[vincesanity82]

Juan Pablo Montoya does not regret making the move. "Formula One drivers are convinced that they're so much better than anyone else," Montoya, who races alongside Dario Franchitti, the Scottish driver, for the Chip Ganassi team, said. "When I was in F1, every week I was on the podium. It was cool, but is it satisfying? It wasn't, because it was the most boring races. The guy who started in front of you would drive away from you and the guy who was behind you would drop away from you, unless you f***ed up in qualifying and then you need to have a different pitstop strategy to beat them." Although Nascar is very much an American sport, there are attempts to raise its appeal outside the United States, to tap into the disaffection many feel with Formula One, whether through the Max Mosley saga or the the lack of competitive racing. "It's boring," Montoya said. "It's a shame because the technology these cars have and the amount of companies that are involved is unreal. I don't know how big companies do it for such a long time without results." In Nascar, there are more than 40 cars racing wheel to wheel for up to three hours. "It's harder here," Montoya said. "When you run fifteenth, sometimes you think it sucks. But look at the big picture: fifteenth here is like sixth or seventh in F1, because there are twice as many cars. The incredible thing is here I run fifteenth or twentieth on average and there are four or five weeks in the year where I have a chance of winning. In F1 if you run sixth or seventh, you run sixth or seventh the whole year. "It doesn't matter if you're running for the lead, or for 30th, you're always racing somebody. That's much better." -- Times of London

Juan Pablo Montoya: Nascar is better than F1 - Times Online

[Bob Tanner]

Other than both series run vehicles with combustion engines and have four tires, comparing R1 to NASCAR-type racing is apples and oranges.

I can't even begin to speak from a driver's standpoint but from a fans point of view, it seems to me that, generally, the devoted fans of each series appreciate different things which their preferred series have to offer.

From a driver's point of view, I'll defer to JPM's quote,
"When I was in F1, every week I was on the podium. It was cool, but is it satisfying? It wasn't, because it was the most boring races. The guy who started in front of you would drive away from you and the guy who was behind you would drop away from you, unless you f***ed up in qualifying and then you need to have a different pitstop strategy to beat them"

Driving in NASCAR-type races just has to be more pure fun than F1. But, to paraphrase Tony Stewart, "I've never been in an F1 car so I don't know anything."

[DOF_power]

So by this reasoning (of boring and dominant teams) why isn't JPM running in the CTS or BTCC or WTCC or V8 Supercars or ALMS ?!

[clutch]

I still reckon F1 is for drivers and not racers, like I've said before....its slightly better than 5 years ago but entertaining??......NO!

I cant even be bothered watching anymore..........

[loco4pablo]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

So by this reasoning (of boring and dominant teams) why isn't JPM running in the CTS or BTCC or WTCC or V8 Supercars or ALMS ?!

Because he's JPM he can drive in any series he wants so why would he run in a series that no one cares about?

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

So by this reasoning (of boring and dominant teams) why isn't JPM running in the CTS or BTCC or WTCC or V8 Supercars or ALMS ?!

$$$$$$$$$, publicity and Chip Ganassi.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

Originally Posted by DOF_power
So by this reasoning (of boring and dominant teams) why isn't JPM running in the CTS or BTCC or WTCC or V8 Supercars or ALMS ?!
Because he's JPM he can drive in any series he wants so why would he run in a series that no one cares about?

"No one cares about?" Going kind of global there, aren't we?

Maybe I'm just a "nobody" but I think the CTS, V8 Supercars and BTCC (I've never watched WTCC, and ALMS just doesn't interest me) are far better shows than the current Cup Series, and I'd switch off a Cup race in a nanosecond to watch one of these any day of the week. That isn't a slam at Cup fans, mind you. But to say "nobody cares about..." isn't correct.

[loco4pablo]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

"No one cares about?" Going kind of global there, aren't we?

Maybe I'm just a "nobody" but I think the CTS, V8 Supercars and BTCC (I've never watched WTCC, and ALMS just doesn't interest me) are far better shows than the current Cup Series, and I'd switch off a Cup race in a nanosecond to watch one of these any day of the week. That isn't a slam at Cup fans, mind you. But to say "nobody cares about..." isn't correct.

I didn't mean it as a slam to fans of these series and maybe I should have worded it differently. But these series are not as popular and someone with a name like JPM wouldn't think about running in them.
Bob like you said "you would switch off a cup race in a second to watch one of these" But really how often do you get to do that?

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

I didn't mean it as a slam to fans of these series and maybe I should have worded it differently. But these series are not as popular and someone with a name like JPM wouldn't think about running in them.
Bob like you said "you would switch off a cup race in a second to watch one of these" But really how often do you get to do that?

there you go again... no doubt NASCAR is the most popular .. in the US, but not all race viewing audiences around the world are "southern redneck" (i.e., NASCAR) audiences. many find other series just their cup of tea and will gladly switch away from NASCAR.

for instance, though many "down under" race fans know and follow NASCAR, you'd be hard pressed to convince them the V8 Supercars were inferior to Cup racing and given the choice, most would turn on the V8 Supercars race if they had to choose.

re: scheduling. NASCAR is on the tube almost every weekend from February 'till halfway thru November (36 out of 52). Most other series race at most every two weeks starting in March with few going into November (less than 20 events per 52 weeks.) NASCAR is the only premier series to keep it's races within the home country's borders (except for a couple instances where they slip across a neighbor's border for a couple days.) Net result is NASCAR gets more "views" than the other series simply by the fact they have more events. that doesn't make NASCAR the most popular, only the one with the most views.