February 19, 2006

Daytona a doozy.

Now THAT'S what I call racin'!

As opposed to racing, which is what they do in F1. A more genteel form of motorsports, if you will.

But, man, hoo-hah! What a race that was. I've always thought that NASCAR was crazy to have their "biggest race" first in the season, but every time Daytona goes off, I always have to stop and say "y'know, maybe they've got something there."

There's only one race like it in the world: the Indy 500. Nothing on the F1 calendar comes close to being what Daytona is to NASCAR, unless you s-t-r-e-t-c-h and say "Monte Carlo." First race of the Euro season, glitz and glamour, yadda yadda yadda...
...and I'd have to disagree. Again, I say it: there is no other race in the world (save for Indy) like the Daytona 500.

Indeed, there may not be any races that are more IMPORTANT, either. Jimmie Johnson can now say that he's won his league's biggest race. People who have won the Indy 500 can point to that win and say the same thing.

...but is there something similar in F1? I don't believe so. I'd suggest that being a CHAMPION in F1 is more important than having won any individual race, and it may be the biggest championship of all motorsports.

But shouldn't there be some sort of weight on having won the "(insert name) Grand Prix"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Monte Carlo, or Monza, or Silverstone, or Spa. They just don't seem, individually, to be as BigMcLargeHuge as Daytona.

Actually, I take that back. I CAN think of one GP race that would fall into that category... if it was being run anymore: the old Nurburgring. God, what a track... somewhere online I found an 8 minute long video of a hotlap of the old track being driven by a BMW M3 GTR, and it's awe-inspiring. THAT would be a jewel in any driver's crown... if only Old Nurburgring was wide enough to handle two F1 cars. At times it barely looks wide enough to handle one streetcar.

I'd be interested in hearing what Flotsky, the Official Overseas Reader and Simon, the Official Race Correspondent from Bahrain, have to say about this... if you guys have any thoughts, please let us know in the comments!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 The Daytona 500 is definitely comparable to the Indy 500 and those are the two races I look forward to every year. Even visiting the racetrack at Daytona without a race is awe-inspiring.

Posted by: Mallory at February 24, 2006 12:19 PM (wZLWV)

2 Nope, nothing in F1 has that feel of being such a independently massive event. You could argue that it is because each GP has that place in each countries hearts, but I don't think it is quite right. Those are two races I want to see in person, along with the Bathurst 1000, which definitely does have that position in Australia.

Posted by: flotsky at February 24, 2006 10:37 PM (Dl1rW)

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