By 1963, Cobras were doing very well in Sports Car Club of America races. Cars driven by Shelby American drivers...
Call me a jinx if you like. No sooner did I put the finishing touches on last month’s column about...
It is well known that some great stock car road racing took place at the Riverside International Raceway. Dan Gurney enhanced his record as an all-around champion there. Some assume that post-WWII stock car road racing started at Riverside, but that’s not true. There were five stock car events on...
People have often expressed surprise that the Indianapolis 500 was included in the World Championship, between 1950 and 1960. For...
Formula 5000 was a racing series for open-wheel, single-seat racing cars built to a specific set of rules and powered...
July 2009 Making the List Dear Editor, I read your magazine religiously and find it to be without question a super quality publication. Admittedly, I was disappointed that my 2-liter Bristol-powered Tojeiro did not find itself on your “Under 2-Liter Sports Racer” list. It has an extensive race history and...
Lloyd Ruby was best known as an excellent Indy car driver who nearly won two Indianapolis 500s, but in truth,...
I first drove what was to become Graham Hill’s 1966 American Red Ball Special Indy winner at the Brickyard, in a test organized by George Bignotti, during the latter months of 1965. George was the very distinguished chief mechanic who, I believe, holds the record of seven Indy 500 winners....
Emerson Fittipaldi has an impish sense of humor and, one day at Brands Hatch, he unloaded it on my poor...
The J. Frank Harrison story Given today’s racing environment with its multi-million-dollar corporate budgets, it can be hard to imagine a time when private individuals paid these expenses. Wealthy enthusiasts such as Lindsey Hopkins (a Florida investment banker), John Edgar (a California industrialist), Joe Lubin (a California tractor parts dealer),...
During the early fifties, one of the biggest sports stars in the United States was Sam Hanks. Notice I said...
For the 1955 season, Monza was refurbished and the Milan Auto Club considered an oval race. Contact was made with...
Formula 5000 was a racing series for open-wheel, single-seater racing cars built to a specific set of rules. The engine of choice was the venerable small block Chevrolet V8 of 5-liter displacement. It started as a bright idea in 1967 and ran successfully until politics between the governing body, race...
On June 7–8, 1958, the Texas Region of the SCCA hosted a weekend of sports car racing 10 miles north...
When Tom Sneva took the checkered flag on a sun-drenched May afternoon, in 1983, to win the 67th Indianapolis 500...
1972 Lola T290-Tecno Here is your first question for 10 points: How many racing car manufacturers have been going nonstop...
Augie Pabst is one of the practitioners of the skillful art of road racing from the early days of North...
Motor racing has recently been rocked by espionage scandals, but it was ever thus. In 1929, “Leon Dury” swapped two Millers for three Bugattis, and Ettore suddenly had fresh inspiration. When engineers change teams, they take information with them. That is true of any job; it is called “experience.” As...
Jim Clark Frank Williams Photo: Williams F1 1 Jody Scheckter drives a Tyrrell 007 to victory in the South African...
In the history of motor-sport safety, few names are as universally recognized as that of Bill Simpson. Initially an active...
Peter Brock Alan Jones 1 Brian Redman finishes 1st and 2nd in the 24 Hours of Daytona when the Gulf Porsche 917K he shared with Jo Siffert finishes behind the Pedro Rodriguez/Leo Kinnunen team car which he also co-drove late in the race (1970). 2 Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons...
West Coast photographer John Wilson started shooting pictures of racing in the 1960s at various racetracks in California. As such,...
Rodger Ward Vincenzo Florio 1 Colin Chapman and Michael Allen form the Lotus Engineering Company (1952). 2 The First South...
How amusing, I often smile, that a breed of racer I associate with conservatism generally speeds around to the left. But we don’t do politics here, just history, so let’s have a look back at interesting times when oval drivers first tried their hands at turning both ways. The big...
Gaston Chevrolet Ricardo Rodriguez 1 Ricardo Rodriguez dies on the way to the hospital after crashing his Lotus during practice...
Antonio Brivio Mario Andretti 1 A.J. Foyt wins the USAC Championship race on the dirt track at Sacramento, California (1967)....
1957 Climax-powered Jomar 1957 Climax-powered Jomar. Photo: Harold Pace You know the story. Start with a svelte English chassis, add an American V-8, clothe it in a lightweight body and go racing. It worked for Carroll Shelby. It worked for Sydney Allard. Worked for a lot of other folks too,...
