Or will it just become another Outpost for “Rorge
Retson” Flying Cars in the future?
Every year around this time, that being Indy
Cars Detroit Grand Prix weekend, I Hope to have posted a very long overdue,
languishing No Fenders post about Tintip Boyz’ and the ‘Ol glory Years of the
SCCA Trans Am era when The Cat in the Hat, aka Jack Roush’s Nasty Ford Mustangs
ruled the roost in SCCA Pro Racing’s Trans Am series.
But I just never quite get around to it, after
becoming engrossed in the Month of May’s festivities at Mother Speedway instead.
For which I have to say this year’s Indy 500
finish left a sour taste for Mwah, with a ridiculous Red Flag, Uhm Chequors or
Wreckers Greann-White Flag finish!
Yet with All of the previous drama surrounding
Graham Rahal and Stefan Wilson at this year’s Indianapolis 500. Not to mention
Graham’s ties to the late Justin Big Unit Wilson, notably being Wilson’s
teammate at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in 2008. My mind goes Ah-Wanderin’ Wayback’
to 2008 when Justin Wilson scored His first IndyCar victory after that Dastardly
Helio Castroneves Blocked Him upon The Raceway at Belle Isle!
Since it’s funny how whenever I hear the words
IndyCar and Detroit, I immediately think of Ye Beautiful Island, Err Belle
Isle, for which I tried scribblin’ about some of my Belle Isle memories
previously in another No Fenders tome.
http://www.nofenders.net/2016/06/belle-isle-recollections.html
As IndyCar has become so synonomous with Belle
Isle that I forget that the CART/PPG IndyCar World Series raced Thar between
1989-1991, following Formula 1 choosing to not race on the Streets of Detroit
following 1988.
Which fortuitously for Mwah led to my very
first, true Grands Prix. Being the 1989 Iceberg Grand Prix held upon Ye
Downtown Streets of Phoenix, Arizona on June 4, 1989. A very significant day in
world history, i.e.; China, Iran and Poland!
Whilst your much younger humble No Fenders
Scribe Tomaso was sweltering in the 104 degrees Fahrenheit Heat of that year’s
amusingly named Iceberg Grand Prix!
http://www.nofenders.net/2019/06/retro-formula-1-on-phoenixs-streets.html
As I also like to believe that it was the 1986
Detroit Grand Prix with Ayrton Senna’s beautiful black and gold John Player
Special Lotus that introduced me to F1 Wayback’ when! Which would be fthe first
of Ayrton Senna’s three consecutive Detroit Grand Prix victories.
As the much unloved 2.50-mile, 17 turns temporary street circuit was despised by the
Formula 1 drivers. This race which was considered the Hardest of the season,
due to the circuit’s bumpiness anlong with being run during the brutally Hot
portion of mid June in Detroit, where the Ash-fault
Routinely
disintegrated! Just proves to me again, how much of a Bad Arse F1 Pilote the
late Ayrton Senna was! Since Senna won the most Detroit Grands Prix before the F1
Circus departed to Phoenix.
Without scouring the current IndyCar race
circuits lengths, I believe that the new, 1.70-mile 10 turn course on Detroit’s
streets will be the shortest on the IndyCar calendar, with the only caviot
being that the entire race course’s Downtown Streets have been repaved expressly
for this purpose! While for Mwah, the most interesting portion of the track is
the unique Pitlane, which I think features drivers pitting on two different sides
of the Pitlane…
Meanwhile, how much does having an IndyCar race
in Downtown Detroit really matter? Since when I think about the once fabled “Motor
city”, I think of the “big-3”, i.e.; Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler and the
legendous’ Muscle Car era and the Pony Cars war.
Not to mention Scotty Scooter’ Pruett kicking
Arse during the Motor city 100 SCCA Trans Am races…
Yet now Ford will soon be the only Playah’ with
a rear wheel drive V-8 powered Pony Car left for customers to purchase. Following
the demise of Chevrolet’s sixth generation Camaro in January, 2024. Whilst Stellantis
has already killed off the amazingly brutal Dodge Hellcat Charger! Leaving us
with just the Mustang, which Ford has just rolled out it’s seventh generation
version.
Making
me wonder if we’re headed back for another incarnation of the early 1980’s,
when turbocharging initially became the rage during an enforced tightening of
vehicle emissions and fuel economy, if I remember correctly?
As one has to say it’s slightly odd thinking
that Indy Cars, albeit going Hybrid next year, will be pounding round the
streets of Detroit hopefully for years to come with their “ERS” (Energy
Recovery systems) Internal Combustion Engines, (ICE) while Chevrolet, Ford and
Stellantis are all racing to “lock-up”, Uhm secure the world’s deposits of lithium
and other raw materials in order to make everybody drive Electric Vehicles…
Although the ACO which governs le 24 Heurs du Mans has just instituted a Hydrogen Class for it’s top LMH category for Le Mans beginning in 2026 for Fuel Cell technology. And intends to make Hydrogen powered prototypes the Classes only fuel source by 2030. So may be the V-8 Internal Combustion Engine can be converted to Hydrogen after all?