{"id":676,"date":"2009-07-29T22:33:44","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T02:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/?p=676"},"modified":"2009-07-29T22:33:44","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T02:33:44","slug":"michael-schumacher-the-return-of-the-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"Michael Schumacher – The Return of the King"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_michael_schumacher_vs_ralf\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I just read a tweet by Lance Armstrong (who tweets way too much) about Michael Schumacher’s impending return to F1.\u00a0 I don’t know how intense a fan Lance is; he seems pretty busy with other things (cycling, cancer, kids, lots of different girlfriends).\u00a0 But even if Lance isn’t a diligent fan, he made an observation with which few could argue: ‘The greatest of all time!!’\u00a0 When Lance is wasting his precious 140 characters on an extra exclamation point, you know there are strong feelings.<\/p>\n

My purpose is not to debate whether the greatest is Clark, Fangio, Senna, or Schumacher.\u00a0 That’s a debate for another day.\u00a0 There is no question of Schumacher’s greatness, and his seven championships will never be equaled in F1.\u00a0 That feat is an outrageous achievement that puts Michael in the rarified air of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and maybe Lance Armstrong (Lance doesn’t win championships, he just wins that one race.\u00a0 It’s a bitch of a race, but it’s still one race and not a championship.\u00a0 Sorry).<\/p>\n

What was it about Schumi?\u00a0 How did he become so dominant?\u00a0 I can’t offer a full answer, but I can’t help but make a few observations.\u00a0 It is one thing to be a perfect driver – to be able to go around a race track (a real track, not an oval) 50 or 60 times and do it perfectly every time, reaching speeds in excess of 200 mph and finding the fastest way through every turn and every corner.\u00a0 That feat is hard enough, but it is only a small part of the equation that equals success.<\/p>\n

There is also the matter of physical ability.\u00a0 Many don’t understand the athleticism that is necessary for F1.\u00a0 Although the physical demands are far different (and far less) than those of, say, the Tour de France, drivers are subject to brutal conditions for a period of up to two hours.\u00a0 The cockpit is hot enough in a temperate climate, but in venues such as Malaysia and Bahrain, exhaustion can easily set in.\u00a0 That’s not exhaustion like being tired, that’s exhaustion like you’re sweating so much that, no matter how much water you drink, you can not hydrate, and then normal body function, motor control, vision and cognition start to break down.\u00a0 That can lead to mistakes in a sport where mistakes can be deadly.\u00a0 The drivers must be supreme athletes to compete and succeed.<\/p>\n

But there is more, much more.\u00a0 There is that intangible aspect of competitiveness that (pardon the pun) drives these men to another level.\u00a0 Schumacher’s competitiveness was like nothing I’ve ever heard of.\u00a0 He would lie, cheat and steal to win.\u00a0 He was so tough that he simply could not be intimidated.\u00a0 But he could dish it out like no one else in the history of the sport.\u00a0 Sometimes it seemed that his purpose on the track was to scare his competitors into submission.\u00a0 He was not above driving into other cars, literally causing accidents, if there was some advantage to be gained from such conduct.\u00a0 The word ‘ruthless’ does no justice to Schumi.\u00a0 He was the Terminator, Jaws, Darth Vader, and Alien, all rolled into one, unstoppable winning machine.<\/p>\n

He loved his team and worked tirelessly off the track to help everyone help him win.\u00a0 He didn’t do it to become popular and he didn’t do it to become rich.\u00a0 He lives quietly in retirement and gives away untold millions to various charities, without any of the fanfare that accompanies giving by certain American celebrities.\u00a0 He gave everything he had during his years in racing and had unheard of results.\u00a0 He seems to have done it simply to do it, simply because he could.<\/p>\n

And now, after two plus years of retirement, he will come back to take over the Ferrari seat vacated by the injured Filipe Massa.\u00a0 He will race on August 23, 2009, at Valencia, Spain, at a circuit that is unfamiliar in a car that is unfamiliar.\u00a0 But this is not like Michael Jordan or Lance Armstrong coming back.\u00a0 This is not a false retirement where a sporting man finds he is unable to stay away from the arena where he was once so utterly and completely dominant.\u00a0 Unlike those icons, Schumacher is at peace with his retirement.\u00a0 He has never once threatened to return, and, even now, it appears he will only come back at the request of his beloved Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A.<\/p>\n

Clearly Michael will be ready.\u00a0 Even with testing bans, he will find a way to get to know this car and this course.\u00a0 He will put every ounce of energy he has into this project because that is the only way he goes racing.\u00a0 It is a moment, like so many others in F1 history, that is the stuff of legends.\u00a0 The most revered and feared F1 driver alive and the most successful in the history of the sport will come to the aid of a flagging, though once, brilliant team.\u00a0 He will race in the seat vacated by one of the most beloved and most talented young men in the sport.\u00a0 Massa is the type of driver upon whom F1 should to build its future, if it hopes to have one.\u00a0 Schumacher and Ferrari – two icons.<\/p>\n

But Massa’s accident and the horribly tragic death of Henry Surtees in F2 reminds us, that even with all of the innovations and technology, this is still a perilously dangerous sport.\u00a0 And all the romance and all the drama is only heightened by the fear and the horror that serious men, family men, put aside every time they get behind the wheel.\u00a0 Viel Gl\u00fcck, Michael!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just read a tweet by Lance Armstrong (who tweets way too much) about Michael Schumacher’s impending return to F1.\u00a0 I don’t know how intense a fan Lance is; he seems pretty busy with other things (cycling, cancer, kids, lots … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[1481,630,44,232,632,629,631,633],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":678,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mpomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}