As everyone knows, after the 1960 racing season, Carroll Shelby retired as a driver and became even better known for...
September 2009 Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed By Michael Argetsinger The difficulty in chronicling a career as diverse as Mark Donohue’s is that there are so many tales to tell it becomes difficult to know, as Bob Seger says, “what to leave in, what to leave out.” Become a...
1969 Porsche 917K In 1969 it was make-or-break time for Porsche. After over a decade of dominating small-bore racing, the...
A year or so ago, I wrote here about the number of inquiries I was receiving on my view of...
This is a little-known story, but the real father of Riverside Raceway was Jim Peterson. I thought this would be a good time to tell it, because the new Riverside International Raceway Museum is having a “Legends of Riverside” celebration on March 27-29. It might be appropriate to include at...
April 2009 OttoVú By Tony Adriaensens While I have said it before, thank God for obsessive enthusiasts—they always produce the...
Pete Lyons You know how someone’s opposing opinion, one that seems inconsequential enough to let slide at the time, can...
I remember that the Reader’s Digest used to have a series of articles titled some-thing like “The Most Unforgettable Character I’ve Ever Met.” High on my own list of such characters is my close friend, Andy Porterfield. Andy is amazing for a number of reasons. Among other accomplishments, Andy has...
Mercedes-Benz once again provided the star feature for September’s second running of the Weekend de L’Excellence Automobile de Reims, only...
Nearly 12 years ago, Parker Johnstone walked away from a strong career as a professional Indy car driver with 2...
An eclectic selection of cars that raced prior to 1970 graced the lawn of the South Coast Botanical Gardens in Palos Verdes, California, on Saturday, October 11, for the 4th annual Concours d’Provenance organized by Fabulous Fifties. Unlike a Concours d’Elegance where cars are evaluated by their presentation and appearance,...
There were a number of outstanding road-race weekends during the fifties. Phil Hill’s win at the first Pebble Beach comes...
Among the 450 entries for this year’s Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota was an ex–Ken Miles 1960...
I don’t remember when I first met Lance Reventlow, but it must have been through my buddy, Bruce Kessler, who was Lance’s best friend. Lance became a significant figure in fifties-era racing because of his creation of the Scarabs. I knew him, but not well, so recently I talked with...
This year’s Monterey Historic Automobile Races marks the 35th running of this classic event. As shown schematically in the Laguna...
For over 50 years, the Chevrolet Corvette has been considered by many to be “America’s sports car.” And as early...
On June 7–8, 1958, the Texas Region of the SCCA hosted a weekend of sports car racing 10 miles north of Fort Worth. The organizers laid out a 3-mile course at the National Guard Air Base near Eagle Mountain Lake, where 112 entries showed up to contest 10 scheduled “Sunburn”...
While the postwar American sports car scene was inspired by European road racing, it was different in many respects. In...
Someone once said that Indy car drivers would be lost if they had to turn right as well as left....
The ex–Geoghegan 1960 Lotus Elite The ex–Chamberlain 1960 Lotus Elite The 1967 Lotus Elite Twin Cam No matter what year it is, there is always a celebration of something or other. Each month through Vintage Racecar’s Time Capsule page, we are reminded of significant events that have occurred throughout the...
Although there were a number of pre-WWII cars that can be described as sports cars, the craze in the U.S....
As the years pile up, I find myself learning more about people I used to know than I ever appreciated...
This is the sad tale of my first chance to own a sports car and how I blew it—the chance, not the car. No harm came to the car—at least, not until the story was over. I invite you to step back with me 40-some years to the mid-1960s, when...
One of the most enjoyable—at least for me—of fifties events was the Pebble Beach Sports Car Road Races. The last...
Bet you’re thinking of Fangio’s transcendent victory at the ’Ring. The launch of the Fuelie Corvette. The beautiful Scarabs. Jaguar’s...
Like any good race-nut, over the years I’ve tried to chip away at my list of the “great automotive wonders of the world” that I want to attend at least once, before I register for that big enduro in the sky. For some reason, I have never managed to get...
Dave Friedman in his book on American sports car racing in the golden era of racing called Dr. Dick Thompson...
This year’s HMSA Baxter Auto Parts Portland Historic Races, to be run July 7–9 at Portland International Raceway, will pay...
Billy Krause started his racing career driving midgets on California oval dirt tracks. He went on to race his own Jaguar D-type, which he later converted to Chevrolet Corvette power. His list of accomplishments is impressive. In 1960, he won the Times Grand Prix against some of the best opposition...
