WITNESSING GREATNESS.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. My thoughts on racing this week begin with Lewis Hamilton. That we are witnessing greatness at a new level cannot be overstated. It's not just the number of wins - 89 - or the number of pole positions - 93 (an all-time record) - or the number of World Championships (6), it's the way he goes about it that is simply incredible. At 35, he retains the relentless dedication, the focused consistency and the pure passion for the sport that are required to be champion. He seems to be able to summon that last bit of "extra" when he needs it, and his talent was on full display during his pole position lap at Spa on Saturday. It was simply a work of art, on the level of Ayrton Senna's famous lap at Monaco. You can watch it here. And you'll probably watch it more than once. It's easy to take Hamilton's performances for granted, or to say he has had the best equipment, but make no mistake, I think we're seeing the best Grand Prix driver of all time, and I plan on appreciating Lewis in the moment as long he continues to do it and/or until he decides to call it a career.

Switching gears, I am thrilled to see the changing of the guard in INDYCAR. The new wave of talent is most impressive, with Patricio O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Santino Ferrucci, Conor Daly, Alex Palou, Jack Harvey and Oliver Askew running hard and fast, and blending with existing stars like Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power, Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist, Simon Pagenaud, et al., to present probably the most deeply talented field of INDYCAR drivers we've ever seen. And let's not forget the best of the best - Scott Dixon - who delivered his 50th INDYCAR victory on Saturday (see The Line -WG). Scott has now moved closer to Mario Andretti's victory total of 52 (A.J. Foyt has the most wins with 67) and has solidified his place as one of the all-time greats. Scott also displays the level of focused consistency and relentless dedication and pure passion that have helped make him a five-time champion. I will continue to savor Scott's performances in the moment as well, until he takes his place on the Mount Rushmore of Indy car racing.

And I would like to pause for a moment and mention Tony Kanaan, who seems to be at the end of the road in his INDYCAR career. Yes, he may put something together for next year, but if he should be unable to do so I will always remember Tony as someone who absolutely loved to drive an INDYCAR to the best of his abilities. INDYCAR enthusiasts always appreciated Tony's pure joy for the sport and he will be missed, although something tells me he will be around the sport in some capacity for years to come.

And let's not forget Jimmie Johnson, who missed NASCAR's playoffs in his final season. Johnson has won 83 races (to date) and seven NASCAR championships, including an incredible five in a row. I feel that Jimmie's prodigious accomplishments were never given the due that he deserved, because in an era of ferociously intense NASCAR competition, he flat dominated the sport. I appreciated Jimmie's accomplishments then and I appreciate them even more now. Should he put together a sponsorship package to run the street and road courses in INDYCAR next year, I will look forward to watching him compete, as I consider him to be one of the sport's all-time greats.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

(Photo by Dave Friedman)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 1963. Dan Gurney at the first test of the brand-new Lotus-Ford Indy car. Dan was instrumental in putting Colin Chapman and Ford operatives together to build a car to compete in the Indianapolis 500.