Source: Allmendinger and Speed on USF1’s short list, Patrick and Busch are not
19 Comments Quote selected text Published March 27th, 2009 in NASCAR News
Sources tell AutoRacingSport.com that NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers AJ Allmendinger and Scott Speed are ‘definitely’ on the short list of the newly formed USF1 Formula 1 team that’s set to begin competition in 2010 while IndyCar star Danica Patrick and NASCAR Sprint Cup sensation Kyle Busch are not.
‘Ken and Peter (Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor-USF1 team Principals) are really looking for open wheel experience, and Scott and AJ (Speed and Allmendinger) fit that bill quite well, with AJ being a winner in Champ Car and Scott having F1 experience.’ our source informs us. ‘Of course I don’t think this really comes as a surprise’.
‘The thing with Danica and Busch is they are oval drivers and are not proven at all on road courses. It makes good press to talk about them but in the end they’re just not in the frame, not that they’d neccessarily want to be anyway.’
‘Kyle would be nuts to move anyway…he’s making a fortune in Stock Cars.’
We asked about the possibility of having interest in Marco Andretti.
‘I think it would be hard to do a deal there.’
Interesting.
Sources have been saying they have been on the short list since the team was first announced, and those sources are nothing but pure speculation.
The drivers for USF1 will be a driver out of GP2, a driver out of A1-GP, and test/backup/reserve driver will also be out of GP2.
You won’t get Allmendinger and Speed on the same team ever, and Speed will never be welcomed back into the GPDA, and Peter is too much of a suck-up to employee a driver who is not part of the GDPA.
And for what it’s worth Peter has said that they would consider Shrub once his contract with JGR is up.
Exactly Fisha
Hopefully Kyle doesn’t go over there, I would love to see him stay in cup and have long and good career I would like to see what kind of numbers Kyle could rack up. Yeah I dont see Speed going back to F1, I would like to the DINGER over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Montoya went back to F1, and went to this team. Lets face it montoya was a bad A$$ in F1, nobody ran Schu harder then montoya did. Personally I would love to see montoya in F1 where he can show his true driving talent.
Where’s Gordon on that list…i know he’s committed to NASCAR but i’d love to see him in at least one F1 race.
Dustin wrote:
Jeff is too old, and Robby is to fat.
YAWNS…Who cares.
Busch not proven at all on road courses? He won three of the four road course events in the top two NASCAR national series last year. He’s far from a veteran, but has more than proven himself to be a versatile driver.
Did Dario’s name ever come up. I can’t believe he still works for that snake oil salesman. Let Speed go back to those rockheads. They deserve him.
I’d put Butck Patrick (Eddie Munster) in a car before Danica Patrick.
Lee88_14 wrote:
F1 is a heck of a lot more exciting and interesting then NASCAR. Hey F1 can even make their Indy tire problems somewhat fun, whereas NASCAR totally killed the race.
YAWNS… left turns for 4 hours…
F1 is much more exciting this year than NASCAR
You have a radical rules shakeup that has changed the pecking order
with the new Brawn (ex-Honda team) leading the pack as 1-2 in Australia.
Whereas McLaren, Ferrari, and even BMW to a degree have struggled in the early going.
NASCAR is just kind of ‘eh’ right now.
THE truth
Your right afterall look at Hamilton he qualified 15th. the new rules is going to make this year so much better, I cant wait to get into. All the new rule changes affecting the downforce and the tire changes is going to make it closer racing and the real racers are going to step up here
Hamilton had a gearbox failure, that is why he qualified 15th, although now he will start at the rear. Both Toyota’s will also start at the rear because their upper rear-wing element did not meet the specs, it was too flexible.
What an F1 race, A team a month old comes out and dominates. Although I bet F1 will change the rules with the diffusor and then it should even it up. Red Bull who has the “correct” diffusor is running with the teams with questionable diffusor, so I see red Bull being strong this year. It was awesome racing though today, suck for Vettel though.
I don’t think Speed wants to go back to F1 at all. And AJ ALlmendinger is loving NASCAR, I don’t think he would leave either.
I think their best optoins are Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter Reay.
Marco Andretti would be a terrible choice, Speed would be a good choice and I think he would go back in a heartbeat. As for the Dinger, Im sure he is happy with Nascar but lets face it by no means is he good equipment, and he is doing an exceptional job with it. I think he would leave nascar in a heartbeat to get a shot at the pinnacle of racing and that is F1.
I love blogs! Everybody is a fricken expert!
I have been watching racing for over 30 years……. Nascar, F1, IndyCar, CART, IRL, Indy Lights, British F3000, DTM, TC2000 (Argentina), Atlantic Series, etc etc.
I’ve seen many many drivers come and go…..
F1 is a place where only the best open wheel drivers make it. Being a test driver in F1 is considered a great achivement by many. ONLY THE BEST (Open wheel) DRIVERS MAKE IT TO F1. Other forms of racing, such as NASCAR and WRC (World Rally Championship), have geniuses of their own and can’t be compared to F1 drivers…… it’s like comparing apples to oranges.
But in open wheel racing, F1 is the pinnacle and F1 drivers are seen as the best in the world.
As a racing fan, it’s exciting to know that the USA is going to have a team for 2010 in F1. I really hope they do well…… but it’s not going to be easy. F1 is very complex and beating teams with the experience of Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Renault is not going to be easy.
Picking drivers for the new USF1 Team is not going to be easy either. In my opinion, one of the drivers should be someone with good F1 experience, regardless of his nationality, and the other should be a young-promising-talented-proven-american born star, hopefully with a huge FAN CLUB.
If you want talent and experience….. there is no better (currently active) driver IN THE WORLD than Juan Pablo Montoya. He has proven to have the talent and ability to successfuly compete in F1. He is listed in the TOP30 in all ALL-TIME statistics in ALL categories (Most wins, poles, fastest laps, podiums, etc.). Only when you see drivers like Franchitti, Villeneuve and others fail at NASCAR do you really start to appreciate what JPM does as a racing driver!
But Juan is very happy in NASCAR; he loves the racing, the fans, being in America, the other drives, etc. I really don’t see him giving that up, but you never know….. hopefully he will realize just how much fans around the world would LOVE to see him back in F1, and decide to leave NASCAR, at least for a while.
If it’s not JPM, then my vote would be for Villeneuve (F1, CART and INDY500 champion).
The second driver on the team should be seen as the ‘Driver of the Future’ for the USF1 Team. If a 17yr old spaniard (Jaime Alguersuari) is going to be given a chance to race in F1 this upcoming weekend, I don’t see why the US can’t have a rising star in their team.
But the kid has to be good. Don’t be fooled, a GREAT DRIVER is usually easy to spot…….. do you remember what Villeneuve or Bourdais did in their first year in CART? That type of complete domination by a driver is a good sign of a GREAT ONE. You are either fast or you’re not……… as a driver you might need a few races to show your true potential, but GREAT DRIVERS usually are fast very quickly.
Drivers like Patrick are fun to watch, but they are not good enough for F1. Not now not ever……. and the idea is to give this seat to an American driver who can become a future F1 World Champion!
Bourdais dominated all the drivers in the current IRL field……. yet Bourdais was unable to keep his seat in F1, so with the exception of maybe Rahal and Andretti, I don’t see the great future star coming from the current IRL drivers.
In feeder series like Indy Lights and Formula BMW (American Series), two names stand out: Rookie Sebastian Saavedra (Indy Lights) and Gabby Chavez (Formula BMW). They might not be experienced enough for F1 yet……. but those are the type of drivers that certainly show great potential.
Who else in feeder series do you believe could be future F1 stars?
Cheers,
Mauro
Kyle has gobbs of raw talent and a personality disorder, I love Danica but road courses don’t love her. Speed is a punk and AJ looks good for a ride but the young talent in NASCAR with a really steep learning curve is….Joey Legano! I think that young man could be groomed to race anything and do it well. Keep Juan in NASCAR and he’ll win a championship as long as you keep him away from Smoke, those two….both with hot tempers driving red cars, just like a couple of young bulls that can’t help themselves. Keep Marco away from those expensive F1 cars because I like to see more than one lap. In fact if I were looking for talent for my F1 team I would take a close look at some of the drivers in the ALMS series. That is road racing of the highest caliber, just pure balls out, smokin’ hot racing. F1’s great as long as you overlook the numerous refueling screw-ups, (oh yeah, no more of those in 2010) on the job training,i.e Grossjean, and driver interviews with drivers lacking personality. I love F1, I love NASCAR, I suffer through those boring Indy races and bide my time until the ALMS P1 Acura’s are hurtling past the MUCH slower P2, GT2, and challenge cars. As I watch in shear amazement as the Flying Lizard attempts to hold off the combines assault of the 3 and 4 cars of Corvette Racing. I can’t wait for the 2010 season because I love it all. None are perfect but that leads to errors which present opportunities so let the games begin!
The US does not have a good F1 candidate at present. The team should start with a European with F1 experience and bring in Al-dinger to learn the style of F1 racing. There is alot to be said about the experience of a driver in F1 and show dinger how to set up a car etc. Racing in Europe and F1 takes a special driver to compete and work within the politics of that type of racing. Anderson and Windsor should get some advice from Jackie Stewart about a driver from Europe who would benefit the USF1 team. Stewart knows the sport like no other and would be a big help. Montoya does not want back in the F1 Dog and Pony Show!! Unfortunately, Bourdais did not get it done when he had the chance and his character of pouting did not show much.(Vettel made him look like a chump) Jacque V does not have it anymore!! Speed is fast in name only. Good luck USF1!!!!!!!! I will be following Ferrari and USF1 next year.