Conor Daly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Discuss How American Racers are Perceived | The Dale Jr. Download 

Shame most people don't seem to have read about Dan Gurney's time in F1, raced amongst the greatest F1 drivers of the 1960's.

It's not the teams and the other drivers that dislike Americans in their motorsport. It's the fans. If a driver is good enough or brings enough sponsorship money as long as there's a seat they'll get the drive. The biggest hindrance for Americans is the location and the distance, not the people.

Another great podcast!!! Made the trip to North Wilkesboro from IL. Met alot of awesome people and got some great pics at the track. To see how humble and down to earth Jr is with the fans is just awesome!!! I can't wait to get back down south for some short track racing.

Loved this whole episode with Conor! Big fan of the Download, big fan of DBC, big fan of Speedstreet! and some of Irish motorsports fans say about Conor: he might be the hometown hero in Indy USA, but he's Irish enough for us!

Great point by Dale. As a brazilian, I don't see any difference in what Conor is describing than what brazilian drivers says about the prejudice they suffer trying to come to Arca or Truck etc...

Thank you for the video.

Canadians have competed in F1 for years. The most prominent being Gilles Villeneuve considered to be among the best f1 drivers ever. His son Jacque Villeneuve 1976 f1 champion, Bill Brack, and I believe atleast 11 others, so it’s not that they don’t accept drivers from North America.

I am proud they fixed the “in a holler” echo on Speed Street. I tried to listen but it sounded like crap in my JBL BUDS. Now that it’s fixed, I now added them back to the DirtyMo Posse. Sounds important to audiophiles. Dale Jr Download has the best sound of any podcast.

Would be great to see Juan Montoya and Michael Andretti on your show.

I believe Suarez has been more accepted than most Americans that do the switch but great comparison. He also has worked his ass off for it.

The problem with F1 is they don’t want independent teams anymore, they want big manufacturers in, Audi is a good point in question, why Audi and not Andretti? As someone from the UK I find it disgusting that anyone in F1 would stop Andretti from joining.

Time devotion and industry centralization is arguably the main hindrance to drivers from both series making the jump. If you're an American driver trying to break in to F1, you need to move to southeast England close to the factory. A European would have to spend a lot of time in North Carolina to get fully up to speed in a stock car. You can't afford to do that early in your career and don't wanna jeopardize what you've built near the end.

Mostly you need to grow up from carts F2 etc..on racing in Europe. Teams like the drivers know the tracks and their competitors. Heck Max and Charles LeClare ( top 2 drivers ) grew up racing each other. Also who you know and can you bring a lot of money to the table like Canadian Lance Stroll

Italian here. There are two explanations about no driver and no team: 1) No driver: In America you only have one feeder series (the Road to Indy stuff) and one premier series (Indycar), so driver development is relatively limited in what a young American driver can do to grow as an athlete. Here in Europe, on the other hand, we have dozens of different feeder series, and each country has its own F4 and F3 divisions, plus the international feeder series stuff like Formula Renault, F3 Open or the F1 support bill with F3 and F2. Drivers over here have a lot more opportunities to race in different championships. It is no surprise that the few (Latin) American drivers that succeeded over here, came all the way to Europe to race when they were younger. People like Dan Gurney and Mario Andretti back in the day, or Ayrton Senna and Juan Pablo Montoyta in recent times moved here to race very early in their careers, most American drivers nowadays don't do that, they only come to Europe when they're already teenagers, but they end up going against people that have raced in this environment since they were old enough to reach the pedals of a go kart. 2) No team: this is trickier to explain, but it all boils down to good old capitalism. F1 rulebook technically allows up to 24 or 26 cars (with 2x cars per team) to compete in any given race, so there wouldn't be a problem for Andretti joining just based on the rules. However, all of the purse money that teams get at the end of the season is split among them based on how they finish in the constructors championship with those at the top getting more money and those at the bottom getting less so. This means that if a new team like Andretti was to join the series, the purse money would not be divided between 10 teams anymore, but between 11 teams instead, which would result in even less money for the backmarkers. And of course, the backmarkers don't want to get even less money than the little amount they already get. So the only solution F1 teams agree upon for welcoming new teams is to keep the number of entries at the current 10, and force anybody that wants to join to buyout an existing team. That's how Haas got in in the first place, they never would've been accepted otherwise. And because Andretti failed to buyout Sauber (which has just been announced to become Audi in 2026), they have received strong opposition from existing teams to join as an 11th team and that's why they've been rejected. F1 is very different compared to Indycar. In Indycar you can do (almost) whatever you want, enter 1 car or 4 cars, do a full time schedule or a part time schedule, you can join as a teenager or as a middle aged man and nobody cares. In F1, politics are more influencial than the actual rulebook itself. An example? Any track that wants to host an F1 race must pay Liberty Media between 30 and 50 million dollars a year. A year. Fail to do that? You're out. We're about to lose some historical tracks because of that, tracks that have been on the calendar since F1 was born in 1950. Believe me, American race car drivers and team owners: you're better off not bothering with F1, we the fans would love to see you compete here, but the politicians running this sport don't want you and don't give a flying flamingo about you.

F 1 Racing will always remember a GREAT American that drove in that series by the name of MARIO ANDRETTI... BOOM enough Said!!!

Too bad Jeff Gordon turned down Villeneuve to drive for BAR in 2000. Another thing, Andretti finished 3rd at Monza in his final Formula 1 race for McLaren in 1993. Have you guys seen Michael Andretti's 1994 victory at Surfers Paradise? Perhaps best race ever! Just about everything happened in that race except for a Comet striking the Earth

Hey shout out to Cleetus &Cars at Bristol. First private stock car race!!

Biggest reason F1 isn't allowing Andretti in is because it'll divide the profit sharing from 10 to 11 shares. Now would an American team with American drivers bring in enough revenue to the sport to make up the difference? Probably but they don't see it that way. Even with Porsche and Audi, there buying into current teams not expanding the field. F1 definitely needs more teams but no one wants to share anymore of the profits.

I remember Michael Andretti driving for McLaren in 1993. One he had Senna as teammate and no testing that year. Yeah Americans are looked down at

I believe Kyle Larson could do it

One of the biggest things is... American motorsport culture is a niche thing here. In Japan, Europe, Brazil etc... Motorsport is probably the 2nd biggest sport in each region. Moto GP in Europe draws massive crowds, more than anything in Indy Car outside of the Indy 500. GT3 in Europe dwarfs anything GT3 related in America.... & Helmut Marko at Red Bull just publicly stated that Herta is lined up for a red bull drive next year at Alpha Tauri. So there will be a proper chance, and clearly at the highest level people who want an American in the sport..... & this conversation is almost all deflecting. Daly should know the level and support & passion is far greater than anything in America, and that plays a part. In the UK, a country that is less than 1/10th the size of America, averages almost 2 million viewers for a F1 broadcast, about half of what Americans average broadcast for NASCAR, 4 million, and sometimes even beats out the NASCAR Broadcast number, a country 1/10th the size... Europe is the same size as America, now take every European market, Holland, Germany, Italy, France and so on and so forth, and the F1 broadcast numbers literally dwarf the NASCAR viewership numbers in America.

Conor is Da man

I could see Kevin harvick or mark martin doing f1 or even indycar. (In their primes of course)

❤️❤️❤️❣️🥰

Im just here to buy a conor daly t shirt and be on my way.

I witnessed the same kind of treatment. Watching motocross in Germany! After every heat race, there was an onstage interview for those top three finishers if they were European. And win American drivers, ( complete backmarkers when they race at home in the AMA) Would drive their bikes up on the stage. And there was no one there with a microphone to give the interview. It was completely intentional

Michael Andretti also chose to fly home to the USA every week instead of staying and immersing himself in the culture of F1

Hi

Agreed the only thing about Hass’s F1 Team that is American is the American $ flowing into it and even that is only a partial thing. Face it, F1 is mainly a British & Italian with a bit of French influence (you can’t say strictly European because the majority of teams are British) they just want to keep it that way! Look at Andretti trying to get in and they are doing everything in there power not to let them in but Audi & Porsche now have a seat at the table coming up in the next few years!

two words: Phil Hill.

It’s purely a perception based on results of American Drivers from the last 30years since Micheal Andrettis tough year. That alone has had a huge effect on the chances given to drivers post-Andretti. The European system is brutal, one bad year and you are behind the next wave of drivers. Conor had a good year in GP3 with a good team, then had a bad year in GP2 with an average team and that was him basically forgotten about. The only drivers that make it in European junior system are truly good drivers or drivers with the money to buy their way up the ladder. An American needs to be a stand out with results to make it.

Maybe you could have had Conors' Dad on too. Just a thought... It's a shame Roger Penske isn't younger & really, really wanted to do it (Again) he'd get in. Money can't make a Team "successful". It only gets you the equipment, etc. Hence, Ferrari now & more so Mercedes - yet they'll be back... Haas maybe could be successful. He's spent tons of money. Yet, maybe it's in the Leadership? We'll just have to ask Gunther, won't we... As far Michael Andrettis' bid & aspirations > maybe he should go F2 first just to make his point. Again, just bringing Money to the table - don't prove "squat".

Liberty Media being an American entity owning F1 Group with a large interest in America as well as Haas being an American team and young American drivers like Sargent and Herta who are going to get a chance soon as well as the Netflix series making F1 very very popular in America are all points of emphasis as to why America is being pushed hard lately in the world of F1 (Miami and Vegas races coming/and Andretti trying to get in). If this momentum keeps going it’s not going to stop and F1 will be more integrated in America before you know it whether Europeans like it or not and the nature of the beast that is F1 (capitalism) is gonna tell ‘em all to suck it up

I find Domenicalis position on the Andretti team baffling. You say you don't need any more teams when you have an embarrassingly small number of cars on the grid and are trying to gloss over it. When you have capacity for more teams and interest from a properly funded effort they should be welcomed with open arms. More teams means more opportunities for drivers to get a shot, which is one of the issues, there are plenty of drivers that deserve a shot but don't get it because there just aren't the seats available. I'd love to see Herta and O'Ward (I know, he's Mexican), especially when they are still young and adaptable. The Superlicense shouldn't be an impediment for drivers who clearly have the ability. But once again it's clearly the shortage of seats that is the big problem. I don't know what the solution is, more cars would be a start. (Not American by the way). Going the other way I'd love to see Ricciardo do a year in Indycar or Even XFinity/NASCAR, try and rediscover the spark, might not win but I'm sure he'd have a lot of fun trying.

I don’t think it’s all because they have a low opinion of Americans. I think it’s that they have a low opinion of American motorsports. If the only thing they hear about American racing are restrictor plate crashes and drag racing then I think it’s easy to be an elitist with F1 and WRC. Why would a European care about Richard Petty or John Force when they have Michael Schumacher and Sébastien Loeb.

Mario Andretti is still the first and so far last American F1 Champion

These are the things Conner refused to mention! In addition, I’d love to see Goodyear jump back into F1. Notice the main products like tires are a European brand! And any racing entity in the USA that’s a threat to any top F1 teams would heavily politicized. When Jim Clark won INDY500 his pit crew was not an F1 crew from Europe!! It was a NASCAR crew from the Wood Brothers organization! I’d love to see HMS take K Larson over there and have Monster Energy & Chevy field a factory effort with American brains!

Colton herta could replace Mike Schumacher, Nicholas latifi, yuki sanota or even Danny Ricardo right at this moment in F1 .

Follow the money. Drivers come to the teams funded. Send an American driver over with the right funding and he will get a shot. It will take American money and sponsors.

Yeah, you know they're a bitter bunch over there when they refuse hundreds of millions of dollars by refusing to tap into the American television market. Maybe it's time for Ford to start a team of all American drivers and take the show to them, 1966 style.

As European born who lived most of his life in the US I can answer this: It's how Americans carry themselves. Understand that Europeans are a matured culture within the timeline of history, they see themselves as the adults in the room, looking at the barely teenaged American culture strutting their stuff & behaving as if they have all the answers. Also, and this matters a lot & is difficult for Americans to appreciate, the US of A is the ONLY true super power in the world, an empire of corporations & militaries. Add to that the teenage-like strut & they see it as audacity to inflitrate yet again into their world without reason. It doesn't matter if it is rational, it's just how it is & will be until America loses its influence over the world.

Just human nature not to want outsiders in your club, it is a basic survival instinct

Well, Americans have their own Indy Car & NASCAR series. US have differentiated themselves from F1 in open wheel by having Indy Car Even in English language, America wants to be different by subtracting the 'u' from words like colour. Btw, I'm not from US nor Europe. So, perhaps the concern of the Europeans is the Americans teams will go and change the whole thing, not follow existing traditions. Cos that's what Americans do, do things differently from others, including language. So yeah, we do have perception Americans think they are better than others.

European circuit the drivers are the richest of the rich kids. They're Arisocrats and look down upon the yanks. Its a stereotype. Kinda funny to say you don't know the reason.

The FIA controls so much because they only want to see Europeans thrive! Plus it’s not about competition in F1 like it is in the USA!! They are jealous too because we offer so much variety to the single seat racer! Frank Williams wanted Jeff Gordon but couldn’t afford him! Kyle Busch could have run the F1 Toyota but the biggest deal is our sponsors and the money here is huge! Most F1 drivers never hit 230mph because no ovals in GP! Andretti is threat to FiA yet FIA will let Audi do whatever because they are European! America is always intimidating to Europeans since WW2

They don't Americans because they're afraid if a bunch of Americans started competing and owning teams in their series the mystique of it being better than American racing series would be blown up. It's xenophobia in a nutshell.

They're still mad that Lake Speed came over and beat their God Ayrton Seena for the World Carting Championship.

Does anyone see haas f1 as an american team? Nothing about them says merica😂 their car literally was a russian flag at the beginning of the season

If Herta gets an F1 seat without having enough points to get a Super License. Which is his current situation. The whole F1 community, including fans will give him zero respect. And he will have a very hard and bad experience in F1.

They are scared

Hey man , what are doing ? I got an idea for ya . why don't you guys study into hologram arts . And go through all your dads videos interviews and pick out selections of sentences and words and do a hologram of him speaking and giving the command to start your engine's. This would definitely take some professional digital work but I'm sure you could pull it off. I'm shocked the sport hasn't done this yet. when you look up other areas they have done this with music artist why not try this. So give it a thought and have a good day....

Michael Andretti bro. They didnt ket him win. Thats why we need an american backed team with american cars

Didn't Andretti win F1 one year? Bingo, case closed, Americans 1 in motorsports

The European fans and pretty much everyone else in the world (especially Russians, Chinese, and Middle Easterners), always talks bad about anything american lol…..it’s really funny. When it comes to people, military, sports, culture, ect…..you name it. I just laugh it off and see it as being envious.

the last great american f1 driver was mario andretti unfortunately even his son great driver as he was stunk up f1 american drivers have been a joke in f1 for decades ,the f1 tracks are legendary in single seater racing so its understandable american drivers want to race those circuits even in bad cars but that does not help american drivers reputation seriously what did derek daly ever do in f1? plus americans saying this should see what happens to japanese drivers in f1 much worse

Would the absolutely top Indycar / NASCAR drivers be on the pace in Europe? Given a decent testing programme, of course they would. Would Larsen or Herta join Red Bull and hand Verstappen his arse on a plate ? Don't be daft.

If Americans win....the guys over there go into heavy denial. It's territorial.

Colton shouldn't even waist his time.. 2 teams in f1 can win 2 TEAMS!!! why in the hell would he put himself through the b.s that comes with f1... ride around in the back and get relentlessly bad mouthed by the f1 snobs... its just pointless

They're too prissy over there. I can't figure out why anyone would want to join their little clique. And they race the clock not the other cars.

The answer is obvious because America's motor sport is NASCAR and NASCAR racing is known as a big joke to the rest of the world, so America racecar drivers are also seen the same way.

What do we think here in Europe? NASCAR: if you can’t pass with talent or a better car, then just hit their rear quarter panel and take them out. That’s American racing. A bunch of barges driving around in a circle at 180mph playing demolition derby. Your IndyCar drivers are the superior, REAL racing drivers, yet you Americans prefer NASCAR, which is run like an American fake wrestling event. Hell, NASCAR rewards so many gimmicky points for everything. I’m surprised they don’t reward 50 points for the driver with the heaviest dump in their pants after the race. It’s demolition derby gimmick racing.

Probably cuz outside of our own borders WE suck as humans and as a society as a whole ……… just saying

Think about it...The United States is a NEW COUNTRY and we aren’t the best-we got work to do people-be better daily!

I could care less about f1 because really there's nobody from 🇺🇸 to root for so I've never watched it and I guarantee I'm far from the only one who thinks the same so that's their loss 📉 wise I'll stick to nascar if they wanna miss out on a huge market just so they can feel superior to America that's just stupid they know if Americans got a proper chance they would risk Americans beating their heros who claim to be superior and their sport to be superior to nascar and American racing and they wouldn't be able to claim superiority to America that's all its about we all know Americans would end up being one of the greats in f1 but they won't risk that!!! that can't happen if we never get the chance so here we are it's just sad an American great wouldn't erase your history and your heros and what they accomplished it would just elevate competition and bring more eyes to f1 but they just wanna be better than America so so sad we all lose because of it but in the end im perfectly content with nascar

American racers tend to be better race car drivers...that's all!

Americans are the best racers, dont care what the foreigners think about it