Conference oass::racers

265.0. "Interesting anecdote!" by BEING::MCCULLEY (RSX Pro) Wed Aug 21 1991 14:36

    I thought that all true racers would appreciate the following anecdote,
    which is described from three perspectives in messages reposted here from 
    the USEnet mail distribution wheeltowheel, by permission of the authors.
    

From:	DECWRL::"hirsch@ear.DNET.NASA.GOV" "Bob Hirsch, CCF User Services Consultant" 20-AUG-1991 08:43:08.48
Subj:	Fangio 1, pace car 0

Greetings to all from a newbie on this group.
 
The theme of this year's Monterey Historic races at Laguna Seca was a
tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio. There was a nicely done pavilion with a
collection of the Alfa/Mercedes/Maseratis(?) that he drove, plus photos
of him in the cars and newspaper and magazine accounts of the day. Also
a display case with his FIVE world championship trophy cups. 
 
Yesterday (Sunday) he drove several exhibition laps along with his 
erstwhile teammate Gonzalez. A convertible pace car cum photo car was 
preceding him around the track with the photographer turned around in 
the back seat to get shots of himself at the wheel.
 
In retrospect, we surmise that Fangio was pressing the pace in his 
Mercedes with the pace car hurrying to stay in front.
 
Finally, we looked up from the Timing & Scoring building to see the pace 
car spun off course in a cloud of dust in the downhill esses preceding 
the start/finish straight.
 
As he passed start/finish, Fangio waved to the people crowding the pit
wall as he had on previous laps, but the smile on his face was a
fraction wider.  ;-) 
 
 
Bob Hirsch  --  Sterling ZeroOne  --  NASA Ames Research Center
hirsch@ames.arc.nasa.gov              Mail Stop 233-3
415/604-4807                          Moffett Field, CA 94035
                SF Region Timing & Scoring
 **The preceding has been an opinion by a concerned citizen**
 
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From:	DECWRL::"jpoller@na.novell.com" "Jack Poller" 20-AUG-1991 08:38:15.60
Subj:	Re: Fangio 1, pace car 0 

    
=>  <quoted context from Bob Hirsch, deleted in RACERS.NOTE repost>
=> 
 
I was flagging at Turn 10.  On his first lap of 5, he was pressing the
camera car.  So on lap 2, I showed a blue, to which Fangio smiled, and
the camera car driver gave a dirty look.  On lap three, The camera car
spun comming out of 8a/9 and looped it to drivers left of Turn 9, just
passed the pedestrian bridge.  Fangio continued with a big smile.  All
the crowds cheered and he waved.  Hope my pictures come out.
 
Jack
 
________________________________________________________________________________
Jack L. Poller                Novell, Inc., 2180 Fortune Dr., San Jose, CA 95131
jpoller@novell.com                                                (408) 473-8252
 
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From:	DECWRL::SFISHER 20-AUG-1991 15:52:03.51
Subj:	Re: Fangio 1, pace car 0 

Bob Hirsch says:
 
=> In retrospect, we surmise that Fangio was pressing the pace in his 
=> Mercedes with the pace car hurrying to stay in front.
 
I was sitting up by the Corkscrew, at the point where the cars would
come straight at me as they made the transition from 8 to 8A.  On an
early lap, I could hear the camera car's tires squealing into 8A.  On
the second lap, I could hear the camera car's tires squealing all the
way through 8A and its trackout points.  On that lap, Fangio was on and
off the throttle, his W196 lurching forward toward the camera car and
being pulled back.  On the third lap, I could hear the camera car's
tires squeal on the entrance to nine, then I heard a roar from the crowd
over the hill as the announcers said "And the camera car has spun off 
the track in turn 9!"
 
Jack Poller tells the story from the flag station at 10:
 
>On lap three, The camera car
>spun comming out of 8a/9 and looped it to drivers left of Turn 9, just
>passed the pedestrian bridge.  Fangio continued with a big smile.  All
>the crowds cheered and he waved.
 
On his next lap through the Corkscrew, we gave Fangio a standing ovation
and he had a grin you could see from trackside.  He waved to us as he gave
the car a LOT more throttle than he had with the camera car in front of
him on the previous laps.  I don't know any other 80-year-olds who could give
full throttle to a 1955 GP car, much less take one hand off the wheel in 
the space between 8A and 9.
 
It dawned on me, watching a replay of the Indy car race from Toronto, that
the driver of the camera car is really, really lucky that the race wasn't
in honor of Mario Andretti...
    
    
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