Oliver WhiteJacques Villeneuve and Craig Pollock have mutually decided to part ways and end their professional relationship, it emerged over the weekend. Pollock has managed Villeneuve since the Canadian first got seriously involved in motor sport and between them they run a few businesses and have enjoyed substantial success. Villeneuve, under Pollock’s wing, has won the CART title and the Indy 500 (in 1995) and the Formula One world championship, claimed with Williams in 1997.
When Jacques parted company with Formula One in 2006, the Canadian looked to America and NASCAR for a drive, at the time also declaring an ambition to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race to further add to his array of trophies. However, NASCAR has proven quite tricky for Jacques to get involved with, and it is thought Pollock has hindered the process through his demands. Craig has apparently insisted on being integral to the operation of the team Jacques would drive for, adding to the complications already in place.
A lot has changed in recent years. I’m older, and probably no longer need a manager to perform those duties that Craig has covered so well before; now that I’m married, I’m much more reliant on my wife, and more and more I’ve been working on a lot of that stuff myself.
Craig and I have been good friends for most of my life, and that doesn’t just go away; this is a friendly parting and we remain good friends. He has stuck with me through good times and bad, and I have a lot to thank him for. Jacques Villeneuve.
We’ve had a fantastic time together, sharing the highs and lows. I have always believed in Jacques’ driving ability and that will never change. NASCAR is a new challenge and even though I will not be with him, it is my intention to follow his new adventure. Go for it Jacques! Craig Pollock.
How this split will effect the other business interests the pair are involved with is yet to be seen; both are involved with a restaurant, club and car-care product distribution business. Pitpass are also reporting that the two of them may have been involved with the making of a film based on Jacques’s father Gilles, a legendary driver who was tragically killed when Jacques was young.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Villeneuve’s career now. He definitely hit a metophorical brick wall around the time BAR started to become unraveled, but now Jacques is taking a different approach we may see a reinvigorated racer returning to the ovals and circuits.
This is actually good news to me but way too late. Jacques had a great career and could have had more than he did in F1. He had a friend in Pollock and that ended up being a problem. Jacques followed him like a puppy and now he’s driving family sedans around an oval track.
… and singing and recording albums 🙂
Craig Pollock looked increasingly a broken man ever since the demise of the BAR F1 team experiment. For five years he arranged for JV to milk 20 million dollars per year from an underperforming team. Ultimately Honda kicked him out and if I remember right, forcibly bought his shares or similar. Pollock went to court but failed.
Since then he wanders around the F1 grid from time to time explaining to the small guys that he used to be someone. I always remember pics of him in F1 magazine, looking a little fatter, talking to pit crew and marshalls, clearly no longer a member of the inner circle of team owners.
I honestly thought he was a good guy and wish him well.