Posted Saturday, July 1, 2023 at 10:38pm
One of the oldest sayings in motorsport – and vehicles sales – is “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday.” Another spin on this bon mot is “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” For many carmakers (and motorcycle makers and snowmobile makers and boat makers and you get the idea) it’s enough to be out in the mix and competing, but to actually be out there and winning is all that much better. And much more difficult.
Rally racing was the most bare-knuckle type of road racing when it was born in the budding car culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Two-member teams – a driver and a co-driver working as navigator – drove civilian cars against each other in timed stages on public roads in clandestine competitions at first, until word spread and the races became more organized – and much more popular.
