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Formula 1's
Greatest Drivers - Jose Froilan Gonzalez.
(Image source: AUTOSPORT.com)
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As I was somewhat tempted to use the title “The British Are
Coming, the British Are Coming” instead, due to the proximity of some ‘lil ‘Ol holiday
us ‘Yanks celebrate on July 4th...
But surely Y’all know by now, la Scuderia’s debutant Formula
1 winner José Froilán González
died at the age of 90 recently, as
the portly Argentine was nicknamed "the
Pampas bull" by adoring British Fans along with "El Cabezón,"
The latter translating to ‘Fathead, which fellow competitors
called him instead.
Nevertheless,
El Cabezón so
impressed “Il Commendatore,” nee Enzo
Ferrari that he hired him to pilot one of his scarlet racecar’s for the 1951
Grand Prix season after Froilán had
impressed vs. countryman and eventual five time F1 World Champion Juan Manuel
Fangio...
As González’s
debutant victory came one year after the inaugural British Grand Prix that I’ve
scribble previously ‘bout in:
Whilst Fredrico Suave capped off a memorable Silverstone
victory for la Scuderia two years ago after piloting González’s winning Ferrari earlier in the morning as part of
celebrating the 60th Anniversary of said victory - with the winning
Ferrari 375 model being owned by Uncle Bernaughty, nee Mr. Bernard
Ecclestone...
Thus with Froilán’s
passing, a silly thought entered my head, probably partially due to a subject
that’s been near me lately, i.e.; the Grim Reaper and its ensuing death, as
surely thee GURR-REAT ‘Awntie Harriet who’ll be 94 this September is getting
one day closer as A-L-L the rest of us
are right?
Thus moving along from this Maudlin thought bubble, I
pondered to myself if Messer González was the
oldest living competitor from his inaugural Gran Primo victory, the 1951
British Grand Prix, as I’d incorrectly surmised (to myself) that Sir Stirling
Moss was there too.
Hence, a somewhat quick perusal denoted that twenty
competitors took part, albeit Irishman Joe
Kelly is listed as nc (not classified) out of the seven drivers
retiring - out of this field of total competitors that comprised one reigning and two eventual world champions, with inaugural 1950 F1
world championship winner Giuseppe
Farina, the aforementioned Fangio, and future double world champ
Alberto Ascari.
As the top two steps of the podium were occupied by Argentineans
that day, with González besting countryman
Fangio, a feat El Cabezón, would accomplish twice during his F1 career, with
Argentine’s only other F1 winner later being the ‘Raging bull Carlos
Reutmann...
There were a total of five Italians: Luigi Villoresi, Felice Bonetto, Consalvo Sanesi, Farina,
and Ascari. While Great Britain accounted for the most contestants with the
likes of Reg Parnell, Peter Walker, Brian Shawe-Taylor, (Dublin, Ireland) Peter
Whitehead, Bob Gerard, Duncan Hamilton, (Cork, Ireland) Philip
Fotheringham-Parker, David Murray, (Edinburgh, Scotland) and John James, with there
being a further four nations represented singularly by Belgium’s Johnny Claes
who was also a talented Jazz musician with his own band Johnny Claes and The
Clay Pigeons. (As Tommy ‘Slim Borgudd was the only previous musician turned F1
racer I was aware of...) France’s
Louis Rosier, Ireland’s Joe
Kelly and Louis Chiron
of Monaco,
born in 1899 and was the races elder statesman at the age of 52.
The first four finishers were split evenly by Ferrari and
arch rival Alfa Romeo, as la Scuderia entered three of its 4.5-liter naturally
aspirated V-12 375 models for González, Ascari
and Villoresi, who
finished third while Ascari retired, while rival Italian manufacturer Alfa
Romeo had four “Works” entries of its domineering 1.5-liter Straight-8
Supercharged 159 on hand for Fangio, Farina, Bonetto
(4th) and Sanesi with the first non-Italian make being Reg Parnell’s
BRM in fifth place.
Thus, fast forward sixty-two
years into the future to when as Mary Ellen informed me over the long, H-O-T
weekend that I’d simply LOST I-T! As the weekend’s viewing of the modern day
Grand Prix was very chaotic at best, as I’d managed to once again set the ‘Ol
School Memorex-machine upon the SPEED channel for Friday’s ‘qualie coverage;
Hey! O-L-D habits die hard apparently, eh? As I said oh FUCK as I turned the
tape onto a very old re-airing of Whips, which I’d adorned as ‘Whipes; Hooah!
And planned to watch the replay at 9PM Pacific - before I knew I’d be off to
Tacoma for the weekend instead, after first breaking out Ye ‘ol Wallet and
ordering a new ‘Desktop “tower” Confuzer as Mary Ellen was tiring of my
constant complaining about how much Ai Squared has FUCKED UP ‘Lucy, my
ess-STEAMED Screen Reader, claiming that ‘Lucy’s been given an ultimate
makeover which I simply cannot S-E-E!
Then upon our multiple errands, we ran into the local Friday
night Cruise-in at Taco Time and hence I found myself getting to check out some
vintage cars ‘N trucks on a pretty hot night for us Western “Warshintonians...” As I got to hang
out ‘N chat with a very pleasant gentleman who’d driven his Model T to the
event from Everett, WA, telling me it’d been a twelve-year restoration project,
he’d actually driven it on the freeway and the cowling was British Racing Green
with the rest of the body being yellow, before Mary Ellen returned with the panting
‘Hoonds and we set off to go for a quick look-see.
There were lots of very kOOL old carz, including a Zed-28
with obligatory white double wide stripes and a bunch of very old Rods, i.e.;
Buicks, Pontiac’s,
etc, while I was really enamored by a beautiful midnight blue? ‘Chebbie pickup
truck... While we both marveled in astonishment at the one vehicle that truly
looked out of place, a FREAKIN’ AMC Gremlin; Aye Karumba!
Saturday I sat ‘N listened to the ‘Qualie show from Jolly
“Ol England via the magic of television in what seemed a pretty dour qualifying
session, albeit its refreshing to see the Mighty ‘Merc’s having the all
conquering Red Bulls covered - as although I was pulling for “Nico-the-Great”
(Rosberg) instead, I was happy for “Louise ‘JAGUAR” Hamilton claiming pole,
albeit not quite as delirious as his British subjects were, whilst ‘TWINKIE BOY
was nipping at the Mercedes duo’s heels as always...
Then as qualifying came to a close, I said vociferously out-loud:
BASTARDOES! Causing Mary Ellen to cry out what? As Leigh Diffey interjected to
be sure to catch the race live on CNBC at 7:30AM ET which left me seething and
totally pissed off since I’d set my recording device to the originally
published NBC Sports Network 11:30AM ET, broadcast which I believe is 8:30AM
Pacific, right Dave? And just spent the rest of the day murmuring to myself FUCK YOU NBCSN!
And thus late Sunday morning Mary Ellen asked, don’t they
re-broadcast the race? Yeah, but I don’t have a clue since I’ve recorded the
wrong channel at the WRONG time, as I was so PISSED OFF at what I’d naturally
ARSE-sumed duh Peacock-lite had done to us by pulling an ‘Ol Switcheroo that I
was just so FUCKING DISGUSTED that I didn’t give a SHIT about the race anymore!
Thus imagine my surprise when Mary Ellen managed to find out
the broadcast info stating that I’d actually taped the re-broadcast at the right time on the right channel - to
which she said you could have just watched I-T; SHEISA!
Thus further fuming towards Leigh Diffey whom I’m usually
HIGH upon had totally bungled I-T by leading us to believe that they’d pulled
an ABC/ESPN Switcheroo by NOT ever enunciating when the “Encore” presentation
would be, as I was so pissed off that I wasn’t going to get up at 4-FRIGGIN’
30-AM just in order to sit in the dark and listen to the broadcast! So if the
Blowhards at NBCSN got an ultra LOW ratings for this year’s British GP they’ve
got NOBODY but themselves to blame for the obscure channel placement and
confusion caused by not spelling out when A-L-L of the broadcasts would be!
I mean C’mon, Y’all blather on ‘N on ‘Aboot how ‘Qualie
works every FREAKIN’ time but you cannot manage to inform the “Casual Fan,” not
to mention the DieHard fanatics when the re-broadcast will be? Oh Never Mind,
as “Here’s your Sign” Diffey!
Thus, having just returned home Monday afternoon, I haven’t
had a chance to watch what hopefully is the correctly taped “Encore”
presentation and hence have NO clue if Hamilton was able to please the ‘Mega
100,000+ British audience as I’m off to watch the race a day late and Y’all
know what I’m short of, right? Hya!