SCOTT SPEED to NASCAR

[blakebeatty]

From Jayski...


Scott Speed to NASCAR? Axed Toro Rosso racer Scott Speed will almost certainly switch to the NASCAR series in 2008, it has emerged. Although his relationships with STR chiefs Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger are over, the Californian remains strongly linked with Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz -- who also owns a new team in the premier American tin-top category Nextel Cup. "Speed drove in Formula One against the world's best drivers," the Austrian billionaire is quoted as saying by Motorsport Aktuell, "he is courageous, and his name is a marketer's dream -- and with a cowboy hat it is perhaps complete!" Team Red Bull is a works Toyota-supported NASCAR team. "He would be an asset for us in NASCAR," Mateschitz said of the 24-year-old, it doesn't say of it will be for Cup, Busch or Trucks or if Speed would replace Vickers or Allmendinger or that Red Bull would add a 3rd team for Speed.(8-14-2007)
AND: Formula 1 racer Scott Speed will switch to NASCAR in 2008, according to sources at Red Bull Racing [once again, it doesn't say which series]. The California native made his debut in Formula 1 in 2006 and competed this past season, but was released from his Toro Rosso team last week for lack of performance. Since his debut with the team in March of 2006, Speed failed to score a championship point. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz who sponsored Speed’s Formula 1 team also owns a the Nextel Cup team with Toyota drivers AJ Allmendinger and Brian Vickers. Mateschitz told a German language motorsports website Tuesday that Speed “Would be an asset for us in NASCAR.” According to the same sources, the team will drop the Toyota brand and switch to Chevrolets in 2008 as well [which has been denied

[harvick#1]

he should really go to Champ Car, where he belongs

[Sparky1329]

So. Who's getting dumped other than Toyota?

[BenRoethig]

Looks like neither TBR or Scott Speed have actually learned anything. For TBR, they need to get someone who actually knows how to set up and drive a stock car instea of washed up open wheelers. Do A.J. Allmendinger and the 20+ combined DNQs mean nothing to them? For Speed, you couldn't do anything in a series where the car practically does the driving for you, you don't have a prayer in the cup series. I don't see him making a stop in busch or the trucks first.

[BenRoethig]

he should really go to Champ Car, where he belongs

I agree. The handful of people who still pay attention may actually appreciate him.

[wedge]

They should do a straight swap with AJ Allmendinger.

Would love to see what AJ could do in an F1 car. We were robbed of a Seabass v. AJ in Champcars last year.

[e2mtt]

This isn't good news at all.
I cheer for Speed partly because I liked the way he worked his way up through the European ladder, won championships along the way, and made F1, following his dream. I liked having an American in F1.

If he comes to NASCAR he will have no experience, a poor team, and very little name recognition. He may be better then AJ, but definitely not Vickers at this point. It will take years, and Toyota would be much better off getting a veteran on the team, along with more veteran crew chiefs & engineers. NASCAR is very tricky, in a kind of old-fashioned way.

BenRoethig is wrong... F1 is extraordinarily hard. The cars don't drive themselves, and Speed outperformed his team-mate this year in a miserable car for a miserable team. However, coming from F1 to NASCAR is about like going from Top Gun fighter jets, to flying bush pilot in Alaska. They may be the 2 toughest flying jobs in the world, but that is about all they have in common.

I think Speed should look to get a good ride in GP2, win next years championship, keep his options open for a good test ride, and try to get on a better F1 team. However, 2 years of putting up with the F1 circus lifestyle, dealing with F1 politics, etc., may have cured him of his "F1 dream" and now he is just following the money to NASCAR.

Another interesting option would be if he could jump right to a top-flight Champcar team. I think that he would be immediately successful, and if he could keep his ties open to F1, he may be able to get back there next year, or 2009. Us American OW fans might enjoy this, and it would be an interesting gauge of talent vs. F1, but I'm not sure it would be as good as a succesful GP2 season in F1's eyes.

[Placid]

They should do a straight swap with AJ Allmendinger.

Would love to see what AJ could do in an F1 car. We were robbed of a Seabass v. AJ in Champcars last year.

My thoughts exactly.

AJ should belong to open-wheel (Including F1)

[RaceFanStan]

More openwheel drivers coming to NASCAR seeking fame & good fortune .....

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/gr8link/orn/zzz.gif

[blakebeatty]

He he, except Danica, who passed on her chance!

[Lee Roy]

he should really go to Champ Car, where he belongs

I think Scott Speed has become accustomed to being paid to drive, not paying to drive.

Look for Speed to come to a popular racing series, not some little minor league club racing spec car series.

[harvick#1]

He he, except Danica, who passed on her chance!

man I'm glad she didn't come, because shes not even making the IRL worth watchin anymore with her crying every week and seeing her families reaction everytime she crashes.

most overrated driver in the world is DP, and she has the biggest weight advantage in the IRL and still can't win

[e2mtt]

I think Scott Speed has become accustomed to being paid to drive, not paying to drive.

Look for Speed to come to a popular racing series, not some little minor league club racing spec car series.

Problem is, in the bottom ranks of F1, you have to pay your way also. (By bringing along a sponsor that is commited to you.)

[call_me_andrew]

More openwheel drivers coming to NASCAR seeking fame & good fortune .....

That's the thing tho. He's already famous, and he's already got plenty of money. At this point, I think he likes living in Europe better than living here.

[BenRoethig]

That's the thing tho. He's already famous, and he's already got plenty of money. At this point, I think he likes living in Europe better than living here.

He's famous in Europe. Very few in the States have a clue Scott Speed even exists.

[dwboogityfan]

I like Scott Speed. Like JPM its his personality that got him dropped from F1 as opposed to his lack of pace. However, he didn't do a bad job at Toro Rosso and has delivered some good performances - Monaco for example.
I think Red Bull Racing would be better putting him on an Arca-Busch-Cup program next season (as they should have done with Allmendinger) rather than giving him a full-time drive though. Makes you wonder if there is any truth in the Vickers to DEI rumours though...

[geek49203]

He he, except Danica, who passed on her chance!

Virtually every IRL and CCWS driver has checked out NASCAR. They probably all passed on chances w/ bottom teams. To get into a top team would be quite a trick, since all of those teams have a full list of development drivers that the team has invested heavily in.

Dan Wheldon told me that there are lots of rides, but you only want a few of them.

[Placid]

My thoughts exactly.

AJ should belong to open-wheel (Including F1)

If he can be persuaded, then yes.

After 5 wins at Champ Car, he should at least be considered for a test ride.

But he has to adapt again on the open-wheel circuit and paddles.

It will be an American open-wheel tragedy if both take the NASCAR path.

[geek49203]

It will be an American open-wheel tragedy if both take the NASCAR path.

Given the level of success (failure) of open-wheel guys in NASCAR, it would probably be a tragedy for them too.

Aside from Tony Stewart, the list of race wins for ex-CART, IRL, or CCWS drivers is pretty short. In fact, it's downright grim. Say what you will about the relative talent levels of stock car drivers versus open wheel drivers, it's obvious that there is a "trick" to driving the stock cars that is completely backwards to what they learned in the open wheel cars.

[Lee Roy]

After 5 wins at Champ Car, he should at least be considered for a test ride.


I don't think the F1 owners are very impressed with Champ Car in it's current state. A win in the Champ Car series certainly doesn't mean what it once did years ago.

[BenRoethig]

I don't think the F1 owners are very impressed with Champ Car in it's current state. A win in the Champ Car series certainly doesn't mean what it once did years ago.

Correction: a win in Champ Car doesn't mean what a win in CART did.

[Lee Roy]

Correction: a win in Champ Car doesn't mean what a win in CART did.

I understand. It's hard to keep up when reading over on the Champ Car forum. When wanting to make Champ Car look good they link it to the CART of old. When trying to make excueses for Champ Car's current sorry state, they quickly state that Champ Car is only 3 years old, or however old the current goat rodeo is now.

[dont_be_jack]

Scott Speed can't race his way out of a paper bag. There's no way that he'll ever be able to drive a stock car, let alone be willing to work along with the IRL or Champ Car series.

[champcarjon]

I don't think Speed would have the experience to jump out of a F1 car and adapt to a Cup car .. He would be better off in F3000 USA or Champ Car as they like it to be known.
Don't let my name fool you Champ car died a couple of years ago.

[blakebeatty]

On the speed report, the showed images of Scott ALL OVER the cup garage today. Looks like this one has some validity

[jeffconn]

He's famous in Europe. Very few in the States have a clue Scott Speed even exists.

Sure they know who Scott Speed is. He's that guy who Mikey Waltrip reached into his car and punched him, way back in 1995. ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Speed

[e2mtt]

Correction: a win in Champ Car doesn't mean what a win in CART did.

Yeah, and a win in the IRL doesn't mean much anymore either. :(

I think Scott Speed's performance would be quite good in any american open-wheel series. F1 is so hard to compare, with the difference in teams. Most of the announcers & sport commentators thought he was doing a fairly decent job this year, with what he had to work with. Speed TV showed a graphic comparing him with his teammate Liuzzi this year. Speed was ahead in every single catagory.

If Speed landed a ride on a competive team, he would easily be a top-5 driver in Champcar or IRL (on road courses).

I think this would be really interseting to see a F1 driver jump straight to Champcars. Supposedly current F1 cars are MUCH twitchier and more intense to drive.

[harvick#1]

another rumor is that Dario Franchitti maybe coming to RCR's 4th.

the only good thing out of this is seeing Ashley :facelick:

[muggle not]

Speed is a mediocre driver with less talent than Allmendinger.

What is it with all the O.W. guys wanting to come to Nascar. Very few, if any, will be successful in the transition. It is a difficult move for them.

[harvick#1]

I'd like to see Speed and Allmendinger go to CCWS, help out the series

[geek49203]

Speed is a mediocre driver with less talent than Allmendinger.

What is it with all the O.W. guys wanting to come to Nascar. Very few, if any, will be successful in the transition. It is a difficult move for them.

Strange, the open-wheel fans say the same things about every driver in NASCAR. And, they call the cars "taxi cabs" that "don't take any talent to drive" because they mostly run on ovals.

Jeez.

To say that Speed has no talent is akin to knocking an Academy Award winning actor 'cause he does work Broadway. Such accusations by fans from one series against drivers and cars in another shows a remarkable lack of knowledge, or the consumption of wayyyy too much Koolaid, or both.

LAST -- I'm working on an update of my Aug 2006 article, detailing how most Indy (CART, CCWS and IRL) drivers who come to NASCAR don't do very well (Tony Stewart is the exception). I do agree w/ that point. However, those drives that come over DO have talent, but the lessons that they mastered in open wheel racing are exactly opposite than those needed for NASCAR.

[BenRoethig]

I'd like to see Speed and Allmendinger go to CCWS, help out the series

An all road racing series is going to need more help than that.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Speed has no real business going to NASCAR except that is where Red Bull seems to want him. I guess they like throwing good money after bad. They haven't figured out that OW racers have a long learning curve, because with with a few exceptions, most of them never really seem to take to the stock car way of making a car handle and race. Geek is dead on the money when he talks about the failure of a lot of these guys to make the transition. It isn't that they cannot drive, or they cannot do it, but there is a learning curve that has to be established, and many of these guys don't get that time.

One only has to look at how JPM struggles at times even now and they have had him in stock cars for close to 60 races between Busch and Cup, and he still can look lost on a oval. He is a supreme talent, and has incredible car control, but that doesn't replace the knowledge and feel that one has to have imprinted on one's DNA to understand the changes that are happening in the car and how to counteract them. It isn't that the drivers in NASCAR are better, but they are usually stock car guys from the word go, and they have a much more shallow learning curve. What Allmendinger is finding out is NASCAR is unique.....and it isn't like jumping from Atlantics to Champ Car to IRL or even f1. Speed would be lost.......

[Old3Fan]

He he, except Danica, who passed on her chance!

The only chance Danica has if the 6-7 cars normally in FRONT of her wreck on the final lap. BTW isn't she getting a little testy lately?

[SOD]

More openwheel drivers coming to NASCAR seeking fame & good fortune .....

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/gr8link/orn/zzz.gif

oh STanley, how come every open wheeler who comes to NASCAR gets 10 minutes TV time devoted to him during the pre-race?

[muggle not]

oh STanley, how come every open wheeler who comes to NASCAR gets 10 minutes TV time devoted to him during the pre-race?
hehe, because cars that end up in 35th thru 43rd get little coverage "during" the race.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I disagree, most open wheelers who go to NASCAR rarely get more than a mention. PT when he raced Busch at Daytona only got some air time when he started to push to the front, and then was taken out by a dumb move by John Andretti.