I am an Ed Hinton fan-boy and I have no problem admitting that because Hinton is the best living American auto racing journalist. He has a historical perspective that no one else currently has and he is one of the guys that can write about virtually any genre of racing (aside from the drags) with complete authority. From NASCAR to IndyCar to Sprint Cars, he has the knowledge and experience to tell it like it is. He also has the clout to get whomever he wants on the phone and that’s worth something, too.
A five years back, Hinton penned a piece entitled, “Crossing over is too hard now,” which does a masterful job of explaining why we’ll never see an age again like the 1960s and 1970s where drivers were crossing genres with regularity during the same season. AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, George Follmer, Dave MacDonald, James Hunt, and others would run their normal genre and always seem to find themselves hitting sports car races, the Indy 500, and other major events. Today, that is all but gone aside from the occasional foray of NASCAR drivers into dirt cars.
As you will read in the piece, there are multiple reasons why this doesn’t happen any more and they revolve around what you would expect. The cars are so specific now that it is tough to swap, driver’s contracts can prohibit it, and the drivers themselves aren’t all that interested in trying it. Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt are the only two guys to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500. They will remain that way forever as far as we can see because we cannot even imagine a guy coming along at this point to give it a shot. Sad but true.
Yes, this piece was written a few years ago but the message is on point for the current state of racing. If anything, the prospects of “cross over” racing have dimmed even more from what they were three years ago when Hinton banged the keys to make this story. Will it ever loosen up? We’re guessing that’s like asking if the number of buttons on a F1 car’s steering wheel will ever decrease. Not likely! Read this, you’ll like it –
Crossing over is too hard now – Ed Hinton, ESPN
