Racing is NOW. The options play it on the moment. There is no “what if” and hindsight is only useful, possibly, for taking knowledge to the next track.
Richmond and the Toyota Owners 400 offered up a perfect scenario as an example. The race also, for anyone willing to listen, threw a lug nut at the “rednecks turning left” stereotype.
Second point first. Too often, people who do not follow racing actually turn an eye of disdain towards the sport in general. It’s a bunch of rednecks, crashing around, turning left after left, stupid, cheap beer and fat and loud.
Not so much. Granted, there are a few out in the stands that may loosely fit the mold. The rest of us give them a nod and wave and a “have a good time”…
On the track, the race plays out as a result of engineering, technology and planning. The people involved in building, maintaining and driving these cars are quite intelligent and often could be very successful with any venture. However, they work for a race team so that is supposed to make them, somehow, less than employees of some other technology business. No.
Beyond any of the engineering and hi-tech construction, there is a chess match being played out at speed on the track every second of every lap. The game of chess is assigned as a “smart” person’s game. How “smart” do you need to be to play chess when the pieces are moving at 100-200 miles per hour?
Pretty damn smart.
Now for the first point concerning the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond and the “now” factor… (more…)