gbuff

Don't forget Mr. Gurney.....

perfectlap

^ TOTAL, 100% USDA Organic Bullsh1t.

If you speak to anyone who knows about these drivers contracts, they will tell you that JPM has 1-made more than enough money to sit on the beach eating his cheeseburgers well before he even stepped into F1 full time status. 2-is probably the easiest driver to negotiate a contract with -- Frank Williams' daughter and soon to be Team Principal can tell you which of their drivers were "only in it for the pachecks", 3- JPM is in it for the ego. He has a huge one. But show me a guy that can pull off razor thin overtake of Schumacher at Spa with an inferiority complex. LOL.
The guy isn't going to drive for free (he knows he pulls in Hispanic viewership dolar$$$) but to claim the guy is only motivated by money is total nonsense. I think his problem has always been that he's impatient with politics, has a hair trigger temper and doesn't have a Prost/Senna type interest in the really technical engineering aspects. He's kind of like Kimi that way. "Just give me a car the way I like it, I know what I'm doing".

^ 100% USDA Organic truth.

The Captain gets all the attention for business smarts while Mario Andretti is very underrated in this aspect.
He had Wall Street sponsors lined up to fully fund Marco's early racing from day one. Perhaps it was because of his experiences in a refugee camp but even if Mario Andretti had never stepped foot in a race car he would have been a very successful person in whatever business he chose. And he's a cool guy too. I once entered a VIP tent of the Miami GP (street) with him and the 22 year old security guy had no idea who he was and tried to hassle him over his credentials. He just looked at me and smiled.

f1rocks

The two times I was around Mario he was a first class douche. Wouldn't sign kids autographs while just standing on pit lane for minutes ignoring them. The crowd behind started calling him a dick. At that point he just left.

Had the opportunity to have young fans for life.....

A.Wayne

+ A Billion ,

My experience has been the same, the 3 times i have seen him at the track , same for Michael Andretti, well until a TV camera is present then they turn it on, found Andretti very strange, far and away from the likes of Dan Gurney , Rahal and the Unser's to name a few.

Montoya may co-drive with Schumacher in sportscars, a good choice, he hates having a faster teammate ...

multi21

DTM with Ralf? They were teammates at Williams BMW

Where have you been hiding?

A.Wayne

Ahhh,

Life, Business changes, One Kid in College , others growing up and requiring attn, I see you still have the 44, is that an 83 ...?

race911

And I'll give the counterpoint. From somewhat afar, but nonetheless non-public access at the track in the '80s, and more recently at his winery. Actually, the last time at the winery (several years ago now), I had just run with a guy who now owned the Lotus 77 he competed with the season prior to the all-conquering ground effects 78 in which he won the championship. Story was that Mario wouldn't sign the car for him, he hated it so much. I queried him about it, and was able to steer that into more of a conversation than I thought he'd be interested in having about that transitional period in F1.

A.Wayne

You must have bought a lot of wine Ken ........

race911

None, actually. Was a little group thing organized by someone who does own (and run) a 312T2, though.

multi21

'84 chassis with the high compression '88 engine. Marrying the early model chassis harness with the late engine harness was an adventure, but we finally figured it out.

NaroEscape

perfectlap....so just how well do you really KNOW JPM other than specs found in wikipedia?
I can tell you this: the guys on his crew and back at Earnhart/Ganassi racing can't stand him. He is an arrogant, self centered jerk that treats all the guys that work on his car as peons and servants. No appreciation or 'team' mentality at all. He's above all that.

When the news broke that JPM was out, the team cheered...

perfectlap

I have a real issue with this. First by this logic Joe DiMaggio would have been a major league douche to Mario's first class douche. Joe D. would not sign autographs anymore after he retired at some point. It's not the job of a racing legend, nor Yankee legend to sit there signing autographs for anyone. And this notion that he's somehow obligated to do this is troubling and a sign of some sort of entitlement mentality. It was Andretti who was risking his life for decades, not the other way around.
The best way to get a guy not to do something is to tell him he has to. Now as to the issue of the kid fans, some of these will ask him to autograph a photo of a completely different driver! Which means they have no idea who Andretti was or the extreme level of danger he lived under day in and day out. No respect... And let's not kid ourselves here kids born after 1990, they don't even know who Senna was let alone guys who raced in the 60's and 70's.

It would be great to work for a swell guy wouldn't it? But Chip wasn't paying JPM to be one. Neither was Chip paying the crew to be treated the way they would like (wasn't paying them to traffick pot on the side either). It is a racing business. All parties are paid to do their jobs and leave their sensitivities in the ladies room. Those guys on the team cheering JPM's departure should remember that after only two full season in NASCAR, he gave the 42 its best season since Sterling Marlin 13 years ago..
BTW, Do you know how many people I worked with who were arrogant, self-centered jerks too? Usually only the highly successful ones... It was the very, very rare bird who was among the best and also a nice guy, or at least well liked by all. I wonder why that is.

Unsurprising. Chapman had zero regard for the lives and safety of his drivers. If you wanted to have a long career, a Lotus car was not on your list of rides. This piece of work wrote this AFTER the death, in a Lotus car, of perhaps the greatest GP driver of all Jim Clark:

"This may sound obvious but remember it does not matter how clever it is, or how inexpensive, or how easy to maintain, or even how safe, if it does not consistantly win it is NOTHING!"

Then there's Jochen Rindt, also killed in a Lotus, flatly telling Chapman his cars are death traps after a horrific crash in Barcelona, (with a photo of) and explaining that "[since I got into your cars I'm always in danger, we need to fix this]". Of course Chapman did nothing and Rindt was dead within 12 months.

mklaskin

Bob,

Is there any truth to the rumor that Ganassi wants to sell the NASCAR team? I've heard it from a somewhat reliable source, but could also be conjecture. Sounds like you might be plugged in to the network in Charlotte.

Sorry for the hi-jack.

perfectlap

open secret. He was talking to Menard back in spring.

multi21

Sure, anyone can be a dick like Montoya and drivers are paid to race and mechanic and engineers to work on the car, but you can't take the human element out of the equation -- something Whine Pablo in racing and others in whatever industry they are in seem shortsighted on.

If you want the crew in racing or employees in business to work better and harder, treating them like **** is not a good way to go about it. Numerous studies will back this up.

Your favorite driver, Michael Schumacher is legendary for treating everyone at the track and factory the same -- very well. His career didn't turn out too bad. There are other stories of Danica's crew in Indy not being happy about her throwing them under the bus for set up changes on her car. Not cool to do that in public. Each side of the F1 garage works a little better/harder/longer for their driver when they know there are results on the other side and they are appreciated. If you can't understand this basic element of human nature, i'm afraid I'm can't help you.