How racing pays off in daily driving

I'm not an auto-racing fan. My portal into the industry is covering the business side — financial numbers, product strategies, regulatory issues, the enormous global game.

So you might expect me to scoff at automaker involvement in car racing as a "boys and their toys" indulgence. But my view is the opposite.

Automakers rationalize racing as a proving ground for performance and safety technology. I totally buy that, even for brands that make mainstream family haulers.

My opinion crystallized a few years back. I was driving with my wife and daughter along a country highway when, unaccountably, a car pulled out in front of me. I had the right of way, and the other driver had a stop sign. But that person's mind apparently was on another planet.

So, instant crisis. I jammed on the brakes of our Subaru Legacy wagon and wrenched the wheel, going into an agonizing, drifting slide. It felt like the car was close to losing traction. We were heading toward a ditch.

We slid behind the other car, avoiding contact. Our car slowly came to a stop on the edge of the ditch, facing roughly perpendicular to its original path.

It all happened in a couple of seconds. As we all caught our breath, I remember being very grateful that the Legacy wagon — not exactly a track car — performed capably.

That's why I like factory-sponsored racing. Driving is one of the more deceptive things we do. It seems routine, even boring much of the time. But in a nanosecond we can find ourselves desperately trying to avoid a crash.

Automakers all have their proving grounds, where they rigorously test new vehicles. But there's no more extreme, relentless proving ground than a racetrack.

To me, that's its value — because you never know when your own mundane road trip will go screeching off-track. If that happens, you'll be very grateful for the performance capabilities developed for Formula One or NASCAR.