Quote:
Originally Posted by ISF
As the story goes and was told yesterday after the race was over Joey from Tennessee could't cut the mustard over in Europe where the real racing takes place. LOL! Usually those guys that can't keep it going over in Europe (or those that have had some Indy Car success here and want to cash in on NASCAR's money train) come back to the States and give NASCAR a try only to wash out of that deal, too.
If only the powers that be at the time had heeded ol' Dan's call for unity and prosperity. All this horrible bigoted nationalism in open wheel racing would be nothing more than a distant afterthought. LOL!
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Who pray tell, other than Juan Pablo Montoya, has left directly from Europe for full time NASCAR? I want to hear this one.
The fact is if you want to develop into an open wheel driver the best place to go is Europe, although the MRTI series is getting much better under Dan Anderson's leadership. What it does is set up up for a path into F1, ala Rossi, sports cars, and IndyCar. You also have to take the ladder results with a bit of a grain of salt being that drivers develop at different rates and the equipment is not equal. Josef finished 18th in GP3 in 2010. The top four that season included Estaban Guitterez(who might be in a full time ride next year), current DTM driver and on the short list of wanted by IndyCar teams Robert Wickens, and oh a certain one Mr. Alexander Rossi.
That same 18th place Josef then proceeded to wax the 2011 edition of Indy Lights and then proceeded to take lower funded rides to places they should have never been over the course of five seasons. When you're placing Sarah Fisher's equipment in the top 7 in points and Ed Carpenter's car in 4th in the standings post reunification that's a statement on the talent you possess.
You can laugh all you want, but Dan was right, and the same issues as these guys have in going the Cup it will be the other way around if a Cup driver or dirt slinger comes this direction...hence why teams aren't going after them. It's much easier to turn a road racer into an oval racer in this form of racing than vice versa and I don't care how many Daytona 500's and 4 Crown Nationals you've won you're going to have your ass handed to you when going up against former and current F1, LMP1, LMP2, GTLM, etc. drivers in this series. These are high level drivers they are getting post reunification. There are only so many factory rides in sports cars and 20 seats in F1, these drivers have to go somewhere for a living and a chance to win.