Motorsports What Ifs Thread

Mark Martin doesn't get his penalty at Richmond and wins the 1990 championship.

Bobby Allison doesn't have his career ending crash and retires after 89'.

Ricky Craven is great and doesn't get fucked over at Hendrick

Jeff Gordon at Roush

Legit Kenny Wallace cup career.

Rob Moroso lives and is at Gibbs.

Tony stays in IndyCar.

Terry Schoonover lives and is at Morgan McClure.

Ernie Irvan at Yates.

Some other possible Nascar what ifs are:

Dale Earnhardt doesn't wreck and survives the 2001 Daytona 500.

Mark Martin beats Kevin Harvick to the line and wins the 2007 Daytona 500.

Davey Allison wins the 1992 championship.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stays at DEI.
 
WI the Tasman series went to 3 litres when F1 did? Could that keep the Australian GP on the radar as an F1 race?
 
1.Marco Simoncelli escapes unharmed at Sepang 2011.

2. Casey Stoner doesn't retire at the end of 2012 season, with the rookie Marc Marquez as his new teammate for 2013.

3. Valentino Rossi doesn't live Ducati at the end of 2012 season, while Simoncelli becomes his new teammate.

4. Dani Pedrosa signs with Yamaha for 2013 as Jorge Lorenzo's teammate.
 
WI Bruce Mclaren lived?

Well, two men would be impacted, and the entire F1 history with them.

First is Teddy Mayer, who handled McLaren in the 70's with some success but it ended badly and he was sacked.

And the second one, of course, is Ron Dennis, who merged his own team with McLaren in 1981, and went to stratospheric success with Lauda, Prost, Senna, and later Hakkinen and into the 2000's.

Of course if Bruce McLaren had lived, Mayer would never have replaced him, and ron Dennis a decade later would be buterflied away. A shame, because a Bruce McLaren / Ron Dennis alliance is intriguing.

Dale Earnhardt doesn't wreck and survives the 2001 Daytona 500.

How about him testing in either CART or IRL, after the split, or perhaps before the split ? Dang, his death was really NASCAR very own Imola 94...
Imagine, if Earnhardt added Indianapolis, Le Mans, Monaco to his NASCAR stellar career... well, a bit like Jacky Ickx, except with the Daytona 500 :p
Or Mario Andretti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Andretti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacky_Ickx

When one thinks about it, the top races in Motorsport are
- Monaco (or F1 championship)
- Indianapolis (or Indycar championship)
- Daytona 500
- Le Mans
- Monte Carlo (WRC)
- Paris Dakar (WRC, 2.0)

Only few pilots ever come close to win all of this. Fact is NASCAR is a world apart from the others.We need a NASCAR top pilot younfg enough to move across all the other ones after winning the Daytona 500.
 
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Three months ago I become interested in the CART / IRL split. I learned about Tony George and the whole enchillada, USAAC, CART, first split, IRL, second split.

There are a bunch of interesting whatifs there

-1976: Tony George father got caught in a firefight with his wife and... lover. I can't remember exactly who shot who and who survived, but it certainly shook the Hullman-George family
- 1977: the old Hullman dies
- April 1978: the USAAC plane crash kills no less than 9 prominent USAAC member, greatly weakening the organization at the worse moment,only months before CART is created by the rebels teams
- In the 80's Tony George and his first wife relationship got very difficult; when they divorced, there were mentions of drug abuse, violence... imagine if Tony George had shot his wife, or reverse.
- before the split there were various atempts at counciling, to no avail.
 
I plan to do a timeline where there is no split in the 90's. It will be interesting to see the top talent of post split CART and IRL competing with each other. It will be the companion timeline to my nascar one. It should happen later this year.
 
Please remember that USAC was organized quickly in late 55 early 56 as an emergency replacement for the AAA Contest Board after AAA dropped sanctioning of racing because of the 1955 tragedies. It was always an organization of Indianapolis centered racing lovers dedicated to retaining the various circuits of the old AAA, Indy 500 and Champ Cars, Sprints, Midgets and Stock Cars. It never was and never would have become a business like NASCAR, it was and is a sanctioning organization (and alive and well today with Silver Crown, Sprints and Midgets). The original CART/USAC split was a power play by the Penske led owners to take over the management of the top level of Open Wheel racing for their benefit and their benefit alone. And it worked all too well, permanently divorcing the top level, Indy and Champ cars, from the grass roots of Open wheel racing, sprints and midgets, which remained under USAC and various regional sanctioning organizations. That was the death knell for American open wheel racing, as the CART owners acting in their interest opened the way for rampant ride buying by American drug dealers (ie Whittingtons) and International road racers. By 1994 only 1/3 of the Indy 500 field was American, which was the impetuous for the infamous Tony George driven CART/IRL split. Tony George didn't go far enough. He should have made the IRL a front-engine only series to be run only on ovals. Yes that is technically retrograde, but reconnects American open wheel racing with its paved and dirt oval grass roots. When TG made his IRL basically just a weaker clone of CART, the war was lost and Open wheel racing the loser and NASCAR the winner. So that would be my POD, have Tony George declare that the IRL and Indy 500 would be open only to front engine cars! Under these rules Tony Stewart could well be a 5 time Indy winner (he is the greatest over all racer of the past 30 years). American Open Wheel racing should be for American cars and American drivers with sprint and midget experience, let the rest of the world run their Formula One charade of racing.
 
NHRA never bans Altereds & never creates Funny Car.

This might require allowing Altereds to have longer wheelbases, to improve handling. It might also require allowing mid-engined Altereds.:eek: (IDK about banning nitro in the class, which might also be needed; that effectively makes them a Gas/Super Gas class, which I'm not sure is an Altered anymore.)

For the record, I'm not after a nitro Pro Stock class.
 
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The Porsche CART team sticks around and has John Andretti and Scott Goodyear (based on my 1991 CART lineup, the POD for that timeline will be 1993 so I'll see what happens with that team).
 
Well, two men would be impacted, and the entire F1 history with them.

First is Teddy Mayer, who handled McLaren in the 70's with some success but it ended badly and he was sacked.

And the second one, of course, is Ron Dennis, who merged his own team with McLaren in 1981, and went to stratospheric success with Lauda, Prost, Senna, and later Hakkinen and into the 2000's.

Of course if Bruce McLaren had lived, Mayer would never have replaced him, and ron Dennis a decade later would be buterflied away. A shame, because a Bruce McLaren / Ron Dennis alliance is intriguing.



How about him testing in either CART or IRL, after the split, or perhaps before the split ? Dang, his death was really NASCAR very own Imola 94...
Imagine, if Earnhardt added Indianapolis, Le Mans, Monaco to his NASCAR stellar career... well, a bit like Jacky Ickx, except with the Daytona 500 :p
Or Mario Andretti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Andretti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacky_Ickx

When one thinks about it, the top races in Motorsport are
- Monaco (or F1 championship)
- Indianapolis (or Indycar championship)
- Daytona 500
- Le Mans
- Monte Carlo (WRC)
- Paris Dakar (WRC, 2.0)

Only few pilots ever come close to win all of this. Fact is NASCAR is a world apart from the others.We need a NASCAR top pilot younfg enough to move across all the other ones after winning the Daytona 500.
Monaco is the biggest F1 race only for people who are not real F1 fans. The Ring back when it was the green hell, Spa and Monza are more representative of F1 greatness.

The easiest man to writo a TL for winning it all would be Jacky Ickx. He won Le Mans (a lot) and the Dakar and came very close to winning the F1 tittle in 1970.
If the 312B is more reliable in early 70, he could win the title. He could have a run at Indy later. Maybe with the Penske Mercedes team. But put him in a McLaren at Indy in 74 to 76 (after his Ferrarri years) and he could have won. Just make him move to McLaren in F1 rather than to Lotus.
 
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The TRAC Series doesn't fail before it starts. It ends up becoming another way for young drivers to get into NASCAR, some of its races are companions to NASCAR or ARCA races. By the present day, it has 24 teams, still with 2 leagues. It becomes one of the major pro sports in America.
 
The 1976 German Grand Prix is run on a dry, warm day.....................

Nikki would have won the 1976 tittle and avoided his fall from Ferrari grace. He would have won again in 1977, as OTL, but probably with Ragazonni on the number two Ferrari rather than Carlos Reutman.
In 1978 there is no stoping the Lotus , but if Nikki stays in Ferrari he probably would have won again in 1979 in the T4.
With four titles in Ferraris in a five year period, he could run for King of Italy or for Pope and they would have given both to him :cool:
After 1980 and the failure of the T5 he could go to McLaren and then its pretty much back to OTL.
 
Nikki would have won the 1976 tittle and avoided his fall from Ferrari grace.
I don't disapprove, but that suggests Gilles doesn't sign with Ferrari, doesn't it?:eek: Does he stay with McLaren, despite the M26 & M28?:eek: Or go elsewhere?
 
Nikki would have won the 1976 tittle and avoided his fall from Ferrari grace. He would have won again in 1977, as OTL, but probably with Ragazonni on the number two Ferrari rather than Carlos Reutman.
In 1978 there is no stoping the Lotus , but if Nikki stays in Ferrari he probably would have won again in 1979 in the T4.
With four titles in Ferraris in a five year period, he could run for King of Italy or for Pope and they would have given both to him :cool:
After 1980 and the failure of the T5 he could go to McLaren and then its pretty much back to OTL.

i was more thinking about the not be burnt inside and out in a terrible crash rather than the world championship thing!
 
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