For the last 20 years or so of his life, Rodger Ward and I were friends. Even though I had...
A First-Hand Look at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana Photos and Story By Boyd Harnell A white Jaguar convertible hurtled out...
The Conclusion of Boyd Harnell’s First-Hand Look at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana Mexico City-Leon, Leon-Durango: November 21, 1954 The carnage continued to mount on the next leg, Mexico City to León. There were four major crashes and one fatality, all of them occurring at a washboard curve outside Mexico City...
Derek Bell Gaston Chevrolet 2 The Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company holds a press conference in Carmel, California,...
Few early American racers did more than Ak Miller. He was a well-known hot rodder, successful long-distance racer, had more...
Like many other sports during WWII, automobile racing experienced a hiatus. Soon thereafter, however, competition resumed. The Formula One World Championship series was initiated in 1950 and became the ultimate goal for both drivers and constructors. At the same time, Southern California became a hotbed of the car craze. Road...
The chaotic scene just after the #88 car of Huhn/Schwarz crashed at the Nürburgring in 1970. Photo: Porsche Werk Motor...
The 35th Carrera Panamericana will be held October 14–20, 2022, launching from Veracruz, Mexico and then making its way 3,610...
Sixty years ago was when—for me—the world became modern. Many people will laugh at that; some will understand but have a different date in mind; maybe a few will feel as I do. Pete Lyons The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing coupe is—for me—the first GT car of our contemporary era....
Inclement weather had battered and bruised England during the early summer months, leaving people wondering how Goodwood’s Festival of Speed...
The story of the production model 300 SL really picks up where our story about the W194 Le Mans racecar...
David’s repeated defeats of Goliath this summer—American Le Mans Series victories by Porsche’s RS Spyder over Audi’s much bigger and stronger R10—takes us right back to the early days of Porsche, when it made its name as an upstart giant-killer. Pete Lyons It’s a natural human trait to root for...
John Fitch lived a life filled with adventure and invention that is difficult to capture in a brief such as...
It was a hell of a party, part Mexican fiesta, part class reunion, part a gathering of the VFW, all...
Carrera Panamericana; November 22, 1952 This is the factory-entered Ferrari 250 Sport driven by Giovanni Bracco and Gino Bronzoni to an eventual mechanical DNF. Earlier in the year Bracco and Alfonso Rolfo had won the Mille Miglia in this same car. Ascari and Villoresi had a DNF at Le Mans...
Quit Scraping the Paint! Photo: Roger Dixon Dear Editor, I would like to point out one quibble and one major...
George Follmer Masten Gregory 1 David Bruce-Brown, the first American to win a Grand Prix, dies during practice for the...
As a racecar driver, Jack McAfee needs no introduction. He was one of the greats of early sports car racing in America, with a career spanning from the late 1940s well into the 1960s, but Jack the man was a relatively shy and soft-spoken person. Known fondly as “Jack the...
The title of my column reads: “The Fabulous Fifties.” The era is one I know something about. During that time,...
Karl Kling was born too late to join Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred Von Brauchitsch and Hermann Lang in their rampage through...
Carrera Panamericana 1950–1954 As covered several months ago in our “Lost McAfee Tapes” feature, the running of the Carrera Panamericana in the early ’50s was a wild and eclectic amalgamation of circus and international motor race. World-class drivers like Phil Hill, John Fitch, Louis Chiron and Karl Kling raced exotic...
There was the time I went to the Targa Florio and was strolling by a restaurant in the night-dark streets...
An Alfa Romeo car mechanic who rose to become one of the greatest endurance drivers of his generation, the man...
In remembering and memorializing John Fitch upon the occasion of his death, Vintage Racecar has produced this brief photographic summary of his racing career. John FitchPhoto: Mercedes-Benz Before, after and during that career, however, John Fitch was much more than a racing driver. He served as pilot of both Light...
The 1954 Carrera Panamericana developed immediately into a fight between two Ferraris: the year-old 375MM of Phil Hill and Richie...
In addition to being a world-class powerboat racer, Lou Fageol was passionate about cars and racing. His twin-Porsche creations were...