Shrub in F1, and other fantasies

By DAVID GREEN

Peter Windsor, familiar to many of us as a Formula One journalist and now thanks to his involvement with US F1, the new American entry in the international grad prix series, is drawing criticism for a recent article suggesting that F1 has neglected American drivers.

The article, published on numerous Web sites and attributed to a Sports Illustrated item, quotes Windsor as affirming that the new team he co-owns with Ken Anderson continues to look for American talent to drive the two cars that will be fielded by the new team.

I guess it's bad enough for hoity-toity F1 fans to have to endure that one of their teams is going to be based in North Carolina, but to suggest F1 has erred in not seeking driver talent from west of the Atlantic and north of Colombia is just too much for them to stomach.

The critics have some good ammunition. They point out the failure of Scott Speed and Michael Andretti, the two most recent drivers to represent the Stars and Stripes. They point out the failures in F1 of many top drivers from American-based open-wheel, single-seater racing.

They have a right to their opinions, no matter how obnoxiously they may offer them.

Not that my opinion matters to them, but none of them will ever convince me that Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, just to name two, could not have been successful -- championship-quality successful -- in F1 or any other form of racing they might have chosen to undertake.

Windsor singled out Kyle Busch as a driver with the potential to make the grade. I agree with the assessment, and I'd love to see it happen.

Not that I want to see Busch leave NASCAR, although some of the more outspoken critics of the controversial driver might jump on my bandwagon for that reason. I'd like to see Busch go to F1 with the same attitude he brought to NASCAR and kick some Euro butt.

Whether that will ever happen depends on a whole lot more than Busch's driving talent.

But while I'm dreaming...

• I'd like to see a representation of current NASCAR stars (Stewart and Gordon, plus others) in the Indianapolis 500,
• I'd like to see the distance of most NASCAR Cup Series events reduced to an approximate 2-1/2-hour timeframe. I don't want a time limit, merely an approximate distance relative to the size and type of track.
• I'd like to see factory-stock body shapes return to NASCAR racing -- and to dirt late model racing, as well.

• I'd like to see those factory-stock bodies with at least six inches of ground clearance and maximum rear spoiler heights of 2 inches, with no splitters and no bulldozer-blade airdams. (OK, the dirt cars can have rear spoilers as tall as 6 inches.)

With that, I sign off and resume my vigil, waiting for pigs to fly.