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 For any race fan who
has been to a F-1 race, you will know exactly what I am talking
about. There is nothing more exciting than watching a F-1 standing
start. Nothing. To a classical music fan it is analogous to Mozart, Beethoven,
Gershwin and Tchaikovsky all rolled into one. It is a race fan's concerto
and it all happens right there in front of the main
grandstand, full of paying customers. It
starts slowly as one by one, the drivers take their spot on the grid at
the end of their warm-up lap. When all the cars have grided, the
Flag Marshall signals the drivers are ready. The starting tree goes
bright red and the pace quickens. The cars rev to full song, the
drivers left leg twitches in anticipation of the start, not knowing
exactly when the light will turn. A lot of questions go through the
drivers' minds. Do I have the right amount of RPMs? Is the track dirty?
Which of the drivers in front of me will get the better start? Will I get too much
wheel spin, or worse yet, will I stall it? For the drivers, it is a
pressure packed few moments. For the fans, it is pure delight. When
the light turns, the drivers engage the clutch. Engines scream,
tires squeal, and if they get it right, they rocket away down to the first
turn. Get it wrong and you pay dearly.
 Rolling
starts have been a part of American motorsports for what seems like
eternity. So why, you ask, should we change now? In a previous article
I
wrote "CART has made
their mark by being the premier road racing series in North
America (they present a great oval show as well, but their
non-ovals dwarf the ovals in popularity). That's right, the premier road racing series,
and NASCAR is the premier oval track series in North
America". In that same article, I also stated "it is evident that CART has an identity problem. It thinks
maybe it has to be a NASCAR because NASCAR is so successful. It
thinks maybe it has to be an IRL, because the IRL has the Indy 500.
It thinks. it thinks, it thinks. What CART really needs to be (they
just haven't figured it out yet) is unique. And to stop trying to be
what it is not". If
CART is the premier road racing series in the USA, and if they
REALLY want to be unique, then I propose CART give serious consideration
to standing starts on all street and road circuits. I am not the
first one to propose this, but I do think maybe its an idea whose time has come.
As I stood in the pits at the US 500 for qualifying I watched as each
driver pulled forward in line when it was time for their run. Almost
to a man, they engaged 1st gear, raised the engine RPM's to what sounded
like a screaming (and I do mean screaming) 12,000 or more revs, and
dropped the clutch. They burned rubber for some 50 to 100 feet and blasted out onto the track like a cannonball. The purpose -
to get help get heat in their rear tires quickly.
I
stood there and wondered, now why can't all CART races be started that
way, or at least the road races. Rolling starts are an American
tradition, as traditional as apple pie. But then,
so too is oval track racing an American tradition. Oval
tracks...rolling starts, get it? Oval tracks...rolling starts. Road
racing...standing starts. I have long maintained that road
racing requires a whole different skill set than oval racing. I
feel road courses are far more difficult to master, by their very
nature. And standing starts make them that much more
difficult. In effect, when F-1 drivers "drag race" into the first turn,
they are using the skill of a Kenny Bernstein or a John Force, only they
don't stop at the end of the 1/4 mile. It adds another dimension to
the race, a dimension CART is missing.
What
did Mario Andretti do to hone his skills in preparation for his assault on
the F-1 title in the 60's and 70's after racing for years on America's
ovals? He went to some of America's drag strips and got some lessons
from guys like Dean Gregson and Bob Tasca. And ask anyone who
followed Mario's career, he was one of the best standing starters in his
F-1 days, which probably surprised a lot of Europeans who thought of
Americans as rolling starters.
When
CART eliminated standing starts from the Toyota Atlantic series this past
year, we received numerous complaints of disappointment. We are sure
CART had its reasons, but once again, did they bother to ask the fans what
they want? No, they went ahead and did it for what they thought were
good reasons, primarily to save burnt out clutches and start line crashes. Hey guys...a
little common sense please!
We
don't hear too many F-1 clutches burning out. The quality of
clutches today are such that, unless a driver totally blows the start, it
should be a non-issue with a little tweaking of the technology.
Turbo lag, at some point in time, may have been a problem but not
anymore. Not from what I see. And crashes? We have them
on rolling starts too.
In
the past the team would get behind a Champ car when their pitstop
was about complete and give the car a healthy push to get it going.
Today they hardly push the car at all. Instead the driver is hard on
the accelerator, clutch depressed. When that car comes off the
jacks, the driver lifts the clutch and they burn rubber from here to
kingdom come, with bits and pieces of rubber flying everywhere. It
is an awesome experience, just ask anyone who routinely stands
in the pits on race day.
Standing
starts also eliminate the numerous false starts we have seen in CART this
season, whereby the starter does not throw the green flag because all the
rows are not properly aligned. The fans are anticipating a start,
only to be let down, not once, but sometimes two and three times. Also, CART's international audience
can better identify with standing starts from growing up with F-1 all
these years.
So
I ask, if the drivers can do it during pitstops, and if they can
do it at the start of an oval track qualifying run, why can't they do it
at the start of a road race? Don't tell me those Europeans are
better drivers. Don't tell me too many guys are going to
crash. Don't tell me too many guys are going to stall their car on
the grid (too bad if they do, they can get a start once the cars are
away). I don't want to hear all the excuses. What I think the
fans want to
hear is YES, we can do it, YES, we will make our races more exciting, and
most of all, YES, CART will try to be unique, at least here in
America. Standing starts--their time has come!
The author can be contacted at markc@autoracing1.com
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