Jacques

Like him or not, Jacques Villeneuve still commands a lot of attention in Canada. He’s in Montreal this week for Sunday’s GP of Canada and the cameras follow him everywhere. Even though he hasn’t done a thing since 97, the man is a world champion that’s what it takes to be forever remembered as a legend. Sure, his mouth runs him into trouble, but some also call that a breath of fresh air. He’s cocky, he’s rich and he comes to Canada maybe 2 twice a year (GP and that skiing charity thing he does), but he’s still our boy!

Saw a good interview with him last night where he was asked about winning Canadian athlete of the year in 1997 over Larry Walker who had an absolutely phenomenal baseball season. Walker was quite upset at not winning the award and basically told the press “I lost to a machine”. Naturally Villeneuve was quick to rebut that, talking about the physicality and the talent it takes. Nevertheless, I thought it was interesting that even back then, Formula One still had to fight the notion that all they are, are computers on wheels. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I do believe that Michael Shumacher is the most talented driver in the world. But he’s also had the biggest budget for many years. Toyota, who spent a nickel the last several years have all of sudden ballooned their budget, rivaling Ferrari and all of a sudden they are on the podium this year. And if you know DaMatta as a driver, you know how good he is and would be exactly where the team is today if he was still with Toyota. It makes you think of how important the driver really is. And if you say “well, Shumacher isn’t doing well this year”, let’s not forget the rule changes which were implanted to stop Ferrari and only Ferrari.

Back to Jacques. He’s known as a bit of a jerk around the race world, being unfriendly to the media and having a lackluster approach to the fans. I don’t know Jacques personally, but I did get a chance to interview him a couple of years ago when he visited the race in Miami. It still ranks as one of my biggest and most thrilling one on one interview. He was very nice to me, very courteous and, as always, not one to bite his tongue. You folks may remember his comments about the IRL and how it killed open-wheel racing in America and ruined the Indy500. It was very nerve racking asking Jacques these questions with all the people surrounding him and surrounding us, taking pictures and filming. But he let loose and the interview turned out great. I remember seeing it on ESPN and Speed.
Of course, he was on vacation before the US GP, so you couldn’t expect him to be formally dressed. But for a guy who was making 14 million dollars a year at the time, you may have expected his shirt and jeans not to have holes in them. Ahh these racecar drivers are truly a brand of their own!