A Second Car at Panther?
If you can read this article, which I cannot, it supposedly says that Giorgio Pantano is talking to Panther about a second car. The xenophobes will whine about another non-American in the series, but if you ask me, this would be about the most exciting driver addition to the IZOD IndyCar Series since unification.
Pantano is a beast. He ran a few faces for Chip back in 2005 (including a 4th at The Glen), but since then, he has gone on to finish 3rd (to Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi) in 2007 and 1st (over Bruno Senna, di Grassi, Romain Grojean, D&R’s Mike Conway, and Sebastian Buemi, to name a few) in 2008 in the GP2 series.
He’d probably be the most qualified road racer to come to the States from Europe since Justin Wilson. He might have what it’d take to put Panther back into the winner’s circle.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:48 am
bleh….count me as a xenophobe….
December 31st, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I’d like to see Giorgio in the League full-time. If for no other reason, then to renew his rivalry with Townsend Bell (who should also have a full-time ride), who once referred to Giorgio in F3000 as “Punt-ano” after a coming together at Imola. Good times. Very good times.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:00 pm
With PT, Ryan Hunter Ray, Oriol Servia, Townsend Bell, Thomas Scheckter ect. without full time rides, this isn’t that exciting.
January 1st, 2010 at 12:11 am
Another F1 wannabe, just looking for work. Color me unenthused.
And the cat is already 31 years old. With no oval experience and no fanbase in this country with a team way, way past its prime.
Sounds like a perfect fit.
And BTW, you don’t have to be a “xenophobe” to understand how lame this series is, with so few American drivers and very few on the horizon (unless their daddy’s own the cars for them).
January 1st, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Open question to Chris and Trick Dickle, since you hate the series so much, why are you here complaining about it? To borrow a title from a Motley Crue song, “Don’t Go Away Mad, Just Go Away!”
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I hope this happens. Okay so he only really won the GP2 title through sheer experience but he did turn around two teams in a few years. He’s not the greatest ever but he’s not bad at all, I’ve never understood why F1 teams always overlooked him when he tried to get a drive with them.
I don’t understand the big deal about the number of Americans in IndyCar. You shouldn’t be shoehorning in US drivers to fulfil a quota. If they aren’t good enough they shouldn’t be there, no matter where they are from. If they are good enough and are going elsewhere, ask why. The answer is N-word money and a frankly terrible development ladder, which thankfully IRL are now addressing. You can’t force a driver to pick one series over another when the other is making a better offer.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Amen, Pat. It’s not like Giorgio is taking away a drive from some young American. Panther needs cash money to run a second car. When a young American comes up with that cash, then it’ll go to them instead. When some dude from Outer Siberia comes up with the rubles, then he gets it. If nobody comes up with the cash, then Panther just runs one car for Dan Wheldon. Whatever. Giorgio is better than people give him credit for. He’s no Stan Barrett, he’s a GP2 champion, and he had one or two decent runs in that partial season with Ganassi. He belongs just fine.
Would it be nicer to have Brad Sweet or some USAC guy in the series? Sure, but they need to bring cash. It’s 2010, not 1963. Only about 6 drivers in the whole series are getting paid. Hopefully, that changes when we get the new car and the cost to play goes down, but as long as they’re running Dallara-Hondas, it’s not changing. Deal with it, folks.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Oh, or don’t watch. Either way, if you don’t like it, then shut up, stop watching, and stop commenting on IndyCar blogs.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
[...] IRL’s American fanbase. Looking from some of the reactions on the 16th and Georgetown and Is It May Yet blogs, he’s already been tagged as just another foreigner that could take a ride from a more [...]