Jacques Villeneuve's Talladega Pre-race

Race/Date:     Mountain Dew 250 - October 6, 2007 (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
Race/Date:     UAW-Ford 500 - October 7, 2007 (NASCAR Nextel Cup Series)
Location:        Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, A.L.

NOTES:
·        This week's truck race will be Villeneuve's second, having debuted in Las Vegas on the weekend of September 22. As was the case when he debuted in Las Vegas, Villeneuve has never driven a truck at Talladega.

·        New career, new sponsor... Villeneuve will debut title sponsorship from the United Nations' UNICEF children's charity on both his number 27 truck and Cup car.  As part of the relationship, visitors to the UNICEF.org website will be asked to donate $27 to charitable causes as part of an initiative called 'Going the extra mile'.

·        Interviews… Villeneuve will meet with media outside the No. 27 Cup hauler on Friday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m.

·        Not so humble beginnings would seem an accurate way to describe Villeneuve's debut Cup race. Other drivers to have made their Cup debut at Talladega include Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty.

·        Strong out of the box is how many would describe Villeneuve. Immediately fast in his debut truck test at Chicago, as well as in his first CoT tests, he qualified on the pole for his debut F1 race.

·        Two-faced? Not 'JV'… Villeneuve is known for being (sometimes mercilessly) honest and this is his first time to race two classes at any one event. Honestly, he's not sure what to expect but he's looking forward to it.

·        Villeneuve's colorful crash helmet is back. Having raced in Vegas with a plain white crash helmet, for the first time in his career, Villeneuve's latest delivery of Bell Helmets have been finished in his iconic colour swatch.

·        Wedding bells were ringing in Monaco last week, as Villeneuve's long-term manager, Craig Pollock married his fiancée, Belinda Olins.  Villeneuve himself was busy testing and preparing for Talladega so missed the opportunity to see his close friend's 'knobbly knees'.  Pollock, like Dario Franchitti, is a Scotsman and got married wearing a kilt in his family tartan!

·        RV life was normal for Villeneuve when he was a child, growing up inside the F1 Grand Prix circus which his father, Gilles raced for Ferrari.  Later in his own career, Villeneuve pioneered the trend of staying trackside in his RV, starting a trend which grew to attract as many as 1/3 of the F1 drivers.

·        Saddle Up… The Davis' will host their first annual Chimney Rock 500 cattle sale this weekend, Oct. 5 and 6.  The event will be held in the brand-new 50,000-square foot sales facility in Concord, Arkansas. The sale will include a registered female sale on Friday, followed by the sale of commercial females and bulls on Saturday.  Friday's festivities in the "cow palace" will also include the Chimney Rock Celebration, which will include appearances by NASCAR personalities.

·        'Talladega Nights' was a movie that Villeneuve enjoyed a lot.  Of course when he watched it, he realized that some people would compare him to the French driver in the movie.  In spite of that potentially negative parallel, Villeneuve thought that Perrier could be a great NASCAR sponsor!

 
Jacques Villeneuve on Talladega Superspeedway:
"Well, I've never raced here before, but I've tested both Car of Tomorrow and ARCA here; it's a lot of fun, and you can really feel the speed.  Maybe the strangest thing I found out when testing was that the temperature inside the car is hotter here than anywhere else.  Of course, I never drove here before the surface was renewed, so I don't know what it was like before.  I enjoyed bump-drafting here recently, and found the whole thing really exciting.  The Craftsman Truck drives very differently, so I'm not sure what to expect.  I don't really know which I will prefer, but I know that I have to be quick in each."

From: Amanda Smith Mathis // Bill Davis Racing