johnny a definate for indy 500

johnny herbert has said that he will be driving in this years indy 500 despite not yet landing a drive!! good news for us brits.



http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.cfm?id=17650&series=18

I would put a tenner on him winning it in his rookie race , as long as he is with a good team ...Johnny is bloody quick .

the one thing that worries me is his ankles......those walls are unforgiving and i don't think they could stand another impact.

saying that, he can't (and won't) let that stop him!!

good luck johnny.

Johnny did a test the day after the last texas IRL race and went fast enough in race trim to have made the front row. So there is little doubt that he will do just fine.

the fact that a good driver could go so fast with such an underfunded team is proof that the IRL offers the fairest chance to compete of any openwheeled series. The best teams and drivers are going to win no matter what, but the IRL's restrictive formula quarantees a close packed field. Last year's 500 grid was spread out by only around 4 mph or so, as compared to the CART years when the average was around 10mph most of the time. So Johnny will certainly get a fair shake, something many feel he never got in F-1.

With Johnny's affable personality, he can only be good for the IRL. I don't think there are many F-1 and LeMans winners competing in the other series, so Herbert brings some more "instant credibility" to the IRL. He is going to be fun to watch. I hope he gets a deal to do the entire season.

i dont think Johnny will be anymore worried about his ankles at Indy than he would at say Le mans.or even in F1.....if you have a big shunt it is big where ever you have it......

Johnny is very fast , it just in F1 in never had a really good car , and when he did have a good car in 95 , he had a team mate that held him back with team politcs.

if johnny were to get a drive for the entire season, i'm sure he'd do for the irl that mansell did for indy racing back in '93.

i don't watch irl (although i do watch cart) on a regular basis but i would if johnny was in it!

I would definitely watch the IRL if Johnny raced in it full time. Sky Sports showed several races live in the UK last season. The inclusion of Johnny Herbert in the Indy 500 would hopefully guarantee live coverage of that race at least...

Good luck Johnny!

Originally posted by Dr. Austin
Johnny did a test the day after the last texas IRL race and went fast enough in race trim to have made the front row. So there is little doubt that he will do just fine.

Goes to prove how pathetic most of the drivers in the IRL if a ROOKIE in his FIRST/SECOND OVAL TEST can get a time fast enough for the FRONT ROW, wouldn't you say????

Isn't CART a great challenge because they race on ovals, street and road courses. If ovals are easy, then CART mustn't be much of a challenge...

Go and say that ovals are easy in the Nascar forum ;)

Originally posted by f1manoz

Goes to prove how pathetic most of the drivers in the IRL if a ROOKIE in his FIRST/SECOND OVAL TEST can get a time fast enough for the FRONT ROW, wouldn't you say???? [/B]

Thanks for hamming my point home yet again. In case you've forgotten just what that is, here it is again;




originally posted by Dr.Austin on the "CART-IRL split" thread;

"You will notice that it isn't the IRL fans who are doing the bickering."

This was a happy little thread until someone started calling people "pathetic."




"Is is always the CART fans who spew their bitter venom with such words as hack, loser, has been, bla, bla, bla."

And now "pathetic." The namecalling is the only tool left to those who have no answer to the IRL's great 220+mph wheel to wheel action. That's right, no answer.



"CART fans are so insecure in their series future that they feel it necessary dis the IRL, it's drivers and fans at every turn in the road."

See what I mean? Even during a friendly discusssion about Johnny Herbert, someone manages to insult the IRL drivers.





"Most IRL web boards are full of racing talk, while predominately CART boards are full of spiteful hate and insults. Who would you guess to be the real race fans?"

This thread was full of good racing talk, but it never takes long for the CART fans to show up and try to wreck it.



"CART fans themselves are doing just as much to destroy the series as it's inept leadership. Go ahead and call another IRL fan a lemming and see if he ever shows up at a CART race. Who wants to hang out with people who treat them like that?"


Yes, keep up the insults and namecalling. You are playing yourself right into Tony George's hands. CART fans are the IRL's best advertisement.

Originally posted by f1manoz


Goes to prove how pathetic most of the drivers in the IRL if a ROOKIE in his FIRST/SECOND OVAL TEST can get a time fast enough for the FRONT ROW, wouldn't you say????

Johnny Herbert a rookie? The guy has won LeMans, for God's sake. And the British, Italian and European grands Prix. But, technically, he is a rookie.

Ok, then let's examine how CART "rookie" Nigel Mansell did in his first season. Not only did he make the front row of his first CART race, he dominated the race, passed people at will, and drove off into the sunset to win. In is very first oval race, he very nearly won, but still finished "on the podium." This barely two weeks after back surgery. He dominated the series and clinched the championship with a race to go.

Does that make the CART drivers "pathetic" as well? They sure didn't have much for that "rookie" Mansell, did they?


Another thing that might have slipped past you is that everyone goes fast in testing, particularly the little teams who need publicity to scare up a sponsor. Pull out the ballast and take off the rev limiter. Trim out the downforce and go fast. There are no officials to make sure the car is legal, so grab some headlines.

Even if the car was not in legal trim, you have to be a pretty brave (and pretty talented) guy to go 220+mph the first time in any car. But no one ever questioned Johnny's bravery. Or talent.

good luck to you johnny if you land a drive ;) - however, i do believe that your whole racing future will revolve around either touring cars or gt.....

did johnny ever win at le mans :rolleyes:

Johnny won in 1991 in the Mazda 787B. He was in such agony from his F-3000 foot injuries that he collapsed as soon as he got out of the car and missed the podium of what was his biggest victory. No one has ever questioned the guy's guts, and he will fit right in with real he-men like Buddy Lazier. Johnny has worked hard his whole career and it would be good to see him in the IRL. If not, let's hope he gets a chance with the works audi squad.

Originally posted by Dr. Austin
Ok, then let's examine how CART "rookie" Nigel Mansell did in his first season. Not only did he make the front row of his first CART race, he dominated the race, passed people at will, and drove off into the sunset to win. In is very first oval race, he very nearly won, but still finished "on the podium." This barely two weeks after back surgery. He dominated the series and clinched the championship with a race to go.

Does that make the CART drivers "pathetic" as well? They sure didn't have much for that "rookie" Mansell, did they?

Herbert is a good driver, but come on, he's nowhere near the driver Mansell was.

Originally posted by Raven


Herbert is a good driver, but come on, he's nowhere near the driver Mansell was.


Oh course Mansell achieved more. But the intent of calling Herbert (correctly) a "rookie" was to diminish the perception of IRL driver's skills, which is, of course, absurd. He might be a rookie by techincality, but the man has won three of the four most prestegious races on the F-1 calendar and leMans too boot. He is coming into the IRL with more experience (and world class victories) than almost anyone before him besides Eddie Cheever. So he goes fast in an IRL car? Is that a surprise from a guy who beat the world's best at leMans, Silverstone, Monza and the Nurburgring? His going fast does not make the IRL drivers "pathetic." It is really that argument that is lame and pathetic.


By turning the argument around and presenting (correctly) Mansell as a "rookie," I was demonstrating the absurdity of that argument by replying with absurdity. It is really a comedic tactic, but it works well in debate as well. So, have a good laugh.

It's kinda true though, there's no way you'd see Mark Dismore or whoever step into, say, a Jordan-Honda and outpace the regulars. Herbert was out of his element and he still shone, you could say that's because Herbert is a fine driver, or you could say it's because the bar wasn't very high.

Originally posted by Raven


Herbert is a good driver, but come on, he's nowhere near the driver Mansell was.

he proberbly would have been, but for his accident!! in actual fact mansell maybe never would have won his title if johnny hadn't had that accident, as sir frank was at brands that day with a contract for johnny in his pocket.

I for one hope that Johnny can land a drive at least in the Indy 500 if not the whole series and i think he would do OK