All six events at Pebble Beach’s fourth renewal were memorable for those lucky enough to be there, but ’53 was...
Prior to the Second World War, simply driving a motor car in Europe was almost a noteworthy event, and thus...
The Can-Am Porsche 917 The Can-Am Race Series, held from 1966 to 1974, helped propel professional sports car racing to new heights of popularity in the United States. The series was governed by an open and simple set of rules, which created an environment that brought the most powerful and...
The J. Frank Harrison story Given today’s racing environment with its multi-million-dollar corporate budgets, it can be hard to imagine...
“Gregg, Peter (FA),” was filed between “Greenwood, John” and “Gregory, Masten.” The file, dog-eared and stained with the outline of...
Hollywood actors play them—Luigi Fagioli was one. Built like Rocky Marciano with wide shoulders, muscular arms, thick neck and a broad chest, his attitude could be as tough as his appearance and that could lead to violence when his temper took over. Fagioli was an explosive cocktail of hard-nosed single-mindedness,...
In the last of a two-part series, Robert Newman explores the amazing life and career of “The Flying Mantuan” –...
In the days when racing’s regulations were somewhat less restrictive than perhaps they are now, designers occasionally looked beyond current...
To me, and all of us who knew him and worked with him at Shelby American, Dave MacDonald was much more than just another racing driver. He was a friend and an intensely committed individual who strove for excellence in everything he did. He was an extremely quiet person who...
Whitney Straight Biography Because of modern commercial, testing and fitness demands placed on current drivers many have decried the current...
He was known as “the Silver Fox,” “the Racing Grandfather,” and “Merle the Magician.” These nicknames might indicate a gentlemanly...
In January 1957, a big mustached man wrestled with a mighty Studebaker racing car on a narrow, twisty and bumpy hillclimb at Krugersdorp in South Africa. What was a racing car that had been purpose built for the 1932 Indianapolis 500 doing there, 25 years later and 12,000 miles from...
Click here to read Part 1 of Something Special One of the chief complaints about early sports racers is that...
Nearly 50 years ago I stood on the bank at Mulsanne Corner and watched the bright French sun flash on...
After years of research, Ed McDonough reveals the influences and pressures that drove Mexican racing hero Pedro Rodriguez to the pinnacle of motorsport…and an untimely death. July 11 marks 31 years since Pedro Rodriguez took part in what a number of writers subsequently called a “meaningless Interseries race” at the...
(From Left to Right): Steve McQueen, Pedro Rodriguez, Masten Gregory, Peter Revson, Mario Andretti.Photos: Hal Crocker That was Mario Andretti’s...
Georges Lemaître actually finished 2nd in the 1894 Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition in this Peugeot 3hp, but was awarded victory...
PRELIMINARIES The 2023 Daytona 24 hours was the 61st year of the event. It was once again a watershed year, as this was the first year of the new GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) cars. These of course are the new prototypes that came out of the combined rule set between...
Mercedes-Benz’ incredibly successful first half of the 20th century was going to be a really tough act to follow. Ritter...
The H-Modified class in American road racing was derived from the FIA small-displacement sports racing machines popularized in Italy and...
Louis Gerard. Five years after Whitney Straight’s historic trip to South Africa to take part in the First South African Grand Prix, motor racing had become an established sport in the country and during the European winters British and Continental drivers escaped the cold to take part in the ‘summer...
For some, motor racing is an inevitability. It is a passion that they are born with and it is just...
Back in the June 2008 issue of Vintage Racecar we announced that two special 4-cylinder Austin-Healeys were being prepared in...
The first efforts with the 924 rally car involved a non-turbo version, the Monte Carlo Rally 924, of Jürgen Barth and Roland Kussmaul in 1979. The stillborn 924 turbocharged record car that never turned a wheel in anger. A water-cooled engine? And it’s at the front? And it’s a Porsche?!...
You’ve just signed super-rookie Mario Andretti as your driver for the 1965 season, and you need a chassis. Everybody’s going...
Some 38 years ago, there was a vintage event like no other. It was the 1985 Palm Springs Vintage Grand...
I stood back watching, as Monterey feted the Fangio marque. Fangio marque? Yes, Juan Manuel Fangio is the only person, to date, to be so honored by the Monterey Historics. A weekend packed with his cars, his victories, and a reenactment, as far as it was possible, of his glorious...
Sunoco was approached by Roger Penske, in the fall of 1965, to sponsor his newly formed racing team. After the...
The very first Porsche spanned the Second World War like a bridge over troubled waters, from peacetime to peacetime. It...
Tech—IT’S OK! by Bob Williams, Chief of Tech & Safety Inspections, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association For some race entrants, technical inspection is a moment of worry, for others, a social moment to share and exchange prep ideas, discuss specific rules compliance, and carry out the inspection. Some entrants consider Tech...
