What if the Intimidator had driven F1

This may have been discussed before but have you ever thought about what it would have been like if Dale Sr. had driven an F1? With his drafting pullouts and "love taps", how many cars would he have crashed?

 

Given his general disdain for testing, practice and qualifying, I would say he would not have faired well.

 

Dude would have had his ass handed to him.

Heck, if he were coming up today in <insert sponsor> Cup he wouldn't have a ride.

 

He would have been out of breath during qualifying.

 

In his prime he would have been fine, have some respect people.

 

+1
Agreed

 

This is a pretty hard hypothetical to work with--Dale was a pure racer. Growing up how he did and where he did shaped him and helped turn him intro a NASCAR legend. He had the makeup to own any series he filtered into, but you can't just take the Dale Earnhardt of NASCAR and transpose him into F1. Obviously it would have gone a little differently since the series are so different.

 

Every race he would have a 10 place penalty for driving into the back of others or driving them off of the road.

 

Don't F1 drivers have to turn left and right?

 

+2

 

After racing at Riverside for many years, NASCAR once again started road courses during the period of Dale Sr as part of their regular schedule. In fact, I belive he did quite well in one of NASCAR's only races in the wet on a road course in Japan, complete with windshield wipers.

Nevertheless, Dale Sr. was a smart driver. If he had driven open wheels, I would believe he would want to be around at the end so there would not be the bump and grind for which he is famous. He had fabulous car control, so I think he would have done quite well in any form of road racing. Dale Sr, vitually invented modern drafting techniques, so he would have figured out how to drive in "dirty air" and successfully pass on a road course.

I do think he would have continued with his "intimidator" persona, and it would have worked in F1. Dales Sr. makes any F1 driver appear to be a pansy. He had balls, I can not think of one modern F1 driver with this kind of mental approach. Even Iceman Kimi would back off when it became hard.

 

Can anyone say Kyle Busch?
And he just won the Nascar Infineon road race a couple of weeks ago.
He reminds me of the Intimidator. Anyone remember the Busch Clash several years ago where the #3 car was leading with 2 laps to go and got bumped onto the grass infield at Daytona coming off of turn 4? He was totally sideways in the grass and held the throttle down, got the car straightened out and re-entered the track just before turn one and never lost position. He never lifted or blinked. The man had brass balls.

 

Earnhardt vs. Mansell would have been classic!

Ron, good points. I had forgotten about the Suzuka wet race. Earnhardt also won a few cup road course races, did well in the C5 GTR, and was going to make LeMans his "retirement job".

That said, F1 rewards drivers over racers. Dale was only truly interested in racing and tolerated testing, qualifying, etc...not a trait that would serve you well in a series that rewards technological development and grid position. The reverse argument is also true; I doubt Senna, Schumi, Prost, etc. would have been more than a mid-pack NASCAR driver, even in their prime.

 

VS Schumi and Ayrton ?
Nah, those guys are pansies.

 

He would have died alot earlier than he did, given his tactics. Backing into fellow competitors at speed is never a good idea...as he found out. Racing is about beating others to the finish line, not blocking, not bashing, not knocking someone out of your way and into the fence. Plenty of other stock car drivers won lots of races and championships without employing their own set of rules, and they had the respect they deserved from fans and other drivers and they are around to talk about it(Petty, Yarborough, Allison, Baker, and many more). Just my .02 worth.

 

He would've died in a massive accident a lot sooner than he did.

 

What?
Those guys...Petty, Yarborough, Allison, Baker and others all pushed others out of the way to win. It was the norm in that era. It must have been before your time for you not to remember that.

 

I think he would have done at least as good if not a better job than the crop of 'open wheelers' trying to cut it in Nascar -Allmendinger, Franchitti (got booted out), Montoya, ...

I think NASCAR guys are really underrated as drivers. In recent years, the oval boys have triumphed the so called road course specialists at road courses.

 

If Earnhart drove F1 in his day, his son would now be a third shift manager cooking dogs at a Hess station, instead of driving a race car.

 

Senna was tough. Schumacher possessed more of an arrogance than out and out toughness. He was a very smart driver and direct with what he wanted. But barely had to compete mentally with anyone.

 

His name would be included with Sato and Ide in the jokes about crashing into other drivers.

 

He'd probably still be alive cause he would have been wearing a HANS device.

 

+1

 

+1 You beat me to it!