Mark Taylor out of IRL Drive

[FourWheelDrift]

Speed TV said:

TAYLOR OUT AT PANTHER After crashing out of all six IRL races in 2004, British rookie Mark Taylor is being replaced by American Townsend Bell in the Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevy starting this weekend at K.C. "I think Mark is a great kid and he did a lot for us last year," said John Barnes, one of Panther's co-owners who was referring to Taylor's title run in the Infiniti Pro Series. "But it's time to make a change." Barnes wouldn't confirm Bell, who won the 2001 Indy Lights title before going to CART and raced last year in F3000, but said the official announcement will be tomorrow.

Hope it's only temporary.

[hornet]

Shame, as he's obviously a good driver, but he does seem to have become the IRL version of Andrea De Cesaris of late. Not all his fault, but sadly people only remember the crashes, not who was to blame.

[mg511]

Not his fault? the man is an accident waiting to happen, 5 crashes in 6 races is no coincidence. Taking out the race leader while being lapped is always very bad, taking out Dario while he's leading is a hanging offence!

[jamesc]

The IRL is getting very competitive with the old CART teams switching over. The original IRL teams (most with the Chevy engines) need good results. I suspect John Menard will want a big name in the car. Greg Ray would be my choice.

[hornet]

jamesc said:

The IRL is getting very competitive with the old CART teams switching over. The original IRL teams (most with the Chevy engines) need good results. I suspect John Menard will want a big name in the car. Greg Ray would be my choice.

Ironic isn't it...IRL is now becoming what it was originally intended to be an alternative to. The ex CART teams are pushing the smaller teams out and CART/CWCS (or whatever they're calling it this week) itself now seems to be suffering. IRL, whilst being exciting to watch, does seem to be a dead end in terms of driver development unless your angling for a NASCAR ride. As good as it is to see the likes of Wheldon and Manning in a decent series, you can't help but think that all this left turn only racing is damaging their chances of ever reaching F1.

My hope is that IRL/CWCS can unify. I suspect the ever growing ranks of ex CART teams will see to this sooner or later. To real shame is that the split has left CWCS so weak, as it used to be a fantastic series with a great mix of races and some great drivers. Now it just seems like a retirement home for average F3000 drivers.

[FourWheelDrift]

Autosport said:

British rookie Mark Taylor is to make a return to the IRL IndyCar Series with Greg Ray's Access Motorsport team, having been dropped from the Panther squad prior to the race at Kansas last weekend where he was replaced by former Champ Car and F3000 driver Townsend Bell.