Most of you probably didn’t notice that last week some driver you never heard of was announced by some team that hasn’t won an IndyCar race in years. This was because at that very moment you were busy watching two million people shivering with joy as part of the peaceful transfer of power in our nation’s frozen capital. Perhaps even you were out there shivering yourself.

Regardless, I know a handful of you saw the news item because you sent incredulous emails to me, and all five of you said pretty much the same thing: “Ride-buyer”.

OK, pretend for a moment you’re in your psychiatrist’s office. You know, that person you pay obscene amounts of money just so you can feel badly about yourself. Let’s have a quick little word association test, which unless you’re Marty Roth on street course is a test, you can’t possibly fail. I’ll say the words “ride-buyer” and you tell me first thing that comes to mind.

Alright, go ahead and say your answer out loud. It’s OK. No one’s going to hear you except the people standing around you, and odds are they won’t look at you funny since they probably have no idea who “Milka Duno” is. Besides, they probably think you’re talking on your Bluetooth thingy.

Whatever your answer was I’m going to guess you didn’t name your favorite driver, because your favorite driver is super-awesome and is in the Indy Racing League solely on merit and as such you would never ever EVER call them something so lowly as a “ride-buyer”, right?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the fact is there are only like six drivers of the 20-some drivers in the IndyCar series who aren’t some fashion of ride buyer. There’s “family money” ride-buyer, “I got the sponsor so gimme the ride” ride-buyer, even “I own the team so it’s my ride” ride-buyers. Even those few drivers hired by others solely on their non-fiscal merits were at one time ride-buyers themselves.

And you know what? That’s OK.

Let’s think about Will Power. Do you think Mr Power was racing last year because he’s just the greatest thing since Rick Mears, or do you think he was racing because he was bringing a gi-normous check from some Australian wine makers? That’s right, he was a “Ride-buyer”, and now he’s a “Team Penske Driver”.

Then there’s the AGR team. Marco Andretti’s dad is a co-owner, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t get hired because he was the best available driver in 2006. Hideki Mutoh brought a nice check based partially on his Japanese heritage. Danica Patrick is the queen mother of all ride-buyers as all sorts of companies are lining up to pay for her ride. She’s even ride-bought her way to 6^th in the standings ahead of a few of the actual ‘paid on merit alone’ drivers.

How about Sarah Fisher? She’s been one of the most popular drivers in the history of the league, and now she’s “Ride-buying” her own team. Does anyone have a problem with that? If so, there’s an angry mob of Fish Heads gathering outside of your house preparing to cause you bodily harm.

Even Silent Pagoda poster boy EJ Viso is a “ride-buyer”. It’s true.

My friends, these are all popular drivers and they’re all worthy of racing over 220 miles per hour, and none of that changes just because they got someone else to foot the bill for reasons other than just their skill. That’s just the economics of racing – you bring a check and you can probably get a job racing cars. Racing is expensive, and the pool of people who wish to pay for it out of their own pockets is almost non-existent.

And really – as if you wouldn’t be racing if you had that kind of spare change jingling in your couch cushions.

Would I love to live in a world where there were no “ride-buyers” and everyone was hired on merit? Of course! I’d also like to be a foot taller, playing point guard for the Suns and dating Jennifer Love Hewitt, but sadly, genetics, the NBA and my wife have collectively conspired against me. Acceptance is the first step.

So if you feel the need then go ahead and mock or deride of someone because they won life’s lottery and can pay for their own spot in the IndyCar series, or they have a relative who owns a team, or they do sexy photo shoots, or they found someone with a product to sell to help fund their dream of racing. But ask yourself: Would Jack Arute hate like that? I don’t think so.

I say embrace the “Ride-buyer”. Literally. Hug them if you get the chance, but be sure Security Chief Charles isn’t standing in your vicinity or you’ll be smacked down to the ground faster than Willis McGahee. At the very least thank the “ride-buyers” for wanting to race in IndyCars, because without them and their desire to race during this economic calamity we’d all be watching the six-car equivalent of the 2005 US Grand Prix every weekend – in which case we’d all need to have our heads examined.