Veloce Raptor

Nah, he is quite respectful of the old vs. new sponsor syndrome. In fact, earlier this evening, when I was speaking with Michael Schumacher about our mutual friend Charlize Theron, he mentioned that she had recently gotten in trouble from her wristwatch sponsor for doing just this.

BostonDMD

I only hope that, light years from now, I too would have had the chance to experience Daytona at 150mph.... as a driver
Larry, I'm impressed.....

BrianKeithSmith

Bob:

I don't dislike Gordon, I'm just not a fan.

I am pulling for JPM this year though! I think he'll do well. It's just a different style of driving, length of races, pitting, etc that's simply gonna take a little while to get use to.

The Ganassi shop is about 4 miles from my house. A girl that works with my wife at the Dr's office where she works, her fiance is JPM's spotter. We're tryng to line it up so that he can give me a "behind the scenes" tour of the shop sometime soon.

Brian

Veloce Raptor

Sweet.

bobt993

Brian, awesome, take VR with you. I am sure JPM would invite you back again..........
BTW, I did not think your comment on Gordon was a diss. NASCAR has done what we wish GAC/F1/ALMS could do in the states. Public following, endorsement. But looking forward, it would most likely ruin the commitment that the drivers make just like pro sports such as Football etc. See you at VIR, looking forward to giving you a pass signal.

Larry Herman

VR, your caption should have been:

I have to drive that?

Chris L.

Not to mention these beasts are just that at around what, 3400lbs and steering wheels bigger than wagon wheels I've seen on those old John Wayne Westerns!!!

multi21

Regarding that "Tradin' Paint" segment on Gordon and Montoya, it went the other way as well. Montoya was about a second slower than Gordon in Gordon's Cup car.

I'm NOT a Montoya fan at all, not because of his driving, but all the blaming he did in F1. It was always someone else's fault. But I must admit, I'm pulling for him to do well in NASCAR, but I don't think that's going to happen. I don't follow NASCAR like I follow Formula One, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I heard someone say Chip Ganassi's Nextel Cup team has not won a race in 5 years? If that is true, it's a tough road ahead for JPM. I can't wait to see JPM, vs. Boris Said, vs. Gordon (Jeff and Robby) at Sears Pt. and the Glen.

I can't recall, but did Gordon get a test in the Williams BMW after the Tradin Paint thing? I was hoping Gordon would try to make history and jump from NASCAR to F1, but there was just too much money on the table in NASCAR.

Finally DMD, it's easy to judge when your relatively new to this sort of thing, but with time, you'll learn to appreciate the different skills required in all disiplines and forms. Like VR said, patience, it'll come.

Larry Herman

They both did well in the other's car, but you cannot compare times to times. Setup aside, F1 is all about driving the car, and Nascar is all about managing the traffic.

penguinking

none of the big teams could afford gordon? i doubt that was the reason, especially considering how much ferrari paid MS

Rick

I race there last October and was surprised how bumpy the oval was...especially in parts of the banking. My E car doesn't go very fast and I really had to work to keep my car "in lane" at certain points. I will say that I came away from my experience with a increased respect for the people that run the track at much higher speeds (including Nascar).

My view is that Nascar has very talented drivers and I have great respect for them...I'm just not a big fan of oval tracks. When I watched the race yesterday, I was struck by how different my experience was...we were 4 wide diving into Turn 1 and there's really only room for 1/2 cars by the time you go through the 2/3 sequence.

Pucker time!!!

Sean F

Larry hit it on the head. How much passing happens in F1? How often do the cars "touch". We're talking about different skill sets beyond basic driving skill. You have to have titanium ***** and complete car control to be "rubbing" other cars at 180 mph on a banked oval that as the announcers like to remind us constantly during the broadcast is steeper than the roof on your house.

Veloce Raptor

Also remember that they only have 15" wheels, and thus their brakes are woefully undersized for the weight of the cars (although they are Brembo monoblocs...)

multi21

Trust me, no one was going to pay a drover that was unproven in F1, MS money. Gordon would likely have been a test driver. He wasn't going to displace JPM or Ralf Schumacher, at least not for a year or two.

In NASCAR he had big $$ in purses, sponsorship and an owner of a team. That's a lot to give up to be tester for a future shot at a race seat. On top of that, Williams (the team he was seen in the paddock on off weekends from NASCAR) is not a team that likes to pay drovers well. They'd rather put the money into the car.

cooleyjb

I don't think he would have been a test driver. No team would have been dumb enough to offer a top driver from another top level series a test driver seat. That would have been the fastest way to guarantee he would never sign with that team. I wouldn't see him getting a #1 seat on one of the top teams but I could see him being offered a #2 spot on a top team. As for his marketing potential in F1 I think it would be huge, he has a LOT of US fans and that would tap a market that F1 is traditionally horrible in.

This is all a moot point seeing that hte next American F1 driver will be Marco Andretti. He'll be offered a seat within the next two years for F1 is what I see happening. You don't get offered a second test within a month without being very much on somebody's radar.