Bob Schroeder, the only Arkansas-born driver to ever participate in a World Championship Formula One event—the 1962 U.S. Grand Prix...
Being Brazilian, my inspiration for motor racing came from Emerson Fittipaldi. Like him, England was the place to learn motor...
Evolution of the Porsche 911 In Competition–1965–2010 By Michael Keyser & Bill Oursler With distinction as the longest-lived sports car design in history, it’s safe to say that the Porsche 911 has a long and distinguished racing history. From its 1965 debut on the European rally scene, the 911 steadily...
Notable American Grand Prix Drivers Michael Andretti The son of a racing legend, Michael Andretti was the Indy Car Champion...
Pete Lyons Hail the “Mod Scot!” Such a thought must have flickered through many minds as 27 Group 7 machines...
Raoul “Sonny” Balcaen may not be a name with which everyone is familiar, but he grew up in Southern California in a world filled with automobiles and explored many of the pathways on that landscape. From an initial baptism in hot rodding, he moved naturally into drag racing, working with...
It exploded at me around a blind embankment, big truck, top-heavy, heeling as it hurtled downhill. What its driver saw,...
After WWII, sports cars became more and more popular. As a consequence, road racing took hold in the U.S. For...
Mario Andretti Photo: Pete Austin Jim Hall Photo: Keith Booker 2 Achille Varzi is killed when his Alfa Romeo 158 crashes in heavy rain during practice for the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten (1948). 4 A.J. Foyt wins the Firecracker 400 NASCAR stock car race at Daytona, Florida (1964). Become...
Jim Hall Biography Jim Hall was born on the 23rd of July, 1935 in Abilene, Texas, the 2nd of three...
Gilles Villeneuve Al Unser Jr. 1 Jacky Ickx and Dr. Dick Thompson win the 1000 Km of Spa, Belgium, in...
It is astonishing what you can learn about different countries if you follow motor racing. I have no real knowledge about tax except for those tear-stained begging letters I receive from the Inland Revenue, but I have picked up a few things. Cunningham, Scarab, and Chaparral were all major American...
The title of my column reads: “The Fabulous Fifties.” The era is one I know something about. During that time,...
When I first talked with Vintage Racecar editor Casey Annis in 2005, the conversation revolved around the subject of me writing about the fifties, the fabulous fifties as it were. After all, this was what I was known for. I had written seven books about the decade. One of my...
Jim Hall, creator of the legendary Chaparrals and the man who gave Gil de Ferran his first Indycar drive, was...
By 1963, Cobras were doing very well in Sports Car Club of America races. Cars driven by Shelby American drivers won the SCCA A Production National Championship. In addition, they won the SCCA Production-Class U.S. Road Racing Championship. Carroll Shelby, however, wanted to enter and win the unlimited USAC Sports...
Today almost exclusively remembered as the genius behind the competition cars named for a road-running bird in the southwest, Jim...
As everyone knows, after the 1960 racing season, Carroll Shelby retired as a driver and became even better known for...
The Petersen Automotive Museum and Checkered Flag 200, the museum’s premier membership group, will present another gala tribute this November in honor of the SCCA’s Trans-American Sedan Championship. “Tribute to Trans-Am” will take place November 12, beginning with a 6:00 p.m. cocktail reception, followed by dinner. Also scheduled is a...
Fernando Alonso Jim Hall Photo: Keith Booker 1 Nineteen-year-old Vincenzo Lancia, in his first race, drives a Fiat to victory...
The J. Frank Harrison story Given today’s racing environment with its multi-million-dollar corporate budgets, it can be hard to imagine...
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....
David McKay Keijo Eric “Keke” Rosberg 1 Scuderia Ferrari is formed (1929). 2 Peter Gethin drives a Chevron B26 to...
The Canadian American Challenge Cup was co-sanctioned by the SCCA and CASC, and quickly became known as the “unlimited” series....
Grand Prix racing comes with a new look in 2009. Among other significant technical changes—wider cars, grooveless slicks, and Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (think “electric power-to-pass”)—there are new aero rules intended to improve a car’s ability to overtake another. Pete Lyons Included is this fascinating detail: Front wings will be...
Roger Penske was honored with induction into the Legends of Laguna Seca during ceremonies preceding this year’s mid-October American Le...
An opportunistic mix of Group 5 endurance racers and Group 7 thundercars enlivened Watkins Glen’s 1970 Can-Am Text and Photos...
There was the time I went to the Targa Florio and was strolling by a restaurant in the night-dark streets of Palermo just as the reigning world champion popped out. My companion, brasher than me, blurted, “Hey, Phil, can we talk to you?” “Ya,” replied the reigning world champion, and...