Chase Briscoe became the 200th different winner in NASCAR Cup Series history in Phoenix. Kevin Magnussen made the surprise leap back to Formula One. Pietro Fittipaldi still cannot get a break. Mercedes is not confident. McLaren is scrambling for reserve drivers. Colton Herta will be testing a year-old McLaren at some point in 2022. The Supercross championship is becoming clear, and we are only just beyond the midway point. Why can't the Daytona 200 be on the same level as the Suzuka 8 Hours? The FIA World Endurance Championship ran its prologue test at Sebring. Sebring will be a busy place, but not feature some familiar races.
However, we cannot start this week without acknowledging the passing of Vic Elford on Sunday. Elford was 86 years old. In his career, Elford won the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio, Rallye Monte-Carlo, was a two-time class winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and scored eight points in his Formula One career, including a fourth on debut in the 1968 French Grand Prix. He is also credited with winning the first rallycross race held in 1967 and was the tenth-place finisher in the 1972 Daytona 500. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
When Did Racers Stop Taking Chances?
There are two prominent races coming up next weekend. The 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday and IndyCar is at Texas on Sunday. But no driver will be contesting both.
Though common to see IndyCar drivers fill out driver lineups at Sebring, this upcoming shared weekend means no IndyCar drivers will be in Florida this Saturday. There were plans for a handful of drivers to be there. Three quarters of the Chip Ganassi Racing lineup was going to be in Sebring, but Ganassi pulled Scott Dixon, Álex Palou and Jimmie Johnson, who was going to run for Action Express Racing. Meyer Shank Racing took Hélio Castroneves out of its lineup for Sebring. The last driver removed was Kyle Kirkwood, who was set to drive for Lexus in the GT Daytona Pro class.
It was going to be a busy weekend, and a difficult one in terms of logistics, but when did racers stop taking chances?
It would have been tough, but it wouldn't have been impossible.
Yes, it would have been difficult to do two major races in two different parts of the country on the same weekend, but IndyCar was willing to make the weekend schedule work. It was going to practice on Friday and qualify on Sunday morning prior to the 11:40 a.m. local time start for the Texas race. It would have been practical for all these drivers to contribute sufficiently at Sebring, and not missed a single on-track session in Texas.
All of these drivers were third drivers. They weren't regulars and would not be expected to carry a significantly greater duty than the regular drivers in their respective entries.
Last year, Dixon did just under four hours in the car at Sebring. He was out just prior to 9:00 p.m. Sebring time. Kirkwood did four hours and four minutes. Kirkwood was out of the car at 6:03 p.m. Sebring time. Johnson only did two hours and 19 minutes and he was done at 7:08 p.m. Sebring time.
It would have required a different strategy and possibly an adjustment to the hours driven, but all these drivers could have run Sebring and Texas without any issues. Stints could have been front loaded. Johnson could have just done the first two hours and been done at noon. Dixon could have run early in the race and called it a race by 4:00 p.m. Once they are done, they could be on a plane and land in Texas before Sebring is even over. They would even get a nice night's sleep.
Doing both races would involve sacrifice, and one of the sacrifices might be not being involved in the podium celebration should you win or place in the top three.
But that is what racing is all about, at least it used to be. What happened?
In 1984, Gordon Johncock, Johnny Rutherford, Danny Ongais and Tom Sneva flew from Portland practice on Friday to Michigan to race in an IROC race on Saturday and then flew back to race in the inaugural Portland IndyCar race that Sunday. Johncock was still on crutches with a broken leg from an accident at Indianapolis.
When NASCAR still raced at Milwaukee with its Grand National Series it was common to see Cup drivers practice and qualify at Sonoma on Friday, even stay for Saturday practice at Sonoma if they needed it, and then fly to compete in the Milwaukee race Saturday night before returning to Sonoma for the Cup race.
Kyle Busch competed in each of NASCAR's three national touring series in three days in three different states. On June 6, 2008, Busch was second in the Truck race at Texas, then finished 20th in the Grand National Series race the next night at Nashville and then capped the weekend being caught in an accident in the Cup race at Pocono and being classified in 43rd.
Mario Andretti and Bobby Unser were going to run the 1968 Italian Grand Prix and the Hoosier Hundred from the Indiana State Fairgrounds on the same weekend. Andretti qualified tenth and Unser was 21st when they left Monza for Indianapolis on Friday. However, the Automobile Club d'Italia regulations forbade drivers from competing 24 hours before the start of the grand prix. Andretti and Unser left and did not return, but they were ready to do it, a trans-Atlantic doubleheader beginning on a dirt mile and ending on the fastest grand prix circuit.
All we have are excuses in the present. Austin Cindric was the only NASCAR Cup Series driver to compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona this year. The number one reason cited for the lack of Cup drivers this year was they needed the time to focus on the new car coming to the Cup Series and needed the time to test and practice on the simulator. What? None of them could have found time for both? There wasn't that much NASCAR testing going on.
In 2012, Marco Andretti was a late addition to the Starworks entry for the 24 Hours of Daytona. He wasn't even in Daytona for the start of the race, but he was at another racetrack. Andretti was completing an IndyCar test at Palm Beach International Raceway. Once done with that test, Andretti made his way to Daytona and got in the car without any significant practice time. Testing my ass.
I understand why the IndyCar drivers aren't doing both Sebring and Texas. It makes perfect sense not to do both. The last thing Ganassi wants to do is shoestring his IndyCar and his sports car programs. To compete, especially at a place like Sebring, requires your drivers to be at their highest level for the entire race. If Dixon or Palou had to jet out of there at 4:00 pm after only doing three or four hours of driving and force the other two drivers for each entry to take the final six hours, those teams are set up to lose. Those teams would likely fade as those drivers would be more fatigued while the likes of the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac and #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura would have their drivers in much better physical condition for the final stints and likely run better lap times.
On the flip side, three hours or four hours competing around the full Sebring circuit isn't the best way to prepare for an IndyCar race at Texas. It doesn't matter when you get out of the car in Sebring. Dixon and Palou could do the first three hours, call it a day, hop on a plane and be back by 4:00 p.m. Dallas time but still wake up Sunday morning far from 100%. That is not what either driver needs as they contest the IndyCar championship. It is a difficult enough when a driver is spry to win in IndyCar. Anything less is not going to be enough.
We all wish Sebring and Texas weren't the same weekend. Hopefully it is avoided in 2023, but we sometimes underestimate the capabilities of these drivers. They are incredibly conditioned. They can do more than we realized and maybe they would be fine to complete three or four hours at Sebring and then run a full Texas race.
But we keep hearing about how much better things were back in the day. We hear about how talented those drivers were and how they would run anything anywhere. Here is a 21st century opportunity for these top drivers to run anything anywhere and it is prevented from taking place. Yes, it would be a difficult weekend, but the drivers of years yonder did not become heroes because they took the easy path each weekend. They became our heroes because they would go run two significant races in consecutive days or fly across country in the same weekend to race two different cars.
It is understandable to be cautious, but at some point even the most difficult challenges must be at least attempted for the drivers of this generation to standout and leave the drivers of tomorrow in awe and inspired to do the unthinkable.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Chase Briscoe, but did you know...
Brandon Paasch won the 80th Daytona 200, Paasch's second consecutive Daytona 200 victory.
Eli Tomac won the Supercross race from Detroit, his third consecutive victory and fifth of the season.
Noah Gragson won the NASCAR Grand National Series race in Phoenix.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar at Texas.
The 12 Hours of Sebring and the 1,000 Miles of Sebring.
Formula One opens up from Bahrain.
MotoGP visits a new track in Indonesia.
NASCAR visits a new configuration in Atlanta.
Supercross will be in Indianapolis.
