Si es una lastima que el dinero sea el que mande, y a la vez que no haya un reglamento que impida este tipo de cambios porque Hunter Reay de verdad que es un piloto muy bueno pero lamentablemente no tuvo una buena clasificacion en cambio creo que Junqueira con todo su esfuerzo durante la semana y una buena clasificacion durante el sabado es quien merece estar ahi, aqui encontre este articulo de opinion por Bob Kravitz con quien estoy muy de acuerdo en lo que escribe:
http://www.indystar.com/article/2011052 ... Star.com|p
Kravitz: Foyt, Andretti should be ashamed of themselves
Written by Bob Kravitz
I checked the classified ads this morning. Turns out, there are Indianapolis 500 rides for sale.
Now that Andretti Autosport has bought out the A.J. Foyt car that was qualified by Bruno Junqueira, using the checkbook to install sponsor-friendly Andretti driver Ryan Hunter-Reay back into the race, this is no longer about the fastest, but the richest.
This is shameful, especially shameful given the fact it involves two of the greatest names -- Andretti and Foyt -- in the 102-year history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It also sets a very dangerous precedent.
"This was 110% a business/commercial team(s) decision,'' Hunter-Reay tweeted Monday.
You think?
Does this mean A.J.'s pace-car ride is also available for the right price? I'm thinking that Mr. Junqueira should be behind the wheel instead. Maybe bring back Donald Trump.
Michael Andretti, the man who engineered this swap, should be embarrassed.
Foyt, who took the cash and told his driver to take a hike, should be embarrassed.
Randy Bernard, the IndyCar Series CEO, should be embarrassed.
Hunter-Reay? Maybe not embarrassed, but sheepish at the very least.
This has turned into the Greatest Spectacle In Swapping.
An incredible weekend of qualifying and bumping has been reduced to a farce. All that drama? Well, it turns out, if you weren't good enough or quick enough over the weekend, you could have made the race just by cutting a check.
Why did we spend a half-second wondering if Danica Patrick might not make the race? Guaranteed, if the rain had short-circuited her bump day run, Andretti would have gotten her into somebody else's car -- probably the Foyt/Junqueira car.
The reason I love qualifying weekend -- and this was the best one of my decade here in Indy -- is that so many people put so much on the line to make this race. Small-team owners max out credit cards and stretch budgets to have a chance. Drivers put their safety, even their lives, on the line, flying around in trimmed-out cars, straddling the edge of good sense. As Marco Andretti said after his late run, "I was either going to put it in the fence or put it in the show.''
I understand that money talks and sponsors matter, especially in this sport. But we're talking about a spot on the most prized grid in motor sports. In the 100 years, so many owners, crewmen and drivers have dedicated their lives for this opportunity, and now we learn that it's just another item open to bid
Look, we know that there have been swaps in previous years, but those of been intra-team swaps. As recently at 2009, Junqueira qualified a Conquest car and teammate Alex Tagliani drove it in the race. Nothing unusual or wrong-headed about that.
This is different.
This is outright ride-buying, and it diminishes two of the biggest names in the sport and it sullies the Indianapolis 500.
And it's not the first time with Foyt. In 1981, he sold George Snider's qualifying ride to another team's driver, Tim Richmond.
Did Roger Penske buy rides for Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi when those two failed to qualify in 1995? No. In fact, The Captain made those drivers come to the race and fulfill all their sponsor obligations.
Did Bobby Rahal, who had a ton of sponsorship money, buy a ride when he failed to qualify in 1994? No.
I don't know whether to give Junqueira credit for taking it so well or to give him grief for, um, taking it so well. Again, if this was a teammate-for-teammate swap, that's one thing. But a straight-up yard sale to another team with deeper pockets?
Imagine, way back in the day, if Foyt's owner went to A.J. after he qualified a car for the 500 and said, "Sorry, big fella, but I have a chance to make a financial splash and I'm replacing you with a driver from another team.''
We'd still be looking for the aforementioned owner's remains.
My reaction would have fallen more in line with the one tweeted by Tomas Scheckter:
"I tell u what u better roll up with the navy seal crew that took #binnyladen out to get me out of my car for the 500. #iwillbestrapped''
It's really quite simple: You should not be able to buy your way into the Indianapolis 500. I don't care how much business sense it made for Andretti and Foyt and all the sponsors. Either you're fast enough or you're not, and neither Andretti Autosport nor Hunter-Reay was fast enough.
If A.J. Foyt wasn't fully prepared to qualify and race a second car, he shouldn't have rolled that second car out of the garage in the first place.
Another tweet from Scheckter: "just hope in future all good teams don't all try qualify T cars and then sell spots to cars that got bumped. #dodgeybusiness''
I'm hoping my home equity loan comes through in short order. Those rides in the middle rows don't come cheap.
