“Hammer price” of $3.4 million came to $3.74 million with fees

KISSIMMEE, Florida

The “Mona Lisa of Mustangs,” the Highland Green 1968 GT fastback driven by Steve McQueen in the legendary chase scene in the movie “Bullitt,” sold Friday for a record $3.74 million at a Mecum auction event here.

“It’s a record auction price for any Mustang ever sold,” said Dana Mecum, the auction house’s principal. “It is the Mona Lisa of Mustangs.” He added the final transaction price was about 25 percent higher than his pre-sale estimate had been.

Massive, SRO crowd at Osceola Heritage Park (David Newhardt)

“Holy smokes!” said seller Sean Kiernan, a Kentucky horse farmer, whose family bought the car in 1974, in response to a classified ad in Road & Track magazine. “This has been in my family for 45 years. It’s only been sold twice before – for $3,500 each time it sold. That’s what my dad bought it for, so that’s what we started the auction off at. And it went from there.”

Kiernan was offering the all original, rusty, banged-up “pony car” for sale with no reserve.

If it seemed like a gamble to offer it on that basis, the concerns were soon dispelled, as bidding quickly climbed to $2.5 million, then slowly after that to its final “hammer” price, before sales commission and other fees were added. Three bidders who telephoned in their bids slugged it out for the right to own arguably the most iconic Mustang of all time.

Who bought it? Who knows.

The identity of the winning bidder was not immediately disclosed. Mecum said he had no idea what the new owner intended to do with the car. “It’s possible that it may never been seen in public again,” Mecum said.

Kiernan, who said his decision to sell was at least partially motivated by concerns over his family’s medical bills, noted that he was unconcerned what happens next to his family’s beloved grocery-getter.

“I feel really good,” Kiernan said. “It topped every expectation I had for it. That will be a number that will be in the record books for a long time.”

Seller Sean Kiernan gets congratulations (Matt Avery)

More than 10 million Mustangs have been produced since the model’s introduction in 1964. By the way, the average value for a ’68 Mustang – in good condition – is about $40,000, according to the Hagerty Price Guide.

But in this case, the value was turbocharged by McQueen himself, who along with three other professional stuntmen, piloted the car in the 10-minute chase sequence through the hilly streets of San Francisco. McQueen crunched the left front fender when he plowed, unscripted, into a parked car during filming. The fender still bears the scars. (The shot stayed in the movie, along with another gaffe, when he missed a turn and had to back up.)

Kiernan’s father happily bought the car with all the dings and dents that were left unrepaired after the movie wrapped. “He just wanted a ’68 fastback,” Sean Kiernan explained.

It also still sported a spate of performance modifications that McQueen had commissioned, to help its 390-cubic inch V8 keep up with a more powerful 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 that it dueled with in the chase.

McQueen, who died of cancer in 1980, tried to re-acquire the car; in 1977, he tracked the Bob Kiernan down and wrote him a plaintive personal letter, pleading to buy it back. But the family retained it and used it as an errand-runner until its clutch gave out a few years later. It had mostly been in storage, and out of public view, since then.

Its recent “discovery” had initiated a groundswell of interest in the collecting car world. Ford Motor Company had proudly put the car on display the past year or so, alongside modern “Bullitt Mustang” homage models it had produced, that were inspired by the original.

An example of the “McQueen factor” in pushing the battered half-century-old Mustang’s sales price to record levels came a few lots after the Bullitt “hero car”was sold: That’s when the actual 1957 Plymouth Fury from the movie “Christine” was rolled onto the auction stage. This is a bonafide star car, in its own right. But bidding only made it to $250,000 for the immaculate red convertible, before the owner gave up and decided to cancel the sale.

Jerry Garrett

January 10, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McQueen himself, along with three other professional stuntmen, had piloted the car in the 10-minute chase sequence through the hilly streets of San Francisco. McQueen crunched the left front fender when he plowed, unscripted, into a parked car during filming. The fender still bears the scars.

 

Kiernan’s father happily bought the car with all the dings and dents that were left unrepaired after the movie wrapped. “He just wanted a ’68 fastback,” Sean Kiernan explained.

 

It still featured a spate of performance modifications that McQueen commissioned, to help its 390-cubic inch V8 keep up with a more powerful 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 that it dueled with in the chase.

 

McQueen, who died of cancer in 1980, tried to re-acquire the car in 1977, when he tracked the Bob Kiernan down. Despite a personal letter from McQueen, pleading for Kiernan to sell it, the family retained it and used it as an errand-runner until its clutch gave out a few years later. It had mostly been in storage, and out of public view, since then.

 

Its recent “discovery” had initiated a groundswell of interest in the collecting car world. Ford Motor Company had proudly put the car on display the past year or so, alongside modern “Bullitt Mustang” homage models it had produced, that were inspired by the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together Forever (Warner Bros.)

HOLLYWOOD

In the celebrated 10-minute car chase in the 1968 movie, “Bullitt”, it has been generally accepted that two Ford Mustang fastbacks and two Dodge Charger R/Ts were used – and used up – in the filming.

In the 50 years since, car collectors and the legions of fans of the cult-fave movie, and its star Steve McQueen, have been trying to figure out what happened to those cars. Even McQueen himself tried to track down one of the Mustangs, in the years prior to his death from mesothelioma-caused lung cancer in 1980.

Initially, it seemed as though the cars were junked. But information has come out in recent years that at least a couple may still be around. And it has also come out that more of them once existed than previously known.

In fact, a stuntman who worked on the movie, Loren Janes, said in a 2011 interview that there were originally three Mustangs and three Chargers purchased for the filming of the legendary chase.

“We had three identical green 1968 Ford Mustang fastbacks and three black Dodge Chargers in the movie,” Janes told Marc Myers, a Wall Street Journal reporter. “Many writers have said two, but there were three of each. We needed the extra cars in case one was damaged. The movie’s shooting schedule can’t be slowed for dents and things like that.”

Janes, the last living Bullitt stuntman, died in 2017 at age 85. He told Myers that he, McQueen and Bud Ekins, who died in 2007, took turns driving the Mustangs (Ekins also had duty crashing a motorcycle in the sequence); Bill Hickman, who passed in 1986, drove the Chargers.

“Fortunately we only had to use a second Mustang once when the first Mustang had to go in to be fixed up,” Janes recalled.

Loren Janes at the wheel of Bullitt No. 2

So, that means there was a third Mustang that was never used?

Janes said that was his understanding. “Ford Motor Company had supplied them,” he said. “There were three of them. The second one didn’t get wrecked, so the third one didn’t have to be used.”

McQueen’s company, Solar Productions, sold two of the Mustangs, according to recollections of others and paperwork that has survived. But there is no other information on a third Mustang.

Ekins slides motorcycle past Hickman (Charger) & Janes

A heavily damaged Mustang turned up, incredibly, in a Mexican junkyard a few years ago. It was verified by its serial number on Solar paperwork. Someone acquired it who promised to restore it.

The best-known vehicle in the chase sequence was the so-called “hero car” driven by McQueen. It had largely disappeared until recently, when a Kentucky horse farmer revealed he had it – having inherited it from his father, who had acquired it (via a Road & Track magazine classified ad) in 1974.

That’s the Bullitt Mustang auctioned by Mecum on Jan. 10.

What about the Chargers? Janes believed two of the Chargers were junked; there’s no doubt at least one of them was: It was intentionally blown up in a gas station at the end of the chase sequence.

Here’s hoping they took the CDW option.

In 2013, a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440, purported to be one of those used in the movie, turned up on the Bring-A-Trailer online auction site (asking price: $1 million). The seller, Arnold Welch, claimed he found it in rough condition in Arizona about a decade ago. It was partially authenticated by production photos that showed cameras had been mounted in spots that this Charger had holes, or repaired holes, under the carpets, in door panels, and in the trunk.

It is harder to determine the provenance of the Chargers, because it doesn’t seem like anyone kept track of their vehicle identification numbers (VINs), as had been done with two of the Mustangs.

Anecdotally, the real Bullitt Chargers all may have been purchased by Hickman from a Dodge dealer in Glendale, California. One was blue (blown up in the gas station), another was yellow; both were re-painted black. Was the mysterious third one black already? Not sure.

The yellow Charger apparently was repainted yellow; it reportedly ended up going back to the dealership it originally came from, and was sold to an unsuspecting customer. That’s the car – painted a third time in gold – that supposedly ended up in Arizona.

The unrestored Mustang hero car and the restored Arizona Charger were invited to appear together at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2018, which turned out to be a rather cool photo op, even if the cars were never driven as fast as they had been in the film.

So, that leaves the car collecting community to wonder: Is there another “Bullitt” Mustang somewhere out there? If there is, it might be difficult to prove its authenticity; no one seems to have a record of its serial number.

Jerry Garrett

January 9, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 660+ acres

INDIANAPOLIS

So the family business that owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is selling it, at this time, over its stated concern about “stewardship”. The dictionary definition of that term is “overseeing and protecting something considered worth caring for and preserving.” The speedway certainly fits that description.

But what has the concept of “stewardship” looked like, over the 110 years the speedway has been in existence? The burden of running the place has previously been borne on the shoulders of young, ambitious men.

To wit:

Carl Fisher

Eddie Rickenbacker

Tony Hulman

Carl Fisher was 35 when he opened the speedway, He owned it 18 years, until he was 53.

Eddie Rickenbacker was 37 when he bought the property from Fisher. Rickenbacker kept it for 19 years, until he was 56.

In 1945, when he was 44, Tony Hulman bought it. He kept it going until his death in 1977, at age 76, at which time it passed to his heirs. All told, the Hulman George family held on to the speedway for 75 years.

Enter Roger Penske, who is 82.

In passing the torch of leadership to a new owner, Tony George, head of the Hulman George ownership group, says the question of “stewardship” going forward is now settled.

Really?

For how long? Something to think about.

Jerry Garrett

December 1, 2019

 

 

 

The first Infiniti, the Q45, went on sale 30 years ago today

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona

Infiniti, the luxury brand of the Japanese automaker Nissan, celebrated its 30th birthday here, with look back at its past, a summation of its present state, and a glimpse into its future.

“It was November 8, 1989 that Infiniti was born,” said Mike Colleran, its global leader. “Today is the day the brand opened its showroom doors and sold the first Q45.”

Colleran, who just took over the reins at Infiniti earlier this year, said he was working for another automaker then. “I wasn’t exactly sure what Infiniti was,” he noted, “but I was pretty sure they were spelling it wrong.”

Infiniti was intended to re-define the concept of automotive luxury, but frankly, Infiniti couldn’t even really define itself back then.

An advertising campaign meant to grab attention was instead roundly mocked for showing images of flowing water, raindrops, plants and birds – but not the car itself.

“We still hear about those ads,” Colleran said. “But they must have worked, because people are still talking about them 30 years later.”

The Q45’s simple styling also came in for some criticism as bland, generic and odd – particularly in regards to its grille-less front end treatment. It was rather hurriedly redesigned to include a grille – although it had no purpose (most grilles at the time facilitated engine cooling, but the Q45 was designed not to need that).

Its 4.5-liter V8 should have been a selling point, especially since its 278-horsepower output made it the fastest sedan on the market at the time. But the company decided it was too powerful, and dialed back its performance in subsequent models.

For a time, Infiniti seemed to struggle to find its niche, even as Lexus, the Toyota luxury equivalent, had been launched at the same time to immediate success.

The model line was slowly fleshed out with smaller M-Class siblings, and the QX4 sports utility vehicle (a gussied-up Nissan Pathfinder). And little by little, Infiniti caught on.

Today, Infiniti has strengthened its identity, and distinguished itself further apart from Nissan. Its sedans and sports coupes are known for their sleek styling, powerful performance and refined luxury. Their SUVs pack power and all-terrain capability into a commanding road presence. Technologically, Infiniti separates itself from its competitors with innovations such as its unique variable-compression ratio engine, which maximizes performance and fuel economy as needed.

The company, however, seems to be in constant motion – it moved its global headquarters to Hong Kong under one leader, but now is moving it back to Yokohama under another. It tries to distance itself from Nissan, only to realize the synergies that are beneficial with closer integration. It launched in markets, like Europe, it has now withdrawn from.

For the foreseeable future, Infiniti sees its strengths in North America, the Middle East and China.

For the future, Infiniti faces more change and re-definition.

Colleran said electrification will transform Infiniti in the near future, into a brand that leverages hybrid gasoline and electric technologies.

In showing off some of the future concepts Infiniti is considering, it was pointed out the electric vehicles don’t have front grilles – just like the original Q45.

Maybe, like the strange ads that people haven’t forgotten, Infiniti was on to something.

Jerry Garrett

November 8, 2019

 

 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS Museum)

INDIANAPOLIS

Roger Penske, the former racer turned billionaire entrepreneur, stunned the sporting world today when

Roger Penske

he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IndyCar Racing series, which includes the famed Indianapolis 500-mile race, and related businesses.

The purchase price was not announced.

The speedway, the famed “Brickyard”, had been owned since 1946 by the family of Anton “Tony” Hulman, a Terre Haute, Indiana, businessman who rescued the dormant property after World War II. The Hulmans, and later the George family which is related by marriage, have also been involved in sanctioning the IndyCar Racing series since the 1990s. The Hulman heirs recently sold the family’s other core business, Clabber Girl Baking Powder, for $80 million.

Penske, 82, developed an interest in sports car racing as a young man in the 1960s, and made quite a name for himself, winning races and a championship in 1962. But he suddenly retired from his promising driving career – his invitation to race at Indy was taken instead by a young Mario Andretti – to operate the business end of his racing pursuits.

Penske at speed, 1962

From there, Penske built a racing empire that has enjoyed unparalleled success; today Team Penske includes competitors in IndyCar Racing, NASCAR, sports cars and even Australian stock cars. In the 1970s, he even fielded a rare American entry in Formula 1.

He also acquired stakes in Hertz truck rental (now Penske truck rental), a vast auto dealership group, Detroit Diesel, and, at one time, a collection of speedways – in Michigan, California, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – which he sold in 1999 to International Speedway Corp. He has served as a director and/or board member of General Electric, The Home Depot, and Delphi Automotive, to name but a few hats he has worn in his business career.

A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, got his start in business selling aluminum chicken coop roofs.

Receiving presidential medal

Most recently, Penske was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Despite his steady climb to success in the business world, Penske never lost his love for racing, and he could dependably be found most every weekend calling the shots on his IndyCar and NASCAR teams from the pits.

But with his purchase of the Brickyard, Penske says those days are ending. “I will personally walk the facility tomorrow morning,” he said at a news conference at the speedway, announcing his purchase. “I will sit down with current leadership and get a top-10 to do list, and get to work.”

Although Penske’s announcement took even some in speedway management by surprise – I thought, “It’s too early for April Fool’s” said one when he first heard the news this morning – there had been rumors the speedway might change hands since the death of Hulman’s daughter, Mari George exactly one year ago. Her son Tony George had been actively involved in speedway and racing series management off and on the past 25 years – a turbulent time in the sport.

Penske driver Simon Pagenaud wins 2019 Indy 500 (Jerry Garrett Photo)

Penske said he was committed to keeping and nurturing the core events at the speedway, including the 108-year-old 500-mile race, and the newer Brickyard 400 for NASCAR cars. But he was also open to exploring new racing opportunities, and perhaps even bringing back Formula 1 cars. The speedway underwent a $30 million upgrade to add a Formula 1 road course two decades ago.

“Hopefully I have enough credibility with everyone to understand that this is not a conflict,” Penske said of his continuing interest in entering his racing teams at Indy, where he had won a record 18 500s. “If there is, I know you guys will tell me pretty quick.”

Jerry Garrett

November 4, 2019

 

 

 

My classic Mercedes-Benz 450SL in Italy

VENTIMIGLIA, Italy

Two years ago, I shipped my 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SL from Las Vegas to Italy. The whole process took months – almost five weeks longer than I expected. I chronicled the journey daily in a series of more than 30 blog posts (starting here).

The original idea had been for it to arrive by late May for the Monaco Grand Prix, the ultimate place to show and shine. It didn’t show up until mid-June. I stopped writing about it, after picking it up at the port of Genoa and driving it 110 miles home. It ran flawlessly.

Sitting at the port of Genoa customs depot

So then what happened? (Thanks for asking!)

Plan B was just to drive it around the Italian and French Rivieras and enjoy it as much as possible, even though the original motivation (i.e., Monaco posing) for going through this rather expensive and laborious process was gone. In the back of my mind, I had been hoping I could sell it to some rich racing fan or Monagasque millionaire.

The car was perfect for a Riviera poseur; it was a flashy bright red, with black leather interior and in very nice shape for its age. It evoked scenes in my mind of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly driving around the same roads in 1954 in a Sunbeam Alpine convertible for the movie “To Catch A Thief”.

Screen grab: My Riviera dream, like Grace Kelly & Cary Grant

But my fairy tale was not as enduring.

Ventimiglia is only eight miles down the beach from Monaco. I was worried about the corrosive damage of salt air. So, I rented a space in a two-place garage in the basement of the building where I was living. The property manager assured me that the other space in that garage belonged to a neighbor who “only comes once a year, in August, for a few days.” (Beware of Italians who exaggerate – which is all of them!)

Space Invaders?

Of course, as it turned out the neighbor was around much more than that. All summer, in fact. And he complained – in an anguished note left on my windshield – that my little Mercedes was “troppo largo”. Compared to say a Fiat 500, okay, the Mercedes is rather huge.

Although I moved my car as close to the wall as I could, and worked with the property manager to paint a blue line down the middle of the garage to delineate our respective spaces, that was not good enough for the neighbor. He (or she) continued to complain to the manager, even though I never saw him (or her) or their car.

I didn’t know what else I could do. I tried ignoring the unpleasant situation.

On my side of the blue line

A short while later, the Mercedes started running oddly. Black or brown smoke trailed from it, at times. It became harder and harder to start, until it finally wouldn’t. The garage was too cold and too dark to do any work on the car. Getting a battery charger to it was a chore. I tried pushing it out of the garage to the street, but it was a nightmare negotiating such a heavy car (with no power steering) out of the tight basement and up the ramp. Outside, it was almost impossible to work on, parked on the street. Street parking is vigilantly regulated, and now it was also exposed to the dreaded elements.

Knowing something about cars mechanically, I nevertheless tried to troubleshoot it. With only a few tools, I cleaned the fuel lines, and ordered a new fuel pump and fuel filter online – because it didn’t seem like fuel was getting from the tank to the engine. All that helped me get it started long enough to get it around the corner, into a parking spot, off the street. But it went no farther.

“Il motore è morto”

In Italy, if there’s an off-street parking spot, you can bet somebody claims to own it. And someone did. It took quite a bit of negotiating, and several translators to get the owner (who didn’t actually even own a car) to agree to let me leave the car until I could find a mechanic to help me get it running again.

That proved to be a tough task. First, this was Italy, not Germany, and virtually no one works on Mercedes in Italy. (Mercedes parts are equally tough to find, especially for classics). Second, good luck finding anyone still active as a mechanic who works on 45-year-old cars of any kind; vintage cars are a very rare luxury in Italy. Third, if you could find a mechanic – which I did! – the logistics of getting it there would prove too much.

The mechanic had a shop in Monaco. Although only eight miles away, it would take three tow trucks, stopping, unloading and loading with a carefully choreographed rendevous at each border to get it there. Plus, there are language barriers as formible as the physical ones. And, anything that involves Monaco is going to be a big-ticket tab.

“Nessun parcheggio qui”

I explored the idea of just shipping it back home; but, surprise, surprise, the cost of shipping it back was three times what it cost to ship to Italy in the first place.

“There is a lot more stuff coming from Italy to the U.S. than vice versa,” said the shipping supervisor. “We can bring cargo back much more cheaply, because the U.S. doesn’t ship as much out of the country anymore.” (Thanks Trump?)

With my year in Italy rapidly coming to a close, and no solution in sight, I was becoming desperate. I was about ready to leave the keys in it, with the doors unlocked and a note on the windshield, “Free to a good home.” (Insurance fraud was suggested to me, but I couldn’t go through with such a thing!) I was leaving for America in a matter of days.

Ready to be abandoned, under the parasol pines

But then a friend in the classic car auction business came to my rescue. He lived in northern Italy, near Milan.

“I will send someone to pick it up,” he said. “We will get it running, and offer it for sale at one of our auctions, and give your proceeds to you after we take out our commission, and the cost of any repairs.”

Of course, I gratefully said, “Si, grazie mille!”

I left the keys with my property manager and departed.

Last look: Farewell, My Lovely

The problems were not solved. Weeks passed before anyone could pick it up. I wondered if it was still there. My friend finally contacted me with quite a bit of complicated paperwork that needed to be completed before he could sell it. More time passed.

“We cannot make the car run,” he notified me, some months later. “Do you have any idea what has happened to it?”

My hunch had always been that the neighbor had done something to it. But there was no evidence; I couldn’t prove anything.

“Maybe someone has put something in the gas tank?” I suggested.

“Sabbotaggio?” he answered incredulously. I told him the story, and he said he would check.

Heading to an uncertain fate

More months went by, and finally the friend contacted me and said the car still could not be started. But he had found a buyer. The man was from Germany and he thought he could fix it; he had spare parts that he could try – including a new gas tank, which he figured was the culprit.

Good news, all things considered, but the bad news was the amount of money I would gain was basically the price of my beloved classic rendered as scrap.

This was a better deal than abandoning it, for sure. So I took the money. The story ends.

Lesson learned? Ship only myself to Italy from now on!

(P.S. I never heard if the car ever got running again.)

Jerry Garrett

October 22, 2019

 

The ruins of Petra, a city carved into the rocks. (Jerry Garrett Photos)

PETRA, Jordan

Petra is an area of spectacular ruins of a 4,000-year-old civilization that has since vanished. It has been designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the modern world. Archaeologists have been swarming over the area for nearly 200 years, since its re-discovery by the outside world, trying to unlock its mysteries and unearth its lost secrets.

Archaeologists now believe they have already discovered most everything there is to find at Petra; the last major find came in the 1990s. The site also has been heavily looted, over the centuries since its original inhabitants cleared out.

Ancient Petra at right, modern Petra left background

But we think we may have found something, even though none of us has ever set foot here before.

“We” is a small group of explorers, adventurers and a noted archaeologist invited here by Infiniti, the luxury car maker. Infiniti’s interest in activities like this comes from an enthusiastic bunch of its executives, who belong to The Explorers Club, a society formed in 1904 to further responsible scientific exploration and field study. Explorers of historical note include the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Prince Albert of Monaco, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Sir Edmund Hillary, Charles Lindbergh and Indiana Jones (just kidding about that last one, but you get the idea).

The Infiniti folks think their vehicles are an especially good fit for explorers, or wannabes like our group, with a sense of adventure. Last year, Infiniti sponsored an expedition to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert to look for dinosaur bones (which they found). This does not seem like an unreasonable niche for Infiniti’s 4-wheel-drive vehicles like its QX50 and QX80 SUVs.

Exploring in style

Our group has something of an ace in the hole: Archaeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak, a National Geographic Explorer from the University of Alabama-Birmingham (alma mater of Infiniti exec Trevor Hale), who is pioneering a new field of study using satellite images to scour historic sites for overlooked treasures. She is the author of a new book on the subject, “Archaeology From Space”.

An archaeologist’s satellite “treasure map”

Dr. Parcak thinks she has spotted something, via satellite images, in the hills away from Petra’s tourist-infested, combed over main archaeological sites. Something that may have eluded notice by earlier explorers because of its relative inaccessibility.

“It may be a temple, it may be nothing,” Dr. Parcak says. “But the satellite images show some kind of area of interest.”

“It has right angles, and archaeologists know right angles like that don’t occur naturally,” Mr. Hale notes.

As we trek past the world-famous tombs and ruins carved into Petra’s distinctive red rock cliffs, the temperature is increasing rapidly toward a forecast high of 105.

Up early, sharing the commute with local traffic.

Good thing we started before dawn. Now, only a handful of tourists are present, but later, the hordes will arrive – on foot, on horses, mules, camels and quads.

The SUVs were only allowed to bring us to within about two miles of our goal; the site is heavily regulated these days, to protect what few artifacts besides the empty structures remain.

Open concept: Caves, thousands of years old, still lived in.

We hike up and down rugged hills which are crisscrossed with trails traversed by modern Bedouin tribesmen and their donkeys. As remote as this location is, in one of the most foreboding deserts on Earth, there is a disturbing amount of trash: plastic bottles, aluminum cans, snack wrappers and the like. Maybe we aren’t the first visitors.

Despite the arid, treeless terrain, people still live in these rocks – in caves and cliff dwellings they’ve carved out. They eye us suspiciously, as they make small fires with twigs to heat up samovars for morning tea.

This is a tough climb for an automotive journalist, who is usually hard-pressed to hike from one free buffet to the next. But, after an hour, exhausted, we reach the site Dr. Parcak is seeing in person for the first time. It is on a hilltop, raked by parching desert winds.

Foundations remain of a temple thousands of years old.

“Yes, this could have been a small temple of some kind,” she says with a sense of accomplishment. She takes measurements, and makes notes. An extensive stone floor is visible, but whatever walls and roof there might have been seem to be long gone. “There were pillars,” she points out. It appears remnants of at least two of them are still around.

The nomadic Nabataen people probably built this place between 2,000-4,000 years ago. They’re long gone – probably conquered by and assimilated into legions of Greco-Roman invaders – but they’ve left a rich archaeological history in Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (we are just a few miles from the border) to explore and learn from. Archaeologists consider the Nabataens “one of the most gifted people of the ancient world.”

Dr. Sarah Parcak surveys the site.

Dr. Parcak’s work has just begun here, as she will map and catalog everything she can identify in the area. She and others are likely to return and continue their work on later expeditions, now that she has confirmed something of historical value has been located. I found a small pottery shard, which might be a Nabataen artifact thousands of years old, or just a piece of a broken Bedouin clay pot from last week.

Except for Dr. Parcak, the adventure is ending for the rest of our group, as our goal has been attained. We are lucky; generations of archaeologists may scour this area without finding anything of historical interest. We came, we saw, we left in air-conditioned vehicles.

It was one of the more interesting adventures I can recall for people in our profession, who usually are usually entertained with fuel mileage calculations, 0-60 times, and skid pad g-forces. This is an intriguing new idea for positioning Infiniti in a genre that might have once been the sole purview of long-storied off-roaders like Land Rover.

Treasure? Or trash?

(The vehicles we used here have been souped up for the Middle Eastern market, where they are driven at higher speeds, on miserable roads, in brutal heat and through sandstorms of Biblical proportions.)

It feels like cheating, in a way, to use satellites, apps like Google Earth, airplanes and drones to do some of the hard work of identifying lost sites, and sophisticated vehicles like the posh QX80 to get to them. But Dr. Parcak says it opens the scientific community to whole new possibilities of discovery.

“Armchair archaeology” some people call it. I say, “To Infiniti and beyond!”

Jerry Garrett

October 20, 2019

 

CEDAR CITY, Utah

We recently spent a very enjoyable week test-driving a box-stock 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport 4X4 around the colorful countryside in southern Utah.

This is an area where the paved roads don’t always lead to where you want them to go, so improvisation is often in order. In other words: Jeep Country.

When we headed off-road, I was reminded of something the late Mickey Thompson, who once raced a Cadillac in Baja, told me: “The longer the wheelbase, the flatter the bumps become.” The Gladiator, with its 137.3-inch wheelbase, did an admirable job of flattening the bumps – off-road and on.

One of the best features of the Gladiator is its base price: $33,545. Of course, it is very easy to content-up that amount considerably with all the options available. But with the base model, the essentials are there: the 285-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 with 260 pound-feet of torque, air conditioning, 17-inch wheels and all-season tires, full-size spare, part-time four-wheel-drive, etc. The list also includes some welcome amenities such as a backup camera, tilt wheel and a full suite of safety and stability aids. A cloth top is standard; it’s a lot of fun to play with all the open-air options, and even romp around with the removable doors off.

What you also get on the base model are old-school hand-crank windows, manual door locks and a six-speed manual transmission.

Normally I would award plus points for the manual – my preferred way to motor – but, man was this one a lot of work. I can’t imagine coping with this setup in traffic, or any kind of urban driving.

The Aisin D478 manual helps make the truck faster 0-to-60 mph (but so does nearly 500 pounds less curb weight in this configuration). I also briefly drove an early production Gladiator with an eight-speed automatic, with much closer ratios; I thought that was a much more harmonious marriage for the V6’s horsepower and torque.

In layman’s terms, the manual has more gears than it needs (I once said this about the six-speed 208-mph Dodge Viper too). You spend most of your time in first, second and third – wondering why you need the other three gears. That’s largely because first is good up to 31 mph, second handles speeds up to 60, and third can top out at 103 – which is probably faster than you want to drive this trucklet on the road. Much less off of it.

It is possible to opt for a 4.10:1 axle ratio (available in higher-priced trim packages), which lowers shift top speeds by about 10 percent over the stock 3.73:1 gearing. But even then, it seemed the gear spacing didn’t seem natural, and the truck often seemed to bog down, especially between second and third. And because of the way this setup is geared, those are your go-to gears.

The clutch travel also drove me to distraction; you keep letting it out, and out, and…until it finally engages. The shifter needs long, industrial-strength throws, reminiscent of a school bus I once drove, to row through the gears. I stalled it an embarrassing number of times during the week I had it; perhaps with more time, I would become more used to it.

If you have passengers, you often find yourself assuring them, “I actually do know how to drive a stick.”

So, between the wearying operation of the clutch, the shifter and the number of gears, I found myself longing for the idiot-proof eight-speed automatic.

The automatic would seem to be the better choice, even for trailer towing. Torque is skewed more toward top end speeds, than low end, which seems counter-intuitive. In fact, the as-tested acceleration times, with a 4,000-pound trailer, more than doubles, 0-60, from 7.9 to 15.9 seconds.

For early buyers of the Gladiator, the gas-powered V6 was the only choice. But the much-anticipated 3.0-liter EcoDiesel, and even a 2.0-liter turbo-four, were due to be later options.

The added oomph from the torquey diesel might be worth the wait.

Overall: If you love the Wrangler, despite these caveats, you’ll easily find room in your heart for the Gladiator.

Jerry Garrett

October 19, 2019

Buick nameplate is nowhere to be found on the 2019 Regal

(Note: A shorter version of this story appeared September 19, 2019 in The New York Times)

DETROIT

Buick dealers are now selling Buick-less Buicks.

It’s true: As of the 2019 model year, the Buick name has been removed from all its North American models. In China, where Buick claims most of its sales these days, the “Buick” badge disappeared years ago.

Why? Company leaders decided the name “Buick” carried more baggage than one of its station wagons.

60-yr-old Tri-shield logo

The feeling is apparently that, after 115 years in business, the “Buick” name has become saddled an “old-fogey” image from which today’s company thinks it must distance itself; it wants to be thought of as a thoroughly modern “attainable luxury” vehicle in a class with Acura, Infiniti, Lincoln and Lexus, a notch below premium offering, Cadillac.

The company has gone so far as to produce advertisements that explicitly distance it from the Buick name. “That’s not a Buick” spots were placed in high-profile slots, such as during the Super Bowl, to more emphatically drive home the point.

There’s not much about today’s “Buick” that is uniquely Buick anyway.

It’s more of a marketing arm of G.M.

Buick, the brand, ceased to be an “automobile manufacturer” after 2010 when General Motors shuttered its vast “Buick City” manufacturing complex in Flint, Michigan. That was where pureblood Buick vehicles, Buick engines, and Buick-specific parts had been produced for more than a century. Buick City had, at one time, been the largest auto factory in the world.

Since then, Buick dealers’ lots have been filled with a mélange of vehicles scrounged from other G.M. brands such as Opel, Holden and Daewoo; these models were merely re-badged as Buicks. So-called badge-engineering is a tried-and-failed G.M. strategy that’s been credited with helping mightily to dilute the DNA of Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac models and sabotage those brands.

Future “Buick”?

Today’s Buick-less Buicks do still carry a stylized version of the brand’s “Tri-shield” logo, which was introduced to highlight its stylish, but ill-fated 1959 Electra, Invicta and LeSabre models. The absence of Buick lettering today does leave room for the new “Avenir” badge, which the company has recently introduced as a “sub-brand” suggesting a higher level of luxury. Some auto analysts feel Buick could eventually transition fully to the Avenir name.

Buick is America’s oldest continuous automotive brand, and the rock upon which General Motors was built more than a century ago. But it now bears no resemblance to the design, engineering, styling and manufacturing juggernaut founded in 1904 by the all-but-forgotten David Dunbar Buick. (He was squeezed out a few years later, leaving with one share of stock.) Interestingly, Oldsmobile was founded earlier, but shuttered by G.M. in 2001 despite comparatively robust sales near a quarter million a year. Pontiac and Saturn were also cancelled while selling at North American volumes higher than Buick is now; they did not survive GM’s bankruptcy in 2009.

When a Buick was a Buick (GM Heritage Archive)

If not for the fortuitous and serendipitous level of esteem in which the Buick name was held in China – Communist Party leaders once favored lavishly appointed Buick land yachts of the post WWII years – it’s likely the brand would have been shut down when Buick City was.

But a spokeswoman, Michelle Malcho, says the Buick division soldiers on, still in the black despite falling sales, largely due to sales of high-margin sport utility vehicles and crossovers.

This calendar year, thanks to a spate of discounts, dealers and incentives of 20 percent off MSRP and more, Buick sales in the United States might surge near 2018’s 219,000 units. (Buick’s North American sales are a fraction of GM’s Chevrolet and GMC Truck volumes, although more than Cadillac.) But it’s been a margin-depleting struggle to reach that level.

Meanwhile in China, where it’s said that Buick’s comparatively Spartan modern offerings have sullied its storied reputation for bodacious Eisenhower-era luxury (thus, the disappearance of the “Buick” nameplate there), sales volumes have been dropping ominously. In 2016 and 2017, Buick and its partner SAIC Motor of Shanghai sold 1,229,804 and 1,227,518 units, respectively. Last year, sales fell significantly to 1,057,452; even lower totals – perhaps in the mid-800,000 range – are expected by the end of 2019.

The first Buick, designer Walter Marr driving with Tom Buick, David’s son (GM Heritage)

Another dilemma: Buick is running out of “cars”. Buick just killed off its flagship LaCrosse sedan – a re-badged Opel Insignia – and the Opel-sourced Cascada convertible; G.M. sold off its Opel division two years ago, cutting off the source for many of its badge-engineered Buicks. Its last car, the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Regal sedan (now also offered in hatchback and wagon variants) is dated, and in need of a costly re-design. Less than 6,000 Regals are likely to be sold in 2019 – an unsustainable volume.

Separated at birth:

Insignia & LaCrosse

If an affordable Regal replacement can’t be found, Ms. Malcho conceded, Buick will probably cancel it too, thus exiting the “car” side of the business – at least in America – an ironic outcome for a brand that, in its first century, principally sold cars. (Through WWI, Buick’s lineup did include some delivery wagons, ambulances, buses, and trucks.)

“Ninety percent of our sales are now in SUVs and crossovers,” Ms. Malcho said. Buick’s flagship Enclave, produced in G.M.’s Lansing plant alongside the largely similar GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse, is enjoying improved sales this year, after a down year in 2018. Sales of the Chinese-built Envision are flat, year-over-year, but down considerably from volumes in recent years. The tiny Korea-sourced Encore line of crossovers is up slightly this year, and hoping for a boost from an upcoming variant, the GX.

(In China, Buick sales include cars and SUVs made specifically for that market.)

Ms. Malcho pushed back on any suggestion that the division might be facing any existential crisis. “We see dynamic changes, certainly, but we see opportunities for growth,” she said. “The company is uniquely suited and well positioned for today’s global automotive market.”

Its unique role, as a company doing significant business in both China and America, also exposes Buick to unique challenges too. Trade wars, currency fluctuations and uncertainty over tariffs threaten Buick from both directions, like a whipsaw.

Early existential crisis: Fancy 1959 models flopped

John Murphy, senior auto analyst for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, predicted in his annual “Car Wars” industry outlook (released in June), that besides headwinds related to a worsening China trade war, the Chinese market is over-saturated anyway. He foresees a further 7.5 percent sales drop this year – beyond the dip that started in 2018. Most recently, other analysts have suggested the “recession” in the Chinese auto market is rapidly accelerating into “depression”; the reason most often cited for the slowdown: Chinese consumers just aren’t that excited about the current offerings.

The kinds of Buicks that China wanted, versus the ones it is getting

Mr. Murphy sees downward sales pressures for the worldwide auto industry – down a further 30 percent from current levels by 2022. That might tempt automakers to engage in ruinous price wars, as they did in 2007-2009, in an attempt to maintain volume and market share, he noted. (See: Buick, 2019)

In fact, chief financial officers from Ford and G.M. have prepared for dire scenarios – an automotive perfect storm – in the near term. So they are stockpiling capital, rationing resources, deferring expenditures and re-directing sales strategies to lower priced models. Labor unrest and strikes in the U.S. have also advanced to the front burner.

But Mr. Murphy also suggested, to stay competitive, manufacturers need to speed up – not slow down – new vehicle intros from 4-5 years or even longer, to every to 2.5 years. “A lot of good, fresh product,” he added, is needed to sustain demand. So, that’s an area where Buick will also be challenged, as G.M.’s strategy has been to save costs by stretching out model lifespans an extra year or two, if they can get away with it.

The Envision – first Chinese-made Buick exported to US (Buick)

Crossovers and trucks currently account for 70 percent of new vehicle introductions, Murphy observed, with crossover nameplates expected to grow to almost 150 by the 2023 model years – 25 percent more than trucks or cars. That could create overcrowding in the genre, but Ms. Malcho felt Buick’s relatively early entry to the crossover genre bolsters it as an established player.

Regardless, Mr. Murphy said, “When you think of the profitability of crossovers, the market could quickly fade and erode to where passenger car profits have been more recently. There’s a real significant risk of overcrowding in the market. They’ve been very supportive of profitability for the industry. The industry really needs to be ready to recognize it’s going to be a tough time in the future.”

None of this is good news for planners at China-centric Buick, of course.

The silver lining, Mr. Murphy added, could come in 2023 when he sees the survivors of this approaching carmageddon enjoying “a strong recovery.”

The question becomes, however, will the Buick-less Buick, or Avenir, be able to chug along that long, or run out of gas?

Jerry Garrett

September 19, 2019

 

2019 Best of Show at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.

The winner of the prestigious, highly coveted Best of Show honor at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was a one-of-a-kind 1931 Bentley Sports Tourer. It won because, well… of course, it did.

Let’s say this Bentley had a few things going for it: Bentley was celebrating 100 years since its founding. Bentley was also this year’s “Featured Marque” at the world renown classic car beauty contest. And, it was also interesting to note: The car’s owner is kind of a “local”.

Never mind that a Bentley had won “Best of Show”, only once – in 1965 – since the concours’ inception in 1950. Never mind that this Bentley was not among the pre-event favorites, as selected by automotive journalists in attendance. Never mind that it wasn’t even the pre-event favorite among the six special classes of Bentleys entered this year.

This long-shot selection had the aroma of home cookin’ about it.

The car is owned by The Honorable Sir Michael Kadoorie, 78, Hong Kong’s eighth richest individual, with a fortune estimated at nearly $8 billion. He owns about a sixth of the power company that supplies most of Hong Kong’s electrical needs, and a little less than half of the hotel ownership group that controls the Peninsula Hotel chain. He also owns the Quail Lodge Golf Club, in nearby Carmel, which also hosts a large car show for motorsports enthusiasts a few days before the exclusive concours on the Pebble Beach golf links. Together, the two events help act as bookends for nearly a full week of celebration of the history and heritage of classic automobiles.

Sir Michael’s Peninsula property in Hong Kong offers VIP limo service for its guests, in classic Rolls Royce cars. He himself, not surprisingly, is an avid classic car lover, with a discerning collection of unknown size. He acquired the Bentley in 2010, in the middle of an unfinished four-year restoration process, which he duly oversaw to completion.

“The Centennial of Bentley may have played a role in this award,” conceded Mr. Kadoorie, “but the 8 Litre is the ultimate W. O. Bentley–era automobile.” His particular car is fitted with a custom body by coachbuilder Gurney Nutting. Only one other similarly accoutered Bentley 8 Litre was ever made; however, its owner decided to have it re-bodied as a Rolls-Royce, for an indiscernible reason. That leaves Mr. Kadoorie’s version the only other extant.

“This is the car that represents Bentley at its finest,” he added, “and I have been very fortunate to have a car that has this elegance and finish, and that the Pebble Beach Concours feels is worthy.”

Finalist: 1936 Mercedes-Benz

The process for selecting a couple hundred cars for entry each year in the Pebble Beach pageant is very exacting. The field “turns over” every year, as both losers and winners go home. “We generally do not allow cars to return to our show field within a ten-year period,” organizers advise. A new array of entrants is chosen for each successive year, and so the process goes, for 69 years now.

Entrants have been known to plow many hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring their vehicles to showroom condition. So many of the competitors are keen to see a return on investment that comes with winning awards – which are given not only for overall achievement, but also in dozens of individual classes. It is not uncommon for one year’s winners to cross the block at the next year’s companion auction events here; often the prices such winners fetch carry a bit of a premium in recognition of the awards they have won.

Finalist: 1962 Aston Martin

So, more than bragging rights are at stake. But if the losers from this year’s event had issues with the outcome being to whatever degree “fore-ordained” – thus negating a measure of their efforts – their opinions for the most part remained closely held.

“Oh well, I guess French cars can’t win every year,” muttered one, with a tinge of sarcasm.

Finalist: 1938 Talbot-Lago

The Best of Show finalists did include a stunning French entrant: a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Cabriolet. The remaining finalists were a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Erdmann & Rossi Special Cabriolet and a 1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Coupé.

Jerry Garrett

August 20, 2019

The finish of the 2019 Indy 500, from the press box (Jerry Garrett Photo)

By JERRY GARRETT

INDIANAPOLIS

Okay, so Simon Pagenaud’s Chevrolet-powered racer edged out Alexander Rossi’s Honda-driven machine in the 2019 Indianapolis 500.

But it was a case of “coulda, woulda, shoulda” for Honda.

The 15 Chevrolets in the 33-car field were paced by Pagenaud, who qualified fastest and led 112 of the 200 laps in the race; but the 18 Hondas, best represented by Rossi, seemed to get slightly better fuel mileage. Rossi even managed to lead a second-best 22 laps.

This is not a tortoise-and-the-hare tale, but there are elements in this story that remind us that the race does not always go to the swiftest – although it did in this case. And the “tortoise” in this tale committed more than enough unforced errors to screw up itself out of a happy ending.

“Horsepower,” is what Rossi said it all came down to at the finish, as Pagenaud held him off by two-tenths of a second, in the seventh closest finish in the 500’s 103-year history. Pagenaud’s Chevrolet had slightly more power than Rossi’s Honda, when it came down to who could take the point and hold it for the frantic final five miles.

How they finished.

“It’s not that the Honda has any significant disadvantage, from a horsepower standpoint,” Rossi said. “Yes, it’s an engine whose basic design is now almost ten years old, and they keep doing clever things to keep it competitive. It’s just that when it came down to the finish, Simon had the power to pass me, and I was unable to get enough of a run to re-pass him.” A series of wild blocking moves by Pagenaud complicated Rossi’s task.

But Rossi actually had the keys to victory snatched away, multiple times – by other Honda drivers!

Rossi, who scored an upset victory here in the 2016 500 as a rookie, won that race with superior fuel mileage, and a clever strategy that was slavishly adhered to – until the final lap, when he took the lead, as driver after driver ahead of him ran out of fuel.

This time around, Rossi and the other Honda drivers – 2008 Indy winner Scott Dixon, Conor Daly, 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sebastien Bourdais chief among them – had an improved fuel-stretching strategy to go with a go-fast plan to stay closer to the front as much as possible the whole race.

In 2016, Rossi had been willing to drop all the way to last at the mid-point of the race, in order to stretch his fuel to the max.

In a normal Indy race, at least six pit stops for fuel are to be expected. If you can stretch your fuel, as Rossi did in 2016, and make only five fuel stops, you’ve gained a theoretical advantage of nearly an entire 2.5-mile lap, at these speeds. That’s huge.

Many of the Honda drivers this year were mindful of that five-stop strategy, while the Chevrolet crowd was just going to go for it, running flat out all day, in hopes the chips fell their way. A sort of hare-brained strategy, if you will.

What negates the fuel mileage strategy is when there are too many crashes and yellow caution flags that slow the race during clean-up periods. Then pit stops can be made during the ensuing slow-down periods, without losing much track position.

For instance, Pagenaud led the race until lap 32, when he made his first fuel stop. Rossi didn’t pit until lap 36.

Though it didn’t take Pagenaud long to race back into the lead, he had to stop again at lap 64. Rossi, who remained among the top five during this segment, didn’t stop until lap 70. So, it was becoming clear what Rossi was up to – and it was working.

On lap 99, Pagenaud came in again for fuel – once again giving up the lead, as happened each time he pitted. Rossi managed to stay out until lap 106. So the extra laps that Rossi had “in the bank”, so to speak, over Pagenaud grew again. And they could be expected to continue growing until the last 30 laps or so, when Pagenaud would have to make a final stop, while Rossi could keep going. Game over for Chevrolet, in that case.

But here is where the plan started to unravel for Rossi, and his Honda mates. That lap 106 pit stop for Rossi was botched when his fuel man could not get his balky re-fueling rig engaged and disengaged quickly enough during the stop. So, Rossi’s stop took 8.8 seconds, while Pagenaud had received service earlier in just 7.2 seconds. That translated to at least four football fields worth of distance on the race track; Rossi had to start driving like a wild man avoid losing even more time. Rossi knew if he was bogged down behind slower traffic, the leaders could pull away quickly.

In his mad dash to the front, Rossi narrowly missed colliding with Bourdais and Oriol Servia, as they failed to move over fast enough. Rossi angrily shook his fist at them – while continuing to race on at 220 mph with one hand!

What added to Rossi’s pique at these guys was they were fellow Honda racers, and they had an obligation to give a faster “teammate” plenty of room to go by.

Behind Rossi, Honda drivers Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon were on a plan to stretch their mileage even farther, and they didn’t stop until laps 109 and 112, respectively.

At this point, Hondas occupied nine of the first 11 places in the running order. And the two Chevrolets among them – Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden – were doomed, because they would have to make one extra, hope-killing fuel stop in the last 200 miles!

Honda’s strategy was working perfectly. Until it wasn’t.

The advantage was wiped out as the race neared its 350-mile mark: Top ten Honda runner Marcus Ericsson blundered too fast onto pit road, spun around and banged the wall. This pit road blockage brought out the yellow flag. As the field slowed and bunched up behind the pace car, the backmarkers all caught back up. And everyone got to make essentially a free pit stop, without jeopardizing their positions on the race track. This was great for the Chevrolet drivers, who desperately needed this, but disastrous for the Honda guys, who definitely did not it. They had all too recently stopped for service.

So Rossi’s growing 12-lap fuel cushion – and his need for one less fuel stop than the Chevrolets – was wiped out. Same with most of the other Honda runners.

Rossi’s problems were compounded when his pesky fuel hose problem resurfaced; he lost a huge amount of time – which put him back in the running order once again – while his pit crew struggled to get fuel into his car.

When the race resumed, Rossi – furious over the pit stop debacle – drove like a man unafraid of Indy’s mortal dangers, to erase the setback he had suffered. He was soon back among the top five, but his fuel advantage was zeroed out. On lap 167, Rossi, Pagenaud and Newgarden all pitted for fuel again at the same time.

But even if the race had run to its conclusion from this point without caution, there was still a chance fuel mileage maybe – just maybe – could come into play again. Here’s how: Racing at similar speeds, Pagenaud could expect to get about 29-30 laps on of a tank of fuel, while Rossi was looking at 32-33, at least. Pagenaud might have to mitigate his horsepower advantage to conserve fuel, while Rossi could race flat-out.

So off they went again, with Rossi dogging the Chevrolets of Pagenaud, Newgarden and Ed Carpenter.

Then came what proved to be the final nail in Honda’s coffin: Rahal and Bourdais were having it out. Rahal was trying to pass, Bourdais kept cutting him off. This went on for a lap or two, until Bourdais again tried to cut Rahal off going into a turn. They bumped. Bourdais turned sideways in front of Rahal, who then collected him. They spun into the wall, while Felix Rosenqvist and Zach Veach crashed behind them.

The truly stupid aspect about this totally needless crash was that it was two Honda guys crashing out two other Honda guys, and again thwarting another Honda guy – Rossi – and his relentless march to the front.

The Chevrolet guys, meanwhile, emerged more than “unscathed” – they were gifted another free pit stop as a result, and more than enough fuel to run to the finish at full warp! So thanks to the dispiriting lack of Honda camaraderie, their potentially unbeatable fuel mileage strategy was pronounced dead, once and for all.

At the end, it came down to Rossi, and another determined Honda driver Takuma Sato (recovering from an early race pit foul-up) trying every trick they knew to vanquish the Chevrolets. They bravely got past Newgarden, Power and Carpenter with nail-biting passes. But then they lacked that extra dab of horsepower needed to dispatch Pagenaud. Rossi did draft into the lead with three laps to go. But that was actually Rossi’s fatal mistake, Pagenaud believes.

“When he got me [with] three laps to go, I’m like, ‘Man, you shouldn’t have done that,'” Pagenaud told Dale Earnhardt Jr. in an interview after the race. Pagenaud employed the same slip-streaming strategy to take the lead right back for the final lap.

“The actual thing I said to myself when he goes around me in Turn 1 is, ‘Perfect. Perfect.'” Pagenaud continued. “I was so worried that he was going to wait for the last lap and do it, and if he did it on the last lap, he could have won the race.”

By making his move three laps from the end, Rossi left Pagenaud too much time, and opportunity, to use the same slipstream move to get the lead back. In theory, the two combatants could have used the slipstream to leap-frog each other indefinitely.

But the checkered flag at the end of lap 200 decided the battle, although Pagenaud had to use all his wiles to block Rossi’s desperation, last-lap bid to go in front two turns from the finish.

“By the white flag, he was so far (behind), I thought I had it,” Pagenaud recalled of the frantic few seconds left in the race. “But then on the backstretch on the last lap, then he got really close. He had a good Turn 2, and I had to pull the Dale Jr. card there…

“My last card in my game was to break the draft, find a way to break the draft. And obviously, I was able to finish the corner really low to break the draft because my car was just sensational. And then he couldn’t really do the same, so that gained me a little bit. And then when he started drafting (back to me), I just moved to the high side, and he couldn’t move as quick as me, so I did it again. And that was just enough to be inside Turn 3, and I wasn’t going to lift no matter what.”

“We had the superior car, I felt,” Rossi lamented, “for most situations. But at the end, we lacked just that tiny bit of horsepower we needed to get past Simon that last time.”

May 27, 2019

(Editor’s Note: Versions of this story appeared in the May 26, 2019 editions of The New York Times.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team McLaren’s ill-fated, unsuccessful Indy 500 run (IMS)

INDIANAPOLIS

Another gimmick has failed racing.

There are 33 starting positions available for would-be qualifiers for the Indianapolis 500. It used to be that the 33 fastest qualifiers would occupy those spots.

Not anymore.

Now, there’s a gimmick. One of those little twists that organizers have added, to theoretically jazz up the proceedings – which suggests the sport’s promoters think the traditional way of qualifying for the Indy 500 was too boring.

I disagree.

There were 36 drivers and cars vying a spot in the 2019 race. Three of them weren’t going to make the starting lineup. This math exercise was easy to understand. What was less clear was that it wasn’t necessarily going to be the cream of the crop – the “fastest 33 drivers in the world,” as they used to proclaim – that would make it into this year’s “Greatest Spectacle In Racing”.

Under recently promulgated Indy rules, the first 30 starting positions are in set in a single qualifying session. The final three spots are set in a separate “last chance” qualifying session.

This year, that left six drivers on the outside looking in. These included star attractions such as two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso and former pole winner James Hinchcliffe.

Under this rule, before this last dance, these drivers are allowed to go fiddle with their cars, to try and find more speed. What can – and inevitably does – happen, as a result, is these final qualifiers end up going faster than some of those already in the field.

This also creates a ridiculous situation where faster drivers can end up starting behind slower ones. This gimmick is dangerous. Needlessly so.

In fact, this brings up another gimmick – along the same lines – that ended up back in 2011 at a Las Vegas race, leading to a 15-car crash that killed two-time Indy winner Dan Wheldon. He was starting at the back of the field, trying to earn a $1 million prize, if he could pass slower drivers in front of him and win the race.

Why does racing, especially IndyCar racing, where the cars and drivers are so evenly matched, and the racing so blood-curdlingly close anyway, need such gimmicks?

They tend to end badly.

This year, it ended badly for Alonso and Team McLaren, a new entrant that organizers were ecstatic to have. (As always, organizers are searching for ways to expand the sport’s appeal and attract new drivers, teams, sponsors and television advertisers.)

Alonso bounced off two walls (BBC)

Earlier in practice, Alonso had an inexplicable crash that destroyed his front line car. So he was obliged to move to an unprepared backup car.

In a heroic fifth and final attempt at qualifying a car not well suited to the task, Alonso came up less than two-hundredths of a mile an hour short. Actually, he turned in the 31st fastest qualifying speed. But under the qualifying gimmick rule, the 31st qualifying position had already been locked in earlier by someone else. So, Alonso ended up being  excluded from the last row slots (Hinchcliffe was luckier), while two drivers with slower speeds were able to start instead.

How idiotic.

McLaren, the vaunted Formula 1 team with two previous Indy victories to its credit, was made to look incompetent and foolish. Alonso, who fancies himself one of the greatest drivers in racing history (and few would argue that), was mortified. The team principal apologized to its fans; its president was summarily fired. It would not commit to returning again in 2020, or anytime in the furniture.

Headlines made merciless fun of McLaren’s misfortune.

A lot of other potential Indy 500 aspirants must look at such scenarios with horror. Why would you come to Indy, as McLaren had done, as a one-shot deal (i.e., not planning on running any other IndyCar races during the rest of the season) and take a chance on missing the race? Not to mention taking a shot, like McLaren, did to its reputation and brand image. I mean, McLaren builds road cars and is hoping to sell them to the enthusiast public. What does a debacle like this do to those goals? It couldn’t have helped.

In the final analysis, McLaren had some bad luck, with its primary car being damaged in the practice crash. In the haste to make the poorly suited backup car equal to the task, a small detail was overlooked: The gearbox had the wrong ratio settings. The proper settings – a relatively easy fix – would have easily given Alonso a top speed capability of 229 mph, instead of the 227 he barely managed on his final qualifying attempt. A 229 average would have been enough to challenge for the pole position! In the race itself, 227 would have been more than competitive. Instead, he was sent packing.

And a final note: The 2019 field was the closest, in terms of speed from fastest qualifier to the slowest, in the race’s history dating back to 1911. The difference between best and worst was barely calculable: literally a matter of a few feet.

So, with a two-time World Champion and his team going home humiliated, perhaps never to return, Indy’s gimmick cost the sport, its backers and its fans dearly.

No more gimmicks, please.

Jerry Garrett

May 21, 2019