I am going to try and remove my very cranky emotions from this blog post. If you’ve not listened to a minute of our podcast (which is also shameful), you should know that both my co-host and myself are huge Conor fans. He’s a solid driver, a marketable driver, and someone the series needs. When Foyt Racing cut he and Carlos Munoz suddenly – well a lot of sailor language was used. What I have to remember is that it’s really not AJ Foyt who’s making the decisions; it’s Larry Foyt (this also helps soothe any anger between father and daughter as my dad loves AJ Foyt).
So AJ Foyt Racing. Last year they ran with Conor Daily and Carlos Munoz. Both drivers got cut at the end of the season (well after the end of the season). Of course, we’ve ranted about how while this was a development year with both drivers and team switching engines and setups, and you just going to cut someone… They now have veteran driver Tony Kanaan and rookie driver Matheus Leist. #TeamBrazil.
Tony. Oh Tony. It’s a multi-year contract and as I recently said, this may be the last long-term full-ride contract Tony does with IndyCar. Last year Tony had one top-3 finish, and that was the Rainguard Watersealer Texas Shit Show 400 which given everyone’s performance in that race, I’m really not counting that in any sort of statistics I use. He has two top-fives (including 5th at the 500) and then four additional top-ten finishes. So seven out of seventeen (or six out of sixteen) races he was in the top 10. It’s hard to be critical of Tony Kanaan. He’s the veteran. He’s all smiles at the 500. He’s the guy both my co-host and my sister have huge crushes on (sorry sis your secret is out!). I think though that Tony’s time is coming to an end and veteran drivers can make mistakes, different mistakes then rookies. He’ll always have a good showing at the 500, he feeds off the crowd, but outside of that – I just don’t know.
Then young Matheus. Matheus must be feeling the heat. I know there’s a level of excitement when you move into IndyCar, you’re in the big series. You’re a real driver now…but does that seat feel hot Matheus? Does it feel like you’re auditioning for a job at every race? Foyt cut Munoz and Daily at the end of their series where they were adequate (not the greatest season for either but this was really a refresh year for both). People in that situation tend to do one of two things either (1) driver extremely well or (2) make mistakes in haste. Do I want a driver to make bad mistakes and potentially cause harm (which is what happens at 200+ mph) – no. However, Leist is very young. He’s been in single-seaters for three years, and his year in Lights was very chaotic. He either did fairly well or not well at all. Of course, having Tony Kanaan as a teammate will be helpful, but you know it is every driver for themselves…
Karma is a bitch Larry. Also your Rose friggin sucks.
Catch up on the team reviews here: Andretti Autosport, Team Penske, Carlin Racing, Harding Racing, AJ Foyt Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Schmidt Peterson Motorsport, Michael Shank Racing Dale Co
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