Official Publication of the Arrowhead Sports Car Club
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Volume 42
June 2001
Number 5
Skid Marks
--by Bill Taylor
May and June are particularly good months for
motor sports fans. The Indy 500, Monaco's Formula 1
Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of LeMans all fall in here.
Classics all. Unfortunately (in my opinion,)
NASCAR is in the "bull ring," short track portion of
its schedule. Not very interesting unless you like to
run video of a California traffic jam at fast forward.
Indy was very interesting. More CART teams joined
in this year. Think it might have been mere
coincidence that the first five finishing spots were
taken by CART teams? The IRL has firmly
established itself as a good AAA racing organization.
CART is still the "major league" of American open
wheel racing. Too bad they can't seem to get their
internal house in order.
Loved watching Helio Castroneves climbing the fence
after his win. When the rest of the team followed
him up, I started looking for the silver locks of Roger
Penske in the group.
Indy is probably still the greatest spectacle in racing
(Jim Nabors, thousands of balloons, umpteen
marching bands and the worlds worst renditions of the
U.S. national anthem.) But, it has been a long time
since it was the greatest race around. Still, you have
to give proper respect to the level of fitness and
concentration required to go the distance without
becoming a footnote.
Monaco rates highly, if only because of its history
and color and location. Too bad that its outcome is
largely determined in qualifying and the dive for the
first turn. Besides, its hard to find as many "beautiful"
people in any other spot at one time. Looking at the
crowds, I start to wish that I had gone to medical
school and become a plastic surgeon.
LeMans is coming up, shortly. Something of note
this year is the return of both Bentley and Cadillac to
the race. Yes, Cadillac was there last year, but their
efforts quickly went for naught. This year, it looks
like both