Is there a NACAR driver that is not white?

[BD]

Sorry guys, I don't follow NASCAR, but something interesting just came up, Juan Pablo Montoya just signed a deal to drive for his old CART Boss in next season's NASCAR series.

Wow, finally, a F1 driver entering the world of NASCAR... will be interesting.

 

[brahtw8]

Look up Bill Lester, Willy Ribbs and Wendell Scott.

(I just searched for those names, I don't watch NASCAR)

 

[CL65 Captain]

All three are lousy drivers.... Willy did a very short stint with Indy Cars too (sponsored by Bill Cosby) and failed at that also.
Willy T Ribbs was a prick, besides being an average driver - and that's a bad combination in an industry full of talent. Bill Lester seems to be a nice guy, smart, but still an average driver. His racing career conists of 105 starts, 0 wins, 2 top 5, 6 top 10. Not exactly the way to get a ride in NASCAR.

Some other mediocre drivers.... Lynn St. James & Sarah Fisher.

I'm not a bigot or a male chauvinist, but advancing people based on factors other than talent just isn't right.

 

[Understudy]

Wendell Scott did win a NASCAR event though, so he wasn't that bad of a driver to at least get a victory. I agree with not advancing people based on their ethnicity, but rather on talent. It also is nice to see some of the programs they've created in NASCAR the last few years to promote minority involvement in the sport like Drive for Diversity. Regardless of race or gender premier auto racing in MOST forms has been a sport of affluent inidividuals, and continues to be in some leagues like F1 where most often the best funded teams have a huge advantage.

I don't think you'll find anyone that can deny Danica's talent as she definitely deserves to be there. Speaking of which, she is also rumored to be considering NASCAR next year. This is the last year of her contract with Rahal Letterman, but it might end up just being a media propoganda. You also have Erin Crocker that I think qualified on the pole last week in a stock car race and was competitive throughout until a late crash.

 

[Ineed a_NSX]

Can wait to see Juan Pablo Montoya in nascar. And also Danica Patrick is coming over to nascar as well.

 

[94BlkNSXinNC]

I agree with "understudy" on the topic of resources. Bill Lester actually didn't run all that bad in his race this year, but it is awefully hard to compete with the likes of Rick Hendrick and Jack Rousch.

I am also excited to see what Montoya can do! There's another "open-wheel" driver in NASCAR who has experienced a great deal of success, you might know him...Tony Stewart. It will certainly be a challenge for Montoya, as those "stock cars" (HA) don't handle quite like the F1's!

 

[mickeylex]

I'm not a bigot or a male chauvinist, but advancing people based on factors other than talent just isn't right.

Maybe I missed something.

Does NASCAR or F1 "advance" people on anything other than talent?

 

[Hugh]

Is there a NACAR driver that is not white?

Doesn't NACAR stand for North American Caucasian Automobile Racers? If that's the case it doesn't surprise me but as others have pointed out there have been several African-American NASCAR racers.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

Can wait to see Juan Pablo Montoya in nascar. And also Danica Patrick is coming over to nascar as well.

They'll both fail there also.

 

[Understudy]

They'll both fail there also.

If Danica makes the move over I bet she'd have some success, IF she ends up with a good team. She has a ton of talent and if surrounded by a solid team would quickly get adjusted to the NASCAR style of racing. Not to mention, both Danica and Montoya would have a pretty good chance at Infineon and Watkins Glen with their road racing ability. Look at Boris Said who can jump in for those two races and often have a good run/compete.

It certainly will be interesting, especially if Danica makes the move too. As mentioned above, there is precedent for a road racer making the move to NASACAR and having success.

 

[BD]

Interestingly, when you drive an open wheel car, the number thing is, do not bang into another car!!! lol

It will be cool to see Montoya, with the hot headed driving style, it will probably suit him better:wink:

 

[PhiAlpha44]

I'm one person that is SICK AND TIRED of Danica Patrick. I'm sick of the coverage she gets and she hasn't even won anything. Why does everyone think she's so great? Yes, she's hot, yes she's a good driver... but you'd think she's always in the hunt for the championship every year the way they talk about her. I love how they talk about her when the race is over no matter what happened.

They talk about everyone on the podium, and then it's off to our correspondant that's talking live to Danica... that came in 18th place....

 

[fannsx]

I'm one person that is SICK AND TIRED of Danica Patrick. I'm sick of the coverage she gets and she hasn't even won anything. Why does everyone think she's so great? Yes, she's hot, yes she's a good driver... but you'd think she's always in the hunt for the championship every year the way they talk about her. I love how they talk about her when the race is over no matter what happened.

They talk about everyone on the podium, and then it's off to our correspondant that's talking live to Danica... that came in 18th place....

Well, she is pretty to look at. That's what people want to see. Pretty things on TV. I rather watch an interview with Danica than with Richard Petty.:Marketablility and sponsorships can get a driver very popular without winnning a single race. But one does need to have a certain talent to get into the major racing circle.

 

[NA1/2-R GT]

I'm one person that is SICK AND TIRED of Danica Patrick. I'm sick of the coverage she gets and she hasn't even won anything. Why does everyone think she's so great? Yes, she's hot, yes she's a good driver... but you'd think she's always in the hunt for the championship every year the way they talk about her. I love how they talk about her when the race is over no matter what happened.

They talk about everyone on the podium, and then it's off to our correspondant that's talking live to Danica... that came in 18th place....

Look at Anna Kournikova, SEX sells dude! accept the fact... and move on.

 

[schuey1010]

Danica

Danica would have a pretty good chance at Infineon and Watkins Glen with her road racing ability.

Danica
Road racing ability?
Are you sure?
No top team will take a chance on her.
She can't get out of her own way on the road courses. She better try and perfect the ovals because she will never get the road race thing down.

 

[95EagleAWD]

Re: Danica

Katherine Legge for the talent in women here... at least she's won something.

Danica is Kournikova.

Katherine is Sharapova.

Both are hot, I met Katherine yesterday at the Edmonton GP; she's very nice and knows her stuff. Unfortunately, she had a shitty weekend, but that's racing.

 

[Hugh]

You're forgetting Liz Halliday who drives a LMP2 Lola in the ALMS. She kicked some serious Porsche butt today. It was her 6th career win. I don't think Danica has even won a race on an X-Box. I feel sorry for her if she really plans on trying out NASCAR. Can you just picture her trying to handle one of those 700 HP farm truck handling stock cars? Oh the horror!

 

[jond]

I can imagine going from the most advanced cars in the world to the most unadvanced cars in the world.
Nascar still uses 4-speeds dont they? lol

 

[Nihilation]

I'm by no means a NASCAR fan, but to say it's ancient technology and that those cars handle like crap...well, you're wrong. Sure, they're setup to drive in a rather large oval, but there do have road course circuits in their season. Now that's the entertaining race...

Breaking down the suspension a little bit, they do use torque arms with panhard bars and coilovers. It's quite a large jump from the old farm tractor and the basic 4-link suspension of early solid axle cars.

 

[PhiAlpha44]

Yeah, it's not that that the Nascar series is ancient technology... but that they would rather focus on the abilities of a driver rather than the technology in the car. I would much rather watch tony stewart get tapped going into the tri-oval at Daytona at 200 mph... slide through the grass, and control it as it slides back up onto the track, than see and F1 driver mash the throttle out of every turn and let the TCS do it's thing. But then again.. that's why Nascar is so popular, because people pick a driver to associate with and root for, rather than a race team.

Have you guys ever seen this video from 2 years ago when Juan Pablo and Jeff Gordon switched cars at Indy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei20orsQPYY

 

[Shumdit]

As we now know Danica is staying in open wheel (switching teams), so it's just Juan them good ol boys have to run into the wall every Sunday now.

 

[Hugh]

Yeah, it's not that that the Nascar series is ancient technology... but that they would rather focus on the abilities of a driver rather than the technology in the car.

The safety features of NASCAR vehicles are outstanding. It's amazing what a driver can walk away from today. Technology wise they can't be compared to an F1 car but they shouldn't have to be. They're pursposely built to basically do one thing.