Kimi Räikkönen NASCAR Appreciation Thread

LewTheShoe

LewTheShoe

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Watkins Glen race day attire...

Kimi Quote.jpg


"The Ice Man" won 21 F1 races from 350 starts, including the 2007 F1 championship driving for Scuderia Ferrari. His F1 record is impressive, but could have been even better. He was hampered, in my opinion, by a poor work ethic and surly attitude toward his team in his early career. It was only later in his career that Raikkonen realized how much he loved F1, and by then much of his prime period had slipped away.

F1 fans always loved Kimi's deadpan style and DGAF attitude. If F1 had a most popular driver award, Kimi would have won it multiple times, I'm sure.

Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut on May 20, 2011 in the truck race at Charlotte. A reasonably successful run, finishing 15th and on the lead lap...

 
“During the race, Kimi’s McLaren gave up midway through and he was forced to ditch the car in a smoking mess. Now most drivers would’ve begrudgingly trudged back to the pits to watch the rest of the race with their team… but not Kimi. Instead, he headed straight to the Monaco marina, jumped on his yacht, took his top off, and enjoyed a few drinks with his pals for the remainder of the afternoon.”

www.bosshunting.com.au

Kimi Raikonnen Once Retired From The Monaco GP & Walked Straight To His Yacht

Here's the legendary footage of Kimi Raikonnen walking onto his yacht after he failed to finish the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix.
www.bosshunting.com.au www.bosshunting.com.au
 
I hapt to remember a Fernando Alonzo interview when he admitted he didnt cut his own grass and seemed amused by the question.

Most of them F1 drivers are 3/4s size (not midgets but almost never 6 foot either). They probably eat all salads with just carrot juice to drink to keep their figures.
They wear itty bitty shoes (light weight loafers) and have people holding umbrellas for them to protect them from the sun.

I ain't worried about how much Hay Kimi could throw either. He was fast and a hell of character I am so thrilled to get to see him racing one more time.
 
Greg said:
I hapt to remember a Fernando Alonzo interview when he admitted he didnt cut his own grass and seemed amused by the question.

Most of them F1 drivers are 3/4s size (not midgets but almost never 6 foot either). They probably eat all salads with just carrot juice to drink to keep their figures.
They wear itty bitty shoes (light weight loafers) and have people holding umbrellas for them to protect them from the sun.

I ain't worried about how much Hay Kimi could throw either. He was fast and a hell of character I am so thrilled to get to see him racing one more time.
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He hasn’t done well in his nascar efforts.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Watkins Glen race day attire...

View attachment 64535

"The Ice Man" won 21 F1 races from 350 starts, including the 2007 F1 championship driving for Scuderia Ferrari. His F1 record is impressive, but could have been even better. He was hampered, in my opinion, by a poor work ethic and surly attitude toward his team in his early career. It was only later in his career that Raikkonen realized how much he loved F1, and by then much of his prime period had slipped away.

F1 fans always loved Kimi's deadpan style and DGAF attitude. If F1 had a most popular driver award, Kimi would have won it multiple times, I'm sure.

Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut on May 20, 2011 in the truck race at Charlotte. A reasonably successful run, finishing 15th and on the lead lap...

Click to expand...

I went off the rails on that work ethic thing....for the fun of it.
 
cheesepuffs said:
A poor work ethic? He was lightning fast early in his F1 career but his McLarens let him down a bunch, and then he won the world championship his first season with Ferrari
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Yes, poor work ethic and bad attitude within the team. At Ferrari, Raikkonen was infamous for his unwillingness to do the appearances and other promotional work required of him, and for his antagonistic behavior toward most everybody working there. So much so that Ferrari fired him with two or three years remaining on his contract. He missed about 4 or 5 years of his prime... out of the sport entirely and then driving inferior cars in his comeback.

Young Kimi was a prodigy, lightning fast and supremely gifted with natural talent. He rocketed up the ladder at a dizzying pace, and he never had to scrape and claw to advance like some do. Perhaps that led to a lack of appreciation of just how blessed he was.

I've always thought Crystal Gayle's hit song "You never miss a real good thing" could have been written about Kimi's career. Especially the part where she sings, "You never want a drink of water, 'til the well runs dry."

 
Antagonistic behavior toward everyone working there? According to who? Yes, he didn't like doing media interviews full of repetitive fluff questions. Not many drivers actually do.

Also he sat out during his first Ferrari stint because Alonso became available and was the hottest free agent available. Ferrari still paid Kimi during that time to sit out of the car, while he went and ran Junior WRC.

For what it's worth Kimi's work ethic is so bad that Kawasaki hired him as team principal of their Euro MX team. He owned his own IceOne Racing Husqvarna team prior to that as well. Yeah, guy clearly doesn't care.
 
@cheesepuffs you are clearly a fan of Kimi Raikkonen. So am I, that's why I started this thread. We are both fans. One of us is able to admit that Kimi's F1 accomplishments, impressive as they are, could have been even better if he had been willing to put in the work that was required, and one of us is not. Case closed, I'm out.
 
An old GP2 car with a Ferrari F1 paint scheme has been spotted on a highway in Czechia.
This hasn't happened for the first time, though. The car was already seen on the same highway three years ago, however Police were unable to identify the driver because he wore a Kimi Räikkönen helmet.
www.idnes.cz

VIDEO: Nechvalně proslulá formule se znovu proháněla po dálnici D4 - iDNES.cz

Řidič formule, který se ve vozidle proháněl po dálnici D4 v září 2019, je zřejmě zpátky. Zdá se, že ani desetitisícová pokuta ani hrozba zákazu činnosti od šesti měsíců do jednoho roku pětačtyřicetiletého řidiče závodního auta od podobných kousků neodradila. Na video jeho jízdu zachytil jeden ze...
www.idnes.cz www.idnes.cz
 
LewTheShoe said:
@cheesepuffs you are clearly a fan of Kimi Raikkonen. So am I, that's why I started this thread. We are both fans. One of us is able to admit that Kimi's F1 accomplishments, impressive as they are, could have been even better if he had been willing to put in the work that was required, and one of us is not. Case closed, I'm out.
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I'm sorry, were you involved in Kimi's personal or professional life? Because that's a whole lot of judgement from somebody watching from halfway across the world much of the time. You or I have zero credibility to question his work ethic. He put in the work required to literally win an F1 championship, so how, in your eyes, is that not "putting in the work that was required"? In 2009 he was the second highest paid athlete in the world to Tiger Woods, but yes, I'm sure he got there by being lazy and refusing to "put in the work"...

Guessing you started following F1 around 2010 or so.
 
cheesepuffs said:
He's an F1 world champion and one of the most popular racecar drivers in the world. Yes he dabbled in trucks and Xfinity years ago too, but this is a pretty big deal for NASCAR that this is actually happening
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Sorry, I don't get it. I've seen too many celebrated 'outsiders' finish laps down in the last 15 or 20 years to get excited before the guy has turned a lap. I'm sure he's popular and talented, but a 15th in X and a 27th in Trucks over a decade ago doesn't give this F1-ignorant stock car fan much NASCAR to 'appreciate '.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Sorry, I don't get it. I've seen too many celebrated 'outsiders' finish laps down in the last 15 or 20 years to get excited before the guy has turned a lap. I'm sure he's popular and talented, but a 15th in X and a 27th in Trucks over a decade ago doesn't give this F1-ignorant stock car fan much NASCAR to 'appreciate '.
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You can't appreciate a good crossover? I think any star driver entering races in any of their non-standard disciplines is a great thing. Alonso running the Indy 500 was a good thing, Montoya running Cup was great, etc. What's their not to appreciate about true racers racing and wanting to know what it's like on the other side of the fence?
 
cheesepuffs said:
You can't appreciate a good crossover? I think any star driver entering races in any of their non-standard disciplines is a great thing. Alonso running the Indy 500 was a good thing, Montoya running Cup was great, etc.
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Sure I can, but it's too early to tell if this crossover is any good. Alonso did next to nothing at Indy; why was his mere presence a good thing? We're looking at JPM in hindsight, so it's easy to sing his praises now that we know how he performed.

cheesepuffs said:
What's their not to appreciate about true racers racing and wanting to know what it's like on the other side of the fence?
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I can appreciate soneone wanting to try something new. I'm sure Jimmie Johnson is having a high old time in IndyCar, but he's consistently at the back of the field. Travis Pastrana was supposed to change the fan base; he went nowhere in multiple races in Jack Roush's #60 back when that car was still something.

So far all we have with Kimi is fanfare and hoopla based on who he is, with no performance (yet) to back it up. He'll have a good car and some sim time but as I said, there have been too many one-shot hot shots who have done zippo. They don't have time to figure out how to drive a 3200-pound stock car competitively. So far, there's nothing to convince me he won't be another. If he turns in a top 15 Q lap, there may be something worth paying attention to.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Sure I can, but it's too early to tell if this crossover is any good. Alonso did next to nothing at Indy; why was his mere presence a good thing? We're looking at JPM in hindsight, so it's easy to sing his praises now that we know how he performed.
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Because F-1 fans world wide watched the race. The same thing is going to happen this Sunday
 
StandOnIt said:
Because F-1 fans word wide watched the race. The same thing is going to happen this Sunday
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That's a good thing for the series and the TV ratings. With finishes of 29th and 31st, Alonso had no impact on the actual races. He may have enjoyed himself but beyond making the attempts, there's nothing to appreciate about being a field filler and a chicane.

Hopefully Kimi gives the global audience something better to watch.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
That's a good thing for the series and the TV ratings. With finishes of 29th and 31st, Alonso had no impact on the actual races. He may have enjoyed himself but beyond making the attempts, there's nothing to appreciate about being a field filler and a chicane.

Hopefully Kimi gives the global audience something better to watch.
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That would work if either went full time and didn't produce winning results. But it is pretty much B.S. until the new wears off.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
With finishes of 29th and 31st, Alonso had no impact on the actual races.
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Alonso led 27 laps of the Indy 500 in his 2017 debut and spent much of the race in the top five, until a late engine failure relegated him to a 24th place finish. His "mere presence" was a large boon to international and younger demo interest in the event that year.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
That's a good thing for the series and the TV ratings. With finishes of 29th and 31st, Alonso had no impact on the actual races. He may have enjoyed himself but beyond making the attempts, there's nothing to appreciate about being a field filler and a chicane.

Hopefully Kimi gives the global audience something better to watch.
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Alonso was a factor with Andretti in 2017 until his engine blew, and Honda had a handful of failures that day. 2019 was obviously a well-documented disaster by the McLaren team and their technical partner, 2020 wasn’t impressive but Chevy also struggled all that month.
 
gnomesayin said:
His "mere presence" was a large boon to international and younger demo interest in the event that year.
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I don't debate his audience effects. I don't disagree that we'll see similar effects this weekend. My position is that so far I see little reason to expect much else. If he does well, I'll gladly give him credit for accomplishing what many before him have failed to do.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't debate his audience effects. I don't disagree that we'll see similar effects this weekend. My position is that so far I see little reason to expect much else. If he does well, I'll gladly give him credit for accomplishing what many before him have failed to do.
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Oh I get it, stirring interest world wide for the sport isn't important. He's supposed to win first time in the car...sign a multi year contract and take the cup back to Finland with him.
 
Kimi has the unvarnished thing that is too fun to miss. Like the candor of a child or older person who is goung to say exactly what they think.

In the glossy glamour world of F1 racing it was just incredibly great to hear Kimi's take on things. I am not saying the others are fake, but if Kimi misses an interview because of he had to take a sh!t he will tell you just that.
If some whimisical helmet nutjob goes on and on about the over glorified paint or art, he will just tell you it is just to protect his head.

Kimi is just to there to race (and maybe drink), he seemly doesnt give a rats azz about anything else. He does it with an understated charisma too, funny and crude but in a harmless way that leaves most people with smile.
He is a breath of fresh air, no nonsense uncontrived Kimi is just Kimi.

I dont think he will win the Glen, I doubt he gets a top 10.
But I would love to see him do well enough to race some more and be the same unvarnished Kimi in Nascar. I love Nascar but the world needs more people like Kimi.
 
StandOnIt said:
Oh I get it, stirring interest world wide for the sport isn't important. He's supposed to win first time in the car...sign a multi year contract and take the cup back to Finland with him.
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I never said that. Indeed, I just acknowledged that. But so far, he hasn't done squat on the track. Even that attention-raiser Danica managed a pole. Yeah, I went there.

As to what he's supposed to do, my point remains that until he hits the track, there are no signs yet he'll do any better than champions of other forms of racing who have tried NASCAR. When he does something in a stock car to appreciate, I'll be appreciative.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Alonso had no impact... a field filler and a chicane.
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Charlie, as others have pointed out, Alonso hit Indianapolis like a thunderbolt, qualifying on the 2nd row, racing up front all day, leading many laps, in contention for the win with 21 laps to go until yet another star-crossed Honda engine "done blowed up." Additionally, his impact could be measured by the loud cheers and sustained ovation given in appreciation by those several hundred thousand fans when his motor let go. Their disappointment was palpable, and their appreciation too.

I doubt that Kimi will match this week what Fernando did at Indy... but then again, does Fernando even have a book of poetry? No, he doesn't, and therein lies the worth of this thread! ;)

One of the unexpected delights of the 2018 F1 season came at the Japanese Grand Prix, when Philip Morris introduced a book of Raikkonen quotes that had been edited into haiku, the traditional Japanese short poems. Classic haiku are three lines having five, seven, and again five syllables, although Kimi's haiku took certain liberties with the classic form parameters.

Playing off the Philip Morris advertising slogan "Mission Winnow" the book was titled, "Winnow Your Words: Kimi's Book Of Haiku." That's a good title because Kimi is famous for winnowing his words, but not mincing them, all the time. Here's my favorite...
Kimi 1.jpg

Here's another good one, about asphalt at modern F1 circuits...

I prefer like it used to be
You make a mistake
You pay a price.

You can find more with the google machine. You could post 'em here.

Kimi 2.jpg
 
I dont care what the guy says on the radio or what he's published or if he has his own brewery or raises champion Airedales or has a line of designer ballroom gowns or anything else he (or anyone else) does off track.

I didn't name the thread 'NASCAR Appreciation'. In three days maybe he'll have done something in NASCAR to appreciate. If that word hadn't been included, I'd have ignored this thread the same way I ignore most other driver discussions.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Charlie, as others have pointed out, Alonso hit Indianapolis like a thunderbolt, qualifying on the 2nd row, racing up front all day, leading many laps, in contention for the win with 21 laps to go until yet another star-crossed Honda engine "done blowed up." Additionally, his impact could be measured by the loud cheers and sustained ovation given in appreciation by those several hundred thousand fans when his motor
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And I'm sorry if my post #33 didn't make it clear I was acknowledging I was incorrect to base my assessment of Alonso's first Indy race solely on finishing position.
 
Is there an O/U on where he finishes yet? If not,
I’m surprised there isn’t.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I dont care what the guy says on the radio or what he's published or if he has his own brewery or raises champion Airedales or has a line of designer ballroom gowns or anything else he (or anyone else) does off track.

I didn't name the thread 'NASCAR Appreciation'. In three days maybe he'll have done something in NASCAR to appreciate. If that word hadn't been included, I'd have ignored this thread the same way I ignore most other driver discussions.
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Semantics much?
 
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