A mythic endeavor

Motor racing is by its nature a mythic endeavor.

Those who choose to pursue a life in racing have committed themselves to pushing against what we understand of the laws that govern physical reality, in the pursuit of a very, very old human drive: “go faster than the others.” The result of this pursuit over the last 130 or so years has birthed a genus of species of modern mythical beasts: the racecar. This may seem a whimsical qualification, yet a description of the shapes, colors, and sounds that you experience at a racetrack would not seem out of place in D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths. Even if you do not go so far as to consider a racecar a living being, the sensory experience of seeing a pack of them competing on track offers a transcendence that is difficult to find anywhere else. The stuff of myth.

One thing about myths is that they are alive, and like any living being, they require sustenance to survive. Sustenance for myths comes in the form of storytelling. Humans have been keeping their myths alive by telling and re-telling them for far longer than they have been recording them in words and pictures. Another way you might describe this act of storytelling is lorekeeping.

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As Jon and I embarked on building out Turning Fortune, we had discussions about what the site may hold. Having a way to share news was the foundational idea for the site, and journals seemed an obvious choice to share our personal experiences at the track. But this did not feel complete.

During these discussions, we thought back to the earliest days of Jon’s racing initiation. His entry point, like so many, had been Drive to Survive, and eventually the final rounds of the 2024 F1 season. However, Jon has an insatiable curiosity for things he is passionate about, and as such came with endless questions to probe deeper into the inner workings of motorsports and the history of how we got to where we are. I would share videos of races, books and articles with him, names of people to search and do his own digging on.

Once his proverbial tires were warm, Jon got to exploring on his own, and it was not too long before he would come back to me with stories and information that I had not known in my decades of racing fandom. This was not a surprise, as there is far too much racing lore for any one person to hold. Too many racing series, teams, cars, drivers, racetracks. There is always something new to learn, discuss, debate.

One of the joys of being a race fan is to share in the stories across the history of motor sport. Like my father did with me in the infields of Nazareth and Pocono as a kid. Like I did with Jon, first online and then at the racetrack. Like many of us do together, both online and at the track.

Out of reflecting on this journey, the idea for this Lore section of Turning Fortune came clear: To prop up a trailhead for those who enjoy prowling the depths of motor racing history and share the stories that most strike our fancies. A beacon and safe haven for the racing nerds. And our little contribution to sustaining the mythos of motor racing.