From the S&S archives:
'Safe' auto racing not possible, says Stirling Moss

FRANKFURT (S&S) — Racing can never be made safe, but through the sport comes safety for the everyday driver, according to Stirling Moss.

"It is absolutely impossible to make racing safe," Moss, renowned for his success in the speed car field, said Sunday during a short stop at Frankfurt Airport. "The only way racing will ever become safe will be if it were to be abolished.

"The only place a driver can get a definite reaction to new systems, effects of speed on various surfaces and courses is behind a wheel. It's this experience that has contributed much towards making everyday driving and modern cars much safer," Moss added.

"From the speedways have come the development of better brakes, better tires, better engines, safe steering devices — any number of things that have made it easier for you and me to drive safely in our own private car. A well-maintained car is pretty safe — that is until a person gets behind the wheel," Moss said.

Moss, who has driven well over 20 different cars in competition sponsored by the Federation of International Automotives, declined to label any one car as the top one for racing claiming, instead, that the most modern one is best.

"I've raced in many different cars and I just can't label any specific one as the best. The one that is best is the one that is newest. In only six months, many developments can be made on any car. Right now, the chaparral is a very fine car, perhaps the finest ever developed in America. Next June there may be an entirely different conception."

Moss predicted two changes for the near future — four-wheel drive and automatic gear boxes for all racing cars. "The chaparral has proved that the automatic gear box is plausible and I feel that the four-wheel drive will be another important development. We'd see a four-wheel drive vehicle as long as eight or ten years ago, but they had too many bugs."

Sudden End

The former world champion, whose career came to a sudden end in a crash during a test run at Goodwood, England, in 1962, calls Scotsman Jimmy Clark the "finest driver on the circuit, today.

"It's not just because Jimmy won the world point championship this year or that he won so many races," Moss asserted. "It's because he is the complete driver, a man who can race anywhere in any kind of race. His winning the Indianapolis 500 this year was a crowning achievement.

"I rate Clark at the top, but there are also three others — England's Graham Hill and John Surtees and your own Dan Gurney — who are right on his tail. Gurney is by far the outstanding American road-racing type of driver." Moss added.

He cited experience and the opportunity to compete as key factors in the European drivers' apparent superiority over their American counterparts,

"More Opportunities"

'We have so many more opportunities in Europe," Moss said. "For instance, in England alone, there are more than 1,000 sporting events each year that involve driving an automobile. If you have enough cars, you can always find the drivers. However, you can't just come up with drivers for these cars. In England, we develop the drivers. But in America, there are too many other diversions.

"And, the size of America is a deterrent. England is such a small country and there is no problem of getting from one place to another, Also, the FIA permits only one championship event in any one country per year. A little place is entitled to and gets such an event. A great country like the United States is permitted only one, too. So, it is easy to see that the interest in England might be greater."

Though the accident has ended Moss' wheeling and dealing in the world's great road attractions, he has maintained a vital interest in the sport. Since he recuperated from his accident, he has been coaching a team for a hobby, serving as a production consultant for a movie on racing and working as a broadcaster for ABC. He also has found time to co-author with Ken W. Purdy, automotive editor of Playboy Magazine, his autobiography.