Frank Raymond Wilton “Lofty” England was not head and shoulders above many other men just because he was 6 ft...
In the March 2009 VRJ I wrote about Don Blenderman’s Kurtis obsession and his wonderful Sutton-bodied 500KK. What I failed...
It was a word-of-mouth, invitation-only affair organized by his lovely wife Susie and a friend without Stirling Moss knowing a thing about it. No mean feat, considering about 400 people attended the celebration. How Susie kept the party from her husband I’ll never know, except that all the invitees were...
He was elusive. Confined to a wheelchair, but more difficult to pin down than most people with the full use...
Achille Varzi was the opposite of his capricious nemesis Tazio Nuvolari, who was steeped in instinctive talent. Varzi was a...
St. Chamond in the Loire Valley of France was once known as a production center of ribbon and rayon, as well as its railway works. Now, it is best known as the birthplace of the little man who beat the world four times. For Alain Marie Pascal Prost, who was...
With a dad like Stan Jones it was hardly surprising that Alan became a motor racing nut when he was...
Bugatti had won the Targa Florio three consecutive years from 1925 – 1927 by the time their new recruit, Albert...
Alessandro Zanardi is an inspiration to us all. Here is a double CART champion who lost both his legs in a devastating motor racing accident in 2001, nearly bled to death, underwent more surgery in which his legs were further shortened to allow them to heal, fought back through a...
The story of the Alfa Romeo 158 is packed with heroes, starting with its designer, Gioacchino Colombo. He submitted his...
The two 3165-cc Alfa Romeo V8 engines in the one car had to be a handful, but that did not...
This large, domineering man invented the job of motor racing team manager and in doing so changed the way the sport was run forever. Believe it or not, racing drivers of the 1920s used to thrash around circuits for hours on end without ever knowing their position or even whether...
Until the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), a Targa Florio had been staged every year since 1906, so Vincenzo...
He is literally the fastest man on the planet, and has been since October 15, 1997. That was when Andy...
His contemporaries called him the “Garibaldino,” a term they reserved for the best of their select band. Like Giuseppe Garibaldi, the general who kicked the Austrians and French out of Italy in the mid-19th century, Antonio Ascari, was a courageous and determined fighter. He was the one who always got...
This is the story of a hero who was more heroic than most. You may not have heard of Archie...
Ayrton Senna Biography Ayrton Senna was born on 21 March 1960, the second child of Milton da Silva, a successful...
When you’re weighed down with a name like Prince Birabongse Bhanutej Bhanubandh, you’ve got to do something about it if you want to go motor racing, so this Siamese tongue twister became B. Bira. That was the pseudonym under which a small, doll-like grandson of King Mongkut, played by Yul...
It’s wrong to call Baconin Borzacchini the “eternal second,” as some motor sport historians do. Sure, he came 2nd in...
This son of a German garage owner had never raced a car until May 26, 1935, at the superfast Avus...
Bob Wollek was a champion many times over before he even got into motor racing. He won no fewer than three gold and two silver medals in the World University Games—second only to the Olympics—in downhill, slalom and combined skiing events in 1966 and 1968. When he exploded onto the...
We called it the “Bruce and Denny Show,” and it was total dominance of the Can-Am Championship by McLaren Cars...
Carlo Pintacuda was one of the Florentine greats, a motor racing elite from the Tuscan city that also included Gastone...
It’s not often that a Formula One driver can turn his hand to World Championship rallying. Look at 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen. He cut his Grand Prix career short in 2010 to join Citroën, but could only turn in mediocre results, before returning in 2012 to what he...
There was never any doubt that Chris Amon was an exceptional talent. Mauro Forghieri, Ferrari’s chief designer for almost 20...
For the 1924 French Grand Prix at Lyon, Count Zborowski raced an American MIller 122 (#6), but completed only 16...
Damon Graham Devereux Hill is the only son of a Formula 1 World Champion to have also won the title. His father, Graham, won the 1962 and 1968 championships and Damon the 1996. The 1994 Grand Prix season outlook seemed bright for Williams with Senna coming aboard to partner Hill...
Dan Gurney’s motor racing career as a driver, car constructor and team owner is just about as star-spangled as his...
So we have lost Dan Gurney, a few months shy of his 87th birthday. Dan was one of the sport’s...
That’s some ride from West Lothian, Scotland to winning the great Indianapolis 500 three times, not to mention four IndyCar Series Championships. It’s a ride Dario Franchitti took from 1996 until 2013. On the way Dario, born in Bathgate, West Lothian on May 19, 1973, and whose family has profound...
