Barrichello to test Indycar?

[thebear]

See article HERE. .

[Mekola]

Hope it won't spoil Guerrieri's chances to be in KV

[mountainstar]

Sounds like he's lost his marbles.

[Paradise City]

I'll be surprised he'll take the plunge tbh. He's probably just testing for the benefit of his pal.

If he does do it he'll do the ovals or 'the' oval, the 500, imo.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Apparently promised his wife he'd never do the Indy 500..

I hope he lands a seat. It'd be cool to see Rubhino race on.

Selby

[thebear]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97180

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

I'll be surprised he'll take the plunge tbh. He's probably just testing for the benefit of his pal.

If he does do it he'll do the ovals or 'the' oval, the 500, imo.

He promised his wife he'd never do any ovals.
If so he's not a contender for the title.
In that case its for 'fun', or a test run to help with development, or he wants to see what they are like, just out of interest.

If he did the road/street races he'd be doing a 75% schedule (approximately) and Jimmy and Kevin could consider an oval expert for the roundy roundy ones. Thats not beyond the realms of possibility.

Just remember that as good as Barrichello is he is not a Nigel Mansell. Mansell's personal bravery put him on a completely different planet from Barrichello

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

He promised his wife he'd never do any ovals.
If so he's not a contender for the title.
In that case its for 'fun', or a test run to help with development, or he wants to see what they are like, just out of interest.

If he did the road/street races he'd be doing a 75% schedule (approximately) and Jimmy and Kevin could consider an oval expert for the roundy roundy ones. Thats not beyond the realms of possibility.

Just remember that as good as Barrichello is he is not a Nigel Mansell. Mansell's personal bravery put him on a completely different planet from Barrichello

The ovals, bar Texas and Indy itself, are unremarkable safety wise. Big play in the media is being made with this supposed blood pact he's had with the missus. A new pair of shoes will sort her out. I can't think he would do all the mickey-mouse races without doing one of the great races in the world.

However I think he's just testing and won't take the plunge in the end.

[Down F0rce]

Apparently this quote regarding his wife and ovals comes from 1996. A lot changes in 16 years!

[NewYankee01]

Come on Rubey I want to see you break the 500 GP starts!

[bjohnsonsmith]

There's more here:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...st-in-florida/

[hotlavaaaa]

http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-...se-test-guest/

[TerribleWone]

I really hopes this is more than just a test and leads to a lot more involvement in indy car. Barrichello would really inject some interest into the series and give me a new character to shoot (photo of) this year.

[Peat]

I think Randy Bernard would sign a personal cheque to get Rubens a ride.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I'd be very interested to hear what Rubens has to say about the new car.

[John Hammersley]

Hopefully Folks I'll be able to let you know!. I'm in Florida at the moment and intend to go to Sebring on Tuesday.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Peat

I think Randy Bernard would sign a personal cheque to get Rubens a ride.

With their checkbook running an overdraft I doubt it.

Just about no one in the USA has any idea who Rubens is and also he's no Fittipaldi with a WDC or personality, so in terms of any PR, it doesn't do anything good for anyone.

Obviously teams would certainly be glad to have him for his technical and driving skills which are far better than most of the field.

Mostly I just wonder about whether his mind is sound after nearly 20 years in Formula 1, which is pretty unusual for most drivers and if he's given himself time to gain some context for the end of his F1 career. This all sounds like end of career athletic desperation to me rather than a 100% both feet in, totally committed to a career in the irl deal. This isn't F1 with a strong commitment to safety and safety procedures as well as strong standards for cars and drivers equipment. This is a series with sketchy cars, on sketchy tracks with sketchy talent around you on track as well as having a lack of commitment to safety standards and race control.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

With their checkbook running an overdraft I doubt it.

Just about no one in the USA has any idea who Rubens is and also he's no Fittipaldi with a WDC or personality, so in terms of any PR, it doesn't do anything good for anyone.

Obviously teams would certainly be glad to have him for his technical and driving skills which are far better than most of the field.

Mostly I just wonder about whether his mind is sound after nearly 20 years in Formula 1, which is pretty unusual for most drivers and if he's given himself time to gain some context for the end of his F1 career. This all sounds like end of career athletic desperation to me rather than a 100% both feet in, totally committed to a career in the irl deal. This isn't F1 with a strong commitment to safety and safety procedures as well as strong standards for cars and drivers equipment. This is a series with sketchy cars, on sketchy tracks with sketchy talent around you on track as well as having a lack of commitment to safety standards and race control.

The way IndyCar is going does anyone in the USA have any idea who any of the drivers in IndyCar are, apart from Dario Franchitti?

Rubens is certainly no Emerson Fittipaldi but he's a personable enough guy. He'd have to be, having played second fiddle to Schumacher for all those years and he comes across well when interviewed and with all that expereince in F1 will be an asset to any team.

As for the strong safety commitment in F1 it will be interesting to see what he makes of IndyCar.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Rubens tests the car.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97226

[Deleted]

Some video clips from today...
http://www.flipshare.com/api/ViewFbR...5-0acd2dec88e3
http://www.flipshare.com/api/ViewFbR...4-cd2cbe017aec
http://www.flipshare.com/api/ViewFbR...4-242eee28cdcc
http://www.flipshare.com/api/ViewFbR...5-82e3c3133d30

Read from atlas that Rubens had done just 0,1s slower laptime than Kanaan?

[Paradise City]

He has character in that he cries all the time. This has made him very popular in modern F1. I'm not sure it will carry much currency with the Americans.

I like the guy. I think he has enough talent to do well. I support him in Indycar but he needs to be categorical about it to make it work. This business where he is frightened of ovals and won't do them is not the attitude of a winner. He's obviously still mulling over things so I hope he makes a clear-cut decision in this regard.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if I understand all this talk about "not being famous enough in US" and other stuff mentioned here... just look at Indy. Now that Danicadoll is gone there literally is no driver with big name left - the closest you have is Franchitti (and Tracy when he decides to show up) but even he isn't really that high-profile. The grid is full of rejected ex-F1 drivers and people with loads of cash... I don't see why Rubens shouldn't be welcomed.

But it's true that there's probably not much sense to do all the other races and then skip the ovals when they only play a very minimal part of the overall season now.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I'm not sure if I understand all this talk about "not being famous enough in US" and other stuff mentioned here... just look at Indy. Now that Danicadoll is gone there literally is no driver with big name left - the closest you have is Franchitti (and Tracy when he decides to show up) but even he isn't really that high-profile. The grid is full of rejected ex-F1 drivers and people with loads of cash... I don't see why Rubens shouldn't be welcomed.

I think the internet allows for cross fertilisation of awareness between Indycar and F1 than what would otherwise be the case. The media will also talk him up. But even leaving all that out Barrichello will impress corporate Brazil. He's very popular out there.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

I think the internet allows for cross fertilisation of awareness between Indycar and F1 than what would otherwise be the case. The media will also talk him up. But even leaving all that out Barrichello will impress corporate Brazil. He's very popular out there.

If that was true he would still be in F1 because F1 has infinitely more media coverage and value than does the irl, so if Rubens was the darling of corporate Brazil, he'd already have quite the dowry available to stay in F1.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

If that was true he would still be in F1 because F1 has infinitely more media coverage and value than does the irl, so if Rubens was the darling of corporate Brazil, he'd already have quite the dowry available to stay in F1.

He was a jaded, forgotten F1 geriatric, tucked away at the back of grid in F1 terms, indistinguishable from the furniture and eclipsed by Massa. If he does well in Indycar with its beachhead in Brazil, as in commits to it, like do the 500, corporate Brazil will be interested.

He has a powerful fan-base and is very popular if he's in the game. Being in the hunt is the catalyst that's needed to bring in extra commercial support.