B Movies Have Better Production Values

Speed's Robin Miller opines today that yesterday's "Bump Day" at Indianapolis "was just a cheesey [sic] B movie." All due respect, Robin, I think most B movies have better production values than the guys who filled the field at the Brickyard yesterday. Is there any doubt that Tony George dipped into his own pocket to get some guys in the field to make it full? I have nothing against veterans such as Greg Ray or Richie Hearn scoring last minute rides - that's always happened. But Jeff Simmons or Marty Roth? C'mon. They've never driven a top-flight Indy Car in their lives (of course, to be fair, neither have any of the current IRLers who didn't spend time in CART) and their debut now comes in the 500?

As for the "will he or won't he" Tony Stewart saga, I feel one of two things to be true. The first possibility is that George staged the whole thing as a slight of hand to distract attention away from the fact that, for the second year in a row, there was on "bumping" on "Bump Day." Bring in an old IRLer, team him up with the legend that is AJ Foyt, then stand back and watch the press salivate. And it worked. The other possibility is that Stewart is such an egomaniac that he honestly thought he would waltz in and enter the race, in spite of the tangled legal web preventing such a thing. It looks like he was quite possibly talked down by his lawyer, of all things.

Regardless, the whole day was a farce, which is hardly a shock. Oh well, I have other plans for Sunday, anyway. Let's just hope George doesn't fuck up the US Grand Prix with such efficiency as he's demonstrated with the 500.