Clarkfan, do you think that Marco wil improve in the IRL this year?
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Clarkfan, do you think that Marco wil improve in the IRL this year?
the high speed road courses without the danger of high speed ovals is what I would be looking for. I think a real serious accident at a young age could affect your long term career.
This accidents are what makes me afraid. I enjoy oval racing, but it is dangerous. I pray that Marco will stay out of trouble, but Uncle - he wants to win the 500. A man must follow his dream.
Sure, he only turns 20 next month. But like you and fousto, I do worry about how ovals currently play out in the IRL. Running flat out at >215mph (350kph for those who don't use antiquated measuring systems) with some drivers in the field of questionable ability/experience is pretty hairy. Wish they didn't run on those higher banked NASCAR ovals, but both open wheel series are currently the unwanted stepchildren of US racing.Quote:
Originally Posted by F1boat
ClarkFan
I think if they put a first class not mickey mouse road course in at Indy and ran 500 miles you would get the same draw. It is kind of like I think civilization has passed the need for open wheel oval racing.
:D I agree with you, Fousto.
Ovals are tougth... but not nearly as hard on the car or the driver as a good road course.
;) Problem is with most road courses, especially the good ones, you can only see a small portion of the track.
:dozey: Some Mickey Mouse... tricked up infield road courses are inside an Oval ie. Indy & Daytona, but the best courses are ~ 3 miles around or more.
Oh... and Marco's done well on the road courses he's ran. If in doubt...Check his record.
:s mokin: Trumper
I like ovals. They keep the racing close and it is very fast. Amazing. Also they are huge test for psychology, if not for driver skills. A driver should be very careful lap after lap not to kiss the wall.
But I fear about safety and I don't know what can be done about it.
I honestly don't see Marco being competitive in F1. His "talent" is being exaggerated by the fact that he is in a series that is barely holding on and one that doesn't have a lot of talent in it. Add in the fact that he jumped up to the big leagues WAY too early. I have watched him race in the lower rungs and I saw him race the year before he went up to the IRL....and he wasn't all that impressive. As far as Americans with a famous last name and having talent.....Graham Rahal looked far better in Star Mazda during 2005. Add in the fact that he also spent another year in a development series to hone his talent instead of jumping into the big leagues.....and the 2006 Atlantics field was a very good field. All Marco has is a last name. I can't believe he has the audacity to make a comment like that. He would be lucky to have Spyker calling on his services.
It sounds like a marketing scheme to me. Even though some of you point out that Rahal may be the better candidate for F1, the name "Andretti" is immediately recognized in the US. Rahal isn't a well-known name except among race fans. Honda are playing their "Andretti" card to expand their name recognition to casual US race fans who are not that familiar with F1.
The only thing similar I can think of that's going on right now is Toyota's move into NASCAR. I find it interesting that American fans find that "un-patriotic" when Toyota builds their Camrys in the US while all the other "US" manufacturers build their cars in Mexico???? (Sorry for drifting off topic.)
I noticed something funny. All Rahal-fans are not fans of Marco ;) Graham drove some A1 race for the Lebanese team, yeah? Well, I found that he wasn't really impressive. ;)
Go Marco! ;)
Marco's alright... wasn't too impressive in those tests though - Not that it'd mean too much.
No, he wasn't impressive, but wasn't Ide either.