[MikeNoun]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Boy, you really are digging a hole now...

He was the INDY CAR CHAMPION in 1997 - his first full year in Indy Cars. He backed that up with a 3rd place finish in 1998. BTW - he drove all 21 races in that 2 year period. He drove 3 races in 1996 and 1 race each in 1999 and 2000 to make a grand total of 26 races. 3 wins in 26 races looks like about 1 win every 9 races.

Tony Stewart won in 1997, but if you knew anything about IRL (which obviously you don't), you'd know that the pre-2000 era IRL was separate from CART, and it was a joke. Stewart ran in IRL because they had a bunch of hacks, so he won.

Here's some legendary names that Tony Stewart ran against in 1997.

Davey Hamilton?
Marco Greco?
Eddie Cheever (who NEVER won an an F1 race, NEVER won a CART race, but won 5 IRL races)
Scott Goodyear (who failed in CART and jumped to IRL, it was easier to win)

And yes, folks, those are the next 4 drivers after Tony Stewart in the 1997 IRL Championship. Hands up if you've ever heard of the Davey Hamilton or Marco Greco.

Anyone? Anyone?

Meanwhile, CART had a few names in 1997 you may recognize:

Alex Zanardi
Paul Tracy
Michael Andretti
Scott Pruett
Bobby Rahal
Al Unser Jr
Dario Franchitti

Originally Posted by The Champ

Dale Jr. does have 19 Cup wins. But you ignore the 23 Nationwide/Busch wins - and 2 Nationwide Championships...

I could go into other wins, but I hope you're starting to realize how foolish you position is.

I'm not ignoring anything. I'm familiar with the Nationwide Series. That's the series dominated by Kyle Busch, the greatest driver in Nationwide history. But wait, you're a Busch hater (I forgot), so I guess we can exclude his 57 wins in Nationwide, because that series doesn't count....unless we're talking about Dale Jr, then the legendary Earnhardt won 23 more races.

Dale Jr. is overrated, just as Danica Patrick is. Both are all hype, both are the two most popular drivers in NASCAR. The difference is that Dale Jr. is the highest paid driver in NASCAR, so he wins the Overrated Award.

And Danica didn't have her day ended by a shoe on the track - she did fail to avoid a shoe, but she finished the race.

I said it ENDED HER DAY, as in she was eliminated from winning. That's what "ended her day" means. You knew that Champ.

I love picking on you Dale Jr fans. It's like picking on a Cubs fan. All hype, enormously popular, overpaid, overrated, crappy record, and a "wait till next year" excuse extravaganza. Dale Jr. has the best cars, the best team, the best equipment, and he still sucks, with 1 win in 5 years.

And if Danica gave Dale Jr. some tips, and he used them, what does that make Dale Jr?

IndyCar drivers go to NASCAR because there's more money, it's more popular, the cars are easier to drive, and it's much safer than open wheeled cars.