1957 Europe and U.S. duel on the track
Giuseppe Bacciagaluppi, managing director of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, staged the first race at his newly remodeled track, a match race between the top 10 Indy Car drivers and the top 10 Formula One drivers in the world. Monza enjoyed the reputation of being Europe's fastest racetrack. Jimmy Bryan of the United States won the Two Worlds Trophy in a Salih roadster at 160mph. The race did little to settle the dispute as to where the world's best drivers reside, on the high-speed ovals of the United States or on the curvy Grand Prix tracks of Europe. In those days, many racers bridged the gap between the two worlds-- like Jim Clark, who won at Indy in the same year he captured the F1 crown. Today it is widely held that the world's best drivers compete on the F1 circuit, though the specialized cars of today make the two types of racing more difficult to compare.
Posted by Quality Weenie at June 29, 2006 07:00 AM | TrackBack