Appearing on the Dale Jr. Download with NASCAR Hall of Fame Dale Earnhardt Jr., Scott Speed reflected on his racing career, from Formula 1 to NASCAR and later rallycross.
His F1 shot came about when Red Bull first arrived on the grid, and was searching for an American talent. 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan was a big part of the idea, with Speed saying, "They selected 16 of us young, American racing drivers, and they brought us all to Europe for fitness tests, hand-eye coordination tests; we raced some go-karts and formula cars, and eventually they narrowed it down to four of us."
Describing himself as a 'sheltered' teenager who didn't even really know how to pump gas, it was like being thrown into the deepend as he pursued a racing career in Europe. After proving himself in some lower formula divisions in 2003 and 2004, he became a Red Bull F1 test driver and finally made it into the grid with Toro Rosso in 2006.
However, the American's F1 career only lasted 1.5 years with 28 total starts. Looking back, he admitted that there were plenty of things he would have changed if he could do it all over again.
"So much I could have done differently," Speed told Earnhardt. "Looking back, I think a core piece of it is how I thought about racing in general. I had no communication skills. I had no real education. I go from high school to this and I didn't know how the world worked, how to communicate with people. I didn't know what it took to drive a race car fast. I knew that when I sat in the seat, I had this magic pouch of talent and it made me drive a car fast. I had no idea why and when that didn't work, I was left thinking what's wrong with the car, what's wrong with this -- I never had the real ability to look internally and say, what can I do to affect the situation. I didn't look at it like that."
He struggled to understand the impact he could have as the driver if he applied himself more, and noted how Sebastian Vettel (who ultimately replaced him at Toro Rosso) proved what was possible, even scoring a win.
"Not having a clear definition of what I could impact as a driver. I couldn't make that work in my head," said Speed, who wishes he could have been a more complete driver at the time.
He also cited a lack of motivation to improve himself, and lost a bit of that fire after just his third race in the sport. In the 2006 Austrian Grand Prix, he scored Toro Rosso's first point with an eighth-place finish, but was later penalized for overtaking Red Bull driver David Coulthard under yellow flags, losing the point.
He was also fined for swearing at Coulthard during the stewards meeting. Speed called himself 'childish' for that while speaking with Earnhardt, adding: "I was just this outrageously cocky kid and so, they penalized me and they took the point away. That disheartened me so much. Really shortly after, I lost a lot of motivation for trying to continue to push really hard."
Final F1 start
But his time in F1 did not end until the summer of 2007, following the European Grand Prix at the Nurburging.
"Our car was outrageous in the wet," recalled Speed. "Right before the start of the race, it downpours. Me and Tonio (teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi) come from 18th and 19th to I think I'm running 11th after three quarters of a lap."
He talked about passing passing Liuzzi just before they dove to pit road for wets, but since the team was preparing Liuzzi's tires first, it actually made the stop longer. After that, they returned to the race, only for it to end in the gravel alongside several other cars as roughly a quarter of the field spun off in the wet conditions.
"I come in, and I'm actually in a pretty good mood because it was pretty awesome," said Speed about the retirement. "It didn't work out, but it was an awesome first lap. I'm talking to my engineer, and Franz (Tost, team principal for Toro Rosso at the time), comes up and says 'what's happened in Turn 1?' And I was like, 'what do you mean?' There were eight cars parked out there -- Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button. I said 'well the same thing that happened to everybody else. We hydroplaned into the corner.' And he says, 'no, not everybody, just the wankers.' And I told him to F-off and I walked away. I guess I thought I could tell the team owner that he can F-off and then everything was going to be okay. It was not. The next weekend, Sebastian Vettel was in the car and that was it."
In past interviews, Speed has also said that Tost initiated physical altercation after he told him off. However, Speed feels that there wasn't much left for him to do in F1, believing he had reached the extent of his abilities at the time with the mindset he was in.
"Honestly, it was time," said Speed. "I didn't have the ability -- the model to process what needed to happen and how to be a racing driver. It was just as much of me wanting to go as it was them wanting me gone."
He then decided to go back home and went NASCAR racing with Red Bull, and talked extensively about that experience as well. The full interview can be found HERE, or watched below.
