Jimmy Vasser makes it seem easy
This champ is the epitome of calm
Laurance Yap, Toronto Star
Jul. 15, 2006
I've always enjoyed watching professionals work. Whether they're
in a kitchen, at a computer keyboard or behind the wheel, it's
inspiring to see someone who really knows what they're doing.
What distinguishes pros is their effortlessness when they're
in the zone. Susur Lee could probably chop vegetables at high
speed while talking to you and never looking at his hands, and
I know at least a couple of digital artists whose hands and fingers
move so fast that Photoshop can barely keep up.
Professional drivers — whether they're instructors or racers
or cabbies — have that same quality. They can be going
twice as fast as you would be going in any given situation, but
sitting in the passenger seat, it's as if you're going half,
not double, the speed. The car may be flying around corners,
standing on its nose under braking, or sliding at high velocities,
but inside, all is calm.
A pro's arms and hands move with deliberate precision, their
feet glide rather than hurry across the pedals and usually, they're
talking to you as if you were sitting in their living room.
I've been in lots of cars being driven very fast by some very
talented drivers, and have always wondered whether some of the
effortlessness and fearlessness that I see from the right-hand
side has to do with the car not being theirs. If they slide a
bit too far and crease a panel, well, it's not their car, right?
Except this time, the dark blue Ford GT that Jimmy Vasser is
about to drive out onto the Toronto Grand Prix road course is
his car. His daily ride, which he only took delivery of a few
weeks ago.
Does driving his own car make a difference? Not really.
Vasser leaves the pits with the rear tires smoking and doesn't
let up for the next two laps. Around every corner, the GT's huge
Goodyear tires squeal in protest, and on Lake Shore Blvd., he
keeps the accelerator pinned to the floor until we're well past
the first braking marker before making the car stand on its nose
to tackle the slower section of the track.
We're hurling into corners at several times the 30 km/h posted
speed limit, and the crowd actually stands up as they see the
car dive into their field of vision.
And yet Vasser is as calm as can be. For most of the lap, he
drives with one hand on the wheel, the other gently resting on
top of the shifter, ready to slide it into the next gear.
Sometimes, he lifts up his hand to emphasize a point: how much
he enjoys driving the GT on-track (he has an arrangement with
Ford and Champ Car, where it's used at every race for hot laps),
what a great town he thinks Toronto is (he has finished on the
podium several times here) and that, yes, the speedometer on
the California-registered car is in miles, not kilometres, per
hour. Which puts our lap in a bit of perspective, when he's hitting
200 km/h in a bone-stock street car.
Vasser has been at the game long enough to know that smoothness
and consistency count for a lot. The 1996 Champ Car World Series
champion is one of only 14 drivers to make 200 career starts,
and indeed holds the series record for most consecutive starts
at 210 (from a total of 231). In 2005, he started in the top
10 in 12 of the year's 13 races, and is in the top 25 on the
all-time laps-led list. Vasser has finished in the top 10 in
the season standings in nine of the last 11 seasons.
Such consistency has resulted in a successful Champ Car career:
he's racked up more than $12 million (U.S.) in earnings, this
apart from things like endorsement deals and other sponsorships
that have enabled him to afford the likes of a Ford GT to take
journalists out for joyrides before races. If he overcooks a
corner a bit (he never does during our two laps, though we're
always only inches from the walls), what the heck?
"At least they pay for my tires," Vasser says as he brings the
car (if not my innards) to a gentle halt back in the pit lane.