This article originally appeared in the summer of 1993 in
a special racing issue.
Why is
there such a natural connection between racing and wings?
Just take a look at the cars and it’s quite obvious – every racecar
worth watching has at least one wing attached.
Most of the better cars have two wings!
Just as you can adjust your wing recipes for more
down force or less drag, the race mechanic can perform the same delicate
operation on the cars.
The connections go beyond that, though.
Wingazette® staffers have eaten wings
at a number of racetracks, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Road
Atlanta, Daytona, Homestead, the streets of Miami, Sebring, Mid-Ohio and Road
America. For some reason, the wings
always seem to taste better at a racetrack.
Hooters tried to use this philosophy to market what
they call “hot wings” to the NASCAR crowd.
The chain sponsored the late Alan Kulwicki’s car for a period of time,
then committed the greatest blunder ever known in race sponsorship by pulling
their support shortly after the plane crash that took the life of their driver,
as well as some key people in the chain. Now
there is a large “anti-Hooters” following on the NASCAR circuit, which
serves them right for serving such a poor, heavily breaded product.
Other interesting wing/racing comparisons are easy
to find if you look closely. Ayrton Senna, a notorious hard charger, had been known to
dabble in the “Brazilian Burners” described in our Indy 500 coverage (this
article was written as part of our special racing issue in 1993). Alain Prost,
who is known pretty much of a wimp who hangs around the track waiting for
everyone else to drop out of a race so he can win, has never been known as a
great wing eater.
In the early days of racing, when the mechanic used
to ride with the driver during the race, the connection between wings and racing
was first established. Few people realize that some of the early mechanics became
very adept at cooking wing recipes on the exhaust manifolds of the racing
engines.
Today’s high-tech mechanics have much more
sophisticated ways of preparing the high-octane wings that appear trackside.
Many of them are known to subscribe to Wingazette®
magazine to stay abreast of the latest technology.
We plan to keep up with the progress of the racers
over the years, as well as the mysterious connection with hot wings.
Email us at our home page if you’re planning on spectating at a race,
you never know if we might show up with the cooker, anxious to taste the wings
in the ideal trackside setting.