Kimi to Nascar

Thought i would pass this along..

OFFICIAL: Kimi Raikkonen signs with Red Bull Racing for 2012 by PitRoadBox Sep 1, 2011 at 03:57 PM | COMMENTS (0) | LIKES (0) After all public rumors, Kimi Raikkonen has finally made his point by coming to NASCAR. He is signed with Red Bull Racing to replace Kasey Kahne for 2012. Raikkonen, who is currently competing in the WRC, said he wanted to do this because "NASCAR is totally interesting in my opinion because I remember Juan Pablo Montoya's move to NASCAR and I have been following him a lot." Kasey Kahne expressed his opinion on Raikkonen coming to NASCAR: "Obviously, Kimi is from Finland and since the Finns don't know much about NASCAR, he will introduce NASCAR to the entire country of Finland. He is an amazing World Champion who can do anything he wants to win and become good at." Brian Vickers and Scott Speed have different opinions, however. "I am very comfortable about Kimi Raikkonen coming to NASCAR because he is such a great advisor to any driver out there", said Vickers. Scott Speed said, "I can't wait for Kimi to come over because he is such a great World Champion and a perfect teammate." After all, Kimi said that in 2009 when he was going to leave F1, he said that he could race in NASCAR if he wanted to. But this is about to change in 2012.

http://community.nascar.com/2011jeep/blog/2010/08/26/official:_kimi_raikkonen_signs_with_red_bull_racing_for_2012

Interesting news, but the article seems at odds with itself, like it was hastily written/edited.

Vickers and Speed have different opinions?

The last sentence also seems odd to me.

It's not April 1 yet, is it??

HOLY.....

Ummm, guys, that blog is dated Sept 1, 2011.

Someone is clairvoyant, delusional, jumping the gun, or has a weird sense of humour. Take your pick.

In other news:

NASCAR star Busch smokes tires in drag-racing debut

Kurt Busch expected a "full dose of humble pie" during his professional drag-racing debut. He got something way worse. Busch botched both qualifying passes Friday at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., leaving him little room for error heading into his final two runs today.

"An interesting day to say the least," Busch said. "A lot of rookie things that I'm ready to put behind me." The 2004 NASCAR champion smoked his tires on the first run, prompting him to shut down his 1,400-horsepower engine, and covered the quarter-mile strip in 18.334 seconds. It was the slowest time among the 21 competitors.

He made even more rookie mistakes during his second attempt. Busch failed to "stage" his dragster within the 7-second time limit and was essentially black flagged. Officially, he "timed out," and his run didn't count.

BAM!!!!!

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

Former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will make a surprising move to NASCAR this year, the Finn joining the series with a new team. According to the Turun Sanomat newspaper, Raikkonen - the 2007 world champion - will be racing with the new ICE1 Racing team in the Truck series before moving on to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series. He is expected to join the championship from this summer, although no dates are yet confirmed. Raikkonen will be joining forces with Foster Gillett, who will be a major partner of the team, having worked with Richard Petty Motorsport in NASCAR last year. Foster's family owned the Montreal Canadiens' NHL franchise and are also former co-owners of the Liverpool football club. "I'm really looking forward to get there to familiarise to the world of NASCAR," Raikkonen was quoted as saying by Turun Sanomat. "I have been following it for a long time. I know, it's a very tough and open top racing series. I just love the American spirit of racing. It feels just great to get involved with that. Obviously, it will be very challenging and great fun for me." According to the newspaper, the negotiations about which car the ICE1 Racing team will run are about to be completed. Raikkonen will continue to compete in the World Rally Championship this year, where he has a deal for eight events.

I'm not sure how I feel about Raikonnen replacing Kahne, unless Kahne has a deal in the works with another team, but more internationals competing in NASCAR is never a bad thing imho. the bit about this being dated September 1st is a bit suspect, however

So, this is almost Talladega Nights come to fruition, right?

...Formula uuuuullllllllll.....

Well, he did win Best Dressed Crew once in a boat race so we know that he has raced a boat before at least.

Hey, at least his partying and drinking wont be frowned upon!

NASCAR probably thinks Kimi is a girl and wanted another Danica.

I can't wait to see him in those over-dramatized NASCAR driver interviews, giving one-word answers.

Kimi better watch out, Little Wallace will put him in the wall...

Is it just me or is he working on his mullet already?

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: Kimi better watch out, Little Wallace will put him in the wall...

"I didn't say I wouldn't go fishing with the man. All I'm saying is, he comes near me I'll put him in the wall."

dogbreath wrote: I can't wait to see him in those over-dramatized NASCAR driver interviews, giving one-word answers.

Best Kimi Interview Ever

Foster Gillett? LOL

Ray Evernham might stab him in the face if he sees him in the garage.

Kahne has had another ride lined up for 2012 for the past couple years. He's not losing a ride-he's moving to a better team.

I'm curious to see if Kimi will be better than JPM at NASCAR. I'd really like to see how a recent Cup champion would do in F1, but Bernie wouldn't take the risk of having his precious series diluted by a redneck American beating most of his field.

Kramer wrote: Kahne has had another ride lined up for 2012 for the past couple years. He's not losing a ride-he's moving to a better team. I'm curious to see if Kimi will be better than JPM at NASCAR. I'd really like to see how a recent Cup champion would do in F1, but Bernie wouldn't take the risk of having his precious series diluted by a redneck American beating most of his field.

The irony of that is that there hasn't been a "hillbilly american" NASCAR champion in many years. Jimmy J is a very well spoken young man, and I propose he could do quite well in F1. Either of the Shrub brothers could do well also.

I would love to see F1 go back to a "if you can qualify quick enough, you can race" style of racing. Forget this limited to 24 cars and thats it mentality. I want to see the small one car teams come back and field someone with talent from another series.

Kramer wrote: Kahne has had another ride lined up for 2012 for the past couple years. He's not losing a ride-he's moving to a better team. I'm curious to see if Kimi will be better than JPM at NASCAR. I'd really like to see how a recent Cup champion would do in F1, but Bernie wouldn't take the risk of having his precious series diluted by a redneck American beating most of his field.

Wow you really think that NASCAR experience will be of any value in a modern Formula One car.....dude they can't even turn right.

Evernham did make some good comments regarding Gillett. I really don't believe Nascar will work with Gillett after his last set of business deals and the fact that he still owes people a fairly large sum of money. Kimi might want to give Nascar a shot, but having Gillett involved is not a good thing. I also think it's a bit premature to have Kimi in the Cup series when he hasn't even done laps in a stock car in competition yet. Lots of guys with great racing resumes have tried and failed.

aussiesmg wrote:

Kramer wrote: Kahne has had another ride lined up for 2012 for the past couple years. He's not losing a ride-he's moving to a better team. I'm curious to see if Kimi will be better than JPM at NASCAR. I'd really like to see how a recent Cup champion would do in F1, but Bernie wouldn't take the risk of having his precious series diluted by a redneck American beating most of his field.

Wow you really think that NASCAR experience will be of any value in a modern Formula One car.....dude they can't even turn right.

I bet they can ;) Look at Johnsons lap times when they run the Daytona 24. There is a reason JPM is used to test ALL of Gannasis cars... Jimmy is consistently faster than Juan.

BTW... I LOATHE Jimmy Johnson and nearly everything he stands for, but he and his team is by far the class of the field.

Do I think Michael Waltrip could do it? Hell Fock No. Do I think Kyle Busch could? In spades. Jeff Gordon? Yessir. Robby Gordon? Nyet.

I humbly submit that JJ could, with a lot of training/practice do well in any category. His efforts at the 24 over the past few years have been simply amazing especially for a once a year effort.