Q: With all this talk this weekend about Johnson/Knaus being a “dynasty”, I’ve been thinking about others that would define what a dynasty is/means but am struggling to come up w/examples for Indy cars. In other disciplines, names like Force/Coyle, Schumacher/Johnson, Petty/Inman, Gordon/Evernham, Steve Kinser, Jim Clark/Colin Chapman, Schumacher/Ferrari come to mind as pretty good examples and I’d have to agree never finishing out of the Top 5 in seven seasons and three championships in a row should qualify Johnson/Knaus. Penske with all his 500 wins would certainly qualify but that’s w/several drivers/teams, and back in the day, maybe “SuperTex” but I don’t know if there was continuity w/his teams/head mechanics. Any suggestions as to open wheel dynasty?
Bob in Peoria, Ill.
RM: Bignotti and Foyt won 10 of 13 races in 1964 (including the first eight); Bignotti and Al Unser dominated in 1970 (won 10 of 18 races including Indy) and won 5 of 12 in 1971 (including Indy again); Penske and Mears won three titles from 1979-1982 and Penske and Unser Jr. won two titles and 22 races from 1990-95 (including 8 of 16 in 1994); Ganassi, Morris Nunn and Zanardi won back-to-back titles in 1997-98 (plus 12 races); Vuky and Travis/Coons/Keck should have won Indy four years in a row.
Q: I’ve read a lot of remarks in this section regarding how ugly Indy cars currently are, and I agree. Well, just so our friends in the U.S. don’t feel alone, we’ve gone and done the same thing in Europe to Formula 1. I’ve just seen some photos of 2009-spec cars testing in Barcelona. I’ve always considered F1 cars to be a thing of beauty but these new rule changes might be enough to put me off the sport. To me they look like snow ploughs! What do you think of the new rules regarding front and rear wings? The racing may improve (slightly) but between this and the talk of standard engines, Formula 1 can hardly claim to be the “pinnacle of motorsport”. I guess I’ll just have to wait for Indy’s centenary year before I’ll see decent racing cars again.
Kevin, Dublin, Ireland.
RM: F1 cars haven’t had their own identity since the ’70s and early ’80s and, just like Indy cars, they’ve become ugly, boring replicas of each other. Get rid of the wings and they’ll have plenty of passing opportunities (I sound like Foyt) but F1 needs new leadership, badly.
Q: You forgot the World of Outlaws and the ISMA Super Modifieds in your list of real racers in the most recent mailbag. I’d put Schatz, Kinser, Dollansky, Haudenschild, Saldana, Meyers, etc. up against any of the best racers in the world. Same goes for Chris Perley, Russ Wood, Dave McKnight, Mike Ordway, Dave Shullick, Lou Cicconi and yes, he’s still racing... Bentley Warren. Johnny Benson was using his free time to run a super modified this summer. I think he enjoyed that a hell of a lot more than running the truck each week.
It’s a shame more open wheel fans don’t go see these two series. Along with USAC and just plain old weekly sprint shows here in the northeast, there really aren’t many places you can go to see better auto racing today. I know a lot of the average fans think you have to run 500 miles in order to have a race, but I really don’t think anything can top a hard fought 30-lap feature. There’s no time to wait for the tires to come around. No time to play with the setup. You can’t run 23rd and expect a late pit stop for two tires to put you ahead. You just stand on the gas and go, go, go. I challenge the readers of mailbag who attend the 500 every year to go out to Indianapolis the week before the race so they can go to Anderson on Wednesday night, Terre Haute on Thursday night, Bloomington on Friday night, and either the Little 500 or the Night Before the 500 Midgets on Saturday night. That’s often where the best action is on Memorial Day weekend. Heck, we even went to Kokomo after the 500 on Sunday night to see Cole Whitt’s first win at that track!
Dave Long
RM: You are absolutely correct, that’s real racing as well (although wings belong on airplanes) and some of the guys you mentioned could probably run anything. Bentley is a classic, pushing 70 and still gassing it at Oswego. As for your calendar, if you like close, hard racing, that sked is a must in May.
Q: I’ve been an auto racing fan for over 45 years. I’ve noticed since the ’80’s to ’90’s that modern era drivers stick to their respective series with only occasional diversions to other types of cars. This is particularly true in F1 and NASCAR. Is this because the drivers make so much money from their teams and sponsors thus forcing contract conditions that restrict their driving in other series? These drivers can obviously do well in other series such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmy Johnson at the Daytona 24 Hours or Ryan Briscoe/Helio in ALMS. I believe that drivers of bygone eras were inherently better racers and drivers than those of today. That’s NOT to say that drivers from earlier eras necessarily had more inherent ability, but the variety of vehicles that they raced gave past drivers more opportunity to hone their skills. Add in the relative lack of aerodynamic aids when they drove and I’d say that at their peak, Foyt, Andretti, Gurney (who I consider America’s best driver ever), Donohue, Jones, et. al., could master any form of racing that’s popular today, and each would be multi-time champions. Hell, didn’t George Follmer podium in only his third or thereabouts F1 race? Regarding driver ability, who do you consider the best driver(s) to be or have been?
Ron-Lincoln, CA
RM: You named them. Mario gets my vote because he conquered Indy, F1, Daytona, the dirt and even Pikes Peak. A.J. was a close second with Parnelli and Gurney right there. They raced anything and everywhere, which as you pointed out made them versatile, adaptable and kep them sharp. Had PJ chose to follow Mario’s path, I have no doubt he could have won in everything. Foyt was awesome at places like Langhorne and Salem and Springfield and could also whip up on those NASCAR boys and was a decent road racer as well. Gurney’s ascension to F1 was almost overnight and had he not been so intent on designing and operating his own team, god knows how many races he might have won. Today’s contracts don’t allow drivers to jump around all over the world but, if they did, you’d have to think Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon would all be successful in different arenas. Kasey Kahne as well and probably Robby Gordon (if he drove for somebody else). Follmer also won an Indy car race at Phoenix with a stock-block Chevy. He was very under-rated.
Q: I would like to make one comment about IRL and street races. To me they seem to be nothing more than ‘luge’ racing. There is practically no passing and from a spectator perspective you only get one half of the “tennis match” view – swinging your head from one side to the other. I had one experience at the 500 in 1995, had seats on the inside of Turn 3 and after trying to figure out what was happening in the race I started watching the big screen. TV gives you a better perspective and information about the goings on in the race – except for the lousy announcers that seem to pick one person they like and the rag on the rest of the field. In my house, the Indy 500 is more like going to Christmas Mass – you just don’t miss it! And I started listening to the broadcast of the 500 when it was on radio, then went to closed circuit TV broadcasts before the networks started showing it. Oh well, those were the days!
Fern & John N. Lasker, Kaysville, Utah
RM: Many years at Toronto, when there were some 60,000 people packed into the grandstands, I said to a friend of mine, “Why would anybody pay $80 to watch 100 feet of cars going by?” I can’t explain street racing, other than it’s worked in big cities because it’s a 3-day festival of noise, drinking, eating and pretty women. It’s not racing, as we know it, and watching a 200 mph Indy car creep around a corner at 20 mph is not exactly thrilling. It does take a special skill to negotiate the concrete jungle for two hours but TV never does it justice – it all looks so easy and so slow. It’s not. But street circuits were an alternative to ovals because that’s where sponsors wanted to be and CART could usually demand a big sanction fee from Long Beach, Vancouver, Surfers Paradise and Toronto. Ovals remain the most exciting and best racing, but they’re also the most expensive and just don’t draw like they once did before the split. Places like Phoenix and Michigan could be resurrected into decent crowds if ISC helped the IRL promote them. But, yes, Indy remains king for that one day a year.
