So, being half genius, I figured it'd make a pretty good feature for the paper. Which racers through history have had the best beards? Then I realized there really wasn't enough of them to form a decent contest. So it had to be expanded to all facial hair, which allows us to include sideburns, unique mustaches and maybe even a goatee.
The big question is, compared to the general male population, why have so few racers sported big-time facial hair? Over the past couple of decades, you could blame it on the modern driver's need to appear clean-cut and somewhat "corporate." But even in the old days, judging from all those black-and-white photos, everyone's cheeks were smoother than a newly-waxed deck lid.
With very few exceptions, it's the same today.
The press box, of course, is a different story entirely.
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