Will Rubicon Race?
Well, I’m writing this post. I first want to preface that is a) based on very little fact and b) very speculative.
Many websites, largely blogs, considered Buddy Rice as confirmed around the 24 Hours at Daytona based on his appearance on the Rubicon website. In fact, he’s still there.
Curt Cavin has been saying for months that Rubicon, which has merged with Tyler Tadevic’s Pacific Coast Motorsports, has $6.5 million in sponsorship.
Well, now, on TrackForum, they’ve a forum member has started a thread to raise $5,000 for Rubicon to get Buddy Rice on the track at Indy. Now first, $5,000 is a relatively small amount for an ICS car to run at any track. When done before, it was done for Brian’s Wish, a charity which TrackForum had always been supportive. This case, however, is simply to get a TrackForum logo on a Rubicon car. It is noted that this effort is being organized independently by the originator of the thread, Gasoline Alley. The idea is soley his, and he’s acting independently of the team, other than delivering the final check to purchase the sponsorship.
I was once critical of donating money to help Sarah Fisher’s team. I’ll just say I feel the same about this. Honestly, if it were a drive to raise money for charity, I’d be all for it.
Also, I think that this potentially says something about the Rubicon effort. They’re going after fan money. They’ve confirmed zero thus far. Therefore, I have to speculate that the team may not be in as good of shape as has been reported.
Edit: After posting this, I actually contacted the poster of the original thread, and he responded. I was going to give him a chance to write something to motivate any potential donors. He actually made some points that were fair, so I’ve made some changes and documented them publicly. He says he’s activing independently of Rubicon, so I’ve edited the post to reflect that. It doesn’t mean I’m not skeptical (at best) of a full-time Rubicon effort this season. Edits are in bold and strikethrough.
March 11th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Agreed, just the fact it has been rumoured for so long makes you wonder. Usually in the ICS, it only takes a few weeks for rumors to come around if they stay in the news. But this one has been rumored for months.
I think the road course test will be a better measuring stick for the final field as some teams might not want to risk crash damage to a tub. Maybe see Rubicon and a second Conquest.