Hello, Posterity. This is the past calling. Writers and readers being separated by the editor’s deadlines, it’s still 1999 for...
One of the side benefits of the race reporter trade is getting to hobnob with motor racing’s glitterati at their...
After sending in last month’s column, I was prepared for the Editor’s call to discuss corrections, or photo selection, or the need to take his deadlines more seriously. Instead, he said, “You mentioned Bridgehampton; I just heard it’s finally getting closed down.” My spirit sagged. After all these years, I...
Spring must be coming because friends are phoning to talk about races we’re going to this year. It’s that sweet,...
Here’s a sure bet: a lot of what you know about the Mille Miglia, and most of how you feel...
The rain came down cold, heavy, unrelenting, and my lightweight sweater was instantly drenched through. By half distance I was shivering. Yet that Monaco Grand Prix of 1972 was one of the best days I’ve ever spent watching a race. It was a real race, and it was in the...
From time to time someone asks how I got into this business – apparently it looks like fun – and...
Mountaineers have their El Capitans, their Eiger North Walls, their Everests. For racers too, certain challenges rise above all others....
First comes denial. No, it can’t be that bad. The driver will get out ok. There’ll be pain and recuperation to undergo, maybe, but one day we’ll all stand together in some paddock and have a good chuckle about that scary little incident back in ’00. Not this one. Vintage...
For all its color and commotion, which I do enjoy, I also like vintage racing for the moments of quiet...
Let me mention up front, I may have to cut this short. Something’s coming up on Speedvision that I just...
Once or twice over the past few months, I waxed slightly snarky in this space about the plan to revive the hallowed old Grand Prix of the USA on the featureless infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I expected the venue to prove inappropriate, and the race dull. Well, I...
The grass had grown long and dense in the cloudy English spring, and the silver racing coupe – a lean,...
It remains beyond my sight whether the story of life has a happy ending, but I do see that some...
Conception, a friend of mine used to say, “is the biggest word in the English language.” His aphorism came to mind when I learned of the recent passing of John Cooper. It was never my privilege to meet Cooper, but the cars he and his father, Charles, created were central...
Sometime in the rainy wee hours of the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona, a race I find myself covering again...
Because I came to automobile appreciation late in life – not until 17, when my New York State learner’s permit...
My colleague Tim Considine cordially feels I was unfair in my recent column about Cooper’s development of mid-engined race cars. Not for anything I wrote about Cooper; he protested my saying the mid-engined Auto Unions of the 1930s won races through “occasional good luck.” A meticulous and caring historian (vide...
Dan Gurney once tried to show me how to wring the neck of a recalcitrant racecar to squeeze out that...
Forty years! That’s how long it’s been since our man Philip Toll Hill, Jr., became the first American to win...
A sudden snarl under my elbow, the mighty baritone of a big, twin-cam six with open pipes. Then a flash of pale green: four bold, beautifully teardrop-shaped fenders. It’s an Aston! No – the Aston! The very Aston Martin DBR1 that won Le Mans in 1959! Knifing through traffic here...
Exciting; that’s how Jackie Stewart stands in my memory. There’s a lot more to be said of the three-time World...
You know that brief sense of disjointedness between us and some celebrity we meet who up to then had been only an image on TV or in print? We greet them with familiarity, even though we may be thinking, “Oh… He (or she) looks different in person…” But often –...
While indulging one of my secret vices the other day – watching motorcycle racing on TV – I started thinking...
How sharp are your detective skills? Can you ID either of these old racecars? This is not a trick question....
Can it be 50 whole years since the first Sebring 12-hour? I guess I’ve seen this coming, but still, it feels like Big Daddy Time has snuck up and given me a move-over tap on my back bumper! Good old Sebring. It used to be so important to me, and...
Apparently the new Euro is a success. Friends from overseas tell me the changeover to a single, common currency in...
We have a winner! Just as we hoped, a VRJ reader has recognized one of the “Mystery Cars” shown in...
Mark Donohue shut down his turbo Offy and made one last left turn into the Indianapolis victory circle. Obviously it was a huge moment for him, his Penske Racing team, and even for motor racing history. It meant something special to me, too. Hang a press pass on yourself, and...
