Or it could be one way for the Yakuza to get into F1!

 

I would not mind a bunch of F1 drivers in a NASCAR race with some rubbing allowed

 

Rubbing goes against the nature of an F1 driver......the whole skill behind driving is not to hit the other car in close quarters

I would love to see Lewis, Massa or even Fernando go into CRASHCAR and spank all the good old boys tails, something I doubt they would have any problem doing. I really can't say JPM or the Canadian are good representations of an F1 phenom, like the afore mentioned chaps.

Sad that Schu never took a stab at it, guess he feels it would be a step backwards You gotta respect him for trying the bikes though ! Those guys are insane !

 

I would be surprised if that were true. It's a completely different style of racing that the F1 boys have no experience doing. They would probably be pretty good at it once they acclimated, but to say they would "spank" the seasoned pros is pretty wishful thinking, IMHO. Jimmy Johnson could no doubt get Alonso, et al. into the wall on a whim.

I don't like NASCAR either, but I'd be careful diminishing the skill or experience of the drivers in it.

 

I could see a bunch going to Indy Car.

 

I know!!! I thought Schumi quit partly because he or his family was worried about his safety. Leaving the carbon monocoque behind for some leathers? Yeah, much safer

I would like to see some more past F1 drivers at LeMans and other endurance races.

 

You're right...... but I don't think they would take long to adapt, with the I can win and I believe in myself 'tude like Hamilton has, I'll bet he'd go in and stop some clocks. Just as in F1, all the old hares would be saying "You can't just go in and win" but he did. It would be most important, as it was in F1, for Lew to get a top team drive though

I have not followed the news in NASCAR but are they being effected by the Mfgs and sponser woes too ?

 

Like Mansell ? It was awesome to see him clean up (I know......like Hamilton you either love him or hate him)

 

NASCAR isn't much of a car series anymore, but a drivers series. It's all spec cars that have nothing to do with the Big 3 anymore outside of marketing, but the cars have nothing to do with passengers cars anymore. The drive on Sunday buy on Monday thing isn't at all relevant anymore -- ALMS GT is more relevant in that regard.

NASCAR is in trouble just like everyone else. Daytona is likely to run without a full field this year. Teams are in trouble. A few are merging, a few are going under, and lack of sponsorship will kill off some more. NASCAR itself has been having problems with diminishing attendance.

 

One can only hope that it comes to pass...

The downside to this is that if the most successful American series fails then other (less attended) series that race in the USA will suffer commensurately!

That would be catastrophic!

I love the ALMS and would hate to see it go away due to manufacturer withdrawl and escalating costs for privateers!

 

Why make these guys suffer by racing a spec car in NASCRAP.

I'd rather see them duke it out in the DTM or Australian Supercar series. Some F1 drivers like Jean Alesi and R. Schumacher have and/or are involved in the DTM. Pretty good racing from what I have viewed on TV.

You are right on the money about having the F1 guys open a can of whoop-*** on the good ole boys of NASCAR but it is hard to make the transition from a nimble F1 car turning left and right to driving overwieght Taxi's around in circles.

Seriously though, NASCAR has its share of talented drivers that could do well in other series. It takes skill to do what they do just as it takes skill to pilot an F1 car.

I'm just an fan of road racing... Therefore my opinions are slightly biased.

 

With the case of NASCAR, I disagree. Other series have suffered at the hands of NASCAR's popularity because the sport has sucked up much of the sponsorship money. If NASCAR were to go away or dwindle substantially, then when the economy improves sponsors might once again take an interest in other forms of motorsports.

NASCR failing won't be what hurts other series. The economy failing will. We should brace for the possibility that several series will fail altogether. Once the economy starts to recover we might see the formation of new ones to take their place.

 

Hmmmm, you mean the party is getting boring ? Same shirtless babes, same old food, same old crappy beer, nobody's throwin punches in the infield and dang-it....those noisy cars, wish they'd put mufflers on them thangs !

Terrible....just terrible

Funny, in my teen years and early twenties, it was a passion for American V8's, I loved them, drag racing, road racing, circle, whatever. I always followed F1 but not with a huge passion like now.

The most memorable thing I recall from Montreal 2001 was unique sound of the Mclaren V10 compared to the rest of the field. You could tell exactly where on the circuit Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard were plus the unbelievable braking, I was hooked and never looked back. It truly is the top of the sport for car and driver.

 

Like pretty much everything else, motorsport news is pretty depressing these days. That's probably the main reason I haven't posted here lately.....when the news is bad, I tend to not want to hear it. Oh well, time to pull my head back up out of the sand.

Guess I'll look for a silver lining...hmmm, NASCAR going under? Yeah, that would brighten my spirits! I don't expect it to happen though. Seems like it has a better chance of adapting than most series given it actually could be done more cheaply.....not as it is today of course, but remember its roots. A true "stock car" series is one of those things that could resurrecting itself in bad economic times. In the early days some of the regulars were guys who just built up a relatively stock car and then dragged it from circuit to circuit hoping to find someone at the next track willing to give them a couple sets of tires so they could race. That's low budget racing!

I still wouldn't watch it, but it might be a bit easier to swallow than today's version.....embarrasses me to think I live among people who LIVE for NASCAR.

 

The closet thing we have to a professional stock car series is Speed World Challenge Touring Car and the Koni Challenge series. The cars are based on production cars and are a blast to watch. They also make right-hand turns. We don't need no stinkin' NASCRAP.

 

Oh yeah! The WTC cars are a blast to watch! I hope that the SCCA & SPEED Channel continue to bring us this form of racing!

The Koni Challenge is fun to watch also and very competitive but I fear the hand of NASCAR working in the background.

In the Koni Challlenge, the adage, If it ain't rubbin, it ain't racing, seems to be the rule of the day and that smacks of CRASHCAR (i.e. NASCAR) and to me I find that mindset difficult to accept (but that's another can of worms to open for another thread).

I also feel that if ALMS is able to consolidate the GT1 and GT2 classes into one class (GT) then that would create a very viable venue for the tin-tops and I would predict that the racing there would be great!



We also don't need no stinking badges!

 

Looks like Williams is in for the long haul, sound like they think Toyota might also bail..........

Formula 1 is likely to lose another manufacturer team before the start of the 2009 season in March.That is the view of Williams chief executive Adam Parr, who says he wasn’t surprised that the sport lost its first victim to the global financial crisis following Honda’s shock exit last week. And he doesn’t expect the withdrawals to end there, predicting that another team will go the way of Honda – with it a “very high chance” of being another manufacturer.

"I had expected one or two teams to pull out of Formula 1 imminently,” he told Reuters. “And I also said that it was not necessarily going to be just independent teams that were involved. "I believe that we probably will lose another team before the beginning of next season and there is a very high chance it will be a manufacturer."

Honda blamed plummeting car sales amid the economic downturn for its F1 departure – an exit from the sport Parr believes was "entirely predictable" and a "natural consequence of unlimited and unrestrained spending". The Japanese firm’s decision prompted fears that their car-making counterparts in the sport could be about to follow suit, while there has also been speculation about the futures of the privately-owned Red Bull squads and Parr’s Williams team.

But Parr insists that the Grove squad has no plans to end its three-decade F1 involvement, emphasising that while the Honda F1 team was an offshoot of a bigger parent company with far wider commitments, Williams purely exists to compete in the sport. "Honda didn't have to leave Formula 1, it chose to," he said. "Williams would never choose to leave Formula 1. So long as we can rub together a few pennies and put together a half-decent budget, we are going to go racing. If we have to tailor what we spend to a lower income, then we'll do that. To me, it's just completely illogical to talk about Williams leaving Formula 1."

He added that Williams’s status as a self-sufficient team means it isn't at the mercy of a parent company or billionaire owner suddenly deciding to pull the plug if the benefits of competing in F1 started to be outweighed by the costs.

"We believe that our position is pretty much different to all the other teams because every other team in Formula 1 is primarily dependent on one of its shareholders that is providing either all or a very high proportion of the income for the team," he said. "That shareholder is in Formula 1 primarily for marketing reasons. They can at any time decide that the cost-benefit ratio of leaving Formula 1 makes sense. "The difference with Williams is that we don't have a choice about being in F1, that is what we do."

 

That has effectively already happened. Corvette Racing will contest Sebring and the 24 Hours with the GT1 cars, but starting with Mid Ohio in July, it moves to a new GT2 program, leaving GT1 a class without citizens.

With that and the addition of BMW running a pair of M3 GTRs, GT2 is looking to be the best class in ALMS for 2009.

 

Well yes and no.

It is a given fact that NASCAR has the lion's share when it comes to sponsor dollars and that has taken away from other venues of racing but if the 800lb. gorilla takes a nose dive and flounders those weaker series (i.e. less attended, smaller fan base, smaller sponsor revenue, less promoted, limited or non-existant TV coverage, etc.) will have suffered the ill effects that much sooner. That was what I meant by saying that those series would suffer commensurately.

You are right in that it all hinges on the economy (what doesn't these days) and that racing is a dollar driven sport, after all it is a business. Maybe racing teams can go before Congress and request a financial aid package (ala Wall Street)!

 

I can see the headlines now.......

NASCAR get's bailout from Congress!

Driver's motorhomes and jets no longer at risk!

Details at 11........

 

Hey now, don't even joke about something like that!

I'm kinda wondering though whether the proposed "car czar" (proposed to go along with a bailout) would care if the big 3 continue to spend money on racing...

("car czar" -- according to one article "The federal overseer would supervise a broad industry restructuring and would be empowered to yank the money back if the carmakers weren't doing enough to ensure their own survival.")

 

LOL!

 

Refuelling to be banned from 2010.

Ok, that's all fine and good, but how much are they really going to save if they shorten the race? A couple of tanks of gas?

 

The way I see it, this is just one of those politically correct actions taken to give the general public the impression that F1 is being ecologically conscious or financially responsible during these troubled times.

I doubt that saving X number of gallons of fuel will have any impact on the environment by conserving fuel or on another note, financially by saving money.

Probably an attempt at spin doctoring by Bernie or Max.

 

Why bother conducting the race? We all know that there's virtually no passing on the course as it is. Position changes are often the result of the actions in the pits. Just award the fastest qualifier the ten points and leave it at that.

I'm being sarcastic. The nitwits running F1 don't seem to understand that in difficult financial times the spectators are even more willing to come out and watch. Look at Hollywood - it's during recessions that movie attendence booms.