By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. I've awarded the Racer of the Year periodically over the 14-year run of this publication. To some out there the pick should always be obvious, at least obvious as to whatever form of racing they're interested in. But to me it's not always obvious and sometimes, like last year, when Roger Penske was my choice, it's not even a current driver, although to be sure Roger was a tremendous talent behind the wheel back in his day.
The standout performances this year are obvious, frankly. There is Jimmie Johnson, who claimed an incredible sixth championship in NASCAR's highest category, which is a noteworthy achievement in this day of NASCAR's dreaded "managed" competition, and as I said last week, he is the best - bar none - to have ever wheeled a stock car. (Note: You can read previous columns by scrolling down to the bottom and clicking on "Next 1 Entries" - WG.) Johnson certainly deserves proper consideration for our Racer of the Year, there's no doubt.
Then there's Marc Marquez, who, at the age of 20 years and 266 days, became the youngest rider of all time to win the world title in MotoGP. Riding his factory Honda, Marquez took the record from Freddie Spencer, who was 21 years and 258 days of age when he won the 500 title in 1983 (also on a Honda). Not only that, Marquez is just the fourth rider in the 65-year history of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing to win world titles in three different categories. The others? A stellar list comprised of Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Valentino Rossi. Besides putting together an incredible finishing record in 2013 of 16 podium finishes - the greatest number of podium finishes ever by a rookie in motorcycle racing's top class - Marquez qualified on the pole position nine times in 2013, the most poles by a rookie, ever. That Marquez performed magnificently in what a lot of people consider to be the most spectacular form of motorsport in the world is certainly noteworthy, and in fact, his achievement and the consistency with which he performed was simply incredible.
Then, of course, there is Sebastian Vettel, whose talent behind the wheel in what's considered to be the pinnacle of auto racing is simply undeniable. Still just 26 years old, he is now a four-time World Champion. That he has now won four championships in a row, something only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher achieved, and that he won nine races consecutively this season on the way to 13 total victories is simply mind-boggling. Yes, I've heard all the whining as in, it's the car, if he didn't have Adrian Newey he wouldn't be all that special and all the other noise, but it's just so much blah-blah-blah at this point. I'll leave you with this: Sebastian Vettel has entered 120 Grand Prix races and won 39 of them. He has also sat on the pole 45 times. This just in: The Kid is pretty good.
And finally there's Scott Dixon. He won his third INDYCAR Championship this season winning four races along the way, which makes it 33 career wins in America's premier open-wheel racing series for the 33-year-old driver from New Zealand. Dixon has also recorded 21 poles and one Indianapolis 500 win during his outstanding career.
I refer to Scott as "The Racer's Racer" because he is simply an incredible talent who brings it race-in and race-out in one of the toughest forms of motorsport imaginable. Yes, we can all carp about the way Indy cars look these days and that the spec nature of the series has diluted its impact and resonance with racing fans, but there's no denying that this type of racing puts a premium on overall skill, requires performance on a diversity of tracks, and features a tremendous level of competition at the front edge of the grid, where Dixon finds himself competing on a consistent basis. Ask people in the INDYCAR paddock who know, and Scott Dixon will always be right at the top of the list of the drivers competing today.
Dixon is truly gifted behind the wheel, a gritty and gutty driver who can dominate from the front or claw his way through adversity from the back. He is the rare talent who can emerge victorious simply by the sheer force of his will to win.
Which is why Scott Dixon is the Autoextremist Racer of the Year.
RACING TO OBLIVION.
Editor's Note: When Peter first wrote this column back in October, it resonated throughout the racing industry, drawing favorable - albeit sobering - comments from far and wide. We felt it was important to run it again, especially now that the dust has settled from the season-ending NASCAR and INDYCAR championship banquets, in order that the discussion and reflection can continue. - WG
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. After another tedious NASCAR restrictor-plate race at Talladega, an almost spectator-less finale for the INDYCAR season at California Speedway, and a fitting swan song for the American Le Mans Series at Road Atlanta, I'm left with a sinking feeling that of the two so-called pillars of American racing - NASCAR and INDYCAR - one is mired in an ever-growing paralysis, and the other is threatening to disappear altogether in a cloud of indifference.
When NASCAR announced their 2014 season to great fanfare last week, it landed with a resounding thud on the American racing landscape when it became apparent yet again that NASCAR was not going to change a damn thing. Oh, there were a few date and time adjustments, but generally the powers that be in NASCAR have pronounced everything all good, and that they saw no need for a shortened schedule, a road race during their "Chase" for the Sprint Cup championship, or any unseemly disruptions that might alter what they do, although they floated out a "we'll see" about possible changes in the future, when NBC becomes one of the television partners for the 2015 season.
That this is intransigence on a grand scale is an understatement of this or any other year. NASCAR's brain trust is so utterly devoid of the kind of vision necessary to see that the organization remains even remotely relevant in the future that it isn't even shocking anymore. They are hell-bent on riding the current downward slide - the declining in-person attendance, the death march of a schedule that rivals the NBA and the NHL schedules for lunacy (with serial redundancy added in for good measure) and the declining TV numbers - to oblivion. And it isn't going to be pretty when it comes apart either. You can almost envision the recriminations and finger-pointing sure to come to the surface when it all comes crashing down, and the France family will inevitably suffer a major fissure of some kind when it becomes obvious that their lack of vision and inability to embrace change killed the golden money train.
When I hear NASCAR operatives hinting about the possibility of meaningful change coming in time for the 2015 schedule, it reminds me of when I used to listen to auto industry executives in Detroit saying that the "turnaround" was just around the corner back in the early 2000s. We all know how that turned out, with two of the three U.S.-based automakers forced to file bankruptcies in the most humiliating way, requiring a Federal taxpayer buyout to keep one of America's essential industries afloat. I dare say there won't be that much hue and cry when the NASCAR train finally derails.
An organization famous for the guiding principle of "it's a family owned business and we can do whatever we damn well please," one that races in a hermetically sealed vacuum made up of its own proclivities and idiosyncrasies and one that remains steadfast and defiant - and totally oblivious - to the outside world, will finally be forced to do their least favorite thing, which will be to dig deep into their own pockets and bail themselves out. And I will be the first to remind them that they were warned, repeatedly.
As for INDYCAR, what more can possibly be said about the embarrassment that went on at the California Speedway (Auto Club) last Saturday night? The stage was set for a compelling evening of racing with an INDYCAR championship at stake, yet the in-person attendance could be best described as a "smattering" of fans, looking for all the world like a ragtag group of people who meandered over to the speedway on a Saturday night wondering why the lights were on. This wasn't a championship evening, folks. It wasn't even fitting for a local high school football game. Instead, it was a pathetic display that was just plain sad to watch.
Yet once again the competitors raced their guts out and put on a race worth watching. I remain convinced that if it weren't for the participants and a few key owners and sponsors, INDYCAR would simply fade from the scene altogether. I warned a few columns ago that Indy-style racing would eventually be confined to the Indianapolis 500 - which would become an invitational event - and a maybe a handful of other events that would make up a "season" of racing. I envisioned this happening down the road at some point in the future, but I have no doubt we've already reached the point of no return.
Every single person and corporate entity deeply involved in INDYCAR has to realize that racing in a vacuum for their own edification will not sustain the sport. Yeah, it's cool racing, and I have the utmost respect for the drivers, team owners and crews who are standing on the gas every day trying to make a go of their sport, but it's not even close to being enough. In commenting to the Associated Press on his company's move into global markets and withdrawal from sponsoring one of Andretti Autosport's Indy cars, GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving had this to say: "We looked at our customer acquisition costs and it's an audience size issue. The customer acquisition costs between the web, between regular TV and between NASCAR and IndyCar, IndyCar is the most expensive acquisition vehicle we have. It was pretty expensive on a per customer cost."
In other words, his message was very clear: INDYCAR is not a viable proposition when compared to other marketing endeavors. Unfortunately, and as much as it pains me, truer words were never spoken. The compelling reason for sponsors to be in INDYCAR - other than the Indianapolis 500 - is rapidly coming to a close.
Racing in a vacuum will eventually severely cripple NASCAR and it will prove to be the inevitable demise of INDYCAR. The only compelling racing event last weekend was at Road Atlanta, with the American Le Mans series putting on a tremendous display of what racing should be all about. Far from racing in a vacuum, this was a dead series racing for the pure sport of it, as the ALMS gets set to be absorbed into the NASCAR-controlled Tudor United Sports Car Championship beginning next year.
I will go on record right now and say that if you really love racing, I mean really, really love racing, I'm afraid I have to tell you that we are at an ominous point in the sport's history. The biggest thing in American racing in terms of corporate acceptability and sponsorship money - NASCAR - has become such a moribund, repetitive example of the true definition of crazy, as in doing something over and over again while expecting different results, that it defies description.
And the people who are responsible for turning major league racing in America into a predictable quagmire of repetitiveness and "managed" competition have just been handed the keys to major league sports car racing in this country for good measure. And to top it all off, the biggest single racing event in the world - the Indianapolis 500 - is hanging by a thread because an entire form of motor sport has become marginalized and made undesirable to the point that it might just cease to exist altogether.
Racing in a vacuum? No, that doesn't quite do justice to what's happening to the sport of racing in this country.
Racing itself is in fact racing to oblivion.
And there doesn't seem to be a proper sense of urgency on anyone's part to do one damn thing about it, either.
Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives.
(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Daytona Beach, 1966. The Ford "J-car" prototype in the pit lane at Daytona International Speedway with Ford engineers and crew gathered around it during a test session. Bruce McLaren is in the car and Mario Andretti can be seen leaning in to hear the discussion in his Firestone driving suit. The J-car was an advanced, experimental racing machine that was the result of a push to take weight out of the Ford GT Mk II. The radical chassis structure was made up of advanced aluminum honeycomb construction. The car was problematic at first, with unproven aerodynamic attributes due to its radical body design making it a handful. The low point of the development program occurred when the great Ken Miles died tragically in a testing accident while driving one at Riverside International Raceway in August of that year. But Ford persisted, and after a complete redesign of the bodywork and other mechanical developments, the J-car became the Ford Mk IV, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 with Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt at the wheel.
Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD