Vasek Polak, Porsche Magician

When Porsche introduced the 4-cam racing engine, it was a sensation. Porsche Spyders with this engine soon dominated their class. The problem was that this power plant was complex and difficult to work on. In the U.S., one man emerged who was acknowledged as a genius with the 4-cam. He was Vasek Polak.

But Polak was a lot more than a mechanic. He built a life that a boy who grew up in Czechoslovakia, ravaged by WWI and then worldwide depression couldn’t have imagined. It turned out to be the American dream.