We have been teased and tormented for nearly ten months by the rumour that two stars of F1 and NASCAR, Juan Montoya and Jeff Gordon 'might' swap cars for a test day. First revealed by MOTORSPORTFORUM last year (21st August 2002), the event finally took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.
The "Tradin Paint" event as it was billed saw Montoya hand over a 2002-spec Williams to Gordon, and the NASCAR superstar returned the favour with his thunderous Chevy Monte Carlo. The event was by all accounts a fantastic success with both drivers, especially Gordon, showing their raw racing talent.
When the idea was first floated of the two swapping cars, MOTORSPORTFORUM dreamed about a return to the golden era when drivers regularly swapped codes and motor racing's 'triple crown' - the Indy 500, the Monte Carlo GP and the Le Mans 24 race - saw F1, Indycar, stock car and sportscar drivers slugging it out. A racer like Montoya could still take the 'triple crown' at some point in his career having won Indy and Monte Carlo, but a tilt at Le Mans is likely to only come once his F1 & CART days are over. And it is a shame that this is perhaps as close as we will get to the triple crown coming into reality. But it is also a greater shame, and potentially a disaster for motor sport across the board as it struggles in harsh times, that there is no code-swapping even on a limited scale.
Jeff Gordon was just one second slower than Montoya around the Indy road course. To put that in perspective the American has never raced a single seater, let alone an F1 car, has never raced on the Indy road course, and only had a handful of laps to get used to the FW24. Impressive. Frank Williams said after the test: "the reports I have received from those present were that he is a really good driver and that he was unafraid of the car. We were very impressed." To put that comment into perspective - Sir Frank is never that positive unless someone really deserves it - Gordon is good, very good. Sir Frank also made another, more telling comment: "The good news is that he is very, very quick: the bad news is that we cannot afford him".
F1 as a sport has always lacked total, absolute world domination. It always has and perhaps always will and the USA is perhaps the reason. USAC, CART, Champ Cars and NASCAR are all reasons way and while most have fallen by the wayside, NASCAR has grown to levels of popularity unseen in motor sport. Gordon has been at the forefront of that growth - he is one of the sport's superstars and he is also the kind of man that F1 needs if it is ever to achieve world domination.
It may be a little naive to think that Gordon, racing for someone like Williams or McLaren could single-handedly turn America's apathy towards F1 into a passionate love affair but he might. NASCAR is all about tradition - American drivers, with American sponsors, in American cars, at American tracks - so a defection by Gordon to F1 might raise a few disapproving eyebrows but not generate any interest but on the other hand it could be the crack in the dam so to speak. At any rate the infiltration of the IRL and soon NASCAR of Toyota and Honda means that the all-American nature of NASCAR will be diluted in any case so is now not the time for F1 to try its hardest to entice Gordon across?
Ron Dennis would probably have a fit at the prospect of F1 touting itself in such a demeaning way but the sport has no qualms about selling itself to any and every country willing to relax tobacco sponsorship rules, so why be bother about this. Yes, Gordon's earnings and winnings make Michael Schumacher look like a pauper but what has he left to achieve in the US apart from equalling a few more records and swelling his bank account yet further.
F1 probably has two ways to crack America: the first one is that it radically changes the rules regarding car designed to ensure that cars pass each other every other lap; or they perform some major publicity coup such as bringing Gordon across. Since F1 bosses seem to prefer introducing silly qualifying rules as opposed to making real changes, it seems like Gordon is the only other option.
Perhaps it is time for Schumacher, Montoya, Frank Williams and Ron Dennis to go on US primetime television and label Gordon 'yellow' unless he comes to play.
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