If US Raced Europe, Who Would Win?

August 30, 2013
Story By
Kristin Cline

It seems that since the start of time (or at least the colonies), North America and Europe have had a healthy rivalry going. Enter the automobile and that rivalry sprouted onto the racetrack. So if there was a US vs. Europe race waged…who would win? As our popular races are quite different, it’s a hard question to answer. We’d need to know what sort of a track are we racing on, will driver’s need to make right turns as well as left? From a spectator’s standpoint, the popular racing worlds of both the US and Europe appear to be drastically different. In the states, NASCAR is king and it seems that the Indy 500 is the only open-wheeled race we pay all that much attention to. In Europe, it’s Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 that draw the big crowds.

While the general public of both places clearly fancy a different flavor of racing, what they’re being fed by their respective mass media outlets has a large role. Wanting to dig deeper into the question of whether or not the experience of racing was really very different and therefore led to “better” racing in one or the other, I talked to with ALMS driver Chris Dyson along with James Weaver (an Englishman) of the Dyson Racing team. Dyson Racing, founded by Chris’ father Rob, is the premier sports car team in North America with thirty years in professional sports car racing. Chris not only has a number of ALMS wins under his belt, but has also raced extensively in Europe – finishing 7th in 2004. As such, I thought Chris would be the perfect person to ask about the racing experience in both Europe and North America.

Is racing really different in Europe and America? James: To the English mind, NASCAR is a bit like watching a traffic jam on the M25, it’s the same thing except they might be going a bit faster. Just cause all the cars are close together and lots of them. It doesn’t make it a race, it makes it a traffic jam! We don’t quite get that. But then the Americans they look at a Formula One race and go “Well that’s not a race, it’s a procession!” And they’re right too. So I think we’ve both got it wrong and we’ve got to learn off each other and make it a bit better. Chris: The style of [sportscar] racing is actually very similar. There are always subtle differences in the way the racing is, but to be quite honest, most of the drivers and teams, and actually the cars, are folks that we race against regularly. So I would say that it’s really just the cultural pit lane dynamics probably more than anything else.”

What are the pit lane dynamics like? Chris: I’d say generally speaking the paddock layout is probably the biggest difference. In most of the overseas races, the garages are all cloistered around pit lane – so there’s a little more bifurcation between the teams and the fans. Whereas, as you can see here in the US you’re kind of at one with the audience and the teams are not separated by physical buildings. Everyone has their truck and their awning, but it’s just a little more intimate. I think that probably lends itself to just the way the paddock dynamic is…teams generally are very helpful to each other, but I think that in America everybody is a little more spread out and it’s a little bit more communal, just by the very physical structures.

James was a little less political in his answer, noting, “In Europe they like to think they are [better/more competitive], but they’re generally just more unpleasant in the paddock… In the US they’ll do everything to get you in the show and help, whereas in Europe ‘Ha, ha look at that – fancy turning up no parts, you think you’re getting in here today!’” What about the fans? Because of the paddock set-up, there is easier interaction with drivers and teams in the US…but when it comes down to their motorsports fiber… Chris: I would say generally speaking the road racing fan is very much the same [between US and Europe] -the level of interest, the passion, the depth of knowledge, the enthusiasm. I would say, generally speaking, that birds of a feather flock together and folks that come out to see prototype sports cars race in the US are very, very similar people to the folks that you’re going to see overseas. The same level of fervent interest and engagement, with us and the cars – it’s really inspiring to see that maybe the accents are different but the interest and the love of the sport is the same.

It sounds to me like the main point here narrows down to events vs. enthusiasts. As James put it, “In Europe you get a huge crowd at Le Mans, Henley, Ascot – you get a huge crowd because it is an event. But out of those, only a small percent are real enthusiasts.” The events are very different…but when you narrow it down to enthusiasts, like the ones who follow sports car racing, we’re all one and the same. Speedweek comes to mind, with people from all over the US as well as internationally coming to attempt to set land speed records. The gathering really demonstrates that a gearhead is a gearhead…no matter where they come from or how much money their racing team has – it is purely the pursuit of speed they’re after.

Getting to chat with Chris and the Dyson Racing team, demonstrated further – that even in the world of prototype sportscars (where a lot of money is involved), that same passion runs through veins…no matter what flag they’re under. So US vs. Europe on the racetrack? I think it would be like any other race…best said by Dale Earnhardt, “You win some, lose some, wreck some.” -Kristin Cline

If US Raced Europe, Who Would Win?

What Others Are Reading

Recommended For You