Kimi Raikkonen at the Brickyard for the 2007 United States Grand Prix – not his last time at the speedway?
What does a U.S. president do after he's finished his term in office? Whatever the heck he wants. That's because he's already reached the top of his game and has nothing left to prove but to use his considerable influence and experience towards whatever end he chooses. The same might be said of a Formula One World Champion. Take Kimi Raikkonen, for example, who won the title in 2007. He turned his back on F1 when he'd had enough, and is now trying his hand at rallying in the World Rally Championship. But if the latest reports are any indication, the Finnish driver has had enough of that, as well, and is eager to try something new.
That something, according to the latest reports from his home country, is NASCAR. Now, we could chalk this up to a slightly premature April Fool's Day gag, but if accurate, Raikkonen could be preparing an assault on America's oval speedways. The report alleges a new team under Kimi's ICE 1 Racing banner is being established in conjunction with Foster Gillett – the sports arm of American businessman George Gillett's enterprise that formerly owned the Montreal Canadiens (the winningest team in all of professional sports), the Premier league Liverpool Football Club, and Richard Petty Motorsports (previously known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports).
If the reports prove accurate – and we're still taking this with a big grain of salt – Raikkonen will start off in the Craftsman truck series before moving up to the Nationwide series and finally the top-tier Sprint Cup. In doing so, he'd be joining his old McLaren teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, as well as fellow former champion Jacques Villeneuve in migrating from F1 to NASCAR. Watch this space for more as it emerges.
[Source: Turun Sanomat (translated) | Image: Ferrari]
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