Help wanted

I have nothing against Oriol Servia, who seems a very competent choice for an Indy 500 driver on the part of Rahal-Letterman Racing, but the fact of the matter is his announcement today by RLR means as of now exactly one of these entries will fail to qualify on Bump Day.

1. John Andretti, Dreyer & Reinbold
2. Stanton Barrett, Team 3G
3. Townsend Bell, KVRT
4. Mike Conway, Dreyer & Reinbold
5. Robert Doornbos, Newman/Haas/Lanigan
6. Milka Duno, Dreyer & Reinbold
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Vision
8. Buddy Lazier, Hemelgarn
9. Nelson Phillipe, HVM
10. Oriol Servia, Rahal-Lettterman
11. Alex Tagliani, Conquest
12. EJ Viso, HVM

12 cars. 11 spots. ONE BUMP, people.

Now, I'm not usually in the business of telling people how to spend their money, so I'm not going to say so-and-so need to hire whats-his-name because no matter what that guy can qualify that car for Indy. The fact is there aren't nearly enough teams to hire the plethora of unemployed pilots wandering Gasoline Alley, some of whom you can find right here in this video.



And as we all know it takes money to go racing, and sometimes there just isn't enough to go around. Kind of like how you at one time you could eat an entire meal at Taco Bell for like two bucks, and now all that gets you is a couple of tacos. Times are tough indeed. Perhaps in the "the good old days" a guy would take the proverbial hamburgers and hot dogs deal just to qualify some whacked-out jalopy for the Field of 33, but that's not today.



No, today drivers need to ask themselves questions like "Do I really want to take a ride with a team that might not be able to put a car together that can safely exceed 215 mph without sliding to the SAFER barrier?" or "Do I need to risk serious injury knowing the cost of insurance and medical care will exceed my paycheck?" or "Is it worth it to start back there in a row oft inhabited by the Marty Roth-level of driver?" (And yes, I may be explaining why some drivers who might have been rumored in recent weeks to drive for certain teams have yet to consummate a deal.)

So while we all breathlessly await word on pending speculative entries (like OMG a possible second car for Conquest Racing) I'm going to hold out the faint hope that Bump Day doesn't involve someone withdrawing a time and subsequently putting their car into the wall right after lunch, effectively ending any chance of them making the race. Because then Bump Day would have, how shall I put this...no bumping.

In the meantime, I presume Stanton Barrett is already on the bubble.