People always forget that the great Tony Stewart came over from open wheel. It's why I like him. I also think he has matured into a pretty fine team owner. I forgot to mention another NASCAR driver I'd like to see in F1. I think Kyle Busch is a super-talented driver. If he can harness his temperament he'd be great over there.
F1 is a nasty place, full of politics, back-stabbing and jealousy. But the successful drivers are machines behind the wheel. They're focused and professional. Alonso may be a jerk behind the pit wall, but on the track he's a laser beam. Arguably the problem with Montoya (when he was in F1) and with Lewis Hamilton is they lack of that kind of emotional maturity. I see some of that in Kyle. If he can get a grip on it, I think he'd be even better.
You boys need to climb on your bikes and ride to Kansas this August. No hype, just racing. Belleville in less than 2000 people and track is on old fair grounds. Plan on camping in a tent and being covered in dust for 3 days, "The Belleville Midget Nationals" http://www.highbanks.org/
Aye, I was at Belleville about 15 years ago....it is a tremendous event. I would say more fun than the Chilly Bowl. I do plan to come back some day with the boys.
Sadly F1 is 75% car and 25% driver. The cars are way too advanced to have any real racing and the drivers are not great racers because of it. That's my honest opinion. Sure they are machines balancing on milimeters and displaying how far technology has come, but rally (WRC) drivers have way more car control and Nascar (or other stock car) series drivers are better racers. How many americans have succeeded in F1? Villeneuve and .... Michael Andretti tried and returned home. Sébastien Bourdais (though French) failed in F1 and dominated elsewhere. Iceman Kimi Räikkönen excells in F1, but fails when truing WRC, returns to F1 with excuse that he misses the wheel to wheel racing.... what wheel to wheel racing? Montoya and Villeneuve was actually fun to watch in F1 because they didn't give a fuck and would try overtaking where others deemed it impossible. Wankers. To conclude, I think "low tech" and/ or identical class (stock car, CART, indy car, F3 etc) drivers are better simply because they have to beat the opposition with "the same" equipment
How long will Danica Patrick stay in the Sprint cup? Don't get me wrong, I get a funny feeling in my pants watching her, but that's not enough. After getting pole at Daytona and finishing surprisingly high in the race she hasn't done shit. Starting 37th and finishing 26th and only being higher than that when the leaders pit is just sad. At Bristol I believe DW or someone talked about her team radio chit chat where she talked about being safe and getting to the finish. WTF. You don't win races like that. Right now and next season I think she's safe, but once the novelty wears off she's gone and I don't think just to Nationwide or trucks. Can't remember who said it, but it was from her Indy days, they were behind here on the oval and could clearly see that, at times, she was just a passenger in her own car, not having the physical strenght to actually drive the car. Don't get me wrong, I love her - how can you not when asked how it is to be a female driver in the Sprint cup replies "I dunno, I've never tried being a male driver, so it's just normal to me" - and hope she succeeds, but something has to change.
She's a rookie. Regarding F1, there's a lot more racing and passing since they installed the Drag Reduction Systems. This is the third year of it and it's made a huge difference. That, and tires designed to be unstable, have opened up the racing. There's some truth to what you say, though. The most successful team and driver in the last three years are lap time experts, not racers. They design their car to get the pole and then they lay down fast laps to stay in front. Works like a charm, never have to race. Further back in the field, though, there's a lot of dicing.
While there is truth in your words, the real dicing going on is for naught. It is like winning the race to be first to a bowl of lima beans. You won, but it is not really a prize. And there are some F1 drivers I think could do very well in spec racing series, all of those the F1 fanboys complain about. They are very different sports and you either appreciate the differences in the racing, politics and drama or you don't. While I agree with the premise that the stockers are the better real drivers, one cannot discount the absolute fortitude of someone who can sit in an open cockpit, open wheeled car and go 180 mph side by side on the streets of Monaco. Or even better yet, go even faster at Spa; without an energy absorbing crumple zone cage all around them. That takes a pair.
I don't know what this means. We've discussed this before. I'm of the unshakeable opinion that there are great drivers at the pinnacle of every series. And that no series has a monopoly on the best. What's sort of amusing about our discussion on this issue is that usually, when I have this talk, the roles are reversed. I'm the one defending the quality of NASCAR drivers and the world insists they're crap. So you're messing with my reality.
