Fran mentions the talking heads, many of them being ex drivers. I've become convinced that former racing drivers, especially those that had some notoriety, are pretty weird people. It seems like anytime, anyone wants to interview them, or throw some attention their way, especially if they're getting paid for it, they'll re-hash just about anything. They were used to getting attention and being fawned over, and they'll take whatever they can get now.
I had a utterly bizarre encounter with Derek Daly (who had been at the Sarthe working for Speed TV) at De Gaulle airport one year on the way home from Le Mans. We were both on the same Air France flight to CVG, and while sitting there next to him waiting to board, I mentioned to him that I was a fan of his during his racing days. Mentioned that I still have the Autosport from when he clinched the British F3 title, etc. He seemed happy as a clam, to talk about this stuff, I brought up some of his lesser known colleagues like Stephen South, Rad Dougall, and what a great era it was for British F3, Euro F2, etc.
He was perfectly happy to sit and chat about his glory days. I mentioned that Ronnie Peterson was my big hero back then, and was frankly a bit taken back when the first thing out of his mouth was "I was one of the guys who pulled him from his burning car at Monza" (which is mostly incorrect, he stood by like a deer in the headlights while Hunt, Depailler, and Regga pulled him from the Lotus).
However, I soon as I mentioned the race at Le Mans, and asked his thoughts about contemporary racing, and stopped talking about his career, he suddenly buried his head back in his tabloid rag, and continued on with his article about Princess Di's recently discovered alien love child. Wouldn't look up at me, or give me the time of day.
Like I said, a really rude, weird dude.
I get the impression a lot of these guys are like that.
Fax
