The Kimi Rally Monster Cool Lounge

[Mar]

Never heard of him before this, but didn't realize how truly awful this Foster Gillett guy seems

Kimi Raikkonen, what are you thinking?

It read early like an April Fool's joke—a few days early.

Former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen told a newspaper in his native Finland that he would try his hand at NASCAR racing—with Foster Gillett as a partner in his ICE-1 Racing team.

If this is true, and not an elaborate hoax, Raikkonen would be wise to be wary.

Gillett ran the day-to-day operations at Richard Petty Motorsports last year and ran the organization into the ground. Foster and his father, George Gillett, left hundreds of creditors and former employees holding the bag at RPM.

This is the same Foster Gillett who introduced himself to driver Carl Edwards by trying to "borrow" Edwards' four-wheeler in the driver/owner coach lot at Homestead—without permission.

"I hear my little Polaris Razor start up—I hear the exhaust start up," Edwards told Sporting News the day after the incident in November 2009. "'Who's in my four-wheeler?' So I run out the door, and here's these two guys—and I don't know who they are—and they're getting ready to take off. I say, 'Hey, hey, who are you?'"

One of the guys was Foster Gillett, but that was a mere peccadillo compared with some of the larger consternation the Gillett family has left in its wake.

The Gilletts are hated in England for the bungling of their ownership/management of the Liverpool soccer side in the English Premier League. In 2008, George Gillett spoke of death threats against his family from the club's fans, threats Gillett said arose primarily from comments made by his estranged partner in the team, Texas billionaire Tom Hicks.

George Gillett didn't win many friends in Montreal when, according to Forbes, he leveraged the Bell Centre for $240 million after acquiring 80.1-percent interest in the Canadiens, as well as the building. A reported $72 million of that money found its way to Gillett's pocket as a dividend.

Ultimately, Gillett sold the Canadiens to the Molson family for a tidy profit. He wasn't as fortunate in Liverpool, where he lost the team to John Henry's New England Sports Ventures in a forced sale through the Royal Bank of Scotland, which had loaned more than $350 million to Gillett and Hicks.

Some reports describe Foster Gillett as an investor in the deal with Raikkonen. With what money? Ray Evernham recently sued two companies owned by George Gillett for $19.2 million Evernham alleges is owed from the original sale of majority interest in Evernham Motorsports to Gillett.

Gillett walked away from a reported $90 million loan from Wachovia/Wells Fargo that was used to purchase Evernham Motorsports, which became RPM after a merger with Petty Holdings. Investors Andrew Murstein and Douglas Bergeron bought the loan for pennies on the dollar ($11 million, according to a Forbes report), and after Richard Petty made a substantial investment of his own, the company returned to solvency.

NASCAR will welcome Raikkonen with open arms. The Finnish driver is a bona fide superstar, and if he follows the plan of starting in the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series before making a decision about competing in Sprint Cup, he's approaching the transition in a prudent way.

One has to wonder, though, if there's any NASCAR news in Finland. Due diligence should have squelched involvement by Foster Gillett before it started.

Richard Petty barely escaped having his name and reputation permanently sullied through association with the Gillett family.

Raikkonen doesn't need to take the same risk—and he doesn't need to leave any four-wheelers sitting around after dark.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nascar/stor ... u-thinking

Man! the more I read about that guy, the more worried I get

Must head to a lecture now, that's going to be a real disaster of a lecture. Thanks Kimi for getting me all unfocused!

[dindi]

guys relax, i think it's fake. maybe someone hyjacked TS website or maybe is an april's fools warmup. I've done some research on nascar sites, including the official one and its forums and no sign of raikkonen and this news. besides, i don't think david is that stupid to colaborate with that gillett guy... I think it is all staged....

I think so, too.

April Fools' Day is only two sleeps away. Just came early this year.

Kimi's arrival in NASCAR (feel free to substitute some elements): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRLRifYnkk

[Vers]

guys relax, i think it's fake. maybe someone hyjacked TS website or maybe is an april's fools warmup. I've done some research on nascar sites, including the official one and its forums and no sign of raikkonen and this news. besides, i don't think david is that stupid to colaborate with that gillett guy... I think it is all staged....

I think so, too.

April Fools' Day is only two sleeps away. Just came early this year.

Kimi's arrival in NASCAR (feel free to substitute some elements): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRLRifYnkk

It would be quite a good April fool considering that Riku Kuvaja has confirmed it too.

[Mar]

guys relax, i think it's fake. maybe someone hyjacked TS website or maybe is an april's fools warmup. I've done some research on nascar sites, including the official one and its forums and no sign of raikkonen and this news. besides, i don't think david is that stupid to colaborate with that gillett guy... I think it is all staged....

I think so, too.

April Fools' Day is only two sleeps away. Just came early this year.

Kimi's arrival in NASCAR (feel free to substitute some elements): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRLRifYnkk

It would be quite a good April fool considering that Riku Kuvaja has confirmed it too.

I don’t understand very well why they have made the decision public when they don’t have an agreement with a manufacturer or a team yet. That's not the way I'm used to see Kimi doing things.

And how are they going to get parts and materials if the guy they’re going to partner owes money to people in the Nascar paddock?

[Vers]

guys relax, i think it's fake. maybe someone hyjacked TS website or maybe is an april's fools warmup. I've done some research on nascar sites, including the official one and its forums and no sign of raikkonen and this news. besides, i don't think david is that stupid to colaborate with that gillett guy... I think it is all staged....

I think so, too.

April Fools' Day is only two sleeps away. Just came early this year.

Kimi's arrival in NASCAR (feel free to substitute some elements): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRLRifYnkk

It would be quite a good April fool considering that Riku Kuvaja has confirmed it too.

I don’t understand very well why they have made the decision public when they don’t have an agreement with a manufacturer or a team yet. That's not the way I'm used to see Kimi doing things.

And how are they going to get parts and materials if the guy they’re going to partner owes money to people in the Nascar paddock?

Kimi didn't make it public though, Heikki Kulta did

But don't worry, I'm sure we will get all the answers soon enough. Kimi and his managers are not stupid.

[DrF]

OK, so he's not leaving WRC to go to race NASCAR full time, he's doing both.

Right?

[Mar]

OK, so he's not leaving WRC to go to race NASCAR full time, he's doing both.

Right?

Welcome DrF!

In the TS article, it's written that Kimi will do the rallies he had planed anyway.
And looking to the list of 5 Nascar races Fox says Kimi is supposed to do, none of those races clashes with WRC. In other words, at least that part of the story seems to make sense.

What that means for Kimi’s future (2012 and on) is not so clear, at least for me.

[Vers]

What that means for Kimi’s future (2012 and on) is not so clear, at least for me.

I guess we just have to hope that he doesn't find Nascar as interesting as WRC

[DrF]

Mar

What that means for Kimi’s future (2012 and on) is not so clear, at least for me.

Is it ever?

[Kriss]

I thought that Kimi likes WRC because of the different kind of surfaces and the various circumstances
what a race in Nascar can give him
turning left all the time while different cars are crashing into him
sounds a lot of fun

[dindi]

Not to mention all the PR c**p for the sponsors he sooo loves doing

[DrF]

Is Kimi getting paid for doing this? Maybe he needs to fund his WRC team and this is a fun way to do it.

[Kriss]

Is Kimi getting paid for doing this? Maybe he needs to fund his WRC team and this is a fun way to do it.

I was thinking about that too
but he will be there for 5 races partially with his own team

[DrF]

Doesn't mean he won't be generating money. As someone said earlier, NASCAR is a huge generator of money and he definitely needs to fund his WRC team. If he's got all this spare time, then he may as well fill it with something lucrative.

I wonder if we'll see him wheel to wheel with JPM again?!?

[sdutt]

there is only one question in my mind right now--- will we be having a Nascar section soon ?