Dick,
I enjoyed your thoughts. One note of interest to me is your mention of
the "Corinthian" spirit of the sport. It was not by accident that the
founders of our club decided to name it Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing
(CVAR). We try to keep the spirit alive in the Southwest.
Richard
"Dick Buckingham, Jr." wrote:
>
> I just got back last night from the Monterey Historics (obviously I
> didn't come straight back home). 253 e-mails were awaiting--probably
> 100 having to do with Monterey. I was really appalled at the
> mis-information that was circulating about. It is amazing to me how
> people will make postings without knowing all (or any) of the
> facts--much like some news reporters that we have been hearing about
> lately. Eventually the truth did come out but those who only read the
> early missives would think that Phil Hill wrecked a Masareti none of
> which is true.
>
> There was significant carnage at the event. Much more than I have seen
> before. Besides the already mentioned Stirling Moss debacle and the
> Lotus 23/Brabham BT8 contact, there was very serious contact between
> Stan Peterson in a Cooper Formula Jr. and Tony Seiniger in a Lotus 27 in
> Group 4B and there may be others that I don't know about.
>
> As for the professional drivers: I think some handle themselves
> appropriately and know that they don't have anything to prove--as Steve
> likes to say, History has been written, nothing that we do at this
> event is going to enhance either the car's or the driver's reputation,
> but it can certainly have a negative effect. I have seen many well
> known drivers of old participate and drive with the "vintage spirit."
> Phil Hill and Pete Lovely come to mind immediately. Others feel that
> they have a reputation to live up to, or that they are "the show" and
> must perform up to a pre-set standard i.e. winning. They are
> insensitive to the valuable historic cars they are driving (not their
> own, of course) and are inconsiderate of the fellow competitors and
> their valuable historic cars. Vintage racing, I do believe, is really
> racing, but not 10-10ths. It should be a sport of gentlemen (and
> gentlewomen) and should represent the ideals of Corinthian sportsmanship
> i.e. for the "love" of the sport. Obviously banging fenders (or worse)
> doesn't fit this definition.
>
> Lastly, there were the comments about Briggs Cunningham's feelings that
> old race cars should be in museums and not on the track. His cars, of
> course, went to the Collier collection in Florida. One of the LeMans
> XKE's (looking as it did when it came off the track in France) was on
> display (not raced) and as it was being moved to be shipped back to
> Florida, the nose was damaged. So it seems there is "risk" in
> everything we do be it on the track or elsewhere.
>
> Dick Buckingham, Jr.
> Jolus Formula Jr.
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