Where's Jay Howard?

[watermelon]

anyone kno what the 2006 champ is doing now as i can't find any info?

thanks

[Fish_Flake]

Where's Mark Taylor, Thiago Medeiros, or Wade Cunningham? The Indy Pro Series is a dead end for young drivers. I don't think there's a lack of talent in the feeder system, but no one in the Indycar Series seems to want to hire them. The established teams (read: former CART teams) prefer to stick with established racers (read: drivers from the Champ Car feeder system), while the lower-tier teams just want someone who brings money or sponsorship.

[mountainstar]

Mark Taylor quit for good last I heard.

Thiago Medeiros is in Brazilian Stock Cars. No surprise there.

Wade is still racing in ips.

[drdisque]

Jay nearly totaled SpeedWorks only chassis by pushing it when he had a damaged wing at St. Pete. It had to be sent back to Italy for tub repairs. Considering he wasn't really bringing any money to the team yet nearly bankrupted them, he was understandably let go.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by drdisque

Jay nearly totaled SpeedWorks only chassis by pushing it when he had a damaged wing at St. Pete. It had to be sent back to Italy for tub repairs. Considering he wasn't really bringing any money to the team yet nearly bankrupted them, he was understandably let go.

Two points here.

Firstly, he was only on a short term contract which expired, although he was not renewed probably for the reason you suggest (although it would be fair to note also that he hasn't been replaced - the team seem to have vanished)

Secondly, it is a sad indictment on the series when the champion can't get a ride elsewhere and it makes me worry for Alex Lloyd. Doesn't it make the whole series rather pointless when it is a feeder to nowhere.

[mountainstar]

wade cunningham is a good example. 2005 champion if I recall and still no irl ride.

[foreversideways]

Someone needs to move up this year for the series to gain credibility. Having said that Jay did not win the series in a dominant fashion last year, sharing an equal number of wins with a number of other drivers. So the question would be, did he deserve an Indy opportunity?.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by foreversideways

Someone needs to move up this year for the series to gain credibility. Having said that Jay did not win the series in a dominant fashion last year, sharing an equal number of wins with a number of other drivers. So the question would be, did he deserve an Indy opportunity?.

No but nor does Milka, but that's the fault of IRL and its teams being (necessarily) more interested in money than talent. If you look back to Mark Taylor who did dominate the series but then struggled a little bit in the IRL and had a couple of crashes (albeit no more than, say, Scheckter in his early days) then the team ditched him for a nice cheap reasonably well qualified journeyman, you have to ask yourself what those teams are trying to achieve. If they want to employ a rookie they should expect rookie performances. If you don't want to employ rookies then you have to take what you can get and accept the series may stagnate.

[foreversideways]

I think the other problem the series has had is that it has not had a strong driver line up in the past or even full grids, so winning the championship has not necessarily been an indicator of a drivers ability. Furthermore the Indy Car teams appeared to have had little interest in the series. Both these situations have changed this season with a reasonable number of competeitive driver competing and several Indy Car teams being actively involved. It is in a way a little bit like the old F3000 series and the new GP2 Championship situation, where two championship winning drivers have moved to F1 in the last couple of years. For sure if no one gets an opportunity in Indy Car next year they forefit the right to say that Indy Pro is the "Fast track to Indy"

[gomick]

still, it is sad for jay - he won 2 championships in 2 years, what else can he do...