Sam Hornish Jr.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

What are the chances if Sam isn't in the middle of a fight to make the season ending "CHASE," he foregoes running Charlotte on Memorial Day Sunday and does Indianapolis in a third Penske car instead ?

I would think it would be a fairly reasonable proposition and I know Sam loves Indy and would take the chance to run there again in open wheel against ALL the best open wheelers. If he isnt realistically in the hunt for a spot in the CHASE I would think all the stars are alligned for him to do the 500 this year.

It would be incredible to have him back in Penske colors at the 500, in open wheel where he belongs.

I wonder if the NASCAR schedule is conducive to him having practical track time at Indy in May including both qualifying weekends.

[champ car dave]

I think it's wishful thinking I dont see any thing that he can gain from running at Indy at this point. If he wouldn't have won it then maybe I could see it.

On a side note enjoy Tom Crean he's a heck of a coach and recruter and a class act to boot. I know I live in Milw and it's a big loss to all of us Marquette fans. But it will be fun to watch him and Bo Ryan agains each other twice a year now.

Kudos

[garyshell]

I think it's wishful thinking I dont see any thing that he can gain from running at Indy at this point.


A chance to WIN a race that weekend and earn a cool million or two in the process.

Gary

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Well I think these are the risk/reward scenarios for Sam that weekend.....

RISK .... no points for NASCAR Chase for one weekend.
RISK .... get injured at Indy
RISK .... get injured at Charlotte
RISK .... finish lower half of field Charlotte 100K-200K in prize money

REWARD .... win Indy 2 million in prize money
REWARD .... win Charlotte 500K in prize money
REWARD .... face on Borg Warner for second time
REWARD .... milk for Indianapolis
REWARD .... gatorade for Charlotte

REWARD .... competing in a race you have won with a top flight team that can win, in a car that can win. (Indy)

REWARD .... finishing mid pack in COT with insignificant points (Charlotte)

[BenRoethig]

The chances are almost non-existent.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

I think it's wishful thinking I dont see any thing that he can gain from running at Indy at this point. If he wouldn't have won it then maybe I could see it.

On a side note enjoy Tom Crean he's a heck of a coach and recruter and a class act to boot. I know I live in Milw and it's a big loss to all of us Marquette fans. But it will be fun to watch him and Bo Ryan agains each other twice a year now.

Kudos

Thanks for the good wishes with Coach Crean. He's one of the guys IU should have hired in the first place. Coach Crean will bring IU back to respectability.

[pvtjoker]

Sam is committed to NASCAR. We won't seem him at Indy for while IMO.

[maxmach]

Not knowing anything about his contract or him personally, It would be a miracle if he came back this year. But next year.....when He and Frankitty and Carpantier and AJ see what is happening "over there" in Indycar, and the thought of another couple of years riding around in Naskar making good money I'm sure but mid-pack at best, well...........

[ChicagocrewIRL]

The chances are almost non-existent.


:) So I guess that's why Penske has a spare Dallara Number 77 officially entered in the race.

I'm happy when I'm right.

I think the closer we get to Indy and if Sam doesn't start finishing top tens between now and Bump Day, he's running open wheel on May 25th, not Charlotte.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

A chance to WIN a race that weekend and earn a cool million or two in the process.

Gary

according to the IMS press release, the 2008 Indy 500 winner will win at least $2.5 million not including special awards, all part of a record $14 million purse. Let's get Harvick and Stewart over to Indy in May too......

[Jag_Warrior]

Penske swapped points with Kurt Busch's #2 team in order to get Sam's team in the show this year. So while anything is possible, having Hornish sit out a NASCAR points race to do the Indy 500 would seem rather odd.

And the chances of getting Stewart or Harvick (who has no formula car experience that I know of) to do Indy are about the same as getting Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Raikkonen to race there next month. At best, we might see Rubens Barrichello in a year or two... once he retires (or gets "retired") from F1.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/04/13/dstremme.penske.test/index.html

[indycool]

It would not be the first time Penske was ahead of the game. And there are rumors around that the same thing could happen for Ganassi and Franchitti. You hafta remember that's it's OWNER points that count and Stremme could get just as many of those as Hornish in alll probability. Hornish isn't going to make the Chase this year, anyway, IMO.

Remember '87? Danny Ongais crashed a third Penske car in practice and was out for the month. Penske dragged a show car out of a hotel lobby in Reading, Pa., put Al Unser in it and Unser won his fourth "500."

Time will tell, but I don't discount these possibilities at all.

[xtlm]

he will do the double

like robby gordon has done many a time

[indycool]

It's really not possible, time-wise, to do the double now with Indy starting at 1 p.m. and Charlotte at 5:30 p.m. Robby, John Andretti and Tony Stewart all did it before the time changes at Indy,

[Osiris333]

Dude, he may as well run Indy. He's not gonna be in the chase, at least not seriously.

[indycool]

Dude, tell some of the dudes that disagree with you.

[xtlm]

well... boo to those 1 and 530 starting times (i was wondering why no one did it last year or few)

i miss the doubles.

[indycool]

Actually, several factors were in play when Indy's starting time started bouncing a couple years ago. One, Indiana went to daylight savings time, which took an hour away from ability to do the double. Two, the Speedway went an hour later to try to help west coast TV ratings.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Will be very cool to see Mobil 1 and the Winged Red Horse on the 77 Dallara at Indy this May. I wonder if I could make that up on IndyCar.com on their "DESIGN IT" feature.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Someone beat me to it but I would prefer the base color to be black......


http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6195/1208194390hornishmobil0tt4.jpg