http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011040 ... /110409941NASCAR: Veterans offer advice for Kimi Räikkönen
By AL PEARCE on 4/05/2011
Former team owner-driver and current NASCAR executive Brett Bodine is not worried about Kimi Räikkönen making a seamless move into the Camping World Truck Series after years in Formula One and now World Rally cars.
NASCAR star Kyle Busch on Saturday announced that the 2007 world champion will run a handful of oval-track Truck Series races for Busch's truck team this summer, but Bodine is more worried about Räikkönen's off-track adjustments than anything he might face in competition.
“I'll be curious to see how he handles this open atmosphere, where everything in the garage is pretty much out in the open for everybody to see,” Bodine said. “He's going to see a lot of things he's never seen, a lot of things he's going to have to learn to handle. He's not used to being so open, to having crewmen on other teams working on their truck right beside him, with everything out in the open, not in closed garages.
“And he's never been in a situation where the media is everywhere all the time, asking questions and taking pictures and asking for interviews. I heard he can be pretty cold with people [his nickname is the “Iceman”], so that's something he'll have to face. And he's never been anyplace where the fans are right down in the garage and on pit road and in the public areas. We'll all be interested to see how he adjusts to everything going on around him. This will be a whole new atmosphere for him.”
Juan Pablo Montoya made the transition--and it didn't seem especially difficult--when he came from F1 through CART into NASCAR in 2007.
“Juan isn't like Kimi, and he had the [Indy-car experience] to buffer his move from Formula One to over here,” Bodine said. “[CART] wasn't as open as we are over here, but it was a good transition to help him get ready for NASCAR after his time in Formula One.
“I think [Räikkönen will] be good [in his May 20 debut] at Charlotte because for trucks, that's like being at Talladega. You just run it wide-open all the time. And being in a Rally car is good training for this, more than F1. Rally-car drivers don't worry about aero; they're all about car control and the feel of that car on whatever surface they happen to be on at the time. He's got great car control, so he'll be just fine out here.”
Four-time champion Jeff Gordon said he is looking forward to Räikkönen's first experience with the traveling NASCAR media.
“I can't wait for him to do an interview because the one-word answers you guys will get from those questions are going to be hilarious,” he said. “I can tell you, he's not going to say much. You ask a question and you might get a one-word answer--and that'll be it. He doesn't give you much to go on. I might come in here for that first session.”
Gordon is probably NASCAR's biggest F1 fan. As such, he recognizes that Räikkönen has the talent to eventually figure out oval-track racing and be successful if he pursues it.
“I admire Kimi [because] he has a lot of talent,” Gordon said. “I can't believe [he's coming over] just like I couldn't believe it when Juan Pablo made his announcement. It says a lot about NASCAR that somebody like him is considering coming here, and I admire him for wanting to start truck racing and not just jump into a Cup car.
“Obviously, the word is out to the best drivers in the world [that] if you think you're just going to come in here and jump in a Cup car and be competitive, you're kidding yourself. And I think that's pretty cool about our sport, that we're drawing this international group of talent. That's awesome. I hope to one day see him in the Cup series.”
Someone asked what advice Gordon would offer if Räikkönen came to him for words of wisdom.
“There's not a lot you can tell them because they know how to get into different cars and adapt,” he said. “But this is a series with vehicles that are far more challenging than people realize, especially when you've come out of high-downforce cars. I think the rally car he's been driving gives him more experience or gets him better prepared for this than any of his F1 cars. The last thing you want is to get one of these cars feeling like an F1 car, or even hope that maybe one day you can, because you never will.
“So I'd tell him to be patient and stay in the best equipment he can and go out there and follow the guys that are going fast. Learn the best lines and the braking points at each of the tracks. That would be the quickest way I think to learn and adapt and be competitive.”
The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
yeah, they officially have been one of the tree motorsport sponsors but pretty sure has got a nice sum of money for wearin those oakley sunnies on EVERY picture since he started rallying... (product placement)Claudie_Schnaudie wrote:Well I knew that Oaklay does sponsor the IceOneRacing team but I thought it was just the Motocross team! Look at their site and their overalls and you can see the Oaklay sign
Never heard of Perky Jerky but it sounds funny
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
+1 they are... was little worried that we suddenly wouldn get one single testingpicture...Claudie_Schnaudie wrote:Those pics are so cool!!!
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
but then it would be 4 sponsorssleenster wrote:Julia wrote:my englisch says TH is included at te moment not past but was unsure... Im sorry to say kriss but I am pretty sure Oakley owns the right to shoose kimis sunglasees...(refering to the latest Nascar pics..) but maybe we should look after a nice TH watch on his wrist?Kriss wrote:Tag Heuer and Oakley together
I loved his TH sunglassesThat's how I read that sentence too, that Kimi is on a quest to dominate a new motorsport (NASCAR) and those sponsors will be joining himPerky Jerky joins the likes of Tag Heuer, Oakley and Alpine Stars as a sponsor of Räikkönen’s quest for dominance in yet another motorsport
perky jerky.. what a name.. but it doesn't very look tasty
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Thank´s for all the pics and news
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
New article in Autosport
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90474
This is the part I don’t like:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90474
This is the part I don’t like:
On Wednesday, American brand Perky Jerky was also announced as a sponsor of Raikkonen for his NASCAR foray.
Last October the same brand had been announced as a sponsor for Richard Petty Motorsports, while the team was still under ownership from George Gillett Jr.
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Over and over again, Gillett keeps coming back to haunt us like some bad recurring nightmare
Is Kimi Raikkonen NASCAR's next international superstar?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... en.nascar/
Is Kimi Raikkonen NASCAR's next international superstar?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... en.nascar/
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Kimi is going to test again on Thursday!
http://www.ts.fi/moottoriurheilu/muut/211080.html
But, but, he has to be in Jordan on Sunday because recce begins on Monday morning!
PS. Thanks to OSX for the link
http://www.ts.fi/moottoriurheilu/muut/211080.html
But, but, he has to be in Jordan on Sunday because recce begins on Monday morning!
PS. Thanks to OSX for the link
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
from Kyle Busch Motorsports page on facebook
GRESHAM, Ga. (April 6, 2011)- Just two days after finalizing a partnership to run a limited NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), IceOne Racing's Kimi Raikkonen participated in a two-day test in the team's Toyota Tundra's at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson. Ga.
Rick Ren, General Manager Kyle Busch Motorsports:
"Overall the test went really well. We ran about 400 laps total between Monday and Tuesday. Kimi provided good feedback that allowed us to make our Toyota Tundra go faster. He is very methodical with his acceleration, braking and steering and there is no doubt that he has a good feel for a race vehicle. We threw a lot at him over the two days. We made a lot of chassis changes to both the front and rear. Shock adjustments, air pressure adjustments and trackbar adjustments so he could get a good feel for how these adjustments affect the handling of the truck. For being unfamiliar with a truck and unfamiliar with the track, he did an outstanding job. We made both race runs and qualifying runs and there is no doubt that making the truck go fast will not be a problem."
Kimi Raikkonen:
"It was a lot of fun, I really had no expectations or anything to compare it to beforehand but at the end of the day, I am really looking forward to the first race. It seems like KBM is a top team and I am excited to work with them."
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Courtesy TaniaS
Max Papis's opionion about Kimi in Nascar. From Autosprint of this week:
http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p ... jpg?psid=1
http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p ... jpg?psid=1
Max Papis's opionion about Kimi in Nascar. From Autosprint of this week:
http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p ... jpg?psid=1
http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p ... jpg?psid=1
...Kimi in Nascar, Max Papis's suggestions
When people ask me: do you race with vans? I answer, no, I race in the NASCAR Truck Series. Raikkonen's arrival in our series is an opportunity to explain you my world. The top Nascar series is divided into three categories: Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck. All three have vehicles made with a similar chassis, steel hand-built tubular and covered with a body that must look like the road cars as closely as possible: saloon car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and pick up in the Truck Series, the popular vehicles with rear body that are the most popular cars ever in USA along with the SUV.
The Truck engines are the same as NASCAR Sprint Cup: all 5.8-liter V8 with more or less restrictions, depending on the category, to produce 650 hp in Truck Series and 800 hp in the Cup (that's how we name the Sprint Cup Series in USA). All the cars share the transmission and the gear box that you can choose among different suppliers, but all with front clutch and 4 H speed gearbox . Now that you know that the Truck is not a sort of modified Ape car but “naughty racing beast” I'll tell you that in the Truck Series there are four manufacturers with many models: the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-150, the Dodge Ram and my Toyota Tundra. The championship is of 26 races and is held the same weekend of the Cup and Nationwide, but we are not a lower category as the GP2 with F1, but a real all-in-one Nascar event. The races are broadcasted live on Speed TV with an audience of more than 800,000 listeners every race, much more than Indycar, so this makes the Truck Series the third motorsport in the United States. There are a lot different drivers, former Sprint Cup drivers like Hornaday and Bodine, now in the Truck, and drivers like me, who tired to drive a not competitive car in the Cup, decided to race in a top team in the Truck Series. And also young drivers, who are part of a development Sprint Cup team, and compete into Truck series to gain experience. All these ones are the 36 drivers who compete in each race, where 40-42 Trucks try to qualify and the first 25 have the place on the grid guaranteed. As normal in the U.S., all the 36 runners receive a race prize, from $ 8.000 of the 36th to 50-80.000 dollars for the winner.
The Truck Series is the most internationally NASCAR championship because like me, an Italian, there are Paludo and Piquet Jr. who are Brazilian, some Canadians and in May Raikkonen will also come, bringing even more attention to our series.
I hope Kimi leaves the arrogance at home and comes in the U.S. with the humility of one who has to learn, because here everything is different, from the use of yellow flags, to the hardness on the track. There is much malice but not wickedness: here we say "rubbing is racing" as saying that leaning is part of the game. But this doesn’t mean to throw out your competitor; if you do it, next race you let him pass through or you're the one who doesn’t finish the race. Because in Nascar you pay your debts on the track, not in front of the stewards.
...
Kimi will certainly have much to learn even if he is a super champion with a great talent, because you can’t test on the tracks where we run in the race and because we don’t use any data system. This means that your reference will be seeing the others drivers in the race. That’s why learning to go fast in Nascar takes time. Raikkonen has never competed in a race on an oval and will be difficult at the beginning because the ovals are a strange “beast”. Each track is different, from Martinsville that is just 800 meters long with a banking angle of 8 degrees and where a lap can be covered in just 19 seconds, to Daytona, 4 km long with a banking of 33 degrees and a lap of 51''.
The experience that Raikkonen has gained in recent years in rallies will help him a lot more than if he had started in Nascar directly from F1, because you have to react, improvise, to adapt yourself to the car and to the change of the track and tyres grip.
And then the trajectories: you must learn to change them frequently, and there is not the ideal line but the line that best fits the setup of your truck. A good quality of the Nascar world is that if you don’t understand much, you can always go and ask people who are more experienced than you: and the more you will be sincere, the more the champions will open their hearts with you and give you a real hand, they will bring you on the track with the pace car to explain you the secrets of the circuits. Like Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have done with me. And with that I welcome Raikkonen in the Truck Series hoping he will enjoy as much as I enjoy myself. And I hope that this is another step forward to bring the Italian fans in the special world of NASCAR, where everything is tailor made for the spectator, and not vice versa.
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
I also found the Tag Heuer thing strange. But Tag Heuer is mostly about watches and Oakley about sunglasses. But when you think about it what would the people of Perky Jerky know about Kimi's previous F1 sponsors? It could just be that Tag is back, but perhaps not in such a big capacity as before.
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
thanks!
I just hope that's really just for fun. But I have the impression that Bush and others have big plans for Kimi. "start of his career" sounds very stressful
There is absolutely clear - I want him to do rally though NASCAR is more watchable serie. And I would be upset so much If he will give up the Rally. Even thoughts about it cause pain to me.
I just hope that's really just for fun. But I have the impression that Bush and others have big plans for Kimi. "start of his career" sounds very stressful
There is absolutely clear - I want him to do rally though NASCAR is more watchable serie. And I would be upset so much If he will give up the Rally. Even thoughts about it cause pain to me.
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
thanks everyone for the info
I'm starting to like this whole Nascar thing but I definitely don't want him to leave rally
I'm starting to like this whole Nascar thing but I definitely don't want him to leave rally
Re: The Kimi Nascar Monster Cool Lounge
Excerpt from a blog by motorsport writer Norris McDonald:
http://thestar.blogs.com/autoracing/201 ... ascar.html– There has been much discussion about how Kimi Raikkonen will fit in when – and if – he makes the move to NASCAR. In fact, Speed TV’s Bob Varsha analyzed the situation and concluded that it just wouldn’t be a fit. Here are several Varsha quotes:
"I still find it odd because he is such a reserved guy and hated dealing with the press in F1. That supposedly was one of his motivations for leaving the sport after winning the ’07 World Championship. If Kimi knows anything about NASCAR, he knows NASCAR drivers are almost compelled to be gregarious, fan-friendly, work with the press and so on, which is completely unlike the Kimi those of us who have been involved with his career in F1 know. It just seems so odd."
Now, they said that about Juan Pablo Montoya before he made the move to NASCAR and, frankly, he’s fit in very well. Yes, he did drive in the U.S. before going to F1 (he was with Chip Ganassi’s CART team and won the Indianapolis 500), so he had an idea of what was expected. But he still had – and has – to sign autographs in Target department stores every Wednesday and that doesn’t seem to be bothering him.
He knows it comes with the territory.
I’ve interviewed Kimi Raikkonen twice – once right here in Toronto when he came to the Hugo Boss store – and he was friendly enough and answered my questions and, frankly, I’m convinced I detected a twinkle in his eye.
When I interviewed his countryman, Heikki Kovalainen, Heikki became quite animated – a big smile; the whole bit – while telling me why he, Kimi and Mika Hakkinen didn’t like to show their emotions...
Look, these guys are professional racing drivers. F1 is marketed as being exclusive, so they play that role to the hilt. Why put up with the proletariat if you don't have to? But NASCAR and IndyCar are inclusive, and if they have to come out of their shells, so be it.
I was reminded the other day, while reading a 25-year-old copy of Autosport magazine, of ex-Ferrari driver Ivan Capelli who, when he was in F1, was a total snot.
Capelli was arrogance personified.
Then he lost his job and wore out his welcome in F1 and was forced to come to North America to try to get a ride in CART. I bumped into him in Indianapolis and asked for an interview.
Well, he couldn’t have been nicer – because that’s how they do things on this side of the pond and Capelli knew it.
I betcha Kimi Raikkonen will turn out the same way.