If you were to compare racing to fighting styles, drag racing is like a one-on-one boxing match. Two fighters enter, one leaves, and generally, you know how it’s going to work out. The NHRA is like pro boxing, with rules, regulations, and expectations, while the no-prep guys tend to act like MMA fighters of a decade or two ago, where damn near anything went so long as the battle went down. But touring car racing is difficult to exactly align with a competitive fighting setup because every time we pay attention to touring car racing, the already are fighting, cars or otherwise! Touring car drivers seem to be well-prepared for war in a way that not even the most wound-up good old boy in NASCAR can compare to. Think back to the 1992 incident between Steve Soper and John Cleland. You know the one…two BMWs and a Vauxhall, the most infamous middle finger ever caught in BTCC competition, a Vauxhall on two wheels and a PIT maneuver that spit out the Cavalier and one of the BMWs as they raced for the championship at Silverstone that year. Old news, you say? Racing like that was a one-time deal? Hardly. Touring car drivers are hell-bent on being first, and they race tight and angry to do it…tightly drafting, sticking to the car in front like glue, while the operator behind the wheel revels in the fact that they are allowed to enjoy a moment or two with their Intermittent Explosive Disorder before the checkered flag falls.
The cars might be cool or they might not be. But we love this kind of racing.
