Kimi Raikkonen to NASCAR???

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 29 Mar 2011, 14:54

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90331

Is it just me or does this "announcement" have SCAM written all over it? I haven't seen this piece of news reprinted in any of my NASCAR-related news sources, so strike one there. For the uninformed, anything involving any of the GIllett family in NASCAR turns out to be a big scam and a waste of money. The NASCAR Truck series is not exactly competitive, so if this turns out to be serious and Kimi does end up doodling his way around in a NASCAR Truck, he'll probably be able to qualify and race really well right off the bat if he's at all talented -- ignore the fact that he has no oval track experience. Most of the field are noobs on ovals and the series makes no road course visits. I can't imagine he'd run NASCAR if he didn't think he couldn't get a huge salary from it, but unfortunately for him, I don't think that's too likely.

I have no idea how reliable that Finnish newspaper is.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 29 Mar 2011, 14:56

What the hell? Rally harder than first thought?

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 29 Mar 2011, 15:07

Pre-April Fools joke.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 29 Mar 2011, 15:18

DanielPT wrote:What the hell? Rally harder than first thought?

No, rally more dangerous than first thought.

This can't be serious. What, did Kimi Raikkonen wake up one morning and proclaim "OH BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO RACE IN IOWA." If anything, I'd like to see him do a one-off at Gilles Villeneuve. At least he'd know the track.

Kobacrashi · Post by **Kobacrashi** » 29 Mar 2011, 15:31

AAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF?

Has the world really turned upside down?

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 29 Mar 2011, 15:48

Not to mention the fact that, last I heard, Kimi was very happy rallying. This is the biggest load of publicocrap I've heard in ages.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 29 Mar 2011, 16:02

Maybe it's true, and the organisers have offered him a year's supply of free XXX moonshine if he wins the championship.

McDuck · Post by **McDuck** » 29 Mar 2011, 18:22

AMERICA! Best country on Earth!!! :mrgreen:

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 29 Mar 2011, 18:46

Here's a quote from Ray Evernham, former NASCAR team owner who partnered with the Gilletts...

Ray Evernham, a former partner of Foster Gillett at Richard Petty Motorsports was a little bit astounded when he learned of the rumor of Kimi Raikkonen coming to NASCAR with a new team owned by Foster Gillett. "I really don't know why Kimi would partner with people who continually fail with sports franchises," Evernham told Auto123.com. "I don't know how they could leave with so many unpaid bills and return to the sport," Evernham added. Evernham says he was not paid over $19USD million and brought a lawsuit against his former partner earlier this year in a state court in North Carolina.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 29 Mar 2011, 19:41

It has to be because Kimi wants a challenge. It's totally not about the money for him. Best of luck to him.

Pointrox · Post by **Pointrox** » 29 Mar 2011, 20:09

Maybe he wants to join his ol' teammate, JPM?

LucaPacchiarini · Post by **LucaPacchiarini** » 29 Mar 2011, 20:47

he just learned prohibitionism is over

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 29 Mar 2011, 21:43

LucaPacchiarini wrote:he just learned prohibitionism is over

Seriously man - it's not 1935.

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 29 Mar 2011, 21:57

No Brainer that he's going to the team backed by Red Bull (name escapes me), however we can always be wrong.

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 29 Mar 2011, 22:14

My guess is that the name "ICE1" indicates it's Magnum ice cream.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 29 Mar 2011, 22:52

McDuck wrote:AMERICA! Best country on Earth!!!

That's a bigger contradiction in this sense than Manhattan, Kansas.(don't worry, i've been to both manhattans)
Dear lord i hope, that even with these silly new rules, Lewis Hamilton does not see JPM's transition to nascar as an option.
i know Kimi Raikkonen wouldn't. Bordais came close. lol

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 29 Mar 2011, 23:17

nome66 wrote:
McDuck wrote:AMERICA! Best country on Earth!!!

That's a bigger contradiction in this sense than Manhattan, Kansas.(don't worry, i've been to both manhattans)
Dear lord i hope, that even with these silly new rules, Lewis Hamilton does not see JPM's transition to nascar as an option.
i know Kimi Raikkonen wouldn't. Bordais came close. lol

That doesn't beat Louisiana, Missouri. For the non-Americans, that would be like having a town named Scotland in England...

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 29 Mar 2011, 23:41

I really hate seeing the open wheel talent pool going over to Nascar. I never wanted Sam Hornish or Dario Franchitti to leave the Indycar circuit. Jacques Villeneuve on the other hand, can bumble around in Nascar all he wants. Kimi, either stay rallying or move to sportscars, don't come over here, you'd hate it.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 30 Mar 2011, 00:24

By technicality and statistic, NASCAR is more popular than Formula One.
But, it's only because American motorsports fans would rather see Battle of the Beer Wagons over Lotus vs. Lotus.

lostpin · Post by **lostpin** » 30 Mar 2011, 00:33

Raikkonen: from fame to lame?!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 30 Mar 2011, 01:04

What a waste of talent. He is, or was, one of the best drivers on the grid. I rate him as much as I rate vettel if not more.

What's next? Michael schumacher in Monster Jam?

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 30 Mar 2011, 01:14

nome66 wrote:By technicality and statistic, NASCAR is more popular than Formula One.
But, it's only because American motorsports fans would rather see Battle of the Beer Wagons over Lotus vs. Lotus.

Is it fair if I want to see Lotus Beer Wagon vs. Lotus Beer Wagon? Maybe one of the Lotus F1 teams could start a brewery and become Lotus Beer and the other acquires another beer (like Budweiser or Foster's) to sponsor them?

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 30 Mar 2011, 01:36

I'd rather he went to LMS or Indy. I'm sure that triple crown would look pretty tasty to him

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 30 Mar 2011, 03:08

Raikkonen to Indy?

YESYESYESYESYES

captainhappy · Post by **captainhappy** » 30 Mar 2011, 03:58

Holy sheep s__t! I didn't know kimi new where the U.S. was. Well then, I almost guarantee we see the Kimster in the big VEGAS shootout (indycar).

Is it April 1st?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 30 Mar 2011, 04:44

captainhappy wrote:Holy sheep s__t! I didn't know kimi new where the U.S. was. Well then, I almost guarantee we see the Kimster in the big VEGAS shootout (indycar).

Is it April 1st?

Despite being in the future I can confirm it's only the 30th of March here in Australia.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 30 Mar 2011, 09:36

Wizzie wrote:
captainhappy wrote:Holy sheep s__t! I didn't know kimi new where the U.S. was. Well then, I almost guarantee we see the Kimster in the big VEGAS shootout (indycar).

Is it April 1st?

Despite being in the future I can confirm it's only the 30th of March here in Australia.

Does anything relevant happened in your future?

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 30 Mar 2011, 10:02

I want either James Stewart (a popular MX racer here in the US) or Nigel Mansell in Vegas.
Some one's gotta shoot Mansell an email or something.
I am with who started this thread, as I think this is kind of a false lead on Kimi's direction.

JohnMLTX · Post by **JohnMLTX** » 30 Mar 2011, 17:05

According to the New York Times, Kimi has consulted with, and been granted permission from, Nascar officials to enter the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If I'm interpreting this right, this makes it official.
Raikkonen to NASCAR.
Wow.

MFW the Nascar commentators try to interview him, and he responds in Raikkonese.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 30 Mar 2011, 17:19

JohnMLTX wrote:According to the New York Times, Kimi has consulted with, and been granted permission from, Nascar officials to enter the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If I'm interpreting this right, this makes it official.
Raikkonen to NASCAR.
Wow.

MFW the Nascar commentators try to interview him, and he responds in Raikkonese.

Interviewer wrote:Kimi, welcome to NASCAR. This is your first race, will you expect to be up there battling with the likes of Jimmie Johnson?

Kimi wrote:Who's he?

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 30 Mar 2011, 19:07

ah crap it's the truck series.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 30 Mar 2011, 20:12

nome66 wrote:ah crap it's the truck series.

Dude's got to get a start somewhere.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 31 Mar 2011, 02:04

nome66 wrote:ah crap it's the truck series.

Be thankful it isn't ARCA.

Post by **mario** » 31 Mar 2011, 07:41

JohnMLTX wrote:According to the New York Times, Kimi has consulted with, and been granted permission from, Nascar officials to enter the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If I'm interpreting this right, this makes it official.
Raikkonen to NASCAR.
Wow.

MFW the Nascar commentators try to interview him, and he responds in Raikkonese.

That is a surprise - I'd been willing to write the initial story off as just a silly rumour, but the fact that the New York Times has reported the story seems to suggest that it really is true. OK, it'd be in addition to his rallying career, and fit around the WRC, it seems, but I'd have thought that he would have been too busy dealing with that series to start racing in another one.

I wonder if, he takes a shine to racing in the US, he'll go for that IRL race with the $5 million prize?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 31 Mar 2011, 09:29

mario wrote:
JohnMLTX wrote:According to the New York Times, Kimi has consulted with, and been granted permission from, Nascar officials to enter the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
If I'm interpreting this right, this makes it official.
Raikkonen to NASCAR.
Wow.

MFW the Nascar commentators try to interview him, and he responds in Raikkonese.

That is a surprise - I'd been willing to write the initial story off as just a silly rumour, but the fact that the New York Times has reported the story seems to suggest that it really is true. OK, it'd be in addition to his rallying career, and fit around the WRC, it seems, but I'd have thought that he would have been too busy dealing with that series to start racing in another one.

I wonder if, he takes a shine to racing in the US, he'll go for that IRL race with the $5 million prize?

It will be hard if he intends to race in the Spanish Rally. Reckon runs start in the 18th October and the race in Las Vegas in the 16th. There still the travelling time and the 7 hour time difference. It is not impossible, but it is not easy to make it indeed. (He might try the NASCAR race in Charlotte the 15th October instead...)

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 31 Mar 2011, 15:13

Is Raikkonen drunk? Probably

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 31 Mar 2011, 19:00

must have been drivin' for this team...

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 31 Mar 2011, 19:49

It lacks Coke

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 01 Apr 2011, 01:39

At least we know why Kimi Raikkonen isn't back in F1 -- because the FIA wouldn't let that car race!

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 01 Apr 2011, 08:48

Cynon wrote:
nome66 wrote:
McDuck wrote:AMERICA! Best country on Earth!!!

That's a bigger contradiction in this sense than Manhattan, Kansas.(don't worry, i've been to both manhattans)
Dear lord i hope, that even with these silly new rules, Lewis Hamilton does not see JPM's transition to nascar as an option.
i know Kimi Raikkonen wouldn't. Bordais came close. lol

That doesn't beat Louisiana, Missouri. For the non-Americans, that would be like having a town named Scotland in England...

Well, there's Scotland Yard in London, the Police HQ.