integrity or money run this league?