The Silent Rivalry

ESPLAR History Files Series 1 - Story 1: The Silent Rivalry

Even before the Evanshire Super Pro League of Auto Racing was founded, there was quite a distancing between California's Edward Morson and Altruras' Matt Austin, who at the time both raced for Mylo Racing, which were one of the 5 original ESPLAR teams which would join together in the foundation of the league in 1973. Morson had an incredible passion for auto racing ever since the early 1960s, and with him now being in his early 30s he wanted to see racing glory in a brand new form. Being the winner of the 1968 Great Plains 600, Morson took racing and prestige very seriously, and teaming up with Matt Austin to ensure Altruras sees racing glory was something both of them had in common as the 70s dawned.

Matt Austin was a community person, above all else. His catering to the hundreds of thousands of potential fans of a stock car racing league was a positive sign for him because stock car racing was still in its infancy back in the US mainland and Altrurans became more and more obsessed with racing culture as the years went on. Austin would, as the founding of ESPLAR neared, help establish a foundation for the purpose of keeping Altruras' racing culture intact and help upcoming racers progress into the elite stage. This foundation still exists to this very day; had it not been established then ESPLAR would not be the series it would be today.

The differences in Matt Austin and Edward Morson showed quite convincingly in 1972, when both of them would react differently to winning or losing a race. Austin almost never credits himself when he wins a race, while it is almost the exact opposite in Morson's case. The same holds true when a car breaks down; whereas Austin would attribute bad luck in his retiring from the race, Morson almost always tries to blame a faulty part breaking down for his retirement.

Furthermore, the two's racing styles were radically different and opposite from one another. Matt Austin would adopt a cautious and tactful driving style that ensured strategy would win the day; essentially he was more known for a defensive driving style that payed off in several races, while others not so much. On the track, Austin would not attack offensively straight away, looking for a driver to make a critical mistake (ie. going wide on entry to a corner) and immediately making the offensive move. On defense, he is almost always on his rear mirror unless nearing a corner, and unless the other driver is making a move, he never moves off the racing line. If the other driver tries to pass, Austin would try to get more speed on exit which would allow him to get away before the other car is a third of the distance of the front end to the rear end behind him.

Edward Morson's driving style was the polar opposite of Austin's, and for good reason. Morson's "early race glory" objective would see him adopt a more offensive racing style which would see him race quite aggressively on the track. This approach would see Morson always finding a line to pass other cars. When he tries to pass them, sometimes he would get really close and push them over to the outside. In some cases this would lead to accidents, but in only one occurrence during the entire 1973 season that this happened.

This distancing was quite noticeable to Matt Austin as the dawn of ESPLAR approached, and he eventually left Morson's team (Mylo Racing) to Hennivan Racing. From then on, both Edward Morson and Matt Austin undertook what many ESPLAR fans called today was the "Silent Rivalry" a rivalry infamous for the fact that neither Mylo Racing nor Hennivan Racing knew such a rivalry existed at the time.

The 12 race season in 1973 - the inaugural season of ESPLAR, featured intense racing from both Morson and Austin, who both won 3 races that year. Morson won both Altruras races and the Auroia-Sylvania race held that year while Austin won Arcadia 1, Laronia 2, and Estlenhar 1, with the other 3 Altruras ESPLAR teams taking the 5 others before the Evanshire 600 that year.

The Evanshire 600 held as the season finale for the 1973 ESPLAR Elite Series at Camberwell Raceway in western Evanshire was to be one for the record books. In fact, alongside the 26 full time drivers, another 16 participated in the 600 mile race which saw only 14 cars reach the end. Among them were Morson and championship rival Austin, who were fighting for every last spot on the track to claim the championship trophy.

But eventually Morson's aggressive driving style won the day as he scored 4th ahead of Matt Austin's 7th to win the championship. The eventual winner of the race was Hennivan's Henley Croft.

The Evanshire 600 quickly grew popular with fans across the Archipelago and across the United States, and ESPLAR soon expanded across the country in the years to come.

Unfortunately for ESPLAR fans, the silent rivalry that defined the 1973 season did not last. Edward Morson ended up retiring from racing soon after winning the 73 title. Matt Austin would exit ESPLAR soon after and become its CEO and general manager. The two's impact on ESPLAR remains today, with the championship trophy bearing both of their names on it.