Monaco... Pinnacle of Racing

Formula One is considered to be the pinnacle of auto racing. There is a certain mystique that surrounds it. The cars, the teams, the names and the locales. When one mentions Formula One, you can't help but think of Ferrari, Mercedes, and of late, Renault. Names like Schumacher and Alonso fill your minds, and for those who have loved the sport for a lot longer, the names Fangio, Senna and Mansell create images of the consumate driver. This weekend the world will be watching the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco. If Formula One is considered to be the pinnacle of auto racing, then Monaco is the name most often associated with the sport. The race through the tiny streets of Monte Carlo has been virtually unchanged in the past 50 years. The circuit is a bit safer than it was back in the 1960's but on the whole, the circuit is not all that different than it was way back when.

That being said, it is a testament to the skill and poise of the drivers to drive their machines through the twists and turns of Monaco for dozens upon dozens of laps. Anyone who says Formula One, or racing in general is not a sport should consider this. Imagine sitting in a recliner less than a foot off the ground dressed in a fire resistant suit driving around streets barely two car lengths wide at over 150 MPH for the course of about two hours. The G-forces that these drivers experience are something akin to riding a roller coaster in a perpetual high speed turn. Consider that the turns in a roller coaster are banked to take some of the force off of our necks and transfer it to our butts. No such banking in Formula One.

No power steering either. Such niceties add weight to a car and when you're racing you don't want to add any more weight than you need. You wouldn't run a marathon with bags of groceries in your hands would you? So why add weight in a racecar. The amount of upper body strength needed to handle the wheel is extraordinary. The muscles in the neck are stressed to their limit. Shake hands with any race driver and two things should stand out. Their grip will be very firm and their neck will be quite large. How can it not be?

People argue that there's no athletic prowess needed in Formula One or in racing at all for that matter; they argue that the car is what makes the difference. Not true. Look at McLaren and their ace driver Kimi Raikkonnen. He's got the talent and the skill to drive the car to the limit and beyond. Put him in a bad race car and he'll drive it as hard as he can and make a differrence. Last year's race at Imola was proof of that. Driving a car for that long is hard enough; driving it with major problems is harder still. When you race at over 100 MPH with nothing protecting you but a few inches of metal skin, you have to be bold and skilled. To see this exemplified, tune in to the race this weekend on CBS.