American drivers

[gangajas]

Why aren't there good American drivers in F1 or WRC? Even in the US, foreign drivers dominate OW and GT championships. Is there any explanation for this situation?

[nthfinity]

I guess your discounting the many successful american drivers in the various GT, prototype, Indy, ALMS etc. who are successful?

I wonder how many nascar drivers would be successful in traditional circuit racing... with regularity now, we see them take an occasional seat.... just to place VERY high... win etc. ...

[gangajas]

IRL:



Champ Car:



ALMS:









Le Mans:




F1:



WRC:



FIA GT:

[Mattk]

It's probably because there is a very strong motorsports tradition and culture in the US. American drivers are brought up on the domestic competitions: NASCAR, Indy/Champ Car, for instance. A lot of American talents simply enter those spheres and stay there, not really desiring to go international.

[gangajas]

Originally Posted by Mattk It's probably because there is a very strong motorsports tradition and culture in the US. American drivers are brought up on the domestic competitions: NASCAR, Indy/Champ Car, for instance. A lot of American talents simply enter those spheres and stay there, not really desiring to go international.

There a lot of foreign drivers and few US drivers at the top of IRL, Champ Car and ALMS point standings. Do you have any doubt that is those foreign drivers were competing in NASCAR they would win?

[dutchmasterflex]

There are only a few NASCAR racers who can deal with multiple turns. ie. Jeff Gordon

I'm not saying NASCAR is easy, but very different from racing F1, etc. Montoya even says its the hardest racing he's ever done.. He's come from F1 and now sits in the middle of the pack with the NASCAR boys.

F1 is a European sport.. they have the upper hand.

Just like how we have shit soccer players

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex There are only a few NASCAR racers who can deal with multiple turns. ie. Jeff Gordon I'm not saying NASCAR is easy, but very different from racing F1, etc. Montoya even says its the hardest racing he's ever done.. He's come from F1 and now sits in the middle of the pack with the NASCAR boys. F1 is a European sport.. they have the upper hand. Just like how we have shit soccer players

Robbie Gordon, a hick nascar driver has shown more then a lot of talent in the european rallies the few time's he's gone... if you remember him trading stage wins with Collin McRae 2 PAris Dakar's ago for the european legs? the two of them were far and away ahead of the pack...

Travis Pastrana is alright in rally... but he's definately not world-beating class yet... and perhaps ever.

BUT....

US pro-rally has a lot of talent in it that never goes to europe...

[graywolf624]

. First off, american drivers tend to stick to national championships like Nascar or IRL or CART series as there's a strong motorsport culture based on domestic racing in the States. And secondly, that many so-called world championships are basically european series with some races held outside Europe, like the FIA GT championship.

It comes down to one thing.. Money. You can make a shit ton more money in Nascar then just about anything else.

I don't remember a successful american driver driving a non-american team

Short memory.. The last 2 American F1 world champions drove for ferrari and lotus respectively..

[deuces]

In my experience, there aren't as many opportunities for American drivers to start racing in the European direction (F1, LM, etc). Proper karting tracks are few and far between and they aren't nearly as big a deal as they are in Europe.

[666fast]

Originally Posted by nthfinity Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex There are only a few NASCAR racers who can deal with multiple turns. ie. Jeff Gordon I'm not saying NASCAR is easy, but very different from racing F1, etc. Montoya even says its the hardest racing he's ever done.. He's come from F1 and now sits in the middle of the pack with the NASCAR boys. F1 is a European sport.. they have the upper hand. Just like how we have shit soccer players Robbie Gordon, a hick nascar driver has shown more then a lot of talent in the european rallies the few time's he's gone... if you remember him trading stage wins with Collin McRae 2 PAris Dakar's ago for the european legs? the two of them were far and away ahead of the pack... Travis Pastrana is alright in rally... but he's definately not world-beating class yet... and perhaps ever. BUT.... US pro-rally has a lot of talent in it that never goes to europe...

I doubt Pastrana will ever be a world beating driver. He's good, but also crazy. Anyone ever see the crash where he flipped the car like 15 times? He screamed and laughed the whole way through it.

Nascar isn't full of one trick ponies that only know how to turn left. Dale Earnhardt has done very will in GT racing (as did his father), same for Boris Said.
I wouldn't be surprised if most Nascar drivers would excel in rallying, most of them spent their early years on dirt tracks.

While I'm not a Nascar fan, I find it somewhat vindicating that Montoya hasn't done all that spectacularly. He's with one of the best teams and not in the premier Nascar league and still has yet to really wow anyone.
Far too many people peg Nascar as a low tech, redneck sport that requires no real talent and they couldn't be farther from the truth. 800bhp fire breathing, light weight monsters with little downforce and absolutely no driving aids makes for one hell of a ride, even if you are on an oval.

[dutchmasterflex]

Originally Posted by nthfinity Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex There are only a few NASCAR racers who can deal with multiple turns. ie. Jeff Gordon I'm not saying NASCAR is easy, but very different from racing F1, etc. Montoya even says its the hardest racing he's ever done.. He's come from F1 and now sits in the middle of the pack with the NASCAR boys. F1 is a European sport.. they have the upper hand. Just like how we have shit soccer players Robbie Gordon, a hick nascar driver has shown more then a lot of talent in the european rallies the few time's he's gone... if you remember him trading stage wins with Collin McRae 2 PAris Dakar's ago for the european legs? the two of them were far and away ahead of the pack... Travis Pastrana is alright in rally... but he's definately not world-beating class yet... and perhaps ever. BUT.... US pro-rally has a lot of talent in it that never goes to europe...

Robbie Gordon has lots of experience in Baja Rally and has proven to do well in the Dakar. WRC is a totally different race and league. No doubt he would do well, but no where on the level of Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb.

Same with Pastrana, he played it safe and beat Colin McRae(due to him mcCrashing) in last years X-Games, but if you compare their runs before the crash, Pastrana is not up to WRC standards.


And most importantly as Graywolf has stated. It''s all about money. If you havent noticed, racing has been all about money (sponsors) for the past 20 years. Back in the 60's and 70's a punk kid with talent could build a race car in his garage and take national championships with hard work. In order to make it in today's Race world all you really need is a few million dollars to burn.

[RAMMIUS]

I know Andretti and Phil Hill... but I was thinking more in modern day drivers.

Not to mention the fact that Andretti was hardly an american driver

[Mattk]

I think it just all comes down to culture clash. Americans don't do well in the European-style series because they just don't really participate and don't like such types of racing.

[Mattk]

^Yeah, that's another thing. American manufacturers themselves are just not participating in the Europe-based series, except for Ford (although I think their rally organisation is a British operation).

[79TA]

let's not forget that despite any and all of our passion for cars, racing is essentially about money. With no sponsor interest etc. there is no real series. Right now, NASCAR is where one can make a ton money. If I'm not mistake, Dale Earnhardt Sr. made more than any other driver.

Robby Gordon, one of my favorites, is versatile and does other racing, most notably, the Dakar Rally. I'd like to see some Americans in WRC. However, the coverage of WRC here in the states is almost nonexistent so it makes it harder to bring up American drivers. What people see on TV affects where and how they want to race. NASCAR, Indy, some drag racing, and some sports car racing are the only things that are aired on networks or cable channels that aren't SPEED.

If I were to try to get into racing right now, I'd go road racing at Willow Springs etc. I don't know of any organized rallies that an amatuer could enter in California. Of course, the Baja SCORE events are pretty accessible and very tempting.