Does the Cream always rise to the Top ? (F1 related)

Like you said at the end of your post, it is because of these circumstances that these people rose to the top, or had a chance at all (obviously). With all the people in the world today, there are going to be people that are just born with the skills and learning capacity necessary to race. I'm sure there have been people with the potential ability to do better or just as well as MS, but they haven't been given the opportunity because they never found the teacher that clicked with their learning style, or never got the seat the right year when the scout was looking for a new driver to sponsor.

It is fun to trace everyone's history and how they got to the top, but we will always be left wondering what it could have been like for x and y and z. I suppose it is like this in all facets of life and all sports as well.

 

"made me wonder how many Senna's and Schumacher's never made it to the big show because of circumstance"

I think the world is full of young, very talented drivers. I've seen them in the junior series I've kicked around, Skip Barber, FF2000, FM, etc. Breaks my heart for them, it's a tough business. That's life, I guess.

One example: a mid-20s friend, great personality, who has European racing, a US junior formula championship and other proof of his talent. If there were any justice - or if he had any money - he'd be driving a DP.

Hard to watch sometimes, glad I'm just a middle aged wannabe.

 

Jon, interesting points. I look at it like once you get to the upper echelons of racing, there is obvious depth to the talent pool. It takes talent to earn a shot at the top, but once you're close, well, just about anything can happen. I believe whole-heartedly that most of the F1 grid (OK, all but Schumi) could be replaced 4 or 5 times over with little or no effect on the quality of racing. The "what-ifs" are just the same as the "what-ifs" in our lives, such as where you went to school, taking a taxi vs. driving, etc. Sometimes the most minute decisions we make can have the most enormous implications. I met my wife by randomly going to a bar my friends and I seldom visit on a night she almost didn't come to Chicago to visit friends. Just like Senna almost quit racing for good in the FFord days. I wonder how many others out there that DID hang it up prematurely could have been top-calibre?

 

Interesting question. OTOH there are those with incredible persistence and willingness to lay it all on the line: Lauda who took a huge bank loan to get himself into F1 and Mansell who put his house up to keep racing.

And then there are some who made it to F1, but still didn't get a break even when they deserved it. Jean Pierre Jarier comes to mind. Nick Heidfeld is another one, but maybe this will be his year.

And as far as Michael is concerned: As much as I can't stand Willi Weber, it has to be said that this guy saw the raw talent and was willing to take a huge chance and paid Eddie Jordan for the test drive at Silverstone (famous quote from one of the team members: "I don't know what's going on, but your guy (Michael) must be cutting some corners. These times are not to be believed."). So in a sense he deserves his 20%.

Now here is a question: If Michael would not have made it, would the world have ever heard about Ralfie?

 

Similar to the above question:
If HONDA were not willing to pour in Millions of Dollars to keep their poster boy Sato in F1, would Sato be driving for BAR Honda???

 

Nor would the world have heard of Billy Carter or Roger Clinton had it not been for their bros...

 

Good question, may the cream does rise but not all of those who deserve an F1 chance always get it. Except from the very top F1 drivers (MS, Kimi, ...) I'm not so sure F1 is represented by truly the best driver line ups. Money, talent, connections and luck play a big role but who knows in what order.

 

That might be too pessimistic a statement. I think for the most part the money drivers have no lasting careers in F1. They get in, but they normally don't last too long. I think for the most part the people making the field are the best for that job (that is not to say, they're the best drivers in general of the world as we saw at the Race of Champions last month).

 

If by C.R.E.A.M you mean: Cash Rules Everything Around Me - then yes, the "best" rise to the top (of the money pile).

 

A little off, but probably on point:

In 1971 a bunch of us, racing AFM got AMA licenses, which at the time has 3 levels: Novice, Junior, Expert. Myself, along with several others got the Junior license. At the same time, another guy, K Roberts also got his Junior license. At the time, they ran a program which had the followingt 250 novice race, 250 combined junior expert the 500 race for juniors and the main event.

One of the guys who got his lisence (and talked me into racing, changed my life) was a guy by the name of Jerry Greene. They had 6 road races that year. Kawasaki was paying 5000 for a win that year (a huge amount of money then, example: my first house cost 45k that year now worth about 900k). Greene got a ride in the 250 class with a priavteer, who put together very good stock vehicles, and with Irv Kanamoto in the 500 class on a Kawaskai. Bottom line, in the expert Junior Class, Green got 6 second places, behind a guy by the name of Kel Carruthers, and in front of another guy by the name of Calvin Rayborn, Jr. (to those of you who don't know who they were, Carruthers was an ex-world champ, and rumour is that Rayborn was the best rider we'd ever produced at that point in time). Both Rayborn and Carrathuers were on factory bikes. Roberts consistently finished 5, 6, 7, etc. in those races (he got better). Greene also won 5 of 6 of the 500 class races, motor broke in one of the races.

At the end of the season, an individual at Kawaski who been skimming 1000 per race from Greene's money, didn't get the last 1k. Blackballed him. Never got a good ride since then, now driving truck in California.

Creame sometimes rises to the top, but money always does. Remeber: life isn't fair, the best person doesn't always win. Jerry's story stuck with me, great talent, got screwed because he wouldn't play the game.

Art