The Auto Racing Digest Archives

January 1981

Since the annual Greatest Day In Racing (Monte Carlo, Indy, Charlotte) is this Sunday it’s a good week to set aside my pile of old issues of Baseball Digest and look at an old Auto Racing Digest instead. Back issues of magazines can provide a fascinating snapshot in time and that is certainly the case here as well. Flipping through this edition shows just how much motorsports have changed in the years since.

The biggest change is how impressive the safety improvements have been to the sport. If memory serves the specter of mortality hovered over every issue, whether it was an obit for a driver who had been recently killed or a feature story about a young driver who would be sadly lost soon afterwards. More common were stories about popular drivers who had been killed in accidents years earlier, as was the case in this issue, which included a story about Tony Bettenhausen, who died in a practice crash at Indy in 1961. These tragedies were much too common in the era. No racing circuit would dare to spike the football - racing is still an inherently dangerous endeavor - but it’s now been more than 2 decades since the most recent fatality in either NASCAR or Formula One.

The other major difference between racing then & now is how uncompetitive it was back then. Equipment was notoriously unreliable; so many blown engines or mechanical failures, and there was a vast difference in the quality of individual cars. This issue included summaries of some of the major races that took place late in 1980. Take a look at this box score from the fall Talladega race. Only 5 cars finished on the lead lap. It was even worse for the CART race in Ontario, California featured in this same issue. In that race only the top 2 finishers completed each lap. The 4th place finisher was 7 laps down. You never see that anymore. Note also the money won column. Prize money is generally not made public anymore; suffice it to say that in 2024 a 10th place finisher will win significantly more than $5810.

The main feature in this article discussed the future of NASCAR, which seems oddly timed, being that this was written well after the famous 1979 Daytona 500 which ignited the surge of NASCAR’s popularity outside of the South. This piece had an overly pessimistic tone. Richard Petty appeared certain that its appeal would remain regional, but he also indicated that a dominant driver would spur more interest. That checks; Dale Earnhardt won his first cup in 1980. Two other prescient takes: Darrell Waltrip suggested that more races needed to be scheduled outside of the South, and Buddy Baker said that more races needed to be televised.

Finally, the cover story discussed Bobby Allison’s lack of a cup at that point in his career. Similar to Denny Hamlin in this era, Allison in late 1980 was already in his forties and had accomplished everything one could hope for except for winning the cup. He was 4th in all-time victories - he remains in a tie for 4th to this day - and among those victories were several crown jewel races, including Daytona once. (He would win twice more in later years.) He finally won that cup in 1983.

And Then There 33

Another example of change in motorsports can be seen with this weekend’s qualifying for the Indy 500. In the above era there were sometimes as many as 50 drivers attempting to qualify for the race. For a variety of reasons, most notably the limited number of engines that Chevy & Honda provides, those days are long gone. Once again this year only 34 drivers made qualifying attempts for the 33 available slots, which meant that 1 driver would go through the excruciating process only to be sent home at the end of the day.

This year the one unfortunate driver was the 19 year old rookie Nolan Siegel. It was a dramatic closing moments of qualifying as 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson surpassed Siegel’s qualifying time mere minutes before time ran out. The field is now set, which includes NASCAR star Kyle Larson, as he will be the first driver to run the Indy/Charlotte double since Kurt Busch back in 2014.

And Then There Were 4

Is it OK to call the remaining teams in the NBA the final four if I use lower case letters in doing so? NBA playoffs tend to be much chalkier than the other major team sports, but this year only 1 of the top four seeds is still alive, and the defending champion Nuggets were eliminated just last night. In fact, yesterday two teams won Game 7’s on the road to make it into their respective conference finals.

As the Knicks proved, health is going to be of prime importance. This year’s Knicks are a plucky bunch, but the number of players dropping like flies eventually proved to be too much. Jalen Brunson’s broken hand was the final nail in that coffin. The Celtics appear to be heavy favorites over the Pacers but… they really need Kristaps Porzingis to have the kavorka and be healthy enough to contribute.

The west is tough to figure out. It’s an old saw that you go with the team that has the best player, so the Mavericks and Luka Doncic would be the choice in that case. On the other hand, Anthony Edwards is rapidly climbing up the NBA ladder. In addition, it’s well established that it often takes a couple of playoff runs for a team to break through - see Oklahoma City. Are the Timberwolves already ready to take that next big step? Keep in mind that Kyrie Irving is one of the most puzzling star players in league history. He’s such an either or guy. He did so much damage in Boston & Brooklyn, yet he was the second star that Cleveland needed to win their title. So far this postseason Dallas has seen good Kyrie, but the past has shown that disruptive Kyrie could show up at any moment.

Logic dictates that there should be a Boston/Minnesota final, but at this point nothing would surprise me.

SNL Season Finale Recap

49 seasons. An absolutely impressive number, but 49 is not 50, which is a fact that was the prime focus of Jake Gyllenhaal’s monologue. (As you may have noticed by now, I usually refer to cast members by their first name, but damned if I’m going to type out Gyllenhaal multiple times. For this week only, the host earns the same level of familiarity that the regulars have.) Jake noted that hosting a season 49 episode doesn’t have the same juice that a season 50 one does. He tried to argue to no avail that this technically should count as the season 50 premiere. The monologue ended with Ego, Punkie, Devan, and Kenan - all decked out in Boyz II Men costumes - accompanying Jake in singing a tribute to the season to the tune of End Of the Road. In the spoken word portion of the song, Kenan suggested that this was one of the top 48 seasons in SNL history. Can’t argue with that.

This finale was emblematic of much of the season. Nothing great, nothing terrible. There were a batch of sketches this week that shared some DNA with bits that had ran earlier, to better effect. And there was the traditional season ending joke swap on Weekend Update. There were no Saturday morning announcements stating “tonight will be ____’s final episode,” so no one got their She’s a Rainbow moment this week. As a result, we likely won’t know until sometime in September who will be back and who will not. This weekend was the final episode for a few of our old friends, we will eventually learn which ones.

For all my recent talk about character actors, my choice for Best Sketch Of the Week should come as little surprise. Jake starred as an NYPD sergeant holding a press conference concerning the recent random attack on Steve Buscemi. He made clear that the force was taking steps to protect that group; with a plethora of references to some of our greatest That Guys and That Gals. It has the sort of specificity that makes a gag stand out well. All that, plus a Jon Hamm cameo.

Jake makes for an enthusiastic host, but there was a bit too much “I’ve seen this already” element to the episode. The sketch in which he was attempting to cancel his Southwest Airlines flight only to be bounced around on the phone was done much better back when Kieran Culkin was trying to cancel his cable account a couple of years ago. And the nightmare violence that the Scooby Doo sketch devolved into reminded me too much of the Dead Poets Society sketch from several years ago which included a poorly placed ceiling fan. Finally, the sketch with Andrew as a man asking Jake for permission to propose to his daughter had too similar of a format to this season’s earlier sketch in which Ryan Gosling confined to Andrew that he had made a mistake in proposing to his girlfriend. Once again Andrew was asked to be a co-conspirator, this time helping Jake cover up for the fact that he had eaten one of his wife’s freshly baked cookies even after been instructed not to.

I’ve found Che & Jost’s Update routines to be growing tiresome, but I do always look forward to their season ending tradition of writing jokes for the other to tell that they had not seen until showtime. With that in mind, I present my coveted Employee Of the Week award to the Che/Jost tandem. You have to appreciate the joy they take in busting each other’s balls.

And so, that is it for season #49. Overall, it was a bit of an underwhelming one. I really like the majority of the cast, but too often the material was scattershot. Lorne & the gang will be back in late September to turn the lights back on. God help us, that will be late in the cycle of what promises to be an exhausting election campaign. Brace yourselves for that. Will Mikey continue to portray Biden, or will the show recruit someone better to handle that? How many special bells and whistles will be brought out to celebrate season 50? (This would be an ideal time to reveal if Andy Kaufman actually faked his own death all those years ago. It’s safe to say that if he doesn’t appear this year then he most likely is dead after all.) Most important of all, who will return for another season and which featured players will get their promotions?

Dabney Coleman 1932-2024

There were few actors as skilled at playing scoundrels as Dabney Coleman was. He played decent people here & there; but his greatest talent came from portraying someone for whom you giddily anticipated the inevitable comeuppance.

I was too young to watch Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, so my introduction to Coleman came from what is arguably his best known role, the sexist boss in 9 to 5. He was just as good, and just as slimy, in Tootsie. The character that I will always remember him for, however, came on television.

I have Buffalo Bill on my list of Streaming Orphan shows that I will eventually discuss, so I won’t delve too deeply into it right here. I’ll just say that in 1983 it was practically unheard of to make the lead character of a television show such a complete SOB. Coleman made that character, not exactly sympathetic, but someone you couldn’t help but be fascinated by.

Coleman died last week at the age of 92. There’s a bit of Dabney Coleman every time you see a total bastard in a movie or TV show.

50 Years Ago - Too Much Too Soon

Too Much Too Soon was the second, and as it turned out last, album from The New York Dolls. It proved to be a fitting title; they were certainly a band ahead of their time. Being that this collection contained a lot of covers, it’s not as fondly remembered as their debut was, but it’s a terrific album in its own right.

The Dolls were a bit of an evolutionary band. They were not technically punk rock, but with their driving edge and their DGAF mentality, the influence that they had on punk is crystal clear. The twin guitar team of Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain was quite powerful, and David Johansen was one of the most charismatic frontmen of his time.

For this second album the Dolls hired Shadow Morton, who was a prolific producer of pop classics a decade earlier, most notably for the Shangri-Las, as producer. There was a noticeably cleaner sheen to this record, and as mentioned, there were almost as many cover songs as there were Dolls originals. Yet it still sounded unmistakably like the New York Dolls.

They are perhaps best known for their visual imagery; with the band dressing up in woman’s clothing on stage. Despite that, they were decidedly not a gimmick band. There was substance behind that style; the incongruity of that driving sound in contrast with the imagery brought them notice, but if you knew nothing about them and would listen to them sight unseen you would naturally think of them as a classic kickass band.

The volatility within the band prevented them from having a long career. By the time the CBGB bands gained prominence, the Dolls had long since petered out. Johansen of course would later become a star through his Buster Poindexter persona, but Thunders had his own bit of underground success in hip circles with the Heartbreakers. (Not those Hearbreakers.) Hard living took its toll; Johansen is the sole surviving member of the band. The Dolls were never a hugely popular band - even to this day unlike some of the artists that they inspired there are few of their songs that get much radio play - but they were an important one.

Closing Laughs

Welcome aboard to all you new subscribers. Not to overstate things too much, but your decision to click on that “subscribe” button just might be the wisest choice you will make all year. See everyone again on Wednesday.