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Too many badasses here since the merger.” Is he ever gonna win again? I don’t see it. “He just hasn’t got it, or isn’t hungry enough to develop it or something. “There’s something missing there, though.” You’re right, he is still basically a good kid – and honest.” Robin agreed, and a couple of races later said, “I talked with. #BRYAN CLAUSON IN LOVING MEMORY PICTURES HOW TO#A month later, the offended racer made an off-the-cuff reference to Robin’s remark in the course of a soul-laid-bare interview, and so afterwards I urged my veteran colleague to clear the air, pointing out that the driver is a good guy who is (as the cliché goes) his own harshest critic, but just didn’t know how to remedy his issue. I once brokered peace negotiations after he was very critical of a driver and then made a guess about why he was underperforming. However trenchant he may have sounded in his opinions, he would also listen to opposing views. That was typical Robin – proffering his beliefs before also noting the view from another angle. Race fans just love to bitch.ĭiane Miller, Mario Andretti, Robin Miller, Sarah Fisher Jeezus, we get 20 cars covered by a second in qualifying on a goddam road course these days – and I’ll still get people writing to me how predictable Ind圜ar is. There’d be a coupla others who might get lucky. “Remember, it was only 10 years ago that we had just two Penske, two Ganassi and two Andretti cars who’d be able to win – realistically. We all kinda know the five or six guys who are going to be fighting for the championship each year, but race wins? They could go about 20 ways. We shouldn’t be bitching about things when it’s so close. Look at those speeds – we’ve never had it so good. And then it got to where sponsors didn’t want to get involved with a team that might not make the show, so Bump Day just became kinda nothing because we only get 35 cars trying for 33 places. The little guys couldn’t afford them: they had to start using the big teams’ cars from the year before. “The thing is, Mears is right: the homebuild specials disappeared quick when carbonfiber chassis arrived. But some of the guys building them… I’m not even sure they knew why they’d done what they’d done. “I was clueless how they worked – everyone knows I’m a technical moron. “Oh I miss seeing some of the wacky designs they used to have here,” he said, as he kept a keen eye on both the on-track footage and the speed charts. Dario Franchitti, Parnelli Jones and Rick Mears appreciated that, as did we all. ![]() Robin was a strong link between various eras of Indy car greats. I asked him about this defiantly non-jaded stance during one of those beautifully soporific sun-kissed Indy 500 practice days a couple of years ago. ![]() Oh, and he regretted there weren’t more ovals – including dirt – on the Ind圜ar schedule.īut he was a consummate realist who knew those days aren’t coming back, and preferred instead to accentuate the positive, when so many of his age thrive purely on yesteryear, and tear down the current scene. #BRYAN CLAUSON IN LOVING MEMORY PICTURES FULL#He missed the eras when innovative engineering could be found on a wide variety of chassis, when media centers were press rooms full of genuine press people. He missed that being a champion in a sprint car didn’t lead to interest from Ind圜ar teams. ![]() #BRYAN CLAUSON IN LOVING MEMORY PICTURES DRIVERS#Make no mistake, he missed the days when drivers were less guarded in their comments to the media and didn’t whine too much about their rivals. ![]()
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