Running 2023 Motorsports thread

I ran up on this on the youtoobz. Robert Kubica was a very fast driver indeed in several different disciplines. He suffered a couple of horrible crashes in F1, went back down to lesser cars as he rehabbed, and eventually worked his way back up to F1. In this video he's rented a BMW M4 to run the Nordschleife, the Nurburgring. The guy he rented the car from rode with him and shot the video. Note that at this time Kubica had driven around 15 laps on the track, although he had done many more driving in a computer game so he basically kinda knew the track.

Watch how he gets every ounce out of this car. He passes numerous cars in his lap, and so far as I remember is never passed once. I don't need a faster car, I need to learn how to drive. This is amazing footage.

 

Great stuff. “Stay tuned for the greatest spectacle in racing” was coined by Alice Miller, a traffic manager for WIBC Indianapolis, when Sid Collins was searching for a network outcue catchier than “This is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.” He loved it, used it starting in 1954 or so, and stations on the network used it in newspaper ads touting the show.

I try to throw in International Sweepstakes at least once a year in my 500-Mike Race coverage, as an ode to the heritage of the gathering.

Collins at Indianapolis, Squier at Daytona. Two men who made what they broadcast bigger than it was, then watched it grow to match their description.

 

Thanks for the correction and clarification. I forgot it was the traffic manager who came up with that.

What I didn't realize because it was before my time, but when the 500 used to take at least four hours to complete, Sid spent the majority of the broadcast interviewing guests of honor and other dignitaries. That was only interrupted when the cars made a rare pit stop or someone in one of the turns would notice a car having problems.

It's weird listening to the "Night Before The 500" show on WIBC and hearing pre-1970 broadcasts that barely mentioned the actual racing. However, Sid's completely off-the-cuff ad-libbed eulogy of Eddie Sachs in 1964 speaks to his amazing ability to create word pictures.

By the time I started listening in the early 1970s, the on-track action had gotten much closer and the speeds were higher, and the broadcasts were much more like what we hear today. Sid would still have guests, but they were infrequent. Instead, Donald Davidson would interject, there'd be 10-lap leaderboard updates and more for the corner guys to report, particularly quicker and more frequent pit stops.

MRN and PRN are variations on a theme, but at the heart of all three broadcasts is a chief announcer, analyst, track and pit reporters. Barney Hall was great at the folksy, "welcome back to North Wilkesboro, where we've completed 178 of 429 laps this afternoon," style that made you feel like he was sitting right next to you in the stands, filling you in on what happened while you were in line at the bathroom or concession stand.

 

Having the NASCAR guy do short-track speed skating is so on the nose.

"Trouble in turn four!"

Those CBS Winter Olympics broadcasts (1992, 1994, 1998) were a trip -- the bobsled/luge guy in Nagano in 1998? A young Gus Johnson.

 

I'm not a huge motorsports buff, but I do enjoy watching these onboard videos.

 

Looks like me trying to find a shortcut road for my wife when she's late for her doctor's appointment.

 

Grandpa was a Finnish immigrant, so I like to hear the accent. The driver is 23 years old and a two-time world rally champion.

 

Rally drivers are seriously nuts, and I have the utmost respect for their incredible talent. And we've got a ton of old country dirt roads around here where I'd love to go that fast except I'd hit an oncoming deer, a cow or a truck carrying chicken manure.

 

I pretty much learned to drive in a '77 Ford truck with a three on the tree on gravel country roads.
When I was 13-14.
I'm sure it looked like the opening scene of Stroker Ace.

 

Dipping my head in here to say how disappointed I am they didn't do the F1 race in Vegas until I was too old to watch a sporting event that starts at midnight Central time.