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.