Grand Prix Rejects

Cynon wrote:The entire NASCAR career of John Wes Townley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbrmE0HQrWE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i780-Pp4 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mapr0Ypog9Y

^ Typical JWT weekends.

Douglas Mann could do better, and often does!

Finnish rally F-Cup in 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiIYEmpWaaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I33g2l0rqsM Hmmm nice job there...

What about this news, courtesy of Autosport, that the Ford GT1 team run by Marc VDS might have to withdraw from the next event because their engine supplier was on holiday:

Ford GTs could miss Paul Ricard GT1 World Championship race due to engine supply issues

The Ford GTs could miss the next round of the GT1 World Championship at Paul Ricard due to engine supply issues.

Both the Marc VDS and Belgian Racing teams have suffered engine problems during the season, with one of the four GTs having used four engines already this year.

In a bid to address these problems, a number of replacement powerplants were ordered from US engine builder Roush Yates, but these were not shipped to Europe until this week due to a public holiday.

Marc VDS general manager Jean-Michel Delporte called the situation "completely unacceptable".

"We ordered and paid Roush Yates for these replacement engines in plenty of time to have them shipped, delivered and fitted in the cars ready for Paul Ricard. Now we find out they've only just been shipped because of a public holiday in the United States," he said.

"The world, especially the racing world, doesn't stop for public holidays and as an excuse this is one is pretty poor.

"The situation is simple; unless the engines arrive with us by Monday at the latest then we will not have time to fit them before the four cars leave the workshop for the South of France.

"In this instance we would have no option but to withdraw from the race, meaning there would be no Fords on the grid. The situation is made worse by the fact that, for the first time in the GT1 World Championship, Ford Europe will have a heavy presence at Paul Ricard for the race weekend."

Marc VDS lies sixth in the teams' championship with Belgian Racing eighth and last. The best-placed Ford competitor in the drivers' standings is Maxime Martin in 18th.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92918

mario wrote:What about this news, courtesy of Autosport, that the Ford GT1 team run by Marc VDS might have to withdraw from the next event because their engine supplier was on holiday:

Ford GTs could miss Paul Ricard GT1 World Championship race due to engine supply issues

In a bid to address these problems, a number of replacement powerplants were ordered from US engine builder Roush Yates, but these were not shipped to Europe until this week due to a public holiday.

I can just imagine what the engine builders were thinking on that day:
Engineer 1 "We've got an order from Marc VDS for some Ford GT engines for their World GT1 car"
Engineer 2 "But it's the fourth of July, can't they see we're celebrating the independence of the greatest country on Earth."
Engineer 1 "Yes, I suppose it is. But these aren't just engines for some NASCAR go-or-go-homers, this is for a team battling for a FIA World Championship."
Engineer 2 "How can it be a World Championship if it doesn't come to America. Shoot, it's not like it's important like NASCAR and winning at Daytona is it. Anyway, I'm outta here and going to enjoy some good old traditional American McDonalds burgers with supersize fries and Coke before I head off to see the Fourth of July fireworks. Woooo, America bathplug yeah!!!!!!"

MinardiFan95 wrote:I can just imagine what the engine builders were thinking on that day:
Engineer 1 "We've got an order from Marc VDS for some Ford GT engines for their World GT1 car"
Engineer 2 "But it's the fourth of July, can't they see we're celebrating the independence of the greatest country on Earth."
Engineer 1 "Yes, I suppose it is. But these aren't just engines for some NASCAR go-or-go-homers, this is for a team battling for a FIA World Championship."
Engineer 2 "How can it be a World Championship if it doesn't come to America. Shoot, it's not like it's important like NASCAR and winning at Daytona is it. Anyway, I'm outta here and going to enjoy some good old traditional American McDonalds burgers with supersize fries and Coke before I head off to see the Fourth of July fireworks. Woooo, America bathplug yeah!!!!!!"

Luckily we don't demonstrate a closed mind or anything here. Talk about a glass house, alright.

Klon wrote:

MinardiFan95 wrote:I can just imagine what the engine builders were thinking on that day:
Engineer 1 "We've got an order from Marc VDS for some Ford GT engines for their World GT1 car"
Engineer 2 "But it's the fourth of July, can't they see we're celebrating the independence of the greatest country on Earth."
Engineer 1 "Yes, I suppose it is. But these aren't just engines for some NASCAR go-or-go-homers, this is for a team battling for a FIA World Championship."
Engineer 2 "How can it be a World Championship if it doesn't come to America. Shoot, it's not like it's important like NASCAR and winning at Daytona is it. Anyway, I'm outta here and going to enjoy some good old traditional American McDonalds burgers with supersize fries and Coke before I head off to see the Fourth of July fireworks. Woooo, America bathplug yeah!!!!!!"

Luckily we don't demonstrate a closed mind or anything here. Talk about a glass house, alright.

After all there would be no point in trying to phone Delporte on July 14th..... Oh sorry he's Belgian. me bad

mario wrote:What about this news, courtesy of Autosport, that the Ford GT1 team run by Marc VDS might have to withdraw from the next event because their engine supplier was on holiday:

Ford GTs could miss Paul Ricard GT1 World Championship race due to engine supply issues

The Ford GTs could miss the next round of the GT1 World Championship at Paul Ricard due to engine supply issues.

Both the Marc VDS and Belgian Racing teams have suffered engine problems during the season, with one of the four GTs having used four engines already this year.

In a bid to address these problems, a number of replacement powerplants were ordered from US engine builder Roush Yates, but these were not shipped to Europe until this week due to a public holiday.

Marc VDS general manager Jean-Michel Delporte called the situation "completely unacceptable".

"We ordered and paid Roush Yates for these replacement engines in plenty of time to have them shipped, delivered and fitted in the cars ready for Paul Ricard. Now we find out they've only just been shipped because of a public holiday in the United States," he said.

"The world, especially the racing world, doesn't stop for public holidays and as an excuse this is one is pretty poor.

"The situation is simple; unless the engines arrive with us by Monday at the latest then we will not have time to fit them before the four cars leave the workshop for the South of France.

"In this instance we would have no option but to withdraw from the race, meaning there would be no Fords on the grid. The situation is made worse by the fact that, for the first time in the GT1 World Championship, Ford Europe will have a heavy presence at Paul Ricard for the race weekend."

Marc VDS lies sixth in the teams' championship with Belgian Racing eighth and last. The best-placed Ford competitor in the drivers' standings is Maxime Martin in 18th.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92918

One way to ensure that you get support from Jack Roush; Bash America.

Yeah, that'll get you quality engines alright. If by quality you mean quality pyrotechnics. With that kind of attitude I actively want them to fail -- and because they're also tarnishing Jack Roush as well, all the better.

GT1 championships run ... like third or fourth fiddle in Roush-Yates' priority list if you consider how lucrative its NASCAR engines are. Yes, clown-that-runs-Marc VDS, you are lower on the pecking order than NASCAR. I know that's really hard for you to grasp that you have to deal with American public holidays if you have an American engine supplier, but if you have a problem, you can go run another crappy European car and quit running a crappy American car. The domestic American racing scene (including American GT racing) has a greater priority to Roush Yates than a GT1 "World Championship".

I'd like to point out that a Roush-Yates powered car won the Daytona race on the 4th of July weekend, a track that is entirely dependent on engine power.

dnhrudi wrote:

Klon wrote:

MinardiFan95 wrote:I can just imagine what the engine builders were thinking on that day:
Engineer 1 "We've got an order from Marc VDS for some Ford GT engines for their World GT1 car"
Engineer 2 "But it's the fourth of July, can't they see we're celebrating the independence of the greatest country on Earth."
Engineer 1 "Yes, I suppose it is. But these aren't just engines for some NASCAR go-or-go-homers, this is for a team battling for a FIA World Championship."
Engineer 2 "How can it be a World Championship if it doesn't come to America. Shoot, it's not like it's important like NASCAR and winning at Daytona is it. Anyway, I'm outta here and going to enjoy some good old traditional American McDonalds burgers with supersize fries and Coke before I head off to see the Fourth of July fireworks. Woooo, America bathplug yeah!!!!!!"

Luckily we don't demonstrate a closed mind or anything here. Talk about a glass house, alright.

After all there would be no point in trying to phone Delporte on July 14th..... Oh sorry he's Belgian. me bad

He is Belgian. Just change that statement to July 21st and it's completely correct.

Well, VDS is actually trying to get the BMW Z4 homologated for GT1, however they will first run a GT3 in the spa 24h as 'evaluation'
Still, VDS have a tradition of unreliable (ford GT, Gillet vertigo) or horribly slow (mustang GT3 or the good old (and very rare) BMW M5 E34) cars, why would they want to break that tradition?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSIbhCz0jAE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmobVaUgix0
Classic.
Apparently the reason why Team Japan didn't compete after 2005-06 season is because they couldn't afford rebuilding Shimoda's car after his antics.

As regards this, how long was Danica in Europe for?

Geoff Boss and Gualter Salles crashing on the warmup lap for the 2003 CART race @ Vancouver. Both incidents were separate.

Ironically enough, Gaston Mazzacane managed to do the same thing at the same track the following year.

All three were driving for ...

wait for it...

DALE COYNE.

What would we do without Dale Coyne?

Wizzie wrote:What would we do without Dale Coyne?

What ARE we doing without Minardi? And HWNSNBM?

Ratanakul Prutirat is "the Nissany" in the history of DTM. Guest starting for Mercedes in Diepholz in 1996, he did not qualify.
Little is known about this gentleman from Thailand despite his name forever engraved in the history books of DTM.

Double yellow flags = continue at full speed.

Is that how these drivers have learned?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunJYFb5TMY

Bleu wrote:Double yellow flags = continue at full speed.

Is that how these drivers have learned?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunJYFb5TMY

What the heck were they thinking?

Oops, sorry, clearly they just were not thinking at all! What idiots...

That is probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a race track. How ridiculous!

I work for a motorsport promoter in the UK - I think that should be included in training videos as a warning!

Going by the criteria for eligibility, here are some DTM rejects:

James Thompson - One of the best touring car drivers in the world struggled in an uncompetetive Audi TT-R in 2000.
Christian Menzel - More people will remember him for his hysterical commentary of the final STW race in 1999 than for his DTM career.
Darren Turner - Wasted two years in this series. But he got better afterwards.
Peter Mamerow - Hopeless privateer effort, who just hadn't the same pace as the big budget works teams.
David Saelens - Did F3000 and DTM in a single year in 2001. After his attempts at open-wheel and touring car racing failed, his career fizzled out in the Porsche Supercup (Which seems to be a parking lot for failed race drivers...).
Yves Olivier - Who? *pause* Exactly!
Katsutomo Kaneishi - What would a race series be without a hopeless Japanese reject?
Peter Terting - He was probably way too young to be put into a DTM car. While his further career isn't worth mentioning, he's done much better on the romantic front. He's going to marry Katherine Legge! Lucky bastard, indeed.
Jeroen Bleekemolen - Drove for Opel in a time, where they didn't have the money to compete with Mercedes and Audi on equal grounds. It didn't help that he had to drive year-old-cars, too.
Rinaldo Capello* - One more proof that excellent endurance race drivers don't have to be good sprint race drivers.
Jarek Janis - Was just driving around at the back of the field in 2004, but somehow got a ChampCar drive with Dale Coyne the same year! But then again, rejects and Dale Coyne seem to fit together like Yin and Yang.
Pierre Kaffer - Same thing as with Capello. He's been way better at endurance racing that at sprint racing.
Olivier Tielemans - Racing with a team led by Colin Kolles isn't a good sign. His career fizzled out in WTCC afterwards, but I couldn't find any further info on Wikipedia.
Nicolas Kiesa - Another driver from Futurecome-TME (And don't worry, there are more to come!), whose only notable scene was his participation at the multi-car pileup at the 2006 Barcelona race.
Thed Björk - Couldn't do much in his two races as a replacement for Kiesa. But he made a good career in Swedish touring cars afterwards.
Vanina Ickx - THE ur-example of a driver placed into a cockpit, solely for marketing reasons. I mean, she is at least Jackie Ickx's daughter, what could possibly go wrong? Answer: Everything.
Mathias Lauda - A well earned induction into the DTM hall-of-shame. Judging by his performance on the track, it seemed like he only bought the rights to bear the surname "Lauda" from Niki. Well then Niki, like your failed airlines, this was another bad deal you've done here.
Susie Wolff - She's now in her 7th(!) season, yet she's still not unrejectified. And she'll probably stay in DTM for a couple of more years, as she's married to the shareholder of HWA (The company that builds the DTM cars for Mercedes) and Williams. At least she can claim to have "survived" Vanina Ickx, Katherine Legge and if she's sacked at the end of the year, Rahel Frey.
Lucas Luhr - Sadly one more wasted talent in DTM, but he got waaaaaaaaay better after his DTM career. He won the ALMS title in 2008 as well as the FIA GT1 title in 2011.
Adam Carroll - He had more success in GP2 than in DTM. But even after his DTM career, he still jumps around the many junior formula series such as AutoGP or FR3.5. Oh, and he drove for, you guessed it, Colin Kolles in 2007. Seriously, if you want to build up a good reputation as a race driver, don't drive for Colin Kolles!
Maro Engel - Several points finishes weren't enough to escape rejectification.
Katherine Legge - Maybe she should have stayed in America, because she seemed to have slightly more talent in open-wheelers than touring cars.
Johannes Seidlitz - How the hell did he get a DTM cockpit?...Oh, he raced for Colin Kolles of course! But seriously, how does a season in the Formula Renault BARC series qualify one for a DTM seat? His only memorable scene was curious crash with his team mate Bakkerud at Dijon.
Tomas Kostka - Let me quote Wikipedia here: "His performances in his national series were enough to be signed by Colin Kolles to drive a two-year-old Audi A4 for his DTM team for 2009." Yeah, right. But to be fair, his results weren't so bad, considering that he drove a two-year-old Audi.
Christian Bakkerud - Even if he sadly died last year, he'll still be fondly remembered by DTM fans...for his rejectful 2009 season! His "highlight" was a disqualification at Zandvoort, because of a missed weight check!
David Coulthard - Yes, I didn't make this up. David Coulthard is still a DTM reject! And judging by his performance in this season so far, he'll likely stay one.
Congfu Cheng - The most blatant marketing ploy EVER by the DTM! He was placed in a cockpit, solely to have someone they could use to advertise their infamous Shanghai race from 2010. Was thankfully dropped after that season, after it became apparant that there won't be any further races in China.
Darryl O'Young - Crashed his Audi in qualifying at Shanghai, thus he could never start in his only DTM race.
Renger van der Zande - His results weren't too special, and he had the misfortune to hail from a country that wasn't considered to be "an imporant market" by Mercedes. Yes, I'm serious, that's what they told him! I repeat, Mercedes didn't consider a driver from the Netherlands to be imporant for marketing, despite the fact that THEY RACE AT ZANDVOORT FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS NOW!
Rahel Frey - She continues the tradition of rejectful female DTM drivers, driving constantly at the back of the field, too. But hey, at least she didn't destroy any race cars!

*His fifth place in the 2004 Shanghai doesn't count, as it was a non-championship round.

LucaPacchiarini wrote:We mainly concentrate on F1, however, this is the ultimate topic for all the rejectful exploits in other series.

I'll start with Shigeaki Hattori

Is he a relative of Naoki Hattori?

Sunshine_Baby_[IT] wrote:

LucaPacchiarini wrote:We mainly concentrate on F1, however, this is the ultimate topic for all the rejectful exploits in other series.

I'll start with Shigeaki Hattori

Is he a relative of Naoki Hattori?

According to wikipedia he is not.

dr-baker wrote:

Bleu wrote:Double yellow flags = continue at full speed.

Is that how these drivers have learned?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MunJYFb5TMY

What the heck were they thinking?

Oops, sorry, clearly they just were not thinking at all! What idiots...

Correct if I a wrong, but I saw a 'Nissany' in the classification, and running in 2nd... just to add a weird info to the non-epic accident

NASCAR Rejects: basically any top 5 or 3 top 10s in the top series would get you unrejectified.

Billy Standridge Last driver to race a Ford Thunderbird when the others rode Tauruses.
Kirk Shelmerdine Dale Earnhardt's crew chief mostly start-and-parked his own car for funding (sadly it happens with several teams nowadays).
Jason Hedlesky Last driver to race in Junie Donlavey's #90 car.
Michael McDowell Claim to fame: the crash heard round the world at Texas.
Jan Magnussen Quiet ride to 12th at Sonoma in his only race so far.
Tony Ave Trans Am champion with geriatric machinery struggled to qualify in the road courses.
Mattias Ekström Stayed in the top 5 through 10 most of his debut at Sonoma including leading 7 laps. A spin relegated him to 21st.
Christian Fittipaldi Tried his hand at NASCAR after his Champcar tenure ended, only a 24th was his best finish.
Stanton Barrett Yes, amazing looking cars with weird names for primary sponsors. That's about it really.
Carl Long Mostly DNQ'd or start-and-parked his races.
Jack Sprague NASCAR Truck Champion with the number #0 for the car. 0 was also the amount of luck he had too.
Brian Keselowski Miraculously made the Daytona 500 in 2011 with a lot of help from his brother Brad. Awfully slow yet reliable car.
Norm Benning Mostly known today in the Trucks, he primarily attempted a number of Daytona 500s but mostly withdrew before qualifying.
Kerry Earnhardt The other son of "The Intimidator" could not live up to his father's prowess.
Josh Wise No, he will NOT be declared a Rookie of the Year by starting-and-parking.
Andy Pilgrim One of the oldest to make his Cup debut (age 55) from Nottingham scored a 26th in an underfunded team.
Jo Schlesser Finished 13th in a "star studded" 1964 Daytona 500.
Jim Clark & Jochen Rindt Would have traded seats in the #66 Holman-Moody Ford at Rockingham in 1967 but the car, driven by Clark, blew an engine.
Andy Hillenburg Drove for underfunded teams; credited for reviving Rockingham Speedway
Hideo Fukuyama Japanese driver drove a handful of races
Ken Bouchard 1988 Rookie of the Year. 1989 released from his ride after 4 races
Steve Kinser King of the Dirt (World of Outlaws) whose Cup career "bit the dust" almost right away

Loy Allen, Jr: 3 poles in his rookie season but 1 top 10. A neck injury in 1996 would hamper the rest of his career. He'd retire in 1999.
Gary Bradberry Primarily a sub driver for bottom teams.
Bob Schacht Schacht's (pronounced SHAT) career was SH*T
Sammy Swindell World of Outlaws legend had two starts in NASCAR Cup
Lance Hooper 4 years in Cup. 9 races made. 8 DNQs.
Dan Pardus Just 1 race in 12 lackluster attempts.
Buckshot Jones Awful luck wrote off this promising driver.
Jason Leffler When he got his 3rd and best chance, for Joe Gibbs Racing, he did not deliver.
Larry Foyt He failed to qualify almost more times than when he started a race. Recently tried either a Nationwide or the Camping World Trucks and was so slow during practice the team was forced to withdraw
Shawna Robinson Made the big time albeit 6 years later than planned
Lella Lombardi Most successful female F1 driver was one of a then-record 3 women to race in a major NASCAR series race (Cup) for the Firecracker 400 in 1977.
Christine Beckers Belgian female driver was the 2nd of a then-record 3 women to race in a major NASCAR series race (Cup) for the Firecracker 400 in 1977. (other being Janet Guthrie)
Ruben Garcia Remembered for hitting the wall near the grandstands at the final NASCAR race at Riverside International Raceway
Jimmy Horton Massive shunts during his brief career including catapulting out of Talladega Superspeedway
Tim Steele ARCA legend; best chance to make it in Cup was hampered before it began due to a neck injury
Sean Woodside Promising road course driver yielded no results
Steve Portenga Spun during his only qualifying attempt
Marc Goosens Decent speed but crashed out in his debut
Klaus Graf Barely made his debut. DNQ the next 4
Willy T Ribbs blew his chance before the season began; replaced by a young man named...Dale Earnhardt
Jacques Villeneuve DNQ the 2008 Daytona 500. Team folds right after. Rejectful behavior in the Nationwide Series road course races.
Dario Franchitti Indycar champion tries his hand after JPM's success. Nowhere near as successful.
Bill Lester Latest African-American driver with a high-profile yet average performance
Brandon Ash One of the last to drive an independant family-owned team. DNQ more often than not.

Geoff Brabham: Only NASCAR start was the inaugural Brickyard 400. Crashed in the second half of the race.

Salamander wrote:A candidate for most rejectful pitstop of all time.

Meh, I still prefer 1999 Europe Irvine. Can't beat the crew arguing during the stop....

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:

Salamander wrote:A candidate for most rejectful pitstop of all time.

Meh, I still prefer 1999 Europe Irvine. Can't beat the crew arguing during the stop....

Yeah, but there's something to be said for trying to drive off despite no indication that the stop was actually finished.

Salamander wrote:A candidate for most rejectful pitstop of all time.

Just recently watched that race myself. The last lap is even more rejectful... but it's ARCA, so no surprise.
The driver doing that stop is Lyndon Amick, certified wreck magnet. He seriously had something go wrong almost every week in his NASCAR career. Was involved in a huge amount of wrecks both his and others' making, thus totaling most of his good cars.
Actually, he was a rather fast driver when he kept it together and has a few top 5s in Busch Series competition.
That race posted here sums him up quite nicely, front row start, spin early on, charge back, reject gold pit stop, charges back, spins again, charges back to 2nd, gets wrecked coming to the white flag.
One of my favorites of the era, always up to something.

Yeah, having seen how many antics he got up to, not surprised this was a regular occurrence for him.

Magny Cours 2007 - Glock and Zuber (team-mates, lest we forget), then Viso not slowing down under yellows, then Lapierre's botched pitstop. Amateur hour, only slightly tempered by the initial concern over whether Viso was okay (amazing that he was really).