There's a lot of idol worship out there these days in the men's world outside of athletics. I don't know why this is, I have a hunch that today's man spends so much time conscious of trying to be something that he never does what he wants. In turn he has no experiences, no great faults, terrible defeats or glorious victories. The average man around my age I feel is terribly banal and lives vicariously through the lives of others. It is for that reason that we see the ridiculous idolatry of a man by the name of Steve McQueen, a man branded the "King of Cool" throughout the ages and especially in every magazine, blog and whatever other type of media out there focused on the 18-thirty something demographic. It is really sad actually and whenever I see another picture of him smoking a cig while driving or holding a gun I become a little nauseous.
And don't get me wrong I think the man is pretty cool. When I was a young man I would watch The Towering Inferno constantly and switch back and forth between wanting to be the quietly cool fireman (McQueen) or the tough architect (Paul Newman). As the story would turn out I would do neither.
But the two men have a lot more in common than being huge stars, the ability to make women slide out of their seat, military heroes and pretty decent style. They were both natural born racers. Paul Newman was actually significantly more successful having been successful in many races, eventually starting his own racing team and winning the race that Steve would make a move of in 1971. Le Mans.
Held near and in the town of Le Mans the 13 Kilometer race is held for a 24 hour period with a simple set of rules: Who can cover the farthest distance in one day's time. The beauty of the event (without getting into the weeds about technical rules and specifics in regards to cars) is that it is a full test of endurance. Endurance of the drivers through day, night, rain and wind; as well as the endurance of the cars. The cars must be shut off for pit stops there by testing the reliability of parts that are usually never tested in racing. Everyone and everything is put to the challenge.
The engineering has always amazed me, the little tricks of the trade that were figured out to score even an extra second in a 24 hour race. A little known fact that the reason Porsche's ignition has always been on the left side of the steering wheel was so that the driver could put the car in gear with his right hand while starting the engine with his left as the rules dictated it must be in neutral for a start. The speeds down the back stretch of the Mulsanne Straight(250 mph) were so high that the cars had to be significantly more advanced than most aircraft at the time.
While McQueen might be the human star of the race the real star was the Porsche 917, considered by most to be the most famous racing automobile in history. This car was designed for Porsche to dominate the endurance circuit and it did just that starting Porsche's stretch of 16 overall victories. The first time we see this beautiful girl in all her glory is with this song playing in the background, fighting with the blissful engine noise.
A few weeks ago I attended the American version of this race at Daytona, the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona, I try to attend every year and every year that I do I am spellbound by the event. The speed, the sounds, smells and insane amount of effort to cross the finish line a full day after you have begun. So far in my life I haven't lived vicariously through other people, I wanted to play pro hockey and I got to that level, I wanted to fly jets and I wear a set of wings on my leather jacket, because of this I think that there is a very solid chance of seeing a little American Flag on the roof of a Porsche with the name J. Kovalsky next to it within the next fifteen years. In the end life is too short to be left wondering what it could be like...
Make the jump to 4:00 for the song and a beautiful collection of scenes:
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