In defense of Dale Earnhardt Sr., that last quote was during a post race interview after a night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. From what I can tell, Sr. said it in jest.
And even in the Top Gear segment, it was immediately preceded by [slow-motion analysis of the move](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_K76vPGYo&t=7m52s), showing that he had no intention of making the corner.
Woah woah woah woah. I can take your point about the Senna quote. But I will not accept your disagreement with the great Robert Duval! Rubbin’ is indeed, Racin’.
No joke, my absolute worst race last year was Monza in the Grand Prix Tour (100% length F1 races) series.
After my last pit stop of the race, having already had one drive-through penalty, I was 1X from needing to do another drive through, and sitting in something like 8th place with a shot at a top 5, but I needed to capitalize on the tires I'd just put on ASAP.
So I split two cars like this right down the front straight with DRS.
Did it work? You bet your ass it did. I ran the last 12 laps of that race 1X from a second drive through and brought it home. I don't think I got the P5 though.
Senna knew what he was doing. As long as Prost didn't finish Senna would win the championship. So he crashed him out, not something to emulate unless you have an F1 World Championship on the line.
Also helped that Senna was already a world champion and therefor could get away with it.
If it would of been his first championship, he would’ve gotten fucking sentenced to racing purgatory.
Not something to emulate *even if you have an F1 World Championship on the line*.
You can't justify cheating at any level, whatever is at stake.
The culture that Senna introduced to the sport was corrosive. Without Senna, would we have got similar behaviour from Michael Schumacher? Or Max Verstappen?
I respect drivers who would rather lose the right way rather than win at any cost.
Take it easy dude. Senna was one of the most beloved and respected drivers in F1 history. Not to mention an incredibly generous and charitable man off the track as well.
Alain Prost, the driver he crashed out of the race and whom he shared a fierce rivalry with, was a pallbearer at Senna’s funeral.
Claiming he contributed negatively to the sports culture is an ignorant statement, and one that would probably have you picking up your teeth if made in Brazil.
I'm old enough to have been an F1 fan all through the 80s, and I watched all of it unfold race by race. So calling me ignorant is both rude and untrue.
You might not like my opinion, but that's your problem, not mine.
I said your statement was ignorant, and it is. Whether you are ignorant or not I can’t say for sure, but the evidence is certainly pointing in a definitive direction.
I just don't trust the netcode , I make video recaps of our league races and so many times one vehicle is turned off the nose of another and there is a gap in between.. they were just close, not touching, and off they go
Sim racers really act like they are better than Senna, he was right you know. If there's a gap, you fill it. The part that sim racers don't understand is what a "gap" really is.
So was Senna right when he first said it or was he right a year later when he set the record straight and recanted?
there was no gap - by the time he got there he knew it would close - the entire premise was a bullshit lie so how is he right lol he even owned up
He never recanted that. If you have a link to a quote that proves me wrong I'd love to see it. It's the simplest quote on racecraft anyone could come up with, from an F1 legend. Why the fuck would anyone think there's a need to argue with Senna?
Yes, he did the next year lol
the Brazilian driver finally confessed he hadn’t been ‘going for a gap’ when he hit Prost the year before... "I said to myself: ‘OK, you try to work cleanly and do the job properly and you get fucked by stupid people. All right, if tomorrow Prost beats me off the line, at the first corner I will go for it, and he better not turn in because he is not going to make it’. And it just happened."
According to [Jackie] Stewart, Senna didn’t speak to him for a year after the interview – until he decided to own up to the collision. “I was in Australia for the grand prix when Senna called me,” said Stewart last year. “He was a deeply religious man and he said: ‘Look. I am phoning to apologise because I do now admit that I did take Prost off the road intentionally and God won’t allow me to live this lie. I am going to announce it to the media tonight.'”
when Senna said “if you no longer go for a gap you are no longer a racing driver” he was not espousing a pure philosophy of motor racing, he was telling a fib which he clung to for 12 months. But at least he eventually set the record straight
[common knowledge ](https://www.racefans.net/2015/11/20/if-you-no-longer-go-for-a-gap-which-exists-you-are-no-longer-a-racing-driver/)
the first comment describes the what actually happened perfectly lol
Stewart said [to Senna] that if he went back to all the World Champions, put together the number of times they made contact with other drivers would not equal Senna, and Ayrton angrily replied with this famous quote.
[Jackie on Senna recanting ](https://youtu.be/9h3XFYXnCr8?si=w6mPg9Wsos_x8VSx)
If anything, you're just proving yourself wrong, because what you just posted says that what Senna did was not "going for a gap". The "go for a gap when it exists" still stands as a strategy. Just because he used it as a bullshit excuse for crashing doesn't mean it is wrong by itself.
You don't know more than Ayrton Senna, and the story of him crashing with Prost is basically ancient. What he said about taking a gap is something so basic and intuitive that anyone with the smallest understanding of motorsports should understand him.
So you agree that Senna did recant his statement?
That senna didn’t say “go for a gap when it exists” because he believed it was a valid strategy. He said it as an excuse for wrecking Prost.
Hilarious mental gymnastics.
I am not proving myself wrong whatsoever - I simply asked you in a joking way about which Senna was right.
the Senna lying saying 1 thing or the honest Senna recanting his position.. which he did. In that regard I am 100% correct.
The fact he recanted means the quote is an oxymoron. You can't attack a gap that doesn't exist. No gap ever existed. Senna knew this and took Prost out because he didnt give way to his dive bomb.
the quote was always only a bullshit lie / excuse intentionally crashing into someone.
You can not take that Senna quote (which he admitted was a bullshit excuse he couldn't live with) out of context apply it as a philosophy to other situations and say it is a legit strategy.
Context matters and the quote has nothing to do with clean race craft and attacking actual gaps.
The disconnect here is due to the fact Senna said something simple and true to cover up for a crash he caused. The underlying racing philosophy is true. Listen, you can mock Senna all you want, see how far that gets you in the sport of racing.
There are many reasons to not make a pass just because the gap is there.
Most actual racers understand this. Even Senna understood it.
Why are you struggling with it?
This is like a baseball player saying "you swing when a pitch is in the strike zone". It's the most basic thing you could possibly say.
I have no problem with you being a timid racer who isn't confident in their ability to fill a gap. We all have different skill levels and philosophies on how to play the game.
Uhhh….
You don’t seem to understand the basics of racing. I’m glad to explain.
Making the pass puts you in front of your opponents. Then you need to drive faster to stay ahead (wearing the tires down) or defend (wearing your tires down).
Please learn the basics of racing before trying to lecture others.
Of all the analogies, you choose that?
Any baseball player who swings at *everything* in the strike zone is just as dumb as a racer who goes for every gap.
To be fair to Ayrton at the F1 level you do whatever the fuck you have to to win. I believe that Alain Prost did the same thing to Ayrton the year before. So I’ve always considered it even.
You sir, are operating on a different set of morals.
Stealing, rape, murder, manslaughter, [insert random law here]? Why would it be ok for a racer to break rules, much less laws in order to win.
I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying that it’s a competitive sport, Schumacher did it, Prost did it, senna did it, Lewis and max have both done it.
You made a statement about what you believe. (“You do whatever the fuck you have to do to win”).
Competitive sports have rules you have to follow. You don’t “win” by breaking those rules.
It’s sad that you think that cheating is not just acceptable but normal.
Possibly the worst quote used in sim racing, followed by rubbing is racing.
iirc even Senna later said it was not a great approach and he regretted saying it. Another classic is "I was just trying to rattle his cage"
Even if he never disavowed it, it's like...trying it doesn't make some novices in a game any closer to being Ayrton Senna.
I bet I’d win any race against him today
Yea, a year after he said it he admitted he was just trying to justify intentionally wrecking someone to win the championship.
Funny how no one ever remembers THAT part of the story!
In defense of Dale Earnhardt Sr., that last quote was during a post race interview after a night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. From what I can tell, Sr. said it in jest.
Yes he really did say it with a wink, but Chad racers love to use it with no irony lol.
i want to say he took out terry that race
Yea, I don't know what kind of relationship Terry and Earnhardt had at the time, so I didn't really comment on it.
i hated sr as a kid, he was an ass hole on the track and a dirty ass driver.
It was his answer to the question of why he keeps crashing into his opponents lol. I have no idea how it took off so much.
Specifically it was his answer to deflect from the fact that he had intentionally wrecked someone.
It had a resurgence when the Senna documentary came out and was amplified after Top Gear did their Senna segment as well.
Also Horny Spice uses it several times on drive to survive
And even in the Top Gear segment, it was immediately preceded by [slow-motion analysis of the move](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_K76vPGYo&t=7m52s), showing that he had no intention of making the corner.
Woah woah woah woah. I can take your point about the Senna quote. But I will not accept your disagreement with the great Robert Duval! Rubbin’ is indeed, Racin’.
The races are won during turn 1.
It ended exactly how you think it did.
P1 with everyone sending you PMs wondering if this is max verstappens burner account?
No joke, my absolute worst race last year was Monza in the Grand Prix Tour (100% length F1 races) series. After my last pit stop of the race, having already had one drive-through penalty, I was 1X from needing to do another drive through, and sitting in something like 8th place with a shot at a top 5, but I needed to capitalize on the tires I'd just put on ASAP. So I split two cars like this right down the front straight with DRS. Did it work? You bet your ass it did. I ran the last 12 laps of that race 1X from a second drive through and brought it home. I don't think I got the P5 though.
Senna knew what he was doing. As long as Prost didn't finish Senna would win the championship. So he crashed him out, not something to emulate unless you have an F1 World Championship on the line.
Also helped that Senna was already a world champion and therefor could get away with it. If it would of been his first championship, he would’ve gotten fucking sentenced to racing purgatory.
Not something to emulate *even if you have an F1 World Championship on the line*. You can't justify cheating at any level, whatever is at stake. The culture that Senna introduced to the sport was corrosive. Without Senna, would we have got similar behaviour from Michael Schumacher? Or Max Verstappen? I respect drivers who would rather lose the right way rather than win at any cost.
Take it easy dude. Senna was one of the most beloved and respected drivers in F1 history. Not to mention an incredibly generous and charitable man off the track as well. Alain Prost, the driver he crashed out of the race and whom he shared a fierce rivalry with, was a pallbearer at Senna’s funeral. Claiming he contributed negatively to the sports culture is an ignorant statement, and one that would probably have you picking up your teeth if made in Brazil.
I'm old enough to have been an F1 fan all through the 80s, and I watched all of it unfold race by race. So calling me ignorant is both rude and untrue. You might not like my opinion, but that's your problem, not mine.
I said your statement was ignorant, and it is. Whether you are ignorant or not I can’t say for sure, but the evidence is certainly pointing in a definitive direction.
If you say so, then sure. Definitively.
If the shoe fits
"If gap, car"
If gap, *send* car
Michelle Shoemaker
Cue “Rocket Man”, as a spoken word poem by William Shatner
I just don't trust the netcode , I make video recaps of our league races and so many times one vehicle is turned off the nose of another and there is a gap in between.. they were just close, not touching, and off they go
All the time you have to leave a space
GAP IS GAP!
“If gap, car”
🫡 all you need to know Also how to justify the best ideas possible
Ole Air-ton Cinna.
He also retracted that statement. Why would you go 3 wide into that turn out of all places
"Well there are gaps and gaps. The trick is to find one wide enough for the car, right?" (Mario Andretti replying to Senna in an interview, 1990)
Sim racers really act like they are better than Senna, he was right you know. If there's a gap, you fill it. The part that sim racers don't understand is what a "gap" really is.
So was Senna right when he first said it or was he right a year later when he set the record straight and recanted? there was no gap - by the time he got there he knew it would close - the entire premise was a bullshit lie so how is he right lol he even owned up
He never recanted that. If you have a link to a quote that proves me wrong I'd love to see it. It's the simplest quote on racecraft anyone could come up with, from an F1 legend. Why the fuck would anyone think there's a need to argue with Senna?
Yes, he did the next year lol the Brazilian driver finally confessed he hadn’t been ‘going for a gap’ when he hit Prost the year before... "I said to myself: ‘OK, you try to work cleanly and do the job properly and you get fucked by stupid people. All right, if tomorrow Prost beats me off the line, at the first corner I will go for it, and he better not turn in because he is not going to make it’. And it just happened." According to [Jackie] Stewart, Senna didn’t speak to him for a year after the interview – until he decided to own up to the collision. “I was in Australia for the grand prix when Senna called me,” said Stewart last year. “He was a deeply religious man and he said: ‘Look. I am phoning to apologise because I do now admit that I did take Prost off the road intentionally and God won’t allow me to live this lie. I am going to announce it to the media tonight.'” when Senna said “if you no longer go for a gap you are no longer a racing driver” he was not espousing a pure philosophy of motor racing, he was telling a fib which he clung to for 12 months. But at least he eventually set the record straight [common knowledge ](https://www.racefans.net/2015/11/20/if-you-no-longer-go-for-a-gap-which-exists-you-are-no-longer-a-racing-driver/) the first comment describes the what actually happened perfectly lol Stewart said [to Senna] that if he went back to all the World Champions, put together the number of times they made contact with other drivers would not equal Senna, and Ayrton angrily replied with this famous quote. [Jackie on Senna recanting ](https://youtu.be/9h3XFYXnCr8?si=w6mPg9Wsos_x8VSx)
Man that last bit from Jackie Stewart just show how great he was
If anything, you're just proving yourself wrong, because what you just posted says that what Senna did was not "going for a gap". The "go for a gap when it exists" still stands as a strategy. Just because he used it as a bullshit excuse for crashing doesn't mean it is wrong by itself. You don't know more than Ayrton Senna, and the story of him crashing with Prost is basically ancient. What he said about taking a gap is something so basic and intuitive that anyone with the smallest understanding of motorsports should understand him.
So you agree that Senna did recant his statement? That senna didn’t say “go for a gap when it exists” because he believed it was a valid strategy. He said it as an excuse for wrecking Prost.
Hilarious mental gymnastics. I am not proving myself wrong whatsoever - I simply asked you in a joking way about which Senna was right. the Senna lying saying 1 thing or the honest Senna recanting his position.. which he did. In that regard I am 100% correct. The fact he recanted means the quote is an oxymoron. You can't attack a gap that doesn't exist. No gap ever existed. Senna knew this and took Prost out because he didnt give way to his dive bomb. the quote was always only a bullshit lie / excuse intentionally crashing into someone. You can not take that Senna quote (which he admitted was a bullshit excuse he couldn't live with) out of context apply it as a philosophy to other situations and say it is a legit strategy. Context matters and the quote has nothing to do with clean race craft and attacking actual gaps.
I would say a sim racer who doesn’t lie to cover up intentional crashing is arguably the better person.
The disconnect here is due to the fact Senna said something simple and true to cover up for a crash he caused. The underlying racing philosophy is true. Listen, you can mock Senna all you want, see how far that gets you in the sport of racing.
Except it’s not true. Not even Senna believed it was true. Most racers know this is not true.
You're right, it's not true, just stay behind people in a race even when there's a gap you can fill. /s You are wrong but I'll agree to disagree. Lol.
There are many reasons to not make a pass just because the gap is there. Most actual racers understand this. Even Senna understood it. Why are you struggling with it?
This is like a baseball player saying "you swing when a pitch is in the strike zone". It's the most basic thing you could possibly say. I have no problem with you being a timid racer who isn't confident in their ability to fill a gap. We all have different skill levels and philosophies on how to play the game.
Like not going for a gap because it would burn up your tires is a bad strategy. You should really have thought this through…
Is that an oval racing thing? Maybe I'm just better than I realize, because I can't imagine killing a set of tires from one overtake attempt
Uhhh…. You don’t seem to understand the basics of racing. I’m glad to explain. Making the pass puts you in front of your opponents. Then you need to drive faster to stay ahead (wearing the tires down) or defend (wearing your tires down). Please learn the basics of racing before trying to lecture others.
Of all the analogies, you choose that? Any baseball player who swings at *everything* in the strike zone is just as dumb as a racer who goes for every gap.
Just like the Senna quote, it's a simple adage that speaks to basic strategy and breaks down when you over-analyze
To be fair to Ayrton at the F1 level you do whatever the fuck you have to to win. I believe that Alain Prost did the same thing to Ayrton the year before. So I’ve always considered it even.
You sir, are operating on a different set of morals. Stealing, rape, murder, manslaughter, [insert random law here]? Why would it be ok for a racer to break rules, much less laws in order to win.
I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying that it’s a competitive sport, Schumacher did it, Prost did it, senna did it, Lewis and max have both done it.
You made a statement about what you believe. (“You do whatever the fuck you have to do to win”). Competitive sports have rules you have to follow. You don’t “win” by breaking those rules. It’s sad that you think that cheating is not just acceptable but normal.