So you have an opinion on it. How does that make you superior again? I sorta missed that part. Why exactly did you feel the need post a sarcastic remark and imply that I didn't realize they go in circles?

While I do live in an area of the world where NASCAR is quite popular, I wouldn't consider myself "from" here. I actually grew up in a place where F1 was much more popular. I also grew up in a family that enjoys ALL forms of racing. If it went fast, we watched it on TV or went to see it. I guess that's why I've retained the ability to be open-minded.

If I had to pick a "best" race series (which would be based entirely on my opinion) it would be WRC. While I do expect a Schumacher thread to be heavily F1-biased,

Name calling....

Cabo

 

he can always go to WRC, but in other interviews he said no way because that's just insane form of racing

 

See what I mean?


He's only good at F1. That post proves it right there.


But wait -- didn't he participate in ROC? Don't they drive rally cars in that race?

My inferior NASCAR-biased mind can't handle this any more. What to do?!? Which way is right ?


Cabo

 

Why would Shumi go to NASCAR anyway, he is the highest paid racer/athlete in history because of F1 and 300 million+ fans world wide watching him. NASCAR could never offer that kind of exposure and pay. Hell, it would take most of if not all of NASCARS revenue just to pay him to sit in the car and wave. LOL

When your at the top, there is no place to go but down and why would he do that. He has raced in the top motorsport in the world since 1991(the Pinnacle of motorsports), why would he want to step down to a lower form of racing. It would not really be a challenge or worth his time driving in a circle. It would be like being a Billionaire(which he is) and giving it all away to work at McDonalds because you never did it. Simply pointless.

 

Call it a new challenge. My main point is that he often came across like his poopie didn't stinkie. I particularly love the part where he "stalled" at Monaco recently. His press-conference response to that was pretty lame.

He's the Michael Jordan of motorsports -- yeah, he's good at what he does, but he's not the only one out there. I guess I just got tired of seeing and hearing about him, like I did when Jordan was popular.


Cabo

 

I'm glad Schumi's gone. He's a symptom of whats wrong with F1. He breaks the rules, he gets a slap on the hands. He can do so b/c he brings the fans to the stands. The last race was a bit ridiculous with Alonso being penalized for blocking. Whats the point in racing if things are so unfair?

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports. The drivers are the best of the best. People in the lower series would give their left nut just to be a test driver.

When it comes to driving skill, how can you argue that a series that drives in circles requires even the same skill as a series that drives on the fastest road courses in the world?

I'm not trying to rain down on nascar, hell I watch nascar. Hell a friend of mine and I were looking into setting a car up to run in nascar. F1 could learn a hell of a lot from Nascar. Nascar is low tech. Not in a bad way, but in a more fair way. Not that nascar is fair, but closer to it. Nascar marketing is genius. Even the way they film and commentate. The overall message is that nascar drivers really aren't all that different from you and I.

Whats further is that theres this crazy thing that happens in nascar called "passing." I remember when there used to be a lot of that in F1 but no longer.

The bumping and rubbing in nascar is also good fun to watch. Watching those old boys running up at infineon is an absolute pleasure. Bumper cars anyone?

When I watch the F1 post race conferences its about as interesting as getting a colorectal exam without lubrication. Like watching paint dry then flake off with the passage of time would be more exciting.

All in all I'd say this: The average F1 driver will drive circles around the average nascar driver. I think the average WRC driver would drive rings around both.

While F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports, I think the best drivers in the world are in WRC. Seb Loeb/Gonholm/Petter. They drive on gravel/road/snow/mud, rain or shine, on four tires or three. Their car catches on fire? they keep going. They shatter their windshield after flipping 5 times? they kick it out and keep going. Brakes on fire? They keep going.

I love the fact that they get out of their own cars and change flats, fix anything that can be fixed to get back to service.

Plus given the fact that they're driving constantly changing and different courses means they have to adapt and extremely high rates of speed. This also makes the average wrc course the most dangerous in the world. Couple that with the layout of wrc cars, side by side driver/co-driver and the number of obstacles to hit on the average dirt road (trees,boulders,telephone poles etc) makes the car itself not as safe as it could be. RIP Beef.

 

Don't hate the player, hate the game. FIA made those BS rules, that's what's wrong with F1. The organization and their rules need to be revamped to make things more competitive. As for WRC, I agree but did not feel the need to make a comment on WRC and drivers even though the same kind of BS rules and problems exist there as well ruining the sport. The FIA has been trying to get rid of the Tarmac Rallies in WRC for the last few years because they say it isn't as exciting and competitive as the Gravel, snow and dirt rallies(which is wrong)among other things. That's why one of the greatest Rally Drivers in history left WRC ( one of my favorites, Makinnen) because of the FIA's BS rules changing. The FIA and their BS rules pretty much ran FIA GT series off the face of the planet back in the 90's. Many of the drivers that race in all of the FIA sanctioned events have talked about leaving and forming their own leagues for about 5 or 6 years now or more. All of the Touring car series around Europe have been ruined by the FIA as well.

The FIA has an extensive history and major problems with teams that do well, so they change rules to hurt those teams. This in turn takes them down the road to ridiculous rules that make the sport very difficult and no fun to watch anymore.

 

+1 Politics are a major part of F1, and Michael relies on that at least as much as his skill. Now that's driving!

I never argued about quantities of skill -- I merely stated that a different skill set is required for a different form of motorsports. An attempt to compare them is like comparing apples to oranges (within the same orchard/grove, of course). I'm sick of people slamming the sport of NASCAR because they think it makes them look sophisticated -- it's getting really old. All motorsports require skill, and the people who post here neither have that skill nor the crystal ball to predict how a driver would perform if he changed envrionments. Michael can't even predict how he would do, yet he felt the need to put the sport down without putting his money where his mouth is.

Yup. That's one of the points I tried to make earlier. People who slam NASCAR should listen to their own advice: "Don't hate the player(s), hate the game". NASCAR is just different, not better.

Maybe. Maybe not. None of us will know the answer to any of these possible scenarios until it happens. There's a reason why it almost never happens.

I suppose it's my series of choice because it's probably the easiest for me to relate to. Gronholm is absolutely hilarious once his mouth gets started -- he has way more personality than any F1 driver I know.

Too bad the series is governed by the FIA.


Cabo

 

Comparing F1 to NASCAR, now that’s a laugh! As someone said above anyone can pretty much build a NASCAR and race. People try all their lives to become F1 drivers and don’t make the cut. If you’re not one of the best in the world, you’re never going to become a F1 driver. It’s like comparing two people applying for different jobs: One person only has the skill set for a minimum wage paying job $6-7 per hour. He will never get hired for a 150+K job. Another person with the skill set for a 150+K job, is not going to leave his job and take the minimum wage job, even though he can.

Please don’t mention Montoya here . He knew F1 didn’t want him, so he did the most idiotic thing he could… Maybe word of his temperament and bad behavior got around to other types of racing and no one wanted to hire him but NASCAR. Even with his short fuse, maybe we should just wait and see what he does at NASCAR.

What’s sad about the whole thing is there’s finally an American racing in F1. It’s a huge accomplishment to get where he is. Yet, does the average American even know he exists? No, their too busy watching NASCAR, whose pace of technology development is stuck in the dark ages.

My 4G63s:
My GVR4, My Evo8

 

I'm putting a carburetor on my Evo.

jeff

 

First, Cabo you are no longer welcome in this thread so do not post. I have no problem with anyone debating but when you are unable to get your point accross or have no point and resort to name calling it's time for you to leave.

You are obviously only here to instigate with everyone, therefore you are not welcome to post in this thread any longer.


Slo Evo8,
Did you ever see the video where the camera guy was too close to Montoya and he turned around and hit his head on the camera? It is hilarious, he just keeps saying "you broke my f*cking head"

 

Politics in F1 is I think taken out of proportions at times. Fernando go put back 10 places (actually had 3 best times deleted) for blocking Massa.

A lot of people say the FIA's biased and so on. But they had telemetry from both cars, they have video footage, explanations from both drivers and contrary to popular belief, the stewards are made up of an international group - not just Italians. So yes, I would think they can judge more fairly the situation. Besides, Alonso does have a habit of lifting off in the middle of corners to wrong foot the driver behind and the parabolica would be a good place to do it so there is substance there. Really I don't think the FIA is as biased and people think. Read interviews with Max Mosley when you have the chance and you'll find they're not as clueless as they are made out to be.

 

I remember watching that on the web somewhere. Montoya's people skills definitely needs a little work. I will say this, even though some of his antics on track (and off) were agressive, he did/does have a lot of skill. You must give him credit for being really quick on cold tyres. And somehow, like Senna, when he came up on you in a race, you knew you had to work extra hard to keep him back.

As far as the Massa/Alanso incident goes, what a lot of people forget is that Alanso did give Massa a lot of slip streaming opportunities that would have helped a lot with his quali times. But without seeing everything the marshals saw, it's hard to comment.

 

you bring up a good point. the viewers at home never get to see the whole picture, so we can only form an opinion from what we can see. i don't think Michael always get off easy. they were quick to jump on him at Monaco when he supposedly stalled his car on the last corner during qualifying.

 

Even ecclestone said the Alonso penalty was a farce.

Schumaker should have been banned from the race for intentionally stalling his car at Monaco. Not only did it put other drivers at a disadvantage timewise, its potentially deadly.