From: chucko@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Chuck Fry)
Subject: Re: Do You Agree?
Summary: Them's fightin' words!!
Organization: Recom Technologies, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 21:42:48 GMT

[Caution: Flame ahead]

In article <1992Sep15.184645.586@ncube.com> bob@ncube.com (Bob Kehoe) writes:
>In article <1992Sep15.175129.14910@hubcap.clemson.edu> andy@newton.cs.clemson.edu (Andrew J. Greenshields N3IGS) writes:
>>  If this is true, and it looks as though it may be, perhaps the
>>bodies that govern motorsport in the US might want to examine the
>>series they are running.  It seems that, in general, American
>>motorsports place a good deal of emphasis on brute force while their
>>European counterparts (and the rest of the world) prefer finesse.

Excuse me??  You call nursing an undertired, overweight stock car
around Darlington a matter of "brute force"?  Flying around Indy at
230 MPH doesn't require "finesse"?  Are you calling Steve Kinser's
driving style "crude"?  Pray tell, how do you define these terms?

And what about the Australians and English, who have their own dirt
oval series?  Did you happen to catch the Saturday Night Thunder piece
on midget racing in New Zealand?

>>Since  Colin Chapman changed the face of Indy car racing back in the 
>>60's, the up and coming American drivers find they have been schooled 
>>in the wrong techniques. 

I dunno about that... seems like back-biting, ego-tripping, whining,
and finger-pointing are standard parts of race driver training
everywhere.  :-(

>>  If I were and Indy team manager and I had the choice of two drivers,
>>one who drove hunks of metal around mud circles and another who
>>graduated from the world of FF1600 and F3, I know who I would pick.

You're comparing apples and beef.  Both are fiercely competitive
arenas in their own right, and both produce drivers of amazing skill
and competitive spirit.  But a Michael Schumacher would have as much
unlearning and relearning to do in a sprint car as Stevie Smith Jr.
would in an F1 car.  I don't doubt that either could eventually be
competitive in the other's arena.

It is an unfortunate fact of racing life that there is a serious
mismatch between the popular "grass-roots" training series and the top
levels of the sport in the US.  Colin Chapman is not the only one to
blame for that; the dirt-track guys deliberately chose to freeze
suspension technology at 1930s levels, and NASCAR likewise froze stock
car technology at 1960s levels, both in the name of keeping the cars
affordable.  You could argue that Indy car racing has done likewise,
at '80s levels.  Only F1 is allowing unlimited escalation of
technology and thus cost.

>Not to argue, but I might mention that Al Unser Jr. and John Andretti
>can certainly include a good amount of "hunks of metal around mud
>circles", as well as Rick Mears and Robby Gordon cut their teeth
>(probably literally) running around the desert in buggys and pickemups.

Little Al credits his stint with the Casey Luna sprint car team with
teaching him "the show must go on".  Imagine destroying a car and
getting your bell rung big time, then climbing in the transporter and
racing again the next day at another venue hundreds of miles away.  Is
that a standard part of European road-course training?

PJ Jones is perhaps the most aggressive young driver I've ever seen.
He demonstrated that early on running midgets at Ascot, putting on
some of the finest duels I've ever had the pleasure to watch.  Ask Dan
Gurney if dirt track racing was a detriment to PJ's skills.

>Does someone like Steve Kinser or Sammy Swindell use 'finesse' in 
>broadsiding their sprint cars on a 1/2 mile oval?  Maybe defined
>differently than an F3 on a European road course, but car control
>nonetheless.

Hell yeah!!  That's why I pay good money to see them.

Taking the flame down to simmer at this point, American race drivers
race what they do because that's what the public will pay to see.  The
same is true in Europe; if sprint cars were popular over there, then
you'd see dirt-track-trained drivers at the top of F1.  (And they
might even make Indy part of the world championship! :-)

Sports car racing in the US is viewed as rich guys playing with their
toys.  Stock cars, dirt tracks, and drag racing are the "blue collar"
divisions.  The white-collar market has lots of other local sports
competing for the bucks.  Let's face it, as a spectator sport, amateur
road racing in the US is pretty dull.

But so what??  Where is it written that the best all-around driver in
the world is the F1 champion?  Road racing is only one measure of
driver skill.  How about rallying, a sport which has never taken off
in the US?  Don't those drivers count for something?

Re Mikey's McLaren adventure: I will go on record as a staunch
supporter of Mikey in F1.  I've always thought he had the right
combination of aggression and car control to make it at the very
highest ranks of the sport.  Dunno if he could out-Senna Senna yet,
but he has that style: one of the very raciest drivers around.  He
will take a fast car and beat the living sh*t out of it to win,
banging wheels with everyone in sight if that's what it takes.
Unfortunately that approach doesn't work well in 500-mile races, and
that's why he doesn't have his name on the Borg-Warner Trophy yet.

Another North American driver from the same mold is Paul Tracy.  He
can already run with the best in the US.  Just wait til that kid hits
his prime.  Look out F1!!

But if it's THAT style of driving you're looking for, you'll find it
in abundance in the US.  At the bullrings, every Saturday night.  And
that's where you'll find me.

 -- Chuck Fry  Chucko@charon.arc.nasa.gov
    Unabashed fan of ALL forms of racing
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport