63 replies to this topic

[Charlieman]

Given what WTR had to go through , I'd forgive his default demeanour of barely suppressed rage . Most of us on here have no idea what being a black guy in a white man's sport must be like now, let alone then.Michael says above that 'everybody wanted a  black driver to succeed ' - really ? Because most of the good ol' boys sure didn't . 

 

I saw him race here -he was fast , but it spoke volumes for the times that  his most talked about quality was his skin colour..

 

Lewis Hamilton may divide opinions - I'm a fan - but  his status  has shown we have evolved more than a little in our attitudes since WTR's day.

I remember the Autosport reports about WTR racing Formula Fords. I was impressed that he had raised the money and that he had taken the career route of a professional driver. I was and still am an old liberal fart -- and so I wished him well.

 

I have to admire all of the working class lads (no lasses, alas) from the UK and Ireland who made it to F1 in some sort of way in the 1970s and beyond. I'm sitting a mile away from where Roger Williamson raced a kart in a field, so I raise my glass to him. Next geographically is Brian Henton, another council house lad. From over the waters, Derek Daly and David Kennedy gave us some great sport in junior classes but never quite made it. There was a belief at the time that if you wanted to become an F1 driver, if you really, really want it, then it would happen if you showed that you were good enough.

 

I'm a fan of Lewis Hamilton. I don't own an LH cap but if anyone bought me one I'd wear it for races. It is more than the race thing; Hamilton will be the last WDC winner from a working class background because everyone else is so posh.

---

Fangio's father was a stone mason and his mother was a household servant. 

[john aston]

Well , I don't know about that . I can't think of another working class British champion .G Hill and Mansell weren't posh , but they weren't exactly Bash Street Comprehensive either.

 

Of course we - shamefully- still are pre-occupied with class in England  ,and so our  antennae tend to be tuned into accents and background,  but in the current crop of F1 drivers I'd say none strike me as being as patrician as many of their  counterparts in olden times.  Or even more recent ones - I seem to recall the 7th Marquis of Bute pedalling a Lotus 98T   

[Charlieman]

Of course we - shamefully- still are pre-occupied with class in England...

We, me at least, are not obsessed by class. 

 

I am not ashamed to say that class and money matter.

[Dave Ware]

I watched “Uppity” the other night and enjoyed it. For reasons that escape me, I didn't pay a lot of attention to racing in the 1980s. I knew there was this Willy T. Ribbs guy driving for Dan Gurney but didn't know what his background was. Now I know.

 

Sometimes the stories of the guys who didn't make it all the way to the top are more interesting than the stories of the top drivers.

 

Although not all of Ribbs' difficulties were unique to his race – like being number two in a team and being faster than the team's favored, number one driver – the problems he had really surprised me. In the eighties I though that our country, even the South, was better than that.

 

I remember reading in Dan Gerber's book, “Indy: The World's Fastest Carnival Ride” that a couple young-adult race fans told Janet Guthrie they wanted to see her crash and burn. Plenty of hatred in our country to go around, sadly.

 

Getting back to Ribbs, I'm especially impressed with how well he transitioned to faster cars. Fast right away going from Formula Ford to Formula Atlantic, and fast right away going from Atlantic to Trans-Am. That certainly shows some talent.

 

I hope that when Willy T. Ribbs looks back on his career, he can sometimes put aside the racism he endured and look at his achievements with pride and satisfaction. He won a lot of races, and he made it to Indy. A lot of people would have like to have achieved what he did, and very few do.

[E1pix]

Beautifully said, Dave.

[Mark 13]

That must be why it took another 30 years for women to be just about accepted . I have a friend  who races in historic single seaters and until the last ten years his club even dissuaded wives and girlfriends from coming to race weekends as they were 'a distraction'; when I marshalled in the 70s women were confined to paddock duties and I can recall another woman racer whose every success was dismissed as being down to her light weight . 

 

Of course there's  Pat Moss,  Anita Taylor , Desire Wilson . Michele Mouton   or Lella Lombardi to quote as women who were in he public eye   - but all were exceptions in a tiny minority .  . 

 

I spent 2017 attending as many events , of as many disciplines as I could. Three  branches of the sport seemed truly gender blind - VSCC Trials, Drag racing and Autograss.

 

Sexism is still rife in the sport's more rabid  fans  - just look at some of the toxic crap posted about Claire Williams . Plenty of F1 bosses have struggled, but the male ones don't get flak for their haircut - and other stuff I won't mention here 

 

Drag racing is truly gender blind.

 

I got a great picture of the 3 Female Top Fuel Drivers at the European Finals Meeting and what was more interesting was that Anita Makela, multiple Champion from Finland was old enough to be the Mother of the other 2, Jndia Erbacher, from Switzerland and Maja Udtian from Norway. Anita and Maja were 1st and 2nd respectively in the European Championship, with Jndia 4th. The likes of Erica Enders, Melanie Troxel, Leah Pritchett, Alexis Dejoria,  and the female Force siblings, Ashley and Brittany have all been successful in NHRA.

[absinthedude]

It's interesting to look at pre-war motor racing and how women were often more accepted at places like Brooklands than they would be 10 years later at Silverstone. Brooklands, with "the right crowd and no crowding"....bastion of the British class system....but they were happy for women to race there and race hard. 

 

As for racism, hopefully Lewis has done enough to prove beyond doubt that skin colour is no bar to supreme talent behind the wheel. Without a doubt Willy T. Ribbs suffered a lot for his skin colour and while he can look back on a career where he achieved more than most....we'll never know what he might have achieved had he been white. And that is a travesty in itself.

[ghinzani]

I pointed out in a Facebook post berating the fact Bernie tested him in october 85 and didnt give him an F1 drive there and then was because he had signed proven GP winners De Angelis and Patrese, not just because he wasnt Italian. Willy kindly took time out of his busy schedule to come along and berate me personally but didnt actually answer the question. Certainly made me and my friends chuckle

"Willy T Ribbs
Dear Jungle Monkey..That be you Steve ..
You Mr Go Kart racer are not qualified to make the judgment as to whether I was better than the F1 drivers of that era because all you’ve ever done is set your flat sissy jungle bunny ass in a go kart..The film was about obstacles. I was tough enough to overcome something that you don’t have in your pants jungle boogie”

[Michael Ferner]

Wow. That's, er... class?

[68targa]

Sky Sports are showing a documentrary on Willy T Ribbs today (Sun) at 4pm. Not sure if this is new or a repeat of  "Uppity"

[Roryswood]

It's showing on Sky F1 today

[Roryswood]

The Sky programme was not Uppity , but a conversation between Willy T and Sky reporter Ted Kravitz.,very enjoyable l

[E1pix]

The Willy T Ribbs documentary is finally on YouTube.

Just finished. Man, we loved it.

https://m.youtube.co...h?v=grBIP5WiyeM

[Lee Nicolle]

Drag racing is truly gender blind.

 

I got a great picture of the 3 Female Top Fuel Drivers at the European Finals Meeting and what was more interesting was that Anita Makela, multiple Champion from Finland was old enough to be the Mother of the other 2, Jndia Erbacher, from Switzerland and Maja Udtian from Norway. Anita and Maja were 1st and 2nd respectively in the European Championship, with Jndia 4th. The likes of Erica Enders, Melanie Troxel, Leah Pritchett, Alexis Dejoria,  and the female Force siblings, Ashley and Brittany have all been successful in NHRA.

World Wide Top Fuel is a womans sport. They seem to win a LOT.  Beating the men regularly. 

And totally no advantages either