Mark Donohue was one of America's most versatile drivers, master of everything from light open-wheelers to heavy sedans. Here he shakes down his Javelin prior to the 1970 Trans-Am season with a trial run in the Daytona 24-Hours (dnf, engine). Photo: Pete Lyons - www.petelyons.com
Fast Lines

Where Are the Renaissance Racers?

Avatar photo

The other evening I watched a panel of motorsport reporters on a TV show name their “driver of the year.” It was an interesting discussion, and I learned a lot. It also made me realize—once again—how much racing has changed in the past few decades.

Pete Lyons
Pete Lyons

For one thing, it’s harder these days than ever to single out one “driver of the year.” There’s just so much racing going on, and it’s all so compartmentalized. The awards panel had to weigh performances across many very different, very separate kinds of the sport. How can you judge CART or IMSA or F1 drivers, say, against NASCAR or SCCA or USAC drivers? Drag racers and rallyists and all the many motorcycle competitors have to come into it, too. But scarcely any of these different breeds ever take to the track against one another.

Tags
Avatar photo
Pete Lyons is an American motorsport journalist, author and photographer. He began reporting North American racing for Autosport, covering Daytona, Sebring, the Indianapolis 500 and Can-Am, then spent four years as Formula One correspondent for Autosport and AutoWeek. He later edited the US monthly Formula, renamed Racecar, before returning to freelance writing. His books include Can-Am, Can-Am Photo History, Riverside International Raceway, Shadow, a biography of Vic Elford, Fast Lines and My Travels on Racer Road. He wrote the Fast Lines column for Vintage Racecar from 2000 to 2014. His awards include two Dean Batchelor Awards, the Ken Purdy Award and a 2011 International Automotive Media Lifetime Achievement Award. In the Sports Car Digest archive: 154 stories, 2000–2014.
Related
Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr