Greatest Racecar? Chaparral 2

Personally, I have driven some really good machines. I had a 917 Porsche that I thought was a truly remarkable car, and a 962, too. The only Indy car I had wished I had been able to race was the turbine car, because it was so dominant when it ran. The Ford GT40 was another great car I would have liked to have raced in period; I guess I was born just 10 to 15 years too late—I would really have loved to have driven and raced in the 1960s.

It’s hard to say what the greatest racecar is; each generation, era, and formula of motor racing has its own iconic car. For me, however, I’d have to say that the most trend-setting and truly great racecar was the Chaparral 2. If you look at the design, it predated composite chassis by 30 years, it used a wing as an aerodynamic device for greater stability and traction, and an automatic transmission. All these things are commonplace now, but Jim Hall was a pioneer in this field, a great engineer. He was definitely at the forefront of racecar technology, design, and application. He was curious, too, always looking to see where he could find an “edge”—a very smart guy.