In Praise of Older Cars!
Two weeks ago, on a very cool New England evening, I had dinner with a new friend who has a collection of sixties era sports cars. Which, I asked him, did you drive tonight?
He told me had his older Ferrari coupe parked
in the lot. Nice, I said, don’t you have
a modern car? No, he said, I have a modern truck for winter
transportation.
I know him to be a collector of Fifties and Sixties sport cars but I was curious. Why not a modern sports car? Because, he replied, they are very complex and when you begin to have problems, they are very expensive to repair. Besides, he said, I don’t think they have an upside. In twenty years time the cars I now have will still be repairable. And I can do much of the work myself with the tools I currently own.
Was it the "Best of Times"?
I can see it in their eyes, the look that speaks volumes, "Hey, you keep talking about the past because you were there. I wasn't! Maybe it wasn't really any better?" That may be true. I certainly saw races that were yawners. But, even those races had aspects worth remembering. Perhaps it was the variety of cars or the talented people who drove them. Or was it that all races then came with a simpler expectation?
Drivers brought to the grids of major races a diversity of histories and experiences. The cars were often less sorted and therefore more likely to fail; sometimes in spectacular fashion. So to, drivers tended to bring an individual driving style to their race performance. Foyt, Jones, Villenueve were crowd favorites as much for their seemingly "over the edge of control" driving style as for their courage and talent. In truth, all the drivers at the top levels were courageous and talented. But the times and the cars allowed some to display a seeming recklessness that endeared them to the crowds. We all know now that the quickest way around penalizes spectacular driving; it is inefficient. Efficiency always wins. But it can be boring. We often went home with stories of our heroes and the race winners. They often weren't the same driver.
So, thank you for giving me credit for remembering those wonderful times. Actually, I have help. In the past month or so I have read three books that remind me that perhaps, in terms of motorsports, I may have been around in the "best of times".
The first motorsports book I ever read was a Readers Digest condensed version of The Green Helmet. I was probably 14 at the time. 51 years later, a friend gave me an original copy. The simplicity of racing in the fifties is its greatest asset. The author mirrors the sentiment of the time; danger and death were a huge and, sadly, fascinating aspect of sport car racing of the Fifties.
On the heels of this book, the arrival of Phil Hill: A Driving Life is such an interesting transition. His halcyon days were in the Sixties. John Lamm's great pictures and comments about his close friend and Phil Hill's insightful stories about important cars and interesting people evoke a different time. No matter your age, if your care about motorsports, read this book. Both Hill and Lamm, obviously in different ways, have an eye for detail and the ability to deliver it beautifully.
The third book I read is not a new release. It covers the other two and far more. Not just chronologically. Rich Taylor's Lime Rock Park - 35 years of Racing is a detailed history of the evolution of motorsports in Northeastern US. While Laguna Seca, Riverside, Gurney, Shelby, Hill and Ginther, James Dean et al evoke hot and barren California tracks, the East was lush Lime Rock and Watkins Glen, SCCA battles, Cunningham, Fitch, Grossman, Newman, Hansgen and Andrey. The story of Lime Rock, as told by Taylor, is laid out year by year with plenty of pictures of excellent drivers who didn't just show up and drive; they helped raise money to build the tracks and turned up to do driver schools and dragged their wives and kids to every event. They are the real story of the beginnings of racing in the East and this book celebrates them alongside all the world famous drivers who also came to thrill the crowds, set lap records and advance the popularity of the sport. The book is so rich with important detail that even on my third reading, I frequently find another "Ah really" moment. This is a book you must have in your library. It is not expensive and it hits all three hot buttons for me, good pictures, reference value and bloody well written. Buy it from Rich Taylor at www.VintageRallies.com or contact us.
Peter Bourassa,
MMR