Lewis Hamilton to Drive NASCAR

Lewis Hamilton is set to drive a premier NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car for the first time later in 2011.

American sports network ESPN reports that the McLaren driver will swap his Formula One car for two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart's Chevrolet.

The exhibition, organized by mutual sponsor Mobil 1, is set to take place some time in the summer at the famous Watkins Glen road course in New York.

The car provided by McLaren for the swap will be the British team's 2010 model MP4-25, the report said.

Stewart-Haas Racing spokesman Mike Arning confirmed the report.

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-lewis-hamilton-to-run-nascar-stock-car-in-watkins-glen-exhibition/

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=6162176

Does that mean Tony gets to drive the MP4-25??

Dog and pony show, but a VERY interesting dog and pony show...

Even with his recent weight loss, can Tony even fit in a modern Formula 1 car ?

I seem to recall similar event at Indianaplois with Goeff Bodine and Jeff Gordon. They did very well in both cases.

With Tony's experience, I would say he will do better than Hamilton will with the Sprint Cup car

Hal wrote: I seem to recall similar event at Indianaplois with JP Montoya and Jeff Gordon. They did very well in both cases. With Tony's experience, I would say he will do better than Hamilton will with the Sprint Cup car

FTFY

Bodine's most memorable cross-over performances are (probably) his forays into bobsledding.

This is marketing genius! I can't wait to see how this one plays out - I think they'll both do great.

oldsaw wrote:

Hal wrote: I seem to recall similar event at Indianaplois with JP Montoya and Jeff Gordon. They did very well in both cases. With Tony's experience, I would say he will do better than Hamilton will with the Sprint Cup car

FTFY Bodine's most memorable cross-over performances are (probably) his forays into bobsledding.

I forgot about JPM but GB did it long before either of them. It wasn't one of those specially set up things. He was at Indy during early practice for the 500 and an owner let him run some laps.

These sorts of comparisons are always fun, but seldom very realistic. WWWaaaaayyyy back, Road & Track, I think, compared Tim Richmonds Stock car with a Porsche prototype LeMans car on some really long oval. The stock car was some 20 mph faster. The only line I remember from the story was,"The stock car may be a brick, but its a very aerodynamic brick."

I think if Tony can squeeze his butt into the Mclaren, he'll do just fine. And Lewis will come out of the stock car laughing like hell.

Edit: 1986, apparently. Top right

I was at the Tradin' Paint event with Gordon and JPM at Indy. It was great. I have pics somewhere, but no time to download (hotlink) them here.

I think these events prove that the top-tier NASCAR drivers can drive competitively in F1 (much to the dismay of F1 snobs/NASCAR haters), and that F1 drivers have great respect for NASCAR drivers (again, to the dismay of some).

There's money to be made by racing NASCAR (not necessarily by competing well, either). Sanctioning bodies want more (and more diverse) fans and participants, drivers and car owners want to make more money, and sponsors want more recognition. NASCAR does all of these better than any other circuit in the world.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

I remember reading my dad's copy of that R&T.

I'd watch this comparison.

PR stunt or not, whatever...It'll be GREAT to see a modern F1 car back at Watkins Glen!! If the public can somehow attend, I'm going, somehow, someway, I want to hear 18,000 rpm F1 redline in person. With Stewart's experience in Indy Cars (or whatever you want to call them these days) it'll be really interesting as to what Stweart can do.

I think Hamilton will do much better than expected in a stock car.

Whoever got this deal together deserves mucho Kudos and attaboys!

I hope it goes better than that Renault demo a few years back:

youtube linky

Kendall

I'm excited for this to see a modern F1 car run at the Glen, especially since I'm doing my first HPDE there in April. I'll find a way to be there.

Hamilton is young and in his prime. Stewart is over 40. In open wheel racing that is over the hill. It will be cool to see both drivers swapping rides, but I wouldn't expect much out of it. I will be amazed to see Stewart shoehorned into that car. Even with all the weight he's lost recently, he's still not a small guy, and it's been over 10 years since he drove an Indy car. If anyone's inerested, Car and driver magazine editor Mark Gillies drove a Honda F1 car not too long ago. It was an eye opening read. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q1/we_drive_a_honda_f1_car-sport

I remember that R&T comparison. Heck, I might actually have the issue around here. The big difference between the Porsche and the NASCAR was that the Porsche was producing wicked downforce at top speed...

Stunts like this are put together purely by the sponsors to grab more attention. Red Bull has done it a few times with Loeb in an F1 car, for example. Doesn't make it any less interesting to watch.

I seem to remember Rick Mears driving a BMW (?) F1 car back in the day (don't remember if an F1 driver drove his Indy car) and expressed interest until he was told he'd have to find funding. Whereupon he said "Uh no, you pay me, I don't pay you"...

shadetree30 wrote: Whereupon he said "Uh no, you pay me, I don't pay you"...

That is classic! That's what I said to the last start-up company that wanted me to join! ;)

Don't forget Stewart does have championship seasons in both IRL and NASCAR. Yes, he's over forty and to be considered over the hill for open wheel circles, but it'll be a good show anyway. I remember JPM and Gordon's comments about swapping rides. They both had a lot more respect for the others form of motorsports afterwards

Gordon said it was less about the going fast than it was STOPPING fast.

I'm more excited about Smoke driving the F1 car than Hamilton driving the stock car. Tony gets around Watkins Glen pretty well.

Just once I'd like to see someone with an insane amount of money lure F1, IRL, NASCAR, ALMS, etc. to the same track on the same day for a test session just to see how they run relative to each other. Red Bull, you listening?