February 17: Today in Racing

17 February has a deep racing history stretching way back to 1901 when Maurice Farman drove the first-ever Mercedes to a race winning debut from brother Henri’s Darracq at the Circuit du Sud-Ouest France in Pau. Eleven years later, Frank Kulick raced a modified Ford Model T to a record 33.4 second 103.4 mph flying mile on frozen Lake St Clair, Michigan in 1912.

Formula 1 however seems to have found controversy over the years on 17 February. Like in 2001, when Bell sued Michael Schumacher for switching to rival helmet supplier Schuberth. Scumacher's Bell contract would end after 2001, but the German wanted a change on safety concerns. Bell proved its helmet was indeed safe and a Belgian court ordered the Ferrari driver to pay US$115,300 in damages every time he did not wear a Bell.

A year later, BAR boss David Richards was playing down an ongoing war of words between drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button. Villeneuve claimed Button had to earn his respect and prove his mental resilience to race in F1 before Button informed his new teammate that he that he was not there to earn Villeneuve's respect in an elevating bout of handbag slinging.

Motivated by the farce of the six-car 2005 US Grand Prix at Indiapolis after all Michelin the runners had pulled out on tyre safety concerns following Ralf Schumacher's controversial practice crash, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 2006 proposed the idea of a 2007 US Grand Prix in Las Vegas. That in spite of the farcical previous early ‘80s Las Vegas Caesar Palace car park grands prix.  

In other racing, Pedro Rodriguez won the 1963 three-hour Daytona Continental sports car race in a Ferrari 250 GTO, but Daytona stock car action on this day goes back to 1957 when Cotton Owens drove to Pontiac’s first NASCAR win at the Grand National. 17 years later, Richard Petty took his fifth Daytona 500 win and his second in a row in 1974, while Buddy Baker won the fastest ever 500 at 177.6 mph (285.8 km/h) in 1980 and Bill Elliott took a rare pole, qualifying race and 500 victory in ’85.

Ernie Irvan passed Dale Earnhardt with six laps to go to win an upset 1991 500, while Ward Burton took the 2002 win after Serling Martin was penalised for illegally tampering with his car’s bent fender. Ryan Newman won the first restrictor-plate 500 in 2008 and Danica Patrick became the first woman to win take pole in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on her way to eighth in highest finish for a woman in the history of the 500 in 2013.