Club Arnage

A not so surprising statement from McLaren-Mercedes: JPM will be replaced immidiately by Pedro de la Rosa

Not surprising , as Dodge is owned by DaimlerChrysler  ;)

This will actually help JPM's situation because he's free to do all the testing he wants, getting acclimated to a NASCAR stocker and re-aquainted with high speed ovals after these past years in F1. As I said before, I don't really care for him much as a person, but he's always been breathtaking to watch on superspeedways.  His battle with Michael Andretti for the 2000 Michigan 500 and his Indy 500 win that same year have passed into Indycar racing legend.
Fax

Yep.  I remember when racing on the big ovals used to be interesting.  Sigh.

Thanks, Idiotgrandson.   ::)

Careful Fax, thats half a compliment  ;D ;D ;D ;D

But like I also said, he acted like a prick when my ten year old nephew asked him for his autograph. ;)
Fax

Tell ya one other thing JPM's going to have to get used to,
over FORTY races in one year including the non-points races.
His weekends lying on the beach somewhere are over, they only have a couple of off weekends between Daytona in Feb.
and Miami in November.  Better get used to doing PR functions and autograph sessions too.  Act like a jerk to a kid asking for a autograph at a NASCAR event and you'll get a ass-chewing of biblical proportions from the NASCAR brass.
They really know what makes the sport go round, THE FANS!
No fans, no races, no TV ratings...NO MONEY!
Juan Pablo better sign up for that Dale Carnegie course now!
Fax

Sacked you say? Good!

He had a pretty good record in Indy, but has always flattered to deceive in F1. I reckoned he was a bit of a hothead and a panicker. I still don't really "get" NASCAR but I'm sure it'll be more challenging than F1. Having said that, how will a Columbian fare in with all that overly-sentimental apple-pie-and-mom patriotism nonsense. Heaven forbid there should ever be a coloured or a muslim driver.  ???

Hi Andy,
Agree completely, I brought that up on another Montoya thread.  NASCAR fans are the biggest collection of Xenophobic, chanting USA! USA!, ultra right wing, Bush supporting Nazi's in this country.  Actually during the last presidential campaign they were saying that Bush's strongest base were soccer moms and NASCAR dads.
He's going to have a difficult time winning over the toothless, shirtless Talladega crowd.  Best thing he could do is get into a crash with Jeff Gordon, get out of the car, go ape-sh**t, and attack the little California-Hoosier. That would win their hearts instantly.
Fax

Should that not be oval-ly sentimental

;D ;D ;D

Fax , quite right. But hats off to the organisers, they are bloody efficient in tapping into a ready market and giving the folks what they want.

Oh, and I'm not quite sure what to make about the new Disney animation, Cars. Am I right to think it's a NASCAR based storyline? Personally, i hate Walt and his evil empire, but there was a cute little FIAT 500 called Toni in my new packet of Shreddies last week.

They do actually have to work for a living twice a year, Sears Point and Watkins Glen.
They're saying now that Danica Patrick's dad is trying to set up a NASCAR ride for her...LOL!
Is her fifteen minutes of fame up yet?! Am I the only person who remembers when she spent forty five minutes in a Prodrive Ferrari 550 at the Petit a few years ago and had to be lifted out of the car? And she's going to spend three or four hours in a 3000lb stocker in the deep south summer heat? She needs to go back to karting.
Fax

Andy,
I'm sure NASCAR jumped all over the opportunity to put a South American household name in a car.  That's a market they see as big & juicy.  I could see a race in Brazil easily.  They already hold a Busch series race at the Rodriguez circuit in Mexico city. 

Apparently he thinking of new sponsorship options already

How cool would that be !!!

and how bout a BIG YEEEHAAWWWW!!!!

Christine Fittipaldi didn't count?  ;D

Well, I suppose you actually have to qualify as a racing driver ;D
As far as I'm concerned Christian's never been worth a sh*t as a driver.  Maybe one step up the ladder from Egg Fu Yoong in the rent-a-driver stakes.
Fax

Montoya at his best...
Wheel to wheel with Michael Andretti for the 2000 Michigan 500 at 230 MPH.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCYTSxMHTg4&search=montoya%20andretti%20michigan

is this the bloke married to the delactable Connie Montoya?

(http://likerky.sk/f1/connie_montoya.jpg)

(http://www.rally.gr/..%5Cdata%5Cphoto%5C14127.jpg)

(http://photos1.blogger.com/img/184/1010/640/connie_montoya.jpg)

is this his helmet she is holding?

(http://img.terra.com.br/i/2003/08/03/64080_ga.jpg)

ooooo, she could grip my helmet anyday of the week

Going around in circles is just about his level, bye bye JPM, I for one won't miss you.

Jem

Its interesting the response this has received both here in the US, and abroad.  In a nutshell tough, he's going to be making equal, if not better money in Nextel Cup than he was making in F1, and he'll be the darling of the Latin American crowd in the Americas if he wins.  He's going back to a team he's driven for before in CART and knows & understands high speed ovals (go back to my link for proof).  I'm sure he's not losing any sleep over the decision.
Fax

I should add that its a shame its come to a good riddance sort of thing. When I began following the sport racers weren't "F1 drivers" or "NASCAR drivers" or "Indycar drivers" they were "Racing Drivers" times were when no one gave a damn about who was a fan of whom, or whether or not you prefered stock cars or F1, you followed motor racing.  The arrival of the stick & ball crowd has reduced it to this.  Probably  one of many reasons I think F1 and NASCAR and Indycar, etc SUCK!
Because too many stick & ball f**ckwads following it these days. Used to be a helluva alot of fun and pretty damn cool before it became...TRENDY!
In 1967 Dan Gurney won a GP, Le Mans, Indy car races and NASCAR races.  If it was up to most of todays brainless fans, someone would be calling one of the greatest racers of the century a c**nt for competing in any of them at all.
Fax

Thanks for that Fax and here here!
When I watched Jim Clark, Graham Hill, John Surtees et al, when I was a kid, they were quite happy to race sports cars, saloon cars and open-wheelers all on the same day and came up to Oulton Park (my local track) on a regular basis so you didn't have to spend a packet of money to see your heros take on anthing that was going.
Brian Redman and Yogi Muir once turned up at Rufforth in a couple of Lolas!

Those were the days but I guess they're just not coming back and we have to resign ourselves to that.  A hoot to see old Ronnie Fellows in a Nextel Cup race the other day though - even if it wasn't an oval race and he was pretty cr*p at it - good for him, I say. :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/5178286.stm

The idea of being a race driver and therefore able to race different classes and formats is not one that MS is able to grasp.

Among most of the F1 guys there is clearly a belief they are at the top of the tree and cannot see any futher than that. They may feel they have too much to lose, after all if one does pitch up and gets beaten the reports in the press would kill their egos. Not something that toubled the drivers of old, Hill, Clark etc got beaten by up and coming drivers in F2, CanAm, GT's and touring cars but it never affected there status, they became legands.

To me F1 is just another type of racing (not an exciting one at present granted) and its drivers would do well to look around from time to time for other challanges, after all if your as good as you say you are, then you have nothing to lose.

Very well put Nordic,
We began following the sport in a vastly different era than today.  I remember vividly growing up watching a F1 race from the Ring or Monaco on TV one week, and couple of weeks later being able to see my same heros driving Can-Am, Trans-Am or F5000 cars at Mid-Ohio or Road America in person.  Jim Clark used to show up at Sebring (as reigning world champion) to drive a Lotus Cortina in the supporting touring car races to the 12 Hours. Could you imagine Schmacher or Alonso showing up at Sebring to race in a World Challenge GT or touring car event? There are still a few guys out there cut from that mold,Tony Stewart and Ron Fellows to name a couple, Ron was off the pace the other day but loves to get in a Nextel Cup car and mix it with the regulars from time to time.  Tony will race anything with wheels on it, just for fun.  F1 aces like Jim Clark and Dan Gurney raced everything from F1 to NASCAR stockers, for the love of racing and testing themselves against the best.

I guess to be fair to F1 drivers ( and I'm not often ), their lucrative contracts are also pretty restrictive and they're probably not allowed to race anything else these days.