Being the continuation of InstaPunk and InstaPunk Rules
F1 Forever… and Clark… and Hamilton… Forever…
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He died he did in ‘68.. So sorry. So sorry.
How the best, most tragic story of F1 ever, unfolded. Jimmy Clark. Just possibly the real GOAT of Formula 1.
Grosjean. Made podium one year into Indy racing.
Last weekend at Indycar’s Laguna Seca, Romain Grosjean put on an F1 Show not seen since Jimmy Clark won the Indy 500 in 1965. Grosjean waged a war. Americans might not know that Grosjean’s F1 career went up in smoke a year or so earlier in a fiery crash that should have ended his competitive driving forever. His hands were badly burned. People didn’t think he’d drive again. Said similar things about Niki Lauda. F1 is where the superheroes live. Presently, three F1 drivers competing in Indy stuff. Ericsson, Sato, and Grosjean. All fast, no hurt and rebuild on the fly, and forget the ad-heavy car costumery… Yet…
Burned his hands, bad. So he came to America.
In 100+ F1 starts, Grosjean had scored, well, this:
In that same approximate period of time, Lewis Hamilton registered 99 wins, 175 podiums, and 3,995 championship points in 280 starts. Like everyone else, we were spellbound by the F1 driving show Grosjean put on at Laguna Seca. But it made me concerned. Indy and F1 have tangled before. Not always to good effect.
There’s fun stuff. F1 Champion Jim Clark won the Indy 500 in 1965, having given a bye to the grand dame of Grand Prix races, Monaco, to enter. He won by a full two minutes in the 50th race at the 150th anniversary of the state of Indiana. Set records for top speed and fastest lap. Jeez.
Lewis only beat Romain lifetime by a factor of 100.
Clark was also the only man who ever won both the Indy 500 and the F1 World Championship in the same year. Record race lap, record average speed of 150+ mph. He made it look easy. In three Indy starts, Clark finished second, first, and second. First time, there was a dubious black flag by a well-intentioned local official that cost him the win. Second time he won going away. Third time his car started chuffing and he lost out to another Brit F1 Grand Prix driver, Graham Hill. Not DNF, his and F1’s second second they always seemed to take for granted. Until Fernando Alonzo in the 2000s started wanting a “Triple Crown” consisting of an F1 championship, a win in the 24 hours of LeMans, and a win at the Indy 500. Nobody has that. After Clark’s 1965 win, the Euros suddenly descended on Indy. A near holocaust caused by the confrontation between bald old Midwestern drivers and Jet Set longhair drivers the Offenhauser vets thought weren’t man enough for Indy. See? I remember.
Thing is, I really DO remember the Second British Invasion, not the Beatles and Stones but the European drivers who descended on Indy after 1965. It was a bloodbath. 1966. Heard it in horror on the tennis court, not knowing how many might be dead.
What happened? The Euro-drivers thought if Clark could win so easily at Indy, with its huge money payouts, they could too. The Americans — yeah the Foyts and Unsers and company — thought no fey long-haired Euro-drivers were man enough to race against them (‘cept mebbe that Clark fella) or could get anything from Indy but a horse-whipping’.
This one I remember. Testosterone showdown between America
and Europe. Midwestern Yanks thought the Euro longhairs weren’t
MAN enough for Indy. They were wrong. Result? Monster Crash.
Europeans littler. Physically. Scaredier not at all. Which would seem to leave open the question of who is the best driver of all time. Limited by category. Talking open-wheeled here. King Richard holds the honors for actual cars with fenders.
So. On the one hand we have Jim Clark.
Probably time to play the music, och?
On the other hand, what do they say most often about Clark and his two Championship wins? Gentle on his cars, on his tires, smooth, great in the wet. Sound like anybody else we know, say, somebody with 99 wins and seven World Championships? But he is, you know, black. Me? I got that covered.
Then there’s Lewis Hamilton. I just liked the way
he drove. He drove exactly like me. BLM.* Sure.
He’s never heard of of Breonna Taylor. I’ve heard
of Emma. I actually read Nietshzte. God not dead.
Why don’t I care? Because though I’m not a Vegeterian or a Vegan, I know where the steaks and potatoes are being cooked. You, most likely, have no fucking idea.
Also-ran thoughts. You find where they came from:
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly… Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you lullaby.“
— Langston Hughes
I’m a Formula 1 fan. Ethnicity doesn’t matter. In the small town of Vineland, NJ, I saw Mark Donahue and both Rodriquez brothers, all of whom died in Grand Prix crashes. Do I care who was white in that elect “die for your passion” context? Clark and Hamilton came from the same submerged tenth. Clark was a simple Scottish shepherd’s son. Lewis was similarly not to the manor born. Why you’ll never hear Hamilton claim he’s the GOAT. No matter how by far he outstrips the Schumacher hitman and his Nordic heir Max Von Schtuppenheil. Lewis is older than Clark or Senna ever got to be. He’s playing with house money. But like Clark and Senna he is to his soul’s depth a gentleman. Unlike wealthy Nordic SS Orangeman Max.who is and will always be a POS.
**********
Yeah. I can write better. Always could. Not a racial thing. A talent thing… and more importantly, a character thing.
P.S. Formula 1 Management doesn’t want you to see the video below. Max just walking away. Like any garden-variety sociopath. Hence no link. (Seriously, they won’t honor the link.) Max, whose wheel just crashed on top of Hamilton’s head, strides away from the crash without a backward glance at Hamilton. He will suffer a similar fate one day. Nobody there to care. Because why would they?
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