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Living Loud, Living Fast: When Musicians Take the Wheel · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Brake Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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Living loud, living fast.
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Connections between musicians and motorsports by Mark D.
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Howell.
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Mark Howell is a professor of communications at
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Northwestern Michigan College.
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Prior to NMC, he was a visiting assistant professor at the Department
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of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University.
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As a motorsports historian, Dr.
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Howell has published numerous articles and two books, From Moonshine to Madison
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Avenue, a cultural history of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 1997, and
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Motorsports and the American Culture, from Demolition Derbies to NASCAR in 2014.
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Since 2011, he has been a senior writer for French stretch.com,
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where his essays appear every Wednesday during the racing season.
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Dr.
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Howell also spent three years from 2001 to 2003 as a part-time crew member with
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Brett Bodin racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series, and has worked closely
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with NASCAR drivers, Hutt Strickland, Kenny Wallace, and Todd Bodine, Dr.
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Howell's presentation for this year's symposium.
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Living Loud and Living Fast will explore the connections between
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musicians and motor sports.
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The presentation highlights how several well known professional musicians from
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diverse genres took their interest in high performance vehicles to regional,
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national, and sometimes international levels of motor racing competition.
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Our next topic, living loud, living fast, connections between musicians and
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motorsports by Mark Howell from Michigan, a frequent presenter here at our events.
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Mark, delighted to have you here.
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It's all yours.
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Thank you, Bob.
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And I will echo everyone's sentiments that it's nice to be back in person.
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We've missed getting together here at the Glenn, and it's nice to,
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to be enjoying some time together.
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Just as kind of an introduction to this topic, I've been working on a
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manuscript the last couple of years.
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Looking at the connection between motor sports and the manned space program.
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And not so much in the technical aspect.
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I think that's been covered in quite enough detail.
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But I'm looking at the personalities.
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Looking at the connection between astronauts and drivers.
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A lot of astronauts who were hobbyist drivers.
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Some who became professional drivers later in their careers.
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Um, And, uh, and in doing that research, I stumbled across occasionally
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names of musicians who sort of fell under the same category as hobbyist
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racers or, um, in many cases, uh, actually competitive racers.
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And so that's where this presentation sort of took shape.
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And, uh, so, I will share some of my most recent findings with you.
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It might seem challenging to find a direct correlation between country music
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legend Marty Robbins and heavy metal frontman Vince Neil, but one needs to
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look no further than an asphalt speedway.
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Despite their differences in musical genres, clothing styles, and their
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respective eras in entertainment history, these two outwardly
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unrelated personalities are more similar than one would think.
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That's because both escaped the demands of the music business by climbing
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behind the wheel of a race car.
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Note that I am not focusing on musicians who dabbled in novelty races like the
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Toyota Pro Celebrity Race held in Long Beach, California between 1977 and 2016.
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Ted Nugent won the celebrity class in 1983, and Donny Osmond
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took the celebrity win in 1991.
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But I am not classifying those events as competitive pro only races.
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And this will be the only time you see these two together in a
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visual, probably ever in your life.
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Although as a pro, Ted Nugent did compete in the Baja 1000 on a couple
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of occasions, as did Mike Nesmith.
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monkeys.
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Uh, my focus is on the handful of professional musicians who
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have spent their leisure time as professional race car drivers.
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The two occupations enjoy somewhat of a symbiotic relationship, a unique
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relationship highlighted by the need for participants in both of these audience
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oriented, public performance based disciplines to demonstrate numerous
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essential qualities, including patience, timing, and, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
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uh, uh, uh, uh, Memory recall, teamwork, hand eye coordination, and control.
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While it is the accumulated wealth that, of most professional musicians,
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that enables them to collect specialized automobiles, it does not,
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by any means, require them to drive those exotic cars competitively.
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Motorsports are not for the faint of heart.
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Racing cars is not only inherently dangerous, but it is prohibitively
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expensive and both physically and mentally challenging.
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Perhaps it is these last two demands that link motorsports to music.
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Both activities tend to be performed before a paying audience, and
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both require the participant to be something of an exhibitionist.
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Any fear of failure must be overshadowed by prodigious confidence.
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A musician who makes a mistake will recover from their error by staying calm
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and pushing onward through the song.
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A racer who makes a mistake, on the other hand, will hopefully recover
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enough to, enough control to stay on course and avoid wrecking their car.
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One of the first professional musicians to climb behind the wheel of a race car
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was Johnny Clay, a jazz trumpeter and band leader from England who gave up
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the music business entirely and moved to Belgium to drive competitively.
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Clay made 23 Grand Prix.
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Starts between 1948 and 1956, scoring his first career victory at the 1950
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Grand Prix de Frontier in Sheme, A race.
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He won again in 1951.
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In 1953, clay won the Rome rally, and in 1954 he managed to win his
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class in the 24 hours of lamont.
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Unfortunately, Clay's racing career was cut short when he
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was diagnosed with TB in 1955.
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The musician turned racer died the next year at the age of 39.
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Johnny Clay transitioned smoothly from a career in music
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to a career in motor racing.
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But it's important to acknowledge that not all musicians who enjoy racing
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see themselves on a starting grid.
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Some musicians utilize their creative gifts in admiration of motor
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racing achievements and history.
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The late George Harrison, for example, was a close friend
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and admirer of Jackie Stewart.
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Stewart wrote a book in 1972 titled Faster, A Racer's Diary, which chronicled
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his 1970 racing season, a year that was scarred by troublesome race cars.
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Unreliable sponsors, and the on track deaths of two fellow drivers, one of whom,
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Jochen Rindt, was Stewart's best friend.
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Harrison, who had a collection of racing photographs, spent 1977
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traveling the circuit with Stewart.
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His experiences resulted in the song, Faster, which reflected on the trials
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and tribulations of Formula One as seen from Stewart's perspective.
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The song appeared on Harrison's self titled solo album in 1979.
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Another musician who put his fascination with motor racing
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into song was Mark Knopfler.
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His single, Speedway at Nazareth, which is from 2000, used the challenges of an
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IndyCar season as a metaphor for life.
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And in 2010, Mark Knopfler released The car was the one, a
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single commemorating the life and legacy of the late Mark Donohue.
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Mark Knopfler read Donohue's 1975 autobiography, The Unfair Advantage,
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and was intrigued by Donohue's story of being an up and coming racer who wanted
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a chance to drive the new Shelby Cobra.
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Ackar Nafler referred to in his song as the one.
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Mark Nafler borrowed, quote unquote, Donahue's story from the
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opening paragraph of chapter six.
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It's located on page 27 of the second edition, published in September of
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2000, and used it for the song's lyrics.
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The song is like the book in that the narrative is from Donahue's perspective.
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Mark Donahue himself is never mentioned.
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Knopfler's song, instead, is all about a young driver's admiration of
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a successful peer, the young driver's desire to win, and the car that helped
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shape the young driver's career.
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For many other musicians enamored with motorsports, the allure of
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competition is too powerful to ignore.
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Sadly, for these aspiring champions, ignoring their urges would have
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been a better course of action.
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As in the case of Andrew Ridgely, one half of the famed pop duo, Wham!,
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he's on the left in this photograph.
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After his tenure with the group, Ridgely took his money and his energy and
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chased his dreams of motor racing glory.
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He took up residence in Monaco and began racing in Formula 3 competition.
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Ridgely's overall racing career was pretty much a failure right from the start,
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enabling the pop star to experience Wham!
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from an entirely different, more literal perspective.
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Another musician motor racing hopeful was the Grammy winning
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singer songwriter Christopher Cross.
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The yacht rock icon met Ferrari F1 driver Patrick Tambay while
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on a European promotional tour.
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Cross experienced the high performance supercar culture in Modena, had lunch
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with Enzo Ferrari, and suddenly felt inspired to pursue an entirely new career.
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Cross raced Formula Super Vs briefly until he suffered serious injuries in a
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wreck at Willow Springs Raceway in 1984.
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Following months of recovery, Cross tried to drive again, this
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time as part of the video for his 1985 single, Charm the Snake.
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The video features Cross behind the wheel.
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This time of a Formula Atlantic car, supposedly chosen because
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he thought the car looked a lot cooler because it had wider tires.
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Christopher Cross aspired to drive in the American Racing Indy Lights
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series, but he accepted the fact that he wasn't skilled enough to ever
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500, which was one of his dreams.
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His physical size had racing insiders suggesting that he try driving stock cars.
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But Cross's motorsports career effectively stalled, pardon the pun, after a
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handful of Formula Super V events.
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That's not to say there haven't been musicians who've
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managed to try motorsports and achieve some level of success.
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One great example would be Sweden's Carl, Edward, Tommy, Slim, Borgud.
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who combined his talent as a jazz rock drummer with his love of racing to achieve
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a respectable driving career across a variety of European motorsports classes.
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Borgud developed an interest in motor racing as a teenager when he saw Sterling
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Moss compete in a Formula 2 race in 1959.
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He bought a Lotus Formula Ford from Dixieland musician and amateur racer,
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Chris Barber, who not only raced his own Lotus, but also owned motorcycle
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and bicycle teams during the late 1960s.
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Tommy Borgud began competing regionally, he enrolled in the Jim
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Russell Racing School, and started winning events shortly thereafter.
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During the 1970s, Borgud matured as a racer and climbed the competitive ladder.
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In 1972, he finished second in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, and in 1973 he
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won the Scandinavian Formula Ford Series.
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His career path led him to Formula three in 1976 through 1977 and
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eventually to Formula One in 1981.
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His first points paying finish was sixth place in the 1981 British Grand Prix.
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After his Formula One career ended in 1982 due to team politics, Borgud
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competed only occasionally until he began racing a Formula 3000 car in 1985.
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After struggling in Formula 3000, the drummer drove a Ford Sierra to win the
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1989 Will Hire 24 Hour Touring Car event.
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On the heels of his European truck racing championships in 1986 and 1987.
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In 1994, Slim Borgud won the Nordic Touring Car Championship.
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And in 1995, he won yet another truck racing title.
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During his time in F1, Borgud used his ties to the Swedish supergroup ABBA to
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attract potential sponsors and the media.
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Borgud played drums in bands like Made in Sweden and Solar Plexus, but he also
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played on many of ABBA's biggest records.
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Through his friendship with ABBA, Borgud was able to put the group's name on his
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Ford powered ATS Formula One car for free.
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This method was used by another rock drummer with ties to motorsports.
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John Bonham, of Led Zeppelin fame, blended his love of cars With his star power to
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help Kay Griffith's McLaren M8E qualify for a Group 7 race at Silverstone in 1974.
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Other musicians merged their music money with motorsports as well.
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The legendary Johnny Halliday, the French Elvis as he was known, raced in
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the Paris to Dakar rally on occasion, and Shane Lynch from the Irish boy
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band, Boyzone, found success in both British GT and drifting competition.
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Each of these efforts was financed solely by the musicians themselves.
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One act to market itself through automobile racing was the
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British pop group Atomic Kitten.
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which formed a professional alliance during the early 2000s with the
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MG Factory Team and the British Touring Car Championships under the
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banner of Atomic Kitten Motorsports.
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The group's interest was so high that Jenny Frost, one of the Atomic
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Kittens, from 2001 through 2004, enrolled in a racing school in
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hopes of becoming a driver herself.
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Just like Tommy Borgud and Jenny Frost, other musicians have embraced
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their interests in motorsports.
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In 2010, the British jazz trio Curios released an album titled The Other Place.
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Two singles on the record, written by pianist and F1 fan Tom Cawley, honored the
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achievements of fellow Brit Jensen Button.
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One cut was titled Belief, and the other, 2009 World Champion.
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Previous works by Curios have also commemorated Button's
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motor racing exploits.
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Nick Mason, another Brit, and the drummer for Pink Floyd, is
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widely recognized for his vast collection of historic racing cars.
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Vehicles he continues to drive in vintage celebrations like the
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annual Goodwood Festival of Speed.
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And Brian Johnson, the lead singer for ACDC, owns an eclectic assortment
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of exotic high performance race cars that he also occasionally
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enters in vintage competitions.
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Yet another musician who made a name for himself as a racer was Dick Smothers.
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Smothers earned a reputation as a versatile driver while
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playing concert tours and performing on national television.
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Even as the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was denounced by conservatives
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for its criticism of American politics and the Vietnam War, Dick Smothers was
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racing all sorts of high performance vehicles, including SCCA Formula Vs, NHRA
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dragsters and endurance type sports cars.
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Smothers raced Porsches at Sebring and co drove Chevrolet Corvettes
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at the 24 hours of Le Mans.
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In the 1980s, Pennsylvania native John Oates of Holland Oates.
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He's the one with the mustache in this picture, enjoyed a second career in
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motorsports, having grown up around sports cars near the shops of Porsche
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legends, Bob and Al Holbert, Oates developed a keen interest in road racing.
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John Oates started out racing go karts on Long Island during the late
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1970s, then learned to drive Formula Fords while on tour in Europe.
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Upon his return to the United States, he attended the Bertle Ruse
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Driving School at Pocono Raceway as a classmate of the late John Andretti.
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I actually saw John Oates race a Formula Ford at Pocono back in the early 1980s.
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He spun the car a lot.
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He would go, he would go into the first turn, loop the car, come out of the
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dirt, and then he'd come around, he'd loop the car again, but, oh well, he was
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having fun, so, that's all that counts.
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Oates also competed in the SCCA's Sports 2000 class for two seasons.
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John Oates met Jackie Stewart through George Harrison, and he followed the
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racing career of Richard Lloyd, a British driver who had worked six years, For DECA
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records in 1983, Lloyd put Oates behind the wheel of a Porsche 924 GTR in an IMSA
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race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, and he finished 10th out of 37 cars.
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An accident at Road America ended Oates competitive racing career.
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He now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he's active with community efforts
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in hopes of bringing both NASCAR and IndyCar events back to Music City.
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In 1992, the aforementioned Vince Neal, frontman for the heavy metal band Motley
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Crue, pursued his interest in racing and competed in four Indy Lights events.
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He drove the Say No to Drugs.
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Isn't that ironic?
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March Buick to an average finish of 12.
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75 and a career best finish of 10th in a race at Milwaukee.
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Now, we should acknowledge at this point that the music motorsports
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continuum goes both ways.
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Formula F1 driver Damon Hill and IndyCar veteran Kenny Brack are both
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accomplished guitarists, while Elio DeAngelis and the late François Sievert
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were classically trained pianists.
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Sievert supposedly performed an impromptu concert at Seneca
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Lodge the night before his death.
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In the Grand Prix in 1973.
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Any of you local folks are aware of that or can confirm that.
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Supposedly, that's part of his lore.
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In NASCAR, Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace plays the drums for relaxation
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and has performed on stage with various bands during race weekends.
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And Kyle Petty, son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty, has enjoyed quite
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a lengthy side gig in country music.
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Petty, who had eight wins during his 30 years in the Cup Series, has also recorded
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albums, filmed videos, and performed shows all across the country, including
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at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
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Kyle Petty has continued to perform his music since retiring from driving in 2008.
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Perhaps the most recognized motor racing musician in the United States
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was country music legend Marty Robbins.
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He recorded a catalog of more than 50 albums and scored 17 number one
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singles during his music career.
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But there was more to Marty Robbins than white sport coats and pink carnations.
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There's a little reference for some of you old timers out there, uh, myself included.
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Robbins grew up in Arizona, where open wheel competition
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was the main form of motorsport.
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While living in Nashville as a singer and songwriter during the late 1950s,
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he began driving micro sprints, eventually graduating to regional late
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models, modifieds, and stock cars.
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As his music and racing careers grew, Marty Robbins interests evolved into
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a tradition at the Grand Ole Opry.
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Robbins would be put last in the lineup.
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That enabled him to race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
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Then, when he was done, run over to the Ryman Auditorium to
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play the final set at the Opry.
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Marty Robbins drove 35 Grand National or Cup Series events between 1966 and 1982.
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His magenta and chartreuse dodges, although he also drove
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Plymouths and Fords, Chevrolets and Buicks, were hard to miss.
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Robbins tended to find a car roughly as fast as his own and follow
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that driver throughout the race.
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During his Grand National career, Marty Robbins scored one top five and six
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top tens and led a total of three laps.
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But that's not to say he didn't get significant attention
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for his on track exploits.
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At Talladega Superspeedway in 1972, Robbins thrilled the crowd by passing
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cars all afternoon, turning laps quicker than all the other drivers.
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After getting up to fourth place, Robbins suddenly quit.
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He was going to be named Rookie of the Race when he suggested that NASCAR
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officials take a closer look at his Dodge.
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They discovered that Robbins had removed The legally mandated restrictor
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plates from his car's engine, which led to his immediate disqualification.
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When asked why he cheated, Marty Robbins said that he, quote, just wanted to see
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what it was like to run up front for once.
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End quote.
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And on lap three of the National 500 at Charlotte in 1974, Marty Robbins purposely
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drove his Dodge into the retaining wall at about 160 miles an hour when he came up on
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Richard Childress number three Chevrolet.
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sitting broadside across the track.
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Robin suffered multiple injuries, including a black eye and cuts to
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his nose and forehead in the mishap.
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Took 32 stitches to patch him up.
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But it's widely believed his actions saved Childress life.
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Given such reasoning, it's been suggested that Marty was personally responsible
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for Dale Earnhardt's Hall of Fame career at Richard Childress Racing.
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Marty Robbins drove his last race at Atlanta in the fall of 1982.
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On December 8th, Robbins died following his fourth heart attack.
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He was 57 years old.
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When news of his passing was announced, Marty Robbins was remembered as an
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award winning musician and songwriter, but he was visually depicted in the
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media as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.
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The connections between music and motorsports are many.
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Both pursuits epitomize the spirit of show business.
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Both require highly focused concentration and impeccable coordination.
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Above all, both activities challenge participants to
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push beyond expected limits.
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In motorsports, just like in music, success is measured by one's ability to
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transcend supposed or expected norms.
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Being a musician means being a student of technique, tradition,
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and the benefits of practice.
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The same can be said of racing.
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Performance in both endeavors is measured by the quality of your achievements.
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And with that, I thank you for your time and your attention.
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Oh, and if I had waited just a little bit, I would have got the photo of, um,
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Ross Chastain sliding against the wall right behind Christopher Bell here,
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but, uh, that photo wasn't available when I was putting this together, so.
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Thank you, Mark, your usual riveting presentation.
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Are there any questions?
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Do you have any interest in record album covers that depict automobiles?
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Because when I get home, I'm going to go through my collection and
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pull out every one that has a, uh, an automobile on the cover.
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Well, Marty, Marty Robbins, uh, had at least two albums.
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He has one for his album, Devil Woman.
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Where on the cover it's his modified, which he called affectionately
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Devil Woman, so it's a nice picture of his car, kind of in profile.
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And then in a later album, he put a picture of his, uh, I think it
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was one of the 72 Dodges that he has on the cover of that, sort of
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as a commemorative kind of a thing.
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Yeah, I'm always, I'm looking for all kinds of stuff.
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Like the Curios album, that's, that has nothing really to do with any of the
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songs, it's just It's a cool photo of, they think maybe that was Jensen Button
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behind the wheel of that sports car there for that, for that jazz album cover.
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This has taken a life of its own, so I'm, I'm always looking.
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So yeah, if you find anything, I'll give you my email.
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You can send me the images and the publication credit that
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you want and go with that.
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Hard not to get into this subject without thinking about the Beach Boys as well.
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They basically made a whole kind of a career out of the California car
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culture with 409 and, uh, Little Old Lady and, uh, et cetera, et cetera.
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Right.
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Which is, it's fascinating because they Well, and I came across them.
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I was, at one point in this research, I came across some information
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about the Smothers Brothers and the Beach Boys co sponsored an NHRA Top
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Fuel dragster back in the late 60s.
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And I thought, this is really interesting to have these two bands that are so
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sort of at the peak of popular culture coming together to co sponsor a car.
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It turned out that neither group had anything to do.
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with the team.
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It was people within the team who had very, very limited connections.
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Like, you know, they knew the cousin of a brother of somebody who was a
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part of the record label, and they thought, Wouldn't this be cool to
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put these two bands on the car?
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And there are tons of photos, and there's tons of information.
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But neither group will take credit for saying, Yes, we sponsored that car.
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It was just kind of a, sort of a vanity project.
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I don't think the beach parties had anything to do with racing either.
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I mean, they were surfing and other things like that.
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Right.
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But still, there was that California car culture that they
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were Promoting very much and and connecting to some definitely nice.
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Definitely.
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And primarily drag racing time for one more buzz.
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The very first Cup series road race took place in 1954 at
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Linden, New Jersey Airport.
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And there was a guy you'll see on the race results named J.
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Christopher.
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That was one of the finishers.
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Well, J.
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Christopher wasn't his real name.
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His real name was Conrad Janice.
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And if you remember the Morgan Mindy TV show, he was a bald headed
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guy that played Mindy's father.
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And he was also a jazz musician out of New York City.
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That's right.
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He was a musician.
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Yep.
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And if he had used his real name, he would have lost his amateur
28:38
standing with his race car club.
28:40
He went ahead and he ran that one race and I was able to track him
28:43
down and I asked him about it.
28:45
He said, Oh yeah.
28:45
He said That was quite an experience for me because we were
28:48
gentlemen racers, and those NASCAR guys were a bunch of ruffians.
28:54
Now, and where did he finish?
28:55
Do you know?
28:55
He finished like 27th or something.
28:57
He only lasted a handful of laps, and he had his little XK120, and he
29:02
was really afraid he was going to get it dinged up, so he pulled in.
29:05
Half the field was sports cars, and half the field was stock cars.
29:09
You can't trust those NASCAR guys.
29:11
They'll stuff you in the fence as soon as they get a chance to.
29:14
Alright, one of our online viewers, Darren Tahara says, Tell Mark that Brian
29:20
Johnson competed at Watkins Glen in the historic race in the early 2000s.
29:24
Very cool.
29:25
That's good to know.
29:26
I'll have to find a place around here that has archival
29:28
information about Watkins Glen.
29:31
See if I can find some photos or some track records or something.
29:35
So if anybody knows of a place, let me, let me know.
29:39
Time for just one more quick.
29:41
Yeah, Mark, one of the earliest musicians I know of getting involved in
29:44
motorsport was band leader Guy Lombardo.
29:47
He was a well known boat racer back in, oh, I guess the 30s to the early 50s.
29:51
And at one time, I believe he held world water speed records.
29:54
Guy Lombardo did.
29:55
Yeah.
29:56
Oh my gosh.
29:57
Okay.
29:57
That's I haven't even looked into other kinds of motor sports, but you know what?
30:01
Yeah.
30:02
In my NASA research, Gordon Cooper and Gus Grissom were boat racers.
30:07
They would team up and they would do essentially like
30:09
offshore hydroplane type things.
30:11
There is kind of a boat racing theme, but I'll definitely have to track that
30:15
down because that's that's fascinating.
30:18
Paul Whiteman, the big band leader, was instrumental in the development
30:22
of Daytona International Speedway.
30:25
Uh, he was one of the, sort of the movers and shakers behind that.
30:29
The deeper I dig, the deeper I go.
30:31
There's a lot going on here.
30:32
So, I appreciate all the feedback.
30:35
And that goes for anybody.
30:35
Any kind of information you have, please feel free to share it with me.
30:40
Mark, thank you very much.
30:42
Thank you.
30:42
Applause
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