Wind Tunnel With Dave Despain Q & A

Formula 1

Wind Tunnel With Dave Despain Q & A

The state of racing is examined by Wind Tunnel host Dave Despain..

Dave Despain | Posted April 02, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain is celebrating its 10th anniversary on SPEED in 2012. (Photo: SPEED)

DESPAIN WEIGHS IN ON STATE OF RACING AS WIND TUNNEL ENJOYS 10TH SEASON ON SPEED™

DESPAIN: ‘TONY STEWART A THROWBACK TO FOYT AND ANDRETTI’

As Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain continues to celebrate its 10th anniversary on SPEED in 2012, the self-proclaimed “failed motorcycle racer,” takes a look at the current state of affairs in motor sports and offers his opinion on the future:

SPEED: While NASCAR remains firmly entrenched as the most popular motor sports series in the U.S., which form of racing do you see as having the best chance of growth moving forward and why?
Despain: It seems to me that the prosperity of Supercross is limited only by the seating capacity and seasonal availability of the stick-and-ball stadiums. Despite the frequency with which the top stars get hurt, there are not a lot of empty seats when the gate drops on those boys.

SPEED: If you could pick one racer – past or present – to define what a racer is in your eyes, who would it be and why?
Despain: Among the current generation, Tony Stewart embodies the "race anything, anywhere, anytime" tradition that I have always admired. He's a throwback to Foyt and Andretti, who won everything from midget races on dirt to international road races.

SPEED: Who is the most interesting newcomer on the motor sports landscape?
Despain: Given his age, I think of Sebastian Vettel as a newcomer and I'm impressed with his racing prowess and the fact that he seems to regard himself as a normal human being, a refreshing contrast to many of his F1 peers.

SPEED: What is the biggest change you have seen in racing in your 10 years behind the Wind Tunnel desk?
Despain I'd be hard-pressed to choose between two trends, equally negative and each accelerated by this seemingly endless recession. One is the proliferation of "spec racing," whether or not the sanctioning bodies admit that's what they are propagating (you know who you are). The other is the ever-increasing need for drivers to bring money in order to land a good seat, to the extent that even NASCAR, once a refreshing exception to the rule, is now widely infected by "ride buying." Both these trends are an indirect result of the fact that racing as a whole has allowed itself to be controlled by sponsorship money and television.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Despain

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