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View Full Version : Mikey announcing his retirement tomorrow



Cam
01-31-03, 12:34 AM
According to WTHR Michael A is gonna run thru the 500 and hang it up.

What a shadow of his father. :shakehead

Cam.

RaceGrrl
01-31-03, 12:50 AM
It's not really a big surprise, and it's probably the right decision. Now he just needs to get through a few wanker dodge-em races and finish his career safely.

Lizzerd
01-31-03, 01:18 AM
"... finish his career safely."

That just might be his main reason for hanging up his shoes. Maybe, just maybe, he has realized what he's gotten himself into and who he'll be "racing" against.

Mike Kellner
01-31-03, 01:29 AM
Gee, maybe he Should hire an IRL Gunslinger, like Scott Charp, Greg Wray, Billy Kite, or Sara Phisher. They are all household names because they ran at Indy. Any of them and his sonsor troubles will be over.

Napoleon
01-31-03, 08:50 AM
I thought he announced his retirement from real racing months ago. In any event I know I have watched the last race I will ever watch with him as a driver.

JLMannin
01-31-03, 08:57 AM
Originally posted by Mike Kellner
Gee, maybe he Should hire an IRL Gunslinger, like Scott Charp, Greg Wray, Billy Kite, or Sara Phisher. They are all household names because they ran at Indy. Any of them and his sonsor troubles will be over.

To become a household name at Indy, you either have to win or get killed. Sad, but true. So, Andretti should go after Lazier, Cheever, Brack, Helio, or Tracy. But Tracy already turned him down.

RTKar
01-31-03, 09:07 AM
What a sad way to end a career. I don't really picture him as a hands on owner after his driving days are done. He doesn't seem to have the passion for motorsport like his father.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 09:16 AM
How many drivers are better at 40 than they were at 30?

Sure, you get more experience, but that doesn't make up for everything...

Better he retire now than hang on too long like <insert name of most any driver over 40 here>.

skidmarks
01-31-03, 10:14 AM
Napoleon and I read the same story. Michael Andretti retired from driving last year. I can't remember what he was going to do, something about helping the underprivileged and elderly.

JLMannin
01-31-03, 11:22 AM
Originally posted by RTKar
What a sad way to end a career. I don't really picture him as a hands on owner after his driving days are done. He doesn't seem to have the passion for motorsport like his father.

I cannot say it any better. He does seem to lack the passion.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 12:22 PM
By "lacking the passion" do you mean he's lacking passion by not insisting on driving WAY past his best days, like his father, who had all of one CART win from 1989 to 1994?

Or lacking passion by not trying to win LeMans despite being two seconds slower than your teammates and wrecking the car, as he did a few years back?

Was Mario one of the American greats? Of course. But he stuck around too long (just like A.J., or Richard Petty, or Willie Mays), and I'll bet his son doesn't want to follow his father's example.

Turn7
01-31-03, 12:27 PM
Sorry but Mikey isn't in the same league with Mario or AJ.

He showed that he was good in one principle of racing. The other two, layed smack down in openwheel, stock car and sports cars.

Mikey was a good Indycar driver....that is all.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 12:34 PM
Originally posted by Turn7
Sorry but Mikey isn't in the same league with Mario or AJ.

He showed that he was good in one principle of racing. The other two, layed smack down in openwheel, stock car and sports cars.

Mikey was a good Indycar driver....that is all.

Never said he was... just said he probably didn't want to stick around too long like they did.

RichK
01-31-03, 12:35 PM
Originally posted by mnkywrch


Or lacking passion by not trying to win LeMans despite being two seconds slower than your teammates and wrecking the car, as he did a few years back?


Making mistakes in the pursuit of a passion is nothing to be ashamed of. I respect & admire Mario for trying Le Mans & having the burning desire after decades of achievement and having nothing to prove to anyone. Michael would do well to have some of his dad's fire.

pchall
01-31-03, 12:40 PM
Originally posted by mnkywrch
Was Mario one of the American greats? Of course. But he stuck around too long (just like A.J., or Richard Petty, or Willie Mays), and I'll bet his son doesn't want to follow his father's example.

Mikey could never follow his father's example. If you followed the 24 hours in its entirety the year when Mario drive in the rain through the night and hauled that Courage-Porsche out of the hole he put in during his first stint to get it up to second place you'd sing his praises unceasingly.

Don't make me drag out the "AJ -- the CART Years" stats to show you what a driver in his dotage is really like...

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 12:48 PM
So now we're arguing which driver was more past his prime?

:rolleyes:

I also admire Mario for his passion...

But I also admired Rick Mears for knowing when to get out of the car and for knowing that retiring meant you didn't drive any more.

Mario & AJ didn't do that. They let their passion blind themselves to the facts - that, despite the fact they were among the best drivers America has ever produced, that they were not what they once were.

Am I glad I got to see them drive in the early 90's? You bet. But I also realize that the Mario I saw wasn't as good as the Mario who won the WDC in 1978, and the AJ I saw wasn't as good as the A.J. who won his fourth Indy 500 in 1977.

Hink
01-31-03, 01:13 PM
Old News - Mikey Foyt Jr already anncounced his retirement the day he went to the IRL.

Peter Venkman
01-31-03, 02:41 PM
"Gee, maybe he Should hire an IRL Gunslinger, like Scott Charp, Greg Wray, Billy Kite, or Sara Phisher."

But you forgot: Billy Boat, Tommy Tuba, Freddy Firetruck and many other IRL "Names".

RichK
01-31-03, 02:54 PM
Is it better to have passion like Mario and stay in the sport a few too many years to be competitive, or better to be like Mikey and never have it?

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 03:52 PM
Originally posted by RichK
Is it better to have passion like Mario and stay in the sport a few too many years to be competitive, or better to be like Mikey and never have it?

Now Mikey never had passion?

Sure, going wheel-to-wheel and banging wheels with Montoya while stifing a yawn...

You've got have passion to whine about something. ;)

I know he's now a :gomer: to all of you folks... but he never had passion? :shakehead

RichK
01-31-03, 04:14 PM
Originally posted by mnkywrch
Now Mikey never had passion?


Read the above posts.
IMO, he doesn't have a passion for the sport like his father. He may be good at it and try hard at it, but that's different.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 04:24 PM
Originally posted by RichK
Read the above posts.
IMO, he doesn't have a passion for the sport like his father. He may be good at it and try hard at it, but that's different.

Passion for trying other areas of sport? Who has in the past 20 years, outside of the occasional Tony Stewart?

The era where AJ and Mario and Gurney drove and won in everything has passed. We're now in the era where guys specialize.

I'm not sure it's a strike against Mikey to belong to this era.

Now, if he was the only guy around who was not doing it, that would be different.

What you guys are upset about is that Michael doesn't have enough passion for CART to put his own cash on the line to have a CART team. That's different than "not having a passion for the sport like his father", who's hasn't put his own cash on the line to own a CART team either.

RichK
01-31-03, 04:45 PM
Originally posted by mnkywrch
Passion for trying other areas of sport? Who has in the past 20 years, outside of the occasional Tony Stewart?




I didn't say anything about that. I'll put it this way:

IMO, if Mikey weren't being paid to race cars, he wouldn't be doing it right now.

JoeBob
01-31-03, 04:55 PM
Mike has a passion for winning, he doesn't have a passion for racing.

Last August at Road America, Briggs and Stratton had a little go-kart event at the RA kart track on Thursday. Christian Fittipaldi and Bruno Junqueira were there as part of the event. Christian grabbed one of the loaner helmets, and Bruno sent his sister back to the TCGR transporter to get his helmet. They then proceeded to go pound the curbs and bang wheels on for a while.

Thats a passion for racing. There's hardly anybody around, nothing on the line, but they were racing each other as if it was for the championship.

I don't remember ever hearing about Mike taking out a kart for some fun on a Thursday afternoon. They're not the only two I've seen put on that sort of exhibition, when given a chance to have some fun with a kart. Robby Gordon, Memo Gidley, Roberto Moreno, Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani, and Ryan Hunter-Reay are others I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure they're not the only ones that have done a bit of racing in their free time. I don't see Mike having that same desire to race.

Now, if running over spectators on a Honda Cub counted as racing...

nrc
01-31-03, 04:55 PM
Originally posted by mnkywrch
Was Mario one of the American greats? Of course. But he stuck around too long (just like A.J., or Richard Petty, or Willie Mays), and I'll bet his son doesn't want to follow his father's example.

Andretti may have stayed around a few years after he lost his edge, but tossing him in with A.J. or Petty is just foolish. Andretti was still scoring regular podiums until just a few years before he retired and he regularly finished fifth or sixth in the points. Foyt and Petty pounded around for over a decade without really running competitively.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 05:15 PM
Originally posted by nrc
Andretti may have stayed around a few years after he lost his edge, but tossing him in with A.J. or Petty is just foolish. Andretti was still scoring regular podiums until just a few years before he retired and he regularly finished fifth or sixth in the points. Foyt and Petty pounded around for over a decade without really running competitively.

So now we're arguing about who was more over the hill again?

What you guys are upset about is that Michael doesn't have enough passion for CART to put his own cash on the line to have a CART team.

Bottom line - this thread doesn't happen if Mikey owns a CART team.

JoeBob
01-31-03, 05:20 PM
Don't be so sure, mnky. There's been a significant number of Michael Haters since long before he announced he was going to the IRL.

Most of it dates back to the times when the "Andretti Rule" was written. The fact that he's almost run most of us over at the track at one time or another cemented him as a "fan non-favorite." His latest stunts are just icing on the cake.

Napoleon
01-31-03, 05:30 PM
Originally posted by JoeBob
Don't be so sure, mnky. There's been a significant number of Michael Haters since long before he announced he was going to the IRL.

Mikey always got the most, or sometimes second most, number of boos at every driver introduction I have attended going back to the mid 80's. Personally I have never been a fan of his.

mnkywrch
01-31-03, 05:35 PM
Originally posted by JoeBob
Don't be so sure, mnky. There's been a significant number of Michael Haters since long before he announced he was going to the IRL.

Most of it dates back to the times when the "Andretti Rule" was written. The fact that he's almost run most of us over at the track at one time or another cemented him as a "fan non-favorite." His latest stunts are just icing on the cake.

I've never been a fan of the guy myself (whiner), but geez louise, but you can't dispute his record in CART for almost 20 years.

But now it's almost a quest to come up with the right "tag" you can always pin on him.

"We're better off without him. He didn't have the passion."

It's a time warp; it sounds like IRL fans in 1997 describing the CART owners & drivers & fans.

"We're better off without them. They didn't have the passion for Indy."

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

JoeBob
01-31-03, 05:39 PM
His record in CART over 20 years shows that he spent pretty much his entire career with the top team(s) in the series, with cars/engines that nobody else could get. In those 20 years, he won a lot of races, but only one championship.

Given the hype, and the cars he got to drive, I'd actually say his career has been somewhat of a dissapointment. And that doesn't even begin to address his attitude problem.

SteveH
01-31-03, 05:44 PM
To be honest I never was much of a Michael fan until after he came back from F1. Not that I was a huge fan of him then, I just began to appreciate what his accomplishments were. Which were, by the way, all accomplished while he was in CART. I didn't have any problem with him buying the team, in fact that needs to happen for the sport to survive. I really didn't have much of an issue with him going to the irl. But when he flipped off CART while going out the door, he no longer mattered to me.

Hurling Frootmig
02-01-03, 12:03 AM
Based on his last season in CART I thought he had already decided enough was enough. It's a good thing he got out before all the really young fast guys showed up. He may fare better against has-beens like Al Unser Jr. and Eddie Cheever.

skidmarks
02-01-03, 10:16 AM
I WAS a big Michael Andretti fan. At the races I attended he did get most of the boos, and he also got most of the cheers.

He was a top driver for CART. He is past his prime now, but we cannot dismiss his CART years. I do think his attitude toward the fans was poor.

Now I don't care. He retired from racing. He took the easy way out, no risk to him easy money. I doubt that I will ever be a fan of Andretti again. He and Roger Penske have tarnished ALL of their racing memories for me.