Pete Lyons Forgive me, please, but I can’t tell you much about any of these oddities. I present them here...
Emerson Fittipaldi has an impish sense of humor and, one day at Brands Hatch, he unloaded it on my poor...
Pete Lyons Fifty years—let’s set the old timescope at that fulsome number today. It’s been a long time since 1954, yet it’s still within reach of mind—of mine, anyway. For me, photographs of that age have eerie dual powers—they depict a world so distant as to seem alien, yet often...
The steering feel; that’s what I remember best. The pinion perfectly meshing with its rack was a tactile delight in...
Pete Lyons Fifty years ago, when people communicated on paper delivered by hand, her brother’s letters from far-off England would be eagerly opened and avidly read by the whole family back in Auckland. Often flowing over half a dozen pages or more, Bruce’s back-slanted penmanship was casual, his phrasing newsy...
As the years pile up, I find myself learning more about people I used to know than I ever appreciated...
There was the time I went to the Targa Florio and was strolling by a restaurant in the night-dark streets...
Pete Lyons Take something for granted, and we risk having it ripped away. For me, foolish me, Peter Bryant was always going to be there. An interesting guy, a very human guy, fun, warm, witty—often scandalously so—bright and innovative, astoundingly energetic. A ball o’ fire whose boisterousness could be alarming,...
In the youth of our racing enthusiasm, we tend to think obituaries are for drivers. We don’t foresee, or at...
Pete Lyons Occasionally here you may notice me express disdain for the twisted state modern Formula One has gotten itself...
Pete Lyons Night racing. Why do we love it so? I think one reason is, darkness adds another dimension to the defiance. Motor racing has a deliciously illicit taste even in daylight, and doing it after sundown seems sinful. Become a Member & Get Ad-Free Access To This Article (&...
This month Pete is recovering from a “close encounter of the surgical kind.” Pete is doing well and will return...
Nearly 10 years ago in this space (“Sleuths Wanted,” February 2002) I asked if anyone could ID a Can-Am car...
Racing lays down rich strata of history with every passing season, but even though their glory days mostly lie four decades in the past, Carroll Shelby and his Cobras are at no risk of sinking into the fossilizing ooze of obscurity. Both names are true icons in American motorsports lore,...
Pete Lyons Partway through an evening of kind words, warm recollections and congratulations, the moderator came on the mic and...
Ferrari—let the word roll over your tongue. Doesn’t it taste good? Have you ever experienced—can you even imagine—a better name...
That’s a question I found occupying (the few) idle moments of my mind during October’s Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. That will happen if you spend four days cooped up in a 400-sq-ft tent lined with racing photos on display and notice that some seem to...
I’ve had a dream, one of the rare ones I remember clearly and can’t stop thinking about. That must mean...
Spring must be coming because friends are phoning to talk about races we’re going to this year. It’s that sweet,...
Anyone who saw the terrifying tape of Mario Andretti’s 200-mph “blowover” at Indianapolis on April 23rd will easily visualize the same guy booting Duncan Dayton’s Lotus 79 around Long Beach 11 days earlier. No, happily, the historic F1 car came back unscathed. But Mario, a racer of legendary stature, sure...
For all the great drivers who contested the old Can-Am, few did well. Your Amons, Andrettis, Brabhams, Elfords, Joneses, Halls,...
Third-time charm! That’s what we Can-Am fans were hoping for 40 Septembers ago. On the first of this month in...
Here’s a big four-oh for me: That many years ago this month the Can-Am began, and basically so did my...
The last car ends its cool-off lap, sending one last snap of delicious sound echoing away across the raceway. This is when another kind of fun begins. Pete Lyons In the quiet aftermath of a sports car race the other day, I was asking one of the younger pro drivers...
In motor racing we meet some very able people, and some very fine ones. It’s wonderful when they’re the same...
While indulging one of my secret vices the other day – watching motorcycle racing on TV – I started thinking...
In the boisterous opera that has been Italian auto racing, one of the grandest of performers made just the briefest of appearances. Fewer than three full race seasons, from early 1953 to mid-1955; that was all the time Gianni Lancia got to try to remake the marque his father had...
