Timo Glock’s Win at the Toyota Race of Legends
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In the end, age and treachery were no match for power-to-weight.
At Saturday’s just-for-fun Toyota Race of Legends, at the 35th annual Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca, current F1 ace Timo Glock easily outpaced a field that included some of the most talented drivers in history, including Derek Bell, John Watson, Johnny Herbert, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay.
Now, for anyone who had been in the hospitality suite before the race, (and anyone with a fundamental grasp of physics), the outcome was not much in doubt. In identically prepared Toyota Scion tC’s, the advantage would naturally go to the lightest driver. The svelte and youthful Glock looks to weigh about a buck-thirty, while megastars of yesteryear like Jones and Herbert were busting the seams of their Nomex suits. Indeed, most of the ex-F1 athletes looked like champion trenchermen.
Even so, the addition of Glock to the lineup was an inspiration. On a weekend when Michael Phelps was celebrating eight gold medals and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt breezed through the 100-meter record without appearing even to try, Glock’s easy win prompted the question: Has the human animal somehow evolved? Are today’s F1 drivers not just fitter than their predecessors, but somehow better?
Of course, current F1 drivers are highly fit athletes. ‘When I started racing, I didn’t worry about being fit,’ said Bell, a five-time Le Mans winner. ‘I played rugby, squash...I was in pretty good nick,’ Bell said. But he was an exception. One time Bell came back sweaty from a game of squash and was spied by Chris Amon, who was having a leisurely smoke. ‘Ugh, why would you do all that?’ Amon said. ‘The day you beat me is the day I get fit.’ As far as we know, Amon never got fit.
No one disputes that the cars are more demanding than they were a generation ago. ‘I couldn’t drive Timo Glock’s car today,’ said Eddie Cheever. But are the drivers themselves better -- more talented, if you like -- for having faced the higher demands, the stricter training? ‘I don’t know,’ Cheever said. ‘But I know if you put Juan Fangio in a current F1 car, he’d be a champion. Absolutely.’
PS: I saw Derek Bell again Sunday, after the Race of Legends. Bell, who won the event last year, had a bad race. ‘I was so angry when I got out of the car,’ Bell said, ‘I swore I’d never do it again.’ The problem for him was that the start got fouled up by the lone civilian in the race, Bruce Canepa of Scotts Valley, Calif., who waited until he reached the start-finish line before jumping on the gas. Bell got boxed in and lost pace. But, it’s just a fun race, right? You’re a five-time Le Mans champion--why would you care? ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘It’s a race. You want to do your best.’ (Photos by Dan Neil)
-- Dan Neil