Ford to Sign Happy Jacques!

[TWRv12]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Villeneuve to NASCAR

Does the story change depending which market they are in?

That JV story is probably based of listening to BBC Radio Five Live
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhk0b

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Villeneuve to NASCAR

Does the story change depending which market they are in?

Jack likes his paychecks big. Going to Australia would all be about lifestyle and a passion for driving V8's, rather than income. The USA is where the money is after F1 and it's closer to Europe. Drivers in the 2nd and 3rd tier, Nationwide, Trucks and ARCA can easily pull more than the top V8SC driver.

However lately Nascar has been besieged by a lot of foreign drivers and while a few are all right, nobody wants a series full of furriners running around. JV hasn't gotten a lot of traction here and I don't know if he ever will, especially since a key to Nascar survival is publicity and JV doesn't like fans and media.

[rik]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Jack likes his paychecks big.

Money has been his number one priority for a long time. If anything, getting him to Aus would require a larger pay packet, as he's further from home here than in the US or Europe.

Be pretty interesting if he did show up for a year! But doubt it will ever happen.

[GTRMagic]

There was an interview with 1980 WDC Alan Jones back in the mid 90's. where he was asked how he chose the drives he ended up with. The response went something along the lines of..

-How Much $$?
-How much hassle?
-Where?

You might imagine Happy Jacques may think similarly...

[cavvy]

Another peice for Nascar:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...-briefs-speed/

[SSbaby]

Am I the only one who thinks it's great to have Jacques racing in Australia?

The more international stars, the better. They bring more money into the sport... which can only be a good thing for racing.

Glass half full, here!

[Chris - Melb]

Far more pluses than minuses having Jacques here, I think. At the moment it does not very likely to happen though.

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by SSbaby

Am I the only one who thinks it's great to have Jacques racing in Australia?

The more international stars, the better. They bring more money into the sport... which can only be a good thing for racing.

Glass half full, here!

For example ....

[Chris - Melb]

...FPR would get more $$$ for Jacques driving their car than, say, Steven Richards.

Teams would get more revenue through V8 Supercars dispersals from overseas telecast sales because of greater interest due to having a world wide known driver/s in the series.

Non-Australian/NZ rounds would also benefit from greater attendance due to having 'name' drivers.

There would be other benefits too.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Chris - Melb

...FPR would get more $$$ for Jacques driving their car than, say, Steven Richards.

Teams would get more revenue through V8 Supercars dispersals from overseas telecast sales because of greater interest due to having a world wide known driver/s in the series.

Non-Australian/NZ rounds would also benefit from greater attendance due to having 'name' drivers.

There would be other benefits too.

For many other drivers I'd have to agree with you.

But as jack has found out after getting dumped out of F1, his previous lack of gravitas with sponsors and manufacturers, plus not having a fan base or much of one due to his nature, pretty much left him struggling to secure the necessary financing to do much regular racing.

Not saying that jack would not draw attention to the championship, but probably nothing huge of noteworthy value.

In my own personal opinion, jack was able to somehow find a flurry of speed winning the CART championship, the last indy 500 in 1995, the F1 championship and 11 F1 races, all in 3 years. Quite the accomplishment. To me it was almost like his dad talking through him, allowing his story to have an happy ending and a closed book and that done, so was jack's speed and ability. I don't see it any other way.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

In my own personal opinion, jack was able to somehow find a flurry of speed winning the CART championship, the last indy 500 in 1995, the F1 championship and 11 F1 races, all in 3 years. Quite the accomplishment. To me it was almost like his dad talking through him, allowing his story to have an happy ending and a closed book and that done, so was jack's speed and ability. I don't see it any other way.

That's deep.