Danicka Patrick
- Thread starter Guard Dad
- Start date
lotstodo
aka "The Jackal"
The only reason that Formula cars don't use the chrome horn is because to do so would likely lead to injury or death, not a bruised ego or paint job. Touching wheels at 180mph will send a car airborne 100% guaranteed. Even so, Formula racers do play a dangerous game of chicken in every braking zone after every moderate straight on every road course in the world. They aren't cleaner racers, they are just not willing to murder someone for a position on the track.
Juan Pablo and Robbie Gordon like Nascar for the competitiveness and camaraderie. Open wheel racing at the highest level is way too much about budget and technology than it is about driver skill. When Kimi Raikkonen tried NASCAR (and failed), he held the belief that if F1 could create a computer to replace the driver, they would run all the cars by remote control like slot cars. He said that many F! elitists were secretly afraid to try a series where the driver is the most important part of the package. They can never imagine having to take care of brakes or tires, or not having a little button to push when they wanted to pass, let alone operating a vehicle that yields only one good line around the track. Everyone who has experience in both types of racing agrees that the 3500 lb stock car is far more difficult to control than the 1400 lb F1 car or the 1500 lb Indycar. It's just a completely different experience, and one that open wheel racing won't necessarily prepare you for. Dario Franchitti, wins the championship in Indycar and struggles mightily in Nascar with top equipment. A similar fate befell JPM and Jacques Villenueve. Tony says that his USAC dirt track experience was far more important to his development in Nascar than was his Indycar time. The Nascar vehicle is an antique compared to F1 or Indycar, but the drivers are just as good if not better than the best in the open wheel series.
Juan Pablo and Robbie Gordon like Nascar for the competitiveness and camaraderie. Open wheel racing at the highest level is way too much about budget and technology than it is about driver skill. When Kimi Raikkonen tried NASCAR (and failed), he held the belief that if F1 could create a computer to replace the driver, they would run all the cars by remote control like slot cars. He said that many F! elitists were secretly afraid to try a series where the driver is the most important part of the package. They can never imagine having to take care of brakes or tires, or not having a little button to push when they wanted to pass, let alone operating a vehicle that yields only one good line around the track. Everyone who has experience in both types of racing agrees that the 3500 lb stock car is far more difficult to control than the 1400 lb F1 car or the 1500 lb Indycar. It's just a completely different experience, and one that open wheel racing won't necessarily prepare you for. Dario Franchitti, wins the championship in Indycar and struggles mightily in Nascar with top equipment. A similar fate befell JPM and Jacques Villenueve. Tony says that his USAC dirt track experience was far more important to his development in Nascar than was his Indycar time. The Nascar vehicle is an antique compared to F1 or Indycar, but the drivers are just as good if not better than the best in the open wheel series.
