NCTS Tide 250 Preview - the Villeneuve File
Many world-class drivers are willing to return to their roots when the occasion allows, but not many sign up for something they’ve done very little of in their careers.
Jacques Villeneuve (No. 7 Jacombs Racing Ford), the 1995 Indy 500 winner and 1997 Formula 1 world champion, will go short-rack racing in the Tide 250 at Quebec’s Autodrome St. Eustache and make his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series debut in the process.
Stock cars and NASCAR racing, in particular, are not new to Villeneuve, who has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as well as, the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping Word Truck Series. Be that as it may, there are no .4-mile flat ovals, like the St. Eustache track, in any of those series.
He spent about an hour in a Jacombs Racing car in mid-May, but it was far from a programmed test session.
“I was in the area when (Autodrome St. Eustache track owner Alan Labrosse) called and told me the car was at the track,” the 38-year-old Villeneuve said. “I went over there with my running shoes on and had to put a pillow under my bum.”
He got about 30 laps in, mostly to get used to the car and the track.
“We didn’t make any adjustments to the car. I just went round and round,” he said. “I haven’t spent a lot of time on a track that small. It took a little time to get used to everything, but it was pretty entertaining.”
Jacombs Racing Ford Fusion as it appeared at Autodrome St. Eustache in late May. Current sponsorship is unknown.
Primarily living in Europe, Villeneuve recently moved back to his native Montreal and still fosters ambitions of a full-time return to racing whether it be in the upper levels of NASCAR or, possibly, the Formula 1 circuit....