When I learned at All-Star weekend in Charlotte that I was going to interview Kyle Busch, I thought, "What do I ask him?"
So, I went to a media deal inside the track just to hear what the "big" reporters were asking him and to my surprise, F1 came up.
Kyle said, "We're working on a test session right now at the end of November or beginning of December sometime going to Japan and doing a little exhibition sort of deal and see what it's like.”
I thought immediately that he's on to something. Kyle is a young driver that has a natural driving ability; he has proven that in every NASCAR series in his career; and this year he has won in every series, proving he is the man to beat weekend to weekend.
Kyle stated that he would plan to drive NASCAR until he is 30 and then make a switch, possibly to Toyota's F1 program. Busch did say that Toyota's program though still is in need of a lot of help and a driver himself is not going to just kick start the program.
“Toyota is not necessarily one of those companies at the moment that is like Ferrari or McLaren or Renault was a couple years ago,” Busch said. “It would take—I don't think it is just a driver to put in the seat to make it go. You need a little bit more of a car.”
So there you have something I have hoped would happen for a while: a NASCAR driver moving over to F1 to compete. Remember, other NASCAR drivers have driven F1 cars successfully in the past, only three years ago at Indy, Jeff Gordon tested Juan Pablo's McLaren and posted top 10 qualifying laps, so this can be done. What a character "Rowdy" would make over in F1!
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2 months ago
The trouble is I've not seen Kyle Busch complete a race without hitting something, and you just can't get away with that in F1.
Besides if he truely cares about F1 he should do it the other way around, come over to Europe now and spend the next ten years in F1, then when he's 30-35 and slightly "past it" in F1 terms (sadly F1 caters to youth now just like and sport..) he can still have a 20 year NASCAR career ahead of him.
The other way around and it'll be like Micheal Andretti, and we all know how well that went for him.
2 months ago
In the words of Aerosmith, DREAM ON! DREAM ON!
2 months ago
Nice piece. I agree with Paul to an extent, about Kyle's age and this being the time to drive in F1. But Kyle has it right... Toyota just isn't competitive at this point. Jarno Trulli has shown that he can run the car in the points race to race, but run for the podium is going to take a breakthrough in equipment, not driver. Timo Glock is over the hill, and honestly the Japanese team needs a national driver, especially now that Super Aguri Honda is out of business.
On another point Paul made... Kyle Busch is no more reckless than Tony Stewart was, and is when his temper gets the best of him. For Kyle it's about pushing the car to its limits. I think there was a young driver who made quite a name for himself that ran people off the road and crashed plenty of cars... one Michael Schumacher. I think Kyle would be happy to try his hand at something else once he wins a Cup Championship. He would seem to have that "Been there, done that" mentality that would alleviate his need or desire to re-prove his ability.
The best hope for an American in F1 remains Marco Andretti. The question is, what team would he be on? If some American investors can take the Toro Rosso team off of Dietrich Mateschitz' hands, and get some more money involved, then that would make for a BAR (British American Racing) round two. An American team with an American driver is what F1 needs to get the American interest they can use. There are two teams worth of engineers and support personnel available right now, so if American companies would get behind the effort (such as Intel, Microsoft, etc.) who currently support other teams, then there would be a good financial base to run with.
At that point, put Kyle Busch and Marco in the seats and go race. (Though Sebastien Bourdais has shown he can drive in F1) That would be something fun to watch.
2 months ago
Busch isn't starting any F1 career at 30 years of age, he's dreaming.
He's also dreaming if as he says the Toyota test may be at Motegi, that track is owned by Honda. There's no way in hell they will let their only Japanese F1 rival test any driver on their track.
As for Marco Andretti going to F1, he's got two chances now that open wheel has merged in the states, slim... and none. (http://tinyurl.com/57wbs5)
about 1 month ago
Not to take anything away from Kyle Busch, but F1 teams are known for giving test drives to other drivers in the same company. Honda has given most of the popular IRL drivers test drives just because they are racers and use Honda engines. It wont amount to anything in the end.
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