These last few days have yielded mixed emotions for Allan McNish.
Last weekend, the redoubtable little driver from Dumfries was celebrating winning the FIA World Endurance Championship: a proper reward for decades of dedication and derring-do.
McNish's three Le Mans triumphs had been special and ample affirmation of his abundant talents but, as he admitted, they were the equivalent of triumphing in a cup competition rather than claiming a league title. Now, whatever else happens, nobody can take away from the Scot the fact he is a reigning world title-holder, and if genius truly is an infinite capacity for taking pains, this fellow is up there with Stephen Hawking.
Yet, as someone who emerged alongside such luminaries as David Coulthard and Dario Franchitti, McNish was quick to pay tribute to the latter yesterday, following the news that the US-based Scot had confirmed his retirement after serious injuries sustained in a crash last month. McNish's words carried a special poignancy, because neither man has gained the recognition their exploits have merited, possibly as a consequence of them all happening outside Britain.
"I have known Dario since he started karting at Larkhall in the mid-1980s and our careers overlapped," said McNish, 43, who has formed a potent partnership with his Audi employers. "We all went forward in slightly different directions, with me in sports cars, David in F1 and Dario in Indy cars, but he really made a name for himself in the United States and created a massive reputation.
"Winning three Indy 500s and four championships just proves how strong he was - he was the dominant force for most of his career. I think, for him, particularly because Jim Clark was his hero, it was very, very special for him to be able to emulate Jim and win the Indy 500, which is one of the iconic 'Big Three' [along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans].
"But then, for him to go out and win it another twice was pretty blooming amazing. Dario can look back very proudly on his distinguished career and I am sure Scots everywhere will be proud of what he achieved."
McNish has been a similarly peripatetic figure, addicted to his vocation but forced to travel to continue life at the summit. He featured for a short time in the F1 milieu, and proved his worth, an opportunity Franchitti was denied, yet has demonstrated his mettle to greatest effect in the marathon events.
In which light, it was hardly surprising he was in raptures after securing his maiden global prize with one event of the FIA competition remaining, in Bahrain. McNish and his Audi colleagues, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval, have brought a diverse variety of qualities to the task of transforming potential into the hard currency of tangible success.
"I have been waiting a long time for this, but in a way, that simply makes it sweeter," McNish said. "With every individual race I won, the feeling of happiness was becoming shorter and shorter. But this is a world title, it is the first I have ever gained, and I am still walking around with a big smile on my face. Everything was a team effort, from all the mechanics who worked away in the background to the relationship between Tom, Loic and myself. Although I normally find things we could improve upon, I can't fault the effort of the Audi team this season, as we have moved from circuit to circuit and kept picking up the pace.
"When you are taking part in an event such as Le Mans, you have to have total trust in those around you, and rely on the people off the track to get the car set up properly and the lads on the track to do their jobs. I have known Tom for a long time and we help each other out and know each other inside out. But, full credit to Loic, he was pretty new to the job, but quickly understood what was required of him and rose to the challenge.
"The most satisfying thing was that Peugeot fought very hard and we don't expect that situation to change in Bahrain. But wrapping up the title in China last Saturday, on what would have been [former racing driver and team owner] David Leslie's 60th birthday was another thing which struck a chord with me. David [who was killed in a plane crash in 2008] was a special person, who helped me and many others [including Franchitti] enormously at the outset of our careers."
The racing sphere is a close-knit commune. However many precautions are taken, it remains dangerous and those who ply their trade in this domain have to be able to look at one another and say instinctively: "I trust you."
That was one of Franchitti's strengths and it continues to feature among McNish's leading virtues. He would not be drawn in the question of whether he would defend his crown - "We still have unfinished business this season" - but don't bet against it."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article