Top 10 (by Points) Driver "results" Summary

[Hoop-98]

Enjoy the dissection.

http://i27.tinypic.com/1554ga8.jpg

rh

[drewdawg727]

In my opinion, in order to be a TRUE champion...you need to be able to perform well on both ovals and road courses.

Although it's very hard for me to grasp the idea that Briscoe could ever be an ICS champion based on his rookie year performance...he seems to be the only person that fits this billet out of the top 10.

[NickFalzone]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. There's a number of drivers that perform well on both roads and ovals, like Dixon, Franchitti, HC, and TK. 2 of those 4 are certainly still in the hunt and deserving of a championship this season.

[Chamoo]

It's odd that so many good drivers that came up through road course racing, end up with better results on the ovals. Like Danica should probably be more accustomed to racing RC's then ovals, same with Dixon and Wheldon.

[drewdawg727]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. There's a number of drivers that perform well on both roads and ovals, like Dixon, Franchitti, HC, and TK. 2 of those 4 are certainly still in the hunt and deserving of a championship this season.

I was just basing it off of the grid, and the average finishes. That is what this thread is about I believe.

[Hoop-98]

If anyone wants to apply F1, NASCAR, CART, Champcar points here feel free. Just remember this schedule is fairly balanced, the CART/Champcar and of course F1 don't require many or none Oval skills/points to win.

rh

[nigelred5]

It's odd that so many good drivers that came up through road course racing, end up with better results on the ovals. Like Danica should probably be more accustomed to racing RC's then ovals, same with Dixon and Wheldon.


Good road course drivers thrive on lap time consistency, precise and car control skills that I feel translate over to paved ovals more easily. A mediocre road course driver likely has far more refined skills o nteh hard pavement than an average to top level oval track driver. I don't see that growing up on the dirt has translated to good performance on the paved ovals for quite some time. Sliding a car in the dirt doesn't translate to doing everything you can to NOT slide through the turns on a paved oval.

[garyshell]

Good road course drivers thrive on lap time consistency, precise and car control skills that I feel translate over to paved ovals more easily. A mediocre road course driver likely has far more refined skills on the hard pavement than an average to top level oval track driver.

I don't think you can make the jump that the road course driver has more skills than a top level oval track driver. But I would agree if you had said that the top level oval track driver could thrive without the refined skills that the road course driver would need to thrive. It's a fine line of difference between what you said and what I propose, I realize. But my point is that the oval driver COULD have those same skill, but just doesn't NEED them.

Gary

[Hoop-98]

I really don't (IMO) think it's as simple as ovals and road courses; more like street courses, natural road courses, flat ovals, high banked ovals, super speedways.

The skills are different, not better or worse, but different.

When I listen to the radios of the drivers it is really noticeable.

On RC's without much passing it is so much save fuel, beat them on the in/lap out lap.

On passable RC's more like flat ovals.

On SuperSpeedways\high banked both fuel and not getting in trouble are talked about a lot.

The Skill on a Speedway may, IMO, have more of a strategic/thinking side. I don't think it is any accident that Briscoe did not pass Carpenter. That would have given Carpenter the initiative. By holding him down on the bottom he knew he would likely lead at the S/F line.

But they are all skills I respect.

rh

[indycool]

Well said, Hoop.

[Marbles]

Of course you will always have your savants but great drivers are great drivers. We've had the great fortune of seeing road racers come in and dominate ovals but unfortunately we haven't had the opportunity (at least I haven't) to see drivers raised on ovals come in and dominate road courses.

Maybe when Indycar unseats NASCAR as No. 1 motorsport in North America...

[indycool]

How about Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon? How about Mario Andretti?

[indycool]

How could I forget A.J.? But Smoke and Gordon have been significantly at the front of NASCAR's road course pack.

[garyshell]

One type of car and only two tracks. I was thinking of a little more diversity.


I'd think Smoke has a bit of diversity, with his IRL, Nascar, dirt track, midget, sports car 24 hour racing. No?

Gary

[grungex]

I think he meant that Smoke/Gordon doing well on road courses against other NASCAR drivers in the same NASCAR cars they all drive wasn't a very deep data pool.

[indycool]

He meant that those guys grew up in open wheel cars on both dirt and pavement and transitioned to stock cars and also transitioned to be more than competent on road courses.

[Marbles]

Who meant what? :)

I'll give you Mario Andretti and to a lesser extent Foyt. Unfortunately, I wasn't hooked on motorsport during the prime of their careers.

Gordon and Stewart don't qualify... yet.

My example for the above post would be Nigel Mansell. To see a driver do the opposite of what he did, in such short time, would be astounding.

[indycool]

Good point on Mansell.....there's another one....but I disagree on Gordon and especially Stewart, the only driver to win championships in Indycar and Cup....and three USAC divisions in one season.

[indycool]

He has made that transition as much as necessary for his schedule. Mansell didn't win in Cup, eiither, and most say that's a different set of skills.