Posted on 08/24/2007 8:46:17 AM PDT by saganite
HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) -- Jacques Villeneuve will try to become the latest Formula One driver to move into NASCAR, hoping to parlay a test session into a new career.
Villeneuve, a former F1 world champion, will test a truck for Bill Davis Racing on Monday at Chicagoland Speedway, the team said Thursday.
``Bill Davis Racing was aware of my interest in NASCAR and approached my management team with a view to allowing me to test within its truck program,'' Villeneuve said. ``I'm glad we were able to work that out, and having spent the day with the team for my seat fitting, I am really looking forward to working with Bill and his staff.''
Villeneuve has not raced on ovals since 1995, when he won both the Indianapolis 500 and the CART title. The Canadian used those accomplishments to land an F1 ride, and became world champion in 1997.
He had a rocky ride after that, though, and lost his seat with BMW-Sauber midway through last season.
Craig Pollock, Villeneuve's longtime manager, said they prefer for the driver to ease into NASCAR through the Truck Series. Last summer, Juan Pablo Montoya jumped from F1 to NASCAR and eased his way in. But Montoya never raced in the Truck Series, going straight into stock cars for his October debut.
Montoya is now in NASCAR's top-level Nextel Cup Series, and he scored his first career victory on the road course in Sonoma, Calif., in June.
ping
Is Jacque related to Giles, a F1 racer from the ‘70’s? And oh, Montoya’s a punk. I’d stuff him into the wall every chance I got.
Harvick did stuff him in the wall at Michigan Tuesday but I think Montoya still finished better than Harvick. I remember Newman set him on fire (literally) last year after Montoya ran over him. He’s not making any friends but honestly I don’t think he’s a bit worse than Stewart and still better than nut cases like Robby Gordon.
Unfortunately, when he got a chance with the BAR (essentially the last of the unlimited-tobacco-money funded teams) F1 team, he insisted on having his friend in charge of the team. They spent multi-millions, even by F1 standards, and produced lousy cars.
Jacque made a ton of money and a ton of enemies in F1 because of his haughty attitude.
I wouldn’t have him on my NASCAR team. He’s going to get punted into the wall a lot more than Montoya, whom I like.
Montoya is way out of his element in NASCAR and has a lot to learn about the subtle art - however, he’s a race car driver and a good one.
I expect to see some of those Indy car racers coming over soon. Hornish is considering whether to make the move next year. With all the F1 and Indy car talent eyeing NASCAR it’s going to get a lot harder for the homegrown talent to move up.
I have always considered Jacques a pale imitation of the great Gilles Villeneuve.
The only reason for his success earlier in his career is that he had a superior car. If every car were equal, he’d always finish in the bottom third, if he didn’t kill the car somehow beforehand.
JMHO, YMMV
Juan Pablo Inigo (prepare to die) Montoya, Crash Gordon and Smoke Stewart? Weren’t they all open wheelers? I see a trend here :o|
Maybe those open wheel drivers don’t transfer very well? Certainly seems to be a trend. Of course, Earnhardt senior was no gentleman on the track.
I never drove open wheel unless tractors count.. :-) , but Yes, they and others like Matt Kenseth and Flash too.. there have been quite a few drivers that came up thru the ranks , an example of Nascar’s true form of diversity, not race sensitive in the least, rather talent based, ya either can hack it or get run off the track.
If aggression means crashing others, Jacques ain’t gonna be around long, imo.
The open-wheelers are only going where the fame and fortune is, expect more of them. Just think, eventually there WON’T be an “off season”. :)
F1, the farm team of NASCAR...
Er, Robot’s a late-model guy.
Was he? Thanks, Maybe I had Kinser on the brain.
Don’t forget Dario “flipper” Franchitti. Just a little cute nickname I gave him, he’s my favorite of those guys.
You probably did have Kinser on the brain. If I had taken my camera up to the MKFC in Cambridge, I would have a pic of Matt’s first late model (a 1981 Camaro) to show you, along with a few other special cars.
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