AUTO RACING: Average Driver Age Differs In Series Across The World

18 May 1999

NASCAR Winston Cup, Formula One, CART, and the Indy Racing League all stage some of their biggest events of the season in May. Charlotte headlines the Winston Cup schedule while the Formula One cars have already run through the streets of Monaco. CART's highspeed cars tackle Gateway International Raceway and the Indianapolis 500 highlights the IRL's schedule. It's not just the machines that separate these series, the men that drive them are different as well. A review of the ages of most of the series regular drivers show those drivers' average age to be significantly different. One theory says that series not using computers tend to have older drivers compared to series where computers are more prevalent.

Series Average Driver Age

FORMULA ONE 28.9

CART 30.1

INDY RACING LEAGUE 34.1

NASCAR WINSTON CUP 38.4

Pennzoil Monte Carlo Driver Steve Park Quotes:

"Man, I'm 31 and feel like just a youngster in NASCAR then I look at the ages of the open wheel guys and realize I'd be an old man over there. NASCAR is all about experience. Take an F-1 car or an Indy car compared to our car. They got fancy computers that monitor, tire wear, engine performance, fuel mileage, chassis performance and all that. On our Pennzoil car all that computer work is done by me. I have to tell the crew chief what all those things are doing. The crew chief can't point to a computer to find the answer. In NASCAR it's the driver or nothing. That's why you see the older guys doing well in our sport. Experience replaces computers."

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