This is the Statt Mann Baby. It's time to Scatt a little bit.

The Road Racing Driver’s Club honored Jim Hall of Chaparral Cars this week in Long Beach. If you don’t know Jim Hall or his many contributions to motor racing don’t admit it to too many people.

Hall was a driver who innovated or an innovator who drove. He did both well enough to win races, championships and change the conversation all at the same time.

He introduced the idea of reinforced fiberglass for use as an ultra-lightweight racing chassis. He stunned the world with a wing mounted high above the car that tilted up and down during braking or acceleration maximizing road gripping downforce.

Hall also introduced an automatic transmission for road racing. And maybe the most radical was the “vacuum cleaner” Chaparral 2J that used two snowmobile engines to blow air out from under the car creating a vacuum that sucked the car to the road surface. It was banned before it could win a race in a series that bragged that it would allow just about anything.

He drove in F1. He won at Indy and championships in CART and USAC.

With all the spec cars in today’s racing world, it’s hard to imagine a free thinking innovator like Jim Hall.

Maybe that’s why people are losing interest in the sport. Kit cars just don’t make the same impact as a Jim Hall thought out Chaparral.

Peace.