I think that is an amazing idea, but I have to say: Rugby and soccer could both have the same treatment too
Blue Skies in Camelot (Continued): An Alternate 80s and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
What if Sylvester Stallone lobby to Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to keep the United States Grand Prix on the the schedule and to move it from place to place very year until they find a permanent home for it which could be Indianapolis or in Austin
Fortunately, to my recollection, Jerry Faldwell in this timeline is not a major political force like in OTL due to a variety of factors, but primarily because he, along with Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, and Lincoin Rockwell, together founded the American Conservative Party (ACA), a political party filled with militant evangelicals, unreconstructed Southerners, and outright neo-Nazis that were so outright reactionary and heinous that even the conservative wings of both the GOP and Dems wanted nothing to do with them. The party went about as successfully as one would expect and ended up disbanding in the early 1970s. Due to his being well-known as one of the founders and vocal supporters of the ACA, Faldwell ended up being publicly discredited.
Larry Flynt would have no shame in ending Jerry Faldwell career
The next time that Larry Flynt Jerry Faldwell would meet Larry Flynt would punch him back
And Larry Flynt would screaming tell faldwell I’ll make sure that people like you never get into power
Senna's death at Imola was unfortunately what propelled F1 to make tremendous strides towards safety. But Senna being the charismatic man he was, could reform the GPDA, leading it and demanding immediate change. A boycott of Monaco (the next race) would definitely be on the cards.
Do you think he'd have won in 1994 though? The Williams was the superior car, yes, but Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher were neck and neck till literally the end of the last race in Adelaide.
Yes, it was quite unfortunate that with Rubens Barrichello's accident on friday practice and Roland Ratzenberger's death on saturday qualifying, Senna's death was essentially the "wake-up call" for F1 to make the strides and changes.
But of course, him surviving Imola could fuel his intensity in leading the GPDA into demanding the changes in safety for F1.
In regards to Senna winning in 1994? Hmmmm, hard to say, but it's possible. Maybe if Senna could adapt to the Williams FW16, which did become competitive within two-three weeks from Imola (and was consistent to allow Williams to win the World Constructors Championship), yeah, it's possible.
But of course, there is also the possibility that Senna could either make the move to Ferrari (as on 27 April 1994, Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo had apparently been having discussions with Senna about going to Ferrari) or to Honda (as Honda was seriously considering entry as a constructor team, even after having pulled out of F1 officially, with engineers at Honda unofficially working on testing on the RC100 as far back as 1991, and were considering entering around 1998 until Harvey Postlethwaite (who they had hired as technical director and designer) died of a heart attack, forcing them to abort, and thus wait until 2006 when they brought BAR).
Last edited:
All this talk of Falwell makes me wonder @President_Lincoln Since Jerry Falwell isn't as powerful ITTL does this mean Liberty University won't be founded?
Honda only returns as BAR in 98 though. Senna going to Ferrari is interesting. Though I don't know if it'll be as dominant without Schumacher, because he essentially transplanted a Lead Designer and Chief Engineer from Benetton (Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne)
Last edited:
On the other hand, Ferrari and Michael Schumacher are so indelibly linked that it'll be weird if it didn't happen.
So here's what I suggest:
Senna finishes out the 1994 season winning it.
The 95 Williams isn't as competitive, and Benetton win both the driver's and constructor's titles.
He then goes to CART Indycar on a swap deal with Jacques Villenueve and does that until the early 2000s at least (before Indycar became a spec series)
After this I can see two paths for him:
1. Team Principal for Honda, which if the 2008 recession happens will become Senna GP instead of Brawn GP. Maybe he keeps the team afloat for longer.
2. Politics: Senna was already an activist to begin with, and the Brazilian people treated him like a folk hero. I'm not familiar with Brazilian politics, so he probably becomes an MP and then later runs for President in the early 2010s.
If we have the USA hosting the 1986 World Cup ITTL, I could see, depending if the US men's team puts on a respectable performance, have a series of soccer themed movies being released throughout the late 80's.
Eh, I don't think Senna would ever think about switching over to CART/IndyCar (even though I know he did an IndyCar test with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1993) or even go into politics. Heck, even though being a Team Principal is doable (or even doing a rare thing, in racing for his own racing team!), I wouldn't have been surprised if Senna does the whole "Fernando Alonso" shtick and continue to race into his 40s.
Well, I was suggesting that maybe with Senna's connections to Honda, maybe he convinces them to come in fully as a constructor around '98. Or if Senna goes over to Ferrari in 1996, he takes Adrian Newey with him.
But of course, this is still years away, as we're only in 1982 at this point.
Galaxy-brained moment:
Ayrton Senna and Giancarlo Minardi were so close, it's possible Senna could've driven for Minardi at some point in his future.
Sure, he wouldn't be able to turn Minardi into a top team, but Senna knew the team needed money and talent to survive, so his stint at Minardi could help the team stay afloat and even score some points; most likely, Minardi ends up in more or less the same mid-tier position Toro Rosso/Alpha Tauri/RB ended up, perhaps slightly less successful than that, but still largely adhering to Giancarlo Minardi's remarkably un-corporate and relaxed (for Formula One standards) ethos.
As time goes on, the team builds up the same kind of youth-oriented grassroots efforts and facilities that, in OTL, Valentino Rossi financed for motorcycle racing in Romagna, except for automobile racing, something that'd be very in character for a Giancarlo Minardi that isn't having money issues; perhaps, they also get into electric and/or hydrogen, due to some young drivers of theirs being kind of torn about the whole oil consumption aspect of the sport.
Family-run Garagista teams were already struggling in the 80s for the most part (Williams is the only notable exception here) because running costs had risen exponentially, what with the advent of computers and turbochargers.
So, if Minardi is surviving ITTL, it needs to act as a feeder team to a larger works team, a la Sauber for Ferrari.