Speed Kills (All The Fun)

By Terry McCarthy

Michael Schumacher vies with Tiger Woods as the world's best-paid athlete--last year they earned $75 million and $78 million, respectively. But while Woods' performance has been wobbly in the past two years, the German Formula 1 race driver has the opposite problem: he can't stop winning. Schumacher, 35, has been world champion six times, more than any other driver, and is on his way to his seventh title. In his 10-cylinder, 2,997-cc, 853-horsepower, carbon-fiber red Ferrari, Schumacher gets as close to perfection as is humanly possible at 220 m.p.h. The sport's organizers want to slow him down.

Formula 1, which races on flat tracks, unlike the banked ovals of NASCAR, is one of the world's most valuable sports franchises. Internationally, its races attract 350 million TV viewers, compared with the 20 million who tune in to NASCAR's big races. Although F1 is bigger in Europe and Asia than in the U.S., the sport is seeking ways to expand in the U.S., the world's largest car market. But Schumacher's dominance is threatening that. Unlike Woods, whose earlier string of victories clearly contributed to golf's popularity, the fact that the German driver has already won 10 of the 11 F1 races this year is making fans yawn. F1 organizers fear Schumacher's superiority could dent TV viewership and jeopardize the huge amount of money--trade magazine Business F1 estimates it at $943 million--sponsors pay to have their logos plastered on cars and drivers' overalls. In Barcelona in May, for example, Schumacher led the race from beginning to end. Three weeks later he did the same in Nurburgring. And after winning at Silverstone in Britain last week, he figures to take another victory lap at the Grand Prix in Hockenheim, Germany, next Sunday. "It certainly does ruin the suspense," says Mario Andretti, the last American driver to win the F1 world championship, back in 1978.

Schumacher's dominance is in part about the man, in part about the machine. The Ferraris he drives are the fastest, most reliable cars on the circuit. Ferrari, owned by Fiat, has deep pockets, spending $450 million on its racing team this year, compared with $35 million for Minardi, one of the smaller teams. And Schumacher has perhaps the fastest reaction time of any F1 driver. He began developing his skills early, racing go-carts when he was 4 and becoming German national junior champion at 15. When Eddie Jordan, head of the Jordan racing team, offered Schumacher a chance to drive Formula 1 in 1991, Schumacher broke the track record for the Jordan car the first day. Since then he has won 80 of the 206 F1 races he has entered. Britain's David Coulthard has the second most wins among active drivers: 13.

Spurning the flamboyant, womanizing lifestyle associated with many F1 drivers, Schumacher lives quietly in Switzerland with his wife and their two children. He's intense, working out up to four hours a day; last year he won the Monaco Grand Prix hours after learning that his mother had died. Jordan says that by now, none of the established drivers can beat Schumacher: "Psychologically, Michael has got inside their heads."

F1 organizers wouldn't mind giving the other drivers a bit of help. Although F1 still attracts more TV viewers worldwide than any other sport, from 2000 to 2003, as Schumacher was winning the championship each year, the combined TV audience in France, Germany and Britain shrank 13%, according to the French audience-research company Mediametrie. In an effort to clip Ferrari's wings and level the playing field for less richly financed teams, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which regulates F1, proposed changes last week to bring down overall costs. The FIA wants to reduce engine size, limit tire selection and require every team to use their cars in more than one race. But even with the changes, it's hard to imagine any driver outracing Schumacher.

Schumacher, of course, denies that his dominance is hurting the sport. "Something very special is happening with Ferrari," he told journalists recently. "I think people want to see who is going to be the first to beat us too." And while rival drivers are frustrated by Ferrari's success, it is a matter of pride that Schumacher not be hobbled by regulations. "I don't want rules that would help me beat Michael," says Juan Pablo Montoya, 28, a rising star with Williams BMW whom many regard as Schumacher's closest challenger. "I want to beat Michael when he's at the top of his game." Montoya might take heart from the fact that Tiger Woods, at least, eventually proved to be human.

--With reporting by Helen Gibson/London, Mike King/Montreal and Charles Wallace/Berlin

With reporting by Helen Gibson/London, Mike King/Montreal and Charles Wallace/Berlin