Let's Hope "Rush" Is As Much About Victory As It Is About Death

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

The autoblogosphere is abuzz this morning with comments regarding the plain-and-obvious awesomeness of this movie trailer, and rightfully so. What I wonder is this: will the message behind the film be the easy one, or the correct one?

Racing at any level is dangerous. In 2008 I observed two deaths over the course of just five summer races in which I participated, and I was involved in a crash that saw the other driver leave on the LifeFlight and cracked my visor on the “halo bar” of my rollcage even as it bent the frame of my car beyond recovery. No racer knows for sure that he will be home to see his children in the evening. If you want that kind of assurance, stay at home and play Call of Duty.

From the time it started until after the death of Senna, Formula One was far more dangerous than any sporting activity is today. Grand Prix racing claimed lives with a regularity that seemed mechanical and monotonous at times. It was a meat grinder operating for the enjoyment of the fans and the gratification of the teams; a modern gladiatorial match with a traveling Colosseum. The drivers, too, had the individual vitality and presence of gladiators in the arena, shamelessly chasing sensuality and sensation in what they knew could be very short lives.

In our oh-so-enlightened era, where children wear foam helmets to ride tricycles and the sexiness has been methodically drained from sex by an avalanche of demeaning pornography and an abdication of public morality, it is tempting to let the drivers of the pre-Senna era be defined by their titillating excesses or passion or calculation. James Hunt date-raping stewardesses who put up a token fight but really mean “absolutely” when they say “absolutely not”. Didier Pironi betraying Gilles Villeneuve then dying in a powerboat accident. That sort of thing. We expect our modern racers to be coddled little mechanisms, seamless parts of the car, technically flawless and personally unremarkable. It’s gotten to the point where a driver passes his teammate and the world erupts as a consequence.

When you to go see “Rush”, however, keep in mind that the drivers of that or any other era weren’t there to chase tail or play politics or get in the car drunk or manipulate the FIA. They were there for the same reason men (and the occasional lady) have always been on the grid: to race, to compete, to win. It was true in the low-speed but high-risk horse-track races of the pre-WWI era, it was true for James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and it’s true today. It’s a quest that may be ennobled by danger or burnished by glamour, but it is the same for all of that. I hope that this gorgeous new film portrays F1 racing of that era not as some ridiculous bloodsport on the moral level of a FOX Most Deadly Crashes Video , but rather as the true striving for victory that it has always been. Correr, competir, lo llevo en la sangre, es parte de mi, es parte de mi vida.


Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Robert Gordon Robert Gordon on Apr 08, 2013

    "From the time it started until after the death of Senna, Formula One was far more dangerous than any sporting activity is today" F1 Deaths 1950-San Marino 1994 = Roughly one every 17 races. (551 races 32 deaths) Moto GP/500cc - Present day = one every 8 races or so. (794 races 102 deaths) But far more are killed in horse eventing.

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    • Vaujot Vaujot on May 03, 2013

      I wanted to comment on that statement too. Motorcycle racing on the Isle of Man (Tourist Trophy, Manx Grand Prix) definitely is up there in risk and as far as I can tell, not much has changed. To wit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Snaefell_Mountain_Course_fatal_accidents

  • Low_compression Low_compression on Apr 09, 2013

    I recently saw (read?) that of the 33 members of the 1955 Indianapolis 500 grid, over half were dead by the end of the decade. It's unfathomable to think of racing on those terms, today. The real danger of racing is why any racing film shot entirely in CGI falls flat on its face. The viewer needs to be AFRAID as they barrel down the straight at 160+, in the rain, with the rooster tail from the leader right in their face, cutting visibility down to nothing.

  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
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