Rumoured/possible driver moves which did not happen?

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.
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#106

Post by MonteCristo »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Micheal Andretti signed with... Ferrari in 1992.

https://racer.com/2020/06/17/retro-when ... h-ferrari/
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#107

Post by acerogers58 »

During 2003, there was rumors Tony Stewart was going to leave Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of 2004 and join Ganassi in 2005.

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#108

Post by Heetseeker »

Rich Mears was with Penske in 1980
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#109

Post by Cheeveer »

Heetseeker wrote: 2 years ago Rich Mears was with Penske in 1980
Yes, we know. Context?
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#110

Post by DaleJuniorFan »

Matt wrote: 6 years ago The Greg Moore to F1 stuff definitely was around at the time. Mercedes were keen on funnelling him that way, but I seem to recall reading somewhere he was more keen on staying Stateside and most people reckon he would probably have ended up heading to NASCAR with Penske somewhere down the line.
Bumping an old relevant post: the "Moore to NASCAR" rumors were already strong in '99, as evidenced below...
Moore? McDonald's? Greg Moore, one of the newest Indy-car stars, may be McDonald's new NASCAR marketing star. According to sources familiar with Moore's stock-car racing plans, he is under strong consideration to drive for Cal Wells' planned McDonald's-backed NASCAR team. Wells will be running Fords, and Moore is considered by some as potentially the next Indy-car crossover talent.(PitNow)(5-17-1999)

Moore to Cup? UPDATE 2: Look for a CART driver to jump into a Cup car during the July 4th weekend. Greg Moore has an open weekend and after savvy driving today in the IROC race he could prove quite a handful at Daytona. A team has yet to be officially announced(SpeedNet)(6-12-1999) -- UPDATE 1: CART FedEx Championship PPG Cup contender Greg Moore has made no secret about his interest in NASCAR. The Winston Cup Series to be exact. Rumors were rampant earlier this season that Moore would leave CART after this season. Depending on who you talk to, Moore will a) definitely attempt to qualify for the July 3rd Pepsi 400 or b) test with the Roush organization, or c) drive a second McDonald's backed car for Bill Elliot at the Pepsi 400. Take your pick.(in part from a GoRacing article)(6-16-1999)

No Moore? Rumors of a Greg Moore ride at Daytona in two weeks seem to have subsided. Bill Elliott said he has no ride for the CART driver. Another possibility is Felix Sabates' recently founded #01 Chevrolet, but Sabates was unavailable for comment, and representatives of his teams professed no knowledge of any arrangement with Moore(Monte Dutton/SpeedNet Notes)(6-19-1999)

CART Moore news: Greg Moore and Al Unser Jr., who both become free agents at the end of this season, have at times expressed interest in giving stock cars a try. Moore, 24, a Canadian, has been the hotter topic of late and seems in no hurry to dispel the rumors who says he has two or three opportunities 'over there'(NASCAR)(8-3-1999)

Unser Out, Moore In: Well that ends all the Greg Moore speculation. Greg Moore and Gil de Ferran have signed to drive for Roger Penske's CART team in 2000. Al Unser, Jr will leave the team. Unser has announced no plans for 2000, but he will be(an is) in the Cup rumor mill bigtime(Cal Wells, Robert Yates, the #30). So there will be no Greg Moore to Cup in 2000, well at least full time(first saw on RPM2Nite) see story at the Racer Mag Site(8-7-1999)
Complied from Jayski.com (I can post more NASCAR driver rumors if there's enough interest.)
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#111

Post by Cheeveer »

Well, this did actually happen, but still did not happen at all. From late 1977:

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It says that Hector Rebaque is to buy second hand Lotus' fielded in a team formed by Jackie Oliver and driven by Gunnar Nilsson and Riccardo Patrese in 1978.

What actually happened was that Rebaque did buy those Lotus', and Oliver did start a new team with Nilsson and Patrese, but that team built its own cars: the team we know now as Arrows. And Nilsson never got to drive the cars since he was already suffering from cancer at this point.
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#112

Post by acerogers58 »

Apparently Richard Petty was incredibly close to joining Hendrick Motorsports in 1984. So close, that the original Hendrick motorsports, then known as the All star racing team, had the interiors of the car painted blue. It’s unknown why the deal fell through, although we may find out sometime in the future as both of them mentioned it when Hendrick surpassed Petty Enterprises for most team wins.
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#113

Post by acerogers58 »

Not exactly a "move" but certainly a rumor that was completely false and seemingly came out of nowhere.

On the 27th of April 2001, A Nashville radio station reported that Bobby Labonte had died in some sort of accident on the way to California Speedway. This report spread like wildfire, and seemingly nobody did their proper research as the story appeared on the NASCAR website briefly. Labonte, who was very much alive, quashed the false rumors by winning the pole later that afternoon for the weekends cup race.
FONTANA, Calif., April 27 -- A difficult season took a bizarre turn for Bobby Labonte Friday when a false report was circulated that he had been killed in an accident.

The reports surfaced on a Nashville radio station Friday and a story appeared briefly on NASCAR's official web site.

"All my friends at home heard that and all the people at school and stuff like that," said Labonte, a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas. "So I got a phone call about that pretty early this morning before practice started. It's been kind of rough. My wife is the maddest she has ever been, but she is also glad, too."

Asked if he knew how the rumors started, Labonte said, "I have no idea. We didn't even have any close calls this morning (in practice) or last night getting here."

The only close calls turned out to be the battle for the pole and whether Labonte would break the qualifying record. He drove his Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix to a lap of 182.635 miles per hour at the two-mile California Speedway for his 22nd career pole and first since September at New Hampshire.
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#114

Post by EB »

There was a similar rumour about John Watson dying in a car crash over the weekend of the 1982 Dutch GP. Going out on a limb I don't believe it was true.
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#115

Post by Vassago »

The forgotten saga of denied FIA super licences in 1995. After Giovanni Lavaggi & Jean-Denis Deletraz run out of money Keith Wiggins wanted to finish out the season with Katsumi Yamamoto in Aida & Suzuka and test driver Olivier Gavin in Adelaide. Both were denied the super licenses and Bertrand Gachot came back to finish the season for the Pacific team.

Hideki Noda was also denied a superlicense for the 1995 Australian GP where he was supposed to drive instead of Roberto Moreno at Forti.
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#116

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

For the British Touring Car Championship:

I'll start with GR Motorsport intending to run Gordon Shedden in an ex-John Shields Motorsport Alfa Romeo 147 in 2002.

That same year, Total Motorsport intended to continue with the Lexus IS200, the drivers would have been Richard Dean and Steve Sutcliffe.

Vic Lee Racing also intended to run a pair of Lexus' for Thomas Erdos and Dan Eaves, Steve Soper would have been a possibility until he was forced to retire on medical grounds, following his Brands Hatch crash.
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#117

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

For other Touring Car Racing Series besides the BTCC:

I'll start with the stillborn Brilliance WTCC and MG Rover DTM entries of 2005.
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#118

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

American Open Wheel Racing (Champ Car 2003 specifically):

The stillborn BC Motorsports team, the driver would have been Giorgio Pantano.

Formula 3000 teams Arden and the short-lived Brand Motorsport were linked with entries, the latter would have brought back sometime Chip Ganassi driver Nicolas Minassian.

The former is an interesting case as one of their F3000 drivers that year was Townsend Bell who had previously driven for Patrick Racing.

Kurt Busch tested for Team Rahal ahead of the 2003 Champ Car Season but Bobby Rahal had already signed Michel Jourdain Jr.

The late Justin Wilson was in the frame for a Newman-Haas seat until he signed for Minardi in F1.

Andre Lotterer was in the frame for a Champ Car switch after contesting the final round of the 2002 Season with Dale Coyne Racing.
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#119

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

Colton Herta would have come as part of the package if Michael Andretti had succeeded in his bid to buy a stake in Alfa Romeo/Sauber.

Colton's father Bryan Herta also tried unsuccessfully for a Minardi seat for 2003.
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#120

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

Vassago wrote: 2 years ago The forgotten saga of denied FIA super licences in 1995. After Giovanni Lavaggi & Jean-Denis Deletraz run out of money Keith Wiggins wanted to finish out the season with Katsumi Yamamoto in Aida & Suzuka and test driver Olivier Gavin in Adelaide. Both were denied the super licenses and Bertrand Gachot came back to finish the season for the Pacific team.

Hideki Noda was also denied a superlicense for the 1995 Australian GP where he was supposed to drive instead of Roberto Moreno at Forti.
Ah yes, there seemed to be a bias against Japanese drivers getting a super licence in the first half of the 1990s, that's what stopped Brabham hiring Akihiko Nakaya for the 1992 Season and led to Giovanna Amati being signed.
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#121

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

WTCC 2013:

Markus Winkelhock was due to partner Rene Munnich and Marc Basseng at Munnich Motorsport, each driving a SEAT Leon but Winkelhock preferred to stay in GT Racing and relinquished the seat to reigning champion Rob Huff pre-season.
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