Southern California has always been a hotbed of car aficionados. The hot rod craze started there and, after WWII, it...
Jack was born on April 2, 1926, and I think it’s appropriate that we all wish him a happy birthday....
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...
Carroll Shelby once remarked, “There are only two people I can think of who could sit down, take a welding...
On this, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Monterey Historics, I thought it would be interesting to look back and see...
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...
I have included a few remembrances about Lance in some previous Vintage Racecar columns, but because he was such a...
On August 28, we lost our great and good champion, Phil Hill. The entire world of motor sports is saddened....
There were a number of outstanding road-race weekends during the fifties. Phil Hill’s win at the first Pebble Beach comes to mind as well as Carroll Shelby’s at the last. In Southern California, one of the best-loved venues was Palm Springs. It had everything: a famous resort, wonderful winter weather,...
One of the most successful relationships in motor sports during the sixties was between Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles. It...
I remember that the Reader’s Digest used to have a series of articles titled some-thing like “The Most Unforgettable Character...
During the early fifties, one of the biggest sports stars in the United States was Sam Hanks. Notice I said “sports,” not motor sports. He was one of the best-loved sports figures to come out of Southern California. For many of us enthralled with racing, he was our hero. Sam...
This is a little-known story, but the real father of Riverside Raceway was Jim Peterson. I thought this would be...
There is a man who is not only unknown to the general public but also to much of the racing...
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...
Like many other sports during WWII, automobile racing experienced a hiatus. Soon thereafter, however, competition resumed. The Formula One World...
For two consecutive years—1969 and 1970—Porsche won the World Manufacturers Championship. Brian Redman was an important part of the teams,...
It is well known that some great stock car road racing took place at the Riverside International Raceway. Dan Gurney enhanced his record as an all-around champion there. Some assume that post-WWII stock car road racing started at Riverside, but that’s not true. There were five stock car events on...
As everyone knows, after the 1960 racing season, Carroll Shelby retired as a driver and became even better known for...
My column in the October 2006 edition of Vintage Racecar was titled, “Shelby, the Early Years.” For the most part,...
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...
When I first talked with Vintage Racecar editor Casey Annis in 2005, the conversation revolved around the subject of me...
In 1953, the Rootes Group in England, which had acquired the Sunbeam Company in 1935, produced a handsome sports car, the...
In the February 2010 edition of Vintage Racecar, editor Casey Annis reported that a concours d’provenance had been held in Palos Verdes, a suburb of Los Angeles. When I read it, I thought many of you might wonder what in the world is a concours d’provenance. We all know what...
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