Foo - Will Lance make it as an auto racer?

Lance Armstrong drove the pace car yesterday at the Indy 500. In an interview, he said he is considering going into auto racing. Will he be successful if he tries it? In his early 30's, he's a little old to start a new career in auto racing. Jeff Gordon started racing quarter midgets when he was 5. Now in his mid-30's, he has been racing 30 years! Most of the young guns in NASCAR are in their 20's, and already have long careers. Marco Andretti, second at Indy yesterday, is only 19! I'm not counting Lance out, but I think he has a hard road ahead of him if he attempts it. However, his name will attract first class sponsors with mucho bucks, so he will have the best of equipment. What say you?

He'll do great as long as he can slip past the restrictor plate inspections ;)

I thought I heard him say in another interview at the Indy Track, that the answer was No !! With a ex-wife and 2 kids,there is no way he would go 200 mph in a Race Car !

That one shot of him driving the Pace Car,looked like he was "White Knuckling" it at 110 Mph !! :D

What wife? Did he get married and i missed it? Say that the Indy guys cycle to stay in shape,pretty cool.

Lance won't have a chance. He'll "spin out" right out of the starting blocks.

It seems every time there's a thread about Lance Armstrong, someone has to post something about Eddy Merckx being better. So here it goes. Eddy Merckx would make a better Indy car driver than Lance. There, it's done. Everyone can rest easier now.

If Paul Newman can do it...

Why does it matter how old you are in nascar or w/e car he is considering racing. The car is doin the work not you you just have to control it (which is determined by skill not age) for cycling he had to be an athlete and age does factor into that but for nascar i dont see why not, except im sure hes made enough money biking:mad: and i dont see how much more thrilling the cockpit of a nascar is compared to taking a 10 foot jump onto a downhill streightaway (sure he doesnt do mountain biking but its worth a try as much as nascar )

... The car is doin the work not you you just have to control it ...

have you ever driven a race car? i have. one of the reasons i've never seriously considered a career as a driver is the pure physical ability required.

don't let the beer-belly stereotype fool you; NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers are just as much athletes as any pro cyclist. not the same type of physical conditioning, but it's there.

Why does it matter how old you are in nascar or w/e car he is considering racing. The car is doin the work not you you just have to control it (which is determined by skill not age

Skill is the operative word here. A 30-something-year-old newb in any sport is never going to have the skill you get from learning a sport from childhood on. Lance might make a good transition to another endurance sport, because after all he learned to swim and run competitively as a kid, but the likelihood of him developing advanced race car skills at this point is very low....unless he had a secret car racing career we don't know about.

....unless he had a secret car racing career we don't know about.
Upon reflection I suppose their might be some crossover potential between bike racing and car racing, like there is between cycling and speed-skating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Hughes), or squash and racquetball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_McKay) but those sports probably have much more in common than bicycling and NASCAR.

Uh... no.

have you ever driven a race car? i have. one of the reasons i've never seriously considered a career as a driver is the pure physical ability required.

don't let the beer-belly stereotype fool you; NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers are just as much athletes as any pro cyclist. not the same type of physical conditioning, but it's there.

Exactly. Drivers can experience anywhere between four to six sustained Gs in the turns. This ranks right in there with aerial dogfighting maneauvers but without the aid of pressure trousures. Nevertheless, the workout is pretty intense and has to be done for several hours in a row. The beer-belly stereotype is reserved for those sitting in the stands.

Back to the original topic... Didn't Lance do some amateur racing with his Porsche in his pre-cancer days?

*sigh*

*sigh*

What??

The only thing I heard was how hard it was to do 120 in the vette? I like lance, but I wouldn't put it past him to think he was on the same level as Jordon playing baseball. Hopefully Lance is smarter than that.

Remember Greg Lemond? He is still alive. He had to sell his bicycle company to Trek to help cover his losses while trying to race cars in the old ladder system that CART had in the mid 90s. Rumor has it Lance was offered a ride in the Dakar rally from Robby Gordon for 2007 and a shot at NASCAR from the same Robby Gordon. These are just rumors and never verified by either Gordon or Armstrong.

Why does it matter how old you are in nascar or w/e car he is considering racing. The car is doin the work not you you just have to control it (which is determined by skill not age) for cycling he had to be an athlete and age does factor into that but for nascar i dont see why not, except im sure hes made enough money biking:mad: and i dont see how much more thrilling the cockpit of a nascar is compared to taking a 10 foot jump onto a downhill streightaway (sure he doesnt do mountain biking but its worth a try as much as nascar )

LMAO. Guess you havent watched a race at bristol when its 120 on the track and 140 in the car and seen how they look after the race. These guys are jocks,belive it.

If I were marketing myself as Lance is I would say what the customer or sponsor wanted. If you are at a car race say your are interested enough to try racing. In an ice cream factory talk about making your own ice cream. He IS interested in hot cars, his old muscle car was rebuilt on the OverHauling show.

I thought I heard him say in another interview at the Indy Track, that the answer was No !! With a ex-wife and 2 kids,there is no way he would go 200 mph in a Race Car !


Yes, in the latter interview (Sunday pre-race), he confirmed he was more or less kidding about driving race cars.

I predict Lance Armstrong will be every bit as successful in auto racing as NASCAR's colorful, legendary stars of yesteryear: Gober Sosebee, Nero Steptoe, Slick Smith, Jocko Magiaccomo, Crawfish Crider, Runt Harris, Dink Widenhouse, Luke Warmwater, Rat Lane, Soapy Castles, Iggy Katona, Hooker Hood, Fonty Flock and Blackie Pitt. But he will have to adopt a more colorful first name. Lance just won't get it done. Runt Armstrong? :D

With his legs he wouldn't have a problem with the clutch but with those skinny a** arms, there is no way he could hold a turn at 180+mph. Not that I could do better but I'm just saying... ;)

another thread about Lance's whereabouts and what he wants to do and what people think about it... ohh brother:rolleyes:

Which brand of cigarettes will sponsor him?

Which brand of cigarettes will sponsor him?
:roflmao: Now that's funny.

have you ever driven a race car? i have. one of the reasons i've never seriously considered a career as a driver is the pure physical ability required.

don't let the beer-belly stereotype fool you; NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers are just as much athletes as any pro cyclist. not the same type of physical conditioning, but it's there.

Skilled? Yes. Competitors? Yes. Athletes? Perhaps coincidentally - but it is not a requirement. Drivers are as much athletes as machine tool operators are. Truth be told, you don't see very many guys with big guts because fat guys don't snag as many endorsements. :p

NASCAR is entertainment. NOT a sport.

Could Lance race cars full time? Of course. He's got the deep financial pockets for it. He can be a privateer most anywhere he wants, as long as he's willing to foot the bill. Could he be any good? (Be competitive in Star Mazda--$200K/yr--or something like that.) With some training, I think so, as long as he picks a series appropriate to his abilities. (Buy his way to the back of the ALMS grid? Sure, he's got the cash, but he'll probably look pretty bad performance-wise.) Could he be great? I think not. Too much of his prime already spent on developing other skills.

Why does it matter how old you are in nascar or w/e car he is considering racing. The car is doin the work not you you just have to control it (which is determined by skill not age) for cycling he had to be an athlete and age does factor into that but for nascar i dont see why not, except im sure hes made enough money biking:mad: and i dont see how much more thrilling the cockpit of a nascar is compared to taking a 10 foot jump onto a downhill streightaway (sure he doesnt do mountain biking but its worth a try as much as nascar )

Driving a race car is one of the hardest things you might ever do. Go 200MPH for hours, call us when you're done as to how easy it was..

Driving a race car is one of the hardest things you might ever do. Go 200MPH for hours, call us when you're done as to how easy it was..
Heck with 200mph for hours, just try 85-100mph on a 1/2 mile short track with 10-20 other inexperenced drivers.

Lance has all the things he needs to be a successful driver at a level high enough that it would be interesting.

Physical conditioning
Attention to detail
Strategy
Money
Sponsors banging down the door to give him a shot.

A year or so in a shifter cart and he could move up to F-Atlantics or F-Mazda's
A season or two in the Atlantics and he'd be ready for CART's

You're never to old to start, and driving a car fast is 90% mental.