F1 Dreaming (American Style)

DubyaStep

DubyaStep

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I am just wandering about this. it seems everywhere you turn in america when it comes to talking to F1 fans here, that they all see to think that USGPE is going to fill thier seats with american racers like Danika Patric or (god forbid) jeff gordon and i have even heard Dale Jr. i watch every F1 weekend and i havnt heard a single thing talked about like that, so, here is my question, and i hope this hasnt been covered before, but:

Name 2 AMERICAN racers that you think could cut it in F1 (not your 2 dream drivers) then...

Name 2 available drivers from and series anywhere in the world that you realisticaly think will fill the seats.

my picks:
Americans

Dale Jr (cuz he has the fire)
Tony Stewart (cuz he loves to race and it would be fun to watch him win in F1)

World:
Sebastien Bordais
Juan Pablo Montoya

i totally started this thread with no idea who i would pick, so, those are just stabs. i really want to see what everyone thinks more than anything

Now, with that said, keep in mind that this may be a great team if you look at the owners group and the location they are in with the plant that makes alot of the F1 teams body pannels nearby...i think.

ready......GO!
 
There's going to be 1 driver from NASCAR, that's for sure. I don't think they'll pick anyone from IndyCar. I think they will look at the development series'. But they'll probably have 1 American driver and then a regular F1 driver that knows the ropes.

I wrote a lengthy post about Americans in Formula 1 on another board... I'll get it.

MadCat360 said:
The problem is the US's racing economy. It's terrible. Not only that, but it's quite a polluted farm.

Racing is dirt cheap in the US. A couple million bucks will buy you an IndyCar team. You can race NASCAR on a shoestring budget. I have no idea why this is.

As a result, trying to convince US sponsors to give up 4 million dollars for GP2 is nearly impossible. Why spend 4 million bucks on GP2, in a country/region that "doesn't matter" (to them), when they could spend 2 million and have a nice big sign on a top-flight IndyCar or NASCAR, in their home country, with more media coverage? Marketing suicide, to them.

On the flip side, our (formula) development series' are vastly inferior when it comes to value for money. 400 grand to run Star Mazda. Sure, it's got year-round coverage, but it gets piss poor ratings and even though something like Formula Ford only televises a few races per year, it gets much better viewership, and is half the price. The result of which is dubious sponsors for the US driver and enthusiastic sponsors for the Europe driver.

So, financially, we've got a really bad deal. A high price of entrance (400 grand for SM, 800 grand for Formula Atlantic, 1 million + for Indy Lights), and it's mostly out of pocket, but you have a really easy time keeping the big names with low prices at the top. So once you're in, the company you're with gets used to paying what is basically peanuts, and now if you want to move over to Europe for F1 or somesuch, you're out of luck because the sponsor doesn't want to move from it's nice, cheap, comfy-cushy deal it's got at home base.

And that's just the financial side. Now you're talking flesh and blood economy. Since the US is so appetizing, European drivers who have a few seasons of F3 or F3000 under their belt are coming over here with tons of sponsors who think they're stealing from someone since it's so cheap, sitting in the big name seats and basically preventing a lot of drivers who could have gotten there from ever having a chance and they simply fall off the map. It's getting better, but still, just look at the top drivers in IndyCar. Not too many Americans.

So, when you do get an American who becomes really successful in Open Wheelers, he* tends to stay where he is, becuase he knows that to go out of country will require a lot more effort than it's worth. He makes a good living, and he drives really fast cars with other really fast drivers. As far as he's concerned his "climbing days" are over.

*He being a universal word for "person". I'm not forgetting about Danica Patrick!

Really, the only viable career in the US any more is tin tops. Open Wheelers take too much money for the underfunded drivers initially, and we have an excess of them here (I'm one of them). So the only option is the cheap and dirty stock cars, or the cheap and slightly cleaner** GT/touring cars. Those are where all the really talented kids are going these days.

** Cleaner: simply because I like it more.

Hell, a fully funded drive in the MX-5 Cup or the Jetta TDI Cup (both of which are on TV and both of which have huge prizes) only costs 50 grand. That won't even buy a suspension unit in a Formula 1 car. To get to a real, paid, livable endurance ride you're looking at less than 1 million dollars to get there, and a pretty apetizing sponsorship proposal. Endurance racing = LOTS of screen time, and Stock Car racing = fanatical fans full of fanaticism, all for well under half of what they'd be paying in open wheelers. And they get better viewership.

So, young American drivers grow up mostly wanting fenders, and as a result when they get to the top, they really have nowhere else to go, except maybe down south with Stock cars to Brazil and Mexico, or possibly Europe for Endurance. But neither of those options are really apetizing compared to what they already have in the USA, because it's exactly the same, in a hostile environment and more cost.
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No where does Dale Jr. have the talent to be competitive in F1. He has won zero road course races and is more known for his super speedway abilities (which was further helped with his then dominant DEI super speedway racecars). He is just a very marketable driver (because of his last name and father) with average or slightly above average talent in NASCAR.

Jeff Gordon definitely has the talent but he is too old now...he did a promotional test with Williams a while back and I think if i recall correctly he did decently well considering he has never raced an open-wheel car before.

Tony Stewart has some talent aswell, but hes too fat for F1.
 
I'm sure Andretti wouldn't mind trying to live up a legacy.
 
i see all your points, but, you guys are missing the point of this thread and that is name 2 americans you would like to see and to realistic drivers you think actually will from anywhere in the world.

as far as Jr, i agree, but, i know he has raced touring cars in the past and he would be very motivated to learn F1, tiny, on the other hand, would just be funny as hell to watch!
 
Tough choice for rookies. Like to see Alex Rossi or J.R. Hildebrand in F1, but it's too soon for them.

Scott Speed is a logical choice, but part of me doesn't want him back. Marco Andretti is okay, but he has not been that impressive.

As for the experience driver, I'm hearing Heidfeld and Bourdais are looking for a seat haha. I would not want to see Villeneuve back. Wurz is on okay choice too, but you know he isn't the best choice. Maybe Ant or? Sato? That would be good.

I don't know.
 
Bourdais was garbage for the year and a half he was in F1.
 
Sik02Stang said:
well, different engines and it is well know that Torro Rosso is the "minor" team for red bull
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Huh? Last year Vettel and Bourdais were both racing for STR with, if I'm not completely mistaken, exactly the same cars. And even then Vettel managed good results and outperformed Bourdais pretty much all the time, so you can't really blame Bourdais' poor performance on the car.
 
Sik02Stang said:
well, different engines and it is well know that Torro Rosso is the "minor" team for red bull
Click to expand...

I was talking about last year when Vettel and Bourdais had the same car and Vettel was superior.
 
well, this is a completely different car than last year and as we have seen, other teams are comming into thier own as the season goes on, so, i have to disagree. sorry.
 
Sik02Stang said:
well, this is a completely different car than last year and as we have seen, other teams are comming into thier own as the season goes on, so, i have to disagree. sorry.
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Last year ,Vettel and Bourdais were teammates at STR. Vettel won a race in that car and outperformed the red bull cars where as Bourdais sucked big time. Bourdais scored 3 points last year while Vettel scored 35. :lol:
 
Cole+Trickle.jpg


He's been running open-wheelers, now he just wants to up and drive F1.

Really, though? Villeneuve (Canada is close enough to the US). He catches a lot of flack, but he has talent, and he's rare amongst F1 drivers in that he isn't afraid to speak his mind.
 
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