Openwheel drivers to NASCAR

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Originally Posted by ms0362

Open wheel is hurting. These guys are trying to find a regular income.

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Or in JV's case, some racing to do. FWIW, during his F1 tenure, he probably raked in over $100 Million in salary. Then there's the endorsements, etc., etc. I'd say he's sitting pretty and not doing it for the income.

Juan Pablo made millions in F1 as well. He's not poor by a long shot.

Like Jeff G, Tony, Dale Jr. and more, they've all made enough money to stop racing tomorrow and live very comfortably off the interest. They race because they love it and have the desire to win.

JPM, Scott Speed, JV, and perhaps more soon. NASCAR is getting so cosmopolitan! I'd start watching on a regular basis if it didn't eat up 3 hours of prime Sunday afternoon time.

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Originally Posted by Breeze

NASCAR is getting so cosmopolitan! I'd start watching on a regular basis if it didn't eat up 3 hours of prime Sunday afternoon time.

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That's where a DVR comes in handy. It cuts out about 1/3rd of the time and can be done on Sunday night.

This exodus to NASCAR from formulas has an Evangelist: Montoya. He has never been afraid of taking leaps of faiths and is the king of cross-over in american series. In 1998, with his F3000 championship Juan was looking for a seat at Williams, sir Frank opted for twice CART champion Alex Zanardi for the coming season (big mistake for Willimas). Juan was sent to CART, in a move that was seen like carrer suicide by his european peers, but he was champion as a rookie with some records added, and was hired later for Williams to drive in F1. Some others tried to do the same, but only Bourdais has been able to do so.

When Indycar was dividen into CART/IRL, Tony George took the Jewel of The Crown with him, Indy 500. No drivers from CART raced in IRL. Ganassi lined up an IRL team with Vasser and Montoya. In a different series, with different cars, tires and engines, and also in a track he never raced before, he won with ease, more or less the same ease that we saw from him at the Brickyard this year. After such a demonstration, the rest of CART teams lined up driver for Indy 500 with regularity. This led to the CART teams to slowly migrate to IRL, and left the once premier open-wheel series in America like an empty shell. I wonder if Montoya had, not intentionally, a lot to do with the fall of CART.

Now, after 5 seasons in F1, Montoya goes back to USA, with his former employer to NASCAR. A move that was seen like almost irrational, now seems to have a lot of sense. The doubts about how an OW star can adapt to stocks has been almost cleared. And now that Juan opened the gate, many open-wheel aces will jump. Not all of them will succed, because Juan made it look easy, but it's extremely hard to adapt to stocks with no experience and been competitive in your first full season.

So, if you want a nickname for Juan, it could be American Cross-Over, or Open-Wheel killer.

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Originally Posted by IndianChiefJoy

snip...So, if you want a nickname for Juan, it could be American Cross-Over, or Open-Wheel killer.

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It's already "Juan and only!" ;-)

We must not forget, JPM and some of the others trying to make it in Nascar are not rookies to the sport of racing. They all are experienced drivers with many, many, many years experience. No, they haven't driven many races in stock cars but on the other hand there are drivers like Kyle Busch, Regan Smith, etc that are still in the early development phase of their careers and do not have all the total years of experience behind them.

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Originally Posted by Lee Roy

That's nonsense.

(Boring quote here)

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Fascinating. They're outsourcing R&D.

Juan wasn't the first F1/CART/IRL guy to come over. Robby Gordon did, but of course, Robby is sorta a unique guy. No Christian Fittipaldi did some time in F1, raced in CART, and then went to NASCAR when the CART rides dried up for him. The fact he failed is a bit of reason why everyone looks to Juan, but the fact is, Juan is just the first F1 guy in his prime to make the leap.

Now JV is coming over, and with Jacques, it is hard to say how he will adapt. His strenghes are often the same qualities that could be weaknesses at times, and in NASCAR we shall see. He isn't afraid to bang on people, and he wont back down, but his outspoken nature will sooner or later have him in trouble with someone I am sure.

The thing people forget about Jacques is he loves to compete. F1 just about killed him, but he liked the money, and he lived in Europe. I think though as he is in his late 30's, he looked at his options to keep racing, and NASCAR was just too big a challenge to turn down.

He was talking about this before JPM came over, but that idiot Pollock kept trying to keep JV in f1. Jacques will either be a spectacular bust and their will be radioactive waste from the explosion...or he will do quite well. Bill Davis isn't the team I would pick to join if I wanted the best cars...but lets face it, no one else would take the chance, so Davis it is....

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Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

Fascinating. They're outsourcing R&D.

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Try reading the article. The R&D isn't being outsourced, just the precision cutting of the material. The R&D is being done in house.

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Originally Posted by IndianChiefJoy

So, if you want a nickname for Juan, it could be American Cross-Over, or Open-Wheel killer.

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Juan didn't kill American Open-Wheel. It was already dead, that's why he went to NASCAR.

Christian Fittipaldi was a joke, IMHO. He got the best ride in F3000 in Europe and won that championship. Wasn't particularly impressive in F1 even though he was in lesser teams. Moved to CART, drove for one of the best teams being NHR and was next to useless. Other guys making a name for themselves would've done a better job than Christian had.

JPM and JV have proven themselves as talented drivers which is why they get the respect bestowed onto them coming into NASCAR.