On August 28, we lost our great and good champion, Phil Hill. The entire world of motor sports is saddened....
By 1963, Cobras were doing very well in Sports Car Club of America races. Cars driven by Shelby American drivers...
I had just been discharged from the Army and was pursuing my education with the help of the GI Bill. My Uncle Phil, who had just bought a new Austin Healey 100, invited me to go with him to a sports car race at Palm Springs. I didn’t know what...
For two consecutive years—1969 and 1970—Porsche won the World Manufacturers Championship. Brian Redman was an important part of the teams,...
During the fifties, everyone’s hero was Juan Manuel Fangio. He won the World Driving Championship five times, an achievement that...
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...
Sports car racing in the U.S. during the ’50s was unique. It was very different from the American circle-track or...
I don’t remember when I first met Lance Reventlow, but it must have been through my buddy, Bruce Kessler, who...
I’ve always been fascinated with the Goodwood Revival concept of “a magical step back in time.” For some time, I’ve been determined to take in at least one. The opportunity arose and 2006 was the year. Art Evans Goodwood is an amazing place. I can’t think of anywhere else quite...
There were a number of outstanding road-race weekends during the fifties. Phil Hill’s win at the first Pebble Beach comes...
Jack was born on April 2, 1926, and I think it’s appropriate that we all wish him a happy birthday....
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...
In 1953, the Rootes Group in England, which had acquired the Sunbeam Company in 1935, produced a handsome sports car, the...
Until Sir Jack Brabham won the Times Grand Prix in 1961, the Ken Miles-driven, John Von Neumann-owned Porsche-Cooper was the...
During the fifties, Aston Martin produced sports cars with the designation, DB, which, of course, stands for David Brown. In addition to the 2-door hardtops—called saloons by the factory—a series of open sports cars, actually sports racers (later called sports racing cars), were constructed, raced by the factory and sold...
Automobile racing started soon after the appearance of autos themselves. Those first events, on public highways and byways, went from...
During the Fifties and Sixties, one of the most popular sports car racing venues in the West was Palm Springs....
As everyone knows, after the 1960 racing season, Carroll Shelby retired as a driver and became even better known for creating Cobras and Shelby Mustangs. But perhaps fewer know that he ventured into car creation somewhat before. During the fifties, Shelby, Jim Hall, and Jim’s brother, Richard, had a dealership...
Those looking for vintage photographs frequently contact me. During the fifties, my partner, Dick Sherwin, and I published a short-lived...
I have included a few remembrances about Lance in some previous Vintage Racecar columns, but because he was such a...
Art Evans Fifty years ago, the world-famous Laguna Seca race course was created by a tree. It’s interesting as well as tragic to see how it happened. Interesting in that a lot of circumstances had to come together; tragic in that it involved the death of a good friend. First,...
The immutable rule of life is that every living thing is born, lives and dies. Publications are living things, and...
Southern California has always been a hotbed of car aficionados. The hot rod craze started there and, after WWII, it...
On August 4, 2007, an icon of American racing and my dear friend, John Fitch, turned 90 years old! In this day and age of medical advances plus many of us watching our diets and exercising, 90 is not nearly as unusual as in previous times. John, however has lived...
During the early fifties, one of the biggest sports stars in the United States was Sam Hanks. Notice I said...
Some of our California sports car races during the fabulous ‘50s were not just for current vehicles. At some SCCA...
During the early fifties, road racing in the United States took place, for the most part, at airports. While airports have a number of advantages, they lack the interest and drama of actual roads. Without the authority to utilize public highways, venues were hard to come by. As road racing...
I’m writing this column during the waning days of 2006. Fifty years is traditionally a significant anniversary. What I remember...
Quite a few younger folk seek me out and want to hear about how wonderful sports car racing was during...
Although there were a number of pre-WWII cars that can be described as sports cars, the craze in the U.S. began following the war with the invasion of MGs and then Jaguars. Some aficionados credit Chevrolet’s Corvette as the first American sports car. Others feel that the original Thunderbird fits...