Jim McGee is happily retired and living in California these days. McGee was one of the most successful Indycar crew chief/team managers. Over the years his cars won more than 90 USAC, CART and Champ Car races.
McGee made his name in the late ’60s as Mario Andretti’s chief mechanic with Clint Brawner’s team, and for a few years in the ’70s he ran Penske’s Indycar team. But he spent most of his career running Pat Patrick’s successful Indy-based team, winning the Indy 500 with Gordon Johncock in 1982 and Emerson Fittipaldi in ’89. Patrick sold his team to Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan in 1991 and McGee stayed on to manage the operation as Rahal’s new team won the ’92 CART championship.
In 1993 Carl Haas hired McGee to run Newman/Haas Racing and manage the arrival to the team of Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell. Mansell had had a spat with Frank Williams and decided to accept Haas’s offer to come and race Indycars in America. In turn, Haas decided that McGee was the perfect man to take care of the Briton and try to work some kind of peace between Mansell and Andretti. It was a tough job, but if anyone was up to it, it was McGee.
Mansell went on to win five races – four on ovals – and beat Penske team-mates Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy to the title. McGee recalls how impressed he was with Mansell’s driving: “It was amazing how he adapted and how quick he was. He was extraordinary as far as catching on to the ovals. He was like Rick [Mears].
“It used to upset Mario a bit because Nigel was quicker down the straightaway. Mansell was always quicker on the straightaway, even when we gave him some of the worst engines, and it was because he was able to straighten the car out by doing a lot of turning down in the middle of a corner so the car would come off really straight and the rpm would naturally be up because you weren’t scrubbing off any speed.”
McGee says Mansell was a very adaptable driver: “His driving ability was such that he could compensate for the car. It used to be a little frustrating from the engineers’ standpoint because they could do quite a few things to the car and he would still run the same speed. They would say they were trying to learn what the car wants so the driver has got to drive the car the same way all the time. But he had difficulty in doing that. It wasn’t his style.
“If the car was loose, he’d change his style. If it were pushing, he’d change his style. In a race it was great because if you had a car that wasn’t quite right he could get the most out of it.”
Whatever your opinion may be about the man, Mansell most certainly could drive a racing car. I’m sure he’s still totally capable today.
Jim McGee needs to write a book ! We need more of these stories about the wonderful era of Champ Car racing when Indy meant something!
There’s much more from McGee and many other Newman/Haas crewmen, managers and engineers about Mansell, Mario, Michael Andretti and all the other Newman/Haas drivers and their rivals in the book I’m currently writing documentng the complete his of Carl Haas and Newman/Haas Racing.
The book covers more than fifty year of American racing from when Carl bought an MGTD and got his SCCA license in 1952. I’m afraid it’ll be another year before the book will be published but I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Gordon, ensure you seek out Ray Sorenson (who is now at Blackdog Racing) for the NHR book…
He says he is sure Mansell is still capable today. We will see as he is doing Le Mans with his sons. I have no doubt he will still be quick.
Oh Gawd, Mansell is now the Ronnie Peterson of Indycars? This is the same guy who always complained about Prost, at Ferrari, and Piquet, at Williams, getting better gear than him? Gordon, looking forward to your book, are you including the brief history of Carl Haas’ F1 team, Beatrice?
quick as he was he was not a Senna,
This is very interesting because it seemed that Mansell couldn’t do much with an F1 car that wasn’t perfect (in a perfect one no one could live with him, though). Am I mistaken about this?
Maybe you are not mistaken, Kenny. Maybe it is more a reflection of the overall standard of drivers in Indy versus Formula one at the time.
However, to counter your argument regarding Mansell not doing anything in a car that wan’t perfect, were you at Silverstone in 1988? Actively suspended Williams converted to passive overnight, and with only the warm up to get a feel for the car, Mansell proceeds to finish 2nd, to a dominant Senna, in atrocious conditions.
For us spectators is was 65 laps of pure controlled aggression and improvisation. We were freezing cold and soaking wet, but we witnessed something special that day.
For Tony Geran, yes, there’s a full chapter about the Beatrice F1 team. I had the pleasure of talking to Patrick Tambay, Alan Jones, Adrian Newey and Tyler Alexander who were all part of that brief episode in a much larger book.
he won the gp masters.
He could have been three times world champion, had he stayed in f1 in 1993, and had a little bit of luck on 1986.
Mr. Wilkinson,
It’s to Mansell’s credit that he wasn’t a Senna.
I think Nigel was a bit like marmite, you either loved him or loathed him, personally I thought he was great and he certainly always gave 100% and entertained. The man could certainly drive a race car and I would put him above anyone, including Senna when he was on a charge from the back of the field.
I too was at Silverstone in 1988 and it certainly was freezing cold and soaking wet! Williams had the Judd engine that year I believe and Mansell had no chance of catching Senna but he certainly showed all the rest the way to a fine second place!
Not just 1986 and 1993, but 1987 too. The most wins and mechanical retirements from the lead or very strong positions in Monaco, Germany, Hungary, Portugal. If just two of those failures hadn’t happened, Mansell would’ve been champion even with his crash in Japan. Remember too that Honda broke contract with Williams to leave them in 1988 when Mansell was tied in; I can’t help but think a turbo Williams in 1988 would have given McLaren a run for their money, then who knows? With Prost and Senna taking points off each other rather more than Patrese probably would have off Mansell….
Very fast driver, undoubted whinger but he did have pretty bad luck. A hair’s breadth away from being at least a three times champion and wouldn’t we look back differently then?
Mansell was a quick driver but oh what a drama diva!
I remember seeing a TV interview (not a motor racing related show) with Paul Newman some years ago and in answer to the interviewer’s question as to who the greatest actor Newman had ever worked with, Newman answered ‘Nigel Mansell’. When the interview looked quizical and blank faced Newman just said “Don’t ask!” or words to that effect and laughed.
I witnessed a stunning drive of Mansells at Paul Ricard. Can’t remember the year off the top of my head. Mansell was in a Ferrari and had to start at the back after a re start. He passed the entire field except for Prost. Best Grand Prix I’ve been to. Unfortunately image counts for alot in our sport and Mansells bloke down the pub exterior made life hard for him. Consequently I think he didn’t fit and wasn’t happy in the more social and political part of his job. It’s in the car that we saw his real personality. Always a fighter and posessed of first rate talent.
Great analysis of the 1993 situation.