Stopwatch

The mid-1950s were witness to a change in fortunes for a few people who were lured by the growing number of sports cars coming into America from Europe. It was from this group of people that a small number of owners in and around the New York area took it upon themselves to form a club. Firstly, because they enjoyed their cars, and secondly because it was their aim to enter them into races, and hopefully win monetary prizes - something that was not possible by being a member of the Sports Car Club of America. It was decided that the club would be known as the Sports Car Owners and Drivers Association.

“The best thing to do is to keep it quiet as long as you could.” Don Cox explained to an audience at the 25th Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, responding to the need to test, prepare, practice, and try out new ideas to improve performance or logistics before approaching The Captain.

While people more readily associate American race drivers as appearing in Europe after World War II, it is worth reflecting on one individual, who through circumstances that were not of his own making, took up the mantle in the 1930s. This was Whitney Willard Straight, born in November 1912 in New York. His parents had wealth beyond the dreams of most people, an asset that Whitney put to use in setting up his own race career as well as his own company.

This year’s Grand Prix Festival in Watkins Glen honors Mustang, the original American “pony car.” Ford Motor Company developed the experimental version of the Mustang in 1962 to test new innovations in design and styling, later producing the wildly successful street car that would carry the name and the model’s popularity through almost six decades.

In a bygone era on the African continent, when most southern African countries were colonies under the control of European powers, “Grand Prix” motor racing for sports cars flourished for a brief period of time. One such country involved was Angola, a Portuguese colony, and it was the Portuguese government that encouraged this action as it wanted to expand motorsport in order to build a sense of unity in its empire at a time when there were signs of unrest.

Luis Martinez recounts his trip to the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2022, and his connection to three racers who started at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello, New York.

Hurley Haywood is undeniably one of the most decorated American sports car aces of all time, winning world-class races over four decades. In this blog post, Luis A. Martinez recounts one of the first and most important wins of Hurley's career - the Danville 300 at VIR in 1971 in a Porsche 914-6 he shared with Peter Gregg. That race was a springboard that led to many years of success.

The joint World Sportscar Championship and Can-Am weekend at Watkins Glen in July 1970 was notable for the great racing, huge crowd, world-famous drivers and a fascinating mix of machinery for both the 6-Hour event on Saturday and the unlimited Group 7 show on Sunday, a race where many of the endurance competitors competed as well. World-renowned Porsche 917 author Jay Gillotti takes us back in time to a different age to remember it all.

The months of April and May bring sad reminders of three great F1 heroes lost to crashes – Jimmy Clark, Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna. All are sorely missed. We can be grateful that Niki Lauda, whose passing in May of 2019 was a reminder of a long and inspiring life, escaped from his fiery crash at the Nürburgring. Yet, it was not until the fatal crash of Senna in 1994 that a safety revolution took place. This excerpt from “CRASH!” looks at why the great Brazilian’s death made so much difference when it came to racing safety, now part of his legacy.

When IMSA first published the initial Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) rulebook in 1980, it set off a flurry of activity with car builders and race teams. But who became the first to field a GTP machine in an IMSA race? This question isn't as simple to answer as you might think.