Raikkonen to NASCAR?

[ScionDriver]

It appears Kimi Raikkonen might be the latest former F1 driver to consider US stock car racing according to this article. I was a huge Kimi fan while he was in F1 and I've been holding out hope that he would come back to the series but this is unfortunate to me. I might actually watch a couple NASCAR events if he was in it but I'd rather watch him do rallying or road racing

Link to the article

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, is considering an offer to join a team in the Nascar auto-racing series, his agent David Robertson said.

Robertson declined to identify the team the 31-year-old Finn was talking to.

“Negotiations are ongoing but nothing is guaranteed,” Robertson said by telephone. “Somebody had come to us with an offer and we are considering it.”

[250gto boy]

Oh God that would be terrible. That would be a major waste of talent. He may not have been Michael Schumaker but he would be making a lot more money at F1 or WRC. Its not that easy of a transition either. Just look at Montoya; he's been doing it for about 2 years and he's terrible.

[culver]

I hate to say it but this is further proof that NASCAR is the big leagues even if people want to look down on it. If they can afford driving talent like that you can sure bet they aren't skimping in engineering either (within the confines of the rules). It also does a nice job of illustrating that "them thar rednecks" do know how to drive.

Now that I've said that, I really dislike NASCAR and would MUCH rather see a return of Indy vs a return of NASCAR. I don't mind Indy oval racing and while I prefer watching road courses, I do appreciate ovals and think only idiots dismiss them as easy. Look at Montoya's oval vs road course record.

[Matra et Alpine]

culver, there is no correlation between the money willing to pay an athelete and the tech.
Arguably, the more spent on the person the less to spend on the tech.

[culver]

Sure there is. The top teams have more money for R&D and for drivers. We don't have a salary cap in NASCAR.

[Matra et Alpine]

NO, but you have a PRACTICAL cap ... ie money available from sponsors.
It's not a bottomless pit
Sponsors make $X available.
Driver + team development + team running costs = X + winnings
Cannae get awa fae the math

You tried to create a 1+1=3 by trying to spend more on drivers and tech.

[culver]

Yes, if team RichGuy has a $50m budget then spending an extra $5m on the driver means they can't spend it on R&D. On the other hand, team little guy only has $5m to spend. That means less on R&D and the driver. I think it works the same way in F1 except add a zero to the numbers.

[Badsight]

I do appreciate ovals and think only idiots dismiss them as easy. Look at Montoya's oval vs road course record.

i dismiss them

its a completely different type of racing. theres only one line & on the really fast ovals you cant catch the train ahead of you if you dont have a follower to boost your speed.

"minimising the speed loss" & "follow the leader" isnt what i watch for in racing. i know they are well tuned & well setup machines , but really ovals are a unique american thing

[culver]

Well you are wrong about one line and the speed part. That really is track specific. Drafting to go faster applies to ovals and road courses.

Also, I think Rome beat the US to racing on ovals

[pimento]

American oval racing was clearly first. To believe anything else is UNAMRRRKN

[csl177]

Nawwwww. Them I-talians did some rubbin' too.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpoKdPNM10M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpoKdPNM10M[/ame]

[LHamilton_w]

It would be quite interesting to see Iceman join NASCAR, although I'd personally prefer to see him return to F1 IMO.

[Matra et Alpine]

American oval racing was clearly first. To believe anything else is UNAMRRRKN

In 1901 at the Glasgow International Exhibition cars were raced on a purpose built wooden banked oval.

But we quickly realised it was nonsense and created proper race circuits

Cars of the day were proably on a par with the 4 horse power of the Romans who cant count not being CARS !!

and we were one up on the Romans anyway as we had flushing ladies lavatories ...... free to pee but not wash ---- only the Scots

[faksta]

Read this today. He is not dropping WRC program and will start to race since summer in pickup division with a new team (ICE1 or something).

[csl177]

But we quickly realised it was nonsense and created proper race circuits

Like Brooklands! Oh, wait... (actually a remarkable bit of civil engineering... and the speeds attained on that oval arse-clenching when you think about it...)

Roundy-rounds work great for seating and controlling an audience which is why they've been utilized by so many cultures at different points in time. Not taking anything away from the skills to drive one fast in traffic, but still boring. Board tracks started in Scotland as Matra illuminated (pay to wash?!? c'mon, luv) and briefly held sway here, too. A short history of Rumbledromes: winners 1909-1919