Will Power's always been a driver about whom I've felt conflicted.
When I started watching Indycar, I couldn't stand him. Much like how I cringed whenever He Who Induces a Compulsion to Reach for Ear Plugs and/or the Mute Button invoked the name of He Who Rules Hinchtown, hearing the name 'Will Power' made me roll me eyes and wonder where 'Max Speed' and 'Lait Braker' were. He was aggressive, caused a lot of incidents, and always seemed gruff and uncomfortable in front of the camera. How anyone managed to think he was the series best driver was completely beyond me.
As this year's season rolled around, we got right into the thick of General Indycar with some dubious collisions and what was basically a drop-dead stupid move on the season's first restart--the opening pages of 'Power Shenanigans Vol. 2 - 2014 Edition'. Indycar status quo duly maintained, Power continued to make a fool of himself with an indefensible mistake at Barber and more collisions with his would-have-been championship contender Hidden Pagenaud. Apparently he was trying to get the mental game under control. Fine.
At some point--probably close to Houston--I began to realise that a lot of what made Indycar fun for me to watch was whatever utter havoc our resident wildcard 'DJ Willy P' managed to cause during a race. Without him, I realised, the series probably wouldn't be as exciting, simple as that. So gradually, I found that a grudging respect for him began to take hold. Controversy/pass/moment/driver/bonehead move of the race? Will Power--safe bet, as he's probably bound to be involved in at least one of those somehow.
Then the races began to tick down and the championship began to intensify. As all of the Honda-powered guys for whom I was rooting began to fall by the wayside, suffering from the effects of Random Indycar, Will Power mounted a serious challenge for the title. I had heard this story before in the past--apparently, the only person better at losing titles in the last race than Fernando Alonso was Will Power. With the spin in Sonoma, it was clear the pressure was getting to him again, but the first part of that race showed me a side of Power that everyone else but me had managed to see: the dude was bloody quick, mate.
And then, last weekend in Fontana, when he crossed the finish line after a grueling race to pull in the title and his tearful radio transmission came through, my last reserves finally crumbled away, and I finally understood Will Power.
Here was a man who had been to the brink of failure so often that it had come to personify him. Every taste of success and every good effort was always tainted with brain-fades and mistakes almost immediately after. Every time he seemed to have things under control, they'd come undone in the most bizarre of ways--a spin in the pace lap, a collision with a rival. These weren't mistakes that a driver of Power's ability should be making. When things like this happen so often, you start to lose faith in yourself. So when Power started coming to the finale for his fourth try, it's not hard to see how he expected this one to go. It was so easy to fall into the same routine of fighting only to lose, conditioned by failure to expect the fall even after he gave everything. In his own words, two of the worst weeks of his life.
And then he drove the race he needed to, once and for all vanquishing the doubt that had haunted and plagued him his whole career to finally claim the victory he so long desired. All the awkward moments in front of the camera and ill-explained mistakes didn't matter anymore. This year was about him proving to himself that, in spite of all his struggles, he actually was the champion that his flashes of brilliance seemed to show to others. At last, he had conquered the hopelessness and finally accomplished something no-one could take away from him.
I couldn't help but get tears in my eyes when I watched how emotionally drained Will was during his interview, because for the first time, I finally understood and identified with the struggle he had been facing ever since I had been watching him race since early last year--and I was truly overjoyed to see him succeed. Will Power is a confirmation of a quote that's stuck with me ever since I first read it: "Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it is real, it is possible, it exists--it is yours."
At last, Will Power has claimed the world he desired--and considering the kind of season we've had in Indycar this year, I don't think the series could've crowned a champion more emblematic of everything we love about it.
Will Power crossing the finish line at Fontana.On that note, I'd like to thank everyone who bothered to pop in for a race this season to hang out and/or contribute. I hope that any newcomers had a great time and will consider joining us again next year, and I hope that all the regulars have a safe off-season and that we'll see you back here next year--Indycar wouldn't be the same without any one of you guys. I'd also like to extend a special thanks to everyone who's ever contributed to one of the many fantastic opening posts we've had over the course of the year--especially to Risil for writing more than the lion's share of them. You guys make this the best part of the forum for me--and the only place I've found on the internet thus far where we can have a laugh about anything whether we agree or disagree.
I'll see you guys in the myriad other threads around here as I eagerly begin counting down to next season. Here's to Indycar 2015 being even better than this year--thanks everyone.
Soooo... where's the 2015 Indycar Silly Season thread?
ps. Will we have to change our official companion for the new season?
I reckon it should change race by race and initiated by the OP... That way we get a little notion of the posters preferences
At the very least, she stays on for 2.5 more seasons (too subtle?), and even then, Neil, PaYR and I will probably always consider her the 'true' Queen of Planet Indycar--there's something about that ginger-inspired lunacy that seems to fit in so well with these threads.
I feel the same way about this thread. I came here for cars but found all these obscure average looking women. That creep based ageism moment where you know everyone is either much younger or much older than you but have no clue as to which.
Lol, the chain reaction which started that was Red17 posting a link to a Pink Floyd song, triggering an impromptu comment from me about what was needed to complete the thread after that, and the ensuing completion of the thread. In my defence, I stuck to the racing theme.