Jr Gives Endorsement to V8 Supercar

muggle not · 2 Dec 2007, 14:34 (Ref:2079921)

Jr visits Australia and gives big endorsement to the V8 Supercars and said that he would love to race in the Series.

http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/la...=&gid=32677015

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/ Getty Images)

ThePenguin · 2 Dec 2007, 20:59 (Ref:2080080)

Interesting, I bet that he will probably do a one-off eventually, and it will be interesting to see how he does.

VilleneuveTracy · 2 Dec 2007, 22:15 (Ref:2080123)

It is great to see so many great drivers racing in different forms of racing these days, a la Mario Andretti. It is a shame, though, that no NASCAR driver will step up to the plate and race for the World Driver's Championship in the world's premier series...

kelvin88 · 3 Dec 2007, 01:33 (Ref:2080218)

At the risk of upsetting people, if jnr did a supercar race he would get his ass handed back to him, big time! I'm am interested to hear evidence against this remark though!

VilleneuveTracy · 3 Dec 2007, 04:35 (Ref:2080272)

How about his 4th place finish (and 2nd in class) in the 24 hours of Daytona race? That suggests Junior can do well in other forms of racing, a la JPM.

mountainstar · 3 Dec 2007, 06:17 (Ref:2080300)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelvin88

At the risk of upsetting people, if jnr did a supercar race he would get his ass handed back to him, big time! I'm am interested to hear evidence against this remark though!

If any V8 Supercar driver jumped in a Sprint Cup race he'd likely have his ass handed to him.

V8's is catching on in the USA. And it's good that we Americans are starting to take an interest.

Speedworx · 3 Dec 2007, 08:18 (Ref:2080359)

I'd be quite happy to kick Dale Jr out of NASCAR and send him to V8 Supercars.

Hazza · 3 Dec 2007, 09:07 (Ref:2080413)

Back in the good old dayd, Dick Jr used to get Yanks in for bathurst...Well lets put it this way, he's had a history of getting top notch international drivers (Brabs, etc) in his car.

Obviously he's out of THIS particular question because of the Ford GM thing...

but imagine if that dates lined up and we got a Harvick or Kenseth to do Bathurst...

kelvin88 · 3 Dec 2007, 18:39 (Ref:2080856)

I agree with you Mountain star, they certainly would! I not saying Nascar drivers wouldn't be good at V8 Supercar, just that THAT driver wouldn't. Re. Daytona 24hr I have to say i don't know what happened in that race but i would like to know who his team mates were and what their laptimes were. If he wasn't being carried by his team mates then i humbley eat my words. And if any one knows how to spell humbley, they can point that out to me aswell.

muggle not · 3 Dec 2007, 20:59 (Ref:2080916)

Jr is one of the top 10 drivers in Nascar. He has won at Talladega, Daytona, Bristol, Richmond, Chicago, Dover, Atlanta, Texas, and Phoenix. His statistics compared to other very good drivers with similar total races are:

Earnhardt, Jr.........17 wins......76 top 5........121 top 10........291 tot. races

Kenseth...............16 wins......79 top 5........142 top 10.........292 tot. races

Kurt Busch............17 wins.....56 top 5.........105 top 10........256 tot. races

Harvick.................11 wins......49 top 5........101 top 10........250 tot. races

Jr will be in the top 5 in points in the 2008 season, bank on it.

Rick Hendricks runs one of the best organizations in Nascar, actually the best, and knew exactly what he was doing when he signed Jr.

nickyf1 · 3 Dec 2007, 21:04 (Ref:2080920)

eh?

Anyway, nice to see. He will probably do Bathurst or something, like alot of international drivers do.

Denosaur · 3 Dec 2007, 21:49 (Ref:2080963)

I wouldn't discount him any day. Give him a couple of tests and a year to get use to it, then question his abilities in a Supercar.

On the other, what would his reaction be to the prize money offered??.......

VilleneuveTracy · 4 Dec 2007, 07:11 (Ref:2081166)

Quote:

Re. Daytona 24hr I have to say i don't know what happened in that race but i would like to know who his team mates were and what their laptimes were. If he wasn't being carried by his team mates then i humbley eat my words.

His teammates were the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., Andy Pilgrim, and I don't remember the fourth one. I think his name was Collins. As to his speeds, I did not see the race because I did not have Speed at the time. I do not think we can realistically expect someone to hop into a car from a different form of racing and immediately outpace drivers in that series. Would Michael Schumcher outpace Jeff Gordon on day 1 if he raced in a Hendrick car, or vice versa in a Ferrari? That said, Junior is, like Gordon and Johnson, hated by a large portion of the fanbase. Had he been slow in the 24 hours race that definitely would be used against him by his detractors (like the common claim that he can't win without Tony Eury Jr.). I have never seen that charge so that strongly suggests he did well in the race. He stopped racing in sportscar after getting into a fiery crash that caused him to miss a race in 2004, but this thread suggests he is looking to race outside the NASCAR box once again.

Great post, Muggle. People forget, because of his bad luck this year and poor season in 2005, that he was the second best driver in the series behind Johnson from 2003-2004 and a championship contender in those seasons as well as just one year ago in 2006.

Denosaur, I think Junior would not care about the money. He has made probably more money than he can dream of already. If he would not race for a relatively low prize why would he have run a sportscar race in Sonoma, California?

Speedworx · 4 Dec 2007, 19:44 (Ref:2081594)

[QUOTE=muggle not]Jr will be in the top 5 in points in the 2008 season, bank on it.
[QUOTE]

I wouldn't!

Dale Jr needs to find victory lane first!

63 races since he last won. Richmond May 06.

He may win a few more races, but I'm not alone in saying he'll never win a championship, he's got the talent to do so.

**Craig** · 4 Dec 2007, 22:00 (Ref:2081681)

As you say, he has the talent to do so. Now he has the team to do so. It'll take time to gel but I expect to see him do well this coming year and he could well challenge for the title the following season.

cosmo · 15 Dec 2007, 12:55 (Ref:2089452)

It would be intersting to see the flat track stats on the NASCAR boys to see who was the most likely to do the best in Supercar. Good to see Dale jr taking an interest, good for both sides of the pacific. Trouble is, for a NASCAR boy to race at Bathurst, he'd have to be twice as good to be seen as half as good, like, anyone can have a bad day at Bathurst,(Skaife??) but if it was a USA top 10 guy, tall poppy syndrome would kick in!

deeks6 · 22 Dec 2007, 02:04 (Ref:2093623)

I'd love to see a "Battle of the Codes" style between the Supercar and NASCAR drivers ... 6 Ovals is NASCARS and 6 road courses in Supercars.

I predict that Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart would be immediately competitive in Supercar but I could'nt see any of the current V8 drivers doing any good on the ovals (in the short term).

Gaz170 · 22 Dec 2007, 05:25 (Ref:2093653)

In the 1970's and 80's, there was a flood of US drivers coming to Bathurst, and all failed.

The reason for this though, is that almost all were Indy drivers, who only raced in single seaters on ovals. Given a Nascar driver who knows how to turn the wheel both ways, a better result would be expected, provide they could get enough practise in beforehand to learn the car and track.

Interesting that the best finish ever at Bathurst for an American was 7th for Tommy Kendall, teaming with Steve Johnson in a car which lost time due to fuel pump issues.

chavez · 22 Dec 2007, 10:15 (Ref:2093700)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaz170

In the 1970's and 80's, there was a flood of US drivers coming to Bathurst, and all failed.

The reason for this though, is that almost all were Indy drivers, who only raced in single seaters on ovals. Given a Nascar driver who knows how to turn the wheel both ways, a better result would be expected, provide they could get enough practise in beforehand to learn the car and track.

Interesting that the best finish ever at Bathurst for an American was 7th for Tommy Kendall, teaming with Steve Johnson in a car which lost time due to fuel pump issues.

Bob Tullius did okay with Gossy in '82.

Janet Guthrie was originally a road racer - so she should have done okay.

Johnny Rutherford was an oval track racer who was sadly out of his comfort zone in a Torana on Mount Panorama.

cavvy · 5 Jan 2008, 22:19 (Ref:2100337)

V8 Supercar drivers too rarely are seen in other race cars - dont know if it a contractual thing - check out Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley & Jason Leffler strutting their stuff against all comers in the Chili Bowl, 250+ entries. Throw in some drag racers, Sprint Car drivers.
Aussie midget hotfoot Mark Brown will fly the boxing kangaroo. No Kiwis this year.

Will a similar concept ever get off the ground in Australia.

muggle not · 27 Jan 2008, 20:52 (Ref:2114974)

Rumor has it that boris Said will be driving Bathurst. Can anyone confirm it.

mountainstar · 27 Jan 2008, 21:27 (Ref:2115003)

Quote:

Originally Posted by muggle not

Rumor has it that boris Said will be driving Bathurst. Can anyone confirm it.

Haven't heard that, but wouldn't be surprised as he has raced overseas before.

fieldodreams79 · 28 Jan 2008, 22:51 (Ref:2115867)

IMO, the V8 supercar series is the best racin series in the world, and JR knows where the good racin is...the boy loves raycin!
Boris at Bathurst?! now all we need is some coverage of world racing in the US during the racing season...too bad SPEED likes to show other *shtuff*. the Bathurst 1000K is at the top of best races in the world, but other country's drivers couldn't hang at all, IMO....it would be great to see for others but I wonder if the Ausi's would like the "invasion".

Hazza · 29 Jan 2008, 03:00 (Ref:2115988)

We've had no problems before.

fieldodreams79 · 29 Jan 2008, 20:06 (Ref:2116537)

sounds good....let's do it!

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