How it was to be a Nascar fan before 03 in Brazil: - from 92 to 95: wait until tuesday to see most of the races that were on ESPN, everything else is only covered on the monday morning Sportscenter - 96 to 98: ESPN Latin America dont show all of their races, and ignores new races ESPN added - 99/2000: ESPN only remember that Nascar exists at Atlanta,Bristol, Darlington,Martinsville and Richmond.There was even one of the Martinsville races broadcast on a tuesday at 4am.News?Only at RPM2Day,at 7am monday morning on ESPN Brasil - 2001/02: zero coverage outside of the DirecTV pay per view channel. No american Sportscenter or RPM2DAY on monday mornings = it was like Nascar didnt even exist. Except on huge crashes, i found that Dale died on a 30 second news report at that sunday night
This is the man that made me a NASCAR fan. Growing up a massive F1 & Indycar Fan. I saw Christian was racing in Watkins Glen so I thought I better watch it. I fell in love with the sport & have watched every cup race since .
Darian said it best, I will always remember Christian Fittipaldi as the guy who always got in my way and was always my rival in NASCAR Thunder 2004. Glad to hear he had a pretty good career in IMSA though later on
Mans got rushed up to a dying team and one of the most iconic numbers in NASCAR, with little to no Busch Series time. I don't know what Petty Enterprises really expected from him.
@@matthewdaley746So apparently guys like Cale Yarborough, Lee Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, and Darrell Waltrip didn't race back then going by that logic. Which is false btw.
I wrote a couple of articles on the subject. Pretty much "everyone not named Tony Stewart" sucked when going over to NASCAR. I thought that the reason was that the cars drove differently, but Mario begged to differ with me (Mario read my article??? wow!) -- that the "better drivers get it." Which tells you about the talent level of CART/IRL during the 1990's and 00's.
To be fair, nobody after Richard Petty had a huge amount success in that ride. And even _he_ was becoming more of a pauper than a king towards the end of his career (no disrespect intended).
christian fittipaldi is the first brazilian to race in cup,and because of him nascar is broadcasted here on brazilian pay tv ever since,so even with his cup series career not being what he wanted,he made a huge impact for us,before that we had cup races on small brazilian broadcast networks before,but it was very space out and inconsistent,but after fittipaldi it was for real and we havent stopped ever since.
Sad thing about this is after the 2002 season John Andretti didn't want to return to Petty Enterprises. The team begged him to return in 2003 and he eventually agreed, only for the team to shit can him halfway through the season for Fittipaldi. Very dumb move looking back, Andretti wasn't the best but at least he didn't wreck every week, could win, and could run up front if given the right circumstances. People also respected John because they knew who he was. He didn't just show up out of nowhere and say hey I'm here for a cup ride.
@@samichopthechimrea8477 That’s a fact because even in the final version game that everybody gets, some of Andretti’s old paint schemes from 2002 and 2001 are still there suggesting he’d be there instead of Fittipaldi and even to this day, it still irks me they didn’t keep John in the car for the final game!
I think if John Andretti was still in the #43 by the time NASCAR Thunder 2004 was released, we probably would have seen Christian Fittipaldi in the #33 Monaco Chevy or #44 Bugles Dodge.
A lot of entries in this series are open wheel drivers. Just shows you how different IndyCar/F1 and NASCAR are (and makes me respect the talent of Tony Stewart that much more).
I remember when he moved to NASCAR, everyone belived he was trying to be like his uncle, but at stock cars. Emmo brought F1 to popularity in the 70's, and then the IndyCar in the 80's and 90's. Christian belived that he was able to make NASCAR popular here in the south. Well, it didn't happened...
Christian Fittipaldi is a wonderfully skilled member of racing royalty. Sports cars, F1, CART (where I think he could’ve been a champion)… he’s succeeded in everything there is to do in open wheel racing. Given time, he could’ve been the young prospective driver Richard Petty was looking for. Unfortunately, like almost all nascar busts, he was rushed up too early. In this case though, he was basically plucked from CART straight into Cup, with only five or six Xfinity starts to help him out in one of the most difficult Motorsports transition periods there are for a human to experience. In my opinion, Petty did this partially because he was desperate for good results, and because he wanted to take advantage of Fittipaldi’s star power, so he could use it to boost his team. To that I say, what a waste of potential. Given time, he could’ve been the perfect driver The King was looking for, but he threw that potential away because his team was dying, and everything he knew about running a team wasn’t working in the modern era anymore. For that reason, Fittipaldi was screwed out of a potential Montoya/Ambrose level nascar career, and Petty Enterprises still would’ve died off anyway, which is a shame because I can see Fittipaldi and Adam Petty getting along as teammates. Thank goodness he was able to salvage his career with IMSA. Unfortunately, because of bad team and driver decisions, and maybe even bad sponsorship decisions as well on Cheerios’ part, we’ll never know if Christian Fittipaldi could’ve been the first Brazilian born driver to win in the NASCAR cup series.
Love the song choice! NASCAR Thunder 2004 definitely had the best soundtrack out of all the NASCAR games. Also, another good video I love the bust ones and hope you continue to do them!
In terms of Brazilian drives on Nascar, Miguel Paludo and Nelson Piquet Jr are definelly the best, Paludo almost got a Top 5...only if Riley didn't spun him out. And Piquet Jr won 2 trucks series races in Kansas and Michigan, and for Paludo he won with a last lap pass on Crafton for the win on Vegas in 2012.
I don't think you can call him a bust. I could be mistaken, but as I understand it, a bust is someone who has a lot of potential but fails to deliver. There was no potential here. Nobody expected Christian Fittipaldi to perform well, except Richard Petty, I suppose. Christian's open-wheel career was average at best, despite a couple of wins. If he couldn't excel when driving a type of car he was familiar with, why did Richard Petty think he could do great things in machinery that was utterly foreign to him? I am happy his career still had a happy ending, however. Endurance racing turned out to be his true calling.
@@richardtickler8555 only a few can replicate or exceed the success of their fathers/uncles, ex: Richard Petty (Exceeds his father Lee by winning 200 races and 7 championships) Nico Rosberg (able to win WDC in 2016 just like his dad, Keke, did in '82, exceeds his dad's GP win tally) Dale Earnhardt Sr. (Exceeds his Father Ralph)
How hard did Fittipaldi hit in his debut? Well, if you look at 5:03 you'll notice that that #44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge Intrepid is missing the rear window
I loved Patrick. Too bad his career in the IRL wasn't better. I mean, finishing 10th in points with a Cheever car (and getting 2 podiums in that car) is pretty impressive. Shame that nobody picked up on this when Wheldon was dominating the field that year.
Video ideas Bad Seasons: Kevin Harvick 2021. Gone To Soon: Rodney Orr. Gone To Soon: Justin Wilson. Not A Bust: Casey Atwood (Xfinity/Busch Series) Championship Seasons (IndyCar): Alex Palou 2021
Interesting as always! Switching from open wheel to NASCAR can be very tricky and Christian learned it the hard way. Also, I know that he raced in Petty Enterprises in Cup, but I never knew he tried racing in the Busch Series until I discovered your video.
Christian Fittipaldi was the Steve Park of Champ Car. He had a lot of potential. But injuries disrupted his career and he only scored a couple of wins.
He could of had a full ride in the IRL especially with his CART experience. These pro stock cars are a bit slower than the indy cars and probably handled different. Indy cars have a lot of down force, tight suspension, and of course faster. Im not trying to make excuses for Christian, but he should have never transitioned to Grand National Cars....
I wonder if Dario Franchitti is considered a NASCAR Bust? Similar to Christian Fittipaldi, he came from Indycar/CART but couldn't find the same success he had in open wheel racing when he came to NASCAR. Although if there was one consolation, he drove for CGR in NASCAR and when an opportunity came up for him to return to Indycar with CGR, it opened the door to the most successful period of his career in Indycar
I don't know can you really be considered a NASCAR bust when he only made 19 total starts. Coming from open-wheel background where he only won 2 races in 8 years of Indycar too. He wasn't exactly blowing anyone's doors off in open-wheels either. I'm glad you mentioned his sportscar career though. As you mentioned, a two-time back to back IMSA prototype champion and winning the 24 hours of Daytona overall 3 times. Also won 12 hours of Sebring and 24 hours of Spa.
You see the trouble people like Christian, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish, and many others, and to me it proves just how good NASCAR drivers really are. Guys that won in everything out there EXCEPT NASCAR really show how good Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson, etc we're at manhandling a 3200 pound stock car!!!
I don't remember ever seeing him on tv but I do remember always picking him in (I think) Thunder 2003 just because we share the same first name. And as far as I know he's the only NASCAR driver named Christian
Instantly reminded me of one of my favorite video games of all time! NASCAR THUNDER!!! Thanks Darian! Didn’t realize it then ofcourse, but those were some of the best days of my life, much simpler and happier times 🇺🇸 Hope everyone is having a great week so far!
Thanks for sharing! I didn't become a NASCAR fan until 2004 (after Christian was fired from Petty Enterprises), but I do remember seeing him in the NASCAR Thunder game I played on PS2. Keep up the good work and sharing these awesome stories!
Sometimes I get the feeling that a lot of those open-wheel guys came to NASCAR because they bought into the misconception of "hurr durr, it's just driving in circles, how hard could it be?" I obviously hope not, but if they did, then most of them certainly found out.
Lol I remember Fittipaldi being the driver of the 43 in NASCAR Thunder 2004 but they also had Richard Petty as a playable legend driver and unless you used Fittipaldi yourself, Richard Petty was always the 43 car that the AI used
I remember he was a scrub in the 43 car and had zero respect from any of the other drivers. When he wasn't smashing it up, he was getting dumped regularly
He was always one of my favorites to play is in NASCAR Thunder 04 because the 43 had sooooo many paint schemes in that game so you could freshen up your look fairly often.
This video pretty much sums up those who jumped from indy to stock cars and think all races cars are designed the same: failure. Despite the fact he may be good in other series, he clearly had no idea what he was getting into. Using the quote from Days of Thunder "to drive a car that weighed twice as much and tires half as wide" is a understatement! It's even more problematic when you just jump from the bgn series where power is a mere 500hp to a cup car at 750+hp. If he wrecked those few times before hitting the majors then more seat time is required if you want to understand the fundamentals of a nascar racecar. It takes years to be a good racer in one of these machines and it takes longer to be respected in this sport. I see alot of Steve Kinser in Christian "Fitti-Petty"...success after nascar.
NASCAR Busts: Buckshot Jones NASCAR Busts: Damon Lusk NASCAR Busts: Larry Foyt NASCAR Busts: Jason Leffler NASCAR Busts: Mike Skinner Bad Seasons: Larry Foyt 2001
At the time I was a huge petty enterprises fan....it was a family thing but I was also a huge fan of Adam when he was alive. So let's be clear, petty enterprises was garbage, particularly in this era. Sure, Christian may not have been great in stock cars, but petty enterprises was one of the worst teams on the grid at the time. I do remember though that he ran am ARCA race for petty in 03 at Pocono and had a pretty good run. By I mean this was the same year that the 43 and 44 when it was run regularly missed races regardless of who was driving
Well Bobby Hamilton Put the team in the top ten in nineteen ninety six And john Andretti Almost Put team In the top ten points in nineteen ninety eight
The transition from open wheel to stock car racing is never easy, then you put a driver with no experience on a small team and wait for fantastic results....i don't know what Richard Petty was expecting really...and Christian, he would later become a IMSA legend
Everyone's gangsta about him in Thunder 2004 but here's another gaming trivia about him: Fittipaldi is the only driver in F-1 Grand Prix Part II (a Japan-only SNES F1 game) that does not have a given name initial written in-game. So while you have A.セナ for Senna, N.マンセル for Mansell, etc., Fittipaldi is simply written as フィッティパルディ in-game, due to character space limits. (also idk if he had an F1 Rejects profile too in that site's heydays, if you want to label him as an F1 bust too) - nope, he was ineligible for an F1 Rejects profile because of that 4th place finish, based on their criteria.
I don't know if it's already been done, but a look at Steve Kinser's brief NASCAR career would be interesting. Like Fittipaldi he was put into Cup right away and he had as little success. He eventually said, "The hell with this" and he and Kenny Bernstein came to a mutual parting of the ways.
That's the way motorsports works sometimes. A driver can be great in one discipline but just miss it in another. Brad Sweet is another example of that. Not all that good in NASCAR but has gone on to be one of the best World of Outlaws drivers.
@Peters6221 Oh no doubt he had a great career outside of NASCAR, but as far as stock car racing is concerned, bad bad bad. Yea thats funny though I remember when EVERYONE was the next Jeff Gordon... till they werent lmao
New Videos NASCAR Busts: Jacques Villeneuve Good Seasons: Matt Kenseth (2013) Good Seasons: Richard Petty (1987) Bad Seasons: Richard Petty (1985-1986) NASCAR Busts: JR Fitzpatrick (Truck And Xfinity) NASCAR Busts: Dario Franchitti Gone Too Soon: Anthoine Hubert
Fun fact:
Thanks to Christian Fittipaldi, Nascar start to be broadcast live to Brazil. Until 03, the broadcast was tape delay in some smaller channels
they got to see him wreck live rather than hours later lol
@@AlonsoRules he just introduced a new sport to his country, not a big deal (includes sarcasm)
hey, thanks to him drawing interest to live broadcasts I became a fan here in Brazil haha
How it was to be a Nascar fan before 03 in Brazil:
- from 92 to 95: wait until tuesday to see most of the races that were on ESPN, everything else is only covered on the monday morning Sportscenter
- 96 to 98: ESPN Latin America dont show all of their races, and ignores new races ESPN added
- 99/2000: ESPN only remember that Nascar exists at Atlanta,Bristol, Darlington,Martinsville and Richmond.There was even one of the Martinsville races broadcast on a tuesday at 4am.News?Only at RPM2Day,at 7am monday morning on ESPN Brasil
- 2001/02: zero coverage outside of the DirecTV pay per view channel. No american Sportscenter or RPM2DAY on monday mornings = it was like Nascar didnt even exist. Except on huge crashes, i found that Dale died on a 30 second news report at that sunday night
@Damar Fadlan funnily enough, I think I did 100% about 3 times on NASCAR 05 (my first NASCAR game on the PS2) and I don't remember that challenge.
2:49 the delivery on that "Mikes Hard Lemonade" comment was fuggin' hilarious
Commentary like that makes me realize how much I miss Benny Parsons.
@@BigEOT3BP was like a family member
This is the man that made me a NASCAR fan. Growing up a massive F1 & Indycar Fan. I saw Christian was racing in Watkins Glen so I thought I better watch it. I fell in love with the sport & have watched every cup race since .
If this is what made you a fan….. Ah, Let’s Go Brandon
In this case he isn't a bust then
Darian said it best, I will always remember Christian Fittipaldi as the guy who always got in my way and was always my rival in NASCAR Thunder 2004. Glad to hear he had a pretty good career in IMSA though later on
Why do I always get the bots on my comments. 3 bots in the span of a week wtf
@@berryboiblast Good question, this boys everywhere
i went out my way to wreck in him the game
Put him in the wall more then once lol
All I know is he didn't have an announcer line in the PS1 version, so he'd always be announced as "The 43 Car: ..."
Mans got rushed up to a dying team and one of the most iconic numbers in NASCAR, with little to no Busch Series time. I don't know what Petty Enterprises really expected from him.
@@matthewdaley746So apparently guys like Cale Yarborough, Lee Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, and Darrell Waltrip didn't race back then going by that logic. Which is false btw.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
@@whoasked9500 Are you seriously using people that came to Cup before the Busch Series existence in a weak attempt to prove a point?
20 years later, that dying team is still going strong with Erik Jones
@@gothard5 It was dying at the time is what I meant
I am forever grateful to Christian because he was the reason Nascar started to be broadcasted live here in Brazil
The most impressive part of Christian Fittipaldi is how long his career lasted in so many different series.
When you come from a family with his racing heritage, you tend to have the deep pockets to try different series.
Need IndyCar/CART/ChampCar Busts videos. That would be awesome
Yes!
Yesssir for example: Indycar Busts: 2003 Scott Mayer, Sam Mayer's dad
@@josepedrorodriguez2376 Real Kart Racer did a video on Scott, its really good. Also I have my own series going over IndyCar history.
I wrote a couple of articles on the subject. Pretty much "everyone not named Tony Stewart" sucked when going over to NASCAR. I thought that the reason was that the cars drove differently, but Mario begged to differ with me (Mario read my article??? wow!) -- that the "better drivers get it." Which tells you about the talent level of CART/IRL during the 1990's and 00's.
We all know Jimmie Johnson will be one of the first (if things didn't improve)
Can't blame him for taking the Petty ride. The payday compared to CART must have been great.
To be fair, nobody after Richard Petty had a huge amount success in that ride. And even _he_ was becoming more of a pauper than a king towards the end of his career (no disrespect intended).
@@TotoDG And the King raced for another decade after his 200th and final win in 1984.
christian fittipaldi is the first brazilian to race in cup,and because of him nascar is broadcasted here on brazilian pay tv ever since,so even with his cup series career not being what he wanted,he made a huge impact for us,before that we had cup races on small brazilian broadcast networks before,but it was very space out and inconsistent,but after fittipaldi it was for real and we havent stopped ever since.
AKA "Oh, he drove the 43?" In NASCAR Thunder 2004
Yup
And Screwed John Andretti out of the game
@@nascarfan88ta you can find a leftover John Andretti voice call in the PS1 version too.
Championship Seasons: Jimmie Johnson 2007
Gone Too Soon: John Nemechek
Bad Seasons: Andy Houston 2001
NASCAR Busts: Lyndon Amick
Lyndon’s a bust??
2007 = PAIN
Andy Houston would be a bust not Lyndon Amick.
@@fesagrin3805 hey, shut up!
Sad thing about this is after the 2002 season John Andretti didn't want to return to Petty Enterprises. The team begged him to return in 2003 and he eventually agreed, only for the team to shit can him halfway through the season for Fittipaldi. Very dumb move looking back, Andretti wasn't the best but at least he didn't wreck every week, could win, and could run up front if given the right circumstances. People also respected John because they knew who he was. He didn't just show up out of nowhere and say hey I'm here for a cup ride.
I will never understand why he was in NASCAR Thunder 2004. He didn't even drive the 43 the most times in 2003.
I mean John Andretti Was Originally going to be in the game as you saw in those trailers.
@@samichopthechimrea8477 That’s a fact because even in the final version game that everybody gets, some of Andretti’s old paint schemes from 2002 and 2001 are still there suggesting he’d be there instead of Fittipaldi and even to this day, it still irks me they didn’t keep John in the car for the final game!
I think if John Andretti was still in the #43 by the time NASCAR Thunder 2004 was released, we probably would have seen Christian Fittipaldi in the #33 Monaco Chevy or #44 Bugles Dodge.
4:30 “just finish and gain some experience” two seconds later *man is wrecked facing the wrong way* 😂😂😂
A lot of entries in this series are open wheel drivers. Just shows you how different IndyCar/F1 and NASCAR are (and makes me respect the talent of Tony Stewart that much more).
I remember when he moved to NASCAR, everyone belived he was trying to be like his uncle, but at stock cars. Emmo brought F1 to popularity in the 70's, and then the IndyCar in the 80's and 90's. Christian belived that he was able to make NASCAR popular here in the south. Well, it didn't happened...
Infelizmente
I did not know that Christian drove in the Cup Series even with RPM or at that time Petty Enterprises
This was during SILLY SEASON 2003 EDITION where Petty, DEI, and RCR did hot potato.
Oh yea. Just another dud transition from one form of racing to another lol
@@randomepic6204 This was when RCR had three cars and the third car was crap.
@@BigEOT3 wait? This was petty lol
Christian Fittipaldi is a wonderfully skilled member of racing royalty. Sports cars, F1, CART (where I think he could’ve been a champion)… he’s succeeded in everything there is to do in open wheel racing.
Given time, he could’ve been the young prospective driver Richard Petty was looking for. Unfortunately, like almost all nascar busts, he was rushed up too early. In this case though, he was basically plucked from CART straight into Cup, with only five or six Xfinity starts to help him out in one of the most difficult Motorsports transition periods there are for a human to experience.
In my opinion, Petty did this partially because he was desperate for good results, and because he wanted to take advantage of Fittipaldi’s star power, so he could use it to boost his team. To that I say, what a waste of potential. Given time, he could’ve been the perfect driver The King was looking for, but he threw that potential away because his team was dying, and everything he knew about running a team wasn’t working in the modern era anymore. For that reason, Fittipaldi was screwed out of a potential Montoya/Ambrose level nascar career, and Petty Enterprises still would’ve died off anyway, which is a shame because I can see Fittipaldi and Adam Petty getting along as teammates.
Thank goodness he was able to salvage his career with IMSA. Unfortunately, because of bad team and driver decisions, and maybe even bad sponsorship decisions as well on Cheerios’ part, we’ll never know if Christian Fittipaldi could’ve been the first Brazilian born driver to win in the NASCAR cup series.
Love the song choice! NASCAR Thunder 2004 definitely had the best soundtrack out of all the NASCAR games. Also, another good video I love the bust ones and hope you continue to do them!
And the Cart World series videogame too in the first minutes of this video
@@fesagrin3805 Troll
Looked like all his Cup Series crashes involved either Dale Jarrett, Steve Park or Michael Waltrip
In terms of Brazilian drives on Nascar, Miguel Paludo and Nelson Piquet Jr are definelly the best, Paludo almost got a Top 5...only if Riley didn't spun him out. And Piquet Jr won 2 trucks series races in Kansas and Michigan, and for Paludo he won with a last lap pass on Crafton for the win on Vegas in 2012.
1. Paludo never won any Truck races.
2. Piquet never won at Kansas. His two Truck wins were Michigan and Las Vegas.
Piquet Jr Win in Road América, nationwide 2012
@@crystaljon ok
And that theme song in the video remenbers me the CART World Series on Ps1
I swear this music is from the Cart World Series video game.
I don't think you can call him a bust. I could be mistaken, but as I understand it, a bust is someone who has a lot of potential but fails to deliver. There was no potential here. Nobody expected Christian Fittipaldi to perform well, except Richard Petty, I suppose.
Christian's open-wheel career was average at best, despite a couple of wins. If he couldn't excel when driving a type of car he was familiar with, why did Richard Petty think he could do great things in machinery that was utterly foreign to him?
I am happy his career still had a happy ending, however. Endurance racing turned out to be his true calling.
its also the name. like schumacher or senna, i know its dumb but people think being a great driver is only a matter of genetics or so
Almost all of those crashes were him getting dumped by someone else.
@Rob F Could be. Or they couldn't get around him cleanly so they wrecked him. Probably a mix of both.
@@richardtickler8555 only a few can replicate or exceed the success of their fathers/uncles, ex:
Richard Petty (Exceeds his father Lee by winning 200 races and 7 championships)
Nico Rosberg (able to win WDC in 2016 just like his dad, Keke, did in '82, exceeds his dad's GP win tally)
Dale Earnhardt Sr. (Exceeds his Father Ralph)
I liked the Yankees Paint Scheme he ran at The Glen in 03 and this is coming from a Red Sox Fan.
How hard did Fittipaldi hit in his debut? Well, if you look at 5:03 you'll notice that that #44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge Intrepid is missing the rear window
Switching from open wheel to stock car racing is a hit or miss you either end up doing good or become a bust
Need to call that "Cole Trickle Complex"
Christian Fittipaldi when he crashed:
*_dude these Cheerios ain’t sh^t…_*
Christian helps to develop the HANS device, after the big crash in Milwalke race during the Cart series.
Nascar bust- chad mccumbee
And
Nascar bust- Patrick carpentier
I loved Patrick.
Too bad his career in the IRL wasn't better.
I mean, finishing 10th in points with a Cheever car (and getting 2 podiums in that car) is pretty impressive.
Shame that nobody picked up on this when Wheldon was dominating the field that year.
I have been waiting for this one! Love this series!
@@fesagrin3805 Stop
Video ideas
Bad Seasons: Kevin Harvick 2021.
Gone To Soon: Rodney Orr.
Gone To Soon: Justin Wilson.
Not A Bust: Casey Atwood (Xfinity/Busch Series)
Championship Seasons (IndyCar): Alex Palou 2021
Interesting as always!
Switching from open wheel to NASCAR can be very tricky and Christian learned it the hard way.
Also, I know that he raced in Petty Enterprises in Cup, but I never knew he tried racing in the Busch Series until I discovered your video.
Wow!!!!! Using the Cart world series PS1 videogame soundtrack in this video. Awesome!!!!
Steve Park and Fittipaldi almost always seemed to find each other on the track before Fittipaldi was fired.
Yes, they crashed like 4 times
Christian Fittipaldi was the Steve Park of Champ Car. He had a lot of potential. But injuries disrupted his career and he only scored a couple of wins.
I have a video suggestion if no one has told you this yet. Do a bad seasons for an entire team (SHR 2021, HMS 2018)
HMS had a Bad 2019 too
He could of had a full ride in the IRL especially with his CART experience. These pro stock cars are a bit slower than the indy cars and probably handled different. Indy cars have a lot of down force, tight suspension, and of course faster. Im not trying to make excuses for Christian, but he should have never transitioned to Grand National Cars....
Christian didn't want to drive open-wheelers anymore after CART so he jumped to NASCAR
I wonder if Dario Franchitti is considered a NASCAR Bust? Similar to Christian Fittipaldi, he came from Indycar/CART but couldn't find the same success he had in open wheel racing when he came to NASCAR. Although if there was one consolation, he drove for CGR in NASCAR and when an opportunity came up for him to return to Indycar with CGR, it opened the door to the most successful period of his career in Indycar
@Peters6221 interestingly enough, his former Cart Championship Rival, Juan Pablo Montoya, was his team mate at CGR in 2008
I don't know can you really be considered a NASCAR bust when he only made 19 total starts. Coming from open-wheel background where he only won 2 races in 8 years of Indycar too. He wasn't exactly blowing anyone's doors off in open-wheels either. I'm glad you mentioned his sportscar career though. As you mentioned, a two-time back to back IMSA prototype champion and winning the 24 hours of Daytona overall 3 times. Also won 12 hours of Sebring and 24 hours of Spa.
Fun fact: Christian Fittipaldi is one of only three drivers (Mario Andretti & Juan Montoya are the other two) to have raced in NASCAR, F1 & Indycar.
Those are definitely not the only three drivers who can claim that; Dan Gurney won in all three.
You see the trouble people like Christian, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish, and many others, and to me it proves just how good NASCAR drivers really are. Guys that won in everything out there EXCEPT NASCAR really show how good Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson, etc we're at manhandling a 3200 pound stock car!!!
I don't remember ever seeing him on tv but I do remember always picking him in (I think) Thunder 2003 just because we share the same first name. And as far as I know he's the only NASCAR driver named Christian
Instantly reminded me of one of my favorite video games of all time! NASCAR THUNDER!!! Thanks Darian! Didn’t realize it then ofcourse, but those were some of the best days of my life, much simpler and happier times 🇺🇸 Hope everyone is having a great week so far!
Thanks for sharing! I didn't become a NASCAR fan until 2004 (after Christian was fired from Petty Enterprises), but I do remember seeing him in the NASCAR Thunder game I played on PS2. Keep up the good work and sharing these awesome stories!
2:49 I love when announcers connect the wrecked car's sponsor with the wreck. It's so funny.
Also, you should make NASCAR Busts: Ty Dillon
Ty ain’t a bust bruh. His career ain’t even over, he can quite possibly have a playoff run with GMS next season
How is he a bust? His best ride was Germain, not exactly top equipment
By that logic, get ready for NASCAR Busts: Ross Chastain.
@@Carshtime COTA and Talladega 2022
A lot of these wrecks involved Steve Park in them for some reason.
NASCAR Busts: Ricky Carmichael pls
I remember him in NT 2004 in the 43
Sometimes I get the feeling that a lot of those open-wheel guys came to NASCAR because they bought into the misconception of "hurr durr, it's just driving in circles, how hard could it be?" I obviously hope not, but if they did, then most of them certainly found out.
I'll always remember this guy and that car from the cereal boxes- and the diecast inside
Lol I remember Fittipaldi being the driver of the 43 in NASCAR Thunder 2004 but they also had Richard Petty as a playable legend driver and unless you used Fittipaldi yourself, Richard Petty was always the 43 car that the AI used
I was kinda anticipating this
Future Video:
The Worst CART Season (2001)
The Texas Firehawk Cancellation, Many Road/Street Races being Time Shortened... I can go on
And the fiasco of the race in Germany after 9/11.
And the plenty of stupid choices made by their new CEO, Joseph Heitzler.
Ah yes.... 2001 CART Season. Can't get any worse
@@juanmanuelbonzano PR disaster as well....
The monza flip is something I will never forget
Steve park must of hated this guy lmao he’s in nearly every wreck with him
Thunder 2004 players know
I remember he was a scrub in the 43 car and had zero respect from any of the other drivers. When he wasn't smashing it up, he was getting dumped regularly
He was always one of my favorites to play is in NASCAR Thunder 04 because the 43 had sooooo many paint schemes in that game so you could freshen up your look fairly often.
Im like 9 seasons in career mode in thunder 2004 and in one of the Sonoma races he actually won
The battles we had for 42nd place in Nascar Thunder 2004 were legendary.
I remember him in NT2004 he was so goddamn slow 😂😂😂😂😂. To quote Windvow HE FLIPPED AND IS STILL GOING TO BEAT ME!!!! 😂😂😂😂
Those were good times. Cosey vs. Fittipaldi was great.
Also lets not forget Emerson Fittipaldi is a two-time Formula 1 World Champion
Thanks For Uploading ☺
In most of his DNFs he got wrecked, he wasn't the one making mistakes
Christian Fittipaldi had the best paint schemes in NASCAR Thunder 2004, that's the only way I ever knew of him before his IMSA career
The non 2003 paint schemes in NASCAR Thunder 2004 were originally reserved for John Andretti.
NASCAR Thunder 2004 shoutout at the end. Nice. :)
This video pretty much sums up those who jumped from indy to stock cars and think all races cars are designed the same: failure. Despite the fact he may be good in other series, he clearly had no idea what he was getting into. Using the quote from Days of Thunder "to drive a car that weighed twice as much and tires half as wide" is a understatement! It's even more problematic when you just jump from the bgn series where power is a mere 500hp to a cup car at 750+hp. If he wrecked those few times before hitting the majors then more seat time is required if you want to understand the fundamentals of a nascar racecar. It takes years to be a good racer in one of these machines and it takes longer to be respected in this sport.
I see alot of Steve Kinser in Christian "Fitti-Petty"...success after nascar.
2:10 another NASCAR bust that yet to be featured finished 4th.
NASCAR Busts: Buckshot Jones
NASCAR Busts: Damon Lusk
NASCAR Busts: Larry Foyt
NASCAR Busts: Jason Leffler
NASCAR Busts: Mike Skinner
Bad Seasons: Larry Foyt 2001
At the time I was a huge petty enterprises fan....it was a family thing but I was also a huge fan of Adam when he was alive. So let's be clear, petty enterprises was garbage, particularly in this era. Sure, Christian may not have been great in stock cars, but petty enterprises was one of the worst teams on the grid at the time. I do remember though that he ran am ARCA race for petty in 03 at Pocono and had a pretty good run. By I mean this was the same year that the 43 and 44 when it was run regularly missed races regardless of who was driving
His win in Road America in 1999 was unforgettable!
It really wasn't Petty as much as it was Dodge that called that shot.
Let's take a minute to remember this guy scored points driving for minardi
NASCAR Bust: Jack Sprague next.
Cup series, sure, but he won the Trucks title.
to be entirely fair. the 43 teams usually suck.
Well Bobby Hamilton Put the team in the top ten in nineteen ninety six And john Andretti Almost Put team In the top ten points in nineteen ninety eight
Oh yes, a NASCAR Bust video I always dreamed about.
Primeiro Brasileiro na Nascar 🇧🇷
Mike's Hard Lemonade, I'm sure they realized that wall is very hard.
The transition from open wheel to stock car racing is never easy, then you put a driver with no experience on a small team and wait for fantastic results....i don't know what Richard Petty was expecting really...and Christian, he would later become a IMSA legend
@2:48: Benny Parsons (I think) just can't resist the jab at Mike's Hard Lemonade.
My aunt's friend (Who's from Brazil) is a fan of Fittipaldi
Everyone's gangsta about him in Thunder 2004 but here's another gaming trivia about him:
Fittipaldi is the only driver in F-1 Grand Prix Part II (a Japan-only SNES F1 game) that does not have a given name initial written in-game. So while you have A.セナ for Senna, N.マンセル for Mansell, etc., Fittipaldi is simply written as フィッティパルディ in-game, due to character space limits.
(also idk if he had an F1 Rejects profile too in that site's heydays, if you want to label him as an F1 bust too) - nope, he was ineligible for an F1 Rejects profile because of that 4th place finish, based on their criteria.
I don't know if it's already been done, but a look at Steve Kinser's brief NASCAR career would be interesting. Like Fittipaldi he was put into Cup right away and he had as little success. He eventually said, "The hell with this" and he and Kenny Bernstein came to a mutual parting of the ways.
He already did it: th-cam.com/video/i6juNhD3LUc/w-d-xo.html
That's the way motorsports works sometimes.
A driver can be great in one discipline but just miss it in another.
Brad Sweet is another example of that. Not all that good in NASCAR but has gone on to be one of the best World of Outlaws drivers.
The legendary Steve Park Christian Fittipaldi rivalry
Very fun fact- There’s a student in my district (7th grade) named Christian Fittipaldi.
Had a good run in the ARCA race at Pocono in 03
That may be the worst bust yet... hard to say but man, Im glad he found his calling in the end cause stock cars sure as hell werent it
@Peters6221 Oh no doubt he had a great career outside of NASCAR, but as far as stock car racing is concerned, bad bad bad. Yea thats funny though I remember when EVERYONE was the next Jeff Gordon... till they werent lmao
New Videos
NASCAR Busts: Jacques Villeneuve
Good Seasons: Matt Kenseth (2013)
Good Seasons: Richard Petty (1987)
Bad Seasons: Richard Petty (1985-1986)
NASCAR Busts: JR Fitzpatrick (Truck And Xfinity)
NASCAR Busts: Dario Franchitti
Gone Too Soon: Anthoine Hubert
Is that NASCAR season worse than his career in music? (I'm talking about Jacques)
Just as bad.
@@iBry0 I think Darian can ask Josh Revell for a collab for the JV video. Few months ago Josh Revell did a video about Jacques Villeneuve.
He shouldn't have been in NASCAR Thunder 2004. That should've been John Andretti.
Please make a video of Not a Bust: Juan Pablo Montoya in Nascar
Michael waktrip has more dnfs than any current drivers had races there entire careers.
The only reason I know the name is because of nascar thunder 2004
Same here, Finding out that Christian Fittipaldi drove the 43 car on Nascar Thunder 2004 instead of John Andretti
Okay, they clearly didn't have a model for him for Nascar Thunder 2004, that's just a generic guy design. XD
NASCAR busts: Dario Franchitti
My favorite NASCAR driver was christain fittpaladi.
he is a true NASCAR Bust, especially when Petty himself said he would do well
Jarrett, Christian and Waltrip sure seemed to find eachother on track a lot based on these "highlights"
Mikes hard lemonade he found out the wall is very hard