Opinion: Racing should be fun, above all else

The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a ripper. It bucked Formula 1’s trend of 25-laps-too-long snore-fests and had real intrigue and action from start to finish – the climax of which was an edge-of-your-seat two-lap dash to the finish.

However, not everyone was happy. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t because motorsport’s biggest series was racing a handful of blocks from a literal shrine to a former Soviet republic’s war crimes.

No, instead a portion of the racing community was disgruntled the grand prix was restarted with a full standing start and two-lap dash to the finish following a red flag period. Labels like ‘ridiculous’ were bandied around, with claims that it wasn’t becoming of the sport. Rubbish I say.

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Having a standing start following a red flag is a new feature for F1, and I am a big fan. The race start remains the most interesting part of a modern GP, so adding more can only be a boon for fans.

What the detractors miss is that in order to survive, racing needs to be fun. It needs to be able to put aside old habits and beliefs in favour of injecting an extra layer of entertainment. We can navel gaze over purity of competition and the spirit of sportsmanship ad Infinitum, but if racing isn’t fun, who is going to care?

The best example of this is Stadium Super Trucks. If you’ve lived under a rock, punch the name into YouTube and lose yourself in the hilarity. Those same pundits who look down their nose at F1’s full-grid restarts are also likely to scoff at the mention of Stadium Super Trucks here thanks to a superiority complex that blinds them from the category’s endearing popularity.

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I was lucky enough to witness the high-flying series’ first race on Aussie soil in Adelaide, and the crowd reaction on day one was raucous. By the second day, the stands were absolutely rammed when Robby Gordon and his gang rolled onto the circuit. The fan attention rivalled even that of the main drawcard Supercars.

There’s an event in Europe called GP Ice Race that I desperately want to attend. Not because it has the best drivers or closest competition, but because they put full-blown DTM machinery (among others) on a snow-covered circuit. The event also includes a portion where certified lunatics on skis are towed behind cars on the track. It all sounds like a truly ridiculous laugh.

However, if over the top ridiculousness isn’t your cup of tea, even traditional categories can add some good-natured fun to spice things up. NASCAR has a list of issues that could fill multiple pages of this magazine, but it too knows when to let its hair down. The Bristol dirt race was a departure from the sport’s modern stance, and everyone was the better for it.

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Sure, there was a historical link that NASCAR could play on to justify the decision to cover one of its most iconic circuits in several tonnes of clay, but if the higher-ups had a long honest think about it, they’d probably admit the decision was based largely on how much fun it sounded. In the end, the execution of the Bristol dirt race wasn’t flawless, but it’s already locked in for 2022. I know I’ll be tuning in to watch the Next Gen NASCAR Cup cars buck and slide on dirt, with the drivers fighting the wheel.

While IndyCar would like to see itself as a Very Serious racing category, it too has an element of fun-for-fun’s sake in its DNA thanks to oval racing. Here it takes pure open-wheel race cars, and throws them onto banked ovals at breakneck speeds. The races are thrilling for both their strategy and race craft, but also for the simple fact it’s fun to watch cars go mind-bendingly fast.

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Now, I am not saying that every category needs to affix sprinklers to the side of the track and pick drivers through a lotto system. But at the same time the sport needs to add some good old-fashioned fun into the system. Not everything needs to be stuffy suits bickering about wing flex.

Some categories will focus their ‘fun’ on technical prowess and raw talent. But in the rich landscape of modern motorsport those ‘pure’ categories will live alongside the ridiculous, and fans will be all the better for it.

What I’m getting at is that it’s time for racing to let its hair down just a little more. Maybe Supercars needs to add a joker lap, or F1 has a crack at oval racing – we just need to make sure we keep have fun doing it!