Schumacher destroys johnson in race of Champions. What does that say about the talent required for NASCAR?

Question

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=99&id=3157157

from the looks of it johnson was outperformed by Travis Pastrana who is a bike rider. Whats that about NASCAR requiring the most skill? haha

so in other words driving on ovals is all about how the car is performing and nothing to do with driver...

sorry beth, i dont think he would be destroyed by johnson in a stock car. Considering that Jacques Villeneuve, who was far inferior to michael in f1, was able to set very quick lap times in the truck on only his second day`of testing the truck,he was only 1/4 of a sec slower than his experienced championship leading team mate after 100 laps in a car which he still didnt know how to set up properly.

Michael had never driven the car before either and he had practised on the course the same amount of times as johnson. And the car they were driving was a lot more similar to a stock car than it was to an F1 car.

What is his excuse other than the fact he clearly lacks the overall driving skills?

and just for the record i think gordon would have done a lot better because i genuinely think he is talented at driving cars and setting them up.

Road courses are so much more technical its not even fair to compare them really. There is absolutely no way anyone here can realistically say an oval is as technical to drive on as a road course.

WWE is probably more entertaining than most boxing matches but that doesnt mean they have anywhere near the same levels of skill as top boxers.

D. K. The fact of the matter is that schumacher has never driven that car before or a rally car at all either yet was able to adapt. In fact pretty much all the other drivers were able to adapt better than johnson.

the fact that he confused the handbrake with the gear lever says a lot.

And i do think if schumacher was with Hendrick he would be able to dominate since all that matters in NASCAR is how good your car is set up and handling. Most courses have only 2 braking points and not many other variables, im sure he could handle it pretty easily.It really is a joke that people here cant see how obviously superior road racers are to oval drivers

Montoya is the only former f1 driver to have competed in a great enough number of races to be judged upon and he did pretty well last year. Qualified on the front row twice, won a race on a road course from further back than anyone ever has and was rookie of the year. Chip ganassi hadnt won a race in 3 years before montoya joined so its not as if he has top class equipment.

Answer 1

Nothing requires more talent than F1. Read this:

Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motor sport's world governing body.

Besides, NASCAR SUCKS!!!!
(and stop posting question in our (the F1) Section. Barely anybody gives a Nascar answer. The rest do as I do and tell them to post it in the NASCAR section(which is here!!!!))

Answer 2

You know something you can rip Nascar and its drivers all you want, however the article explains what happened and why Schumacher beat Johnson. Johnson has never raced a rally car before. I am sure given time Johnson would as you said "destroyed" Schumacher.

So before you start saying that Nascar doesnt require talent you should understand what your reading. Besides this is yet another stupid F1 is better than Nascar punchline. If Schumacher is so great why has he never raced in Nascar? So take your F1 kool aid and go home! Just because Schumacher is better at something does not mean he can come to Nascar and just dominate you tool!

Answer 3

In all forms of racing, whether it's NASCAR, Champ Car, F1 or NHRA requires skills. The difference is the skill level in their respective sports. NASCAR drivers may not do well in Champ Car or F1, but I think that F1 and Champ Car drivers can do well in NASCAR should they want to jump the fence. Juan Montoya did well in all three level, including in NASCAR where he won on a road course (requires lots of talent).

The Race of Champions is the true race for championship drivers. It's not the IROC series which has be come a joke. The ROC cars are unfamiliar to all drivers to level the playing field and Jimmie Johnson just didn't know the car very well to show his talent on the race course. He just ran into bad luck, plan and simple. Heck even Schumacher lost later in the round, and he is a 7 time world champion! Skills isn't everything in ROC. Johnson just lost to a driver who adapted to the equipment faster.

Answer 4

Let's shed a little light on some of the facts surrounding the race of Champions.

1) It's held in Paris in an indoor arena.

2) All but the American Drivers are there and practicing days prior to the event. This was the first year American Drivers did not have to rush from the Cup Awards straight to Paris; but still they were not allowed to practice as the other Drivers where

3) The cars used tend to favor Drivers in the Rally and Off-road arenas of racing. They have major oversteer; and unless you practice with one alot, you will suck at no matter how good you are.

Now with the facts out of the way. Yeah Schumacher did beat Johnson; he is Michael Schumacher the greatest Driver in the history of all Motorsports. Of course the matrched him up with Johnson in round one; remember the race his held in extremely Anti-American Paris. Don't be niave in thinking politics doesn't play into this race.

I'd love to see the race be held somewhere other then Paris and with various cars on various tracks; that would be the true test of the talent of these Drivers.

Answer 5

The fact remains that throughout the history of both Series, F1 and NASCAR, a part time driver with limited success in NASCAR has won an F1 Championship, while no F1 driver has ever won a NASCAR title.

That part time NASCAR driver had a winning percentage in NASCAR of 7.14% while in F1 his winning percentage was 9.375%. That is skewed a little because of running only 14 races in NASCAR. If he had competed in the same number of races as he did in F1 (128), I suspect his winning percentage would be somewhere around 1.28%.

The running joke among NASCAR drivers who competed against the part timer was to stay away from him because of his tendency to crash 42.875% of the time.

He wasn't racing for a no-name team either. He raced for Holman-Moody, which in 15 years of operation competed in 526 combined races with 96 wins, 285 top 5's, 336 top 10's and 85 Poles leading 25,722 laps of 122,483 laps completed. His contribution was 1 win, 1 top 5, 3 top 10's and 165 laps led. He was running at the finish 4 times and had 2 lead lap finishes.

His name: Mario Andretti.

Answer 6

It doesn't say anything about Nascar drivers. Johnson was racing cars he had never seen or heard of before on a type of circuit he has not raced on.

Bring Schumacher to America to race stock cars, sprint cars and midgets and Johnson would destroy him which wouldn't mean anything either.


Grow up. Nascar and F-1 are different things and they cannot be compared.


Edit.....Villeneuve's average finish in Nascar trucks (2 steps below cup) is 27th after 7 races. You have no knowledge or credibility mister.

Answer 7

You could say that it COULD show a talent disparity, but also lets put it this way.

Schumacher has retired, and had lots of free time to rest up when need be, and run a race car whenever he wants without wasting much energy.

Jimmie Johnson might of had about a month break, but he had recently just completed a 10 month season racing around the country.

Also, the best could also have cold days, so if Jimmie is a very talented driver, he might of been on one of his off nights.

For that day though, yeah, Schumacher owns yet again in the racing world.

Answer 8

Dude, you are representing F1 badly. I follow NASCAR & watch F1 (appreciate both) and I have never felt the need to compare one to the other. There are plenty of quirks about F1 that could be criticized, but why? I understand why you would post something that would get responses because it's fun to get people talking, but do you have to be so in-your-face rude about it? We're all racing fans here and there's no reason to make some of the comments that you have just to get a response. Have a great day!

Answer 9

it proves that drivers from a ROAD RACING series beat a driver from a SPEEDWAY RACING series in a ROAD RACE. Take Shumacher to Lowes or Martinsville, lets see what happens.

Take Montoya for example, hes a nobody in Nascar and rarely goes a race without bringing out a caution.

Pastrana has been Rally Car racing for the last 3 years, stop being ignorant and take the cucumber out of your butt. You sound really "smart", ya douche. Next time you have a thought, keep it to yourself.

Answer 10

It really doesn't say anything. You're taking ONE NASCAR driver and trying to use him as a measuring stick.

A better comparison for you is to take all of the F-1/Open wheel drivers who have come to NASCAR. Take a look at their records. Other than Tony Stewart.......who else from those series have made any sort of impact?