50 Great Motorsport Quotes

[davewilson]

1.
"Loads of overtaking is boring. You go fishing and you catch a fish every ten minutes and it's boring. But if you sit there all day, and you catch one mega fish, you come back with stories that you caught a fish this big (indicates a big fish), intead of this size (indicating a small fish)"
- Eddie Irvine on the lack of overtaking in F1.

2.
"You know you're in trouble when the first person to get to you after a wreck is carrying a beer"
- NASCAR driver, Jimmy Horton, speaking of his accident at Talladega in 1993.

3.
"The car is such a dog we should have tied it to the fence"
- Dick Johnson, former Australian Touring Car Champion, discusses an obviously less than brilliant vehicle....

4.
"F1 won't change me"
- Jenson Button, just weeks before dumping his girlfriend of five years and buying a Ferrari.

5.
"Give me a few bits of wool to stick on the car, a good gust of mistral wind, and I could come up with a better aerodynamic package on the bridge at Avigon"
- Jean Alesi on the dreadfully inefficient Prost AP02.

6.
"He's just a total bloody idiot. Always was, always will be"
- Derek Warwick on Rene Arnoux.

7.
"Oh, we're just looking for the ear"
- Niki Lauda replying to somebody asking what the former world champion was doing back at the site of the 1976 accident that nearly killed him at the Norschleife circuit.

8.
"I am a non discriminating driver. I want to kick everybody's ass"
- Greg Ray, IRL.

9.
"The track is my canvas. My car is my pencil"
- Graham Hill.

10.
"Ukyo Katayama is undoubtedly the best formula 1 driver that grand prix racing has ever produced"
- A questionable quote from commentating legend, Murray Walker.

11.
"Anyone who doesn't speak English isn't worth speaking to"
- Bernie Ecclestone.

12.
"Clark came through at the end of the first lap of the race so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident"
- An onlooker describing Jim Clark's incredible first lap speed at the 1967 Belgian GP at Spa.

13.
"My game is going wrong - the star is setting" - Ascari speaking to Fangio in 1955
- just four days before his death at the wheel of a sportscar.

14.
"Jimmy ranked with, perhaps even out-ranked, Nuvolari, Fangio and Moss and I think we all thought that he was in a way invincible. To be killed in an accident with a Formula 2 car is almost unacceptable"
- Bruce McLaren speaking of the great late-Jim Clark.

15.
"Drivers are just interchangeable light bulbs - you plug them in and they do the job"
- Teddy Mayer, McLaren.

16.
"And that is Ralf Schumacher - son of Michael"
-Who else but Murray Walker, ITV commentator?

17.
"I think I've proved that, in equal cars, if I want someone to stay behind me... well, I think he stays behind..."
- Gilles Villeneuve.

18.
"Break a leg"
- Grid Girl at 1999 British GP offering some 'advice' to Michael Schumacer pre-race. A few hours later Michael was in a hospital and his leg was in plaster, following an early race shunt.

19.
"Christ - I used to complain that this thing was underpowered, I must have been mad"
- Chris Amon after driving a 1970's F1 car up the hill at Goodwood.

20.
"Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines"
- Enzo Ferrari.

21.
"I'm fine, but I'm going to need to change my shorts when this race is over"
- Greg Moore over the car to pit radio after a spin in the Michigan 500.

22.
"It's been 2000 years since a Good Friday was this bad"
- Benetton tech boss, Pat Symonds speaking at the 2000 British GP, the site of another dismal performance.

23.
"No, it will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear"
- Too much power is never enough....Mark Donohue on the Can Am Porsche 917.

24.
"Are you here to race or to crash?"
- Chico Landi addressing drivers safety concerns in Brazil in the 1980's.

25.
"You might think that's not cricket, and it's not, it's motor racing"
- Yep. Murray again.

26.
"It's almost worth retiring just so I can speak to you..."
- Alex Zanardi speaking to Louise Goodman on TV during the formers awful 1999 Grand Prix season.

27.
"F--- off"
- Yvan Muller to Peter Cox, during the postrace press conference at the 1999 Snetterton British Touring Car Championship night race.

28.
"Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is"
- Murray Walker.

29.
"The man's an animal"
- John Cleland speaking about Steve Soper, at Silverstone BTCC race, 1992.

30.
"...if they have any more drive-throughs, they're going to have to start selling burgers and fries in the pit lane"
- Charlie Cox commentating on a drive through penatly for Laurent Aiello at Silverstone BTCC round, 1999.

31.
"Racing drivers have balls, unfortunantly, none of them are crystal"
- David Coulthard.

32.
"You're a pack of Arseholes"
- Jim Richards responds to a booing crowd on the podium of the controversial 1992 Bathurst 1000.

33.
"You're a pack of lovely lovely people"
- Jim Richards makes up for his 1992 speech after winning the 2002 event.

34.
"The litte Mexican bastard tries to kill me!"
- Jo Siffert on Pedro Rodriguez.

35.
"Unless I am very much mistaken...I AM very much mistaken!"
- Murray Walker.

36.
"The passport changes but the blood doesn't"
- Italian-American, Mario Andretti on the lure to drive at Ferrari.

37.
"I knew I'd been beaten by the best driver in the world"
- Rene Arnoux on his epic last lap battle with Gilles Villeneuve at Dijon 1979.

38.
"When the flag drops, the bullshit stops"
- Anonymous

39.
"Finishing second means you are the first person to lose"
- Gilles Villeneuve.

40.
"In my day the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny"
- Unknown.

41.
"I want to stay in F1 but things have to get better for me to have a chance. No disrespect, but I won't go to Minardi"
- Johnny Herbert, 2000.

42.
"We'll be looking to give McLaren and Ferrari a run for their money"
- Craig Pollock, BAR Team Principle, speaking prior to the team's 1999 race debut. As it turned out, BAR was even able to give Minardi a walk for their money, failing to score a single point.

43.
"There's a bit of debris there, Rouse hits it, Oh, nice header from Menu!"
- Murray Walker, Brands Hatch BTCC, 1994.

44.
"Why did I take up racing? I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal"
- Kyle Petty, Stock Car driver.

45.
"It was a Ford, so it didn't really matter"
- Mark Skaife answering a question about a car fire in a touring car race at Barbagallo.

46.
"I already tried that. Something heavy metal like. And sunglasses. But it didn't work I went to the gas station and when I left the guy at the counter said 'Bye Mr Schumacher'
- Michael Schumacher on trying not be recognised...

47.
"He's broken our camera lens that'll be six grand please Derek!"
- Murray Walker after Derek Warwick crashed into a camera during a BTCC race.

48.
"Presumably it's vitamin C they put in that Orange Arrows, Murray..."
- Commentator Martin Brundle shows why he isn't a comedian.

49.
"I want to win a couple of Indy car championships and I want people to say that Greg Moore was one of the best CART drivers that was ever around."
- Greg Moore, speaking in 1997. In October 1999, Moore was killed in a horrible accident at Fontana.

50.
"Rene Arnoux is coming into the pits ... lets stop the startwatch"
- Murray Walker, BBC commentator.

The Stig

[Dare]

Great post Stig

many great quotes

[davewilson]

Thanks for being so alert dare,
looks like there is just you and me who get this far into the pages?

The Stig

[Wizzo]

Some superlative quotes there 

[davewilson]

Yes just getting my own back a bit....
Knew you would come.....

The Stig

[Ian]

Don't you just still miss our Murray, he's priceless ain't he 

[davewilson]

Yes i think they should bring him back for Silverstone GPs and things of that nature,one off projects.
I think it was all the Global travelling that was getting him down..........

I would love to hear him again, at this years British GP commentating ,while we have got it.

Do you think we should do a bring back Murray petition?

He was the best.!

The Stig

[Ian]

F.A.B Stig, but you might need an artic to deliver it, love to hear him in the box again.

[davewilson]

No with todays technology paper work is dead .We just all email in to an established page which we could set up here.
We would have so many hits to cope with.
But the ratings would make the site No1 ..Due to visits for Information.
I dont know how these things work, but with proper advertising i feel we could bring people to this site ,just to vote as details would only be held here by the Wizard....

Another great idea in action or not?

The stig

[romephius]

One of my favourite things on this site, is the Murray quotes.  This posting was great too, but murray just seems to come up with the best ones..........

[Dare]

Funny you mention the traveling getting Murray down,the
only race the Speed Channel visits is Indy,all the rest are from
a studio.Only Peter Windsor is at the tracks

[lkjohnson1950]

Just found this, #40 "In my day the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny" is attributed to JM Fangio. Another of my favorites: Upon being asked What happened out there, Graham Hill replied " First it went bang, then it didn't go at all ".

Lonny