Publication: NASCAR News
Rudd has strong return | |
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NASCAR NEWS - Thursday, October 18, 2007
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Open-wheel drivers face same challenges as Mario
'If you earn your respect ... you'll be respected back'
By Megan Englehart, SPEED
When reigning Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion
Dario Franchitti attempts to qualify for the Craftsman
Truck Series event at Martinsville (3 p.m. ET Saturday,
SPEED), he joins a pack of open-wheel standouts already
paving the path to stock cars.
Franchitti is preceded in his jump to NASCAR by former open
wheelers Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Montoya, Scott Speed and
Sam Hornish Jr., among others. A variety of opinions exist
as to why these men are making the move.
"From where I'm sitting, it is probably because of the
money [in NASCAR]," said Mario Andretti, a multi-series
champion who crossed over to NASCAR and won the 1967
Daytona 500.
"Every individual would give you a different reason. I
think the strongest one might be financial. It's not the
only motivating factor but it is a strong one. And right
now, the best chance to earn some money is NASCAR."
Others appear a bit stumped as to why these drivers, all
of whom have won championships in their respective series,
would venture into the vastly different world of NASCAR.
"This makes no sense," SPEED reporter Robin Miller said.
"Neither Franchitti nor Jacques Villeneuve need the money.
Jacques was making $20 million a year driving Formula One.
These guys have already made it financially and have won
major championships, so maybe they look at this as their
401k years."
Despite the varying opinions as to the motivation behind
the open wheelers' departure to NASCAR, most agree that
if open wheel racing currently was a healthier series,
this trend would not be in effect.
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"Looking at certain drivers who have pretty much been open
wheel the majority of their career, if open wheel was what
it should be, I don't think they'd even be thinking of
leaving," Andretti said.
"Open-wheel racing is such a dead industry now," Miller
lamented. "It's so hard to get money and there's so little
sponsorship. Right now, Champ Car and the IRL have only
limited seats in which drivers can make a decent living.
Open wheel racing hasn't provided a platform for these guys
to succeed, especially these young kids.
"When I go to the sprint car races, all these kids are
talking about the NASCAR development deals," he continued.
"They're not even looking at the Indy 500 because they know
it's a dead end and they have no chance unless they have
$4 or $5 million to bring to the table. Again, NASCAR wins
because it has a viable ladder system in place that is
supportive and you can be taken right to the top. You just
have to bring your helmet and your talent and that's the
way racing is supposed to be."
Despite all the talent and accolades these drivers hold,
anytime the new kid on the block comes knocking on the
door, he usually has to prove himself first.
"I thought it might be hard to be accepted [in NASCAR] but
it really wasn't because across the board, the racing
community has camaraderie," Andretti said. "Among the
drivers, I never felt like I was out of place or not
accepted. If you earn your respect and you don't do stupid
things, and you show that you have respect for them and you
do well, you'll be respected back.
"These guys are well-established in their field and the
drivers know the quality of driver they're dealing with,"
Andretti continued. "These guys are not fools - they're not
going to do stupid things. There was a lot of speculation
about Juan Montoya at first and all that was dispelled
pretty quickly and I think it's going to be the same with
these guys. If you're going to make the move and make the
commitment, you've got to deal with all these elements."
Being welcomed by the NASCAR fans might prove a more
challenging order, though.
"It [acceptance] is more of a fan situation because I'm
beginning to think NASCAR is purely an American sport,"
Andretti said.
"But that's why it works - Americans want to cheer for
Americans," Miller said. "When CART was in its heyday in
the early and mid-90s and had Nigel Mansell and Emerson
Fittipaldi, they were great world-class drivers, but there
were still Americans like Robby Gordon, Scott Pruett,
Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Danny Sullivan and Al
Unser Jr. It was a great melting pot of talent. The people
that went to the CART races loved the fact that there were
great foreign drivers there but you're talking about a
whole different animal in NASCAR."
Even if every NASCAR fan in America embraces this rush of
foreign and open wheel drivers, the welcome mat will not
teach these newcomers the idiosyncrasies of driving a stock
car. Patience and learning to finesse the heavy machines
are two of the toughest lessons to master.
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"When Paul Tracy drove the Busch races last year, he said
it's different because you can't be that aggressive and
you have to be patient," Miller said. "NASCAR races are
not one-and-a-half or two-hour races like these open wheel
guys are used to. You can't go for the throat and run as
hard as you can the whole race.
"These guys have to focus on conserving tires, staying
awake, making 9,000 pit stops and trying not to crash.
Franchitti is a very patient guy and it might play to his
strengths because he's got 500-mile races to get the car
dialed in."
Demanding more from the car than it is capable of giving
can be one of the pitfalls awaiting these open wheel
newcomers.
"From a driver's standpoint, especially a seasoned driver
like Dario Franchitti, it's probably overdriving the car
[the toughest thing to learn]," Andretti said. "This is
one of the first things we talked about when Juan Montoya
came in. When he figures it out, the better he's going to
be. There have been times when he's gotten the best of
himself because an open wheel racer is used to a lot higher
speed, a lot more cornering force and they have a tendency
to really barrel in and waste the lap time sliding around.
"That's what I experienced myself. It's all about contain-
ing yourself and trying to give it [the car] only all it
will accept."
A good place to hone these much-needed skills is in the
Truck Series.
"I think it's a good place to learn, in the trucks,"
Andretti said. "I think Dario is doing the right thing
there. What he learns will be very beneficial when he
gets to the Cup car. Experience is always golden. If I
were doing it, I would try to run trucks and Busch along
the way and try to speed up the learning curve."
With all this new information to keep in mind, what is a
sufficient amount of time to adjust to this new series
and race car?
"It's a learning curve," Miller said. "These guys will
get enough testing and the right kind of testing. The
tough thing with Franchitti and Montoya is they will
look to their teammate to lean on and he's young. They
don't have someone who's been around 20 years to tell
them about the tracks, the tires, the gears and the
strategy.
"As far as the owners are concerned, even if you've got
someone to be patient with you -- Sam Hornish does with
Roger Penske and he's not going to throw Sam out after
one or two years," Miller continued. "Whereas, will Chip
Ganassi be patient with Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario
Franchitti? Don't bet on it."
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Rudd has strong return as shoulder still tries to mend
Veteran undecided on racing at Martinsville next week
By Ron Lemasters, NASCAR.COM
CONCORD, N.C. - He was sore, and he was working with Cully
Barraclough for the first time, but Ricky Rudd came home
with a solid finish in his return from a separated shoulder
that happened over the Labor Day weekend at California.
Rudd earned an 11th-place finish in the Bank of America 500
on Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and it might
have been even better had it not been for the red flag on
Lap 324.
"We ran out of gas when we got the green flag," Rudd said
after the race. "I stood in the gas and it was buh-buh-buh-
buh-buh. I pulled over to the inside and then it took off
again."
Like many other drivers, including winner Jeff Gordon,
Rudd's car acted as if it was out of gas after sitting in
Turn 3 for more than 12 minutes during cleanup from Jeff
Green's blown engine. The car's engine "heat-soaks" the
components under the hood, and the fuel system is vulner-
able to vapor lock.
"They were saying, 'There's no problem on fuel; you don't
need to worry about running on the flat like everybody
else.' They said we were good on fuel, but we weren't, so
that's really frustrating," Rudd said.
"We were seventh and we would have at least been seventh
or moved to fifth."
Still, Rudd's 11th-place showing was a good one for Robert
Yates Racing, which now has five races left before it
becomes Yates Racing, under the guidance of Robert's son
Doug.
It is the second-best result Rudd has had this year; he
was seventh in the Coca-Cola 600 here in May, and 11th at
Infineon Raceway in June.
Rudd, who will retire at the end of the season, also has
five races left in his career, if he is able to race at
Martinsville next weekend.
"As far as my shoulder, it's a little sore," Rudd said. "I
knew it was hurting, but on a scale of 1 to 10 it wasn't
like something that you couldn't bear it. It was just like
a bad headache."
Rudd said he needed some time to figure out if Martinsville
was a go or not.
"I'll know more about it when I wake up [Sunday] and go
back to rehab therapy [on Monday]," he said. "Right now,
this [Lowe's] is different than Martinsville. I'll have
to work it a whole lot more. It's gonna have to get in a
little better shape. I don't want to start Martinsville
and get out at halfway because you just lose too much time.
"Right now, I'm probably a little better than 50-50 for
Martinsville."
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