Racing $$$

[sopwith21]

Tin 1994 when Dennis Vitolo (hard-working family man but who Danny Sullivan described on the air as "just horrible") wrecked Mansell in the pit exit road, Mansell just seemed to lose his fire.

Rant mode "ON."

I liked Vitolo from day one. I like anyone who sacrifices that much to achieve his dream. I don't care if he finished dead last in every race he ever entered... that sort of man has more guts than a mountain lion and his critics aren't worth the oxygen they waste.

Vitolo put up with all the criticizm, all the pundits and all the naysayers. He had to pick up the newspaper every Monday and read how awful he was and watch while every self-appointed racing expert in the country made fun of him. On the wall of my racing office where I sit now as I type this, I still have a newspaper article on Dennis from May of 1994. The title reads "Perseverance, Sacrifice Find Spot on Grid." Vitolo truly sacrificed to achieve his dream and I respect that.

The same goes for Jack Miller, who was personally targeted by motorsports columnist Robin Miller. For three years - until even the Indianapolis Star got so sick of his mouth that they fired him - Robin did everything in his power to destroy Jack Miller's racing career.

I had lunch with Jack a while back and he commented that he had all of his official Indy 500 portraits on his wall, and that every time he heard more criticizm he would look at the wall and remember that no matter what they wrote or what they said, he had been in the Indy 500 and they hadn't.

I think that CART was eventually stupid enough to give Robin Miller another job... Robin is living proof that - unfortunately - you can still make a nice living in journalism by hacking up other people.

Working in the media and in motorsports, I can assure you that Jack, Dennis and others like them are personally hurt when they spend their lives in pursuit of a dream only to have everyone criticize them when they finally make it. No matter who you are or how well you try to hide it, when others talk about you publicly in such a way, it is very painful and it leaves a mark.

I tip my hat to Dennis Vitolo, Jack Miller and all the other drivers who had to work for what they got instead of having it handed to them on a silver platter, and I again express my utter nauseating disgust with those who make a living by criticizing them without the burden of ever laying it on the line and actually doing it themselves.

As Robin Miller has proven so many times, talk is cheap. I have more respect for someone who tried and failed than for those who did nothing more than run their big fat mouths at the expense of others.

Rant mode to "STANDBY."

[SuperDave]

Very well put. I appreciate it that you didn't lump me in there with Robin Miller.

I, of all people, shouldn't be throwing stones. I have a race record that is as dismal as it gets. I've stood on the pit lane fence as my co-driver made laps with a fried clutch and heard the snickers from the others on pit lane.

Your defense of Vitolo comes across as sincere and it humbles me. I probably would not make the personal sacrifices Vitolo has made for a shot at Indy Cars. And even if I had the money (or could borrow or otherwise scrape up the money), I possibly don't have nearly the talent to avoid catastrophic embarassment.

We all should try to remember how damn difficult racing is (even at amateur levels) and cut some slack when we sit in the stands (or on our butt in front of the tube) and see someone struggling. After all, they are out there on the track putting it on the line, and we are not.

[Ricklandia]

The pinnacle for CART, or for any open-wheel racing in the U.S., as I experienced it, was the 1993 season when Nigel Mansell won the championship. In late stages of the Indy 500 there were 8 cars with a shot at winning...

1993 was my one (and probably only) chance to see the 500 in person. As a kid, May could never come soon enough and I dreampt of the day I could actually go to the 500. I was not dissappointed. I had the priveledge to get tickets ~20 rows in, dead center of T1. I took my wife, who has absolutely ZERO interest in auto racing, but to this day she will still agree that the event was truely awe inspiring. The sadness of it all is that today the event has fallen to "ho-hum" status, a true shame. I figure I may have only a few more years to get the next "must-see-before-I-die" events in - LeMans - before that too becomes just another "ho-hum" event.

[sopwith21]

I appreciate it that you didn't lump me in there with Robin Miller.

I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.

I have a race record that is as dismal as it gets. I've stood on the pit lane fence as my co-driver made laps with a fried clutch and heard the snickers from the others on pit lane.

Your defense of Vitolo comes across as sincere and it humbles me.

It is absolutely sincere. And I believe I am uniquely qualified to make such a defense.

I raced from '85 to '98 before I ever got my first good, brand new racecar. That's a LONG time to get run over. I've heard the same snickers as you. I've been told that I was just "in the way." I've been embarassed and laughed at, and I swore that when I became a successful driver that I would NEVER belittle others and I would defend those who struggled.

After getting my first new car in '99, I shot straight to the front of the pack. Since then I've won races in every year but '03, I've won two championship titles and raced on national television for over a hundred thousand dollar purse. I'm not famous and have never driven at the highest level of the sport, but at least I'm successful on the track now... and I remain a staunch defender of those who aren't.

As you might imagine, those experiences have made me a passionate defender of people like Vitolo and Jack Miller, and every other driver at every level who worked and sacrificed for what he wanted. Those experiences have made me realize that its much more difficult to drive a bad car than it is a good one, and that the real test of driving is not where you finish, but what you do with the hand you've been dealt. Those experiences have shown me that if it weren't for the slow guys, the fastest guy would have no one to pass... perhaps he should be a bit more grateful.

And most of all, those experiences have taught me that cheap, Monday-morning, second rate armchair critics are the lowest and most self-absorbed form of life on the planet.

[sopwith21]

The sadness of it all is that today the event has fallen to "ho-hum" status

The event is as great as its ever been... some people just haven't figured that out yet. They're too busy buying Earnhardt Jr. bumper stickers. Before that they were all wearing "Intimidator" hats and black leather jackets. Before that they were wearing gold chains and buying Bee Gees records.

Be patient with them. The Indy 500 was the greatest race in the world fifty years before they were born and it will be fifty years after they're dead. Don't expect too much from them. Its not fair. They'll figure it out eventually.

[260DET]

Hey don't knock the BeeGee's, who incidentially were victimised by some US radio station BeeGee's free day or something

That all sounds quite grim though, here it is more likely that the rich boys who buy drives and then stuff up will cop the flak. The battlers are usually ignored, unless they do something spectacular.