Q&A: McLaren's Ron Dennis Talks Fuel Injection, NASCAR, Future of F1

As the head of the McLaren team in Formula One from 1981-99, Ron Dennis oversaw an organization that won championships with several of the world's greatest drivers. Dennis worked with Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton during two decades with one of F1's most storied teams.

But a trip last weekend to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for his first NASCAR race still was an educational experience for a man who has seen much in motor racing.

"I have a saying that's somewhat morbid, but the way I think about it is the last thing I'm going to learn is how to die," Dennis says. "People think that's a rather strange thing, but it's a reality because only a fool doesn't learn at every opportunity. I've walked around here with my eyes open, listening and asking questions, and there are things I'll take from here that will influence my judgment with respect to those decisions I influence in my own company."

Since stepping away from F1's competition, Dennis has focused on his other businesses. One of them is McLaren Electronics, which is bidding to become a supplier when NASCAR approves fuel injection for its Sprint Cup Series (possibly as early as 2011).

Dennis discussed fuel injection, NASCAR and the future of F1 in America during a wide-ranging, 45-minute interview with reporters Saturday:

Dennis:  "I applaud because effectively every form of motorsport requires you to have a much stronger commitment to social responsibility than we've ever had before. If you want to drop your CO2, you have to embrace some of the technologies that allow you to do that. Certainly fuel injection provides you with that technology. So we can bring to bear some very useful technologies. We've really done our homework. The systems we're offering the teams and NASCAR are systems that for us are a core business. Producing high-performance, very resilient electronic control systems. We're proud of the statistics. We've supplied every Formula One team for three years, and not one team has had an electrical fault in practice or racing in three years. We've done the same in the IRL. Not one team has suffered electrical problems in a practice or race. We are a very cost-effective technology because of pudding-proof reliability. For NASCAR one of the things we can absolutely guarantee is tamper-proof systems and the ability to carefully monitor anything that looks like it's been remotely interfered with. I wouldn't accuse any competitor of any form of motor sport of deliberately setting about trying to circumvent a control system. But motor racing is full of suspicion. If the teams absolutely categorically believe it can't be done, then they relax and trust in the supplier. My objective is to give any team owner, crew chief, or technical director in NASCAR an understanding of just how we ensure that's the case with our systems."