Not really.
Though something else happened.
On July 2 2023, the NASCAR Cup Series had one of the most remarkable results in its 75 year history. The Chicago street race, run on closed streets in downtown Chicago, was (if you ignore the street/beach course at Daytona), only the first time that the NASCAR Cup series had run at such a venue. When you add in a dash of rain, on a course that nobody had ever seen before, then the result of Shane Van Gisbergen showing up a scoring a win on debut, is amazing.
Before the weekend, I am sure that apart from the motorsport faithful, most of the casual fans will have never heard of Shane Van Gisbergen. During the commentary of the weekend, seasoned commentators fell over pronouncing his name on several occasions. This is probably more likely in America as that nation is far more insular than other countries. In Australia, we are constantly looking outwards; which is why series like Formula One, Moto GP, the World Endurance Championship, IndyCar, and even national series like the BTCC, DTM, and Super GT rate a mention here. But for the casual American fan, it just looks like that Shane Van Gisbergen has showed up and given everyone a blood nose.
To be honest, he did. To those of us who have seen many different kinds of racing over many years, we know that rain is the great equaliser. When it is raining, no longer are the outright advantages of the cars themselves apparent. Aero devices don't work as well because the speeds come down. Tyres don't work as well because the temperatures and hence the mechanical grip comes down. When it is raining, the biggest single determinant of whether or not a driver will do well, is actually the skill of the driver. Probably in any given motor race, the ratio of car to driver in winning is about 80-20; the driver is still the biggest and most important component in a car. In the rain though, this might blow out to 30-70 and so much so that good drivers can overcome terrible cars.
So called "rainmasters" of the past have included names like Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark, Mika Hakkinen, Jim Richards, and rain has produced some truly memorable races such as the 1996 Monaco GP when Olivier Panis won in a Ligier, or Senna's stonking drive at Donington in 1993, or the absolute farce at Bathurst in 1992.
Shane Van Gisbergen's win at Chicago in 2023, being only the second win by a debut driver in 60 years in NASCAR, is less about this being a street circuit, more about the rain, and a whole lot more about Shane Van Gisbergen himself being a cut above everyone as a once in a generation driver.
To objectively see why he was so good, then you need to look at his credentials and in this case, Shane Van Gisbergen's resume is pretty long. He has won 3 Supercars Championships, 2 Bathurst 1000s, a Bathurst 12 Hours and a Bathurst 6 Hours, a GT Endurance Cup championship, a New Zealand Grand Prix, a class win at the Daytona 24 Hours, and he has competed in the WRC, Le Mans 24 Hours, and Sprint Car racing. Very clearly the chap knows how to drive a racecar; any race car at that; so for him to win a NASCAR Cup Series race on debut, being only the second driver in 60 years to do so, is unlikely but not impossible.
The obvious question is how does his win rate and where does this put Supercars in relation to other series? I think that in terms of sheer talent, NASCAR probably fits below Supercars and above GT3 racing, aand likely above Super GT. I would arrange the grand pyramid in terms of skill as: F1, Le Mans, Indycar, Supercars, NASCAR, BTCC, DTM, WTC, Super GT, GT3, Xfinity, Super 2, Truck Series, Super 3.
The truth is that F1 drivers have done well in Indycar but not many have gone the other way. Indycar drivers generally do well in NASCAR but not the other way. Le Mans drivers have excelled in GT3 racing and occasionally done well at Bathurst but not many have gone the other way.
For Kimi Raikkonen as 2007 F1 champion to show up in NASCAR and come away with not much by way of results, doesn't prove much. Raikkonen was already a retired driver whose star was fading. Likewise, Jensen Button as 2009 F1 champion and 2019 Super GT champion also doesn't prove a lot as his star was also fading but he still wasn't shameful. Button's issue has been that he has been in second-rate equipment for a team which is part charter-sitter and part privateer ascended.
In comparison to the driver talent on the track around him; Joey Logano is a 2x champion, Kevin Harvick 2x, Kyle Busch 2x, Kyle Larson 1x, Chase Elliot 1x; whereas Shane Van Gisbergen is a 3x champion. Van Gisbergen is one of two drivers who emerged as part of the generational change once Whincup, Lowdnes, and Tander stepped back; the other being Scott McLaughlin.
It could very well be that once Jimmy Johnson as a 7x champion left, that no clear and obvious generational whirlwind emerged because they are all together collectively excellent or just very good. I do not yet know if Van Gisbergen is as good as Brock, Moffat, Johnson, Richards, Whincup, Lowdnes or Perkins but he is at least equal with Scott McLaughlin who drives for Penske.
Shane Van Gisbergen is not like the other drivers who show up from time to time. In comparison to other ATCC drivers who have tried and failed: Dick Johnson bought second-rate equipment and had no experience in running a team, and that goes for Allan Grice, and then Jim Richards who put in an admirable showing at Suzuka. Marcos Ambrose was also never in brilliant equipment but he was able to occasionally shine in cases which were already similar to what he had driven. In the ATCC, Shane Van Gisbergen is already everything that Marcos Ambrose was and more, and as he is a current top flight driver, and as he arrived in a team which is capable of winning races and which nearly won a championship last season, this was not an average cameo.
I was asked the question in a forum, how many races would Shane Van Gisbergen win on ovals if he were to be in NASCAR for three years; I said about a dozen, to which I was met with howls of derision. I think that Van Gisbergen is that very rare kind of driver who would excel in everything. These drivers are exceptionally rare and include names like Jim Clark, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx.
And that there is the central kernel as to why I think that Shane Van Gisbergen showed up and gave everyone a blood nose in Chicago. You just don't get to ask these questions very often. The only like example where I can think of this happening in Australia is when Jacky Ickx won the Bathurst 1000 on debut and in arguably the most famous 1-2 of all. Granted that the Chicaco Street Race isn't the Daytona 500 or the Southern 500 but c'est la c'est. If Austin Dillion can win the Daytona 500, then that says that a lot of NASCAR races are a crapshoot anyway. This race wasn't one of those. It was a race where the only weapon which made any sense was driver skill and Shane Van Gisbergen being a once in a generation driver had it in buckets. I do not think that if anyone else from the current crop of Supercars drivers had showed up, they could have done this.
No comments:
Post a Comment