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Surely by your own logic they'd just be a danger in those series instead? To take things to the extreme, what about oval-centric drivers and road courses? Would you suggest that nobody can enter Indycar from an oval only background without first doing 100 starts in GP2? That would seem to be the conclusion to your argument, such as it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by call_me_andrew
Regarding mastering ovals coming from a road racing background, there are certainly enough success and failure stories. Some of the extreme success has already been mentioned here with Nigel. He comes in "cold" in 1993 and wins the championship. That included four wins on ovals. (Milwaukee, Michigan, New Hampshire and Nazareth) Emmo, on the other hand, was just slightly better in average finishes on road courses - but did win the 500 a few times. He also picked up four wins at Nazareth - a short and fairly flat track. Great race drivers will adapt.
A couple of weeks ago Katherine wrote on facebook that she was close to securing a ride for Indy. It'll probably just be a one-off deal if it comes to fruition.
She seems to be putting a lot of effort into getting back into AOWR. I wish her all the best.
And let's not forget the oval rookie Mansell who schooled a few. And the bottom line is the TEAM. Schumacher and Bourdais look like pretty ordinary citizens this year. I like Legge (she has won races on the way up) and I don't think she'll be a rolling chicane if she has the equipment and I'll root for her for sure but there are so many other drivers I wish were in this series -- full time -- and worthy of a two page thread...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior
The bottom line is that Legge has as much credibility as half the field in Indycar now.
Haarrummpphhh...
Right, but since those cars have lower top speeds, people are less likely to get hurt.Quote:
Originally Posted by hornet
And it wouldn't take 100 GP2 starts to master road racing. Maybe a year divided between Indy Lights, Grand Am, and Star Mazda (if that's still around) would get a driver up to speed.
No guarantee a lower speed series means less injury, look at Shame Hmiel then look at Mike Conway. Speed differential between cars could be an issue, but an orientation test would see to that. Your argument would've seen Mansell barred from the series despite being F1 World champion, yet some average mid-pack USAC or FIL guy given a free pass, which is plainly ludicrous. Would you ask Raikkonen to have a season in ARCA before he gets in the truck series? We're not talking about plucking someone off the street in an "America's next racing driver" TV scenario. Beyond Milka, who was just a liability, I can't recall anyone else being dangerously slow in recent memory. Baguette had some good runs on ovals in far from the best machinery, yet he came out of FR3.5, so are we suggesting he should've gone through a few seasons in FIL?Quote:
Originally Posted by call_me_andrew
Jason Priestly might dispute that about lights.Quote:
Originally Posted by call_me_andrew
Kat handled herself in Champcar, far better than half of the current field fillers in Indycar, and I'd venture to say she'd do better than the princess by the end of the year. The way she handled herself after the RA crash, I'd take her anyday.
Saying she was "far better" is a stretch. She didn't accomplish much of anything in Champcar other than getting in a big crash.Quote:
Originally Posted by nigelred5
Which, to be fair, was not of her making.Quote:
Originally Posted by vintage
That depends on where the truck series is racing. I recall a lot of people did not want NASCAR to let Jacques Villeneuve start his first stock car race in a Sprint Cup car at Talladega.Quote:
Originally Posted by hornet