Imagine a racing sequence that pitted your favourite retired drivers in opposition to each other on a tiny circuit behind the wheel of costly, identically-prepared $1.3 million Jaguar XJ220 supercars. Imagine that you may tune in for just a few weeks in the summertime to observe these icons of sport beat, bang and destroy tens of millions of {dollars} in gear for a grand prize of $100,000. In 1993, that sequence really existed, and it was known as Fast Masters.
Fast Masters was basically a made-for-TV racing product that lasted for six weeks in the summertime of 1993. All six occasions befell on the similar venue, the 0.686-mile Indianapolis Raceway Park roval, and all the vehicles concerned had been Havoline-sponsored Tom Walkinshaw Racing-prepared Jaguar XJ220s that raced on high-performance Bridgestone Tires. To make issues even wilder, the sequence was restricted to drivers who had been 50 or older, and the sector on any given Saturday night time may function icons from IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, or endurance racing — males like Paul Newman, Derek Bell, Henri Pescarolo, Rodger Ward, Parnelli Jones, and Bobby Unser.
Terry Lingner, one of many present’s producers, instructed Marshall Pruett that the first purpose for Fast Masters was to create compelling tv over at ESPN.
“I was struck by the idea that the Bobby Allisons and the Pettys and the Pearsons of the world could still haul the mail,” he mentioned. “And the idea that maybe [with] a stock car, you could do like seniors’ golf. Why not have a Saturday race for guys over 45?”
But you’ll be able to’t simply have a single race. Lingner initially thought-about a 10-race bundle however narrowed the quantity to one thing that might extra simply captivate viewers and convey some locals out to the monitor. Next, all they wanted had been some vehicles.
I’ll let Tony Dowe, former Tom Walkinshaw Racing USA boss, clarify that one:
Jaguar had been pulling out of racing in North America, and there was nonetheless one yr of a contract to go, and Tom [Walkinshaw] had gone to New York to satisfy with [Jaguar executives] Mike Dale and Bob Burton and so forth, and he got here onto me. He mentioned, “Well, they’ll go another year. However, what they want is they want to be in the series with more relevancy to the product, and they also, it needs to have international appeal with drivers, and it needs to be on TV. Live TV. What can you do?”
Lingner, on the time, was contemplating a midget automobile racing sequence, however he couldn’t persuade these senior drivers to get behind the wheel of one thing that was basically a naked chassis with some wings tacked on. Dowe recalled telling Lingner, “Look, you know, mate. If you’ve got XJ220s, a supercar with all these drivers in, and Jaguar is helping and we put up a big prize fund, that’s got to be better than what you’re looking at with this midget car thing.”
Indianapolis Raceway Park made sense as a venue for loads of causes. First, it’s a extremely small circuit, so drivers wouldn’t be capable of construct up sufficient velocity to essentially harm themselves. Plus, the monitor was already geared up with TV digicam cables to air Saturday Night Thunder, so it was straightforward to indicate up on race day and get all arrange. TWR shipped 12 Jaguar XJ220s over to America, and Lingner and Dowe set to work making ready them to race at IRP.
The $100,000 prize purse satisfied a slate of unbelievable drivers to enroll, however nabbing actor-turned-racer Paul Newman actually helped set the present up for fulfillment.
The first occasion befell on Saturday, June 19 and featured three occasions: one 10-lap warmth race on the oval, one 10-lap warmth race on the roval, and one ultimate race made up of six laps on the oval adopted by six laps on the roval. Ten drivers had been chosen for the occasion, however solely 9 began as a result of ol’ Gary Bettenhausen crashed so laborious in apply that his automobile was worn out.
By lap two of the primary warmth, the sector was working three huge and crashing in completely spectacular vogue, leading to a number of vehicles slamming proper into victory lane.
And that was… just about the story of Fast Masters, which rapidly earned the nickname Crash Masters. Every week, the sequence would recruit a handful of latest drivers however fewer vehicles due to the extent of the injury they had been present process.
The ultimate championship race befell on Saturday, August 21. Ten drivers who carried out nicely within the earlier races superior to the finals, the place they took half in time trials to set the sector for 2 eight-lap warmth races. Odd qualifiers participated within the first warmth, whereas even qualifiers entered the second. The prime three finishers of every warmth moved on to the ultimate 12-lap occasion. Bobby Unser ultimately took victory — and the $100,000 prize that got here with it. That was extra money than the winner of the Daytona 24 earned the next yr.
As you’ll be able to think about, the wild, fantastic experiment that was Fast Masters didn’t make it for a second yr. It was too rattling costly, Jaguar was accomplished racing in America, and there was completely no method that some other automaker of their proper thoughts would have subjected their machines to that type of abuse — even when it got here by the hands of a few of motorsport’s most distinctive drivers. But it was a rattling deal with whereas it lasted, offering a few of the wildest, wackiest racing in historical past.
To delve deeper into the sequence, try this 30-minute video from Nascarman historical past, and take a look at the oral historical past of the sequence on Marshall Pruett’s podcast.
Source: jalopnik.com