The professional racing driver is somewhat of an interesting study. The driver has grown from the backyard tinkerer testing the mettle of his machine, to a professional who is paid for his services. From a moonshine runner to a high speed engineer, who knows more about his car than the designers of decades ago knew about the cars they built. When drivers first began to be paid for their talents, they were grand sportsmen, ready to risk it all. Now, they have been elevated to almost deity status earning a King’s ransom. Much has changed over the years, as racing evolved from a hobby to a business, then to an international industry. Yes, racing is an industry and drivers are the tools of the trade. Today’s drivers often earn 6 or 7 figure incomes for contesting their chosen series and are treated like Hollywood stars all around the world.
Something tells me that is all about to change.
Auto industry commentary has never really been my thing, but the state of the world’s economy has come to a point where the 2009 auto racing calendar is going to be a very different scene from what we’ve seen in recent years. With the auto manufacturing industry at the center of a world wide recession, one would be naive to think that motorsports would not be affected. Over the past few weeks, I believe we have just seen the beginning.
A few highlights (lowlights?)
Honda has pulled out of Formula 1
GM announces they are drastically cutting their motorsports involvement.
Audi and Porsche back out of ALMS
First, Suzuki and now Subaru have canceled their WRC programs.
Several NASCAR teams have folded or joined forces to stop the bleeding
Just a few of the changes for the 09 season and you can bet that there will be more over the coming weeks. This year, silly season won’t be so silly.
So, what can we expect of the usual subjects of speculation during silly season? You know, the drivers. Well, with fewer teams, in fewer series we may see as many unemployed race car drivers (per capita of course) as we see line workers. That’s right, superstar racers unemployed.
What will these guys (and girls) do? for the answer, perhaps we should look backwards.
Donohue. Foyt. Andretti. Hill. Moss. Gurney. Hobbs. Fangio. The list of legendary names could go on and on. The drivers of the late Fifties through to the mid Seventies all became legends in their own right. Supermen who could win a race driving on 3 wheels, actually pushing a car over the finish line, swapping rides to ensure the better man won an important event. Driving anything anybody would let them drive and going faster than anyone else at any given event. Living. Dying. Truly the gods of the sport of motor racing.
Nostalgia and romance have us believe that these giants of racing did it because they loved racing. The truth however is often less Harlequin Romance and more simple economics. Most of these guys were journeymen. If they weren’t working, they weren’t paying their mortgage. Of course they were racing 3 different events in 3 different cars every weekend: Someone was paying them, so they were able to have a home to go home to occasionally. Were they incredible talent? Of course they were, that’s part of what made them superstars. Without the paycheque though, I suspect many of history’s greatest drivers may have been working in a local factory.
As the seats dry up, the less versatile of today’s drivers are likely to vanish into obscurity. The ones who truly love the sport and can get creative stand a chance. Those who can embrace the variety of life and race anything put in front of them will become the new legends of racing.
We already have a few of those guys in racing today. Guys like Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon will race absolutely anything with wheels and have a blast on their way to the top 5. Open wheel, closed wheel. Pavement or dirt. These guys don’t care, just so long they are racing. If you’ve been paying attention, these two guys are hardly at risk of starving but they are the modern renaissance drivers. What it is going to take is for some of these other guys to get hungry enough to drive anything, just to get a small paycheque. Oh yeah, forget the fat wallet, Shumacher style pay packages too. Pay the guy a grand a weekend, maybe two for a win. He’ll race 3 different cars a weekend. He’ll cross continents. He’ll endear himself to the fans, because he knows they are his ticket to a better deal.
Car racing is going to go through some lean times, like every other business. NASCAR, Formula 1, WRC, IndyCar and all the others are going to shrink. Teams will still have drives, but won’t be able to afford the superstar driver with the 7 figure salary. Now is the time for the modern, old school racer to come on the stage and shine like those great drivers of the golden decades of racing.
The incredible photo of Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx was taken by Lou Galanos at the 1972 Daytona 24 hours, during the driver`s meeting. Ickx and Andretti both raced and won in all manner of cars, from American dirt track stockers to Formula 1. They both worked hard and made a career out of driving.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My sentiments exactly. The current economic downturn is the Darwinian process in action whether it is on Wall Street or on the track at Sebring.
I recently attended the HSR events at Daytona and Sebring and at both events the number of competitors was down from previous years. Many I talked to blamed the economy.
Thanks Gary for using my photo of Andretti and Ickx for your article. I sent that photo to Andretti to be autographed and it arrived back this week. He is a real gentleman. Although when you look at the photo his expression seemed quite pained and with good reason.
I was doing my intrusive photographer bit right there in the driver’s meeting and it took several shots before he would turn toward me for this photo. That look he gave me speaks volumes.
Racing will survive the current economic troubles. Remember 1974 when Daytona and Sebring were cancelled? How long will it take is anyone’s guess but to me the troubles are the worst I have ever seen in my 63 years and recovery might not be as quick as we would like.
On a lighter note I wish Gary and all his readers a very happy holiday season and a very prosperous New Year.
Regards,
Lou Galanos
Lou,
My hat is off to you. Of course I love great photography of cars but as a racer the “stolen shots” are the ones that really hit home with me. I assume you are familiar with one of the greatest photos of all time titled, “The Driver’s Meeting”. Similar to yours, it’s an old photo of a young Andretti, Hill, McLearen and others. Somewhere around here I have one. If you are not familiar with it I will dig it out and post it. Love your amazing eye.
That *is* a great photo. Thanks for sharing.