Nostalgia: wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. History: a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events. Record: a collection of related items of information (as in a database) treated as a unit. All these definitions come from the 11th Edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2003).

If, as I pointed out, the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs that the Commission Internationale Sportive of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile established in late 1949 and which took effect with the 1950 season was terminated (suppressed) with the end of the 1980 season, then so did its records. Or did they? As some argued, quite forcibly in several instances, when I noted the legal demise of the CSI world championship for drivers, it made no difference since no one (that being defined as the fans in this case) noticed and things continued very much they were. There were also those who pointed out that it really did not matter since the FIA scarcely blinked and continued to march forward with its version of history in 1981, which looked just like that from 1980.

All this ruckus took place nearly a quarter of a century after the FIA ditched the Old Championship – actually, championships since the Coupe Internationale des Constructeurs Formule 1 got tossed on the rubbish heap of history well as well — and replaced it with the New Championships, Championnat du Monde de Formule Un de la FIA, one for Conducteurs and another for Constructeurs. The 1981 edition of the FIA’s Annualiare du Sport Automobile (Year Book of Automobile Sport) makes it very clear that this is a new world championship.

Other than the FIA now owning the commercial rights to the New Championship, the Concorde Agreement, and the poachers now doubling as game wardens, one might be quite happy to readily agree with the notion that things rolled right along without missing a beat. This, naturally, makes explaining the rise of Bernie Ecclestone and the role of CVC Capital Partners a bit more challenging. All this, as they say, is a story best told elsewhere, one that is infinitely more interesting than anything that has taken place on the tracks in recent years.

It is the history or the records that concerns this musing, however.

I would suggest that history ended at the end of the 1980 for the Old Championship and began anew in 1981 for the New Championship. Were I to construct such a history, that is how I would do it. Of course, the conniption fits, bellyaching, and outrage of the F1 Faithful, the Enthusiasts, and the Fanboyz (and FanGirlz), along with the mutterings regarding such a thing by the F1 “racing historians,” would be deafening. But, so what? I would suggest that there is far more to being a “racing historian” than compiling box scores of races and being enthusiastic about the sport. That the usual concepts associated with History do not apply to racing is, of course, a given. One need not have a clue as to how to approach explaining or researching the past to be a “racing historian,” such things often spoiling the fun.

Well, that is a bit harsh, given that everyone needs to start somewhere and professional, academically-trained historians are scarcely loved within the greater domain of sports history, especially when they do not display the necessary reverence or requisite appreciation of the topic. While historians do engage in nitpicking, being a nitpicker does not necessarily make one an historian.

The FIA’s rather cavalier attitude towards history is shared by its fellow-travelers, the various journalists and the many others beholden to and gobsmacked by the sport. Many know no better and others could care less, the past being that murky, hazy area residing in the past, with nostalgia often being mistaken of history.

As in the case of the FIA, the INDYCAR organization has make something of complete mess out of the past. Given that the Indy Racing League was created on 11 March 1994 and held its first event in January 1996, it is difficult to fathom how its history goes back beyond that. In the beginning, both the United Sates Auto Club (USAC) and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) dated their histories from 1956 and 1979, respectively. Both then reached back to include others who preceded them. The Champ Car World Series (CCWS) of 2004 to 2008 was something quite separate from CART, given that CART was legally dissolved. Then there was the American Automobile Association (AAA), whose Racing Board (1902-1909) and Contest Board (1909-1955) served as the national sanctioning body for the United States, taking the seat from the Automobile Club of American (ACA) on the CSI in 1928 as the representative of the United States on the commission.

More to follow on all this.

A long, long time ago, I suggested in one of my columns in the now long-defunct AtlasF1 Journal that the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs that dated from the 1950 season was terminated at the end of the 1980 season by the FIA. I also created a thread for this interesting decision on The Nostalgia Forum (http://forums.autosport.com/topic/64873-rip-csi-wcd-1950-1980-and-long-live-fia-f1-wc-1981-present/). Re-reading the discussion some years later, especially in light of my departure from AtlasF1/TNF (2004) and then my subsequent (still unexplained) banishment from TNF (2010), it is interesting to realize just how little such things mean to most racing fans/enthusiasts. It is as if the thinking is, I-Didn’t-Pay-It-Any-Notice-Therefore-It-Didn’t-Really-Happen.

Fortunately, Mattijs Diepraam picked up the ball and then provided one of the few actual, in-depth discussions on the FIASCO War to be found anywhere, in print or digitally (http://8w.forix.com/fiasco-introduction-timeline.html). It was the FIA-FOCA conflict, best described as the FIASCO War, that of course led the FISA/FIA to terminate the existing world championship in 1980. Although several of those on TNF certainly got the gist of the point that I was providing, muddled as it may have been in retrospect, there were others that seemed to not care, their worship of Formula One such that their vision was blinded by its radiance. At least with the articles on the FIASCO War the Diepraam wrote, someone can actually read them; my old RVM four-part series on the FIASCO War, “Back to the Future: The FIASCO War,” is hidden behind the paywall of Autosport.com and not readily accessible. Besides, I think that the 8W series is much better than my effort.

Of course, history tends to be seen in a completely different light to racing fans than it does to, well, historians. Although it a topic that seems to be teeming with no end of those supposedly interested in its history, I do not believe that I have come across a book or monograph or whatever that tackles the many questions that would seem to present themselves regarding the International Racing Formula No. 1. Although the whole topic of starting and prize monies began to change in the mid-Sixties, it is rarely explored in any depth or even discussed in detail. The same with the actual regulations, both technical and sporting, for the formula and the championship. Then, of course, there are the various  meetings and conferences and whatnot that took place relating to various issues over the years which are rarely mentioned, with only an occasional mention in a racing publication to whet the appetite. As hopelessly over-saturated as Formula One/Grand Prix is with those writing about its past, it seems to have attracted few actual historians, meaning that there is very much still to be written that probably will not see the light of day.

One of the aspects of the death of the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs that bothered me then was why did I not realize it at the time? That Something Happened (apologies to Joe Heller) between 1980 and 1981 in the world championship was apparent, given the fate of the South African Grand Prix and the creation of the Concorde Agreement, but no one seemed to take the time to point it out back then. Or, if they did, it may have been in passing and, therefore, easy to miss.