14 DAY TRIAL // Does anybody remember the Tux500 story? It was the story of a daring initiative that aimed at entering a Linux sponsored car in the 2007 Indianapolis 500. Bob Moore and Ken Starks Linux enthusiasts started a while ago a marketing campaign through which the efforts of entering the Linux car in the race mainly consisted of collecting community donations.
Many looked down with lot of skepticism at this initiative, some of them even blaming the project coordinators of violation of the Linux trademark usage or even misrepresenting it in order to gain profit. But the initiators did not get discouraged by the more or less thick-skinned attitude of people who couldn't cope with the idea and went on with the project. They actually seem to have had a bit of success, as they managed to gather the pretty nice amount of $18,308.90. With this amount they were able to put a Tux pic on the front of the #77 Chastain Motorsports race car, which was about to be driven by Roberto Moreno.
Nothing special so far. A nice initiative finally materialized and now everyone was expecting to see the results. Unfortunately, these were not exactly the expected ones. After less than one quarter of the race, Roberto Moreno smashed it to the walls.
You can take a look at the clip of the sad accident :
The car #2 from Vista Racing, also called the Joost car, did a better job, ending up on the seventh position. However, I am truly sorry to hear about the misfortunate accident of the Linux car. As if it wasn't enough that there were people voicing against the initiative from its very beginning, this gave them the possibility to continue with the acid statements.