RACER June/July 2023: The Heroes Situation
There’s a theme working by the three drivers we’ve chosen to place within the highlight for RACER journal’s annual celebration of a number of the heroes of racing. Fernando Alonso, Tony Kanaan and Bobby Rahal all tick the field on profession longevity, however it’s the relentlessness and ongoing will to win that comes with that longevity which units them aside for us.
Kanaan led laps in his first Indianapolis 500 again in 2002. He led laps and completed third in his twenty first begin final 12 months. And TK being TK — nonetheless pushed, nonetheless targeted, and loaded up with all of the expertise and smarts that so many Months of Might deliver — he’ll seemingly lead extra laps, and possibly even present racing’s feel-good story of the 12 months, in what he undoubtedly, completely guarantees will likely be his last Indy 500 begin on Might 28.
Alonso hasn’t hinted at any form of finish date for his Components 1 profession, and why ought to he? The soon-to-be-42-year-old Spaniard is having a standout season after shifting to upwardly-mobile Aston Martin. Whereas some regard it as a rebooting and re-energizing of the two-time world champion, he sees it in another way. For Alonso, nothing’s modified inside himself and what he brings; it’s simply present circumstances permitting others to see that, too.
Talking of feel-good tales of the 12 months, what odds would you give on him profitable a grand prix in 2023? It’d take the proper storm (actually), and a Pink Bull Racing meltdown, however don’t rule it out.
Rahal made his CART debut in 1982 on the age of 29, profitable two races and ending second in factors. Three championships and a 1986 Indy 500 win adopted, and regardless of taking over the added duty and stress of workforce possession, the man completed prime 10 in factors for 16 of his 17 seasons racing Indy vehicles. That’s endurance.
And talking of endurance, it’s the centenary working of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 10-11, and RACER’s looking on the world’s most well-known endurance race, previous and current.
For the current, we run the rule over a manufacturer-stacked Hypercar class and assess the possibilities of Cadillac, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Porsche and Vanwall towards serial winner Toyota and its tried-and-proven GR010 HYBRID bundle. Plus, we set the scene for some critical NASCAR rumble at La Sarthe when a lightly-modified Subsequent Gen Chevy Camaro takes the Storage 56 slot.
And for the previous, we depend down the 24 Hours’ winningest marques (replete with some beautiful illustrations by RACER’s in-house artist, Paul Laguette) and recall a number of of the race’s biggest driver partnerships.
Add in a glance again at NASCAR’s 1995 Cup Sequence season and a changing-of-the-guard duel between Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, a head-to-head evaluation of the World Rally Championship’s title-hogging Sebastiens — as in, Loeb and Ogier — some fascinating perception on what elevates an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver pairing from good to nice, and much more, and we hope you take pleasure in studying RACER No. 322 as a lot as we loved placing it collectively.
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