Derrick Walker, IndyCar’s President of Operations and Competition, got into hot water at the IndyCar Media Day in Orlando, Fla., with a couple of comments that referred to NASCAR drivers as “taxicab boys” who should “come out and try real racecars.”

I wasn’t there but could still detect the spirit in which the comments were made. OK, I have the advantage of knowing Walker for 10 years or so, but it was obviously a gentle ribbing (very gentle by Walker’s standards, as many people who’ve worked for him would confirm) that was meant to grab the attention of the largely NASCAR-based media members who attended the event. Yet the immediate reaction was a mild Twitter storm among fans of either and/or both branches of racing.

The problem was that, on Twitter at least, Walker’s words were reported in isolation. Now, I’m usually skeptical when I hear any public figures claim that the media wronged them by taking their words out of context. “Use a little forethought in future, dumbass, or stand by what you said,” is my usual reaction. But, like Walker, I confess I’d been blind to how Twitter can inadvertently warp any meaningful comment: a 140-character limit inevitably doesn’t allow room for context. Twitter is not, therefore, for real journalism but a platform for instantly expressing views (albeit in a compact manner), having discussions and, in the media environment, for notifying people, “Hey, the full story is on this website and here’s a link to it.”

Anyway, this small ripple in an espresso cup rather pathetically managed to swamp Walker’s other motive which, I’m certain, was to incite some of NASCAR’s stars into saying, ‘OK, let’s go and show that old blowhard what we’re made of!’ And the reason I’m so sure of Derrick’s intentions is because of a conversation I had with him in May last year, a few days after Kurt Busch tried an Andretti Autosport Indy car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (ABOVE). We’d been chatting on a totally separate matter but talk turned to KuBu’s performance, and Walker revealed he had been both intrigued and impressed. I keep all my old interviews on tape, and last night dug out this one.

“It’s a pity that this kind of thing is so unusual,” he remarked. “You youngsters won’t remember it, but I come from the era when drivers had the opportunity to race any and every kind of car, and that’s what people like Jimmy Clark (ABOVE), Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt would do. Like Mario would say, ‘If you can drive, you can drive. Period.’ That’s something I believe should still hold true and I hope that it can be proven true. Maybe this was a step in that direction. It’s great what Michael Andretti did with Kurt – and I’ve got to say I was impressed with what Kurt did in the car, too. What was his lap, 218mph? That’s seriously impressive for a first-timer.”

Although Walker acknowledged that scheduling conflicts cause problems for drivers who wish to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day, he was certain it would not be an insurmountable issue.

“For one thing, Chevrolet is common to both IndyCar and NASCAR,” he said, “so they would get huge amounts of publicity if they made that kind of thing happen, and so would the sponsors of both the NASCAR and IndyCar teams that this driver raced for that weekend. Everyone’s a winner.

“But the other thing I was thinking was this: Who’s to say that it necessarily has to be the Indy 500/Coke 600 weekend? I’d love to see Jimmie Johnson or Kasey Kahne race an IndyCar at Texas or Iowa, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the fans would love it, our boys would love it, and so would the NASCAR driver who did it.

“In fact, if you really wanted to push your luck,” he said, warming to his theme, “why stop at just ovals? Some of those guys have good road-racing skills, too. Remember that time when Jeff Gordon tried [Juan Pablo] Montoya’s Williams F1 car [at Indy’s road course]. Jeff was within two seconds of Juan with just one day under his belt!”

Naturally, I asked Walker how much mileage a NASCAR driver would be granted in preparation for his IndyCar debut. It’s hardly fair to expect someone to strap into something that laps the Speedway some 45mph faster than his regular ride and expect him to show his true potential.

“I agree,” responded Walker immediately, “so trust me: none of us is here to set up anyone for a fall. We could waive the rule about how many days of testing a driver can do, so we’d grant extra test sessions to any NASCAR drivers who were prepared to commit to a race or two in IndyCar. It’s only fair to allow an acclimatization period.”

And yet, here’s the part of the conversation that directly contradicts how some – including Busch himself, apparently – were choosing to interpret Walker’s most recent public remarks.

“My 45-year career has been based in road racing, open-wheel and sports cars,” said Walker, “but you won’t catch me among the people who knock NASCAR, either their drivers or their infrastructure. Busch did a great job in that test. Obviously he hasn’t tried the car in traffic, or in all those different track conditions that you get through the Month of May or even throughout the race itself, but I bet you he’s now opened a few eyes, and that’s a good thing.

“He’d have a ton to get used to, but I think he’s shown he’s willing to learn, he’s shown he’s brave enough to try it out, and I’d like to think this is the start of something big – the start of a trend, even.

“When you think about it,” Walker chuckled, “by doing this test, Kurt has actually done NASCAR a huge favor, as well as IndyCar. It’s brought a lot of publicity for us, but I think it’s also shown how strong a topline NASCAR driver can be. History has proven that it’s actually open-wheel drivers crossing to stock cars who have the biggest problems in adapting…”

So you see, they surely aren’t the remarks of a person who thinks disparagingly of any kind of racecar driver. However, yesterday, just to be sure that Walker’s opinion hadn’t spun through 180 degrees in the eight months since that chat, I tried to go through official channels to get an on-the-record verification of the crafty game the old boy had been playing on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the reply was that “Derrick is not available to comment further on this,” but I was given a statement I could use: “IndyCar would warmly welcome drivers from other racing disciplines at the Indianapolis 500 and any of its race events as it has in the past and hopes to continue to do so in the future.”

And that surely is a sentiment shared by all those with genuine devotion to this sport – which undoubtedly includes Derrick Walker. In fact, the words could have come from the man himself.

Sure, it would take quite a lot of effort to have a NASCAR driver in the Indy 500, or any IndyCar race for that matter, but I have no doubts there are enough powerful people and enough driven people to make it happen.

No doubts, either, that the sheer process itself would make a compelling narrative, one that deserves a comprehensive story on a website or in a magazine, not just a couple of 140-character soundbites that – God forbid – could get taken out of context.

I’ll be sure and tweet y’all a link to the full story, though.