Getting it sideways

Sir,

My congratulations on a well-balanced article treating the subject of driver skill and control in the correct fashion.

Two items came to mind as I read your article: first, it is a shame that the Race of Two Worlds was a one-way exchange; I have the feeling the maestro Fangio might have had a thing or two to show the Indy crowd had he been permitted to engage them on an American dirt track. What an idea — Fangio at Williams Grove or Langhorne!

Of the true exponents of the art of the controlled slide in road racing, however, there was a name which should have been mentioned: Dave MacDonald. In a relatively short career (1960-64) he was the prime exponent of this technique in the US scene. He showed that the way around limited grip and negligible downforce was to get the tail out as early as possible, keep it out as long as you could maintain corner speed, and use the momentum to give better drive off the corner. Isn’t that the essence of driving skill as we used to know it?

Perhaps you could engage Mr Scalzo in a piece about this potential great whose life was lost in the 1964 Indy 500 first-lap accident I can recall seeing a film of his win in the King Cobra at Riverside where his slide ‘line’ was so wide he almost hit the cameraman on the outside of the corner. It seems no-one else could use that piece of track real estate properly but him.

I AM, YOURS ETC,

Norman E Gaines, Jr, New York State, USA