Derrick Walker jokes about Kurt Busch possibly running the Indy 500
“He’ll get plenty [of help]," Walker said at IndyCar’s preseason media day at the Amway Center. “We have to help those little taxicab boys come out and race real cars."
Walker laughed as he said it, and it was clear he was joking. He said he’d help any non-IndyCar driver just as he did Juan Pablo Montoya by providing the new Team Penske driver five refresher days.
“It’s not just a Montoya favor," Walker said. “We’d take care of everybody coming in the series. Sometimes we get too bogged down in the regulations, this and that, and forget about the show and the fans. I don’t think anybody wants to see Montoya come into the series and take about half a year to get acclimated to it.
“Maybe he’ll go out and [be successful] sooner; more power to him."
Walker was asked if auto racing could one day come together and have racers in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But even that got social media juiced.
“I think we’re ready," Walker said of IndyCar. “We’ll take those little puppies anytime they want to come up [to Indy]. Probably give them a thrill. They might not want to go back. [They’d say], ‘Oh, this is what a real car feels like.’"
Walker had everyone laughing along with him.
“Strike that from the record," he said. “I did not say that.
“[NASCAR president] Mike Helton will be after me when he sees me." AutoWeek