|
Maybe less stringent in the US. All the same, Al Jr has made an effort to clean up his act, even voluntarily missing races last year so he could go into rehab.
His lifestyle has probably had a negative effect on his career's downward trajectory, but in fairness by the late 90s he'd reached an age where it becomes harder to be competitive on road/street courses, especialyl as Penske were really struggling. Who knows how he may've done alongsdie De Ferran in 2000?
However, I don't think he's as good, even on ovals, as the CART defectees and young blood. His day has passed, and I think he'll be doing well to place top 10 in the championship. It's not as if he was doing well when the competition was mainly from guys like Lazier, Sharp and Boat.
None of this shoudl take away form how good he was at his peak. He was capable of rescuing a great drive out of nowhere and was always moving up through the order on raceday. His relatively poor qualifying hindered him a bit though.
And this should go in the IRL forum, as he's an IRL man now, and we're talking about his current ability as much as his past skill. A similar thread about Montoya would go in the F1 forum, no questions asked. Should be the same here.
|