Photography Credit: Scott R. Lear
It’s Olympics time again. In fact, I’ve got NBC’s live feed from the fencing venue on my other screen while I’m writing this column.
By the time you read this, the best athletes on the planet in a number of disciplines will have emerged from their elite fields of competition to prove themselves the world’s best fencers, swimmers, runners, throwers, flippers, shooters, skaters, etc.
But we still won’t really know who the best racer is.
For the most part, “traditional” sports have established feeder systems into higher levels of competition. Yes, I know that even in traditional stick-and-ball sports, competitors with resources have the advantage in developing and displaying their skills, but there are still plenty of young folks being drafted into the ranks of Major League Baseball each year who didn’t have the money for an aggressive Travel-Ball or showcase tournament schedule. So, I get it. The rich kids will still have an advantage, but there are college and pro scouts at high-profile high school baseball, football and basketball games just the same.
There are zero pro racing scouts anywhere looking for anyone.More than that, “pro” racing may not even have the market cornered on racing talent.
Yes, the talent level in high-profile professional racing like F1, NASCAR, IMSA, IndyCar and WEC’s premier divisions is stratospheric. But each of those exceptional athletes competing in those cars represents someone with not only the talent to be there, but the resources to display that talent. And, if we’re being entirely honest, the resources are far more important than the talent for most of the journey of a “professional” race car driver.
So the real truth is we may never know who the most talented driver in the world is. We know who some of the “best” are, at any given moment, in various disciplines. But the most talented racer in the world may be a 16-year-old girl running a local autocross series in her dad’s uncompetitive D Street Prepared car on old tires in central Utah. Or a 60-year-old rallycross driver in Finland who has been building his own cars out of scrap metal since the ’70s. Or some insane Jamaican cat who’s never run anywhere but Dover Raceway in a clapped-out Suzuki Swift but has otherworldly car control skills. The thing is, unless any of those folks win the Powerball, we may never know.
A great basketball player? Yeah, they’ll get found. I don’t care whether they’re playing in the most rural, no-internet-having high school in the middle of a swamp: If some 6-foot-7 kid starts putting up numbers, scouts will come a-sniffing.
I guess I really can’t be sad about this. On one hand, it’s a bit frustrating that a sport that aspires to objective mechanical precision has many barriers to entry at its highest levels so as to possibly limit the most important part of that equation–the driver–from ever being found. But it also creates some interesting situations.
Like, I’m never going to play in the NFL. Not even for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I could become the next Dogecoin zillionaire tomorrow and I’m still just as far from a slant-and-go route as I ever have been. But do you know what I could do? Le Mans. Or Daytona. Heck, I’ve already raced at the Nürburgring, and I’m just a dumb journalist.
Another awesome thing about the fact that the best racing drivers may not be competing at the highest levels? We get to hang out with them. Just this weekend I watched Bryan Heitkotter and Tom O’Gorman–two guys who got rare shots at the big time because of their immense talent, but ultimately lost them because of their lack of funding–compete in the Gridlife Touring Cup, a series with a remarkably low barrier to entry. In what other sport do you get to socialize and compete with an elite athlete in your chosen skill on fairly level footing? Yeah, kind of none.
While it’s fun to play the “What if?” game and imagine what would happen if you dropped a multi-time G Street autocross champion into a spec hot lap challenge against an F1 regular, I think we also need to appreciate the unique situation that results from the lack of access to the highest levels of our sport.
Who’s the best racer in the world? You might just be pitted next to them at your next track day.
JG don't sell yourself short "just a dumb journalist", if we asked your mom I'm sure she'd tell us you've done many other dumb things as well ( note my mother will confirm I'm a veritable Renaissance man of dumbness).
As for the article; I say that all the time. On any given weekend you can find hugely talented guys at local events who will never be known. It's one of the down sides of our sport / hobby.
Tom1200 said:Renaissance man of dumbness
I'd like that on a t-shirt, please and thank you.
What are you guys talking about?
ahem. https://www.raceofchampions.com/this-is-roc
"Sébastien Loeb, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, MotoGP legends Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Mick Doohan, eight-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and serial NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson."
if there are better drivers out there, they just didn't show up. Specifically looking at the pompous turd known as "Lewis Hamilton".
Junghole said:What are you guys talking about?
ahem. https://www.raceofchampions.com/this-is-roc"Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, MotoGP legends Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Mick Doohan, eight-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and serial NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson."
if there are better drivers out there, they just didn't show up.
Many a talented driver has been priced out of the professional ranks. We have three locally; one of them lapped the entire field in his class at the RunOffs.
Like there is any doubt who the best racer is! 
Tom1200 said:Junghole said:What are you guys talking about?
ahem. https://www.raceofchampions.com/this-is-roc"Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, MotoGP legends Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Mick Doohan, eight-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and serial NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson."
if there are better drivers out there, they just didn't show up.
Many a talented driver has been priced out of the professional ranks. We have three locally; one of them lapped the entire field in his class at the RunOffs.
Yes, and I think GRM could make a grassroots version of ROC. what if they did a multi course event where the drivers from all disciplines had to take the same 1988 cutlass Ciara automatic through every course? Rally, autox, circle track, drag strip. And have some GRM guys there to keep the thing running. This sounds so familiar.
In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
I see no reason for further discussion.................
As pointed out in the article, there's really no scouting or farm system that gets the most talented drivers to the top of the sport. But one advantage of racing is that there are very few sports where you can objectively quantify who's the best like you can in racing, and the job is singular- go beat the other guys. You can argue all day about Lebron vs. KD vs. Steph etc. and not really get anywhere, there are too many variables.
One of the great things about club racing is that while money and support are still a (big) factor, for the most part the best drivers really do win. There are plenty of stories about talented club racers getting their shot at a pro event and surprising everyone.
Funny related story- I raced this weekend and was in the paddock next to a 20-something guy in my class. As I'm a new racer and he had never driven the track before, after the morning Time Trials session we were talking and trying to figure out where to brake, shift, etc. Flash forward to the race two sessions later... I was feeling pretty good about picking up two seconds and kinda maybe threatening the middle of the pack. He broke the track lap record and finished 1 second behind the leader. I feel like there's a guy like that at every track, every weekend of the year.
I think the closest thing to a scouting/farm system is taking racers from sim racing like GT Academy. You can do sim racing in the big leagues on a regional autocross budget.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Came here to say this exactly. Sim Racing, whether it's GT Academy or iRacing, levels the playing field down to the cost of a gaming system and racing wheel. iRacing can get more immersive with more expensive equipment but a modest laptop and wheel can get you in the big race. From there, it's all skill and race craft and the hours it takes to hone those skills won't cost you any more than a monthly subscription.
In fact, I'd say that's a better test of talent within it's environment than many olympic sports. To complete at skiing, skating, or cycling, you need a lot of money for equipment, rental time on the slopes/ice/arena, that prevents the true talent from bubbling to the top of their sport.
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