BMW F1 Driver Jacques Villeneuve Moving to NASCAR?

The latest reports from the United States say that Jacques Villeneuve and Jack Roush are in the final stages of a deal to put the former Formula 1 World Champion, Indy 500 winner and CART Champion into a selected number of NASCAR Busch Series events in 2007. The schedule is yet to be finally agreed but it is certain to include the new Busch Series races which will be taking place on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on August 4. This will put Villeneuve up against the rising stars of the NASCAR world plus Nextel Cup drivers, known as "Buschwhackers" who race in the Busch Series to pick up more prize money.

Their involvement increases interest in the second-tier series but means that newcomers rarely get a look in. This year, for example, 26 of the 28 events to date have been won by Nextel Cup drivers while only two new winners have emerged: David Gilliland and Paul Menard.

Roush Racing runs a five-car Busch Series team with Carl Edwards, Todd Kluever and Danny O'Quinn Jr being fulltime with Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth doing selected events. The team sponsors include Pennzoil, Ameriquest Mortgage, Henkel, 3M and the World Financial Group.
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EL34 - 10/16/2006 11:35:47 AM

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Villeneuve going for the big bucks.

rocker - 10/16/2006 12:01:17 PM

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Once at the top of the world, F1 drivers declined rapidly. It shows how great Michael Schumacher is to have sustained his prowess for nearly 15 years.

Agent009 - 10/16/2006 12:37:24 PM

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Basically, NASCAR pays better.

M53R - 10/16/2006 1:34:54 PM

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Anyway he didnt race for BMW F1 for the last 4 races i thing. And BMW saubers's test driver is better than him!!! He finished 3rd in italy!!!

DarkOneForce - 10/16/2006 3:41:07 PM

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I fail how he's going to make money more than what he made at BAR.

Schumi made at one point even 100 millions a year, so does NASCAR pay more ?!

matt635 - 10/16/2006 6:08:14 PM

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BMW was not going to renew his contract for 2007. He quit the team because he thinks he is better than he actually is.

I doubt he would have got a race drive in F1 for next year. NASCAR is an obvious choice given JV's pre-F1 experience in US racing.

Terminal10 - 10/16/2006 6:15:57 PM

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This guy is big baby when BMW took over Sauber they had no intention of keeping him. He went down the legal issues avenue and he was retained check his race record from this year he was far from his champion F1 days he needed to move on. Schumacher in I believe 2004 was the 2nd highest paid athlete in the world only second to Tiger Woods and only by 300,000 to 500,000 dollars.

Nascar may be where the money is but in the world the number 1 sport in the world is soccer number 2 is Formula 1 but in America neither has the global following.

RefuG - 10/16/2006 7:36:00 PM

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"the number 1 sport in the world is soccer number 2 is Formula 1" soccer yea, but formula 1?!? I dunno about that one.


G

DarkOneForce - 10/19/2006 6:01:34 AM

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How exactly is were the money is.
With Schumi's salary (and Villeneuve was at BAR, second only to Schumi in the paycheck list; he probaly squized about 100 millions, so money = no problem) and Toyota's budged NASCAR folks and teams seem poor.

And Andretti also won.

Oh, and F1 audience per race ~ 1 billion people .

Formula 1 is indeed the second sport in the world, after football (soccer to you americans).

rocker - 10/16/2006 11:34:30 PM

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He was definitely trying to hold on too long to his F1 career. He has made a lot of money but done little in F1 since '98 or '99. Drivers from Champ Car and IRL have made a big splash in F1(Montoya, Villeneuve, de Matta, Michael Andretti) but fade fast after that. At least Villeneuve won a championship.

sewingmachine - 10/16/2006 11:55:18 PM

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dont know what happened to vill, he won the championship then completely freefalled into a hole. refug nascar has roughly 30 million watching the big races. formula has roughly 2-4 billion every race.

sewingmachine - 10/17/2006 12:27:32 AM

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sorry i meant to say 2-4 hundred million every race