...HHHEHEEEHHehehehe...maybe HE COULD TRY THAT!!!! he was good at going sideways!!! ...he only needs to learn that instead of spining the whole 360º he needs to make it half way here and half way there...
I was thinking about him. It seems like his skills have diminished every year since '97. It's too bad his attitude got in the way of his career.
He is a champion, dammit! and this is a repost http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186155
Well, then there's two threads. JV used to be such an exciting driver, all the way back to his Atlantic days. He was one of those special talents that you knew would continue to rise up the ranks and conquer all. But it seems that once Craig Pollock put that BAR deal together Jacques became a prima donna. He cashed it in big time and seemed to lose his drive.
I remember when he began his F1 career, it seemed for a while that he might be going to win the WDC in his rookie year.
How about it! Pole position in his first race, leading Hill until he had the oil problem and backed off for second place.
Geez, Gilles was the world champ for Skidoo, His brother Jacque was a world champ as well for Skidoo, but not in Formula Sleds, and JV, named after his uncle is a fantastic sled rider, rides quite a bit with another world champ named Blair Morgan but hasn't rode competitively yet. If he wanted to, he would probably be very competitive... Don't know if you guys realized it or not but the old USSA and Formula 1 Snowmobile racing was as competitive as Formula 1 car racing, in fact the sleds had a better horsepower to weight ratio than the cars, were quicker as well.
Does Skinner have a sponsor? Why would JV be one-and-done on sponsorship reasons alone? Unless there was a contingency on making the 500 it makes me wonder if they were already looking for someone else.
Yep. "At the point where I found out things had progressed much less than Craig Pollock said, I ended our business relationship. But I had never handled these affairs with sponsors in this setting. I found myself on my own, without any experience. I tried to learn on the go these last few weeks, and to establish contacts, but it was a fantasy. I had never done that. And then, I understood to try and attain a sponsor for 5 million knowing that this would only make it possible to do a quarter of the season would not accomplish anything."
Because you cannot take a guy off the street (which is what JV was) with NO oval track stock car experience, and expect him to make the Daytona 500 in his first ever event. And remember - JPM ran several events at the end of 2006, which helped him in 2007. Also, we cannot compare a 'rookie' F1 guy making this year's 500 as the same as Mario making it in the late-60's, it's just a different world. Heck, most of the guys that ran F1 in the 50's, 60's and 70's would probably have a REAL hard time landing a seat in an F1 car today - and not just because of money. Times change. Not necessarily for the better, in some respects.
But isn't that what the Bill Davis team essentially tried to do? I don't know any details of JV's brief arrangement with the team, but it strikes me as odd that there was such a quick turnaround.
A former CART and Indy 500 champion is hardly a guy off the street. JV has plenty of oval experience and he also ran a few stock car races last season as well.
I think his age is catching up with him, a 36 year old man's reaction are much slower than someone half his age. Still, someone who one the 500 should have some skill at ovals.
That's likely the case - JV's car #27 did NOT have a sponsor in the Daytona qualifying sessions or qualifying race. He probably had some sponsors lined up to buy in IF he qualified for the main event - which didn't happen.
