15 replies to this topic

[Dennis David]

I received this email recently (he mentions multiple posts that I had submitted during the holiday had not been replyed to - not unexpected by me though):

Nice try, to make the effort to acquaint the morons who usually frequent this
BB with the history of racing. I can see that the response is simply
overwhelming. I have been to your site before. Congratulations. Looks like
quite a bit of work to me, though. A couple of minor errors, such as the
location of the Avus--it is in Berlin, Zehlendorf--but I am glad that someone
out there has an appreciation for the old time racing of Nuvolari, Rosemeyer,
Fangio et al. Racing in those days was a genuine bloodsport. Where they
better drivers than today's crop? I do not know, and I am not willing to make
asinine comparisons between Fangio and Senna, for example. One thing is
without doubt. It required greater courage to race until the mid-1980s, and
in particular the 1930s and 50s. However, I am afraid your efforts are wasted
on people who can spend their entire lives on intellectually stimulating
topics such as "MS sucks!" and "Hakkinen smells." Best of luck with your
efforts.

Happy New Year,

H.J. Breitenstein

Obviously I don’t agree with this writer. I have looked at other BBs and I feel that AtlasF1 is second to none. Yes some of the posts get a little out of hand but I still enjoy reading and sometimes posting on the other forums. The Nostalgia Forum started by Don attempts to look back on earlier motorsport and capture what it was that drew us to this sport. There are no set periods that we cover because if your 20 then 1990 would be considered nostalgia, for me it’s that last time I cleaned the garage! My friend “Joe Fan” recently posted a new topic questioning the very notion of open wheel race cars. Knowing Joe this was an honest question that deserved thoughtful replies which from the last time I looked he was getting. There are no guarantees on this BB but hopefully Don will practice zero tolerance when it comes to abuse.

The real reason I am mentioning this is I don’t remember my friend H.J. ever posting to this forum. I know that there are many of you out there in the same boat. All I can ask is that you take the time and add your 2 cents. Even better start a new topic even if it is just a request for information. I’ve been working through my site and other contacts to increase traffic to this forum. It will be a slow process if I’m the only one doing it. With posters like Don, Ray, Fast, Todd, Joe, Indian et al we have a good but small foundation that could use a few more stalwarts. So if your out there Doug, Peter etc. don’t be shy or if your just someone new to the sport who want a little grounding this is just as much your forum as it is to us so-called experts.

In closing I am pleased to count myself in as one of the happy morons on this BB, Happy New Year to you all ;-).


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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Fast One]

Dennis--

Just because we don't always reply doesn't mean we don't read them and learn. I have several that I would like to reply to but I have too little time it seems. Besides, I gotta keep an eye on my NASCAR preachin' friend Joe Fan!!! Besides have you noticed how people from " the other Side" are trickling in more and more? I think more people read them than your critic implied. I try not to post unless I have something to say.

[Dennis David]

Yes I noticed that also. To them I say come on in the water's fine.

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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Dennis David]

I have a problem with the term bloodsport. I think that bullfighting is a bloodsport. Motorsport as Daley said can be cruel and Ferrari called it his "terrible joy" but it doesn't have to be that way. Take track and field, besides being speared or brained by an errant shot there is not a whole lot of danger but yet we enjoy watching the race itself.

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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Ray Bell]

Well, I've often been called a moron and occasionally heard motor racing called a bloodsport.
Usually (always?) I have been able to cast these mindless words aside - for the people issuing them were usually too senseless or too lacking in knowledge to qualify to utter them.
Motor racing cannot be judged to be a bloodsport because there is no intent involved. If drivers are hurt or killed, it is often a result of their own error, but in those instances where others are involved it would be very hard to pin absolute blame on anybody.
Even Senna and Schumaker, when they wanted to put out an opponent, usually chose very slow corners on which to do it. Or places they considered safe. And they eventually got the right kind of roasting for their efforts, though Schumaker's Adelaide attack on Hill wasn't sufficiently strong or timely to get the message through to him.
I recall reading that in the American football season there was an average of 37 deaths across the country. I'm quoting Hot Rod Magazine here, from about 1962. I doubt that there are that many people die in the world in racing in a year these days - how's the football going?

[Don Capps]

Jeez,

I go away for a week and look what happens!

While there are those to whom virtually ANY sport is a "bloodsport," motor racing is simply more conspicuous when things go awry.

As to the "morons" of the BB, hmmmmm, that does raise my eyebrows a bit. We all started somewhere in our interest of motor racing. However, I think the trend towards the absolute pro/anti-driver fans is what Mosley really wants.

Albeit that I have directed the withering comment at our dear membership a time or two, they are a far better group than we give them credit for being. Today, F1 is "just" another sport, quite unlike the situation just a few years ago and far removed from what it was when I was just getting interested. We cannot fully control the wiles of a world possessed with only the here-and-now.

However, I think that as we Few stick it out, more will eventually come around and start poking into where all this came from and what it was like back then.

Hmmmm, have to mull this over and keep an eye on it.

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…

[bigblue]

Count me as one of the morons. I don't post to often in this forum but find myself reading it more and more. I actually have the picture you posted of Spa from 66 as my wallpaper. Even my wife thinks it's neat. I love that picture and enjoy learning about past racing. I also enjoy your website. Keep it up guys!! Remember you can't please all the people, all the time.

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Done with the big teams, GO MINARDI!!!

[MattC]

Dear Dennis, Don & co,
I'm not quite sure what the main point of the quoted letter was, but I shall assume that the chap is putting down the popularity of the "Old Gits^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Nostalgia Forum"
I write as a 'youngster' and relative motorsport newcomer (watched F1 since 94ish, although my Dad dragged me down to an RAC forest stage when I was very small!). I thus do not have much to say at this forum, but I nevertheless really enjoy reading a lot of the stuff posted here. I don't get very excited reading about "Hakkinen Smells" topics either, but I suspect that a lot of the members who get a bit over-excited during driver-bashing also enjoy reading this old stuff too. Don't judge a topic or forum's popularity simply by the number of posts/posters.
(Actually, it's a lot easier to read a topic that isn't 2/3rds replies like "Yeah", and "Quite right" ! And perhaps people who disagree with a post should simply shut up instead of making non-constructive comments.)

Anyway, keep up the good work,

Matt

[BRiff]

As a moron who frequently visits this BB (and others on AtlasF1) but seldom posts to it, I just wanted to assure you David that your posts over the holidays were seldom missed. I'm new to F1 (fan since 1996) but love the fact that the fans of F1 delve so deeply into its history. Its something you find in few other sports.

As far as this BB vs. others at "MS sucks!" ones, I enjoy them both for the change of pace they offer. One is like shooting the breeze about F1 at a pub, while the other is like discussing it over dinner. The animosity often found between NASCAR, F1 and CART fans is depressing enough, we don't need to start an F1 BB civil war!

Plus, what did that guy expect to find on F1 BBs in December/January? Most of us are short-tempered, drooling idiots at this point who are reduced to trembling wretches while we wait for the biggest story of the offseason to resolve itself–---can Jaguar find a shade of green paint lighter than 10kg?

[Paste]

I guess since I only started following in the late 80's, I'm one of the people being referred to in the letter.

I'd just like to say that I find the Nostalgia Forum enthralling, and hope that in like 2050 people will feel the same way about my knowledge of the 90's!!

Cheers all!

Paste

[Psychoman]

I echo Paste's comments--except I came in during the late 90s I consider this whole corner of the place to be a learning experience for me... catch up on the 45 years of F1 I missed ;)

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"Hey there, all you middle men
Throw away your fancy clothes
And while you're out there sittin' on a fence
So get off your ass and come down here
'Cause rock 'n' roll ain't no riddle man
To me it makes good, good sense"
-Brian Johnson

[smarty]

I am also a loyal frequenter of this forum. I am not knowledgable about the past so although I don't post usually here , I enjoy very much reading posts from Dennis and Don.

[Pit Babe]

I am here daily, have been following F1 sporadically since 1983, and I still consider myself to be a moron.

[Ray Bell]

What beats me is that, with all these loyal frequenters, nobody has had a go at my question about the number of engines any team has used in the 3-litre F1 (1967 - 90).
Maybe they are morons? Hope not, I'm spending a lot of my time here these days!
Please, someone, have a go, I think it's interesting.

[Ray Bell]

Talk about morons! There may well be some excuse for putting 1990 - who knows when that formula ended the way it got changed and altered and stuffed up in its latter days.
But to put 1967? Everybody knows it was 1966 (with the first day of competition in 1965)