View Full Version : A.J's Cup Debut
Wheel-Nut
10-24-06, 12:27 PM
For those of you that don't want to follow A.J. don't tune into the atlanta or Texas cup race in the next 2 weeks!! :p
Hey Dad, can I jump into the deep end?
Sure son, you have to learn how to swim somehow . . .
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/33582/
oddlycalm
10-24-06, 04:08 PM
It'll be hard to tune out when fast forwarding through the Speed Report, but I'll manage.
oc
"After being involved in 'The Big One' in 2 consecutive races, NASCAB newcomer AJ Almendinger has said he doesn't give a crap because he's making way more scratch than the 3-time ChampCar title holder and besides, 'It's only sports entertainment anyway, not racing'."
theunions
10-25-06, 02:47 AM
AJ Almendinger has said he doesn't give a crap
The last time I interviewed him, he used that phrase not once but twice.
I imagine we'll be hearing a lot more of it from now on. ;)
Yawn, wake me up when it's over.
He can come back if he's nice.
diamond dave
10-25-06, 12:06 PM
Yawn, wake me up when it's over.
He can come back if he's nice.
I'm sure DCR would make room for AJ on his Team:laugh:
Wheel-Nut
10-25-06, 12:43 PM
^^ For about $3 million a year!!
diamond dave
10-25-06, 07:54 PM
^^ For about $3 million a year!!
nah! Dale wouldn't charge him that much to "ride buy":laugh:
Sean O'Gorman
10-25-06, 08:01 PM
So I'm assuming all you guys have raced Champ Car, AND NASCAR, and been offered millions of dollars, and came to the opposite conclusion as A.J.? Boy, he must really be a fool.
oddlycalm
10-25-06, 08:39 PM
So I'm assuming all you guys have raced Champ Car, AND NASCAR, and been offered millions of dollars, and came to the opposite conclusion as A.J.? Boy, he must really be a fool. Actually, he is Sean, and it's not just sour grapes talking. AJ may never figure out where he went wrong, but you'll have an opportunity to sit back and see how it all turns out. As I posted elswhere, after he's been picked clean by the "management team" and his soon-to-be-wife after he trades up to the big hair bimbo and builds the McMansion out in East Nosepick, NC, you'll understand why I think he's a fool for making this career move, even if he makes it to the top of the crashcab heap. You'll understand 15yrs from now.
There are bigger issues than commercial success in life. As long as you have enough to be comfortable and to retire then it boils down to the people you work with and the amount of time you have for yourself and your family. It would take a lot more than $3 million a year to get me to do what he's going to have to do and do it with the people he'll have to do it with, and I don't need to have driven a race car to know that.
oc
There are bigger issues than commercial success in life. As long as you have enough to be comfortable and to retire then it boils down to the people you work with and the amount of time you have for yourself and your family. It would take a lot more than $3 million a year to get me to do what he's going to have to do and do it with the people he'll have to do it with, and I don't need to have driven a race car to know that.
oc
Great post.
I recommend status for oc be changed to Sage. :)
Sean O'Gorman
10-25-06, 09:31 PM
So answer this? If you race a Champ Car, and racing a car is what you do for a living, is money really that much of a motivator?
A.J. is going to NASCAR because its going to be a bigger challenge than Champ Car was, and you guys just can't admit it.
So answer this? If you race a Champ Car, and racing a car is what you do for a living, is money really that much of a motivator?
A.J. is going to NASCAR because its going to be a bigger challenge than Champ Car was, and you guys just can't admit it.
didnt you gamble away your posting privileges?
Sean O'Gorman
10-25-06, 09:36 PM
nrc or RaceGrrl can ban me for a week as soon as they are ready, I'm not the one who is enforcing the rules. ;)
nrc or RaceGrrl can ban me for a week as soon as they are ready, I'm not the one who is enforcing the rules. ;)
actually it was a month.
redmist
10-26-06, 12:35 AM
So answer this? If you race a Champ Car, and racing a car is what you do for a living, is money really that much of a motivator?
A.J. is going to NASCAR because its going to be a bigger challenge than Champ Car was, and you guys just can't admit it.
non$en$e, he i$ going for the ca$h. pay him 50 million a year to race lawnmowers and that's where he would be.
nrc or RaceGrrl can ban me for a week as soon as they are ready, I'm not the one who is enforcing the rules. ;)
I never saw an answer on that thread.
Sean O'Gorman
10-26-06, 07:26 AM
But I thought my answer was already wrong?
When did AJ decide to set his sights so low?
The idiot is only 24 and he decides to go and drone around in circles.Sure he dosen't have to do it the rest of his life, but it hard to see him doing otherwise.
Seebass is 27 and he is still talking F1, Briscoe is 26 and he is doing everything he can to keep in the F1 teams view.AJ had a good if not better chance than both of them to go further up the ladder and he throws it away.
3 million a year probably looks good to him now, but next year, when he is halfway though the season and on his way to another oval, just like the week before and week before that, will that money seem so great then?
oddlycalm
10-26-06, 04:59 PM
If you race a Champ Car, and racing a car is what you do for a living, is money really that much of a motivator? Apparently it is for AJA and his new management team. It has been very clearly reported that the issue was money.
A.J. is going to NASCAR because its going to be a bigger challenge than Champ Car was, and you guys just can't admit it Uh, sure Sean, whatever you say.
oc
TKGAngel
10-27-06, 04:39 PM
And Dinger's Cup debut will have to be delayed for another time, as rain has washed out qualifying at Atlanta. With the race grid set by owners points, Dinger's on the outside looking in.
FAJA. I hate his balls. He will regret passing on Lord Forsythe of Barrington's more than generous offer of a six figure salary when he sees how much he has to give to the IRS as his 2007 W-2 presses the $10,000,000 mark. Hopefully then he will see how he runied his own life. If not, he could stay in Nascab earning tens of millions of dollars. That would be terrible.
Knowing absolutely nothing about the decision making process he went through, I will speculate that he doesn't actually want to leave the CCWS and that his fiance (who is no longer attractive), Julian Jakobi and some consortium of Red Bull/Toyota/Brian France/Kim Jong Il and Osama Bin Laden are actually stealing him.
Accipiter
10-27-06, 07:07 PM
And Dinger's Cup debut will have to be delayed for another time, as rain has washed out qualifying at Atlanta. With the race grid set by owners points, Dinger's on the outside looking in.
RBR must be regretting replacing Elliot with A.J. now. Elliot's in the race with another team using a Champion's provisional.
If I were in his position, I'd jump to NASCAR as well. In 36 months, he will be financially set for life by being a racecar driver. Not bad, considering that he's not from a super-wealthy family and earned his way on merit.
The alternative is making $200k with Forsythe for the next 3 years, with the constant threat of injury in a dangerous sport ----> his decision seems financially sound to me.
Champcar is NOT a stepping stone to F1 anymore - ask Bourdais (or better yet, Christian Klien). If Bourdais' door isn't being knocked down, AJ won't even get phone calls. That's IF he wins multiple CC championships.
racer2c
10-27-06, 10:09 PM
If I were in his position, I'd jump to NASCAR as well. In 36 months, he will be financially set for life by being a racecar driver. Not bad, considering that he's not from a super-wealthy family and earned his way on merit.
The alternative is making $200k with Forsythe for the next 3 years, with the constant threat of injury in a dangerous sport ----> his decision seems financially sound to me.
Champcar is NOT a stepping stone to F1 anymore - ask Bourdais (or better yet, Christian Klien). If Bourdais' door isn't being knocked down, AJ won't even get phone calls. That's IF he wins multiple CC championships.
BS.
the 200K number is unsubstantiated.
As for SB and F1...he admits yearly to being in talks with team...he only wants to race for Renault...Flavio doesn't want him. The end.
extramundane
10-27-06, 10:33 PM
Champcar is NOT a stepping stone to F1 anymore - ask Bourdais (or better yet, Christian Klien). If Bourdais' door isn't being knocked down, AJ won't even get phone calls. That's IF he wins multiple CC championships.
Clearly Bourdais is going about it all wrong. The lesson to be learned:
Multiple CC championships = no F1
15th place in CC standings = F1 immortality courtesy of JordanMidlandSpyker
Winning is for idiots.
oddlycalm
10-28-06, 05:38 PM
If I were in his position, I'd jump to NASCAR as well. In 36 months, he will be financially set for life by being a racecar driver. Not bad, considering that he's not from a super-wealthy family and earned his way on merit.
The alternative is making $200k with Forsythe for the next 3 years, with the constant threat of injury in a dangerous sport ----> his decision seems financially sound to me.
Champcar is NOT a stepping stone to F1 anymore - ask Bourdais (or better yet, Christian Klien). If Bourdais' door isn't being knocked down, AJ won't even get phone calls. That's IF he wins multiple CC championships.
It's a judgement call Rich, but I'd stay put and here's why.
First, the $3/yr million won't begin to set him up for life after the management team (agent, manager, lawyer, accountant) take big chunk of the money and taxes take half of what's left. Remember, while the agent only gets 15% they also bill him for all legal and accounting services. Figure on 1/3-1/2 of his gross going to the piranhas. Personally, I'd prefer to do without the management team, settle for a lower figure, be a big fish in a much smaller pond, have 30 weekends a year off and pay lower taxes. Where he's going he'll be lucky to get four weeks a year off and he'll be one of forty other guys every weekend.
Second, while Forsythe rescued him to the tune of $200K/yr prorated, we've had strong indications from the language that Tracey used in his interview that FCR was offering quite a lot more than that going forward. I'd be stunned if it wasn't $1 million or more.
Finally, Bourdais isn't in F1 because he's been unwilling to accept a testing role without a guarantee of a race seat after that. He's been specific about that in interviews. His choice, but it's not realistic for any top team to promise him that. Also, Bourdais is a French driver not a US driver. AJA is more marketable in both F1 and NASCAR specifically because he is US driver from a promotional standpoint. Also, I don't think the NASCAR opportunity is going anywhere.
My best guess is that it was Red Bull had a strong hand in directing AJA to the management team in question, which was directed to proceed in the manner they have. Now that he's been fitted out with the harness and yoke, he can start pulling the heavy wagon.
oc
Wheel-Nut
11-02-06, 07:41 PM
This weekend - Texas.
TKGAngel
11-03-06, 10:01 AM
This weekend - Texas.
Yup. His car will feature a sponsorship from the NY Red Bulls.
Clearly Bourdais is going about it all wrong. The lesson to be learned:
Multiple CC championships = no F1
15th place in CC standings = F1 immortality courtesy of JordanMidlandSpyker
Winning is for idiots.
Make it, "Winning is for losers."
That could be Rocketsports new slogan.
extramundane
11-03-06, 12:15 PM
Make it, "Winning is for losers."
That could be Rocketsports new slogan.
*unless you own the series
cameraman
11-03-06, 01:21 PM
Yup. His car will feature a sponsorship from the NY Red Bulls.
Wow a perfect storm...
New York City
Soccer
Toyota
We might see a few brains explode.
TKGAngel
11-03-06, 02:08 PM
I'm suprised brains aren't already exploding over the Montoya invasion in NASCAR. Just reading Jayski over the past week has shown that CGR is launching a Spanish language website, ESPN is going to have Spanish coverage, and the Montoya fans were in full force at Memphis last week with soccer jerseys, cowbells and Columbian flags.
ETA: Just checked the results from NASCAR qualies, and Dinger is now a proud 0-2 in attempting to make the NASCAR field. His qualifying speed of 186 and change was more than 10 mph off of Brian Vickers pole winning speed. :eek:
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