Parker, you just made half my argument for me....the tech in the F1 cars is vastly superior. The downforce, set-up, etc....make the cars stick to the track. So the NASCAR drivers have an inferior tech car. So how exactly does that make them lesser drivers? Their cars are waaaay heavier, don't handle as well, don't brake as well and are just not as responsive.....yet F1 drivers are "100 times better?" I don't see it or believe it.
I forgot about Franchitti. He got completly overwhelmed.
Because NASCAR doesn't require them to be good. It is a Show, entertainment, and product placement. Driver skill, saftey, are all second to making money. NASCAR has never really required drivers to have skill. NASCAR was never founded on driver skill. Backwoods dudes who drove moonshine the fastest...that what it was. I wish to god that NASCAR adapting to DTM rules or similar. When you have dumb down cars, that are heavy, lack good brakes, and all you do is turn left, and try and do do durty tricks. The skill level is not as good, it is not required to be. Because of the lack of overtaking in F1, patience and superior driving skill is needed. Also it is frowned upon in F1 to hit the others cars, one because of safety, and two because the cars are so advanced and expensive that last yr car is outdated, your talking multimillion dollar cars vs, a few hundred thousand for a NASCAR stocker.
But, if Ferrari were to offer Montoya a contract in ferrari next yr, you'd see him gone, and that is for the top guys in NASCAR. Europe has better reace car drivers, better cars, and altogether better drivers period (in terms of average everyday driver)
Furthermore, the question is, why is it that NASCAR has DUMB down cars? Why is it that a ZR-1 or a GT-R or a 599GTB,etc could out perform a NASCAR stocker, in excelleration, braking, skidpad, topspeed, virtually every category. And these are prodcution cars. Why doesn't NASCAR say, "lets upgrade our cars, and upgrade the level of play", especially because they make tons of money and have tons of money to address these issues? Well, because the FRANCE family and their corporate cronies are getting fat from their greedy endeavor...and that is why the DRIVER skill means little in NASCAR. THAT is why they focus on crashes in their commericals, because they know that crashes draw crowds, like train wrecks. Jeff Gordon and company their skill means nothing...And Dale Earnhardt's death mean jackshit, because they knew that there were safety issues, they didn't want to address it until someone died.
