British race car driver Jamie Chadwick continued her American invasion last weekend with a history-making win in the Indy NXT Series, which used to be called Indy Lights. It’s the developmental feeder series for IndyCar, and many of its graduates have gone on to solid IndyCar careers, recently including Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas, and in less recent history, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Pato O’Ward, Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Colton Herta and Tony Kaanan.

Chadwick, who drives for Andretti Global, qualified on the pole for the Grand Prix of Road America, a 20-lap race on the tough Wisconsin road course. She is only the third female driver to win in the NXT/Indy Lights series, with the first being Ana Beatriz, who won in 2008 and 2009, and Pippa Mann, who was the most recent winner in 2010. Those wins were on oval tracks, so Chadwick becomes the first female driver to win on a road course.

“I have no words,” Chadwick said after her victory on Sunday. “Honestly, I’m a bit emotional. We’ve had an unbelievable car this year and just haven’t been able to do anything about it. I’m just so happy we held on there.”

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She beat Andretti Global teammate Louis Foster by 0.82 seconds, with Jacob Abel in third. Foster and Abel already have two wins each this season, and are the top two in the points, with Abel leading.

This is the second NXT season for Chadwick, 26, after winning three championships in the Europe-based, all-female W Series. That series was cancelled after three seasons for lack of finances, and last ran in 2022, when Chadwick returned with support from Caitlyn Jenner to win her third championship, this time for the newly-formed Jenner Racing team. The W Series was essentially replaced by the female-only, F1-backed F1 Academy in 2023. F1 Academy is on the Formula 4 level, considered a step down from the competition in the W Series.

Prior to racing in the W and NXT Series, Chadwick competed mostly in Europe, but she had several starts in the F3 Asian Championship. She has also been a development driver for the Williams F1 team, and a test driver for the NIO Formula E team. Chadwick co-drove an Aston Martin to a win in the Silverstone 24 Hours in 2015, and to fifth in class in the 2019 running of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. She’s also competed in Extreme E, the electric off-road series.

Additionally, Chadwick is also the official advisor for 17-year-old Lia Block, daughter of the late stunt driver and rally racer Ken Block, as she competes for Williams in the F1 Academy series this season. After four of the scheduled 14 races, Lia is 14th in points out of 17 drivers.

Chadwick moved to the NXT series in 2023, where she had a best finish of sixth, and ended the season 12th in points. It took her a while to get acclimated to U.S. tracks and the NXT car, which is a Dallara chassis with a turbocharged 2.0-liter Mazda-AER four-cylinder, with six-speed gearbox. The series is owned by IndyCar, which means it’s owned by Roger Penske. Her best finish this season had been third on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

While Chadwick led Sunday’s race from the pole and never gave up the lead, it wasn’t easy. A crash on lap 16 caused officials to fly the red flag, stopping the race to allow for a clean-up and ensure that it wouldn’t finish under a caution flag. It was restarted with two laps to go.

“With the red flag at the end, I was like, ‘Come on!’” Chadwick said. “We started to lose the tires a little bit. I just knew I had to be aggressive. I knew they [Foster and Abel] have a championship to worry about, and I just had to get my head down. I really wanted to win today.” The victory moved Chadwick up to ninth in points.

This was the sixth race in a 13-race NXT season. Next up is a doubleheader at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on June 22-23.

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After September 24, 1994, it was always about Page. Most every conversation I had with Parnelli Jones, the racing legend who died Tuesday, was about his son, Page, who was 22 and racing in the famous 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway in Ohio, a famous dirt oval track now owned by former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart.

Page was driving his black number 26 sprint car when he hit the wall and flipped, then was struck by another car. Page suffered a traumatic brain injury, and for three days, as he was in a coma, doctors feared for his life.

It took years, but Page recovered to an unexpected degree, eventually becoming a husband and a father. “He’s doing better,” Parnelli would say, and then tell me about Page’s latest small step back.

A documentary, Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones, was made about Page’s life. He was 37 when he said this: “I had just won the race and I hit the wall and flipped on to my side,” Page recalled. It is his last long-term memory. “I remember looking through the window of the car at the flag guy and he was throwing the yellow flag up and I thought, ‘Throw the red flag up so they stop.’ But it was too late. The guy that had crashed with me hit my roll cage and I was (unconscious).”

That day, brother P.J. was racing in Tucson; IndyCar team owner and STP CEO Andy Granatelli offered his Learjet to fly the family to see Page. P.J. boarded the plane in Phoenix, flew to Los Angeles to pick up mother Judy, flew to Utah to pick up Parnelli, then headed to Dayton, Ohio, where Page was in the hospital, still not out of the woods. It was a month before Page could be flown to a rehabilitation center in California.

It was 18 months before Page could speak, and then it was just one word at a time. It was two years before Page could get out of his wheelchair and begin the long process of learning to walk again. “He was like a six-foot-tall baby,” Judy said in a 2004 story posted by USAC, the sanctioning body for the 4-Crown Nationals and for the Indianapolis 500 when Parnelli won it in 1963.

At the beginning of rehabilitation, physicians painted a dark picture. “One of the doctors told me that he was going to need 24 hours of help a day the rest of his life, as well as a special training table, a handicapped bathroom, wheelchair, the whole shebang,” Parnelli said. “He gave me the worst scenario in the world.”

Rehab was frustrating for Page, who Parnelli said tore up nearly 150 T-shirts. “He would reach down, grab them and put them in his mouth and just rip them right off his chest,” Parnelli said. “He was just nervous; it was just unreal. But he never ran out of T-shirts because his friends kept sending them to him. One of his friends sent him a T-shirt that had a dotted line across it, and it read, ‘Tear here, Page’. His friends really, really stuck by him.”

“It was like being born again,” Page said. “The simplest things were difficult. Instead of being a baby two or three feet off the ground, I was six feet above the ground.”

After two years in rehab in California, Page was sent to Indianapolis, then New York City, for more specialized rehabilitation. Page continued to improve. He married Jamie on April 14, 2001, and they have two sons.

“He’s just a little bit different than he was before,” Parnelli said. “What he might have lost he gained in a lot of other ways.”

Older brother P.J. went on to an uneven but generally successful racing career, the highlights being a win at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona sports car endurance race in 1993, co-driving Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Eagle MkIII Toyota. He also made two Indianapolis 500 starts, 60 IndyCar starts and 33 starts in the NASCAR Cup series.

As for Rufus Parnell Jones, born August 12, 1933: His racing career began in 1950, at age 17, and ended in 1974, when he was 41. As he was easing out of the driver’s seat, he became co-owner of Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing, and won the Indianapolis 500 in 1970 and 1971 as a car owner, with Al Unser driving. Then he built a Formula 1 car for Mario Andretti; it was called the Parnelli VPJ4. He helped develop a turbocharged version of the Cosworth DFV V-8, which went on to win every Indianapolis 500 for the next 10 years. Parnelli was an astute businessman, investing in real estate and maintaining a close relationship with Firestone, which began in 1960 when he became their test driver. He owned a Ford dealership, 47 Parnelli Jones Tire Centers in four states, and was a Firestone racing tire distributor in 14 states.

Decades after he hung up his helmet, his name still resonates. In 2021, at a Mecum Indianapolis auction, Parnelli’s Baja 1000-winning 1969 Ford Bronco, named Big Oly, sold for $1.87 million.

So, there was never a shortage of topics to cover. But he always wanted to talk about Page, and how P.J.’s racing career was going.

Just seven months ago, P.J. posted this on Facebook: “Parnelli is still hanging in there at 90, driving my mom crazy!” But yesterday, P.J. confirmed that his father had died with a sadder Facebook post. “My father, Parnelli Jones, passed away today at the age of 90. He had battled Parkinson’s for the last few years. I will miss him greatly!”

Acclaimed motorsports journalist Bones Bourcier is the official biographer of Parnelli, titled As a Matter of Fact, I AM Parnelli Jones, named for the answer to multiple traffic cops who, at the time, would pull drivers over for speeding and ask, “Who do you think you are, Parnelli Jones?”

The day Parnelli died, Bones posted this on Facebook: “If you love racing of any kind, you understand that this is a great redwood falling in the forest. He was among the very best in an era when the very best drove any vehicle they could climb into. Parnelli won Indy Car races in front-engine roadsters and rear-engine Lotus creations; won in NASCAR and USAC stock cars; won in USAC, CRA, and IMCA Sprint Cars on dirt and pavement; won in USAC Midgets on dirt and pavement; won in SCCA sports cars and Trans-Am sedans; won in Baja off-road trucks; basically, he won in everything he sat in, all the way back to the 1950s heyday of the California Jalopy Association, where it all began for him. ‘There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it,’ A.J. Foyt said of his old pal and rival. ‘Parnelli was a great race driver.”’

We’ll leave the last word to Roger Penske, who owns IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a NASCAR Cup team and an IMSA GTP team, and, at 87, is a contemporary of Parnelli: “The racing world has lost a great competitor and a true champion. Parnelli Jones was one of the most accomplished racers in history, and his determination and will to win made him one of the toughest competitors I have ever seen,” Penske said. “I was proud to call Parnelli a good friend for many years, and our thoughts are with his family as we remember one of the true legends of motorsports.”

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Despite Honda sweeping the podium at Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix, it was a Chevrolet that paced the field for most of the afternoon. The series’ Corvette Z06 pace car, to be exact, spent 47 laps in front of the pack, as the race was slowed for a total of eight cautions throughout the 100-lap affair.

Tight confines, a bumpy temporary track surface, and one hellacious hairpin set up for an entertaining sophomore attempt at Detroit’s 1.7-mile street course.

Motown has a rich history of open wheel racing: Formula 1 first visited in 1982 on the streets of downtown. IndyCar took over after F1 departed after 1988. The contest moved to Belle Isle, a neighboring island park out on the Detroit River, in 1992 and stayed until IndyCar returned to the heart of Detroit’s downtown in 2023.

The new nine-turn course, which includes a three-quarter-mile straight, encircles the Renaissance Center, General Motors’ global headquarters since 1996.

In the shadow of the towering RenCen, the Detroit course features another oddity: A split pit lane. Cars are serviced on either side of pit road, depending on the team’s stall selection. This year, the track layout remained largely unchanged save for some smoothing and widening of certain portions of the track. Still, it proved treacherous for many, including a gaggle of drivers involved in Sunday’s biggest wreck in the first turn of lap one.

Perhaps the biggest change was the inclusion of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar racing on the weekend slate. Prototype racers (GTP) as well as GT cars kicked off the weekend, serving as an epic opening act. Manufacturer diversity was on display as Cadillacs and Corvettes attempted to defend their home turf in their respective classes to no avail. Acura took home GTP victory and Porsche was triumphant in GTD Pro.

Sunday’s race was dominated by Scott Dixon in the Chip Ganassi Honda. The six-time champ pitted early and saved enough fuel throughout the yellow-laden race to make it back to the checkers a few car lengths in front of fellow Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.

Many were critical of the on-track action, labeling the race as a demo derby. It was easier to list the cars not involved in the opening lap pile-up, and the seven flags that slowed action throughout the rest didn’t help erase that first impression. Post race, a few drivers took to social media to vent. “I miss Belle Isle,” wrote this year’s Indy 500 runner-up Pato O’Ward.

The drivers’ frustration is understandable, but the dance in downtown Detroit is way better than any Belle Isle battle for a few reasons. First, the new location is second to none for spectators. For a series that is in dire need of new fans, Detroit’s street course brings the action to the people. Attending Belle Isle required planning and execution. You had to take a shuttle across a bridge to the island just to get to the course.

Second: Visibility. The island park was flat with not enough decent views of the track. Detroit’s downtown course has plenty of perches, as numerous parking garages allow for different bird’s eye views—not to mention an incredible view of cars racing along Detroit River waterfront.

And finally, the most important aspect for your humble author: The new course is a photographer’s dream. There are infinite places to shoot from, whether you have photo credentials or are just attending as a fan. This year was the first time I donned a photo vest for the event, shooting all three days. Check out some of my favorite shots below.

Still, at the end of the weekend, I felt like there were vantage points that I missed. Oh well, there’s always next year. Fingers crossed it will still be downtown.

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For Rick Hendrick, owner of the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR racing team, it represents a milestone. “I never thought I’d get to have an entry in the Indy 500 in my life,” he said. But he does, and his car will start Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 from fifth place on the grid.

It began when one of his NASCAR drivers, Kyle Larson, expressed a persistent interest in adding IndyCars to the list of vehicles he has raced. And that’s a long list, ranging from IMSA prototype sports cars to dirt late models. “Everybody knew that Kyle wanted to run the Indy 500,” Hendrick said, so he started talking to Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, about entering Larson in one of Brown’s Arrow-McLaren IndyCars. “We put a deal together,” said Hendrick, and so far, “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

“Yeah, it’s been awesome from day one. Mr. H and his entire organization are absolutely legendary in motorsports,” Brown said. He and Hendrick met the media Tuesday on a Zoom call.

Larson is doing “the double”—racing at Indianapolis early Sunday, then jetting and helicoptering to Concord, North Carolina and the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600. He’ll be the fifth NASCAR driver to attempt the feat. Only Tony Stewart, in 2001, completed all 1100 laps. Larson will be the first driver to try it since Kurt Busch’s attempt in 2014.

And yes, it’s hard to imagine that things could have gone any better—so far. Larson, 31, took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway quickly, increasing his speed as he practiced for last weekend’s qualifying. As mentioned, Larson qualified the HendrickCars.com Dallara/Chevrolet fifth out of 34 cars, with a four-lap average speed of 232.846 mph.

“Nervous as I’ve ever been watching qualifying,” said Hendrick. “The pressure of running four laps is something I’m not used to. One lap maybe at Daytona, or two. It’s just biting your fingernails. But Zak and his whole group have just done an amazing job, and we’re very fortunate to be partners with him and his team.”

Still, “I’m not used to watching a car go into the corner at 241,” Hendrick said.

Brown said that prior to qualifying, “I would have said the front half of the field would have been an awesome result. I wouldn’t have put much money on qualifying fifth. I think that’s a testament to Kyle’s ability and the collective effort of both teams to give him a race car and an environment to compete at the front.”

Well, true, but he hasn’t exactly competed yet. But given Larson’s raw talent, a very fast car and hopefully a competent pit crew, he may indeed run at the front. That said, there may still be obstacles ahead. Larson is the NASCAR Cup series points leader, so it’s important for him to make it to Charlotte on time. Driver introductions are at 5:25 p.m. ET.

But what if there’s a rain delay at Indy? This is Weather.com’s forecast for Sunday in Indianapolis, as of Wednesday morning: “Thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.”

Would Hendrick pull Larson out of the Indy 500 and insist that he head to Charlotte? “It would be very hard,” Hendrick admitted. “It would be very tough. It would be very disappointing because of all the effort that everyone has put in.” Not to mention the fact that Hendrick is flying in a huge number of guests—five airplanes’ worth, he said.

“It’s going to be pressure all day,” Hendrick said. “How does the race go? Is it going to rain? What time do we have to leave to get back to Charlotte? This is going to be a tremendous amount of pressure, but we signed up for it.”

The one thing Hendrick and Brown are not worrying about is Larson. “He’s just a die-hard racer,” Hendrick said. “He’ll race in this race just like he would when he flies somewhere and gets in a sprint car or a midget. He just wants to get in the car and race. I think all the racing he’s done has kind of built his confidence so much that he believes in himself and he believes in the team and what the team tells him the car will do, and then he figures it out on his own, and he’s off to the races.”

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Further cementing the contention that he is America’s most versatile race car driver, Kyle Larson turned in the fastest qualifying lap by a rookie in Indianapolis 500 history Saturday with a pass of 233.453 mph. He formally qualified fifth of 34 drivers on Sunday with the second-fastest four-lap average at 232.846 mph, just shy of Tony Stewart’s record rookie run of 233.100 in 1996.

After qualifying, Larson jumped on a private jet and flew to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, where he ran as high as third before finishing fourth in Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star race. Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup series champion, is currently leading the series in points.

Larson will be the fifth driver to attempt “the double”—racing in the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 about 430 miles away at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina on the same day. The other drivers who’ve done the double are John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, and Stewart, who is the only one to complete all 1100 miles of racing.

At Indy, Larson will be driving a Chevrolet-powered Dallara jointly entered by his NASCAR team owner, Hendrick Motorsports, and Arrow McLaren. Larson’s resume already includes wins in a dirt-track midget at the Chili Bowl, in a sports car at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and he won the Knoxville Nationals twice in a sprint car. As his schedule permits he continues to race 800-horsepower dirt sprint cars in the World of Outlaws and the High Limit series, which he co-owns with brother-in-law Brad Sweet.

The pole winner for the Indianapolis 500 is Scott McLaughlin, who averaged 234.220 mph for his four qualifying laps, a new track record. It is the first Indy pole for McLaughlin, whose previous best start was 14th. “Indy hasn’t been kind to me,” McLaughlin said, “and a lot of it was my doing. I need to work on things. This is the first step.”

The entire three-car front row is Team Penske, with Will Power starting second and defending race champion Josef Newgarden starting third. Team owner Roger Penske also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the sanctioning body, IndyCar. The three front-row cars are powered by Chevrolet. Starting fourth is former winner Alexander Rossi, an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet teammate to fifth-place starter Larson.

The Sunday before the race has long been called “Bump Day,” because there are typically more entries for the 33-car field than can be accommodated. This year, there were only 34 entries, so one team had to go home. That was decided late Sunday, between British racer Katherine Legge, former winner Marcus Ericsson, 19-year-old rookie Nolan Siegel, and veteran Graham Rahal, who was the only driver bumped in 2023.

This year, it’s Siegel who will be watching from the sidelines. His Dale Coyne Racing car failed in a last-minute qualifying attempt, when Siegel crashed into the Turn 2 wall. He was uninjured. “I’m fine but I don’t really care if I’m fine at this point,” he said. “That’s somewhat irrelevant.”

Rahal ended up with the final spot. He knows how Siegel felt. “I’ve been there—last year, it still stings,” Rahal said. “It’s not much better being 33rd, I can tell you that. At least we’re in the field, and we’re going to go racing.”

Both engine manufacturers—Chevrolet and Honda—faced problems in qualifying. With Chevrolet, the problem was plenum fires. With Honda, it was simply trying to make a little more speed. The top eight qualifiers were Chevrolet-powered, and the four cars that had to run on Sunday in last-chance qualifying were all Hondas.

Chevy’s plenum-fire issue shouldn’t be a problem for the race. The plenum is a carbon-fiber box atop the engine. It’s fed by fuel and pressurized air from the twin turbochargers. Under pressure, the fuel/air mix is crammed into the injectors. If an engine valve stays open for a millisecond longer than it should, a spark can climb back up into the plenum and ignite the mixture before it reaches the injectors. On at least six Chevrolet-powered cars, a plenum fire occurred on Saturday. An article at Racer.com has a comprehensive explanation.

Really, it isn’t as serious as it sounds—the engine loses power very briefly, then picks back up where it left off. But it is a big deal during qualifying, where it is more likely to occur due to the high level of turbocharger boost being used. At Indy, the plenum fires mostly happened when the driver was shifting gears at near 12,000 rpm. With the milder engine tuning used for the race itself, it isn’t likely to happen, although it has: In last year’s season opener in St. Petersburg, Pato O’Ward was leading when his car suffered a plenum fire with three laps to go. The momentary loss of power was enough to let Ericsson get by and take the win.

At Indianapolis, it was important enough for Chevrolet to address the issue in a press conference late Saturday, where GM motorsports head Jim Campbell said he would have engineers around the world work around the clock to investigate the plenum fires.

As for Honda, there was no report of plenum fires, but for a company that qualified on the pole for the last four years straight, Indy qualifying was a bitter bill. The fastest Honda, driven by Felix Rosenqvist, had a four-lap average of 232.305 mph. Pole winner McLaughlin’s Chevrolet ran, as mentioned, 234.220 mph, nearly 2 mph quicker than Rosenqvist. Honda will need to find a bit more power before next Sunday.

Speaking of which: The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place May 26, with coverage beginning at 11 a.m. on NBC. Here’s a link to the starting lineup.

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Chevy’s hybrid, all-wheel-drive, mid-engined C8 Corvette E-Ray will serve as the Indianapolis 500 pace car later this month at the hallmark event’s 108th running.

The E-Ray is Chevy’s quickest Corvette ever, with a claimed 0–60 time of just 2.5 seconds. It pairs a 6.2-liter, naturally-aspirated, 495-horse V-8 turning the rear wheels with an electric motor on the front axle that motivates the front wheels. The combined system output is a meaty 655 horsepower, and that electric drive unit alone is good for 160 hp and 125 lb-ft of torque.

We first rode in the E-Ray back in January of last year and quickly discovered that this was a very unique experience within the Corvette world. It was the first all-wheel-drive Corvette to reach production, and the first to employ hybrid tech in service of greater performance.

Then, last fall, we finally got behind the wheel of the E-Ray and confirmed that the hybrid drivetrain had serious performance potential, while also feeling like the ideal grand touring Corvette of the C8 pack.

The Artic White E-Ray should shine brightly leading the pack of speedway-spec IndyCars. It’s a clever nod from the series to choose a performance-oriented hybrid to lead the lineup, especially since the series finally announced that it will incorporate a hybrid component into the race cars’ drivetrains beginning in July.

The E-Ray will join a long list of Corvettes that have paced the greatest spectacle in racing; to date, no model has lapped ahead of the IndyCar field more than a Corvette. We’ve seen that past iterations of Corvette Pace cars have become sought-after collectibles, so we’re just warning you: Don’t be surprised if some sort of commemorative E-Ray Pace Car edition pops up at your local dealership soon after the race.

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In May of 2019, IndyCar announced that it would be moving to a hybrid powertrain. That August, IndyCar finalized its plans, confirming that the hybrid system would debut in 2022.

The new system was expected to do three things: First, it would allow drivers who stall out on track to re-start their cars and rejoin the race, rather than have to bring out a caution flag and summon a safety team to drive to the stalled car and re-start it. Second, it would boost the powertrain’s total output to over 900 horsepower.

And third, certainly having the real-world relevance to hybrid power in passenger cars would attract a much-needed third manufacturer to sign up for the IndyCar series, joining Honda and Chevrolet.

On Tuesday, five years after that original announcement, IndyCar said that the hybrid package would debut at the Honda Indy 200 race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which is set for July 5-7. Obviously, it has been delayed multiple times.

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Addressing IndyCar’s expectations of the new hybrid systems: The drivers will indeed be able to re-start their cars without the aid of the safety team. This will mean fewer caution flags.

Second, in Tuesday’s announcement, IndyCar said the hybrid system would boost horsepower to “800+ for the first time in two decades,” and though it did say more power might be possible down the line, it’s still short of the promised 900.

That 800-horsepower figure will be achieved when the driver presses two buttons: One will deploy the available electricity to supply additional power. The other is the existing Push to Pass feature, which lets the turbochargers briefly increase the boost, itself worth about 50 hp. (Push to Pass has been around since 2004, when the competing ChampCar series introduced it on its Ford Cosworth engines.)

The two power enhancers come with different rules. Push to Pass will still have a restriction on amount of time per use and total time used over the course of a race. Rules for the hybrid power unit will limit the amount of energy deployed per lap based on track length. Drivers will be able deploy the electric boost on all the circuits that the series visits. They will be able to combine it with Push to Pass on road and street circuits, but not ovals since Push to Pass is not available on those tracks.

The new hybrid system, jointly developed by Chevrolet and Honda, was more of a challenge than they were expecting, but the end result is a low-voltage, 48-volt unit that stores energy in 20 ultracapacitors instead of batteries. Capacitors work well for storing energy for brief periods, but aren’t great at long-term energy storage, which is fine for this application.

The hybrid equipment, called the ERS for energy recovery system, weighs in at about 120 pounds, a significant increase given the cars weigh 1630 pounds on most tracks, slightly less on ovals. It is contained in the bellhousing, located between the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine and the gearbox. IndyCar has done 23,518 miles of testing on hybrid-equipped cars, with more planned at the Milwaukee Mile in June.

Oh, and that third thing the hybrid system was supposed to do? Attract at least one more OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, besides Honda and Chevrolet to the IndyCar series? Hasn’t happened.

“This technology is very important to our current OEM partners, Honda and Chevy,” IndyCar President Jay Frye told the Indianapolis Star in 2019, “so if it’s important to them, then you can logically conclude it’s important to other OEMs.”

Perhaps, but it seems only IMSA, the sports car series, has been able to attract many new manufacturers, as it currently has 18. The competing SRO series, in the GT3 sports car class alone, has nine.

So we’ll see if another manufacturer will sign up for IndyCar. Regardless, the series is pretty strong now, and excitement is building for the 108th Indianapolis 500 on May 26. Maybe the hybrid system will keep IndyCar in the conversation well after its biggest race.

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Complain about journalism in America if you want to, but compared to journalism in Europe, we are the arbiters of accuracy and fair play. That’s why it is so much fun to see what publications across the pond are saying about the apparent departure of Adrian Newey—the man who began working as an engineer and designer for Red Bull in 2006 and has guided the team to Formula 1 greatness. Driver Max Verstappen, undeniably, has aided his success.

According to the European F1 media, Newey is either leaving Red Bull tomorrow, or at the end of 2026, or someplace in between.

Regardless, there’s no question that Adrian Newey is Formula 1’s current prom queen, apparently being asked to the big dance by a variety of well-heeled suitors.

There’s Lawrence Stroll, head of Aston Martin, who reportedly (these Newey stories use the word “reportedly” a lot) offered Newey $100 million to leave Red Bull.

There’s Ferrari, which reportedly is willing to match Stroll’s offer to have Newey come to Maranello and reinvigorate the career of driver Lewis Hamilton.

And there’s Mercedes, which is the quietest of the key suitors, but there’s no question it would welcome Newey with open arms and an open checkbook.

Since Newey is 65, the subject of outright retirement has come up. What does he have left to prove?

A little background on Newey for readers who aren’t F1 geeks: In 1980, after he graduated from college, he began working in Formula 1 for the Fittipaldi Formula 1 team. The next year, he moved to March, and began designing race cars. His initial project was the March GTP car, which won the IMSA championship twice.

In 1984, he went to work on the March IndyCar. His design won the 1985 and 1986 IndyCar championship and the Indianapolis 500 both years. He returned to March’s F1 design team, but moved to Williams in 1991, where Newey’s star really began to rise. In 1992, Nigel Mansell drove Newey’s FW14 chassis to a constructor’s championship, Newey’s first of many.

His time with Williams ended in 1997; he departed with a solid record, though, of 59 wins for his cars, and four world championships.

Next up was a long stint with McLaren, from 1997 to 2005 with titles in 1998 and 1999, and very nearly in 2000. The later years were less productive, and Newey departed for Red Bull in 2006. His influence was felt early on, but the team did not become a genuine contender until 2009, with Red Bull finishing a close second in the constructor’s championship.

In 2010, Red Bull won the constructor’s championship with driver Sebastian Vettel. In 2011, Newey’s car took 18 of 19 pole positions, and won 12 races and the constructor’s championship. Repeat championships came in 2012 and 2013.

Starting in 2014, Newey’s car suffered from using Renault’s turbo V-6 engines, and it wasn’t until the 2019 switch to Honda power that the team became competitive; in 2020, Red Bull was second in the constructor’s championship.

In 2021, it all came together again. Newey’s design, paired with driver Max Verstappen, won the driver’s championship, and they’ve been dominant ever since. At this point in the season, Verstappen and team driver Sergio Perez lead the standings in driver’s points, and Red Bull leads Ferrari 195 points to 151 in the constructor’s standings.

So why would Newey want to leave Red Bull? Reportedly—there’s that word again—he is upset about the internal handling and investigation of a complaint lodged by a female employee against team principal Christian Horner for alleged inappropriate behavior. An internal inquiry dismissed the charge. Is that so upsetting to Newey that he would leave a place he was worked, with great success, for 18 years?

According to the European media, yes. Apparently Newey is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2025, and there are multiple reports that there’s a 12-month no-compete stipulation included in that contract, so Newey wouldn’t really be available to work for a new employer until the 2027 season.

Yet “Wow! Adrian Newey is reportedly leaving Red Bull,” reads the headline on Top Gear. And “Red Bull stunned by shock news F1’s top designer Adrian Newey to leave,” in The Guardian. And “F1 rumor: Adrian Newey decides to leave Red Bull ahead of formal resignation.”

Oops, that headline is from Sports Illustrated.

Regardless, the F1 media must have some sort of soap opera underway 12 months out of the year, and it’s Adrian Newey’s turn under the microscope now. No one denies that his departure, imminent or otherwise, is Big News in racing, but until he decides his next move, it’s just fodder for dozens of talented headline writers.

Stay tuned, bloke.

***

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Motorsports has long been a high-stakes industry, backed by major auto manufacturers and underwritten by hundreds of corporations, some of them Fortune 500 companies. But despite ever-rising levels of professionalism, cheating still occurs on the highest levels.

How that cheating is treated by the major sanctioning bodies, though, differs. Minor infractions are typically addressed promptly, with a loss of finishing position, a fine, or a points penalty, or all three. When a major infraction occurs—well, that’s where it gets interesting.

For years—decades, actually—NASCAR maintained a tacit policy of allowing winners that did not pass post-race technical inspection to keep the win, sometimes despite rather egregious violations. Example: The 1983 Miller High Life 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was won by Richard Petty.

In post-race inspection, it was found that Petty’s car had left-side tires installed on the right side of the car, which supposedly gave the car an illegal advantage. But worse, after tearing down the engine, it was found that the V-8 in Petty’s Pontiac measured out to nearly 382 cubic inches. NASCAR’s limit was, and is, 358 cubic inches.

NASCAR officials met for three hours and determined that Petty should be fined $35,000 and docked 104 points, but he would be allowed to retain the win. The decision was in keeping with NASCAR’s unspoken opinion that fans should be able to go home Sunday knowing who the winner of the race was, and not learn that he had been disqualified in Monday’s newspaper.

It was not always that way. In NASCAR’s very first race, apparent winner Glenn Dunaway was stripped of the victory after officials found illegal rear springs on his Ford. The win was given to the car that came in second, Jim Roper.

That was in 1949. Between then and 1960, NASCAR took the wins away from seven drivers for violations that ranged from a fuel tank that was too big, to illegal cylinder heads.

It was not until July of 2022 that NASCAR would strip another Cup series winner of a victory, when Denny Hamlin, driving a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was disqualified from the M&Ms 400 at Pocono Raceway for having a front spoiler that had been bolstered by illegal tape. Kyle Busch, who finished second, was also disqualified. His Joe Gibbs Toyota had the same tape treatment. This gave the win to Chase Elliott, who had finished third.

We mention this because on Tuesday, IndyCar took away Josef Newgarden’s win in the 2024 season opener at St. Petersburg. Scott McLaughlin, who finished third, was also disqualified. Both drive for Team Penske, owned by Roger Penske, who also owns the IndyCar series as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Very disappointing,” Penske told the Associated Press. “Very embarrassing.”

The gutsy call was made by IndyCar President Jay Frye after it was found that Team Penske had manipulated the “push to pass,” or PTP, system that allows drivers, under certain circumstances, to push a button and get a 50-horsepower boost from the turbocharged engine. The gimmick, similar to what Formula 1 uses, is supposed to make the racing more interesting.

The problem in St. Petersburg was that PTP cannot be used on starts and restarts. In fact, the PTP system is literally disabled then by IndyCar. But somehow, the Penske Chevrolets had managed to enable the system, and Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, and McLaughlin used it. Teammate Will Power did not, and IndyCar just fined him 10 points and allowed him to keep his fourth-place finish. Pato O’Ward, who drives for Arrow McLaren, was elevated from second to first place.

So how did the Penske team circumvent the PTP shutoff? In a statement, Team Penske President Tim Cindric said that the “push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars.

“This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted,” said Cindric, regarded as Roger Penske’s right-hand man. “The car driven by Josef Newgarden and the car driven by Scott McLaughlin both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated IndyCar rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by IndyCar.”

Also interesting is that it took 45 days for IndyCar to bust Penske. That’s because they didn’t find out about the breach until a practice session for last Sunday’s race at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. IndyCar did not activate the electronic PTP system during the early part of the session, but noticed that it was activated in three of the 27 cars on the grid—the three Penske cars. An immediate investigation followed. Two days later, the Penske penalties were announced.

According to Racer, the PTP system is activated under all circumstances when there is a test of the hybrid system on IndyCars. Cindric said that by mistake, PTP software left on his cars after the hybrid test was not removed. They have the option to protest the penalties, but instead are pleading guilty.

It is reminiscent of the last major motorsports cheating scandal, which occurred at the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the opening race of the season for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The cars race on Michelin tires, and in the then-new GTP class, the tire company suggests a minimum tire pressure. When a GTP car’s tires fall below that minimum, it is electronically broadcast to IMSA’s race control. As a penalty, IMSA requires the car to drive slowly through the pits while the race is on.

But for the winning car, the Meyer Shank Acura, the team managed to jam the telemetry that broadcast the low-pressure message back to IMSA, presumably allowing them to lower their tire pressures, which is a distinct performance advantage. It appears Meyer Shank, which was celebrating its second straight Rolex 24 victory, may have been ratted out by a competitor, who reported it to Honda Performance Development, which reported it to IMSA. The sanctioning body investigated and found it was true. It took six weeks.

In a controversial move, IMSA, which is owned by NASCAR, did not take the win away from the Meyer Shank Acura, but chose to penalize the team heavily with a loss of points earned, a fine of $50,000 and the loss of the winner’s purse, an amount that IMSA has not disclosed. Acura pulled its sponsorship of the Meyer Shank team, taking it to the other Acura team, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, which is now fielding two cars instead of one for 2024.

Does it pay to cheat? Not when you get caught. But that’s the only time in racing we learn who’s really breaking the rules.

***

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When the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg takes the green flag March 9 of 2025, two new cars will debut in the NTT IndyCar series. They’ll be fielded by PREMA, an Italian team that was founded in 1983 by Angelo Rosin.

PREMA, with more than 80 titles in multiple series, may be the best open-wheel organization that you’ve never heard of.

Though PREMA may not yet have raced in Formula 1 or IndyCar, graduates of the multiple ladder-type series that PREMA competes in certainly have. Those series include FIA Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, the GP2 series, and other championship series that race in Europe and Asia.

And those drivers include F1 world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, and IndyCar racers like Ryan Briscoe, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Callum Ilott. In F1, PREMA grads include Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. The team is the partner of choice for every Formula 1 driver development program.

PREMA already has a deal with Chevrolet for use of its new, 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged hybrid V-6 engine, and it’s building a “brand-new, state of-the-art facility” in the Indianapolis area. The addition of PREMA will increase the IndyCar grid to 29 cars, and the Indianapolis 500 entry list to probably 35.

No drivers have been selected, but you can bet resumes have been rolling in. PREMA has long had a good eye for talent: Members of its racing family include Rinaldo Capello, Kamui Kobyashi, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Daniel Juncadella, Arthur Leclerc, Jamie Chadwick, Robert Kubica, Renger van der Zande, Enzo Fittipaldi, Sebastian Montoya, Eddie Cheever III, Ben Hanley, this year’s IMSA Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner, Louis Deletraz, and the lone American competing in F1, Logan Sargeant.

IndyCar will become the 12th series that PREMA currently participates in. PREMA also operates Lamborghini’s new SC63 GTP program, which just debuted at the IMSA Mobil 1 Twelve Hours at Sebring.

“PREMA Racing, with their global reach and extraordinary presence in open-wheel racing, will be a great addition to our growing and highly competitive paddock,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said.

“This new chapter will also be beneficial for PREMA Racing and its people, producing amazing learning opportunities and know-how transfer,” said Rene Rosin, team principal. “We want to thank IndyCar for the warm welcome and Chevrolet for supporting this project. We cannot wait to start operating in our new Indiana shop and get on track as soon as possible.”

***

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The NTT IndyCar Series held a test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week for teams that had not yet experienced the new hybrid system that will be used in races during the second half of the season, following the Indianapolis 500 on May 26.

Participating were AJ Foyt Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. With this test, all the IndyCar teams have now experienced the hybrid system. Reviews were mixed.

“It’s a complex system,” said Romain Grosjean, driver of the Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet. “It’s quite different. There are a lot of buttons to push.”

It’s the latest of many changes over the years to the venerable, long-lived IndyCar chassis. First introduced 12 years ago, the Dallara-designed DW12—“DW” for driver Dan Wheldon, who helped develop the car before he was killed in a crash at Las Vegas—ran its 200th race at the 2024 season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March.

The DW12, used by both the Chevrolet and Honda teams, has undergone multiple body redesigns and safety adjustments. The addition of the hybrid system is considered a major update: Both the Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and Energy Storage System (ESS) fit inside the bellhousing, which sits between the new 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine and the gearbox.

One of the additional responsibilities for the driver is management of the regeneration system, which uses braking to supply more electricity to the ESS, to add more boost. There’s a manual and an automatic option for regeneration, and it will be up to the driver to fine-tune the system on track. “I think that it could change the racing, but at the same time, everyone has the same package to work with so it will be who uses it the wisest,” said Sting Ray Robb, driver for AJ Foyt Racing.

The central value of the hybrid system is that it will allow drivers to initiate a boost of power, similar to the existing “push to pass” feature, which is only allowed at certain times and on certain parts of the track. Another major improvement is that the hybrid system will allow the driver to re-start the engine should it stall, after a spin, for instance. Presently, restarting a car requires a caution flag to slow the race and allow safety crews to drive to the stalled car with a portable starter.

As you would guess, the hybrid system adds a moderate but undisclosed amount of weight. It’s expected that the car will need some new chassis tuning as a result.

The unit was developed jointly between the two engine suppliers. “The partnership between Chevrolet and Honda has been phenomenal,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said. “The IndyCar-specific hybrid power unit is dynamic and an engineering marvel, and we’re completely committed to its successful introduction.”

“I’m not fully comfortable with it, but I am very much enjoying it,” said Santino Ferrucci, who drives for AJ Foyt. “I can’t wait until we have it in the series full time.”

***

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Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion, is one step closer to his IndyCar debut at the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Following his fifth-place finish at the Clash preseason NASCAR race Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum, he traveled to the Phoenix Raceway for an Indy car test on Monday.

Granted, the one-mile Phoenix oval is a far cry from the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Larson said in a Zoom call today with the media that he learned a lot from the test. “I had a few moments where I was uncomfortable. I thought that was good to feel that at 190 or whatever we’re going—180 maybe in the corner— compared to going 220 [mph] at Indy. Having the moment, being surprised by something, I think that was a benefit.”

He nearly lost the car once: “Got a little bit loose into the corner,” he said. “As I was leaving the bottom, it just started to get sideways. I was able to catch it.

“Honestly, though, nothing about yesterday felt way different than what a Cup car feels like. That was good for me. I think the characteristics of the Indy car versus the Cup car, at least at Phoenix, felt very similar. You’re just going a lot faster in an Indy car.

“The moments happen a lot quicker. The edge of ‘good’ versus ‘not good’ feels a lot sharper. Yeah, it didn’t feel way, way different than what I was used to. Even with those moments of getting sideways, it didn’t feel way different.”

On May 26, Larson is planning to do the “double,” shorthand for running both the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup race, which are held on the same day. He will compete at both events for his NASCAR team owner, Hendrick Motorsports.

Doing the double is a physically and mentally demanding exercise, requiring the driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500, hurry to the airport, board a private jet for the Concord-Padgett Regional Airport in North Carolina, which is 430 miles away, then board a helicopter that lands at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The late John Andretti was the first driver to attempt the feat, on May 29, 1994. In 2001, Tony Stewart became the first and only driver to successfully complete all 1100 miles of both races, finishing sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte, despite complaining over the radio of an upset stomach. Besides Andretti and Stewart, only Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch have attempted the double. Busch was the last in 2014, where he finished sixth at Indy but dropped out of the Coca-Cola 600 with engine problems. He completed 906 total miles.

Dubbed the “Hendrick 1100” (t-shirts, hats, and model cars are already available at Hendrickmotorsports.com), Larson’s HendrickCars.com–sponsored Indy car, from the Arrow McLaren stable (with full-time drivers Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, and David Malukas), was unveiled last August. In October, Larson passed his rookie orientation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His Indy car is powered by Chevrolet, like Larson’s NASCAR Cup car.

He’s unlikely to get another run in the open-wheel, Dallara-Chevrolet race car until open practice in April at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then in the practice sessions leading up to the Indianapolis 500. Besides lapping at Phoenix, when he went through five sets of tires, he practiced pit stops and making in-car adjustments that are possible in an Indy car but not in a NASCAR Cup car.

Night running. pic.twitter.com/kEdn0TBpyI

— No. 5 Team (@Hendrick5Team) February 6, 2024

Larson thinks he got up to speed in the Indy car, but since he was out there by himself, he really isn’t sure. “I have yet to be on track with anybody else, so I don’t know,” Larson said. “I’m not able to compare to anybody else yet. I could have been half a second or more off the pace yesterday. I just have no clue. Once we get to the month of May or the open test in April, that’s when I’ll be able to kind of judge myself based off of the guys who do this for a living.”

Few doubt that Larson, arguably the most versatile driver in the Cup garage, will get up to speed or that he’ll get his share of attention. “I do know there’s a lot of race fans that are excited to see me out there. That makes me excited, as well. I feel like I’m a grassroots type of racer. Even though I race on Sunday in the Cup Series, I still feel like I resonate with the local short-track fans. I think that’s exciting. That’s what gets people liking me.

“I know I’ve got a lot of support on the fan side of things. I’m sure the whole NASCAR garage will be paying attention to how my couple weeks is going there.”

And as for the Daytona 500, on February 18: “Hendrick Motorsports is always really fast there. I know our race car is going to be good. It obviously takes some luck to get to the finish, but you also have to make good decisions and be prepared.

“Although on paper we’re literally like the worst team on superspeedways, I do believe that we are much, much better than what we show on paper. I feel like 90 percent of the time we’re in the top six or eight at the end of the race, the final 10 laps, then we get caught up in a crash, end up finishing 28th or worse.

“Eventually it’s got to work out. We keep putting ourselves in position. I’m confident that we can go out there and win or at least get a good finish and get off to a good start for the year. There’s a lot of factors that come into play at those superspeedway races. You have to cross your fingers that you can be in front of the pack and then you execute at the finish.”

***

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The rumors were running rampant in the Daytona garages during the Rolex 24 race last weekend: IMSA and IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi ran over and killed Lucky, a Golden Retriever puppy owned by IndyCar driver Devlin DeFrancesco—and Ganassi didn’t stop or say he was sorry. The police were called, and there was an investigation.

We now know that only some of this is true. Nevertheless, the motorsports social media blew up with the story. Feeding the flames was a post from Andy DeFrancesco, Devlin’s father: “It’s a crime that anyone has to go through this and Lucky had to suffer the way he did. It’s unconscionable people don’t acknowledge their actions or show any remorse.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Devlin DeFrancesco (@devlindefran)

It all started when Jenna Fryer, the motorsports correspondent for the Associated Press, posted this on X: “Devlin DeFrancesco’s golden retriever puppy was run over and killed in the motorhome lot,” a fenced-off area where drivers and team owners stay. Next post from Fryer, who was getting major criticism on social media for her first post: “I would not have tweeted about Dev’s dog if it wasn’t literally the talk of the pre-race grid. It was in the motorhome lot. Which means someone authorized to be driving a car in the lot was involved. I’ve asked for a statement from the other party involved.”

Multiple reports on social media said it was Ganassi, but like a responsible reporter, Fryer didn’t say so until she heard from him. Which she did late Monday. That post reads: “Chip Ganassi has confirmed to me that he accidentally hit Devlin’s dog, says he did stop his car and is ‘terribly sad about it.’ He says he spoke to four different police officers on site that evening. He said his multiple attempts to call the DeFrancesco’s have gone unanswered.”

Next post from Fryer: “It was imperative for me to speak to Chip before I could responsibly give more details because it is my understanding this was a wildly chaotic scene, and very different versions from both sides about the moments after Lucky was struck.”

Meanwhile, Devlin DeFrancesco, 24, 2022 Daytona winner in the LMP2 class, had to suit up and drive for Forte Racing’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3 in the GTD class. It was not easy. An Instagram post from him, with a picture of Lucky, which he got in September: “I’m going to miss you more than you know. Thank you for being my best friend. I love you more than anything in the world. I’ll see you on the other side, until we meet again.”

His girlfriend Katie posted this: “Words will never describe the pain of losing our baby last night. Thank you for the best five months we could have ever dreamed of. We love you forever, Lucky.”

I want to thank everyone who reached out to @DevlinDeFran Katie & my kids
Thank You

It’s a crime that anyone has to go through this and Lucky had to suffer the way he did

It’s unconscionable people don’t acknowledge their actions or show any remorse#RIPLucky @JennaFryer pic.twitter.com/5MzcL0xtaS

— Andy DeFrancesco (@DeFrancesco_A) January 28, 2024

It turned out to be a long day for Forte Racing. Misha Goikhberg, who co-drove with DeFrancesco in 2022, crashed the Lamborghini into a tire wall 26 minutes into the 24-hour race. The team fixed the car and soldiered on, finishing 40th in the 59-car field and 16th in class.

As for DeFrancesco: His contract to drive in IndyCar for Andretti Autosport ended in 2023, when the team downsized from four cars to three for 2024. He hasn’t announced a new ride for this year. But he will be with Forte Racing for the four remaining IMSA sports car endurance races, including the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

A final post from DeFrancesco: “Thank you to everyone who’s reached out to me over the last couple of days! I’m truly grateful. Thank you to Forte Racing and my awesome teammates, looking forward to getting home and going to Sebring soon!”

RIP, Lucky.

***

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California 68 is a highway that begins in the town of Pacific Grove at Asilomar State Beach, winds through the Monterey Peninsula, and ends where the road meets U.S. Highway 101 near Salinas.

Along that 26.5-mile route, you’ll find WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course. Built over just two months for $1.5 million, the track opened in 1957 after the Pebble Beach Road Races. That competition was held on public roads for seven years beginning in 1950, ending in 1956 after driver Ernie McAfee, known more for his land speed exploits in his streamliner at Lake Muroc than for road racing, crashed his Ferrari into one of the many trees that lined the street circuit. McAfee was killed.

For decades, Highway 68 was just a winding, scenic way to get from Monterey to Salinas, with Laguna Seca being one of few notable addresses on the road. In the mid-1960s, California officials made plans for the Highway 68 Expressway, widening parts of the road and essentially serving as a non-stop link between the cities. The idea was popular with travelers but less so with some local residents, who were not pleased with the potential for added traffic.

In 1974, those residents formed the Highway 68 Coalition to oppose the Expressway. Though the membership of the Coalition has rarely been publicized, one aspect has remained constant: It has categorically challenged growth and development along Highway 68, and multiple lawyers have been employed to make sure the Coalition, self-described as “a social welfare organization made up of property owners and tenants living and/or owning property in the Highway 68 corridor of Monterey County,” is heard loud and clear.

In that respect, the organization has been rather successful. The Coalition opposed the expansion of the Monterey Regional Airport, filing suit in 2011 over a $42 million safety improvement plan. The expansion was delayed and then substantially scaled back. The Coalition filed suit against Ferrini Ranch, a planned residential area that was approved by the government in 2014. Ten years later, there’s still no Ferrini Ranch. The Coalition filed suit against the developers of the Corral de Tierra shopping center, which was to be built on 11 acres after county approval in 2012. The shopping center never happened.

While Coalition has complained about Laguna Seca in the past, especially regarding race-day traffic and engine noise of cars and motorcycles, the group’s most cohesive effort is a lawsuit filed December 12, 2023, against the track’s owner, Monterey County; the county’s Board of Supervisors; and the Friends of Laguna Seca, a nonprofit group that considers itself a “steward” of the Laguna Seca Recreational Area, which includes the track. The Friends of Laguna Seca has pledged to raise millions to improve the facility, but the lawsuit asks that the county’s contract with the group be nullified.

“We live here too and share the same concerns as our neighbors about noise and traffic,” said Ross Merrill, president of Friends of Laguna Seca. “Our team of experienced business and community leaders are eager to move forward to revive this staple in our community for decades of future success and revenue generation for Monterey County.”

The Highway 68 Coalition disagrees. The lawsuit claims the track is a “public nuisance,” and wants to bar “motor vehicle racing events, rentals of the racetrack and noise levels at Laguna Seca Raceway in excess of the level of use and noise that existed at the time the legal non-conforming use was established in 1985.”

The county backs its 2.2-mile cash cow. “From the county’s perspective, we are asking to get this cleared up so we can continue operations at Laguna Seca, which is a large operation, and doesn’t need this cloud hanging over it,” Deputy County Counsel Michael Whilden told the Monterey County Weekly.

“It is unfortunate certain individuals have chosen to file a complaint against the county concerning operations at Laguna Seca,” said Nicholas M. Pasculli, county communications director. “The county does not recognize any merit to the allegations and expects a favorable legal conclusion.”

Barry Toepke, Laguna Seca’s director of public relations, declined to comment when contacted for this story. The track had a very good 2023 season, and much-needed improvements were made last year, including a complete repaving and a new $18.5-million pedestrian bridge at the start/finish line.

Indeed, the track contributes considerably to the county coffers, as well as area businesses. A year ago, the track announced that surveys conducted of ticket purchasers “who attended the six major race events in 2022 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca revealed an impressive total direct spend of $246,929,648.” In the words of John Narigi, president and general manager of the track: “Laguna Seca is coming back to life.”

For the Highway 68 Coalition, that is a problem.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s official calendar lists just nine events, including a Trans-Am race, an IMSA race, an IndyCar race, a MotoAmerica Superbike race, and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. At the same time, a press release from Laguna Seca mentions “a near-daily track rental program.” In the first 10 days of February, rentals range from the Restless Wheels RV Club to IndyCar NXT series testing, from Pacific Motorcycle Training to a Hooked on Driving high-performance track day.

According to the lawsuit, “These increases include, but are not limited to, more racetrack event days, higher permitted noise levels, additional track rental days with intensified noise in excess of 100 dB, increased traffic, inadequate water supply and water quality, inadequate sewage disposal and expansion of the camping grounds.”

“This stuff is well-documented,” attorney Richard H. Rosenthal, counsel for the Highway 68 Coalition, told the website sfgate.com. “All you have to do is look at what they’re leasing the track out for between 1985 and 2000 and then now, currently. You’ll see a very intensive impact and expanded level of use and noise at Laguna Seca.”

Hagerty.com reached out to Rosenthal for further comment, but we haven’t yet heard back. We wanted to ask if the Highway 68 Coalition’s membership solely consists of one individual, Michael Weaver, who is the only individual plaintiff mentioned in court documents related to the lawsuit. We’ll update the story if we receive a response.

Meanwhile, none of Laguna Seca’s 2024 events are expected to be affected. After that, it’s up to the courts.

***

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Ready for the sound of racing engines?

This weekend’s Roar Before the 24 is the annual three-day practice session for teams participating in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway in Florida, which is scheduled for January 27–28, and in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race, which runs on January 26.

The Roar starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, and it’s open to the public. All 59 cars entered for the Rolex 24 (they numbered 60, but one pulled out) are on the entry list for the Roar. That list includes 10 GTP cars, 13 LMP2 cars, 13 GTD Pro cars, and 23 GTD cars. The LMP3 cars, which raced for the past few years with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, are no longer part of the series, but they will compete in some support races this year. Several of the LMP3 contenders moved up to the LMP2 class during the off-season.

It’s a compelling time for the WeatherTech Championship, which opens its season with the Rolex 24. IMSA president John Doonan said there are multiple reasons for fans to be excited about the upcoming year.

“If you’re looking back to 2023, kicking off a brand-new hybrid platform with the GTP class was important, and it’s still going to be exciting in 2024, especially when Lamborghini comes and joins us at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

“But for me, the big story of ’24 is a GT battle like none other. There’s no place else in the world where there are this many manufacturers competing against each other. Eleven of our 18 OEMs are racing in GT. That, to me, is really exciting news for the fans,” Doonan said.

“You have the new cars—the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, and a new Aston Martin. Lexus finally got a championship last year, and they’re back, in both GTD and GTD Pro. Aston Martin is in GTD and Pro. Porsche, the perennial GT champion, is back. Ferrari brought a new car last year, and they’re back.”

As usual, the Roar and the Rolex 24 “are like an all-star team of drivers. You have Formula 1’s Jensen Button and Felipe Massa, you have IndyCar winners, and from NASCAR there’s Bubba Wallace and John Hunter Nemechek in a Toyota Supra in the Michelin Pilot Challenge series. Both the WeatherTech series and the Michelin Pilot Challenge series are just stacked. As a racer at my core, that gets me excited.”

Besides GT, the LMP2 class is showing some growth. “LMP2 is only racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the [mostly European] World Endurance Championship, and some of those teams have decided to join IMSA,” Doonan said. “LMP2 has a lot of veteran and up-and-coming talent that we look forward to watching.”

If you’re new to IMSA racing, here is a quick primer for the 2024 Roar.

• The top class is GTP, consisting of cars that were introduced just last year. Manufacturer backing comes from Cadillac, Porsche, BMW and Acura. Looking much like the GTP cars is the LMP2 class, which uses a chassis produced by Oreca or Ligier. They all use the same V-8 engines produced by Gibson, a British company. LMP2-class cars are the only ones racing in the IMSA WeatherTech series that aren’t backed by an OEM.

• The GTD class is invariably the largest. The driver lineup consists of some professional racers (rated Platinum, the highest rating, or Gold, which designates a less-experienced pro) but must also include drivers who are rated Silver or Bronze, which suggests amateur status. The cars are fully modified racers but must begin life as a street-going model (ex. a 911, a Mustang, a Corvette).

• The GTD Pro class is just what it sounds like—a group of GTD cars that are allowed to have an all-pro driver lineup. GTD Pro entries typically have a slightly closer relationship to their respective manufacturers than GTD teams.

• Probably the hardest job IMSA has is to write the class rules so each of the cars has a shot at winning its class. This process is called the Balance of Performance, or BoP. It allows IMSA to adjust the rules for each model within a class to either speed up or slow down the car—that can be done by regulating engine power, adding or subtracting weight, adjusting a car’s aerodynamics, or one of several additional changes. This allows, say, for a McLaren 720S or a Lamborghini Huracán to compete in the same class as a Ford Mustang. Or for a V-8 GTP car like Cadillac’s to compete with one powered by a V-6, like Acura’s.

Five WeatherTech test sessions are scheduled for all Roar classes on Friday and Saturday, with a short sixth session for GTP cars on Sunday, just ahead of qualifying for the Rolex 24. In addition to the WeatherTech Championship, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series will use the weekend for testing, and the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will begin its second season with a pair of 45-minute races. Those races feature LMP3 cars, plus full-bodied GT4 cars, like the Mustang, Toyota Supra, and BMW M4.

The 59 entries for the Rolex 24 constitute a full house. “There are no more pit boxes, no more garage space. From what I’m told, every camping spot is spoken for, every hospitality suite is spoken for,” Doonan said. “It’s a really good sign for our sport that there’s that much momentum, that much interest, both on the competitor side, and probably more important for us, on the fan side.”

More information is available at IMSA.com.

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They say notable deaths come in threes, but the motorsports community suffered four over the long weekend, including one that rocked the IndyCar world.

Winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500, Gil de Ferran, 56, died Friday from an apparent massive heart attack while driving with his son Luke at a private event at The Concours Club racetrack near Miami. On-scene medical personnel attempted to revive de Ferran, to no avail.

That 2003 Indy win came for car owner Roger Penske, who said in a statement: “We are terribly saddened to hear about the tragic passing of Gil de Ferran. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Angela, Anna, Luke and the entire de Ferran family. Gil defined class as a driver and as a gentleman. As an IndyCar champion and an Indianapolis 500 winner, Gil accomplished so much during his career, both on and off the track.”

He won the 2000 and 2001 IndyCar championships, also driving for Penske. In 2000, his qualifying speed of 241.428 mph for the race at the California Speedway oval in Fontana, California, set the closed-course record for fastest speed, which still stands.

He retired from IndyCar racing in 2003 but returned to competition as a team owner and driver at de Ferran Motorsports, racing for Acura in the LMP2 class with the American Le Mans Series in 2008. He retired again as a driver in 2009, returning to IndyCar as co-owner of de Ferran Dragon Racing, which folded in 2011.

Born in Brazil but living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, de Ferran was working for McLaren as a consultant when he died.

In NASCAR, three-time Cup champion Cale Yarborough died in a hospice in Florence, South Carolina, on Sunday. He was 84. Yarborough won three straight championships, in 1976, 1977, and 1978, driving for team owner Junior Johnson. He also won the Daytona 500 in 1968, 1977, 1983, and 1984. His final season came in 1988 as an owner-driver. He won 83 races in all.

Yarborough was involved in one of NASCAR’s most famous moments, at the 1979 Daytona 500. Racing for the win with Donnie Allison, the two cars collided on the back straightaway and their cars skidded into the infield. Both drivers left their cars and began fighting, soon joined by Allison’s brother Bobby, as television cameras rolled. It was the first time CBS had carried the entire Daytona 500, and ratings were huge, largely due to a snowstorm that socked in much of the Midwest and Northeast.

Yarborough, who also competed in the Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans, was named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011. “Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest competitors NASCAR has ever seen,” NASCAR chairman Jim France said in a statement. “His combination of talent, grit, and determination separated Cale from his peers, both on the track and in the record book. He was respected and admired by competitors and fans alike and was as comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor as he was behind the wheel of a stock car.”

In drag racing, Roland Leong, “The Hawaiian,” died Friday. The Honolulu native began his racing career back home in Hawaii as a successful driver, but he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s to work for the famed Dragmaster shop building race cars. He built the Top Gas car that fellow Hawaiian Danny Ongais drove to victory in the 1964 NHRA Winternationals.

Leong moved to car ownership soon after, hiring a young Don Prudhomme to drive for him. They won the 1965 U.S. Nationals, launching Prudhomme’s career, and they remained close until Leong’s death. Leong continued to field Top Fuel and Funny Cars with various drivers as a car owner, tuner, and crew chief until the late 1990s. Leong’s cars were among the most popular on the circuit, especially the “Hawaiian Punch” Funny Car.

“I guess I always wanted a little brother,” Prudhomme once said. “He was just like me. All we cared about was drag racing and cars.” Leong was 79.

Finally, sprint car racing lost one of the winningest drivers when Rick Ferkel, “The Ohio Traveler,” passed away. Ferkel was one of the founding drivers in the World of Outlaws series, winning 21 WoO races. He finished second in the standings to Steve Kinser in the WoO’s first full season, in 1978.

 

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Constantly on the road during the height of his career searching for the highest-paying events, the driver of the number 0 sprinter often ran 75 races a year. His best season came in 1978, when he won 38 times. After Ferkel retired as a driver, he continued to field cars for up-and-coming racers. He was named to the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1995.

Ferkel, 84, died at his home in Michigan on Monday.

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This Monday, IndyCar announced its 17-race schedule for the 2024 season. Despite sanctioning the same number of races as it did for 2023, America’s premier open-wheel series has a few surprises on the slate.

Perhaps the biggest shock is its return to the Milwaukee Mile, a track that the series has not visited since 2015. The relatively flat oval stands as the oldest operating motor speedway in the world: It has hosted races since 1903. IndyCar first visited the track in 1939. Since then, greats like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and the Unsers have mastered the mile multiple times.

The Milwaukee date bumps Indycar’s visit to Texas Motor Speedway off the 2024 schedule, a track that has thrilled with high speeds and close finishes but has struggled to attract open-wheel fans. Wisconsin may deliver more fans considering its proximity to Indiana, the home state of the series.

If that wasn’t enough for cheeseheads, the Wisconsin weekend is a double-header, meaning two full shows. “There is such a great tradition and history of INDYCAR racing at the Milwaukee Mile, and we are excited to build on that legacy with a Labor Day weekend NTT IndyCar Series doubleheader beginning in 2024,” said Roger Penske, chairman of Penske Corporation.

On the flip side of the coin, Thermal Club in Palm Springs, California, will hold the first-ever One-Million Dollar Challenge Sunday on March 24. The exhibition is comprised of heat races and a final 12-car battle for a million-dollar prize. According to IndyCar, members of The Thermal Club will be embedded with race teams and drivers. We’re curious to see what that entails.

The final big change is a flip-flop between Nashville and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Nashville Street Course. Previously the Monterey road course was the last track that stood between drivers and the IndyCar season championship. Now, Laguna is bumped to June; in its place is the Nashville Street Course, which will serve as the final round. A revised 2.17-mile, seven-turn circuit in Nashville will likely influence the outcome. Lookout, Broadway.

Gems such as Detroit’s street course and the Iowa double-header remain untouched. And, of course, Memorial Day weekend will host the greatest race in motorsports, the Indianapolis 500.

Since “The Captain” Roger Penske purchased the series in 2020, IndyCar seems to be riding a wave of momentum. The 2023 slate was NBC Sports’ most-watched IndyCar season on record. According to the series, ticket sales for the Indy 500 are on pace to exceed those of 2023, a year that attracted the second-largest crowd the race had seen in more than two decades.

The 2024 season fires off on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, March 10. Will you be there?

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It just made too much sense not to do it: Three-time NASCAR Cup series champion Tony Stewart is bringing his Superstar Racing Experience series to ESPN for the summer, leaving CBS for a more secure, multi-year home on the cable network that gave racing fans the legendary Thursday Night Thunder in the 1980s and 1990s.

It’ll run for the next six Thursdays straight, airing at 9 p.m. ET.

The SRX series, now in its third year, takes a dozen major motorsports competitors from different segments of the sport and places them in identically-prepared, 650-horsepower late model race cars that were created for the series by Ray Evernham, NASCAR champion crew chief. The drivers compete at short tracks across the country, sometimes for the first time on a track less than a mile in length. Some of the tracks are paved, some are dirt. At least one drag racer will compete this season.

IndyCar racer and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is a perfect example of an SRX driver—he actually beat some veteran short-track racers last year, showing that talent, not past experience, can rise to the challenge.

Tomorrow night, the first event will be at the half-mile paved Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut and will include 12 drivers from NASCAR and IndyCar racing in competition. Previous NASCAR Cup Series champions Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte, and Brad Keselowski will be in the field racing against IndyCar’s Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, and Paul Tracy. NASCAR’s Hailie Deegan also will be in competition as will Daytona 500 winners Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman and former NASCAR stars Clint Bowyer and Ken Schrader.

The return of Thursday Night Thunder is a big deal to Stewart, who participated in a Zoom interview previewing the show. Stars like Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Newman owe their NASCAR career in large part to the exposure they received racing on short tracks in the Midwest, where the balance of Thunder originated.

The series was “how I got recognized by car owners back in the day, and got my opportunity to join with Harry Rainier in NASCAR and John Menard on the IndyCar side — all because of what they saw on Thursday Night Thunder,” Stewart said.

“Having this opportunity to bring SRX back and doing it on Thursday nights will multiply the amount of drivers that had interest in running, but had schedule conflicts. Being on Thursday has really opened that up. The amount of interest from drivers wanting to join the series was astronomical this year.” Forty-four tracks asked to be considered for a show, which was pared down to six.

It’s a grueling schedule. One of the tough parts, Stewart said, is “trying to figure out how we get through six straight Thursday nights with a crew that not only runs the cars on Thursday, but then packs up Thursday night, leaves on Friday, travels to the next racetrack, gets set up, get cars maintained and fixed, and have us ready to go again the next Thursday.”

Here’s the lineup for the two-hour shows:

July 13: Stafford Motor Speedway (Stafford Springs, Connecticut)
July 20: Thunder Road Speedbowl (Barre, Vermont)
July 27: Motor Mile Speedway (Radford, Virginia)
August 3: Berlin Raceway (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
August 10: Eldora Speedway (New Weston, Ohio)
August 17: Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Missouri)

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IndyCar champ Alex Palou was initially unimpressed with the new 1.7-mile downtown Detroit street circuit, which the race adopted after years at the roomier Belle Isle circuit. “It’s too tight for IndyCar, it’s too short for IndyCar. There’s too much traffic, it’s too bumpy,” the Chip Ganassi Racing driver said Saturday.

Palou changed his tune on Sunday, after absolutely dominating the Detroit Grand Prix in his Honda-powered car. “It was a lot better than I expected,” he admitted.

The course is indeed narrow in some spots, in part causing seven caution flags that took out multiple contenders. But Palou handled his concerns by simply staying out front, leading 74 of the 100 laps. Will Power, who finished second, led 14 circuits. Felix Rosenqvist was third, while veteran Scott Dixon was fourth.

“The track was super difficult,” Dixon said after the race. This year’s Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was tenth after a frustrating drive.

The event that immediately follows the blockbuster Indianapolis 500 always has a tough assignment to keep from being overshadowed by the world’s largest one-day event, trying to attract as many viewers and fans as they can. But Detroit put on a show, comparable to IndyCar’s most popular street race, the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“Honestly Detroit did a tremendous job. The fans were amazing. I was mind-blown at how many fans we had today being a first-time event,” Palou said.

IndyCar returns to a natural terrain road course on June 18 with the Grand Prix at Wisconsin’s Road America, the longest track on the circuit.

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NHTSA wants mandatory automatic braking on all new light-duty vehicles

Intake: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is asking the Biden administration to require automatic emergency braking, including for pedestrians, on all new light-duty vehicles. If the proposal is adopted, most all cars and light trucks would be required to have the crash-avoidance technology three years after the rule is finalized. Tougher requirements would take effect four years after that finalization. NHTSA projects the proposal could prevent at least 360 deaths and reduce injuries on U.S. roads by at least 24,000 a year. Said Ann Carlson, NHTSA’s chief counsel: “In this rule-making, we’re proposing to require that the systems be much more effective at much higher speeds.” The proposal would require the systems to avoid other vehicles at speeds up to 50 mph if a driver fails to react. If a driver brakes, but not enough to avoid a wreck, the system would have to fully avoid another vehicle at speeds up to 62 mph. It also would require vehicles to be able to stop and avoid pedestrians at speeds up to 37 mph.

Exhaust: NHTSA estimates the cost per vehicle to be $82 for each design cycle change per model, according to the proposal. “We know we’re throwing a challenge out here,” Polly Trottenberg, deputy secretary of the U.S. Transportation Department, said at a press event Wednesday. “But we know that a lot of this technology is already pretty well-developed, and this is a time to take things to the next level, to make this technology more universally deployed and more stringent.” — Steven Cole Smith

Going, Going, Goon! Peter Sellers’ Aston Martin DB4GT heads to auction

Intake: A 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT owned by British comedy legend Peter Sellers and driven by him in 1963’s The Wrong Arm of the Law is to go under the hammer at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale on July 14. As ‘”Pearly Gates” in the 1963 Ealing Comedy, Sellers escaped the rozzers in their wheezing Wolseley 6/90 thanks to the 306 hp of the DB4GT’s 3.7-liter straight-six engine. The DB4GT’s getaway go was also aided by its 12-plug head, weight-saving magnesium body panels, and Perspex rear window. Almost all of the 75 D4GTs built by Aston Martin were two-seaters, but Sellers’ car had occasional rear seats installed, which allowed his unlikely accomplice Inspector Parker, played by Lionel Jeffries, to join him in the speedy chase scenes. A confirmed car enthusiast, Sellers did much of the on-screen driving himself, although the sketchiest stunts were done by Aston Martin dealer Ken Rudd, who also had a cameo as a gang member in the movie. During filming, the car’s original engine was damaged and the car was returned to the factory where it was fitted with a bigger four-liter block. A different DB4GT was also used in a scene where it leaps over a humpback bridge. Sellers bought the DB4GT in late 1961 or early 1962 and had it serviced regularly at Aston Martin Feltham where he met expert mechanic Richard Williams, who he hired to look after his car collection. The car had several owners after Sellers, er, sold it, including the chairman of the Aston Martin Owners’ Club, Gerry Keane. It has since been totally rebuilt and repainted in Goodwood Green.

Exhaust: Sellers’ DB4GT ticks all the boxes and “It really has all the credentials to be one of the most coveted examples,” says Bonhams’ Senior Collector Car Consultant James Knight. As a result, Bonhams expects the car to fetch £2.2–£2.6 million ($2.7–$3.35m) but we wouldn’t be surprised if its celebrity provenance sees the price go even higher. — Nik Berg

Toyota’s first U.S.-made EV will hail from Kentucky

Intake: According to a report from Automotive News, Toyota has selected its plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, to build its first U.S.-made EV, a forthcoming three-row crossover. The batteries for the new EV will come from a plant that’s being built in Liberty, North Carolina, which just received a $2.1 billion investment yesterday. That North Carolina plant will have six battery production lines—four for hybrids and two for EVs. Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant is currently responsible for the Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4 Hybrid, and the Lexus ES sedan, but production of the ES will be phased out of the plant by 2025. Adding the EV to the Georgetown plant is not expected to have a major impact on production, which the plant says is 550,000 vehicles annually.

Exhaust: The Inflation Reduction Act’s heavy emphasis on North American EV and battery manufacturing is largely the reason behind this move. Since the law passed last August, automakers and suppliers have earmarked more than $50 billion in investments for EV and battery production in North America. — Nathan Petroelje

Lincoln MKCs being recalled for under-hood fires

Intake: Ford is recalling about 142,000 Lincoln MKCs and is advising owners to park outdoors and away from structures while it investigates the cause of under-hood fires. The cause is not clear but it is believed the fires originate near the 12-volt battery, says Automotive News. The model years being recalled are 2015–2019.

Exhaust: Ford said it is aware of 19 potentially related reports of under-hood fires, including seven reports since December, while the vehicle was parked and turned off. Ford said it is unaware of any physical injuries related to this issue. The MKC was Lincoln’s entry-level SUV, based on the Ford Escape. It was replaced by the Lincoln Corsair, which is also Escape-based. The Corsair and Escape are not part of this recall.— SCS

Indy fan whose car was damaged by the flying tire will get a new one

Intake: IndyCar fan Robin Matthews saw the crash that caused Kyle Kirkwood’s tire and wheel to clear the fence in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, but she didn’t realize that it came down on her white Chevrolet, nicknamed Snowball, until after the race. The impact (pictured above) totaled the vehicle, which had to be towed away. Matthews was treated with a chance to kiss the yard of bricks, and IMS president J. Douglas Boles gave her a ride home. “I didn’t see it come down,” Matthews told the Indianapolis Star. “I came down, and they said, ‘Robin, it’s your car!’ I thought, ‘No.’ I thought somebody was pranking me. It’s a car. It’s fine.”

Exhaust: On Wednesday a  spokesperson told the Star that Penske Entertainment, which also owns the IndyCar Series as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, would also give Matthews, a race fan from Indianapolis, a new car to replace the one that was damaged when Kirkwood’s car launched off the back of Felix Rosenqvist’s after Rosenqvist hit the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Kirkwood’s car flipped, and his tire went soaring over the fence, and the corner of a grandstand where many fans were watching the race, before landing in the parking lot, where it crushed the Chevrolet. No one was injured by the flying tire. — SCS

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Corvette Z06 will pace the 107th Indianapolis 500

Intake: For the 20th time since 1978, a Chevrolet Corvette will pace the field for the Indianapolis 500 this year. It’s the 34th Chevrolet to pace the Indy 500, dating back to 1948. This year’s Z06 pace car features a Red Mist Metallic exterior paint, a two-tone Jet Black and Sky Cool Gray interior with Torch Red accents, and forged aluminum wheels finished in Tech Bronze. It’s powered by a 5.5-liter LT6 engine with 670 horsepower, making it the highest-horsepower naturally aspirated V-8 engine ever to hit the market in a production car. It’ll be the first hardtop convertible version of the Corvette to pace the race.

Exhaust: “We are honored to be pacing the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 with the Corvette Z06 convertible,” Scott Bell, Global Chevrolet vice president, revealed. “Chevrolet and IndyCar share the same spirit of competition, and we are proud the Z06 will lead the pack across the bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.” The 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on Sunday, May 28. — Steven Cole Smith

End of the road for Mercedes’ slinky CLS-Class 4-door coupe

Intake: Mercedes-Benz has announced that the CLS-Class 4-door coupe sedan will cease production at the end of August. A statement provided to Hagerty by Mercedes spokeswoman Cathleen Decker said the following: “In consideration of the global growth potential, and as part of our strategic product portfolio planning, we have decided to end the lifecycle of the CLS on August 31 with the changeover of the E-Class to the 214 model series.” Last year, the company announced intentions to streamline its portfolio and strip out some of the excess that was filling hyper-niche areas, a decision that appears to have led to this result. Mercedes now sees the E-Class as a fitting platform to take over the ground that the CLS used to cover. Decker’s statement also mentioned that the EQE and EQS electric models have eaten into the market that the CLS would normally try to conquer. Thankfully, Mercedes-AMG’s raucous 843-hp AMG GT 4-door coupe will remain.

Exhaust: As automakers rush to make the expensive transition to electrification, trimming small-volume models from the gas-burning portfolio comes as no surprise. Since the CLS-Class and the E-Class share underpinnings, it makes sense to whittle that duo—which are cars, remember, and those don’t sell like they used to—down to one more thoughtfully-executed model. We’ll be sad to see the slinky styling go, but we’re far from surprised by the move. — Nathan Petroelje

Lexus teases a larger three-row SUV called the TX

Intake: Lexus has released an image of the Lexus TX, with the caption, “Something big is coming!” That’s a reference to the TX’s three-row seating. It’s expected to be a sibling of the Toyota Grand Highlander, which has already been shown. The pair will be built in Toyota’s Indiana plant. Car and Driver found Lexus trademarks for the names TX350 and TX500h that suggest it will offer both gas V-6 and hybrid versions.

Exhaust: The TX will give Lexus a new three-row SUV, adding to the smaller existing three-row RX L, which is pretty cramped in the back. Like most big Toyota and Lexus SUVs, it should sell like the proverbial hotcakes and run forever. We expect to see the whole vehicle soon, perhaps before June. — SCS

Polestar cutting production, staff

Intake: Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar lowered its 2023 production guidance on Thursday and said it would cut its staff by 10 percent, citing a delayed production start for its Polestar 3 and a challenging environment for the industry, says Reuters. Polestar now expects to produce between 60,000 and 70,000 cars this year, versus the previously predicted 80,000. “It has been a tough quarter for EV startups, who face mounting competition from new Chinese players as well as from more established brands,” Reuters says. “An ongoing price war started by Tesla, in addition to high interest rates, has put a further squeeze on the already cash-strapped startups.

Exhaust: Polestar said the production start of its Polestar 3 would be delayed until the first quarter of 2024 instead of the initial mid-2023 start. The company said the delay was due to Volvo Cars, which produces its cars and is delaying its own EX90, having to do further software development and testing. — SCS

Nikola pivots toward hydrogen

Intake: Nikola, the manufacturer of big electric tractor-trailer trucks, is pivoting toward hydrogen for the North American market, according to Automotive News. “Nikola is retooling its strategy. Executives said they’ll refocus operations in North America with an emphasis on fuel cell trucks and a nascent hydrogen refueling business, HYLA.” The Phoenix-based manufacturer, like most startups, is burning through cash, losing upwards of $150 million per quarter, and holds about $150 million in cash and receivables on its balance sheet. About half of Nikola’s spending can be attributed to ramping up production of fuel cells.

Exhaust: Hydrogen is a viable fuel for big trucks, and it would seem, in North America anyway, that Nikola is deeding over the electric big-truck business to Tesla, and attacking from a different direction. Nikola closed at 86 cents per share on Tuesday and opened at 83 cents per unit on Wednesday. Over the past year, Nikola shares have declined 85 percent. At this time last year, Nikola traded at $5.57 per share. — SCS

Subaru ramping up electric production

Intake: Subaru plans to sell 400,000 electric vehicles a year in 2029 by adding a second EV production line in Japan, signaling a dramatic ramp-up as it tries to get 40 percent of its global sales from electrified vehicles by decade’s end. As part of the rapid expansion plan, Subaru said it will also roll out four all-electric crossovers by the end of 2026, a jump from the single vehicle in the brand’s current portfolio, says Automotive News. All of the upcoming EVs are expected to be offered in the U.S., incoming CEO Atsushi Osaki said.

Exhaust: Subaru has been late to the EV party, but appears to be making up for that. In a quarterly call, Subaru announced that operating profit nearly tripled in the company’s fiscal year ended March 31. “Under the roadmap,” Automotive News said, “Subaru will add a dedicated EV assembly line at its Oizumi plant in Japan as early as 2027, with capacity for 200,000 vehicles a year. That will complement a line at the nearby Yajima plant that will deliver capacity for 200,000 EVs a year from around 2026.” — SCS

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Ron Thomas has created one of the greatest Porsche collections (and car collections in general) in the country. When he adds cars he does so with passion and attention to detail, obtaining as much history and memorabilia about each car as possible. One area in particular where the history may surprise even the most hardcore Porsche fan, is his collection of open-wheel race cars. This includes a Porsche Formula One car, and two Porsche IndyCars, including the one I immediately recognized from the last time I saw it on a historic day in 1989.

Ron’s personal collection, mostly stored below his home just north of Columbus, Ohio, could be an amazing car museum in its own right. His open-wheel racers sit in just one small corner of his collection. He personally raced most of these single seaters with many regional and national Formula Continental victory trophies on display. “I decided to create a space where each class of open-wheel racer was displayed – from Volkswagen powered Formula Vee’s all the way up to IndyCar and Formula One.” Ron shared. “Along with each car I try to match it with race programs, paintings, model cars, and as much race history as possible.” His collection is an example of the open-wheel ladder system and includes Formula Ford (typically the first step on the ladder), Formula Vee (VW Bug based), Formula Continental, F2000, Formula Atlantic, IndyCar (CART), and Formula One.

As a Porsche collector, Ron Thomas wanted to find any Porsche open-wheel examples for his collection. Unfortunately, despite their rich history and decades of dominance in sports cars there just isn’t much in the way of success for Porsche in open-wheel racing. They only have one total Formula 1 victory from back in 1962 (though they provided engines for McLaren that won the championships from 1984-1986). Here are three of the most significant pieces of Porsche open-wheel motorsports history that most people have never heard of… all in one personal collection.

IndyCar – 1989 No. 8 Quaker State March 89P-Porsche Indy V8

After the Porsche 962 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1986 (their 6^th in a row) it was time for a new challenge. One thing Porsche had never done was win an IndyCar race. From 1988-1990 they entered a car with the most powerful engine in the series featuring their 720hp 2.65L turbo V8. Seeing the #8 in Quaker State livery in Ron’s basement immediately brought back memories. I remember seeing this car at my first ever motorsports event, the 1989 IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio my dad took me to at 9-years-old. That was the day I became a lifelong motorsports fan.

History was made at Mid-Ohio when Teo Fabi piloting the #8 won that day, marking Porsches first and ONLY IndyCar win. Despite their engine being more powerful than the field of Ilmore Chevys and Cosworth-Fords, it wasn’t enough to overcome an uncompetitive chassis most races. After just over 2 seasons of racing and a combination of struggling to find the handling they needed, dealing with the death of the head of the Porsche North America’s Motorsports Division, and fighting against some questionable political rules made specifically against their cars, Porsche pulled the plug on their IndyCar program after the 1990 season. A total of 44 races, and 1 win.

Porsche hasn’t returned to Indy racing, leaving this the only Porsche to ever win an IndyCar race. It’s quite a sight to see it in person again after over 30 years, unrestored. It still has chips in the paint and the original (read: hard as a hockey puck) Goodyear Eagle Racing Radial 15” tires. Don’t take “unrestored” to mean unloved though. Ron has spent a great deal of time and effort to surround this car with as much original memorabilia and records as possible. He even commissioned Bill Patterson to do a painting of the car, now one of his favorite pieces of memorabilia,  displayed next to the team uniform.

There are also original media kits, team banners, posters, and even Teo Fabi’s actual race used helmet. Ron has done an amazing job preserving this significant piece of Porsche motorsport history. Watching the race online now, as Fabi crosses the finish line announcer Paul Page shouts “Porsche has done it! At Mid-Ohio they have scored their first victory in Indycar! The crowd is loving it, they recognize the significance of this moment.” Pretty epic call, even if we didn’t understand how significant that win would be at the time.

That is a day, and a car, I will never forget. Ron was able to save this part of Porsche history after purchasing it directly from the Porsche Museum in Germany. As it sits in his basement the car still can start and run today.

Formula 1 – 1991 Porsche Footwork FA11C

In 1987 Porsche left F1 racing after supplying motors for McLaren the previous few years. Those motors were never badged as Porsche; instead they were labeled as “TAG”, and helped McLaren win three drivers’ championships and two constructors’ championships.

However, Porsche wanted back in, and they wanted to do it on their own this time. They returned in 1991 using a 3.5L V12. Unfortunately, the car came in overweight and underpowered compared to the competition. Porsche lasted just six races before the Footwork Arrows team withdrew from their partnership saying the German manufacturer had fallen far short of their contractual obligations. They never finished a race.

This #9 example was driven by Michele Alboreto at the Monaco, Canadian, and Mexican Gran Prix’s. Ron shared, “This Porsche Formula One car is the only one left in the world with the original V12 motor. I was able to get this directly from the Porsche Museum. I’m still waiting for the gearbox to arrive, but once that happens this piece of history will be able to drive.” Pretty sure people throughout Columbus will hear when he fires up that V12.

IndyCar – 1980 TSM Interscope Porsche Type 940

Understanding the value of what performing well in the Indy 500 could do for their brand in the states, Porsche reached an agreement with Interscope Racing to enter the 1980 Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, it was bad timing to be a new team as IndyCar was struggling with fighting between the governing body (USAC) and the teams (CART). Porsche built a car that met all the rules and went testing.

The results were more than impressive with their reported speeds scaring a lot of the traditional team owners. AJ Foyt eventually lobbied USAC for a rule change that would severely limit the turbo power of only the Porsche and threated to quit USAC if they didn’t agree. The Porsche team and driver Danny Ongais were ready to qualify for the 500 and expected to compete for the pole when just one month before the race USAC gave in to Foyt and changed the rules. Despite all the time and money invested in their IndyCar plan, Porsche took the only course of action available and shut down the program. In addition to the car, Ron has collected a lot of the rare marketing materials created to promote what was to be Porsche’s historic Indy 500 debut. “This is one of only 3 that Porsche ever built. I was able to get this on Bring A Trailer without a powerplant and plan to add a correct motor so it can run it in the future.”

Ron also has an extensive Porsche car collection that has proved to be helpful for his business as owner of AASE Sales, an online Porsche parts store. When someone calls with a question about a particular part, his team can literally go look at one of Ron’s 40+ Porsches to find the answer. They feature over 17,000 parts on their website with the majority being “new old stock”, including everything from posters to vintage restoration parts for all Porsche models.

Do any other Hagerty members have unique pieces of automotive history you would like to share? Email us at: HDCcommunity@hagerty.com and share your story.
We would love to feature more stories in future newsletters. You never know, your car may be one that someone else had seen as a child that impacted their life. Like Ron Thomas’ Porsche IndyCar did for me.

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“Covering racing isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle,” asserts motorsport broadcaster Jamie Little. “The news comes in every day, every hour. You have to stay on top of everything,”

For 17 years, now, Little has thrived in this nonstop grind, taking copious notes, building relationships, and asking the tough, relevant questions. By virtue of her commitment, she has ascended the broadcasting ladder; in 2021 she became professional motorsports’ first female play-by-play announcer.

We caught up with Little, ahead of her third season as part-time anchor of the ARCA Menards Series booth—and ninth year covering NASCAR for Fox—at her home office in Indianapolis. Flanked by her four dogs, including her Pitbull “Fancy,” and several shelves of racing memorabilia, she recounts her formative years before she ever held a pit mic.

Starting young

While growing up in Lake Tahoe, Little got bit by the speed bug early on. When she was five her father first gave her a ride on the back of his dirt bike. “I remember that feeling and the smell. It was such a visceral feeling and it’s hard to explain,” says Little. “But it never went away.”

Little jumped head-first into the world of Supercross.

“I got rid of my horse posters and suddenly I was all about dirt bikes,” says Little. “I would be in class, not paying attention, reading my Dirt Rider magazines.

“People wondered where this was all coming from and my mom was not impressed.”

At 16, Little attended—snuck into, more accurately—her first Supercross race. She waited in line for an autograph from young standout Jeremy McGrath.

By 18, Little was looking to infiltrate the sport rather than attend college. “I wasn’t a big fan of school at the time. One day, it just dawned on me: I need to tell the stories of these riders, these athletes. I know I can do that job.”

Full speed ahead

At one of the televised moto races, Little approached a stranger holding an ESPN mic. “I said ‘Hey, I want to do what you’re doing. How do I get involved?’”

The ESPN announcer pointed her to local desert races in Southern California. From there, she landed a gig on MotoWorld, ESPN’s long-standing motorcycle racing news program that featured the likes of Dave Despain and Larry Maiers.

Eventually, in 2002, Little graduated to moto’s main stage and covered Supercross and outdoor motocross for ESPN. She even spent time interviewing stunt cyclists and other extreme sport athletes for the network’s annual X Games coverage.

Throughout the journey, Little got closer with the riders. She felt things had come full circle when she was granted a sit-down interview with her hero, Jeremy McGrath. Then, “like one of the cool kids,” she spent a week at Travis Pastrana’s house to produce a written feature story.

“Telling stories, interviewing people, being in the action—I learned that I absolutely loved that job.”

Little spun her early success into her next gig with ESPN. “I realized that I had a way with interviewing and that people responded well to my questions. That I made me want to keep going in that direction.” Her next step: IndyCar pit reporting.

In the pits

Little was now covering the hottest stories from IndyCar’s open-wheel grid, right alongside active racers and stars from the sport’s past. She covered her first Indy 500 in 2004.

“Pit reporting is all about your relationships and sharing those stories that nobody else has access to in that moment or that weekend.

“I remember when Parnelli Jones cried during one of my interviews,” says Little. “And when I interviewed A.J. Foyt, my heart was jumping out of my chest so hard that I could hear my heartbeat in my headphones.

“The way he responded; it was like I was another reporter. That’s when I said to myself, ‘Okay, I don’t want to be the best girl on pit road, I want to be the best reporter on pit road.’”

Plunge in NASCAR

When ESPN landed a contract with NASCAR, it tasked Little with pit reporting. “NASCAR is the hardest. It takes a while to get in,” says Little. “If you’re an outsider you’re not going to be granted access.”

She fought hard to break into the close-knit community. “It’s all about being precise and to the point. You have to ‘watch the ball.’ In our sport that ball is a car,” says Little. “You have to listen to people ask questions—questions that are pertinent to subject and pertinent to the fan.”

Eventually, Little became a member of the NASCAR fraternity. “When you get Tony Stewart to answer your actual questions and not ridicule you—when he actually listens and responds—that’s when you cross over and have their respect. Then they’re breaking news to you or giving something to you that other people are replicating.”

In 2015, Little joined Fox, swapping logos on her pit-lane Nomex outfit but retaining the same position. “NASCAR is where I want to be.”

On a typical race weekend, Little is assigned half of the 40-car field, which is a challenge in itself because, as Little points out, “In NASCAR, there’s a fan for every driver in the field.”

Production meetings and plenty of notes are part of the prep. “My style is very sloppy, very old-school,” she says. “I write everything down and I don’t use anything electronic.” During coverage, while the booth is discussing a given driver, Little will buzz in letting the announcers know that she can add something on the driver. From there, they’ll throw coverage to her down in pit lane.

Little also conducts pre- and post-race interviews with drivers. “The most exciting part of my job is interviewing the winner, especially for the Daytona 500,” she says. “The raw, pure emotion you see on them. They have spent their entire life trying to get to that point, and you get to be with them in that moment. You get to bring it out, so the world can see it and hear it.”

Bird’s-eye view

As for her latest role as play-by-play announcer? “It takes such a different skill set compared to pit reporting,” Little says. “It’s like you’re a traffic control cop.” Compared to pounding pavement for hours on end, hunting for stories, life in an air-conditioned booth is assuredly different.

She adds: “I wasn’t sure I would love it, but I was willing to fail.”

Even years after she first approached the reporter with the ESPN mic, Little hasn’t lost her brazen attitude. The “hard-headedness,” as she calls it, and intrinsic motivation is requisite for the daily grind, ping-ponging across the United States chasing race cars, chasing stories.

After all, it’s not a sport, it’s a lifestyle.

Tune in to Fox on Sunday, February 19th to catch Little during the 2023 Daytona 500.

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Most of us remember our first time getting behind the wheel. For those into motorsports, you can probably remember your first time out on a track. American racing prodigy Josh Pierson was too young to remember any of these first-time experiences because he was two years old when he first hit the track.

He has been racing ever since.

Pierson, now 16 years old, is the youngest driver ever to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He recently signed a three-year contract with IndyCar’s Ed Carpenter Racing, and just competed in this year’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, in the #35 TDS Racing LMP2 car.

An early start

Greg Pierson, Josh’s father, remembers when he first realized his son was interested in motorsports. On several occasions, he took his five-year-old daughter karting, with two-year-old Josh in tow.

Greg would repeatedly find him wearing his sister’s helmet (oversized for Josh), sitting in her kart, pretending to drive. Chris Egger, owner of the Portland kart track Pat’s Acres Racing Complex, took notice. He had a crazy idea.

“Meet me here on Monday when we are closed,” Egger instructed Greg. “But don’t make a big deal out it.”

That Monday, they placed Josh, diaper and all, into a kart. Rather than starting it, they pushed Josh around the track with another kart. With his giant helmet bobbing side to side, Josh learned how to steer in and out of each corner. After he picked that up, they increased the pace, teaching him how and where to brake on the track. Not long after, they fired up his kart.

Josh was driving around the track. At speed. At two years old. Of course, there aren’t classes for kids that young. Still, he was competing in kart races by age four. Before many even start preschool, the little tyke had already won real races.

“I look back and think, ‘What nut job would let their kid get on track like that?’” Greg says, laughing. “He was literally still in diapers, but somehow, he figured out the pedals, learned how to turn, and was making laps by day one.”

Greg, who raced in Spec Miata and SCCA GT2, wanted to expose his kids to motorsports. He could tell karting wasn’t his daughter’s passion. Josh was different.

“The natural talent was there. More importantly, Josh was full of joy when we were at the track. Early on, I could see racing might turn into a real thing, so we came up with three rules for his career. We would keep supporting him if he was having fun, getting better, and running competitively.”

“Here we are, 14 years later, and those rules still apply.”

By the time he turned seven, Josh was racing karts nationally. He is very quick to point out some of the factors that got him there.

For one, he lived near a top-tier karting track. Also, the owner Chris Egger literally gave his dad the keys to the track to practice while he was still a toddler. Egger introduced them to an amazing driving coach, too. The Pierson family also happens to live by Rolison Performance Group (RPG), one of the best karting teams in America.

“Where I am now, it’s all thanks to the people around me. I loved coming up through karting because there is such a fun family atmosphere between teams there.”

With the support from RPG, he was able to represent the U.S. in the “Olympics of Karting” twice, first in Portugal and then in Italy.

Dedication

Before the race in Portugal, Greg did some research on the track and learned there was an 80 percent chance of rain that time of year. “We are crazy fanatics when it comes to racing,” Greg said. “We went to Pat’s Acres Racing Complex and literally dug trenches and ran pipes to install sprinkles at the track. This allowed Josh to practice in the wet to get ready for the karting world championships.

“And no, if you must know, it didn’t actually rain that year!”

After 11 years in karting, Josh transitioned to cars, racing in open-wheel minor leagues. Starting at 13 years old, he competed in F1600 and USF2000’s in the Road to Indy series as the youngest driver on the grid.

Throughout his early career, Josh watched The Truth in 24 incessantly. He estimates that he viewed the 2008 documentary about Audi’s attempt for a fifth straight Le Mans victory over 200 times, dreaming that one day he would be able to compete in the famed endurance race.

In 2021, opportunity knocked. Word about Josh had somehow caught the attention of Zak Brown, the chief executive of McLaren’s Formula 1 team and co-owner of United Autosports, which campaigns LMP2-class cars in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), whose racing roster includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

One day, while Josh was racing at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, Greg received a text from a number he didn’t recognize. “Hey, this is Zak. I want to meet your kid. If you’re still here, come to my trailer.”

It took Greg a minute to figure out who was texting him, and then another few minutes to believe Brown was inviting them to hang out in his trailer. After the meeting, Brown invited Josh to come to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for an LMP2 test.

Josh turned heads in Austria, hitting faster times than experienced drivers. “Josh is an extremely talented driver, mature well beyond his age and fast,” Brown told reporters after the test. United Autosports signed Josh for 2022 WEC competition, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In February 2022, at age 15, Josh became the youngest driver to ever compete in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Then, in June, Josh became the youngest driver to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also competed in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Josh was rewriting age records left and right.

How did he perform in his transition from open-wheel to sports car racing? Well, in his first two races, Josh was undefeated, winning back-to-back in the Asian Le Mans Series with co-driver Paul di Resta.

A few months later, he faced a grueling test at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, an endurance race in Florida known for its intense heat, sharp turns, and punishing bumps. United Autosports’ strategy was simple but risky: Josh, in his first-ever WEC race, had to perform a rare, and strenuous, triple stint to grab an early lead.

This strategy requires a driver to stay in the car for three times the typical length of a driving shift, on the same tires throughout the run. Josh’s strategists believed he had the skill to handle it—and, perhaps, that his youthful ignorance would come in handy. “He doesn’t even know any better,” one strategist said.

“It was pretty difficult, especially in the late stage of the last stint on the tires,” Josh told reporters. “But the strategy was right, and we won the race as a team.” In his debut race, Josh became the youngest winner in WEC history.

Training

Josh worked hard to get to Sebring’s top step. He missed out on a lot of typical teenage activities to either train or travel. His parents encouraged him to sample nearly every sport growing up—and Josh even learned to play three instruments—but he only wanted to race.

His commitment has endured over a decade. “It’s wild, but he knew what he wanted to be as a toddler,” said Greg. “He is incredibly focused and mentally tough.”

Josh is known to have calm demeanor and mature presence at the track. He attributes this to years of preparation. Growing up, Josh practiced in karts that were faster than his class, similar to how baseball players warmup by swinging heavy bats. For his sports-car racing efforts, he spends hours in the simulator.

His training also involves some unique methods that seem to be paying off. He likes to train by playing ping-pong with PitFit Senaptec glasses that block part of his vision with a strobe effect. The process teaches his brain to fill in what he can’t see. It also trains the brain to make quicker decisions.

In 2022, Josh competed in two championships, on five continents, across eight countries. He drove in 15 races for a total of 124 hours and 15,322 miles. He captured three wins in one year—not bad for a kid who just got his driver’s license.

Josh likes to compare his philosophy on racing to a game of chess. “There are so many decisions made each lap. Especially in sports car racing, passing is about the long game. I plan how and where to pass cars two to three laps in advance,” says Josh.

“I’m trying to balance when to make a pass while still lifting in some corners to save gas, conserving tires, and defending my position.”

2023 and beyond

Despite his early success in sports cars, Josh is excited to get back to open-wheel competition with Ed Carpenter. There, he will be the team’s first-ever development driver in IndyCar.

He—and his dad, because Josh is 16—agreed to a three-year deal. The development role takes the pressure off a young driver, allowing him a couple years to grow and learn. Often, an Indy Lights driver will only get a couple races to prove themselves. Josh and his dad didn’t want that, so they created a multi-year plan that was more attractive to sponsors.

Josh wants to fit in a bit of karting into his five-year plan as well. “Shifter karts are the most physical thing I’ve ever driven, so I’d like to get back and at least race the SuperNats this year.”

“I have two dreams in motorsports. Racing in the 24 of Le Mans and the Indy 500. I’ll be back at Le Mans again this year. And hopefully Indy in a couple years.

“Of course, I wouldn’t turn down an F1 opportunity, but Indy is the dream. Racing is so much closer in IndyCar. Plus, I will get mentored by team owner-driver Ed Carpenter.”

To start the year, Josh raced at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, reaching speeds close to 200 mph. After leading most of the race, a spin with 20 minutes remaining left the team in 4th place for LMP2. Throughout 2023 he will be racing for three different teams in three different series: for United Autosports in WEC, for TDS Racing in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, and for HMD Motorsports in Indy NXT (formally Indy Lights).

Josh knows that it takes a lot more than talent to become a successful race car driver. It takes a team, and it takes his family.

“I was most proud of Josh after one of his races this year,” his father said. “It wasn’t one of the victories. It was after a race in Bahrain, where the team ended second. A team mechanic pulled me aside to tell me how respectful and hardworking Josh has been this year.

“As a 16-year-old!”

Josh, whose grandfather has Alzheimer’s, uses his platform to raise awareness for the Alzheimer’s Associations. Check out the link if you’d like to learn more about Josh’s burgeoning racing career.

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Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion, will become the fifth driver to attempt the Memorial weekend “double,” shorthand for the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race and the Coke 600 NASCAR race in Charlotte, both held on the same day.

Drivers John Andretti, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch are the others who have run the double. Busch did it last, in 2014, while Stewart in 2001 is the only driver to complete all 1100 miles. None of them has ever won either leg of it.

Larson will join McLaren Racing as part of Arrow McLaren’s lineup for the 2024 edition of the Indy 500. The Chevrolet entry will be co-owned by Larson’s NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick and carry title sponsorship from HendrickCars.com.

“I’m super excited,” Larson said. “Competing at the Indianapolis 500 is a dream of mine and something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time—since I was a child, before I ever began competing in sprint cars. To do it with McLaren and Mr. Hendrick especially is a dream come true.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity and am really looking forward to it even though it’s still about a year and a half away. I’m really looking forward to competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Charlotte [Motor Speedway] 600 and maybe even get a win or two that day.”

In the past, drivers would helicopter to the Indianapolis airport from the track and take a private jet to Charlotte, then helicopter to the speedway. Should a driver win the Indy 500, there would be no way to do the post-race ceremonies in time to make it to Charlotte, but for a first-timer like Larson, that seems unlikely, anyway.

At this point it’s unknown whether Larson will attempt an IndyCar race in 2023 or in early 2024 to prepare for his 500 run. With NASCAR’s packed schedule, it would be very difficult. Larson has open-wheel experience in karts and sprint cars, but an IndyCar is a very different animal.

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If you don’t follow professional motorsports, there’s no better time than the present to tune in. (And if you’re already a fan, get ready, because the times, they are a-changin’.) Across numerous disciplines, 2023 promises a bevy of hot topics, dramatic finishes, and compelling storylines to follow throughout next season. Here are the top six to follow next year.

Sports car racing’s new landscape

Professional sports car racing has undergone the biggest offseason transformation in recent memory. Granted, the changes were multiple years in the making. It all started in 2020, when premier North American sanctioning body IMSA entered into an agreement with Euro sports car league WEC that would allow a common car to compete between the two series—and vie for the series’ respective crown jewel events.

Manufacturers campaigning prototype racers can compete in sports car racing’s holy trinity: the 24 Hours of Le Mans (WEC-sanctioned); the IMSA-sanctioned Daytona Rolex 24; and the Twelve Hours of Sebring. IMSA will call its prototype class “Le Mans Daytona hybrid” (LMDh) or GTP, while WEC will refer to its futuristic racers as “Hypercars.” Regardless of manufacturer or denomination each car will produce about 670 horsepower from a hybrid system.

Also involved in the shakeup are a new set of prototype manufacturers. This January, BMW and Porsche will join mainstays Cadillac and Acura on the dense Daytona grid. How dense? We reported earlier in December that IMSA will have to send some teams home as they will exceed the number of open spaces on Daytona’s pit lane. A cutoff before the green flag—sounds like drama is brewing. The season begins 0n January 20 with the Roar Before the 24 mandatory practice, a great time to visit Daytona.

NASCAR to use rain tires at ovals

Professional sports are fighting an uphill battle against streaming services. Why attend a live event when you can stay at home and watch dragons or baking shows? A dubious forecast does nothing but keep vacillating fans at home. In 2023, NASCAR is battling Mother Nature. America’s premier stock car sanctioning body recently revealed plans to utilize treaded rain tires at select ovals.

For years, the series has successfully implemented rain-ready Goodyears at road courses. The new package, which has been tested as far back as 2021, will likely be at NASCAR’s disposal for short tracks (ovals less than a mile in length) such as Martinsville, Bristol, Richmond, and Phoenix.

Kyle Busch ditches Toyota for Chevrolet

NASCAR’s biggest free agent landed a new deal earlier this fall, as it was announced that Kyle Busch would join Richard Childress Racing in 2023. The announcement marks the polarizing driver’s move from Joe Gibbs Racing, where he spent 15 years driving Toyotas, to the Chevrolets.

Busch and Childress have a tumultuous history. Back in 2011, after several on-track run-ins between Busch and Childress’s drivers, the team owner took matters into his own hands—literally. One weekend, while at the track, Childress reportedly put Busch in a headlock and punched him multiple times.

Busch brings a first ballot hall-of-fame career to his new team as well as a big personality and an intense desire to win. No matter. The last driver to win a championship with Childress? The most intense of them all: Dale Earnhardt.

McLaren stacked in IndyCar

Earlier this year, Zak Brown and the Arrow McLaren SP team added to their IndyCar roster with a rather big acquisition. In 2023, open-wheel superstar Alexander Rossi will don the McLaren orange and trade Honda badges for the team’s Chevrolet Bowtie. Rossi, who spent seven years with Andretti Autosport, will join returning drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist to make the three-car effort.

Rossi will look to build on an already-stellar career which includes his 2016 Indy 500 triumph during his rookie campaign with Andretti.

New faces in F1 garage

On that note, it appears Michael Andretti is still poised to own a Formula 1 team.

While nobody new is joining the F1 grid in 2023, there are rumblings and we can expect to see a couple of new suitors. Earlier in December, Andretti shared that the organization’s attempts to join the F1 circus have been making “pretty good progress.”

To an outsider, it might seem like an easy foray if Andretti Autosport has the means. The truth is, it’s rather difficult to join the field of ten teams. Some of the veteran F1 teams have met the move with resistance and are generally unwilling to divide the F1 pie more than necessary. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali mentioned that the addition of a new team must add value to the sport. An Andretti team on the grid? Seems like value-and-a-half.

Also, look for a Porsche presence in the garage. The marque seems just as persistent as Andretti to join Formula 1. Earlier this year, discussions were terminated between the German manufacturer and Red Bull Racing. Where do they go from here? In the meantime, another rumor has surfaced that Ford may join Red Bull in some capacity. Pay attention to this space—and the people in suits populating the F1 paddocks.

High Limit sprint series

This one is definitely off the beaten path, but if you have any interest in dirt racing you’ll definitely want to follow this storyline. Since the 1980s, national winged sprint car racing has been dominated by one traveling sanctioning body: the World of Outlaws. This series ping-pongs across the continental U.S., delivering fans an action-packed evening of the fastest race cars on dirt. Giant tires, oodles of aero, and the power-to-weight ratio of a Formula 1 car—it’s quite the spectacle.

In 2023, a new sprint series joins the fight for the national recognition, and it was all started by some familiar faces in the sport. NASCAR driver Kyle Larson and four-time WoO champ Brad Sweet have created their own show dubbed the “High Limit Sprint Car Series.” Compared to the World of Outlaws, the schedule is rather brief, but what it lacks in distance it makes up for in dollars. All the shows pay more than $20k, and it was announced earlier this week that Trackhouse Racing, of NASCAR fame, would boost the purse to $50k at the series’ Kansas stop.

NASCAR driver Alex Bowman and fan favorite Rico Abreu have already committed to running much of the 12-race schedule.

Which storyline are you excited to follow? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it.

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AC’s new Cobra GT will have a 654-hp V-8 bite

Intake: The most advanced Cobra ever is coming in 2023, says AC Cars—and, no, it’s not electric. Although the British sports car maker is building battery-powered versions of its most famous muscle car, the new Cobra GT will be powered by a 654-hp V-8 from an as-yet-unspecified manufacturer. AC describes it as a “revolution in design” for the 61-year-old model, with a longer wheelbase to provide a more spacious interior, an extruded aluminum spaceframe chassis, and a carbon fiber body. Available with a choice of six-speed manual or ten-speed automatic transmissions, AC claims the new GT will accelerate to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and weigh in at under 3307 lbs. The car will also feature a number of creature comforts to make grand touring more enjoyable, from air conditioning and electric windows to in-car-entertainment and a removable hard top. More will be revealed in early 2023.

Exhaust: The year 2023 will be AC Cars’ 122nd anniversary, which technically makes it Britain’s oldest-surviving car maker. This isn’t a bad way to mark the occasion now, is it? — Nik Berg

Hennessey’s new VelociRaptoR is stupid powerful

Intake: In case 700 hp isn’t enough, Hennessey plans to offer a “VelociRaptoR 1000” that swaps the factory 2.65-liter supercharger atop the Shelby GT500-sourced 5.2-liter V-8 with a monster 3.8-liter blower. According to Hennessey, the new engine, “is anticipated to boast nearly 1,000 bhp and more than 850 lb-ft of torque”. The engine will also receive upgrades to the fuel system as well as new front and rear VelociRaptor bumpers, a front LED light bar, 20-inch Hennessey wheels, and 37-inch off-road tires, all in a package backed by a 2-year/24,000-mile Hennessey warranty.

Exhaust: We’re still getting over the fact that Ford will actually build a supercharged V-8 Raptor, so the thought of a 1,000hp truck is still tough to imagine. Raptor owners never seem shy about modifying their rides though, so Hennessey might have its hands full next year when it comes time to upfit the burly off-road pickup. Even though they won’t be built until next year, Hennessey is ready to take orders now. —Brandan Gillogly

There’s a Gurney Eagle headed to Mecum’s Kissimmee sale

Intake: Most any race car that was driven by Dan Gurney brings top dollar, so Mecum’s pre-sale estimate for this 1968 Eagle Offenhauser Indy Car—which Gurney drove to three IndyCar wins and a second-place finish in the 1968 Indianapolis 500—of $950,000 to $1.1 million may not be far off. Add to that the fact that it soon was acquired by the Leader Card team, and was also driven by Tom Sneva, Johnny Parsons, Mike Mosley, George Snider, and in the 1969 and 1970 Indy 500s, NASCAR star Lee Roy Yarbrough. It has a four-cylinder turbocharged Offenhauser engine, and a restoration by famed mechanic A.J. Watson. The car led many lives, and Watson restored it to its ’72 Indy 500 Vivitar livery when Mike Mosley led the field until a failed hub sent the car into the wall.

Exhaust: Some may argue that Watson should have restored the car back to Gurney’s 1968 Indy specifications, when it was powered by a Westlake Ford V-8, but the Offenhauser just seems right. I don’t care: I’d happily rearrange the living room and sit in my easy chair and just look at this car, one of the prettiest from one of the best-looking eras in IndyCar. The Mecum Kissimmee auction is January 4–15. — Steven Cole Smith

Jeep quietly phases V-8 out of two-row Grand Cherokee lineup

Intake: Jeep’s redesigned Grand Cherokee is an absolute stunner, but one of its best options, the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, is no more. As first reported by Motor Authority, the Hemi has been quietly shown the exit halfway through the 2023 model year. Jeep Vice President Jim Morrison told Motor Authority in September of 2021 that the 357-hp, 390 lb-ft V-8’s time was limited, but we weren’t sure when exactly the $3295 option would meet its end. Now, your powertrain choices are the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6, which makes 293 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, or the plug-in hybrid 4xe powertrain, which pairs a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with a 17-kWh battery and an electric motor to produce 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of peak torque. The hybrid powertrain is more powerful and far more efficient than the outgoing V-8. The V-8 was rated at 6200 lbs of towing capacity, while the hybrid is rated for 6000 lbs. The Hemi remains an option for the three-row Grand Cherokee L, but we don’t think that will last for long.

Exhaust: The unspoken expectation here is that Stellantis’ new Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six will eventually make its way into the Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L models. The company’s engineers have said that the new six-pot will fit in any engine bay that currently features a longitudinally mounted engine, which the Grand Cherokee siblings do have. That engine is good for either 420 hp and 468 lb-ft of torque, or 510 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque, depending on which version of the engine you’re working with. Here’s to hoping that Jeep is readying that announcement soon—the new Grand Cherokee could be a legitimate BMW X5 competitor with the Hurricane motor. — Nathan Petroelje

Merry Driftmas says Girardo & Co

Intake: British classic and race car dealer Girardo & Co. has scaled up its annual Christmas video for 2022. Taking inspiration from every boy and girl racer’s favorite present, a Scalextric slot car set, the team pits a pair of full-size Subaru World Rally Cars against each other. The tinsel and reindeer antler-clad Scoobies are totally sideways as they parallel drift around the picturesque Trac Mon circuit in Angelsey, and it’s not just the asphalt that sees action as the green, green grass of Wales is torn up in this most excellent Xmas film. Who says you can’t be naughty and nice?

Exhaust: Girardo & Co. has been filming rally-themed festive fun since 2016 when it first sent a Lancia 037 to pick up a Christmas tree. From then on we’ve since WRC cars from Lancia, Audi, and Subaru, all driven to Xmas extremes. Check them all out on the firm’s YouTube channel. — NB

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Mazda Miata does road trip and hot laps on eco-fuel

Intake: A stock Mazda MX-5 Miata has completed a 1000-mile journey, lapping race tracks in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, powered by fossil-free sustainable gasoline. The Sustain fuel from British firm Coryton is made from agricultural waste and sustained the Miata on the road trip which took in tours of the Trac Mon circuit in Anglesey, Wales, England’s Oulton Park, Knockhill in Scotland, and Kirkistown in Northern Ireland. There was no loss in performance on road or track and the Miata achieved an average fuel consumption of 45.6 mpg (38 mpg U.S.). “This is a brilliant demonstration of how sustainable fuels can play a part in reducing automotive CO₂ emissions if they became widely available. It’s especially appropriate to highlight how they have the potential to make the enjoyment of driving sustainable whether on the road or on track for fun or in competition,” said Mazda Motors UK, Managing Director, Jeremy Thomson.

Exhaust: Mazda is exploring a variety of alternative fuels in its bid to keep the combustion engine alive. It was the first car maker to join Europe’s eFuel Alliance, is supporting the development of e-fuel from micro-algae with Japanese academics, and is using biofuels to power a Mazda2 race car in Japan’s Super Taikyu Endurance Series. One could argue that one reason for this approach is that Mazda is miles behind when it comes to electrification, but we like to think it’s because of the brand’s passion for driving. — Nik Berg

IndyCar ditching plans for new engine

Intake: IndyCar’s recent push for hybridization took a turn yesterday, as it was announced that the series would be pausing its plans to develop a 2.4-liter powerplant for 2024 competition. Instead, the incoming hybrid tech will be paired with IndyCar’s current 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engines. “The 2.2-liter IndyCar engines supplied by Honda and Chevrolet have provided the most competitive racing in the world,” says IndyCar President Jan Frye. “The 2024 hybrid engine package will provide even more excitement with horsepower increases over the current engine.” Testing of the hybrid engine will continue throughout the 2023 season.

Exhaust: Two delays—first COVID-19 and then supply-chain issues—have pushed the inaugural season for Indy’s hybrid power back two years. Back in March, we reported on the more recent supply chain issues: “We have finished development and dyno testing of our new internal combustion engine,” said Honda Performance Development president David Salters, “and once the hybrid system component supply chain issues are sorted, we’ll begin track testing of the new hybrid power unit.” If Honda finished testing the 2.4-liter almost nine months ago, why are they shelving the project now? Luckily, IndyCar competition has been stellar during this time and 2022 marked the most-watched season since 2016 (and highest since streaming on NBC Sports). They say that good things come to those who wait. Hopefully this new hybrid powerplant is a showstopper. In the meantime, tune in to the IndyCar season opener March 5 from St. Petersburg, Florida. — Cameron Neveu

A short-wheelbase Alfa Romeo Giulia Zagato is coming soon

Intake: Alfa Romeo has once again turned to Italian coachbuilder Zagato to create a low-volume sports car based on the Giulia sedan. As the very limited teaser image above shows, it will be known as the Giulia SWB Zagato, and it features a striking full-width light bar that appears to hint at a Kamm tail rear end. It’s likely that the car will evoke Alfas of the past, and as the name suggests, it will be shorter than the standard Giulia and drop two doors to transform it into a coupe. For power we expect to see the 2.9-liter V-6 from the Quadrifoglio, probably in the highest state of tune as seen in the GTA. There’s also the distinct possibility that an all-electric version will also be offered, with technology borrowed from sister company Maserati. No exact date has been set for the reveal, but given that the tease has already begun, it’s likely to be early 2023.

Exhaust: Alfa boss Jean Philippe Imperato has previously described the car to Auto Express as “very exciting, very expensive, very selective.” Like Alfisti everywhere we’re hoping for something spectacular to fill the void left by the SZ and the 8C Competizione. — NB

Apple “scales back,” delays its self-driving car

Intake: According to Bloomberg, Apple has significantly scaled back its plans for a self-driving car, and delayed its release until 2026. Quoting people “with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg said, executives decided that its vision for a fully autonomous vehicle—without a steering wheel or pedals—isn’t “feasible with current technology.” So the new car will have a steering wheel and pedals, and the autonomous feature will only work on highways. Apple had planned a price of more than $120,000, but the company has dialed that back too, to about $100,000.

Exhaust: Apple’s stock slipped slightly Tuesday on the news including the fact that Apple has scrubbed the idea of a ” limousine-like interior where passengers could face each other. Now the plan is to produce something more like a traditional car, with a driver’s seat,” Bloomberg said. Apple is learning the hard way that it’s tough building a car from the ground up. — Steven Cole Smith

VinFast is planning a U.S. IPO to fund new plant here

Intake: VinFast, the ultra-aggressive Vietnamese electric car maker that plans to do business in the U.S. very soon, has filed an initial public offering (IPO) to sell stock to help fund its planned EV plant in North Carolina. The company, founded in just 2017, displayed several EV SUVs at the Los Angeles auto show. “Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan are leading a nine-bank syndicate behind the deal, according to the company filing,” says Reuters. “If successful, VinFast will be Vietnam’s first company to list in the United States.”

Exhaust: It’s time to add VinFast to the growing list of new companies that could make a genuine impact in the EV industry, especially with its innovative plan to “lease” the batteries in its vehicles to consumers. — SCS

These are the cars that could give you the most miles

The website Iseecars.com analyzed over two million cars produced and sold for at least 10 of the past 20 model years, ranking each model by its highest mileage-achieving cars. This resulted in a list of vehicles that the website believes are your best bet for people who drive their cars for as long as they will run. Here are the top 10:

1. Toyota Sequoia, potential lifespan of 296,509 miles.
2. Toyota Land Cruiser 280,236
3. Chevrolet Suburban 265,732
4. Toyota Tundra 256,022
5. GMC Yukon XL 252,360
6. Toyota Prius 250,601
7. Chevrolet Tahoe 250,338
8. Honda Ridgeline 248,669
9. Toyota Avalon 245,710
10. Toyota Highlander Hybrid 244,994

Exhaust: Interesting concept. “What we see is a list of highly-durable vehicles, capable of more than a quarter-million miles of use if properly maintained,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “And to be clear, this study isn’t reporting the maximum lifespan of these vehicles. This is simply a measure of current odometer readings. Most of these cars are still in use and going strong.” See the whole list and the methodology  here. — SCS

Czinger taps McLaren Applied for hybrid components on 21C hypercar

Intake: California-based Czinger has enlisted McLaren Applied for certain hybrid components on its 21C hypercar. The British marque’s in-house engineering solutions business will provide its ultra-dense 800V silicon carbide inverter to the 21C, where three such components will pair with the 2.88-liter twin-turbo flat-plane crank V-8 for a combined system output of 1250 horsepower. A single converter weighs just 12.12 pounds, so adding three to the 21C car will cost it just 36.36 pounds. Despite the low weight, these power-dense inverters can power electric motors to 350 kW (479 hp) for peak power, or 250 kW (335 hp) continuously. The Czinger 21C will feature two electric motors, one for each of the front axles. “We believe that high-efficiency inverters that offer higher switching frequencies and unparalleled controllability will play an important part in the transition to electrification, because they add character to vehicles thanks to improvements in packaging and performance,” said Nick Fry, Chairman of McLaren Applied.

Exhaust: Czinger says its 21C hypercar can rip off a 0 to 248 mph (400 km/h) and back to zero in less than half a minute, and the car reportedly weighs just 2755 lbs (or 2685 lbs, if you opt for the 21C Lightweight Track configuration). No doubt, welterweight hybrid components are a must here, and Czinger seems to have found its Huckleberry in the folks at McLaren Applied. Maybe some of the money from these projects can help fund McLaren’s own hybrid supercar rollout? — Nathan Petroelje

Borgward declared bankrupt in China

Intake: Borgward, the German brand that was revived by China’s by Beiqi Foton Motor, has been declared bankrupt by a court in Beijing and is seeking court approval to liquidate its assets. Beiqi Foton Motor is a subsidiary of the China state-owned automaker BAIC Group. The original Borgward, once Germany’s third-largest automaker, operated from 1929–61. Foton purchased the rights to the brand in 2014 to expand into China’s passenger vehicle market. Borgward offered four gasoline-powered crossovers and a battery-powered vehicle from 2015–19, but the brand fell short of sales expectations. According to Automotive News Europe, Borgward suffered losses of more than 4 billion yuan ($564 million) from 2016–18, and lost 4.7 billion yuan ($674 million) in 2021 while producing only 3600 vehicles.

Exhaust: It’s likely that only the most passionate of automotive enthusiasts knew that the Borgward brand still existed in any shape or form, let alone in China. Borgward couldn’t even get a foothold in Europe when it began selling its BX7 there in 2018, so it’s surprising that the BAIC Group waited another four years to put an end to it. — Jeff Peek

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(In the previous installments—Part 1 and Part 2—we discussed the SCCA’s new passing rules and chatted with professional racers about what they consider to be a proper overtake. Let’s take a look at some of the famous passes throughout motorsport history and see where the pros land. Impish or admirable? – Ed)

***

1989 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka

During the second-to-last race of the Formula 1 season, McLaren teammates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were fighting for the championship. With six laps to go, Senna made an ambitious lunge up the inside at the chicane. Prost aggressively closed the door, and they clashed. Senna was disqualified later, effectively gifting Prost with the title.

Ricky Taylor: “Being a Senna fan, it’s so hard for me to say. That’s right on the borderline. Senna came from really, really far back. But it also looks like Prost turned in early. I’d hate to be a race director making that call.”

Chris Dyson: “I believe Prost knew exactly what would happen if he left the door open, and Senna took the bait.”

Derek Daly: “One-hundred percent Prost’s fault. He understood that if he took Senna out, he’d win the World Championship, so that’s exactly what he did.”

Eddie Cheever: “If you had five people in a room, three would have one opinion and two would have the other.”

Conor Daly: “I saw it as a strategic call by Prost. Was it an aggressive move by Senna? Yes. But Senna was alongside him, so I think Prost was playing a little bit dirty.”

Max Papis: “Unacceptable. You (Prost) don’t turn in 10 car-lengths before the corner and not expect any consequences and then cry wolf later.”

John Watson: “I think Alain was a bit naughty. I think he was aware of what would happen if he turned in, and he turned in anyway. Ayrton was justifiably furious. But I think it was opportunistic, not premeditated.”

Nigel Roebuck: “Prost said, ‘I spoke to McLaren that morning, and I said, “I’ve spent the last two years saving you a lot of money in pranged cars because I’ve always given up whenever Senna made one of his crazy moves on me. He’s a bully in a race car. But I’m not going to open the door anymore.”

Keke Rosberg said later, ‘You could tell that Prost had never done that before because he did it so badly.’

And Mario Andretti said that if Prost hadn’t been there, Senna never would have made it around the corner.”

(A split verdict from our celebrity jury. – Ed)

1990 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka

One year after their notorious crash at Suzuka, Prost—now driving for Ferrari—and Senna clashed once again. When Prost led at the start, Senna purposely speared him at Turn 1. With both drivers out of the race, Senna won the World Championship.

Herta: “It’s hard for me not to admire Senna’s commitment at the moment. It wasn’t a slow corner, but he was committed to do whatever it took to win that championship.”

Dyson: “That was driver terrorism.”

Derek Daly: “It was 100 percent Senna’s fault. He’d worked everything out ahead of time.”

Watson: “I talked to Alain the following day. I asked him, ‘Why did you leave Senna that opportunity? Why didn’t you move from the right to the left?’ He told me, ‘John, it wouldn’t have mattered. If I’d been on the right or the left, he was going to nail me.’ It was payback for the previous year.”

Roebuck: “That was homicidal. Senna never lifted, and he hit Prost at 150 mph. The rear wing of the Ferrari flew off with 23 cars coming up the track. This was before the halo, and it easily could have killed somebody.”

1996 Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca

On the final lap, Alex Zanardi stormed up the inside of Bryan Herta at the Corkscrew, hurtled across his bow, and bounced over the berm en route to scoring his most improbable win. Although the move was immediately christened “The Pass,” officials subsequently changed their rules to make it illegal to leave the track to overtake another driver.

Ricky Taylor: “I think that’s the coolest pass of all time. Most of the rulebooks now say that if you go off track to gain an advantage, that’s a penalty. But Zanardi was very much in control.”

Dyson: “You wouldn’t be able to make that pass today because the track is different and the rules have changed. That was an inspired do-or-die last-lap pass by Alex, but he didn’t leave Bryan any options.”

Derek Daly: “It was a brilliant move by Zanardi. Of course, it would be illegal today. And Herta would now just move his car over to the middle of the road to prevent Zanardi from doing anything.”

Ross Bentley: “Herta did all the right stuff. He couldn’t defend anymore because Zanardi was so committed. If Herta had blocked the inside, then Zanardi would have gone around the outside.”

Conor Daly: “Was it entirely legal? It wouldn’t be with today’s track limits. You can’t always look in your mirrors. Sometimes things happen so fast that you just can’t react to them.”

Scott Pruett: “I was right behind them. I hoped they both were going to go off, and I was going to win the race. I was shocked that Zanardi pulled it off. That was not a calculated move. That was a wing and a prayer. That was, ‘I’m going to go a little deeper than even I can imagine, hope that he doesn’t turn in and then hope that I go down the hill and over that berm without hurting the car.’”

Roebuck: “As fond as I am of Zanardi, I’m of the belief that track limits should mean something. It was breathtaking, but I think there has to be a penalty for leaving the track.”

1989 Indianapolis 500

On the second-to-last lap, race leader Al Unser Jr. lost momentum in traffic. Emerson Fittipaldi got a run down the back straight and dived underneath Unser in Turn 3. The two cars touched, sending Unser into the wall. As Fittipaldi took his victory lap, Unser stood on the edge of the track and gave him a sportsmanlike thumbs-up.

Cheever: “When Unser went back out on the track, I think he wanted to use a different finger.”

Dyson: “Did Fittipaldi have to go for it? He absolutely did. Did Unser have to come down on him? He absolutely did.”

Derek Daly: “Pure racing.”

Bentley: “That was just good hard racing—two guys going as hard as they possibly could, and one guy getting away with it.”

Papis: “Both had the right to the corner. One car stuck, the other didn’t. To me, that was pure racing. If they hadn’t gone for it, they wouldn’t have been able to look at themselves later.”

2012 Indianapolis 500

Starting the last lap, Takuma Sato got a monster run on Dario Franchitti, who’d taken the lead just one lap earlier. Sato made a very late, very risky dive into Turn 1 as Franchitti squeezed down toward the apron. Just when a collision seemed imminent, Sato’s car looped around and clobbered the wall while Franchitti won the race.

Herta: “It was amazing. You had Sato totally committed on the inside and Dario totally committed on the outside.”

Derek Daly: “Typical Sato, trying to do something that was almost impossible.”

Cheever: “I was of the opinion that Sato was 100 percent right [to go for it].”

Bentley: “That was a really bad decision on Sato’s part.”

Conor Daly: “I thought Franchitti gave him enough room. I’d call it a racing incident. Takuma went for it even though he knew it would be really hard to make the corner on such a tight line.”

Roebuck: “Of course, Takuma had to go for it, and of course, Dario had to go for it. Jesus, look at the load Eddie Sachs had to carry with him for the rest of his life after he pitted with three laps to go [while leading the Indy 500] in 1961 because he thought a tire was failing.”

(As you can see, it all depends who you ask. -Ed)

2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona

With seven minutes left in the race, Ricky Taylor slipped underneath race leader Filipe Albuquerque in Turn 1. Albuquerque belatedly tried to close the door. The two cars hit, with Albuquerque getting the worst of the collision, leaving Taylor to cruise to victory.

Ricky Taylor: “Our car was really good in Turn 1. He was braking early, and I’d get a run on him every lap. He got a little balked at the Bus Stop. I followed him for the next 45 seconds knowing that I was going to release the brake in Turn 1 as soon as I saw him open his hands [to navigate the kink before the apex]. When I saw that he was definitely coming in on me, I got back on the brakes, and that’s what made it look worse than it was.”

Dyson: “That’s a really tough one. I think it was a brilliant move. But if Felipe had ended up in the wall, it might have been different.”

Mark Raffauf: Taylor was on the correct line. He’d presented himself before on several laps. It wasn’t a kamikaze move. Albuquerque left room, and when he turned in, Taylor had no place to go. The call from the stewards was unanimous. Then they asked me what I thought, and I said, ‘You can’t penalize Taylor for doing the right thing.’”

Pruett: “That’s a really, really difficult call to make. He pulled it off without too much contact. It was a ballsy move, and he made it stick.”

***

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“Bam!”

IndyCar regular Conor Daly’s NASCAR Cup Series debut began with a bang—literally—when the steering rack of his Camaro stock car failed on the fifth lap of practice, and he clobbered the wall during the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I was just a passenger at that point, which was not a really awesome situation,” he told me after the race in early October. “I’d never even fired up the car before that morning, and we had to fix the car after that. So I went into the race pretty lacking in experience.”

Clearly, Daly is a master of understatement, and during an up-and-down career that’s taken the Indianapolis native all over the world, he’s become accustomed to jumping feet first into motorsports fires. So when BitNile, the cryptocurrency firm that sponsors him in IndyCar, said it wanted to dip its toe in the NASCAR water, he immediately signed on.

Indy car racers have been moonlighting in stock cars at least since Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt won the Daytona 500 in 1967 and 1972, respectively. But times have changed. Long gone are the days of sports car ringers like Boris Said and Ron Fellows being hired for one-off drives now that road courses are a staple of the Cup schedule and NASCAR drivers are just as adept at turning right as they are at turning left.

Since no seats were available in an established team, BitNile cut a deal with The Money Team, a small operation co-owned by retired boxer Floyd Mayweather. The team had a grand total of three Cup races to its credit, which wasn’t ideal. Fortunately, Daly has amassed plenty of varied experience over the past 15 years.

I first met Daly shortly after he’d parlayed a dominant championship season in Star Mazda into a ride in the GP3 series in Europe. Although he wasn’t able to follow the wheel tracks of his father, Derek, into Formula 1, the ever-persistent Daly eventually found a home in IndyCar. Last year, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he was cheered wildly as a hometown hero while leading 40 laps in the Indy 500.

Although he’s best known for his open-wheel exploits, Daly has also raced prototypes and Lamborghinis in IMSA, and he’s even done a handful of races in NASCAR’s lower-tier Xfinity and Truck series. Daly knew the competition at Charlotte would be top of the class, but he said he was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the new-for-2022 NextGen stocker.

“Honestly, it’s a pretty sporty car,” he explained. “The brakes are very good. With the bigger wheel and more sidewall, there’s not as much crazy body roll as there would be in an Xfinity car. An impressive car, for sure, but still old-school in some ways. It has a classic sequential gearbox, so you lift on upshift and blip [the throttle] to downshift, which was cool.”

Daly knew that, with the extra weight and the lack of downforce, the NextGen car demanded a radically different driving style than the über-aggressive technique he uses in IndyCar’s Dallara DW12. But after missing out on most of practice and all of qualifying, he wasn’t sure what to expect when the green flag flew. Luckily, he got some pre-race advice from road racer-turned-Cup stalwart Michael McDowell.

“He said, ‘Do everything at 80 percent,’” Daly recalled. “Although the new car is quite a lot faster now than the previous-gen car, the brake zones are longer and the rolling speeds [through the corners] are lower than in an IndyCar. You have to take your patience level up by about 100 percent because, if you get too greedy with the brakes or with the throttle, the heavy weight of the car really [amplifies] a mistake.”

Daly learned this lesson the hard way when a way-out-of-whack brake-bias setting caused him to lock up—and destroy—a front tire. He lost another tire when he ran over a piece of debris. Oh, and completing the trifecta of misfortunes, an electrical fire in the cockpit necessitated a third unscheduled pit stop while frying the rear-view camera.

The stubbornly upbeat Daly preferred to accentuate the positives. Early on, he had fun racing hard against another pair of NASCAR irregulars—Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller and ex-F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, who’d beaten Daly for the GP3 title in 2013. Then, after the pit stops put him out of sequence, Daly was fast enough to keep pace with Martin Truex Jr. while holding off Brad Keselowski—both of them past Cup champions.

Perhaps to compensate for Daly’s inexperience, the team employed NASCAR veteran Tony Eury Jr. as crew chief. In the 2000s, Eury sat on top of the pit box and called the shots for his cousin Dale Earnhardt Jr. During that time, he helped Dale Jr. earn two of his three Daytona 500 wins.

Daly’s not sure where he would have ended up if he’d been up to speed at the start and ran a trouble-free race. “I don’t know if we could have finished in the top twenty,” he admitted. “But in the middle of a race, we were quite quick, running with some good guys. And with all the chaos at the end of the race, we probably would have passed several cars because they were all crashing.”

The results didn’t persuade Daly to quit his day job in IndyCar; he’ll be returning to a full-time gig at Ed Carpenter Racing. But running on the roval at Charlotte whet his appetite for some more seat time in a stock car.

“I’d love to drive an oval, and I’ve always wanted to do the Daytona 500,” he said. “Obviously, we’re going to be focused on the IndyCar program next year. But there are only 17 IndyCar races. So there are a lot of NASCAR races that fit in our off weekends.”

Watch for Daly to don a set of fenders once again.

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(In case you missed Part 1, where Preston discussed overtaking and the SCCA’s recent additions to its passing rules, click here. Now, for Part 2. -Ed)

“I’m in the let-’em-race camp,” says Bryan Herta. The retired open wheel driver now fields a team in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge. “I don’t think you can write rules to fit every scenario and there will always be differences of opinion. But to try to officiate that out of motorsports is, to a certain extent, wrong.”

Overtaking has become such a contentious issue in recent years precisely because passing has become so difficult. Because of the proliferation of instruction and inexpensive data and video analysis tools, drivers are better and more evenly matched than they’ve ever been. So are the cars, thanks to spec classes, one-make series, and Balance of Performance regulations.

Aerodynamic aids make it harder to follow cars closely, which cuts down on passing opportunities. Better brakes mean the brake zones—which is where most competitive passes occur—have gotten shorter, and ABS allows a clueless noob to brake just as late as the studliest hero.

At the same time, cars have gotten more robust and reliable, which encourages drivers to treat them like battering rams rather than scalpels. “You wouldn’t see tire doughnuts on a Porsche 962 [in IMSA in the 1980s] because that would damage the car, and it would damage your car, too,” Raffauf says. “But by the time we got to Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes [in the 2000s], if you didn’t have tire doughnuts the length of the car, you weren’t trying hard enough.”

But the biggest single factor in reshaping rules regarding passing and defending has been improved safety. Cars and tracks were lethal through the 1970s, and fatalities continued to be distressingly common into the 1990s. Self-preservation factored into the equation in a way that’s no longer true today, when drivers tend to think they’re invincible.

“You can get away with things that would have killed you in a Formula Ford 25 years ago,” says Ross Bentley, whose career peaked in Indy cars before he became the country’s best-known driver coach. Fellow open wheel ace Max Papis adds, “There was a philosophy that you didn’t want to be the guy who showed up at the funeral of the guy you closed the door on.”

Naturally, there have always been drivers who used intimidation as a weapon. Although Stirling Moss modeled his elegant and relaxed driving style on the example set by Guiseppe Farina, who won the first F1 World Driving Championship in 1950, Moss considered him a “dirty” driver. (Farina supposedly killed two rivals by driving them off the road.)

Farina was an outlier. Most observers credit—or, more commonly, blame—Ayrton Senna with transforming the prevailing philosophy about overtaking.

“The world changed at Estoril in 1988,” says Nigel Roebuck, the dean of F1 journalists, referring to the Grand Prix of Portugal. “It happened right in front of me, and I can still remember the collective gasp. Senna just swerved across the track and forced Prost up against the pit wall. A friend of mine was holding out a pit board for Ivan Capelli, and at the last split-second, he had to pull it back or Prost would have hit it. Afterward, Prost said, ‘Well now I fully appreciate what Senna is prepared to do. He’s prepared to die.’”

The revolution that Senna launched was consummated by his spiritual successor, Michael Schumacher. Today, Schumacher is remembered less for the passes he made than for the ones he tried to prevent, securing his first World Championship by purposely crashing into Damon Hill at Adelaide in 1994 and missing out on his third title when he hip-checked Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997.

“Michael Schumacher was the most complete racing driver I’ve ever seen, but he was involved in some of the most egregious blocking moves I’ve ever seen, and they let him get away with it,” says Derek Daly, Conor’s father, who raced in F1 and Indy cars. “He was only continuing what Senna had started. Their behavior became the norm, and it eventually filtered down to the junior formula. Today, drivers defend at all costs.”

In the States, racers tended to be less cutthroat. Indy cars came from an oval-track tradition, where high speeds and unforgiving walls discouraged wheel-to-wheel-contact. But the addition of road courses and street circuits to the CART schedule attracted drivers who’d been trained in European formula cars. “The Brazilians brought blocking into Indy car racing,” the late racing journalist Robin Miller once told me, referring to a trend that began with the arrival of Senna’s countryman, Emerson Fittipaldi. “They all got mad when I wrote it, but it was true.”

This is probably a good place to mention that the calculations are different in American circle-track series promoted by NASCAR, USAC, and World of Outlaws. Although side-to-side contact and bump-and-runs fall under the heading of Rubbin’ is Racin’ in the stock-car world, they’re taboo in sprint cars and midgets because they often have fatal consequences. (Miller, who raced midgets himself, claimed that even the dirt-track slide job is a relatively modern development.) But whether closed wheel or open, the circle-track custom is to let drivers resolve their own disputes, whether on the track or off.

Road racing tends to be more legalistic in its protocols. The hand-wringing—and wrecks—prompted by the Senna/Schumacher all-or-nothing mindset prompted several sanctioning bodies to institute rules that banned what’s now defined as blocking. Generally speaking, the lead driver is entitled to whatever part of the racetrack he wants, but he’s not permitted to move in reaction to the car behind him.

This doesn’t mean that drivers can’t protect their position. Consider this, “the art of defending.” That’s what 1992 Le Mans winner Derek Warwick called it. Warwick earned what he euphemistically calls “a pretty robust reputation” for being hard to pass. These days, race officials start reaching for the black flag when they see one driver “chopping” another—making a last-second lunge to protect his position. There’s still room for cagey techniques like the Pruett Fade, named after the racer, which involves drifting off the ideal racing line to force would-be overtakers into sub-optimal positions.

“You learn to be defensive.” Pruett says. “One of my best teachers was Mario Andretti. I learned how to take the air off a guy’s nose and make his car lose some downforce, which is especially effective on ovals and through fast turns. You have to be subtle about defending. It isn’t a blatant move. You can’t get away with what you used to be able to do in days gone by because there are so many eyes on you.”

Because drivers can no longer move in reaction to an overtaking move, they adopt a defensive posture early and often. So instead taking the classic racing line (placing the car on the outside of the track and then carving down to the apex), they take preemptive action to prevent a pass by driving down the inside all the way to the corner and forcing the would-be overtaker to go around the outside—a move that, by its nature, is very, very hard to pull off.

At the risk of sounding like a crotchety old geezer, I still remember how annoyed I was the first time somebody used this tactic against me in an otherwise forgettable SCCA regional at Willow Springs—not on the last lap but from the very start of the race. Up until then, I’d always followed the philosophy showcased in the breathtaking battle between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux at Dijon in 1979. Even as they banged wheels, locked up tires and slid off the track, neither one ever protected the inside. Roebuck suggests that it never would have occurred to them.

“As Gilles used to say, ‘Any fool can block,’” Roebuck recalls. “If you’re determined enough, you can keep a guy behind you for lap after lap after lap. The problem is that I don’t know how you write rules to change that. In a perfect world, you could go back to more ethical behavior. But that ship has sailed. It’s not even discussed anymore.”

Times change, and tactics change with them. Rolex 24 winners Ricky and Jordan Taylor grew up watching and then driving for their father, Wayne, who is a two-time Daytona champion. “Our dad is always saying over the radio, ‘Don’t pass on the outside! Don’t pass on the outside!’” Ricky says. “But now, because of the way everybody protects the inside line, people pass on the outside all the time. I remember Jordan making an outside pass one time and then radioing in, ‘Did my dad see that?’”

The outside pass notwithstanding, overtaking techniques haven’t changed much in the last century. Using the so-called chrome horn—simply nerfing a guy into the weeds—will earn you a quick penalty. But you can still apply pressure and fill the guy’s mirrors in the effort to get him worrying about what’s behind him rather than focusing forward. In the best of all possible worlds, you can encourage him to make a mistake. Some drivers will even let you by just so they can get their head back in the game. But most of the time, you’ve got to elbow your way past.

“To me, it was primarily a question of geometry,” Cheever told me. “If you go up the inside of somebody, there’s nothing you can do to prevent him or her from turning down on you. But I always tried to put myself in a position where my car would be in good shape even if there was an ensuing accident.”

During Cheever’s years in F1, nobody was better in traffic than John Watson. In 1982, he famously won the Detroit Grand Prix after starting 17th. The next year, at Long Beach, he did even better, breezing home first after qualifying 22nd. Mind you, this was in an era before safety cars or pit stops, and there were no full-course yellows to bunch up the field. Time and time again, he went up the inside of the car in front of him and got the job done in the brake zone.

Watson says he was so strong under braking for two reasons. First, he set up his brake pedal so that it never went past perpendicular in relation to the floor which, which he felt gave him better feel. Second, unlike most of his rivals, he wouldn’t go through the gearbox from, say, 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd. Instead, he downshifted directly from 5th to 2nd at the appropriate moment so he could focus on threshold braking rather than heel-and-toeing.

The secret of his success, he says, was mental. “When you have a reputation as a good overtaker, you send a message that you’re going to overtake,” he says. “The one thing you can’t do is dither. Either go for it or don’t. You have to be clear and positive. The body language of your car has to say, ‘I’m coming through. Unless you drive me into the wall, I’m going to make the pass.’”

Every driver I spoke to agreed that full commitment is essential to any overtaking maneuver. Papis remembers winning a race at Lime Rock after a last-lap pass. “I saw God, Jesus and Mary—and then I braked.”

Or, as Bentley says, “Passing ultimately comes down to mindset, not technique. If you think you can get it done, you can do it.”

Well, yes…and no. Don’t get me wrong. I’m one of Bentley’s biggest fans, and I’ve benefited personally from his coaching. (Thanks, Ross!) But sometimes, even the best drivers can’t make a pass happen. Spare some sympathy for Fernando Alonso, one of the most decisive overtakers of his generation, losing the World Championship in 2010 after spending nearly the entire race in Abu Dhabi trapped behind a mid-pack Renault because passing on the track was virtually impossible during that era of pre-DRS Formula 1.

At the same time, there’s no way around the inescapable fact that some moves are bound to go wrong, and sometimes, inevitably, they’ll go really wrong. “Every pass is a risk,” Conor Daly says. “One thing I hate about racing is that people always try to place blame. Sometimes stuff happens. If nobody tried anything, racing wouldn’t be very exciting.”

Bet on it: Mistakes will be made, and accidents will happen. But that doesn’t mean you get a free pass to be that guy—the one everybody in the paddock complains about. “I was fortunate enough to race with Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr.,” Bryan Herta says. “When you went into a corner with them, you knew they would always be fair and leave you room. Between them, they won a lot of races. I believe in the golden rule. Race other drivers the way you want to be raced yourself.”

Chris Dyson is, if anything, even more adamant than Herta. “I’m old enough to remember when there were ethics on the track,” he says. “You are how you race. You have to live with whatever you do. I think that’s a good thing to keep in the back of your mind. If you intend to stay in the sport, don’t drive like a thug. You should be good enough to keep a guy behind you without carving him up.”

Words to race by: Don’t hit what you can see. Race other drivers the way you want to be raced. And don’t drive like a thug. Racing is hard enough already.

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(For Part 2, where Preston discusses the art of defending and the evolution of tactics, click here. Now, for Part 1. -Ed)

What do you remember most fondly when you think about your seat time in a race car? The races won? Obviously. The improbable saves, the perfect laps, the magical corners? Well, sure. For me, the most deeply satisfying moments are the competitive passes. I don’t mean overtaking a wanker in a clown car in a Lemons event or blasting past an out-of-class back marker in a sprint race or moving up a position because the driver in front of you flubbed a shift under pressure. I’m talking about a do-or-die pass against an equally matched driver who’s aggressively defending his position.

“Passing is a difficult game,” says Conor Daly, who graduated to the NTT IndyCar Series after take-no-prisoners stints in GP2 and GP3. “All the teams are good. All the drivers are good. There’s not much between them. But it’s not supposed to be easy. Otherwise drivers would do it all the time. And if you’re able to pass somebody who’s driving defensively, that makes it even more electric.”

Overtaking is more difficult now than it’s ever been. In terms of performance, the cars are closer together. So are the drivers. At the same time, defensive driving—which used to be called blocking—has become the norm. In racing movies, of course, passing is simply a matter of pressing down harder on the accelerator or shifting to a higher gear. In the real world, passing is such a challenge that sanctioning bodies have instituted artificial measures to promote it, whether the drag-reduction system in Formula 1 or push-to-pass technology in IndyCar.

“A competitive pass is very difficult to pull off,” says Scott Pruett, whose 50-year career took him from go-karts to sports cars to Indy cars to stock cars to prototypes. “Taking out a guy is easy, but pulling off a decisive pass takes an incredible amount of talent.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about overtaking lately. The inciting incident, as they say in Hollywood, was the approval last year of new “Racing Room & Passing Guidelines” in the SCCA rulebook. Replete with diagrams and scientific-sounding phrases such as the “Entry Vortex of Danger,” this appendix features the most sensible, straightforward, and comprehensible regulations I’ve ever seen.

The new rules piqued my curiosity about what I like to think of as the metaphysics of overtaking. Not only who’s right and who’s wrong when it comes to a contested corner but also the techniques that work best for passing—and for defending, which is the flip side of the coin. At the same time, I wondered how philosophies have evolved over the years. So I decided to chat with race officials, driving instructors and drivers, past and present, to get their general thoughts on the subject and their specific takes on controversial incidents ranging from the Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost contretemps at Suzuka to Alex Zanardi’s epic pass of Bryan Herta at Laguna Seca.

Inevitably, there were disagreements. Formal rules notwithstanding, this territory is dominated by gray areas. “The problem,” says 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever, “is that it all happens so quickly. It’s not like a game of chess where you can drum your fingers on the table and think things over. I’ve been asked many times to be a race steward, and I’ve always refused because I know you can always argue both sides.”

Passing is a mission-critical skill. No question there, right? So I was surprised to find that almost everyone I spoke with told me it wasn’t a subject that they’d studied or seriously analyzed while they were working their way up the motorsports ladder. “I don’t remember anybody telling us about overtaking,” says five-time Le Mans champion Derek Bell. “We certainly didn’t have any bloody diagrams.”

Or, in the eloquent words of Max Papis, who raced in F1, Indy cars, IMSA and NASCAR: “There was an ethic to passing people, and there was an art to passing people. But as I remember, there were no rules. Personally, I think it was better that way.”

For as long as I can remember, the line I’ve heard repeated like a mantra is that the overtaking driver is responsible for making a clean pass. The beauty of this standard is that it’s so simple and easy to enforce, which is why race stewards love it. But for precisely these reasons, it’s also the foundation for misguided rulings that ignore reality on the ground. After all, passing doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and the driver who’s being passed isn’t an innocent bystander. “You’re locked in a perpetual duel for position, and there’s a limited amount of real estate on the racetrack,” says Chris Dyson, whose race log includes prototypes, Trans Am, and sprint cars on dirt and paved ovals.

As for the notion that the ‘passee’ bears no responsibility for accidents, longtime IMSA race official Mark Raffauf says, “When you’re in front, you’ve earned the right to decide where you want to put your car. But when you deviate from your normal line and start defending your position, the pendulum moves in your direction. I tell some guys, ‘You couldn’t have gotten hammered any worse if you’d put a target on your car.’”

A pendulum is always in motion, which is to say that responsibility for a clean pass swings from case to case and from corner to corner. Differences of opinion are inevitable whether you’re competing in the lowliest club races or the most exalted pro events. Is there any one of us who hasn’t spent at least some time in awkward post-race “discussions” with cranky competitors, trading acrimonious comments about who was the bigger bonehead?

Last year, the SCCA decided that it was time to update the language regarding passing in its rulebook, known as the General Competition Rules (GCR). “There was too much being left open for interpretation, and when that happens, things are ruled on differently,” says SCCA chief operations officer Eric Prill, who is himself a two-time national champion in F Production. “This is a big step in ensuring that we have consistency across our events and program. Drivers come from a variety of different places to race with SCCA, and different groups have different regulations. It was time to provide greater definition to the rules of the road in the SCCA GCR.”

To write the new regulations, SCCA drafted two uniquely qualified drivers: Randy Pobst, who’s earned national championships in pro competition, club racing, and autocross and Terry Earwood, the winningest driver in Firestone Firehawk Endurance Series history and one of the great characters of motorsports. During 36 years of instructing at Skip Barber Driving Schools, he’s ridden shotgun with more than 32,000 would-be racers. When I tell him he’s a braver man that I am, he says, “That’s why they invented Miller Lite.”

The regulations Pobst and Earwood wrote briefly cover passing on a straightaway, which comes down to allowing the lead driver to make “one safe move” to defend his position and requiring him to give a car width “plus six inches” of racing room if the overtaking driver has already committed to a pass. But most of the appendix is devoted to what happens in the turns. “The grayest area in racing is, Is this my corner or is it your corner?” Earwood says.

Is this my corner, or is it your corner?

Earwood acknowledges that it’s impossible to write rules that bring absolute certainty to an issue that’s inherently ambiguous. But he and Pobst wanted to give drivers and race stewards a conceptual framework for understanding how to think about rights and responsibilities on the track. Their deepest insight is summed up in Pobst’s exquisitely succinct formulation: “Do not hit what you can see.” Sounds self-evident, right? But you’d be amazed how often attempted passes end up in chippy I-was-there/no-you-weren’t squabbles.

Most competitive passes are made under braking, and postmortems usually focus on the relative positions of the cars in the brake zone. The new regs specify that the overtaking driver has to “present himself,” that is, make it into the peripheral vision of the driver he’s passing, before the lead driver turns for the apex. For closed-wheel cars, this means having the front end up to the lead car’s A-pillar or windshield. For open wheelers, it means having the front wheel up to the lead driver’s shoulder. In both cases, Earwood emphasizes, the overtaking car has to be in position before the driver being passed starts moving his hands to turn into the corner.

Pobst also came up with the concept of the Vortex of Danger. This refers to the area where you’re overlapping the car in front of you but you’re not far enough alongside to execute a clean pass. In other words, you’re in the blind spot. Say you go inside somebody under braking but don’t reach the point where he can see you, then you’re to blame if you take him out when he turns for the apex. Ditto on corner exit. You may be quick enough to get some overlap after the apex. But you’re at fault if he can’t see you and you clean him out when he tracks out on the normal racing line.

I think the new SCCA rules are better than anything I’ve ever seen before, and I believe they’ll be a useful tool for adjudicating protests and indoctrinating drivers—especially new drivers—in the future. Still, I suspect they’re more applicable to club racing than professional motorsports, where people are competing for their livelihoods rather than plastic trophies and winner decals. So, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that most of the pros I spoke with didn’t think new rules would make much of a difference.

Join us for part two next week, when Preston sits down with Bryan Herta, Ricky Taylor, Derek Daly, and others to further break down the art of the overtake.

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Anyone who follows the world of old cars has surely heard or even engaged in the “preservation vs. restoration” debate. It’s one that will probably never be resolved, but whether you call them “barn finds,” “survivors,” or something fancy like “preservation class candidates,” unrestored cars can be surprisingly valuable. In some cases, especially on the higher end of the market, 100 percent originality is more highly pried than a professional restoration. Wear and tear are part of the car’s history, and while a car can be restored more than once, originality just can’t be replicated.

Since we’re always keeping an eye on the auction calendar, several delectably original cars crossing the block this fall caught our eye. One of the biggest ones is an all-original 1964 Shelby 289 Cobra, aka the “Cobra in the closet,” that we’ve discussed previously, but here are six more worth watching.

1965 Shelby GT350

If you care more about how a car drives than how much it shines, here’s one for you. Carroll Shelby worked his magic on only 562 of these ’65 Mustangs with more power, less weight, and handling upgrades for track duty. Few first-year GT350s remain in unrestored condition. This example features almost all original Wimbledon White paint with the rare stripe delete option. The carpet was replaced, and items were upgraded to make it more drivable, but otherwise it is as it left Shelby American 57 years ago.

The transmission was also replaced, but the original accompanies the car with the sale along with the original wheels. The interior features the original upholstery, seat belts, headliner, dash pod, AM radio, and steering wheel with the factory center and horn switch all there. Copies of the build paperwork and service records are included. With a little over 81,000 miles this is a historically significant high-performance car where getting it out on the road shouldn’t hurt its value.

 1990 Citroën 2CV6 Club

The 2CV was a cheap, usable car of the people. So it’s a surprise to see that this Citroën has reportedly not been driven since it was delivered and shows just 10 miles on its odometer. An interesting choice to save as a time capsule, no?

Luckily, the pictures may look a little worse than reality, as the listing claims the little French sedan is coated in original preservative wax and that it still has the plastic on the seats. The Club version of the 2CV is also the more luxurious trim level, gaining features such as a roll-up roof and thicker bumpers. And although Citroën hasn’t built the 2CV in over 30 years, this one is essentially still new! If you’re looking for something a little more broken in, however, there is also an unrestored twin-engine 1964 2CV ‘Sahara’ AZ 4×4 at the same sale.

1951 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon

If you’re charmed by cosmetic blemishes, wear and tear, and patina, check out this wagon. The Roadmaster was one of the most desirable wagons of its day, while its 4500-pound heft, heaps of brightwork and body construction of real wood make it an instantly recognizable piece of early postwar automotive Americana. Yet this example actually spent most its life in Europe and central Africa before coming the US in 2006. Sure, you can see some age on the exterior and the chrome on the radio is pitted, but that’s part of what makes an unrestored car so great. The vehicle has been serviced, but not restored. Plus, how often do you see rope grab handles in a car anymore?

1979 Checker Marathon Taxi

Manufactured in Kalamazoo, MI, Checker Marathons were almost exclusively used as taxis in major cities and didn’t retire from service in New York City until 1999, even though the last one was built in 1982. Checker Taxis were never flashy. They never tried to impress anyone. They were bare bones cars built to last, and most were driven until they literally couldn’t go anymore, so it explains why there are reportedly fewer than 2000 A12 models like this remaining today. This unrestored example was previously owned by the president of the Yellow Cab Company and only shows 55,000 miles.

1916 Chevrolet Four-Ninety Touring

A 106-year-old car is not something you come across every day, and one that’s still original after over a century is even more special. Called the 490 because of its $490 price, this car was Chevy’s challenger to the Model T, which was much pricier at a wallet-draining $495. This simple motorcar (it doesn’t even have a driver’s door!) came standard with a convertible top and windshield, and it is believed the originals still in place on this one. It is truly a preservation piece with the factory-applied paint, factory interior, and wooden floorboards. This example of “Pre-GM” part of Chevrolet’s history was really the first successful mass-produced model for the brand.

Mario Andretti Race Used IndyCar – Plus 39 Others

When it comes to history, certain race car are practically oozing the stuff from the bodywork. That’s why we’re watching this sale closely. Indy powerhouse Newman/Hass Racing (founded by Chicago businessman Carl Haas and movie star/salad dressing maker/and the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars Paul Newman) is auctioning off 40 Indy cars plus a few road cars, race used suits, helmets, and more on October 29. Included is the 1984 Lola-Cosworth Mario piloted to the 1984 CART championship, the 1993 Lola-Ford driven by Nigel Mansell to the 1993 championship, and the 2007 Dp01-Cosworth that Sebastien Bourdais used for his fourth Champ Car crown. Most of the cars still have their incredibly powerful engines in them and include the workshop manual, laptop, and cables needed to make them run. Other fan favorite IndyCars being auctioned include ones raced by Michael Andretti, Graham Rahal, the late Justin Wilson, and Paul Tracy.

If you don’t have a shelf bigger enough for a real IndyCar, how about a PPG championship trophy, Nigel Mansell’s race worn F1 helmet, or Mario Andretti’s race used gloves?

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Ram’s newest half-ton salutes EMS workers

Intake: Ram trucks has unveiled the second iteration of its “Built to Serve” special edition pickups, this time tipping the hat to Emergency Medical Service (EMS) professionals. The Ram 1500 EMS model will feature two specially selected exterior colors—Hydro Blue and Bright White—as well as an American flag and a “Built to Serve” decal for the rear quarter panels. Other exterior styling cues include an all-black grille surround, black bumpers, black-bezel lighting, 20-inch aluminum wheels with a unique Technical Gray finish, black badges, and dual four-inch black exhaust tips. The cabin receives blue accent stitching as well as a special “Built to Serve” badge in the passenger-side dash. There are Velcro patches on each front seat and inboard shoulder panel for first responders to adorn the cabin with their own patches as well. The backs of the front seats feature a Pouch Attachment Ladder System/Modular Lightweight Load-bearing Equipment (PALS/MOLLE) webbing to attached additional equipment or pouches. The Built to Serve models also get the 4×4 Off-Road Group content, including all-terrain tires, an electronic-locking rear axle, underbody armor, tow hooks, and off-road calibrated shock absorbers at all four corners. You can get the Built to Serve edition on Big Horn or Lone Star crew cab models, with either the 3.6-liter, 305-hp Pentastar V-6 or the 5.7-liter, 395-hp Hemi V-8 with or without the mild-hybrid eTorque tech. The 2023 Ram 1500 Built to Serve EMS model will go on sale in the fourth quarter of this year with an MSRP of $56,810 including destination.

“The Ram 1500 Built to Serve EMS edition is our way of honoring and expressing deep gratitude to the frontline heroes who serve or have served our country,” said Mike Koval Jr., Ram’s brand CEO. “At Ram, we are pleased to recognize the important work emergency medical workers provide to their communities every day.”

Exhaust: The truck crowd tends to be among the strongest supporters of first responders, so these Built to Serve models should be well-received. The first iteration of this line, which honored firefighters, debuted in February of this year with a similar cosmetic treatment, albeit with red exterior paint instead of blue. — Nathan Petroelje

One of five Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluziones is for sale

Intake: Group B was the 1980s’ road and rally formula that just kept giving. Without Group B, there’d have been no Audi Sport Quattro, no Lancia 037, no Porsche 959, no Peugeot 205 T16, and certainly no Ferrari 288 Gran Turismo Omologato. The rules required car makers to build at least 200 homologation specials to compete, and Ferrari put together a total of 272 288 GTOs between 1984 and 1987, based loosely on the 308. On top of those production stipulations, manufacturers were permitted to assemble a further 20 Evolution models where engineers were given even more free rein. By the time Group B was axed Ferrari had only built five examples, however. Distinguishing the Evoluzione from the standard 288 GTO is a wide body of kevlar and fiberglass, with a carbon fiber rear wing, to shrink the curb weight weight to a paltry 2072 lbs. Under the vented plexiglass rear window sits a 2.8-liter twin-turbo V-8, as used in the regular GTO, but with bigger turbos to boost power from 400 hp to 650 hp. Top speed is said to be 229 mph. For sale at RM Sotheby’s is chassis number 79888 which was first sold to Belgian racer Jean “Beurlys” Blaton in 1987 and has had several owners since, including Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll. It has recently had a service and fresh coat of paint that set the current owner back $130,000.

Exhaust: Records are surely about to tumble when this 288 GTO Evoluzione goes to auction in Germany on October 19-21.  As one of only three of the five cars in private hands, it’s one of the rarest prancing horses on the planet, and will certainly eclipse the $4.4 million achieved by a ‘regular’ 288 GTO at RM Sotheby’s sale during Monterey Car Week. Just how high will the bids fly? —Nik Berg

The last Lamborghini Aventador has left the line

Intake: For just shy of 60 years there has always been an undiluted normally-aspirated V-12 engine in the Lamborghini catalog, but that all ends now as the final Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae Roadster has rolled out of the Sant’ Agata Bolgnese factory. The Aventador has had a good run, though. Launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011 with 700 horsepower from its longitudinally-mounted motor driving all four wheels, the Aventador has seen eight different model derivatives, and more then ten one-off and special editions, including this last-of-the-line Ultimae. In total 11,465 Aventadors have been delivered to customers—more than than sum of all previous Lamborghini V-12s put together. Bidding a fond farewell, Stephan Winkelmann, Chairman and CEO of Lamborghini says, “The Lamborghini Aventador was a game-changer at its launch, and the flagship Lamborghini model for 11 years of production. The V12 engine has been part of Lamborghini’s heritage since the company’s earliest days; the beating heart of models from Miura to Diablo, Countach to Murciélago.” The successor to the Aventador will be a hybrid model with a 48-volt electric system supplementing the V-12 for the first time.

Exhaust: The very last Aventador Ultimae is destined for a customer in Switzerland, but among the final cars to be built will also have been 15 vehicles for American enthusiasts to replace those lost on the Felicty Ace cargo ship which sunk in March of this year. While we’re sad to see this era come to a close, we’re by no means surprised; despite the glorious exhaust note, this engine was bound to feel the squeeze from tightening emissions regulations worldwide. — NB

Champion driver Jimmie Johnson is calling it quits…again

Intake: Fresh off his first full season in the NTT IndyCar Series, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champ announced his retirement, yesterday, from full-time competition. “This was a difficult choice for me, but in my heart I know it’s the right one,” said Johnson, who steps away from the Carvana-backed Chip Ganassi IndyCar entry. “I’m not exactly sure what the next chapter holds, but if an opportunity comes along that makes sense I will consider it. I still have a bucket list of racing events I would like to take part in.” Ganassi chimed in, sharing that he is “fully supportive” of the Johnson’s decision. The duo first joined forces immediately following Johnson’s retirement from NASCAR to race a part-time Indy slate composed solely of road course events in 2021. This year, Johnson ran the entire season. And while his brief stint in the IndyCar series was dwarfed by the sheer scope and success of his 20-year career in NASCAR (where he earned a record-tying seven championships and 83 Cup Series wins), the IndyCar novice did enjoy some bright spots, like leading laps in his first Indy 500 and finishing a career-best fifth at Iowa, earlier this summer.

Exhaust: Considering the length of Johnson’s career in the Cup Series, I’m not sure that many predicted he would step away from full-time IndyCar competition after one year. The key phrase is, of course, full-time. It wouldn’t be a long shot to watch Johnson make another run at the Bricks next May for what would be his sophomore Indy 500. Or, perhaps, the Baja 1000. Johnson started his racing career in off-road trucks and buggies. A return to the sand would be incredibly similar to Robby Gordon—another pro driver who bookended a successful career in open-wheel and NASCAR with stints in desert jumpers. Where will Johnson go next? There may only be one man who knows that answer. — Cameron Neveu

Alpina breaks up with BMW’s 7 Series

Intake: Four decades years after Alpina first worked its luxurious, high-performance magic on BMW’s biggest sedan, the tuner has set aside the 7 Series. (So says the shop on Facebook, of all places.) Alpina’s first project based on BMW’s flagship four-door was 1977’s B8: a straight-six, naturally aspirated 733i hot-rodded with a higher-compression pistons and a more aggressive cam. A different exhaust, a limited-slip diff, and Bilstein suspension rounded out the mechanical upgrades, while the interior featured Recaro chairs and an Alpina shift knob and steering wheel. 16-inch wheels began a 20-spoke trend that Alpina continues to the present day. The B7 moniker first first appeared in 2004 on Alpina’s version of the E63-gen 7 Series, the shop’s first supercharged V-8 model. The B7 name will now end with Alpina’s version of the G12-generation 7 Series, essentially a 750Li (a long wheelbase model with the twin-turbo V-8) with more power, a reprogrammed transmission, and subtle but lavish aesthetic upgrades. As of the 2023 model year, the BMW factory’s 7 Series is king of the hill.

Exhaust: We’ve reached out to BMW for some additional context, because at first glance, this is a confusing move. We’d expect BMW, having acquired the erstwhile independent shop this year, to continue its 7 Series projects to appeal to traditionalists—and to offer a rival to the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, which has made much of its upmarket ambitions. The most likely explanation is that Alpina customers who eschew SUVs (yes, Alpina also tunes those) prefer the B8 Gran Coupe. It’s less schnozy and more swoop-backed than the outgoing B7 … and the B8 moniker suggests Alpina has been pitching this 8 Series–based model as the true successor to that original B8 (never mind its 7 Series bones.) — Grace Houghton

Livewire Del Mar reservations go live along with SPAC listing

Intake: Two big steps for Livewire motorcycles both fall to today: reservations open for the new Del Mar model, and the new stock ticker LVWR will appear on the New York Stock Exchange. The Del Mar is the second bike under the Livewire name and the first to feature new scalable ARROW architecture with proprietary battery, motor, charging, and control systems. The Launch edition Del Mar sold out in just 18 minutes back in May, and regular production Del Mar bikes will ship immediately after the Launch Edition production is complete. Livewire is now the first publicly-traded electric motorcycle company now that the SPAC acquisition of Livewire by AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. is complete.

Exhaust: The Livewire One has been received well over the last two years, but it never fit the Harley brand, so the SPAC spin-off of Livewire was met with little surprise. How the company will hold up with limited support network and new models is yet to be seen, but the Del Mar appears to be a step in the right direction and the stats on it complement the One very nicely. — Kyle Smith

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Standing with Aaron Likens on top of Mid-Ohio’s flag stand I couldn’t help but to be influenced by his infectious passion. The green flag snapping in the sky, above the field of Indy race cars, was hypnotizing. He made the flag dance. Likens says that he tries to capture the excitement of the moment in the way he waves the flags. This was clearly a man at the top of his game doing what he loved.

At four years old, Aaron was already training to be a flagman. Really. Watching NASCAR races in his living room, Aaron would stand in front of the TV and flag the entire race. Once his father saw how much of a motorsports fan his child was becoming, he purchased a set of flags from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gift shop.

Aaron’s interest in flagging grew even larger when he attended the Indy 500 and saw his new hero Duane Sweeney, the former starter and flagman for the Indianapolis 500 from 1980 to 1996. Likens was captivated with the speed, color, and competition, but he was most fascinated by the man in the flag stand. Instead of Rahal or Andretti, chief starter Sweeney became his childhood hero.

Likens didn’t know it at the time—and unfortunately wouldn’t be diagnosed until he was 20 years old—but he was on the autism spectrum. Many such people have difficulty processing everyday sensory information. They can be either over-reactive or under-reactive to sensory input. For Aaron, there was just something about seeing and even hearing the colored flags waving in the air that fascinated him, perhaps because of his heightened processing.

One year, Likens’ father contacted Sweeney for an autographed picture. When word reached the IndyCar starter that a pastor’s kid wanted an autograph, he had his wife do something special for his young fan. Before every Indianapolis 500, Mary Sweeney bought material and cut 35 squares to hand make two black-and-white flags. One for the winner, and one to the museum. That year she made a third flag that Duane signed and gave to seven-year-old Aaron.

That small act of kindness from the late flagman meant a lot and helped solidify Aaron’s dreams as a child. He either wanted to race in the Indy 500 … or be its flagman. By third grade, he was spending hours each day standing on a rock in his front yard waving that checkered flag to passing cars.

By sixth grade, he was racing karts. The only struggle he had with karting was that his dad wanted him to help work on the vehicle. Getting his hands all dirty was not a feeling he enjoyed. The flagman at their local track was an 85-year-old gentleman that Likens admired. His father made him a deal: When Aaron wasn’t racing, he could either work on the kart or help the flagman.

You can probably guess what he chose. And it was a good thing he did, as that gentleman unfortunately was starting to lose his color vision. What began with Aaron handing him the correct flags transitioned to Aaron actually being the flagman once the older gentleman retired. By 13, Likens was the head flagman for the St. Louis Karting Association, which made him one of the youngest chief starters in American racing.

Working at his local karting track was great, but it didn’t minimize the difficulties he had with anxiety and social interactions. Communicating with others was a challenge, and friends were tough to come by. When Likens was 20 years old, he was officially diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a neurodevelopment disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and non-verbal communication. Unfortunately, in 2003, there wasn’t information available to understand what that meant, not even from his doctor. An initial internet search crushed him when he read an article stating people with Asperger’s “would never have a job, never have friends, and never be happy.” With nothing telling him otherwise, he believed it.

For the next 14 months he fell into a deep state of depression. “I allowed that diagnosis to define me,” he said. “That internet article almost ruined me.” When he had trouble explaining how he felt, he turned to writing.

What started as a journal to his parents to help them understand who he was eventually turned into book about thoughts and explanations for people on the autism spectrum called Finding Kansas.

The flag stand helped him in this dark time. “Knowing I still had races to work that year helped me get through,” he says. Aaron describes himself as an introvert who struggles with anxiety, but when those flags are in his hands, he’s a different person. He is confident and able to communicate with people without actually having to talk to them.

Being a flagman helped give his life purpose; it was a place he felt safe and gave him comfort. And he kept getting better at his job. He began to realize that many of his challenges were actually benefits when it came to flagging. Far from preventing his success, being on the autism spectrum was helping him excel at his role.

“Loud noises bother me away from the track, but here, my heightened sense of hearing can even help,” says Aaron. He believes for people on the spectrum that finding the right environment is key. “Over-processing everything in the classroom was tough, but at the track it helps that I can hear if a motor is slightly out of tune.” Aaron says he also has a heightened sense of smell, which came in handy at a quarter-midget race he recently flagged. He black-flagged a car because he smelled something coming from it, something that no one else at the track noticed. That is, until the car pulled into the pits and they saw gas leaking from it.

“If you start thinking, ‘why am I like this?’ then you are forgetting who you are and your strengths,” says Likens. He points out that not all cases of autism are the same, and that it takes time to understand how to help each individual person.

He also shared that, sadly, the unemployment rate for people with Asperger’s hovers around 80 to 85 percent, but it doesn’t have to be that way. “For people on the spectrum, don’t give up—there’s so much potential out there. And for people that are around us, that little bit of understanding can go a long way.”

Over the years, he worked his way up to bigger races and venues. He started flagging for the United States Auto Club (USAC) and added over 20 events a year. According to his dad, Aaron was “reliable, passionate, and dedicated to his craft.” Tom Kutcher, CEO of Superkarts! USA, the premier professional karting organization in America, heard about the flagman at the St. Louis Karting Association and made the trip to see him in person. Kutcher said, “That’s the best flagman I’ve ever seen!” Aaron has been the head flagman for the SKUSA SuperNats and their pro tour ever since.

In 2020, he got the call he had dreamed about since he was four years old. IndyCar’s senior director of technology Jon Koskey wanted Aaron to be the head flagman for IndyCar. Koskey said Aaron’s quick thinking and his talent for mentally keeping track of cars throughout a race helped him land that dream job.

“A lot of people need a data system behind them to know who’s in first or who’s a lap down … but Aaron spins it in his head. I picked Aaron because of his attention to detail is off the charts. He always knows where all the cars are, always knows the order in his head. It’s remarkable. Especially on short ovals his skills are a real value to us. He processes things so quickly, it’s like a sixth sense for him. He has less distractions than others.”

Aaron Likens’ flagging style is unique, to say the least. He brings a certain flair to the stand that has a lot of fans talking. “Oh yeah, he has made the flagger part of the show!” Koskey says.

In the past 60 years, only five people have served as the chief starter at the Indy 500. In 2021, the opportunity of a lifetime came as Aaron waved the dual checkered flags over Helio Castroneves at the Indianapolis 500. Decades after he was captivated by the man in the flag stand at the Indy 500, he became that man.

Likens continues to write about his life on his blog www.aaronlikens.com. He is also a national autism advocate, an award-winning public speaker, an instructor for police departments across the United States to better understand and work with individuals with autism, and even recently consulted with the staff of the cartoon Thomas and Friends to help develop an autistic character, Bruno the brake car:

“I had years of horrible lows, but now I’m living my dream. I want to inspire others that life with autism can lead to once in a lifetime opportunities. And I have friends and am happy, so don’t believe everything you read.”

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Meet U.S. law enforcement’s first electric pickup

Intake: The base-level Ford Lightning Pro is designed with fleet management in mind, but now it’s kitted out to accommodate the needs of the most famous fleets around the country: law enforcement. Called the F-150 Lightning Pro SSV (Special Service Vehicle), it combines the performance/long term cost benefit of electric fleet vehicles with the interior features needed for police duty. Changes to the Lightning SSV include steel “intrusion plates” in the front seat backs, roof-mounted LED warning beacons, an “upfit-friendly” reinforced instrument panel for police equipment, and heavy-duty vinyl rear/front cloth seat material that’s likely on par with other Ford police vehicles. Unlike Pro models available for retail markets, the Lightning SSV is available with either the 452-hp, standard-range or the 580-hp, extended-range battery. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.

Exhaust: Get ready to see flashing lights fill up your rearview mirror faster than ever before, as all the benefits Ford Pro provides to fleet customers (financing, telematics, ongoing support)  now comes with 775 lb-ft of torque and insane off-the-line acceleration. Considering the F-150s track record in fleets, and having driven both Lightnings already, I am confident it will work for a large number of police fleets in urban and suburban areas. — Sajeev Mehta

Details emerge as Porsche gets serious about F1

Intake: According to Autosport, documents filed in Morocco detail what is believed to be a 50 percent buy-in of Red Bull Technologies by Porsche, likely effective next month. “The document reveals that Porsche notified the [Moroccan government] on July 8 that it will be setting out on a 10-year partnership with Red Bull – which includes a 50 percent stake in its grand prix operation,” reported the publication. Sister team AlphaTauri apparently will remain Red Bull–owned, but it’s probable that it, as well as Red Bull, will be using Porsche power. “The revealing of the details by authorities, even before the announcement has been made public, has partly been triggered by delays in a formal green light from Porsche for its F1 return. The original plan had been for its partnership to be announced at the Austrian Grand Prix three weeks ago.” Autosport also reports that Audi is progressing with its initiative to acquire 75 percent of Sauber.

Exhaust: The popularity of Formula 1, already reaching a peak, will benefit greatly if Porsche and Audi enter the sport. Not just from a competition standpoint, but from a publicity standpoint—expect the Volkswagen group to spend millions publicizing the move. — Steven Cole Smith

Defender Works V8 Trophy gets a sequel

Intake: Land Rover is following its run of V-8 Trophy Defenders with another batch of reborn classics. The 25 Trophy II cars will feature a black and white camo theme instead of the first edition’s Camel yellow, and there’s also the option to specify the 110 Double Cab Pick Up body as well as 90 and 110 Station Wagons. As before these are in-house restomods, featuring a five-liter 400-hp V-8 engine mated to an eight-speed ZF transmission. Brakes and suspension get upgrades, and there’s a chunky front bull bar with a winch mounted ahead of a bespoke grille. An external roll cage with roof rack, light bar, rear ladder, and 18-inch black Sawtooth alloy wheels complete the rugged look. Inside there are Recaro sports seats and the black and white motif continues. Prices start at $274,000 for a 90 Station Wagon, which is a 15 percent hike over last year’s Trophy.

Exhaust: The 2021 Trophy was an easy sell-out, so why wouldn’t Land Rover Works cash in again? The original 24 buyers may be a bit miffed, but at least the price increase of the Trophy II could protect their investments to a degree. There are plenty of other big-ticket Defender restomods around and the market seems pretty strong. If you had a Defender, would you keep it stock or bring it up to speed with today’s tech? — Nik Berg

Intake: IndyCar driver Alex Palou is being sued … by his current team. Earlier this week, Chip Ganassi Racing filed a civil lawsuit in Marion County Superior Court against Palou and his licensing name ALPA Racing. Though details are murky, experts believe that the two parties’ ongoing contract debacle is the reason for the court trip. In case you missed it, two weeks ago, Ganassi Racing announced that it had exercised Palou’s contract option for 2023. Minutes later, Palou posted a series of tweets explaining that he would split from the team at the conclusion of the 2022 season for “personal reasons.” Following the tweets, McLaren announced that Palou would join their team next season. Yikes. In an email to the IndyStar, Ganassi’s team stated: “As the result of a competing racing team improperly attempting to contract with him notwithstanding the clear terms of our contract, we are proceeding to legal process pursuant to the contract.”

Exhaust: Things could get messy—quickly—for the defending IndyCar champ Palou. That is, if you don’t already consider driving for a team that is also taking you to court to be … undesirably intricate. In fewer than 50 starts, the Spaniard has collected three victories and the 2021 Championship with Ganassi. Despite the turbulence, Palou is sixth in the 2022 points race. A fair showing so far, sure, but the fact that teammates Marcus Ericsson—winner of this year’s Indy 500—and Scott Dixon are ahead in the standings, suggest that the drama surrounding Palou’s contract may be a distraction. So how does Palou silence the noise and finish out his tenure, whether it may be this year or the next, with Ganassi? Win. Everyone knows Chip’s predilection for winners. A victory for Palou, who has gone winless so far this season, would go a long way. Perhaps, he can do so this weekend at the Indy’s Gallagher Grand Prix, some 11 miles away from the Marion County courthouse steps. — Cameron Neveu

Supra saves the manuals for free

Intake: Toyota won’t charge extra for three pedals and a stick when its manual Supra goes on sale for the 2023 model year. Whether you opt for the eight-speed automatic or a six speed DIY shift the entry level Supra will cost $53,595 including destination charge. Premium trim adds $3150 to the price tag or, if you can get in on the limited edition A91-MT action it’ll cost you $59,440. Alongside the manual option the 2023 Supra has retuned suspension and an active differential for three-liter models, plus a Hairpin+ mode for the traction control system that allows more rear-end slip as you power through tight uphill corners.

Exhaust: The car community complained and Toyota listened. A Supra isn’t a Supra without a stick option, we all said, and now the company has given us exactly what we wanted and isn’t charging extra. Order up people, and prove that we really do want to save the manuals. —NB

After 15 years in F1, Vettel retires to spend time with family

Intake: In a remarkably literate, touching four-minute black-and-white video, former Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel announced that he is retiring from F1 at the end of the 2022 season, and the end of his deal to drive alongside Lance Stroll for Aston Martin, saying that he wanted to spend more time watching his three children grow. He will be best remembered as the youngest F1 champion in 2010–2013 with Red Bull, and then two second-place finishes with Ferrari. Thirteen wins in one season: That record is likely to live for quite a while. “The marks I left on track will stay until time and rain will wash them away. New ones will be put down. Tomorrow belongs to those shaping today,” he said in the video. “The next corner is in good hands as the new generation has already turned in.” The pleasantly irreverent Vettel also said, “I like to make people laugh, I like chocolate and the smell of fresh bread. My favorite color is blue. I believe in change, and progress and that every little bit makes a difference. I am an optimist and I believe people are good.” Vettel turned 35 earlier this month.

Exhaust: It is June 12, 2012, and I drew the short straw. I’m in the (barely) back seat of an Infiniti G37 while Sebastian Vettel is driving the layout for the proposed 3.2-mile temporary street course for the New York Formula 1 race. With a spirited police escort, we top 80 mph on the streets of West New York and Weehawken, New Jersey, Vettel grinning ear to ear. I am not. With each bump, my head bangs against the roof of the little Infiniti coupe. “I hope your head is OK,” the reigning world champion said after the ride. “I hope the roof of the Infiniti is OK,” I said. Sebastian Vettel will be missed, but I rather doubt he’ll disappear. — SCS

Gran Turismo 7 adds vintage Italian, ’80s JDM racer

Intake: Details on the July update for Gran Turismo 7 just landed. While only three new cars were announced for this update, they’re all heavy hitters. Undoubtedly the prettiest addition is the 1954 Maserati A6GCS/54 race car. Fans of vintage racing will recognize the livery as the car that took third at the 1954 Mille Miglia and the Gran Turismo Award at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Our next entry is a throwback for Gran Turismo fans. The Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette race car, which campaigned IRL in the early ’80s, was last seen in 1999’s Gran Turismo 2. This Group 5 racing monster featured a 2.1-liter LZ20B 4-cylinder making a fire-breathing (literally) 562 hp. Rounding things out is the Porsche 918 Spyder. As one of the hybrid hypercar “Holy Trinity,” alongside the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, the 918 was a technological milestone. While eight years old by now, this 887-hp successor to the Carrera GT is still an object of desire for Porsche and hyper car fans alike as a car that is still very modern in this rapidly changing automotive landscape.

Exhaust: While we didn’t get a new track for this update, the quality of the cars added more than makes up for that. There’s something for everyone from vintage racing fans to hyper-car enthusiasts and even one for the OG Gran Turismo players. Prestige does not come cheaply, we expect all of these cars to cost over 1 million credits, so better get back to grinding for credits. — Greg Ingold

Jim Farley confirms 7th-gen Mustang will debut in Detroit—with a stickshift

Excited to confirm that we’ll unveil the all-new, seventh-generation @FordMustang September 14 at the Detroit Auto Show. It’s a stunning car and I’m excited to share it with the world! #SaveTheManuals pic.twitter.com/d2kdQioBWY

— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) July 27, 2022

Intake: Ford CEO Jim Farley confirmed, via tweet, that the seventh-generation Ford Mustang will debut at the Detroit Auto Show on September 14. As we’ve previously noted, we expect to see both the turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder and Coyote V-8 make their way to the next-gen Mustang as it moves to a new platform. We also hear that a hybrid Mustang is coming as its new platform, shared with the current Explorer, is available in hybrid and AWD variants, leaving all sorts of drivetrain options. What’s real news in the tweet is the hashtag at the end: #SaveTheManuals.

Exhaust: We’d expect the Mustang to be the last Ford offered with a manual transmission in North America, but we also know that it’s never a certainty. While we don’t know any specifics on the powerplants available, it’s always good news to know that there is a manual transmission pony car on the market. — Brandan Gillogly

Chip Ganassi Racing sues driver Alex Palou over contract debacle

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Many youngsters dream of becoming a professional racecar driver. A handful make it. But only those with genuine goodness give up their dreams and focus on making other drivers’ dreams come true.

I first met Scott Rettich in 2015 at Michigan International Speedway. It was my first nationally-ranked SCCA race and my first time racing on a “roval” (an oval track with an internal road course incorporated). My inexperience had me violently transitioning from the road course to the oval section at such an obtuse angle that I cracked the downpipe on my Spec Miata.

As I searched for a fix and burned time on the phone with Mazda dealers, a friendly crew member recommended I ask Alliance Autosport if I could borrow their welder, and he’d fix the downpipe for me. In a bustling paddock, with half a dozen purpose-built race cars being safety-checked, my destiny landed in the hands of Alliance’s youngest staffer. He was a twenty-something man with a brisk and purposeful air. “Can I borrow the welder?” I asked. Not a word of reply, just a simple follow-me nod.

Into a massive semi-trailer we went, neatly packed with enough parts and tools to rebuild a fleet of race cars. He trustingly handed me the welder, asked that I return it to one of his teammates when I was done, and then about-faced to return to his team. The interaction was neither cold nor impersonal, simply direct. My problem was solved, and Scott expected no compensation or pat on the back in return.

That was Scott Rettich. He died unexpectedly earlier this year, still a young man.

If ever you’ve been fortunate enough to walk through a Formula 1 or IndyCar pit, you know the level of intensity and camaraderie that defines Alliance Autosport. Though the team supports amateur racers, the culture and leadership of the team is strict and highly professional. As with the pro teams, the goal is to keep cars on track, even if it is the competition’s car.

At the time, I had no idea the kind of competitor I had just bluntly asked for a welder. (Nor did I realize he was Alliance’s owner, either.) Scott was a well-decorated driver: seven-time national champion, hundreds of starts and dozens of wins, team owner and multi-time SCCA Super Sweep winner. Winning the Super Sweep Award is the most difficult accomplishment a driver can achieve in the SCCA. To win the award, a driver must win a U.S. Majors Tour Conference Championship, a Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour Nationwide Points Championship, and a National Championship Runoffs race—all in a single class. Scott did it six times, more than any other SCCA racer.

Scott cut his teeth racing in the World Karting Association. He climbed the ranks quickly, honing his driving skills and race craft. He even made friends along the way, despite being a dominant force. In racing, even if you are the nicest person, there is always some jealousy toward winners.

His parents would not bless his transition into cars unless he pledged to complete college, so he made sure to graduate at the top of his class and not miss any exams or classes. This meant sacrificing an occasional championship that may have been within reach.

Moving into open-wheel and spec classes (equally-prepped vehicles to minimize costs and focus on driver skill) was a logical transition for a well-disciplined, quick-adapting driver like Scott. Formula Mazda and Spec Racer Ford classes, specifically. Showing promise, he wasted no time and applied his skills and ambition by moving up one more step and running a variety of Pro series: Indy Pro 2000, Grand Am Road Racing and even the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

It did not take long, however, for Scott to figure out that a pro series wasn’t the best fit. For starters, pro racing typically requires funding reserved for the those with six or seven figures of disposable income. Sure, talent is a major factor, but there are hundreds of amateur-ranked drivers that could fill a pro-series seat and never will because of dollars and cents. Certain human and social elements, too, fall by the wayside in most pro series. Much like a world-famous popstar who struggles to develop true connections with ordinary individuals, Scott was dissatisfied with that lifestyle.

Instead, and with the help of his parents, he chose to apply his business skills to start an arrive-and-drive race car rental and coaching business. Alliance Autosport was born.

The team would fill three major needs in Scott’s life: the potential to continue racing in a competitive environment, genuine social connections, and the ability to coach and develop drivers from all walks of life. It was a misconception that Scott was an overly serious, minimally social creature—a reputation earned because he was all business when the track was hot. Once the track was cold and the cars were prepped for the next day’s races, Scott would engage in conversation and entertainment with his colleagues for hours. In the paddock, Alliance’s signature big blue tent was a beacon of friendliness.

One rainy October evening, I was returning from the local steakhouse near Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The blue tent was aglow in an otherwise dark paddock, laughter and animated conversation emanating from it. All eyes inside were glued to Scott, dressed in a ketchup-bottle costume. In the company of his drivers and crew, he was the ringleader of live circus performance, two hands flailing in descriptive motion. Without missing a beat, he greeted us with a warm smile and welcoming gesture.

The family environment Scott fostered is one of the ingredients to the team’s success, defined by the number of vehicles supported on any given race weekend. At Mid-Ohio, Alliance’s home track, I’ve seen the team support 18 race cars without missing a session or a nut-and-bolt check. That’s in part because of the attention they place on their drivers. Mechanically reliable and properly set-up vehicles are one thing, but so is driver development and the general enjoyment of being at the track.

Scott was a master coach, regardless of driver age, gender, background, or skill level. The customized lessons he provided for each driver between sessions were key. They went beyond driving skills, and for many he was a life coach; he understood first-hand the mental and emotional state it takes to be safe and swift on track. Reviews with Scott were not overly complicated, just digestible morsels.

Taking care of the drivers was a top priority. Taking care of his crew was the top priority. Yes, he had a “no dinner until vehicles are ready for the next day” policy, but if the team was taxed or shorthanded he would manage accordingly. In 2019, at the June Sprints held at Road America (SCCA’s second largest nationally-ranked race), Scott withdrew from the race as a driver to better take care of his team. He was often the crew cook, and more than once I found him rinsing off kitchen utensils with rubber gloves at some lonely spigot. Anything for Alliance—that was Scott.

His legacy lives on in the record books, in the memories he made with the track family, and the hearts of those who knew him. I personally have never been so grateful to have cracked a downpipe. The level of patience, sympathy, and charity Scott had for so many on and off the track was unmatched. Godspeed, my friend.

Alliance Autosport continues to operate as a family and team offering national-level competitive vehicles. The same standards of service and competition Scott established are observed across the country during two dozen race weekends per year.

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World’s easiest ’69 Camaro project could be yours

Intake: The 1969 Camaro Z/28 is joining the likes of the Ghostbusters ECTO-1, Porsche 911, and Fiat 500 among Lego’s Icon series of slightly larger vehicles rendered in the company’s trademark blocks. Builders will be able to select white, gray, or red stripes to adorn the black car, and can also choose a convertible or hardtop. The 1456-piece kit will hit store shelves on August 1 with an MSRP of $169.99.

Exhaust: As usual, Lego designers have managed to capture the essence of their subject despite the difficulty of rendering a well-known subject using plastic bricks. The customizable stripes are a nice touch, as are the options for license plates. One Michigan plate notes the make and year, and a California black plate reads “P4N T3R,” which is a nod to a name that Chevrolet considered for the car before selecting “Camaro.” For a Camaro owner or fan, it’s a great showpiece and we’re sure it will make for a fun day of building. — Brandan Gillogly

Drama as McLaren, Ganassi fight for IndyCar champ Alex Palou

Intake: Yesterday, Chip Ganassi Racing and McLaren Racing issued press releases announcing that defending IndyCar champion Alex Palou would drive for their respective teams in 2023. Unless the Spaniard found a way to clone himself, only one of these penned statements are true. The odd back-and-forth began Tuesday afternoon, when Ganassi’s team announced that they would exercise the contract option to retain the Palou in 2023, for his third year with the team.

Several hours later, Palou took to Twitter saying that the press release was false and that he would not be back with CGR in 2023 for “personal reasons.” In the three-part tweet, he also pointed out that he was misquoted in the press release.Five minutes after Palou’s tweet, McLaren Racing announced that Palou would race for the firm next season in an undisclosed capacity. This press release included quotes from Palou and Big Orange boss Zak Brown. According to IndyCar, a little over an hour after McLaren’s announcement, Ganassi Racing responded to a request for comment with a text reading, “We can confirm that Alex Palou is under contract with the team through 2023.” As of Wednesday morning, that’s where this confusing saga stands.

Exhaust: Never before have we witnessed such public tug-of-war over a driver. We can’t help but grab our popcorn bucket and enjoy a little bit of mid-week motorsports drama. Where—and what—will Palou race in 2023? Your guess is as good as ours. One thing we do know is that McLaren is amassing an impressive roster of winning open wheel drivers for next season—Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward will drive complete the IndyCar season slate for McLaren in 2023. The burgeoning team is also expected to add a third car to its full-time stable. Potential drivers include Felix Rosenqvist, who recently inked a renewal with McLaren in 2023 and beyond, or Alex Palou. However things shake out, look for Big Orange at the front of the pack.

“Retromod” Alfa Romeo Giulia QV recalls the 1960s

Intake: We’re all familiar with the idea of a restomod—an old car brought up to speed with modern performance and creature comforts—and now an Italian design firm has reverse-engineered the concept. Similar to Flex Automotive, which swaps 60- and 80-series fascias onto 100-series Land Cruisers, ErreErre Fuoriserie has attempted to turn a current Alfa Romeo QV into a classic Type 105 Giulia sedan. The Italian design house has squared off the car’s fenders and grafted on a new nose, complete with the OG Giulia’s trademark quad circular headlamps and a smaller grille. The rear gets small rectangular lights, and sculpted twin roof and trunk lid spoilers that ape the innovative wind-tunnel-honed shape of the 1960s’ sedan. ErreErre Fuoriserie charges $245,000 plus taxes for the transformation, and you’ll need to provide your own donor car, which costs another $80,000.

Exhaust: The 105 Giulia is a popular model for restomodding, since it will easily accomodate Alfa’s two-liter Twin Spark engine. You can vastly improve handling with a simple suspension swap for a lower, stiffer setup—just check out Alfaholics for inspiration. You could build a mighty 105 for a fraction of the cost of this weird Alfa, and as the former owner of a 1969 Giulia Super, I often wish I had. — Nik Berg

Triumph’s TE-1 electric prototype can outsprint a Speed Triple 1200

Intake: Triumph has been taking a relatively slow and transparent path in its creation of an electric model for its lineup, unlike other brands whose EV motorcycles seem to pop up out of nowhere or stem from a corporate acquisition. The TE-1 “electric development project” is no officially complete, says the OEM. A charge time (0 to 80 percent) of just 20 minutes and a 100-mile range make this bike worth taking seriously. That’s not all, either: The 130-kW motor can propel the TE-1 to 100-mph even faster than the Speed Triple 1200, which is no slouch.

Exhaust: Triumph knows that selling an electric motorcycle is an uphill battle for its clientele, and takes an interesting approach by specifying that this bike packs the power and performance of the Speed Triple 1200 while being the size of the Street Triple 765. (Yamaha’s original Yamaha R1 was praised for a similar approach back in 2000.) Range is still a bit tight, at 100 miles, but since it’s offset by a seriously quick charge time, the TE-1 should  “Never Electric” folks at least look twice.

Vintage Bentley testbed to make show debut

Intake: The last surviving three-liter Bentley experimental car, known as EXP4, is set to make its first-ever appearance at a car show. Built in 1922 with a touring body, the car was key to Bentley’s development of four-wheel braking. Chief designer Frank Burgess believed that adding brakes to the front axles would have significant safety benefits—an attitude which, believe it or not, was contrary to public opinion and even the beliefs of W.O. Bentley himself. To prove the advantage of all-wheel brakes, Burgess devised a system that would paint the road when the brakes were applied and when the car drew to halt, clearly marking its significantly shorter stopping distance.

EXP4’s role as a testbed continued as it was later fitted with a 4 1/2-liter engine, then rebodied as a saloon (sedan, for you Americans) for a few years, and then again with a touring body by Park Ward. In this form, it had a glorious 20-year racing career at the hands of Margaret Allen, including winning the 1950 Circuit of Ireland Rally’s Ladies’ Cup. EXP4 was then part of the Schellenberg Collection until 2015, when it was bought by Jonathan Turner and painstakingly restored by specialists William Medcalf. The car has since raced at Goodwood and Silverstone, but its display at Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, U.K., from August 31 to September 2 will be its first show outing.

Exhaust: Responsible for a revolution in safety and a key player in the development of the 4 1/2 liter engine that would famously win at Le Mans, followed by a racing career of its own with one of the fastest women of the day, EXP4 boasts an illustrious history that few Bentleys can rival. Worth even more celebration is the fact that its new owner puts the car to excellent use on track and shows it in public rather than keeping it hidden away in a private collection. — NB

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“Alpha9” first of four new DeLoreans, including John Z.’s unrealized sedan

Intake: We finally met the new DeLorean model yesterday, and more new introductions are already on the books for later this year. The reborn company headed by newly minted (as in six months ago) Joost de Vries, formerly of Karma, revealed its Alpha9 EV yesterday and announced three models to follow: a V-8 sports coupe, a battery-electric sedan, and a hydrogen-powered SUV. The expanded product portfolio is strategic; the battery-powered Alpha5 will be a strictly low-volume affair (in the context of historical replicas, NHTSA defines “low volume production” as 500 units or less), and as such won’t be able to pay its own way. “We need a sports car to relaunch the brand,” de Vries said in this podcast interview in April, 2022, “but the ambition of the brand is to be a full line manufacturer. We cannot survive on a coupe. I don’t care how cool it is, but the volumes don’t justify the investment, or the long-term perspective of what the investment requires. You are going to see other products from us.”

Exhaust: The Alpha5 seems a thinly disguised effort to leverage nostalgia to sell a product that honors the film-famous original in name only. If the reborn company is indeed preparing a more genuine connection to DeLorean of old, as teased here on its site, it’s probably connected to the the sedan code-named DMC-24 in period. Here’s what company founder John Z. DeLorean told Mainliner back in 1980: “We are planning now to add a sedan, on which we are doing a little preliminary work with Giugiaro. It is going to be a very different kind of sedan pointed at a whole different place in the market. It’s going to be very aerodynamic [with] the same essential characteristics of our current car. It is going to be designed to last forever without corrosion. It is going to be very strong but reasonably lightweight in comparison to other cars. It will probably have four gullwing doors and be a five-passenger with about the same interior accommodation as a Mercedes 450 SEL.” Giugiaro was nearly done building a full-scale prototype by the time DeLorean went bankrupt; it reached show floors repurposed by Lamborghini as the 1982 Marco Polo concept (see gallery below). The electric powertrain probably wasn’t part of John Z.’s original vision, and we don’t expect today’s iteration to use stainless-steel construction, but we’d bet that its “untold story” project is an expression of this same four-door, sketches of which are shown here.

Ericsson wins his first 500; IndyCar to use renewable fuel in 2023

Intake: Last Sunday, Swedish racer Marcus Ericsson won the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 in his fourth IndyCar season, and his third driving for perennial powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing. As the race neared completion, it appeared as though teammate Scott Dixon, who qualified on pole and led much of the 200-lap contest, would win his second Indy 500. However, in the final round of pitstops, Dixon—a driver so cool under pressure that he earned the nickname “The Iceman”—made and uncharacteristic mistake and exceeded pit road speed, resulting in a penalty. Ericsson capitalized on his teammate’s misfortune, inherited the lead, and survived a late-race charge from McLaren driver Pato O’Ward to claim his first triumph on the bricks.

Amid the excitement surrounding the 500—and just two days before Marcus Ericsson captured the Borg-Warner trophy—IndyCar announced that the series will shift to exclusively use sustainable fuels beginning in 2023. Shell will produce a new fuel comprised of sugarcane ethanol and other biofuels to make IndyCar the first major stateside sanctioning body to exclusively utilize the renewable juice. The ethanol will be sourced from Raízen, a Brazilian joint-venture between Shell and Cosan, and one of the largest sugarcane ethanol producers in the world. Currently, IndyCar uses a variation of E85 fuel, which contains 85% ethanol and 15% high-octane race fuel.

Exhaust: While this announcement may be a little into the weeds (get it?) for the casual motorsports fan, make no doubt, it is important. IndyCar is the first big domino to fall in the complete adoption of sustainable fuels within North American motorsports, and only time will tell if any negligible dips in performance or spikes in cost will prevent other series from making the jump. Also, major props to IndyCar for beating Formula 1 to the complete adoption of renewable fuel, as the global open-wheel series will have to wait until the new series-wide hybrid engines in 2025. Consider our enthusiasm renewed for IndyCar next season.

Adventures for eight await with new Land Rover Defender 130

Intake: Land Rover has opened up off-road excursions and overland explorations to even more adventurers by adding 13 inches and three extra seats to the Defender 110. As you can see from the images, all the extra length is behind the rear axle. Where the five-door 110 has almost no overhang, the new 130 is all about that … bass, so to speak. Land Rover designers have sculpted the rear carefully, however, giving it a “subtle boat tail-style uplift” which means the car’s go-anywhere ability is unaffected. Off-road geeks can boast of a 28.5-degree departure angle and electronic air suspension which can raise the ride height by almost three inches to overcome obstacles.

The first thing buyers will have to navigate is the extensive range of packs, paints, and options offered. There’s an all-new Sedona Red hue that’s exclusive to the 130, and the choice of Explorer, Adventure, Country and Urban accessory packs, and an Extended Bright Pack to give a satin finish to the lower body panels. Seating is in a 2-3-3 arrangement, meaning the front jump seat isn’t available on the 130, but the two rear rows offer generous leg and headroom, each row having a small “stadium rise” for improved visibility, and with the additional bonus of a second sunroof to let in light. Every row has its own ventilation with a four-zone climate control system. A new natural light oak engineered wood veneer is available to complement the light oyster leather seats. Tan leather is also available, as is a rugged Robustec fabric. Even with all three rows in place the Defender 130 offers a capacious 13.7 cubic feet of cargo space, which rises to a van-like 80.9 cubic feet if all seats are folded away. Loading is made easier by lowering the air suspension.

In terms of extra on-board tech, the 130 gets a larger 11.4-inch Pivi Pro touchscreen, the navigation system now works with what3words, a geocode system, to give directions in even the most remote environments, and a new cabin air purification plus system uses nanotechnology to remove allergens, pathogens and smells—a welcome feature whether you’re stuck in traffic or wading through a swamp. The Defender 130 will launch with the brand’s three-liter, mild-hybrid “Ingenium” six-cylinder in either P300 and P400 configuration (offering 296 or 395 hp) but a V-8 version is set to follow. Until then, the P400’s 6.3 second 0-to-60 mph sprint time should be enough to scare your seven passengers.

Exhaust: This is the Defender for which bigger families and excursion operators have been waiting. The 130’s extra interior space and carrying capacity, and its retained off-road agility, proves Land Rover knows its adventurous audience well.

Mercedes-AMG E63 Final Edition limited to 999 customers

Intake: The AMG E63 is going out in style with a run of Final Edition models in ultimate specification. The 999 sedans and wagons will all be painted in matte gray, wear 20-inch AMG forged alloy wheels with a special cross-spoke design, and flaunt gloss black aerodynamic accoutrements (Night Package). The interior features AMG Performance Seats in nappa leather, a flat-bottomed steering wheel made from leather and Dinamica microfiber, and special AMG Final Edition badging on the center console. The 612-hp biturbo V-8 is unchanged, and the car retains its variable all-wheel drive system and drift mode. Prices and availability haven’t been revealed.

Exhaust: Just how “final” is this incarnation? Well, if the E-Class follows the way of the C-Class, then it could well be the last of the V-8 models. Mercedes-AMG has confirmed that the next C63 will be a four-cylinder hybrid, and regardless of cylinder count, all future AMG powertrains will integrate some form of electrification. Expect each upcoming model to improve upon its gas-only predecessors in sheer output: The new C63 is set to offer an insane 670 hp from a 470-hp turbo two-liter paired with a 200-hp e-motor.

85K fleet buyers ready to leap to electric Silverado work trucks

Intake: Chevy’s Silverado EV is the bowtie’s hotly anticipated answer to Ford’s F-150 Lightning, and just like the latter, the Silverado EV will offer a fleet-first work truck configuration meant to satisfy the needs of those who depend on their vehicle to put food on the table and money in their company’s coffers. In an interview with Automotive News, Ed Peper, vice president of GM Fleet, said that customers are taking to the electrified pickup like a fish to water—Chevy has received some 85,000 reservations from nearly 370 companies for the Silverado EV. Chevy will launch the Silverado EV in two configurations: the consumer-facing RST, whose first edition model will clear six figures price wise, and the fleet-forward Silverado WT with an MSRP of $39,900 plus destination. All Silverado EVs will utilize GM’s Ultium battery platform and offer up to 400 miles of range when equipped with the largest battery pack. DC fast charging will offer up to 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes, and, like the Lightning, the Silverado EV WT will be able to charge all manner of tools and gear. Chevy is also planning to offer an even more focused “fleet model” sometime after the initial launch, which it says will be able to tow up to 20,000 lbs when properly equipped. We’d guess that most of these early reservations are for the Silverado WT, however. The first Silverado EVs are due next spring, so in the not-too-distant future that utility truck in your neighborhood might be wafting along on silent, electric power.

Exhaust: While some fleet customers are still reticent to replace their gas-powered rigs, it seems there’s no shortage of others ready to make the leap. The question now is what GM will do about fulfilling those orders. We know that Ford is hastily working to ramp up production for the F-150 Lightning following overwhelming demand; the Blue Oval received more than 200,000 reservations as of late April and is currently targeting nearly three-fold production numbers in 2023, from 40,000 this year to 150,000 the following year. If GM faces similar constraints, the firm will need to act fast to meet this demand and prove that an electric Silverado work truck can pull its, erm, weight alongside its internal-combustion siblings. 

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First company to Hemi-swap the Wrangler drops ’70s throwback

Intake: American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), a prominent outfitter for popular off-road platforms such as the Dodge Power Wagon and the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator, introduced a 1970s throwback model at last weekend’s Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, Arizona. The JL370 Wrangler Classic (and the matching JT370 Gladiator Classic) incorporate yellow Rubicon lettering on the hood as well as orange and yellow striping along the body, hood, and custom dash panel to evoke the loud feel of many graphic packages found on some of the best ’70s 4x4s. Custom White Salta XR wheels shod in meaty 37-inch BF Goodrich K03 tires ensure plenty of ground clearance, and AEV’s standard stamped steel front bumper houses a Warn winch to lug you or fellow crawlers out of tight spots. The Rubicon’s meaty Dana axles are upgraded with 4.56 gears to handle the upsized tires and a custom DualSport RT suspension system hoists the vehicle an additional 2.5 inches to ensure proper body clearance and even more ground clearance. The package starts at $20,500, and plenty of lighting and gear add-ons ensure you can spec this retro Rubi’ just how you like. AEV says that the package is a limited production affair, so if a ’70s-inspired modern Wrangler stirs your soul, don’t wait to make a move.

Exhaust: The AEV JL370 Wrangler Classic is a nod to the Jeep CJs of the 1970s, and it’s another illustration of how the off-road aftermarket can move faster than the factory: AEV put a V-8 in the Wrangler before Jeep did (as far back as 2012), and it fit the JL Rubicon with 37-inch rubber before the OEM, whose largest current factory-backed options are 35-inchers via the Xtreme Recon package. Though it may arrive fashionably late, Jeep isn’t missing the Rubicon nostalgia fest: At this year’s Easter Jeep Safari, Jeep unveiled the Rubicon 20th Anniversary Concept, a Wrangler Rubicon 392–based creation with a 2-inch lift and—at long last—37-inch BFGs. The concept has a high chance of making it to the production line, which begs the question: Retro throwback from a trusted aftermarket name, or modern celebration straight from the marque itself?

Scott Dixon scores Indy 500 pole in record-breaking attempt

Intake: On Sunday, IndyCar champion Scott Dixon earned his fifth career Indianapolis 500 pole award, aboard his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with the fastest qualifying run ever recorded in the race’s 105-year history. Qualifying for this year’s Indy 500 began on Saturday, with 33 cars, each making a four-lap attempt. The 12 best four-lap averages advanced to Sunday’s Fast Twelve qualifying round. Then, the top six from the dozen qualified a third—and final—time to determine who would lead the field to green next Sunday for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Six-time champ Dixon was last car to qualify in the final round. Despite the immense amount of pressure, “Iceman” Scott Dixon lived up to his name as he delivered a run of the century, with a four-lap average speed of 234.06 mph, which Scott Brayton’s old pole record speed of 233.718 set in 1996.

Exhaust: Dixon’s epic run Sunday pulled the future Hall of Famer even closer to Rick Mear’s record six Indy 500 poles. It should be noted, though, that the all-time speed record comes with a caveat. See, back in 1996, “The Flying Dutchman” Arie Luyendyk posted a run of 236.986 mph on the consolation day of qualifying (under the old format) which precluded the blistering run from the record books. Still, we’re not taking anything away from Dixon, or Chip Ganassi, for that matter, who placed four of his six entries in the final round of qualifying. Rinus Veekay and perennial contender Ed Carpenter carried the Chevrolet banner in qualifying, securing second and fourth position, respectively. Less than a week, now, and we’ll see which driver—and which powerplant—is out front at the end of 500 miles in the 106th running of the Indy 500.

You could bond with Sean Connery’s Aston Martin DB5

Disclaimer: Hagerty has entered into a joint venture with Broad Arrow Group as of January 10, 2022.

Intake: A 1964 Aston Martin DB5 owned by original 007 actor Sir Sean Connery is to be auctioned in California in August. Broad Arrow Auctions will put the Snow Shadow Grey car under the hammer at its Monterey Jet Center sale, where it is estimated to bring between $1.4 and $1.8 million. The DB5 was delivered new to a Mr. A. White in the U.K. in the same year that Goldfinger rocketed a gadget-laden version to screen stardom, however Connery didn’t buy the car until 2018. “Dad used to talk about owning his own DB5, for no other reason than he loved the car,” son Jason Connery says. “He did tell me that driving the movie cars, all laden down with the gadgets, especially the machine guns in the front, made the car really front heavy and turning at slow speed was a Herculean task, so driving without gadgets was a joy! He loved how well balanced it was. Dad also said he would have kept the ejector seat. I didn’t ask who for.” Connery kept the Aston at his home in Switzerland before he passed away in 2020 at the age of 90. Proceeds of the sale are set to go the Sean Connery Philanthropy Fund, and as an additional incentive Sir Jackie Stewart has offered to take the buyer for a drive.

Exhaust: Despite the on-screen image, Connery didn’t share Bond’s taste in metal. Though he had a soft spot for British performance, Leno remembers that Connery—”one of the cheapest guys” he’d ever met—was more taken by the affordable, off-beat Jensen C-V8 and its Chrysler eight-cylinder than he was with the six-cylinder Aston. “We were talking about his Bond car once, the Aston Martin DB5, and he said, in his Scottish brogue, ‘I’m not paying top money for that! You’re crazy!'” Considering that a real 007 movie car is worth five times as much, Connery’s car could be a steal. 

Suzuki’s focus on automotive sector spells end of MotoGP program

Intake: Suzuki is cancelling its MotoGP effort for the second time in the last decade citing a required increase in focus and financial support on Suzuki’s automotive efforts. Interestingly, this puts the team at odd with Dorna, MotoGP’s organizer, over the contract Suzuki signed promising to be in the paddock through the 2026 season. Suzuki claimed in a leaked dealer memo obtained by Cycle World that the exit is currently being negotiated with Dorna, but final details are unknown at this time.

Exhaust: Factory involvement in racing is a constant ebb and flow, even between various series and disciplines. Suzuki’s exit from MotoGP comes as a surprise to many but, in hindsight, the company’s reasoning checks out. Interestingly, one of the big things Suzuki felt the need to clarify was that its exit from the MotoGP paddock is not a signal of its departure from the powersports market. New Suzuki models will continue to be delivered to dealer showrooms and the factory will continue support for MotoAmerica, AMA Supercross, AMA Motocross, and NHRA Pro Stock Drag Racing.

Pagani C10 to debut on September 12

 

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Intake: Pagani has confirmed that its new model will finally be revealed in the fall. The successor to the Huarya (and the Zonda before it) is known as the C10, although we expect a more evocative name to accompany its fanfare launch in Milan on September 12. What we do know is that the car will maintain its AMG V-12 heart for now, although Pagani is also planning an electric version. Just don’t expect that battery-powered version to appear in a hurry; the combustion-powered C10 has been in development since 2017.

Exhaust: As only the third new model since Pagani made its debut at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, the C10 is keenly anticipated. The spy shots and sketches show little of the architectural beauty that the brand is known for, and we can’t wait to see what kind of barmily bejewelled interior will come with as well. 

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Aftermarket sales defy high inflation, fuel prices to pass pre-pandemic levels

Intake: SEMA, the Speciality Equipment Market Association, reports that the automotive aftermarket is flying high even in the face of rising inflation and fuel prices, as 75 percent of manufacturers, 68 percent of distributors and 53 percent of retailers/installers report that sales are above their 2019 levels. (The average increase is 18, 7, and 6 percent, respectively, for each business vertical.) As expected, the lion’s share of sales come from trucks (20 percent for manufacturers, 22 percent for retailers) and classic vehicles (18 percent manufacturer, 26 percent retail). The overall growth trend is expected to continue in the coming months, which is great news for customers and insiders alike.

Exhaust: While SEMA believes that the pandemic’s reign of disruption has subsided, it warns that global supply chain issues are still a challenge for over 90 percent of the industry, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not come until 2023. And much like other industries, 70 percent of manufacturers, 56 percent of distributors, and 45 percent of retailers experienced difficulty finding qualified people to fill open positions. While the data doesn’t raise any red flags, remember that SEMA surveyed 1554 individuals within the specialty-equipment industry for this report. So as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

IndyCar comes home for first of many Indy 500 test sessions

Intake: Earlier this week, the NTT IndyCar Series drivers took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for their first test sessions ahead of the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500. In preparation for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” drivers spent Wednesday and Thursday turning laps around the famed 2.5-mile course. Wednesday was broken into multiple sessions, with veteran groups and hopeful rookie contenders practicing separately. These initial sessions were marked by drama, as multiple crashes slowed the typically torrid pace. Many of the yellows were caused by spins on the pit exit lane—a section of track that was resealed over the off-season. The slick access road was such an issue for drivers that officials halted the first day 30 minutes early so they could inspect the new surface. Indy’s second day was delayed four hours to dry the surface after overnight rain. Once dry, the track hosted the fastest laps over the two-day period, with Joseph Newgarden laying down a chart-topping 229.519 mile-per-hour lap.

Exhaust: Indianapolis Motor Speedway is alive with the sound of open-wheel racing, signaling to all motorsport fans that Spring is officially here. While prospective rookies are typically the source of shattered fiberglass in the months leading up to the Indy 500, this year it was a crop of veterans who found themselves pointed in the wrong direction. Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, centennial winner Alexander Rossi, and previous series champ Will Power all spun during Wednesday’s tumultuous sessions. Power’s incident (shown below) also collected rising star Colton Herta. All drivers walked away and only Castroneves’ team opted to withdraw from the second day of testing. Rejoice! Before we know it, it’s gonna be May.

A driver’s worst nightmare is spinning up off the apron into 220mph traffic.. Didn’t see this one coming.. glad no one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/YrYjJFcUyP

— Will Power (@12WillPower) April 21, 2022

Ford recalls 652,996 body-on-frame trucks and SUVs for faulty wiper arm

Intake: Ford is recalling several hundred thousand body-on-frame pickups and SUVs for a potentially faulty wiper arm that could result in reduced visibility in adverse weather and increased risk of an accident. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) report, the affected vehicles were equipped with a wiper arm whose head spline teeth were produced out of design spec for the higher-torque wiper motors. Among the cars affected are 66,373 Ford F-150s from the 2021 model year, 89,903 F-150s from 2020, 95,915 Expeditions from 2020 through ’21, 381,797 Super Duty pickups from 2020 through 2022, and 19,008 Lincoln Navigators from 2020 to ’21. Affected owners will be notified by mail and should prepare to take their vehicles to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have both front windshield wiper arms replaced, free of charge.

Exhaust: Recalls happen—the astounding mechanical complexity of today’s cars are bound to produce a few faulty parts occasionally. Frankly, we’re surprised it isn’t more common. Kudos to Ford for nipping this one in the bud and handling the fix in a timely manner. Blasting along in a rainstorm only to have the front wiper arms decide to take the day off is a less-than-ideal scenario.

On this day in 1933: Sir Henry Royce passes

Intake: Sir Henry Royce, founder of Rolls-Royce with Charles Rolls, died 89 years ago today. Royce spent his final 16 years living at Elmstead, a country manor in West Sussex, some 400 miles from the company’s factory in Derby, and every year Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club members make a pilgrimage to his former home to pay tribute. Royce had a studio on the estate where he worked on car designs and the engine for the Schneider Trophy-winning Supermarine Spitfire aircraft. “Sir Henry Royce was a wholly remarkable man, with an insatiable curiosity, formidable work ethic and irresistible urge to make things better, whether that was motor cars, engines, or even—as he proved at Elmstead—farm animals and fruit trees. Almost 90 years after his death, he remains a towering figure and constant inspiration to all of us at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars,” says Andrew Ball, head of corporate relations at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Exhaust: When BMW-owned Rolls-Royce was seeking a new base for its HQ, it chose Goodwood for its proximity to Rolls’ home. The West Sussex roads that Rolls himself would test drive prototype vehicles are still used today. “That emotional connection with our founder, who spent his happiest and most productive years there, is something we all feel very deeply,” adds Ball.

A Ferrari 860 Monza for $70,000? Not quite

Intake: A 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza, as driven to victory at Nassau by Phil Hill and that took second and third spots in the Mille Miglia, would set you back millions. Or you could pick up this lookalike for just over $70,000. Its fiberglass bodywork is a decent mimic of the original, and it sits on a tubular steel chassis like the Ferrari, with similar wishbone front suspension and a four-speed manual transmission—but, to be honest, that’s where the similarities end. The Ferrari was powered by a 280-hp, 3.4-liter four-cylinder engine and this Kougar copy has a three-liter Ford V-6 offering 156 hp. That said, the red paint and Ferrari badges on the engine will, no doubt, make it seem much faster. The cabin is trimmed in leather-look vinyl, but at least it has a Moto-Lita steering wheel. Built in 1982 the car is for sale at Caterham specialists Sevens & Classics in the UK.

Exhaust: The last time a Ferrari 860 Monza came up for sale it fetched $2,057,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2003. With the passage of almost 20 years, the price today would be closer to $7,000,000. Does that make this replica a sweet deal? Possibly …

Nerves struck as Cobb gets serious about CARB compliance

Intake: Cobb, one of the most well-known suppliers of aftermarket tuning software, has received 11 new California Air Resources Board Executive Orders (CARB EO) for new products since January, and its latest changes will affect customers no matter the regulations (or enforcement thereof) in their home states. To bring its Accesstuner Software into compliance with CARB EOs, Cobb has eliminated any table that allows for changes to O2 sensors, catalysts, EGR systems, warmup procedures, secondary air injection, and other systems designed to reduce emissions. Rather than approach the issue of varying emissions regulations by offering a separate, CARB EO–specific tune (as Hondata does), Cobb is instituting one CARB-compliant update to rule all its customers. As of April 18, 2022, all Cobb products running Accesstuner software were force updated to remove anything that a regulation agency might classify as a delete, bypass, or defeat of a factory-installed emissions system. All older software systems are, as of that same date, nonfunctional. Caught in the net are some flex fuel systems, namely the analog units used by Nissan and Subaru.

Exhaust: Cobb is making the right move in the wrong way. In the long run, the company has little choice: The EPA is not messing around, as it proved back in 2020, when it slammed Diesel Brothers with a $848,000 fine for illegally modifying the emissions control systems of diesel pickups. While Cobb’s shouldering of environmental responsibility is worthy of praise, its insensitive delivery of the news is damaging the company’s otherwise excellent name. The discontinuation of the E85 Flex Fuel Kit is triggering the most outrage, since Cobb didn’t give any real warning to clients or distributors, and the kit was available for sale up to 30 days ago. Here, as with the nationwide application of CARB emission standards, Cobb’s approach lacks nuance: Why lock everyone out, and not simply limit access for the E85 kit to Cobb-certified shops? 

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Sony and Honda hook up for EV venture

Intake: Honda and Sony are joining forces to develop electric cars which could be on sale as early as 2025. The two companies will partner in a new, as yet un-named firm, to develop the new models in an “alliance which brings together the strengths of our two companies offers great possibilities for the future of mobility,” said Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe. Honda will take care of the vehicle manufacture and after-sales, while Sony’s responsibility will, of course, be the electronics—specifically imaging and sensors, communications, and in-car entertainment.

Exhaust: Despite having shown off near-production-ready EVs at CES, Sony was never going to go it alone into the auto business. Honda, meanwhile, needs help to grow and the company has previously been full of praise for its new partner. “A new entry like Sony will really revitalize the industry,” said Mibe earlier this year. As automakers scramble to grab the EV-related headlines, we’re seeing a handful of different approaches. Some, like Ford, are choosing to stand up the EV business unit ion its own. Others are simply making grand forecasts about coming EVs. Honda’s slightly different route may give it the edge it needs in the free-for-all that is the pending wave of electric vehicles.

Kia wants in on EV pickups

Intake: At a virtual investor conference earlier this week, Kia unveiled an ambitious roadmap for ramping up its EV portfolio. The plan calls for 14 new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2027, with at least two BEVs launched per year beginning in 2023. While many of these BEVs are expected to be sedans or SUVs akin to Kia’s current EV6, the Korean automaker also plans to add two electric pickup trucks—one “dedicated model” (targeting mainstream markets like North America, China, and Korea), and one “strategic model” (entry-level, low-cost) for emerging markets. Kia says that the electric pickup will be produced in the United States from 2024 on. Expect more details about sizing, dimensions, and even pricing to roll out over the coming months.

Exhaust: Kia’s sibling company, Hyundai, also rolled out an ambitious goal for the coming years, but it didn’t explicitly mention pickups. Kia will look to join several other automakers currently cooking up electrified trucks, including Ford, Chevy, upstarts like Rivian, and as of earlier this week, Ram. Whether or not the Korean brand can conjure the right mix of size, styling and features to woo American truck buyers remains to be seen. If any truck in recent memory has hit that mark, it’s the new Ford Maverick.

IndyCar’s 900-horsepower hybrid engine will have to wait

Intake: IndyCar’s electrified future will have to wait as supply chain issues continue to plague the motorsports ecosystem. The debut of its 900-horsepower, 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 hybrid engine—which was originally scheduled for 2023—is now delayed until 2024, according to IndyCar. Current engine providers Chevrolet and Honda will continue to use their 2.2-liter twin-turbo V-6s until then. “We have finished development and dyno testing of our new internal combustion engine,” said Honda Performance Development president David Salters, “and once the hybrid system component supply chain issues are sorted, we’ll begin track testing of the new hybrid power unit.” That first track test is currently scheduled for March 30th at Sebring.

Exhaust: While IndyCar’s hybrid powertrain delay is hardly a major supply chain effect compared to, say, the computer chip shortage or surging gas prices, it’s still a major inconvenience for the series. Since Penske purchased IndyCar in 2020, the division has ridden a wave of momentum with young talent, fierce finishes, and new faces in victory lane. Year-over-year viewership was up 19% in 2021 and 10% in 2020. The flashy new hybrid powertrain, in a way, will help Indy keep up with the Joneses: NASCAR’s well-received Next Gen stock car and F1’s new-for-2022 open-wheelers. If there is any bright side to the delay, it’s that the current platform has provided some stellar on-track action, especially at the Indianapolis 500, the series’ most important race. Perhaps another year of refinement for the hybrid powertrain will allow IndyCar to build on its current climb.

Ford dumps electric scooters to focus on EVs

Intake: Hot on the heels of recent restructuring news, Ford announced the sale of its Spin electric scooter division to European mobility company Tier Mobility AG, according to a report from Automotive News. The deal gets TIER into the North American market, while allowing Ford to focus on what they do best: make personal transportation vehicles. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Ford acquired the mobility startup for $100 million back in 2018. That said, Ford isn’t completely exiting the business, as Franck Louis-Victor, Vice President of New Businesses at Ford Motor Company said, “We are pleased to remain in the mix as a strategic investor in Tier and look forward to their continued growth.”

Exhaust: Don’t hold your breath for Mach-E branded scooters anytime soon, but Ford’s continued investment in mobility scooters means the door isn’t fully shut on their dreams of providing modern solutions to modern big-city problems. Ford’s 2018 acquisition of the iconic Michigan Central station was part of an effort to corral some of the buzz around terms like “last mile logistics” and “mobility solutions” that had investors fawning over startups such as Lyft, Bird, and Uber. The sale of Spin proves that may have been wishful thinking. That said, now that Michigan Central Station has research money from Google, perhaps it will one day reach those lofty dreams of mobility solutions for all types of American commuters.

Russia kicked out of Formula 1 over Ukraine invasion

Intake: Formula 1 has torn up Russia’s contract to host Grand Prix racing after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Russia had a deal in place until 2025, with plans to move the race to Putin’s home town of St. Petersburg in 2023. Initially, F1 cancelled this year’s Sochi event scheduled for September, but then decided to kick Russia from the calendar indefinitely. “Formula 1 can confirm it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter meaning Russia will not have a race in the future,” a statement from F1 said.

Meanwhile, Haas, the only American team in F1 currently, has reportedly sacked its Russian driver Nikita Mazepin. Mazepin’s father is a billionaire oligarch said to have close ties to Putin and was sponsoring the team, but Haas removed all traces of his Uralkali brand from its car during the season’s first test as news of the Russian invasion broke. Brazilian-American driver Pietro Fittapaldi is favorite to replace the Russian.

Exhaust: Motor racing’s response to the Ukraine crisis hasn’t been very well coordinated. The FIA, F1’s governing body, said that Russian and Belarusian drivers could continue to race under an FIA flag, but that wasn’t deemed strong enough by many nations own organizers. Motorsport UK banned Russian and Belarusian drivers from racing in Britain, meaning that Mazepin would have had to skip the race at Silverstone. Mazepin did little to boost Haas’ efforts during the 2021 season, earning zero points for the team.

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All Miatas gain trick cornering tech for 2022, Club and Sport drop automatic

Intake: Everyone’s favorite two-seat roadster is getting a few updates for the 2022 model year that focus even more intently on those seeking modernized driving nirvana. The 2022 Mazda Miata will drop the automatic transmission option for the base Sport and the Goldilocks Club models, offering a delightful six-speed manual transmission exclusively. A new cornering tech, called Kinematic Posture Control (KPC), will lightly clamp the inside rear brake on a high-g turn to help the car rotate more stably and feel more linear in cornering effort. All Miatas will get KPC in 2022. A new-to-the-Miata paint color, Platinum Quartz Metallic, will be offered on the base Sport. The Miata Club will now offer wireless Apple CarPlay. The top-trim Miata Grand Touring will offer a new interior seat color, called Terracotta Napa Leather, as a $300 upgrade. Expect a (blessedly low) price increase of about $500 across all trims.

For those who want the nitty gritty details, base prices for the 2022 Miata lineup are as follows (all prices include $1015 destination fee): Miata Sport, $28,315; Miata Club, $31,815; Miata Club with BBS/Recaro Package, $36,315 for the soft top, $39,215 for the RF; Miata Grand Touring with automatic, $33,315 for the soft top and $36,015 for the RF; Miata Grand Touring with manual, $33,815 for the soft top and $36,565 for the RF.

Exhaust: While it’s hard to call any Miata a bargain anymore, the driving experience this roadster offers feels worth the money, especially given that there are no direct competitors for this sort of droptop bliss. Kinematic Posture Control is a neat piece of tech that should elevate an already transcendent driving experience. Our recommendation is still the Miata Club with the BBS/Recaro package; it’s the ideal Miata in every way.

Jimmie Johnson commits to full 2022 IndyCar season with Chip Ganassi

Intake: NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson announced yesterday that he will compete full-time in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing, come 2022. Johnson will follow up his freshman year in IndyCar, which was a part-time (12-race) affair on road and street courses, with Ganassi in the #48 open-wheel racer. 46-year-old Johnson, who spent a large part of 20 years in NASCAR simply dominating his competition (he racked up seven championships and 84 race wins), could only muster a season-best 17th-place finish. Johnson’s announcement to go full-time, of course, means that he will compete in Indy’s oval track events, namely the crown-jewel Indianapolis 500. Look for the blue and yellow Carvana colors, as Johnson will be sponsored by the online auto retailer for 16 out of the 17 races during the 2022 season.

Exhaust: Prior to the 2021 Indy season, Johnson had demonstrated his ability to be competitive in multiple divisions throughout his long career, from off-road trucks to stock cars to sports-car road racing. The Indy races, however, revealed that the Superman driver was indeed human. While Johnson did show speed in first year in the series, much of his season was spent acclimating to his Honda-powered Dallara. Many competitors applauded Johnson for taking the risky jump, and if anything, his results (or lack thereof) demonstrated the amount of skill it takes to compete for top 10s, let alone wins, in North America’s premier open-wheel division. Given the champ’s familiarity with turning left and his return to certain tracks for a second time, we expect big things for Johnson in his sophomore season in IndyCar.

GMC teases all-electric Sierra Denali, sets 2022 reveal date

Intake: There aren’t a lot of details in the 18-second video apart from a glimpse of the upcoming Sierra Denali’s grille-less fascia. Expect the upscale, battery-powered Sierra to borrow the GM-developed Ultium architecture undergirding Chevrolet’s electric Silverado, which is due to roll off Hamtramck’s Factory ZERO assembly line in early 2023. Don’t be surprised if the GMC also cribs the Silverado’s trick four-wheel steering, too.

Exhaust: With news of an all-electric Chevrolet Silverado in the pipeline, it was safe to assume that a GMC Sierra wouldn’t be too far behind. A significant portion of Sierra sales is made up of high-end Denali models, so it would make sense to lead the, ah, charge with the most luxurious, profitable model.

David Beckham kindly reminds you to personalize your Maserati

Intake: Most high-end luxury automakers have in-house customization teams dedicated to realizing the most specific color-scheme dreams of well-heeled clients. Ferrari has Atelier, Lamborghini has Centro Stile, Porsche has the recently resurrected Sonderwunsch, Mercedes has Manufaktur. Maserati has Fuoriserie, and the program’s latest creation is a first in the life of the trident’s most recent model: An MC20 customized to the rather high standards of one David Beckham. The car’s black-with-a-sprinkle-of-pink palette pays homage to the color’s of Beckham’s Miami-based football soccer club. Fuoriserie projects aren’t always one-offs: A run of 175 Ghiblis inspired by Japanese street culture—specifically, by Hiroshi Fujiwara—appeared this past summer. 

Exhaust: Like Land Rover, Maserati is one of those unusual brands whose products have cultivated a truly diverse global clientele. It may be easy for enthusiasts to sideline pure fashion statements such as Beckham’s MC20, but surely this form of self-expression is only a more collaborative and better-funded version of the aesthetic tweaks we make to our own daily drivers. Mr. Beckham wasn’t going to be satisfied with an air freshener and few bumper stickers, was he?

Polestar announces 270-mile EPA range and upgrades for Polestar 2

Intake: The 2022 Polestar 2 long-range single-motor has received an EPA-estimated range of 270 miles just as the company announced that it will deliver over-the-air updates that improve Advanced Driving Assistance Systems and allow for charging sessions to be scheduled to minimize cost.

“We are pleased to announce the longest range of any Polestar yet,” said Gregor Hembrough, the head of Polestar in North America. “Alongside continual range improvements, we continue to offer new conveniences for our customers free of charge via OTA software downloads.”

In addition to the free updates, which will also cover 2021 models, owners of the Polestar 2 long-range dual motor will soon be able to purchase performance software that raises output to 476 hp, about a 67-hp upgrade.

Exhaust: We were impressed with the Polestar 2 long-range single-motor when we drove it earlier this year. A 275-mile range coupled with fast charging makes it a compelling option. Polestar offering free software upgrades to early brand adopters sends a good message to customers, we just hope that the performance upgrades don’t come at too much of a premium.

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In the spring of 1987, guests at one of the finest hotels in Reading, Pennsylvania—the Sheraton at 1741 Papermill Road—were startled to see a truck pull up to the door and workers hastily load up the 1986 March IndyCar, part of a lobby exhibit to call attention to the then-Reading-based Penske Racing team.

The truck headed south to Interstate 76, which went west towards Indianapolis. What the workers may have said to the curious guests is unknown, but it was almost surely not: “This hotel-exhibit car is going to win the next Indianapolis 500.”

Which it of course did, with a recently-dismissed Al Unser making peace with team owner Roger Penske and agreeing to drive the car to his fourth victory there, in a car fitted with the antediluvian Cosworth DFX engine while Penske’s dream team, Danny Sullivan and Rick Mears, were running the newer Ilmor Chevrolets.

Penske’s third driver, 44-year-old Danny Ongais, hired to replace Unser with backing from Revenge of the Nerds film producer Ted Field and his Interscope racing company, had crashed a new Penske PC-16 into the wall at 11:44 a.m. on a Thursday during the sixth day of practice. It was the eighth of 25 crashes to occur during practice and qualifying. He was concussed to the point where doctors declined to clear the invariably sullen ex-motorcycle and drag racer to compete.

Unser, helmet in hand, had been prowling the garage looking for a ride, but he deemed all offers unsuitable and was on the verge of returning home to New Mexico until Penske held out a lifeline-shaped olive branch. The PC-16s had been a bust, and Penske was going back to the March chassis for all three racers, but the Unser effort—considered by some as a comfortable way to get sponsor Cummins onto a car—was lightly regarded.

Unser, who would turn 48 in a week, qualified 20th, nearly eight miles per hour slower than polesitter Mario Andretti. On the first turn of the first lap, Josele Garza spun and lightly tapped the car next to him, driven by Al Unser. While Unser’s car wasn’t damaged, Garza collected Pancho Carter, who had flipped during practice, with his helmet grinding against the pavement.

The race continued. Andretti was flying, taking only seven laps before he began passing back markers. Meanwhile, mechanical problems claimed the cars of contenders A.J. Foyt, Michael Andretti, Rick Mears, and the prior year’s winner, Bobby Rahal.

Then the race was tragically punctuated when Lyle Kurtenbach, a dedicated fan from Wisconsin, was killed when a tire came off Tony Bettenhausen’s car on lap 130 and was struck by the car of second-place Roberto Guerrero, launching the tire up to the top row of Grandstand K, where Kurtenbach and his family were sitting.

Unser drove his typically careful but quick race as faster competitors fell to the sideline. Mario Andretti was in complete control of the race, leading 170 laps and having put Al Unser almost two laps down. With 25 laps to go, only 12 of the 33 cars were running, some multiple laps in arrears.

Then, with a full lap lead, the famed Andretti Curse struck. An electrical problem led to an imbalance in the engine that caused a broken valve spring. He had led 170 laps, and even sitting in the pits, finished ninth.

Meanwhile Guerrero, after pitting to replace the nose cone broken in the collision with Bettenhausen’s tire, had made it back up to second place, taking the lead when Mario Andretti’s car failed. Guerrero had only to make his final fuel stop to win the race, and he entered the pits with nearly a full lap lead over a came-from-nowhere Unser. But Guerrero stalled the engine after the fuel stop and was passed by Unser.

Even with a caution flag on lap 192—for Mario Andretti, whose limping car had finally given up—Guerrero couldn’t catch Unser, who won by four-and-a-half seconds. Penske teammates Mears finished 23rd, Sullivan 13th, both retiring with engine problems.

It was an unusual victory lane celebration. Bobby Unser, Al’s older brother and a three-time Indy 500 winner, interviewed Al from the ABC booth, where Bobby was broadcasting his first 500 on television. “Everybody said, ‘I can’t believe he won the race,’” Unser said. “I said, ‘I can’t, either!’”

It was also the last time Al Unser was in an IndyCar victory lane. He raced in five more Indianapolis 500s—which included two third-place finishes—for a total of 28 Indy 500s. He led 644 laps there, the all-time record, and at 47, remains the oldest Indy 500 winner. Only he, Foyt, Mears, and Helio Castroneves share a record four Indianapolis 500 victories apiece. Unser retired in 1994, when his underfunded Arizona Motorsports Lola-Ford couldn’t get up to speed for the Indy 500 qualifications. Had he made the 500, he would have turned 55 the day of the race. His son, Al Unser, Jr., now 59, won that year, as well as in 1992, and the IndyCar championship in 1990 and 1994.

***

Al Unser, as you likely know, died last Thursday at age 82, seven months after his brother Bobby died at age 87. He had long been plagued by hemochromatosis, a condition that causes the body to retain too much iron, which likely caused a two-centimeter tumor to develop on his liver; the tumor and half his liver were removed in 2005.

Unser died at home, wife Susan by his side, in the idyllic village of Chama, New Mexico, elevation 7860 feet, located 120 miles north of Santa Fe in the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. While Unser’s fourth Indianapolis 500 victory may seem as though he backed into the win, there is nothing happenstance about his race record, which includes Indy 500 wins in 1970, ’71, and ’78; and overall International Race of Champions championship in ’78; a 1970 USAC championship; 1983 and ’85 IndyCar Championships and a total of 39 IndyCar victories in 332 races, run over a 30-year career.

Unser had his share of personal tragedies and trials. In 1982, his 21-year-old daughter Debbie was a passenger in a dune buggy that flipped in soft sand on the shore of Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico. The buggy landed on top of her, and she died at the scene from a head injury. In 2009, his other daughter, Mary Linda Unser-Tanner died at 49. “Mary was always very loving and caring, she would give her right arm if she could,” her obituary read. “She never put herself first, she always thought about others, and she always had a smile and a laugh for everybody.” Son Al Jr.’s battle with alcoholism has been well-documented, with his fourth arrest for driving while intoxicated coming in May of 2019.

Through it all, to outsiders Al Unser was a taciturn, John Wayne-style racing cowboy, who liked to talk about most any subject but himself; when asked about his accomplishments, he mostly gave astronaut-style answers that didn’t delve deep, especially when brother Bobby was around—Bobby just answered any questions for him. A hail-fellow-well-met to friends, Al was a merry prankster, a departure from his tranquil public persona.

A consummate professional in any circumstance, Al Unser will be missed. Condolences can be sent to the Unser Family, P.O. Box 191, Chama, New Mexico 87520, or to the Unser Racing Museum, 1776 Montano Rd NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107.

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When this winged beast hit the track for its first test session in February of 1972, the atmosphere in the Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing (VPJ) garage must have been tense. As of that fall, the team had no car. Suddenly, it was tasked with sorting out what would become a trio of single-seaters sporting radical aero packages—with only four months to go before it loaded the trucks for the first race of the season in Trenton, New Jersey.

Perhaps the compressed timeline had spurred legendary designer Maurice Phillippe to unusual creativity. (He hadn’t officially begun designing for the Parnelli team until September, due to objections from previous employer Colin Chapman). From a distance, if you squinted, the VPJ-1 cut a similar profile to the Lola-based Colts campaigned by Parnelli Jones Racing in 1971: wedge shape, squared-off nose, and a mid-mounted engine (in the Colt’s case, a turbocharged Ford V-8).

Most striking was VPJ-1’s dual set of wings integrated into its design, ahead of the high-flying, bolt-on affair behind the rear wheels. Up front were the first pair of upswept canards (just aft of the nose cone), followed by two dihedral wings that looked like they belonged on a plane, rather than a race car, jutting out at an angle of roughly 45 degrees behind the driver’s head. A giant NACA duct was carved into each sidepod, topped with a shoebox-sized rectangular duct, and fed cool air to an Offenhauser turbo-four. The rear brake discs sat inboard, paired with rising-rate rear suspension. Though the front brakes were mounted outboard, the front suspension setup was also rising rate. “Play it safe” was evidently not in Phillippe’s design brief, tight deadlines or not.

Fast-forward to November; Joe Leonard was crowned IndyCar champion of the ’72 season, despite a third at Indy that March. An evolution of Phillippe’s innovative design had carried the team to its third (and last) consecutive IndyCar championship. From Phoenix to Pocono to Ontario, the Parnelli Jones team had studied and tweaked the VPJ-1, refining what worked and excising what didn’t. As of early May, the dihedral wings were long gone—the experiment hadn’t improved the cars’ performance, and they were unceremoniously yanked mid-way through May during testing at Indianapolis.

The loss of the wings wasn’t the only change, either. Today’s VPJ-1 aficionados mark three distinct configurations of the car within the ’72 season: Mark 1, Mark 2, and Mark 3. Notable changes from Mark 1 test/early season car to Mark 3 season-ending setup included the replacement of the rising rate rear suspension with a more traditional system, similar to that of Gurney’s Eagle, and the relocation of the brake discs outboard.

The same commitment to winning that birthed the VPJ-1—rendering it season champion after that—left one chassis, #102, abandoned in a dumpster. In late fall of 1972, during a Firestone tire test at Phoenix International Raceway, #102 suffered a right front suspension failure, sending it and Joe Leonard wall-surfing. The crash left the right side of the car badly mangled. The Parnelli Jones team, like any highly motivated race outfit already channeling its brainpower and wrenches to next season, didn’t waste time mourning the car’s loss.

All hope wasn’t lost for chassis #102, though. Fate was preparing a custodian for the abandoned VPJ-1. An Indiana farm kid with a passion for race cars, Chuck Jones was born into a family of engineers, though he acknowledges that his parents weren’t racing fanatics themselves: “Far from it, actually.” They did, however, like spending time with friends, and Chuck’s father’s best friend was an ex-B-24 pilot who frequented the sprint car races at Terre Haute, Indiana, and always had tickets to the 500.

“I saw my first Indy 500 when I was six months old—born in December, watching the race in May,” Chuck recalls. By six years old, Chuck found himself trackside at Terre Haute—and hooked for life. Two years later, he was dragging home a fire-ravaged go-kart bought with money he had earned from mowing lawns. When he wasn’t at Terre Haute watching A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Johnny Rutherford go wheel-to-wheel, he was putting his farm-bred fabrication skills to work rebuilding the ravaged kart.

He didn’t just have a knack for wrenching. By the time he was 15, Chuck was racing midgets professionally—first three-quarter, then full, followed by sprint cars. He was still racing five years later as a double-major working his way through Purdue with three jobs. Something had to give, and so Chuck put aside the helmet and gloves to finish school. Despite the decision not to go pro, he was never far from a track, and as he went to graduate school and built a career designing surgical robots, he stumbled upon vintage racing. He got hooked once again, not only by the driving experience, but by the opportunity to preserve and share history.

“Well and truly, it is my only hobby, outside of work,” he says. “Some people sail, some people play tennis—I find derelict Indy cars and give them a second life.”

When Chuck discovered VPJ-1 chassis #102, it was hanging from the rafters of a 30-foot-tall warehouse. Sometime in the ’80s, a nostalgic mechanic had fished the battered tub out of a dumpster in the dead of night and hid it in a corner of a garage.

“It’s amazing it didn’t end up in the landfill,” Chuck says, with no bitterness in his voice. “Racers are not sentimental people. They just want to get to the next race and be fast and win races.”

The car bounced around to any number of places—”Race teams go through their spring cleaning frenzies, just like the rest of us,” Chuck laughs—before he stumbled upon it in 2012.

Chuck’s restoration of chassis #102 to track-ready Mark 1 spec is the product of the same human perseverance—mixed with nostalgia and sheer luck—that birthed this car and dug it out of a wastebin. He had found his next project, but it was a doozy. The VPJ-1 was only about 70 percent complete. The right-side suspension was gone, though the battered left assembly was in the pile of parts, along with the remains of the rear wing. In period, the team had begun to reskin the right side of the tub, damaged in the tire-test incident at Phoenix, but had soon realized that there wasn’t time to repair the car before the final race of the ’72 season. There was no engine or gearbox.

Chuck’s first task was inventory. Armed with a set of VPJ-1 parts drawings, a Sharpie, and “about a million Tupperware containers,” as he told HRT in 2017, Chuck spent four months figuring out what he did and didn’t have. Only then did he begin to source parts and begin any type of reassembly. With the help of John Capels (Leonard’s 1972 crew chief) and noted Indy car fabricator Alec Greaves, he used the left front suspension, which was mostly intact, to pattern a new assembly for the right side.

He tracked down and bought a period-correct, 36-degree Offenhauser four-cylinder from Al Unser, Sr. The engine, originally a R&D unit built by Dick Jones of Champion spark plugs, was then paired with the appropriate gearbox, a four-speed Hewland LG Mk II. The AirResearch turbocharger topping the 158-cubic-inch, DOHC mill received a complete rebuild: Chuck had all rotating components Magnafluxed and replaced all the bearings and seals. Total output, as in period, sits between 1200 and 1300 hp.

Though he owned the only VPJ-1 in private hands, Chuck was never going to stop at a restoration. For him, the restoration process is three-fold: hunt, restore, and drive. In 2017, after chassis #102 was finally complete, Capels himself helped Chuck set up the resurrected VPJ-1 to run once more on track. Fittingly, the VPJ-1 first stretched its rebuilt legs at Indianapolis. On the front straight, with the car properly warm, Chuck realized a dream: He pointed Parnelli’s nose straight ahead and nailed the throttle. It spun the rear tires in all four gears.

Chuck could have chosen to restore #102 to honor the Mark 3 spec which most fans remember, the version victorious in the ’72 championship. He opted instead to honestly resurrect a brief, yet comparatively unglamorous moment in the life of this race car, complete with Phillippe’s dihedral wings.

“Even though [Phillippe] got a lot of things right about the Parnelli [VPJ-1], the dihedral wing thing was a miss, it just didn’t work. But the team kept working with the car, using every race as a test session … Johnny Capels and Joe Leonard and probably to a degree Phillippe and [George] Bignotti—they were ever-tenacious about making all these cars work, not only for Joe Leonard but for Unser, Sr. and Mario Andretti.

“At the end of the day, even though this car didn’t start off with such a promising set of attributes, by end of season it was the IndyCar champion. Part of the obligation I feel is not only to share the car with public at as many events as I can, but to make sure that the story of Joe Leonard and Johnny Capels and their tenacity and ingenuity doesn’t get lost.”

As it sits today, the Samsonite-sponsored #102 also boasts the inboard rear brakes and the rising rate suspension unique to its Mark 1 configuration.

Standing beside chassis #102 at American Speed Festival 2021, wearings jeans, Puma sneakers, and a zip-up IMS jacket, Chuck can’t talk about driving the car without grinning.

“It’s a hoot. It’s like a light switch—either on or off. It’s just 1970s tech.” Perhaps surprisingly, the VPJ-1 isn’t especially temperamental, and it’s proved “amazingly reliable.” Jones runs it between five and six times a year and has yet to suffer a major mechanical issue.

Here at M1 Concourse for the Speed Festival, the VPJ-1 doesn’t have much chance to stretch its legs, but exercise for the car only part of why Chuck has made the trip to Pontiac from western Michigan. “I’m hopeful that just like I was so captivated going to these early races with my father and his friend, that somehow it will light a spark and really connect with future generations.

“These cars deserve to be restored, they deserve to be shared with the public in their natural environment, which is on a track making noise and going fast, and they deserve to continue to tell the story of innovation, of technology breakthroughs, of perseverance.”

At M1, on a sunny late-summer day, the VPJ-1 belongs to an eclectic yet illustrious paddock. Most conspicuous is the comically high wings of the iconic Chaparral 2E racer, kept company by no less than three other “2” cars. Surrounding a modern-day Grand Prix stocker, the original Hudson Hornet, and a painstaking replica of the first (and last) car Henry Ford raced is a veritable flock of open-wheel cars. The good humor and camaraderie within the tents is palpable and in no small part due to the tight-knit group of vintage Ind car owners, like Chuck. Just down the line from the VPJ-1 is a Domino-liveried Lola T8600 driven in-period by Al Unser, Jr. So too is another ’72 racer—an Eagle arrayed in Sunoco blue and yellow, originally built by Mark Donohue and Penske crew chief Karl Kainhofer on the team’s shop floor in Pennsylvania in just four weeks. Each owner, it’s clear, carries the same custodial spirit as Chuck does towards his VPJ-1. Folding chairs creak quietly as the men lean back. The stories flow.

Certainly the racing teams of yesteryear had no inkling of the significance that a wrecked tub might one day represent, decades later, to someone like Chuck Jones. The mechanics probably couldn’t imagine someone rescuing a chassis, even a race- and championship-winning thing, much less spending four years and thousands of dollars bringing it back to life. As any enthusiast will tell you, though, the power of a car’s story extends beyond the physical metal and rubber that comprise it. That’s what Chuck latched onto. The reborn Samsonite VPJ-1 is in one sense a failure. At the same time, it’s a reminder of the hard work and ever-evolving effort that leads to victory. History now has the opportunity to remember it more as the latter.

The post This reborn 1972 Indy car was salvaged from Parnelli Jones’ dumpster appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s easy to say that the Chaparrals stole the show in Pontiac, Michigan, during the first-ever American Speed Festival. However, with all due respect to Jim Hall’s winged wonders, his “2” cars kept some mighty fine company under the tents of M1 Concourse the first weekend of October: 100 pedigreed cars spanning over 120 years of racing history, from a replica of Henry Ford’s first “race car” to a Porsche 917 and a ’90s F1 car. With such a select but prestigious group of vintage metal, we couldn’t choose between our favorite Indy cars and Formula 5000 contenders, so we decided to cast a wide net. Here are 10 of the most fabulous fenderless racers at American Speed Festival 2021, with one oddball bonus. Enjoy!

1984 Lola T8600

Sponsored by Domino’s Pizza through its entire tenure (’82-90) in CART, Doug Shierson Racing won the Indy 500 in 1990—and Cory Hoonhout was there to witness it. “No speed limits, no helmets in the pits,” he remembers, standing next to his red-white-and-blue Lola, once raced by Danny Sullivan in ’84. “After a guy got hit in Long Beach in ’91 they had [speed] limits—no helmets, though.” Before going back to school to be a small-animal veterinarian, Hoonhout drove a semi for Team Shierson and changed the outside rear (or inside rear, depending on the circuit) tire.

This particular car finished fourth in the ’86 CART season in the hands of Al Unser, Jr., and since receiving a careful restoration, it’s gotten its fair share of exercise thanks to Hoonhout and the vintage Indy car community. The Cosworth-DFX-powered maching has returned to the Brickyard for vintage events Indy three years running, with Hoonhout himself handling the Hewland five-speed in the narrow cockpit: I’ve hit 160, 170 [mph] in it at St. Louis,” he says.

1974 Riley

You won’t spot any photos of this ’74 Riley on M1’s Speed Ring—at least, not yet—because next to the nose of this handsome Indy car stood a sign reading “not quite finished.” Constructed by Chuck Looper for the ’74 racing season, this Offy-powered car was built for a winner—literally. Bob Riley, the same mind that dreamt up A.J. Foyt’s Coyotes, designed the tub and suspension to sit below the axle centerline, and decked out the racer with one of the series’ first examples of ground effects. Roger McCluskey, who won the 1973 USAC championship, drove this Riley as the English Leather Special in ’74 and again, with the car proclaiming itself the Silver Floss Sauerkraut Special the year following. In ’76, Mike Hiss attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 in this chassis but proved unsuccessful—though, thanks to the efforts of owner Pete Klain, this Riley’s racing days may be far from over.

1970 Lola T192

Lola was no stranger to success, but the T192 was something special even in its admirable resume. Designed by Eric Broadley and built in England, this Chevy-powered Formula 5000 racer was Lola’s first successful monocoque (rather than tube-frame) car. This Lola hunted the checkered flag for the first time in May of 1971 at the Seattle Grand Prix, wearing red, white, and blue and piloted by Jack Eitlejorg of Englewood, Colorado. Eitlejorg’s best finishes in this car occurred at Mid-Ohio (sixth) and Road America (eighth). Current owner Seb Cuppola keeps #12 in fine fettle, and today it boasts no less than three championship wins in the Formula 5000 Revival Race Series (2013, 2017, 2018).

1972 Parnelli VPJ-1

Marveling at those wild winglets? Take your time, because this is the only Parnelli VPJ-1 in private hands (the other three are in museums). Now, prepare yourself for a shock: This VPJ-1 nearly ended up in the dumpster.

Chuck Jones, the car’s owner and a long-time member of the Indy Museum’s board of directors, explains: “Racers are not sentimental people. They just want to get to the next race and be fast and all of that.” New season, new tech, new car. This particular car suffered a right front suspension failure during a 1972 tire test that caused it to surf a track wall in Phoenix, Arizona. In the eyes of Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing, the 1200-hp racer had fulfilled its contractual obligations.

“It’s amazing it didn’t end up in the landfill,” Jones says. Thankfully a mechanic, besieged by sentiment, rescued the chassis under cover of night and hid it somewhere in a corner. By the time Jones discovered it in 2012, the mangled VPJ-1 was a massive project—but today, it’s worth every minute of the hassle. “It’s a hoot,” Jones says, grinning. Until his senior year at Purdue, he was a pro racer—three-quarter, then full midgets, and sprint cars. “It’s like a light switch, either on or off … it’s just 1970s tech. You have to have it pointed in the right direction.”

1979 Chaparral 2K

Better known as the “Yellow Submarine,” the Chaparral 2K was indeed a slippery fish—where the air was concerned. John Barnard designed the underbelly of the car with contours to suck the car to the track—the first example of an Indy car with ground effects integrated into its body from the get-go, rather than bolted onto the chassis after the fact. First driven by Al Unser during 1979, the Yellow Submarine is identified most closely with Johnny Rutherford, who piloted the car to his third Brickyard victory in 1980. After he took the flag, J.R. famously gave rookie Tim Richmond—who was stranded in his car due to a lack of fuel—a ride back to the pits, with Richmond perched on the Submarine’s sidepod.

1971 Lola T192

Ego and racing are inextricably linked—and they don’t honor the divides of racing series and regulatory bodies, either. Case in point: the Questor Grand Prix held at Ontario Speedway in California, a shoot-out of sorts between Formula 1 and Formula 5000 cars of the era. R.W. “Kas” Kastner—he of Team Nissan GTP fame—bought this Lola T192 from Chicago-area distributor Carl Hass, but before he managed to put an engine in the rolling chassis, Hass was back on the phone. Would Kastner loan Hass the car so that Al Unser could challenge the F5000 boys in California? On the condition that Hass supplied and installed the engine (and left it in the car when Unser was done with the race), Kastner said yes.

Unser didn’t perform very well at Ontario Speedway, but the 1400-pound, monocoque racer and its Weber-crowned Chevy 305 have earned its current owner, Mead Korwin, plenty of on-track grins. Leaning back in a folding camping chair, wearing Columbia boots and a denim short-sleeve shirt, Korwin pronounces it: “Remarkably forgiving. It really is. It’s all torque… It kinda grunts its way out of the corner, you don’t really have to rev it.

“Donohue called this model one of the best natural-handling race cars he ever drove.”

1992 Jordan 192

This Jordan 192 and its Cosworth powerplant are proof that racing isn’t all roses. After finishing a respectable fourth in Formula 1’s 1991 constructors championship, Jordan ran out of money to buy more engines from Ford and contracted with Yamaha for its OX99 V-12. The last-minute change proved disastrous for Jordan, who struggled with the Yamaha’s reliability all season and finished with only a single point in the constructor’s standings.

Recently acquired by RM Motorsports Inc, the 192 has since been modified to fit the previous Cosworth engine. The team at RM was working out the wrinkles in the engine tune this weekend, so it didn’t spend much time on track … but M1 has confirmed that next year’s event, headlined by Shelby, is a go. For now, the Jordan appears to be in good hands: “Looks like the car will need some more time on the dyno,” the shop writes. Perhaps the best is yet to come for this beleaguered beast?

1968 Lotus 56 turbine car

We all like our cars to embody our own histories and personalities, but few cars connect with their owner’s story in more ways than this Lotus 56 turbine car. Bruce Linsmeyer grew up in northern Indiana wrenching on his dad’s USAC sprint car and, as a teenager, it was only natural he’d be at the Brickyard each May—most importantly, in 1967.

That year, Parnelli Jones coasted a turbine-powered car to a heartbreaking sixth-place finish after leading 171 laps and becoming the first turbine car to successfully enter the event. The technology fascinated Linsmeyer, who years later—after wrenching stints on sprint car and IndyCar teams—began to dissect any turbine he could get his hands on. Today, his curiosity has paid off in spade: He established Avon Aero, a turbine company that supplies the marine, industrial, and aviation industries as well as the military sector. The business has provided him with the time and resources to bring a childhood Indy hero back to life: this ’68 Lotus turbine car, which he bought at auction in 1998. At the time, the ex-Joe Leonard racer had a four-cam Ford … but not for long. Linsmeyer bent his considerable knowledge and fabrication skills to the task, and a couple years later, the Lotus emerged under turbine power once more, courtesy of a power unit plucked from a Bell helicopter. “The engine was the easy bit,” Linsmeyer says. “Hooking it up to the rest of the car was a challenge.” He even had to build a new transfer gearbox for the four-wheel-drive machine.

“It’s rated for 1000 or so hours in the flight application before it needs a major service like an oil change,” Linsmeyer says. He walked to the back of the doorstop-shaped beast and removes a square panel, reaching inside to twist the cap off … a metal beer bottle? “In airplane applications, some excess fuel dumps on the ground, but me”—he walks with the container toward the front of the car—”I pour it back in the fuel tank.”

1969 Surtees TS5

In between photography shoots for the Harley Davidson parts and accessories catalog, Mark Harmer used to wheel a Caterham, but the same barebones, low-slung attitude that made it such a joy to drive made it a terror around street traffic. “It’s more dangerous than a motorcycle [on public roads], because you’re right at bumper height.” Then he stumbled upon the world of vintage racing. “I thought, this looks better than getting hit on the street!”

Wearing a weatherbeaten Team Surtees baseball cap and holding a giant green Stanley thermos, he shows off his ’69 TS-5, John Surtees’ first appearance on the Formula 5000 grid as a manufacturer. The handsomely restored tubeframe car spent time on both sides of the Atlantic in-period: in the U.K., with David Hobbs and Trevor Taylor in ’69 and, later, stateside with Andrew de Adamich. It was still racing, at the hands of Howie Fairbanks, until the late ’70s.

1972 All American Racers Eagle

If everything had gone according to plan, Mark Donohue wouldn’t have driven this Eagle in his last-ever Indy 500—he would have been behind the wheel of a McLaren. However, during a tire test held that March at Indy, Donohue discovered that his McLaren was trailing the flock of Gurney Eagles by 7 mph. He and Penske decided to talk to Gurney, who refused to sell them a ’73 car but agreed to provide a leftover ’72 car with some upgrades. Penske crew chief Karl Kainhofer drove eight days, from their shop in Pennsylvania to Gurney’s in California, with an Econoline van and a trailer to pick up the car—in parts, as was typical at the time. Kainhofer and Donohue built the Eagle on the floor of the Pennsylvania shop in just four weeks, with Donohue sleeping in the same building as he and wife Sue processed their divorce.

Owned by Rick and Alison Dresang, this ’72 Eagle tells an unusually bittersweet story—but, as researched and passed down by the Dresangs, the tale is a reminder of the less triumphant, less glamorous side of racing.

Fun fact: The wastegate of the TEO690 Garrett turbo mounted to the 159-cubic-inch four-cylinder uses a wastegate off a Caterpillar tractor.  

Bonus: 1901 Ford “Sweepstakes” replica

We know—it’s from 1901 (sort of), it doesn’t belong to any race series, and not in a million years would it hit triple digits. (Henry Ford claimed the original, of which this is a recreation, hit 72 mph, and the replica has notched almost 60.) But this painstakingly recreated Ford Speedster does not have fenders, so technically it does qualify as an open-wheel car.

On October 10, 1901, in Grosse Point, Michigan, Henry Ford and the original wood-paneled, 538-cubic-inch monster beat out Alexander Winton in a publicity stunt designed to restore Henry’s reputation after his first auto company folded. The sweepstakes worked, though not until his third effort would Ford’s venture take flight. Fun fact: those 538 cubic inches were distributed among only two cylinders. With a elementary form of mechanical fuel injection (for which Henry won a patent), the engine probably made around 26 hp.

That was Henry Ford’s first and only race. The original Speedster resides in the Henry Ford Museum, but to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the occasion, two replicas were made—at great cost and effort. This is the active-duty of the two replicas, and it has toured all over the world, making a magnificent chugging, clattering noise all the way—even to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The post 10 pedigreed open-wheel racers at American Speed Festival 2021 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Before our regularly scheduled digest of news and what’s happening in the car world, we’d like to take a moment to recognize Collector Car Appreciation Day. Be sure to get out there and show your classic—and any others that you see on the road—some extra love!

Meet the 775-horsepower supercharged Shelby F-150

Intake: Shelby American just unveiled its newest project—a heavily modified, ’roided-out Ford F-150. The truck’s V-8 is available in two tunes: The standard 395-horse truck, or the optional supercharged V-8, which pushes 775 ponies. It’s got Fox shocks like those on the Ford Raptor, as well as underbody protection to prevent your off-road shenanigans from suddenly clanking a vital drive component on something not so soft. Shelby says that it will only build a limited number of these trucks (each one serialized) but did not specify exactly how many. Starting MSRP is $107,080, which includes a 2021 Lariat 4×4 F-150.

Exhaust: It was only a matter of time until one of Ford’s tuning houses got its hands on a new F-150 and tuned it way up. Depending on how you look at it, here’s the first Ford (okay, Ford-adjacent) contender to de-throne the Ram TRX from its sandy throne of desert-dashing supremacy. That said, we’re still hoping for a full-fledged effort from Ford itself eventually—Shelby GT500 motor in a Raptor, anyone?

IndyCar owner Sam Schmidt won’t let disability slow him down at Goodwood

Intake: Arrow McLaren SP team founder Sam Schmidt, who was paralyzed after a 200-mph IndyCar crash in 2000, will be racing up the Goodwood hill in a specially-adapted C8 Corvette this weekend. Schmidt can only move his head, so he controls the car’s acceleration and braking by blowing or sucking through a straw. A camera monitors his head movement, which is directly linked to the steering. “Driving up the hill at Goodwood is such an honor, I’ve watched it a zillion times on YouTube. I guess you could say this is an epic moment,” Schmidt tells BBC News.

Exhaust: Schmidt’s story is inspirational in so many ways. Not only has he led a team to 12 victories in IndyCar, but his work with Arrow Electronics on the technology behind his Corvette could soon help countless others with disabilities stay mobile. We’ll be cheering him on as he takes to the Goodwood hill.

This rare, unrestored Aston Martin DB2 had the same owner for 56 years and now could be yours

Intake: A 1952 Aston Martin DB2 that has been cherished for 56 years is for sale at British specialist Pendine. The Botticelli Blue Aston with its matching blue-leather interior has been painstakingly looked after–including a recent 140-hour service–but never restored. The DB2 was the first car developed by Aston Martin under David Brown’s ownership, with bodywork by Frank Feeley, and a 2.6-liter straight-six engine which was developed under the watchful eye of none other than W.O. Bentley who worked for sister company Lagonda at the time. Pendine says, “Given the rarity of well-maintained yet unrestored examples, this particular DB2 deserves to pass to an enthusiast who honors its condition and ensures it avoids becoming just another restored Aston Martin from the Feltham era.”

Exhaust: Just 411 coupe and drophead DB2s were produced between 1950 and 1953 and, of those that remain, most will surely have been restored by now. That makes this time machine even more valuable in our book.

Alphabet soup no more: LMDh and LMH classes to merge

Intake: When it announced the decisions of the World Motorsport Council yesterday, the FIA revealed that a “technical regulations amendment” had been approved to merge the LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) and LMDh (Le Mans Daytona H) classes. The exact compromises and/or timeline remain a mystery, for now, although we do know that existing LMP2 regulations will remain in effect through 2023, suggesting that the LMDh rules (upon which the new LMP2 class will rely) won’t appear until 2024. The LMH regulations are already active, of course. Interestingly, the LMDh ruleset were rolled out after lukewarm interest to the initial LMH set; evidently, the double eligibility for WEC and IMSA competition was compelling.

Exhaust: Perhaps, after a few more regulation-merging headaches over at the FIA, everyone can be happy. The process of replacing the WEC’s top prototype class, LMP1, with a more cost-effective and exciting alternative is, at long last, arriving at a conclusion. A huge factor in the convoluted timeline here has been the COVID-19 pandemic.

Polestar’s tuned-up prototype 2 hits the hill at Goodwood

Intake: Among the many excellent cars blitzing the hill at Lord March’s estate this year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend is a hotted-up Polestar 2 prototype. Driven by chief chassis engineer Joakim Rydholm, this pure-electric fastback crossover boasts a combined output of 476 horsepower from twin electric motors. Upgrades to this beast include new Öhlins three-way performance dampers, much stiffer springs, a carbon-fiber front strut bar from a Volvo S60 Polestar, as well as six-piston Akebono front brakes and chunky 275/30R21 Pirelli PZero tires from the gorgeous Polestar 1.

Exhaust: We’re absolutely here for companies juicing their EV offerings and flinging them up the Goodwood hill. If we’re picky, we much prefer the slinky coupe shape of the Polestar 1 over the taller silhouette of the Polestar 2. Still, it’s great to see Polestar exploring how it can expand its performance offerings. After all, before Polestar was the avant-garde EV brand for your city’s best architect, it was a tuning house hellbent on making bricky (and shapely) Volvos faster and meaner. In a way, the brand is starting to come full circle. Spicy EVs for all!

Corvette C8.R will evolve to enter GT3 competition

Intake: Things are shaking up in the world of endurance racing, and the stalwart Corvette Racing team will be making some big changes in order to compete. As we previously reported, declining participation in the GTLM class has led to IMSA replacing it with GTD Pro, which is based on the GT3 platform also used by WEC. That will mean a lot of technical changes will be required, including the addition of an ABS system, and modifications to the aerodynamics. GM Authority spoke to Laura Wontrop-Klauser, GM’s Sports Car Racing Program Manager, about the transition, who said it would take a couple of years for the Corvette race cars to evolve.

Exhaust: Corvette Racing has been a staple of American endurance racing and has made a name for itself on the world stage in LeMans. This transition to GT3 competition will bring more direct competition but the 2022 and 2023 seasons might be shaky until a purpose-built Corvette GT3 car can hit the track.

The post Shelby’s 775-hp F-150, a quadriplegic IndyCar vet takes on Goodwood, Polestar’s spicy 2 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to The Manifold, our fresh daily digest of news and what’s happening in the car world.

The Arese RH95 celebrates 95 years of coachbuilding

Intake: Storied Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera is marking its 95th year with the gorgeous Arese RH95. Following its Aero 3, the supercar’s standout features include showy scissor doors that you won’t find on the the Ferrari 488, not to mention the bespoke bodywork. Touring says it will build a total of 18 Arese RH95s and it can be even be ordered in classic Gulf Oil blue and orange.

Exhaust: From shooting brakes to boat-tailed picnic hampers, coachbuilding is seriously hot right now. Historic name or not, Touring Superleggera will have a tough time distinguishing itself in an increasingly crowded field.

Rolls-Royce confirms Silent Shadow EV

Intake: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös has announced that the British luxury car maker is working on an all-electric car. “Electrification fits perfect with Rolls-Royce—it’s torquey, it’s super-silent,” he told Bloomberg Television. “We are not known for roaring loud engines and exhaust noises whatsoever, and that is a big benefit.” His confirmation follows the news late last year that the company applied for a trademark on the Silent Shadow name.

Exhaust: Silence will, no doubt, be a golden opportunity for Rolls-Royce to steal back sales from Mercedes, which has a head start with the Maybach EQS.

Helio Castroneves nabs fourth Indy 500 victory

Intake: Indycar veteran and man possessed of one of the best smiles in racing Helio Castroneves joined hallowed company on Sunday afternoon by taking his fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500. The 46-year-old Brazilian joins the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears as four-time winners of the greatest spectacle in racing. Castroneves also became the fourth-oldest winner of the 500, proving that age is just a number. “I don’t know if it’s a good comparison, but Tom Brady won a Super Bowl, Phil (Mickelson) won the PGA, and now here you go,” said Castroneves. Aside from a handful of personal accolades, Castroneves also delivered his Meyer/ShankRacing team its first victory since the outfit began racing in IndyCar in 2017.

Exhaust: “[Helio’s win] is the most important and impactful thing that the Indy 500 and IndyCar could have asked for,” veteran IndyCar reporter and former engineer Marshall Pruett tells Hagerty. “This is the one driver in the field of 33 who had the potential to lift this story beyond just the typical IndyCar fans. It was truly a script writer’s dream if you were wanting IndyCar and the Indy 500 to get lift out of the Midwest into the almost impenetrable coasts in terms of news and feel-good stories.”

LEGO adds McLaren Elva to its Speed Champions Garage

Intake: LEGO’s Speed Champions line turns some of our favorite muscle cars and sports cars into palm-sized representations. The fantastically curvy McLaren Elva speedster, the lightest McLaren yet, is the latest to receive the honor. Easily identified even when rendered in 263 chunky blocks, the open-top racer comes with its own driver minifig—a 1.5-inch-tall version of McLaren Automotive’s Principal Development Engineer for Ultimate Series, Rachel Brown. The recently launched set is available now.

Exhaust: If your capacity for full-size collector cars has hit its limit or if you’ve simply got a bare spot on a shelf and need something worthy to fill the space, LEGO’s newest addition to its Speed Champions line may be just the ticket.

Workers find 108-year-old message in a bottle at Ford’s Michigan Central Station

Intake: Workers at Michigan Central Station, while restoring and renovating the Beaux-Arts-style building that’s set to be the hub of Ford’s high-tech office complex, unearthed a pre-prohibition beer bottle filled with what appears to be a message. Lukas Nielsen and Leo Kimble found the bottle, stamped 7-19-13 (that’s 1913, not 2013), upside-down behind some crown molding. The two immediately handed the bottle over, resisting the urge to remove the delicate paper inside. Ford historians are currently caring for the paper and haven’t deciphered any message just yet. “The main thing you have to do is slow down the deterioration of the paper,” said Heritage and Brand Manager Ted Ryan. “With the bottle, that’s easy because it’s glass, but we’ll also have to make sure the rest of the label doesn’t deteriorate. It’s just like the pieces of a classic car.”

Exhaust: Ford’s ambitious project to bring life back to Michigan Central Station will ultimately benefit more than just a piece of gorgeous architecture. Various objects that have been discovered in the long-empty building are now on their way to being preserved and displayed.

The post Touring Superleggera’s birthday bonanza, electric Rolls, and Helio victorious at Indy appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Odd: Robert Wickens, who had never raced in IndyCar, and had never driven on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg before, went out late and knocked the seven-time polesitter Will Power off the top starting spot. On a drizzly day, on a slick track.

Yet he seems strangely calm—no giddiness, no I-can’t-believe-this-just-happened. There is the occasional flash of his goofy Howdy-Doody grin, but for the most part rookie Wickens is all business. He says the right things, but his eyes show that he is not nearly surprised as the rest of us. “Just doing my job,” Wickens says.

For one thing, “It feels strange to be called a rookie.” Yes, he has never raced an IndyCar before, but he’s 28, an age when most IndyCar drivers already have five years in the seat. But the Guelph, Ontario native has been working toward this day almost all his life—at age 10, he told his parents that he was going to be a professional race car driver—and if you’ve never heard of him, it isn’t because he hasn’t been out there, racing something, somewhere. Mostly in Europe, where he chased the dream of so many young North American racers to make it to Formula 1. He made it to the role of reserve driver for Virgin Racing, but reserve driver is not the same as driver, and Wickens knew that was as close as he was going to get.

He started out, of course, in karts, and moved to Formula BMW, then Champ Car’s Atlantic series, then Formula Renault 3.5, then Formula 3 Euro, FIA Formula 2, GP 3, then back to Formula Renault 3.5, where he was the season champion. That was in 2011. In 2012, when it appeared F1 was indeed an unfulfilled dream, Wickens began driving, for the first time, cars with roofs on them—the DTM series, driving for Mercedes.

In June of 2017, in what amounted to a tryout, he practiced in a Schmidt Peterson Motorsports IndyCar at Road America’s Kohler Grand Prix, because regular driver Mikhail Aleshin had competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and couldn’t get back through immigration to Wisconsin in time. Later than year, it was announced that Wickens would join Schmidt Peterson full-time in 2018.

And March 10, 2018, Wickens put his Schmidt Peterson Honda on the pole at St. Petersburg. In the race, he led almost every lap until two from the end, when the ever-aggressive Alexander Rossi made a move to pass and crashed them both. Without that, there’s little question Wickens would have won his very first IndyCar race. He finished 18th.

But he continued to threaten for the win. In the next dozen races he finished second twice, with a total of seven top-five finishes. With three races to go, he had already scored enough points to make him the IndyCar Rookie of the Year, and his ninth-place finish in his first Indianapolis 500, in which he led two laps, gave him that ROTY award, too.

Then, Pocono, a track that has had a cloud over it since the freak death of Justin Wilson in 2015, who died when debris from Sage Karam’s wrecked car soared into the air and came down into Wilson’s cockpit.

On August 19, 2018, Pocono would be the race that changed everything for Robert Wickens. On lap seven, Wickens and Ryan Hunter-Reay were going for the same real estate when they touched wheels, launching Wickens over Hunter-Reay’s car into the catchfence, shearing off all four wheels and most of the bodywork before Wickens, still in the IndyCar pod, hit the pavement. His car spun at least 14 times.

Wickens was alive, surprisingly so because the crash looked so much like Dan Wheldon’s fatal trip into the fence at Las Vegas. In fact, Wickens was “awake and alert,” it was reported. Not reported, and not known until after he had been helicoptered to the hospital, was that his spine was damaged. Not severed, but damaged. He was paralyzed from the waist down.

That wasn’t all, by any means. His family said that Wickens had suffered a thoracic spinal fracture, a neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, fractures in both hands, a broken right forearm, a broken elbow, four broken ribs, and a pulmonary contusion. Because he was an athlete, recovery came more quickly than expected, but not fast enough for Wickens.

“I need to be on my feet for my wedding,” Wickens told NBC in an interview that aired before the St. Petersburg race in March of 2019. “And it isn’t that far away. I’m getting married in September.” As always, Wickens was even competitive in rehab: “I want to have the best spinal cord recovery in the history of spinal cord recoveries,” he said. “I want to recover and get back to life the best that anyone has ever done.

“I don’t care how hard I have to work,” he said. “I’m going to come back.”

With help, he did manage to stand for his wedding to Karli, attended by friends like James Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti, and Graham Rahal and his wife, Courtney Force.

But since then, there haven’t been many videos of his recovery. Barring a massive breakthrough—which could certainly come, given the fact that Wickens is just 32—“I’m probably going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life,” he said on May 4. But that was also the day that Wickens took a huge step in his promise to make a comeback. A massive step.

***

Two months ago, IndyCar winner Bryan Herta, father of driver Colton Herta, who won the St. Petersburg opener this year, called Wickens and asked if he would be interested in driving a race car. Of course! Wickens replied.

Herta owns Bryan Herta Autosport, a collection of Hyundai Veloster and Elantra TCR cars that race in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series, which runs as an opening act to the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, the same cars that race in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The Michelin Challenge series consists of two classes—Grand Sport, or GS, consists of GT4 racers like the McLaren 570S, Porsche Cayman, BMW M4, and Audi R8. The Touring Car, or TCR class, has cars like the Veloster N, the Hyundai Elantra, Audi RS3, Honda Civic FK7, and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

One of Herta’s Velosters, operated by Michael Johnson Racing, has hand controls, as Johnson is paralyzed from the chest down. Now 28, like Wickens when he had his crash, the Michigander was just 12 when he crashed as he was going for the lead in a dirt track motorcycle race. He broke his collarbone, right ribs, left ankle, and left leg. He also fractured the T5 and T6 vertebrae in his back, which caused the paralysis. He currently has four rods and 15 screws in his back, after undergoing an 11-hour surgery.

Johnson and codriver Stephen Simpson, who uses conventional controls in the car, have been driving partners for six seasons. They won a TCR race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut in July of 2018, coming off a broken leg Johnson suffered in a crash at Daytona International Speedway. This year, Johnson and Simpson notched a fifth-place finish at Daytona in the IMSA Michelin Challenge series, the second-highest performance of the seven Hyundais in the race.

So with that in mind, along with Johnson’s and Simpson’s permission, might it be possible for Robert Wickens to test the car? After all, Hyundai had booked the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the day on May 4, in preparation for the race there this Saturday.

Johnson and Simpson said yes, Wickens said yes, so it was up to Herta to do the rest.

You’d think hand controls would be pretty standardized—after all, racers like Alex Zanardi and 22-year-old Billy Monger who, like Zanardi, isn’t paralyzed but lost his legs in a racing crash have driven competitively and won races with hand controls.

But, Herta learned, there are hand controls and there are hand controls.

Since Johnson is paralyzed from the chest down, his hand controls, which he helped design, are specifically made for his capability. They consist essentially of a round aluminum ring behind the steering wheel, and in front of the steering wheel. Press the front ring to go, pull the rear ring to stop. Transmission is sequential and you only need the clutch for launch, and that’s actuated by a big lever to the driver’s right.

After the first session on the track, after Simpson set a baseline, “It’s been going really well,” said the soft-spoken Johnson. “He’s getting comfortable, then the damp weather threw him a curveball.

“The car is fantastic for me, but that doesn’t mean it will be for Michael. He knows what he’s doing, it’s just a matter of learning the system.”

“Robert is a pro,” Herta said. “There’s no doubt he went through that washing machine in Europe, all the good and the bad, as he chased Formula 1. But he ended up being very successful in DTM, and he decided he wanted to be an IndyCar driver, and he was well on his way to being a major star in the sport.

“Now, in typical RW fashion, he’s taking on his recovery as a personal challenge. It’s inspirational how he is working so hard on his recovery, and we’re proud to offer him his first time back in a car. It’s an honor for us.

“His focus, determination, attention to detail, preparing for this test. Like the seat fitting. Every detail has to be perfect. The guy is a machine in his work ethic. I wouldn’t bet against him in anything he is trying to accomplish.” Besides working on his rehab, Wickens helps tutor younger drivers in the Arrow McLaren SP camp. And one of those young guns, Pato O’Ward, won his first IndyCar race a few weeks ago, so Wickens is staying fresh on the technology.

“From the first time Michael and Robert met—which is this day, by the way—the interaction has been heartening to watch, Robert asking Michael this question and that, to see them with the back and forth exchanging thoughts and ideas, for Robert it’s like his first day in a car, starting from zero. Michael has a lot of experience—he’s the most experienced driver with hand control system. With Robert coming in with a fresh perspective it should help move this forward,” Herta said.

One problem is that an ideal system for Michael isn’t an ideal system for Robert. “Robert is paralyzed from the chest down. He has no core. He can’t hold himself up in the seat. He holds on to the steering wheel to stay in the seat,” Herta said. “Zanardi’s handbrake system wouldn’t work for Michael,” for instance. He has different feelings and different sensations—we’d have to build something specifically with Robert in mind—that’s not something we would have realized until we got into this.” Plus, new systems have to be homologated by IMSA. Every driver is not the same, nor are the systems that work for them.

Three sessions out, and Wickens is getting pretty comfortable—too comfortable, he says, as he dials himself back from a little too close to the edge a time or two. But he’s nailing the apexes, nailing the braking points—it doesn’t hurt that Mid-Ohio was the last track he raced on before his crash, finishing second.

“It’s been great. It’s been an amazing day so far. I mean, the weather hasn’t been super kind to us. It was a little damp to begin with. It rained overnight and it’s been changeable all day, but, nevertheless, it’s been just a blast and I honestly can’t thank Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai, and Michael Johnson enough. It’s not every day that someone can lend you a race car to go take an item off your bucket list. So, it’s been a great day so far.”

Everyone made it clear that this was just a one-off experience, that there is no guarantee, nor even any plans, for Wicken’s to race in Johnson’s car, or anyone else’s. But Herta made it clear that if they can find the money, he’d love to have Wickens on the Hyundai team.

First, a system tailored to Wickens must be designed. “That’s the hard thing with accessibility—there’s no textbook on it. It’s not like the gas is on the right and the brake’s on the left like every car, almost, in existence. There’s been a lot of people in the past that have raced with disabilities. You have Billy Monger, you have Alex Zanardi, you have Michael Johnson here in the IMSA Pilot series. They all have different systems and they’re all very successful at what they’re doing.”

At this writing, there’s nothing solid to report, except to say that people are working on the money aspect. For Wickens, the sooner the better, but he just wanted to enjoy today for what it is—back in the seat of an elite race car: “To finally tick that box is massive in my recovery and my journey back. Who knows what the future will bring, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I just want to take today for what it is.”

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As a result of issues due to the coronavirus, IndyCar has pushed back the introduction of its new hybrid race cars to 2023. The pandemic shortened the racing season and restricted testing in 2020, both of which contributed to the delay.

The current generation of twin-turbocharged V-6 engines were introduced in 2012, enabling Chevrolet and Honda to supply teams with engines that delivered reliable power. Combined with format changes, lap speeds at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway rose above 230 mph. The next generation of Indy cars with hybrid power should be faster yet.

Chevy and Honda will each provide their 2.4-liter twin-turbo V-6 engines, while a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) will enable an extra boost of power for a total of 900 horsepower. Later in the powertrain’s five-year cycle, combined output will rise to more than 1000 horsepower.

In addition, both manufacturers have inked long-term commitments to IndyCar, extending their contracts well into the end of the decade. Chevy and Honda will serve as the anchors of the series, while the formula’s format will leave room for additional manufacturers to join.

The new hybrid powertrain also will incorporate an onboard starter, which will be able to restart stalled cars in the event of an on-track incident. This, in turn, will hopefully reduce cautions for the recovery of said cars and decrease the time required for the cleanup of accidents that leave many cars without significant damage stopped on the track.

The long-term commitments of Chevy and Honda are significant; one of the most difficult challenges of any racing series is maintaining factory participation. Evidence of that challenge is Honda’s announcement earlier this year that it will leave Formula 1 at the end of the 2021 season. That decision was made by a different group within Honda than the one that funds its American racing involvement, however, and Honda and Chevrolet appear satisfied with the length of their commitments to IndyCar. General Motors president Mark Reuss calls the new hybrid powertrain “A perfect showcase for our engine technology,” while outgoing Honda Performance Development president Ted Klaus adds that the new program “Mirrors Honda’s efforts to develop and manufacture high-performance, electrified products that will meet industry challenges and delight our customers.”

In the meantime, IndyCar series president, Jay Frye, emphasizes that this new hybrid setup will preserve and enhance the essence of IndyCar: “Fast, loud, and authentic.”

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Trevor Andis says his first challenge as an engineering student at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) was to design an AC generator wind turbine on a budget of $10. Bragging rights went to anyone who could build a transformer that produced more than 32 volts, the class record. “Mine produced 166 volts,” he remembers. “I took what I learned about ignition coils from working on cars and my degree in mechanics and applied it to the problem.”

As a student at Indiana’s Hagerstown Jr. Sr. High School, Andis had mixed college prep and shop/mechanics classes that helped him work on the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee he bought when he was 16.

“My dad and grandfather were also big NASCAR fans—it was always on. That atmosphere, combined with wanting to transform my Jeep into a big, slow rock crawler, was my first nudge toward ‘performance.’ That led to my wanting to become a race engineer.”

As yesterday’s race cars have evolved into today’s high-tech rocket ships, so has the educational pedigree of the crew members needed to build them and make them run. Andis’s path, blending blue-collar mechanical know-how with academic study in physics and computer-age automobile design, is typical of the new trend. He attended the University of Northwestern Ohio and graduated with two associate degrees—one in automotive technology and the second in high-performance motorsports. In 2022, he plans to add to his résumé a bachelor of motorsports engineering degree from IUPUI.

His respect for historic race cars, however, has only deepened through an RPM internship at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. “It’s given me a unique understanding of Indianapolis racing history and an appreciation for how incredibly smart the pioneers at Indy really were,” he says.

As part of the museum’s in-house restoration team for the past two years, Andis helps rebuild and maintain some of the world’s most famous vintage racers. The current push is to fully restore Dan Gurney’s historic 1963 Lotus 29/1, which debuted at the Brickyard for the 500 and helped usher in the mid-engine revolution.

“You start working on these old cars and see the ingenuity from 50 and 100 years ago that led to stuff like dry-sump oil systems, disc brakes, and aluminum engines. You see that almost every major advancement in cars we drive today comes from racing.”

The internship has also led to rare connections with Indy legends of the past such as Al Unser, Jr., and RPM ambassador Lyn St. James. Engineering school, meanwhile, has helped him meet current Indy car managers and engineers who sit on the IUPUI school board. Many of his instructors have ties to Indy, too, which he hopes to parlay into an internship with a racing team.

“The first time I ever saw an open-wheel race car up close was on a college field trip to Indy,” Andis says. “I was walking down Gasoline Alley to the pits when it flew past me with that incredible speed and sound. Everything in that moment came together for me, and I started thinking about the history of human creativity that made it possible. I just want to be one of the people who will carry on the tradition of pushing us faster into the future.”

The post IMS Museum intern bridges mechanics, engineering, and his Indy car dreams appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The announcement came Saturday afternoon, September 5th. The previously postponed NTT IndyCar Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course had been rescheduled… and the teams would be arriving at the track in a mere 5 days! On top of that, for the first time in the 35-race history it would be a doubleheader. By Tuesday another big announcement came; a limited number of fans would be allowed.

I attended the race as a fan, then talked with a couple team engineers as well as the track president of Mid-Ohio to learn how they were able to pull off the largest sporting event in Ohio since March with only 5 days’ notice.

The Track

Mid-Ohio staff worked with local health officials over the last month in order to reschedule the Honda Indy 200. However, getting clearance only 5 days before the trailers would pull in brought many new challenges. First and foremost, the track had to work diligently with the Governor’s office to ensure the right protocols and procedures were in place to host fans.

“It was exciting to open our gates to fans again. The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is one of Ohio’s premier annual events,” said Craig Rust, president of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. “We were proud to be trusted by the Governor’s office to put on the first major sporting event in Ohio with fans present since March. In order to be approved we had to demonstrate to the state how spectators would be able to social distance. It helped that our facility is spread out over 330 acres with room for camping and plenty of general admission viewing areas throughout the 2.25-mile track. We aren’t like the NFL, we don’t have an enclosed arena and knew we could make this work.” Closing some grandstands that would normally be filled with 12,000 fans helped them get approval for a special variance increasing the state’s spectator limits from 1,500 to 6,000.

Mr. Rust spoke positively about working with the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Morrow County Health Commissioner, citing their guidance and time taken to review MidOhio’s plans.

Rust even threw some love Hagerty’s way, “With so much lost revenue from ticket sales, it was nice to see a new sponsor like Hagerty represented at the track and we hope to build on that relationship in the future. Now we had to get to work,” Rust explained. “We had no time to hire new employees, so everyone had to chip in. We were going to have to do this with far less people than normal.”
After reaching out to current ticket holders, they were able to offer the remaining tickets for sale on Wednesday and were sold out by Friday morning. Attending the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio with my kids has become a summer tradition so we got our tickets right away.

Without the normal crew of summer employees, all Mid-Ohio staff had to roll up their sleeves to get the track ready. That meant installing plastic barriers at gates, hanging social distancing banners, distributing hand sanitizer bottles throughout the facility, and much more.

Rust continued, “Our sales team spent the days before the event painting lines in the grass for people to safely sit while social distancing, and the race weekend regularly cleaning bathrooms. One of our owners knew how to drive a tractor, so he spent a lot of the week mowing the grass around the property.”

“Our CFO went around the track painting boards. The track owners grabbed tools and tightened bolts on all the fencing. It took everyone chipping in to make this happen. We even brought a few people from the St. Pete race team up to help,” Rust proudly shared.
A big challenge was creating a sort of “bubble” around the paddock and separate entrance to protect the entire IndyCar community. Much like the NBA and NHL have their “bubble”, the traveling IndyCar community must also work apart from the crowd during race weekends. That means no fans anywhere near team members or drivers. Fencing and security had to be organized quickly. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, teams are limited to 20 people per car and rosters must be submitted in advance. The track had to have personnel ready to check-in, do temperature checks, protect, and organize all team members for 4 different racing series competing over the weekend.

The promoters of this event, Green Savoree Racing Promotions, have been hit particularly hard by this pandemic with all 4 of the events they run either being postponed or cancelled. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg wasn’t cancelled until after 250 workers had spent 25 days constructing the track and cars were on track for practice. Thankfully it is now rescheduled for the end of the season. The Portland and Toronto races were cancelled altogether. Finally getting to run Mid-Ohio was a relief, but at a cost. They will still incur lost revenue from a lack of vendors, parking, merchandise, food service, golf cart rentals, catering, and more. In the past Mid-Ohio has seen 75,000 fans at the IndyCar race, compared to the 6,000 this year.

The parking lot that normally would be full of food vendors and team merchandise trailers featured only one total, for Tony Kanaan… who wasn’t racing in the event. With only 6,000 fans present, their crew reported sales were way down (despite my son buying his 5th Kanaan model car). Having two main events throughout the weekend means drivers will compete in a pair of 75-lap races instead of the usual 90-lapper. Mr. Rust explained that the extra race doesn’t affect their workload very much — however, it definitely affects the teams.

Teams

Although teams had heard rumors, there was no heads up for them that the race had been rescheduled until they saw the press release like everyone else. Getting ready in 5 days to run two races about 20 hours apart has a big impact on the team members.
The first piece of business is getting their roster of critically needed roles to the track. Depending on the track and the number of people that state lets gather, that meant some driver’s spouses and even team spotters weren’t allowed in the “bubble” to limit numbers.

Doubleheaders save money on travel, but that doesn’t mean they are easy on the team or driver. Bob Perona, spotter for IndyCar driver Jack Harvey shared, “You can’t imagine how incredibly hard doubleheaders are for mechanics and crew.” Yet he expects it to continue for the near future, largely due to reasons of cost. He says he wouldn’t change a thing because in the end, “Everyone on the team still loves being here.”

Clay Filson, an Engineering Team Member for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing says, “Events like this really show off the organizational skills of an IndyCar team. You find everyone relying on each other a lot more on these doubleheader weekends.” A doubleheader means carrying more spare parts then you normally would. An accident in race 1 that would typically end your weekend and wait to be repaired back in the shop, must now have enough parts on hand to be fixed overnight. Plus, with a single practice session scheduled for the whole weekend, there isn’t room for error in setup or it could affect both of your races.

Filson added, “You don’t want your crew being pessimistic, but a good team will think of the worst-case scenarios in order to be prepared for this weekend.” Teams will prepare as many replacement parts like uprights and axles ahead of time in the shop. “The goal being to get as much work pre-done before arriving at the track. That means anything that typically is replaced on a car after a race needs to be built ahead of time in the shop and be ready to go.”

All approved team members in the paddock are provided a special IndyCar health app they must use to do a self-assessment every morning. Once completed, the app provides them a barcode that is scanned by a track employee to gain entrance. Strategy can be different for teams specifically because of the doubleheader aspect of the weekend. For example, instead of balancing tire wear for one race, the teams were provided a total of 14 sets of Firestone tires to be shared throughout the entire weekend of 1 practice, 2 qualifying sessions, and 2 races.

Filson explained that a challenge teams face with this year’s often-changing schedule is providing sponsors with the experiences and exposure they deserve. With most tracks closed to fans, and all paddocks closed to sponsor VIPs, traditional ways of entertaining sponsors are gone. “Team RLL Racing takes a lot of time trying to find creative ways to still entertain sponsors and fans alike. Everything from installing live cameras in the garage so you can see what is going on from home, to having team members do exclusive live marketing videos throughout a weekend to help virtually entertain people.”

Another way Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing tries to showcase their many sponsors is by doing a complete sponsor change between races, as they did for Graham Rahal’s #15 Honda powered machine Saturday night. Changing the vinyl wrap on the car overnight isn’t as easy as it looks. What normally is done over 3 or 4 days must be done by a group of people in a matter of hours. Throw in the fact that you aren’t working in a climate-controlled facility, causing the vinyl to react differently when it is outdoor in cooler temperatures, and the job can last until 2 or 3 in the morning. Filson shared, “The team does everything it can to honor all sponsor commitments for the number of races and exposures they were promised, even when that is not the easy way out. Changing the sponsor overnight, also means everyone down to the spotter requires a change of uniform from United Rentals on Saturday to Fifth Third Bank on Sunday.”

The 3 to 4 team members who are skilled in attaching the vehicle’s livery must be factored into the 20 allowed per car. Who goes to the track can be a juggling act between trying to fit in 4 to 5 engineers, 2 team managers, truck drivers, mechanics, tire specialists, spotters, a crew chief, an IT manager, and of course the owners and driver. “The team didn’t feel shorthanded, but the Mid-Ohio race definitely forced everyone to be very organized,” said Filson.

The drivers also have to adapt to doubleheader weekends. The part that often goes unrecognized is the fitness of the drivers. The new aero screen has proven to be incredibly safe, but also very hot for the drivers. Physically and mentally, 2 races back-to-back is tough, especially at a challenging location like Mid-Ohio. Unlike other professional racing series, IndyCar’s don’t have AC, cool suits, power steering, or power brakes.

Graham Rahal described these doubleheaders as “grueling for the team, driver, and mechanics,” and that is coming from a fitness addict. Before the race Rahal shared, “Mid-Ohio is the most physical track we go to, so to have a doubleheader here of all places is going to be one heck of a workout.” Graham predicted he would lose as much as 12 pounds over the weekend.

Team owner Michael Andretti summed the weekend up on the broadcast after his team won the pole, the race, and sweeping the podium on Sunday, “It’s so huge, so huge. Thank God we came here to Mid-Ohio. We were a little worried that we weren’t going to be able to get here, but Kevin Savoree and those guys did a great job getting this race on, and it paid off for us, man.”

Fans

From a fan’s perspective there were a few obvious changes, like always having to wear a mask and not being able to get into the paddock like we typically do. Also, all spectators had to enter through the same gate. At entry, they would stay in their car and be subject to a temperature check and health screening to enter.

The grounds themselves were also prepared with social distancing in mind. General admission viewing areas were clearly marked and strictly maintained with painted boxes to accommodate four spectators and walkways were marked for direction. Other than that, you wouldn’t have known how unique this event was. There were no signs of unfinished work or any indication how crazy the week must have been for all the Mid-Ohio employees and teams trying to prepare on such short notice. Which is a sign of the great job everyone did.

There are still 3 races left in the 2020 NTT INDYCAR Series. This weekend’s INDYCAR Harvest GP doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and the season finale with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on October 25. Fans are allowed (and tickets remain as of this writing!) for the races in Indy. If you’re lucky enough, you may run into a racing hero like we did. COVID or not, Mario Andretti approached my kids and proved to be a class act.

He showed off his Indy 500 winner’s ring and answered questions. Having seen him get the Indy 2-Seater car a little squirrelly on the rain-soaked track that morning, I asked if he was nervous driving it in those conditions. He replied by placing his hand on my shoulder and looking me directly in the eyes and saying, “No son. No. I was not nervous at all driving an IndyCar. In any condition,” and he walked away. You don’t get a memory of a lifetime for me and my boys like that without a lot of people working really hard to pull this off.

The last time I attended a sold-out IndyCar race was the 100th running of the Indy 500. This “sellout” was, um, a little different. With a limited crowd on hand I was able to play football with my boys alongside the track while cars went by in the background which was fantastic.

If you’ve never checked out the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, you should. I say it’s one of the best family values in all of live sports with children 12 and under always free.
On the way home my 11-year-old looked at me and said, “This was the first thing that felt normal all summer.” Well done Mid-Ohio and IndyCar, you provided people who needed entertainment and a sense of normal during 2020 exactly what we needed.

The post We ask the tracks, teams, and Mario how IndyCar put on a doubleheader… with five days’ notice appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If you thought Jimmie Johnson was just going to hit the links after this, his final season racing in NASCAR, you thought wrong. Johnson has announced that, rather than working on his chip shot and sipping a wine cooler, he will be racing for Chip Ganassi in IndyCar starting next season.

https://twitter.com/JimmieJohnson/status/1303708338035847168?s=20

Johnson and Chip Ganassi Racing announced a two-year deal that will have the seven-time NASCAR winner racing on oval tracks as well as road courses in the NTT IndyCar Series. Johnson did a test drive for CGR at the end of July at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and came away pleased with the results. “When I tested Chip’s Indy car earlier in the year, it only lit the fire more,” Johnson said in a team release. “I found that I wanted to do it more than ever before. … As part of a natural progression, I wanted to publicly show the alignment with Chip Ganassi Racing to kick the sponsorship program into high gear. The goal is to run the full road and street program, and today is a very important first step in accomplishing that goal.”

If all goes according to plan, Johnson will team up with Scott Dixon, who gave Johnson some pointers about piloting an open-wheel car during the test at Indy. “It is always difficult to find great drivers but for them to be great guys too makes it even that much more challenging,” team owner Chip Ganassi said in a release. “To pair Jimmie with the likes of Scott Dixon is quite an opportunity. They are truly in rarified air and I think everyone knows by now that ‘I like winners.’ The goal right now is for us to run Jimmie in an Indy car for at least the next couple of seasons, and we want to show people we’re serious about the program. We felt it was important to get the partnership done and start putting the financial building blocks in place to make this a reality. Jimmie’s record speaks for itself and we feel a championship-level driver of his caliber can only make our team better.”

Johnson and Dixon would make for a winning combination, with Johnson’s seven NASCAR championships and 83 wins and Dixon’s five IndyCar titles and 50 overall wins. Johnson shares the Cup Series record with Dale Earnhardt, Sr., and Richard Petty, and is the only NASCAR driver to win five consecutive titles, from 2006 to 2010. Dixon’s five championships put him in second place in IndyCar, behind A.J. Foyt, and his 50 wins place him third behind Mario Andretti (52) and Foyt (67).

While there are still a few pieces of the puzzle that need to fall into place—sponsorships being the biggest piece—it’s almost a certainty that when the green flag drops at IndyCar’s season opener in 2021, Johnson will be behind the wheel of an open-wheel race car and not a golf cart.

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Takuma Sato became just the 20th driver in history to win the Indianapolis 500 twice, claiming victory at the 104th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing under caution.

The sweet taste of victory for @TakumaSatoRacer!#Indy500 | #WinnersDrinkMilk pic.twitter.com/1A48pXKN3l

— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) August 23, 2020

Sato spent most of the day dueling at the front of the field with perennial powerhouse Scott Dixon, who qualified in second place and led 111 race laps. On lap 185, Sato was finally able to make the pass stick, building a lead of nearly one second before lapped traffic allowed Dixon to climb back into the fight. Then, on lap 195, Spencer Pigot lost control coming out of turn 4. He spun, crashing hard into the pit entry barrier and bringing the race under caution prior to its conclusion.

Sato has made quite a name for himself at Indy; in the past four years, he’s nabbed three top-three finishes, two of which were wins—2017 and this year. Dixon jumped from ninth to third on the all-time Indy 500 lap leaders list, with 563 career laps lead at the brickyard. Only Ralph DePalma (612) and Al Unser (644) have led more.

An amazing day at #Indy500 and amazing my #30 @panasonic @_PeopleReady @HondaRacing_HPD boys!!
I can’t thank enough for entire @RLLracing and everyone’s support. Thank you soooooo much!!!!!

みなさん、たくさんの応援を本当にありがとうございました。 pic.twitter.com/7pS8D9ukZT

— Takuma Sato (@TakumaSatoRacer) August 24, 2020

Among an impressive rookie class, it was Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward who placed highest, piloting his Chevy-powered No. 5 car to sixth place when all was said and done. Honda-powered cars took the top four spots in the race this year, capping a dominant showing at the Brickyard.

The 500 was a bit different this year, with COVID-19 forcing the running of the race without any fans, a move that track and series owner Roger Penske made every effort to avoid. Race Organizers hope to resume the typical timing for the race next year for the 105th running, which is scheduled for May 30, 2021.

Check out the video below for a full video recap of the race.

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Few country music fans remember the debut of Chris Gaines, the alt-rock alter ego of world-conquering performer Garth Brooks. Fueled by a seemingly unending string of successes at the end of the 1990s, Brooks became convinced that he could just as easily woo music fans from outside the pick-and-grin community as he could his traditional base—and that he could do it by pretending to be someone else entirely.

It was not to be. Although Gaines’ sales were initially strong, they fell far short of what Brooks, who has moved over 170 million albums in his lifetime, was used to. Combined with the confusion over whether Gaines was Brooks, or Brooks was Gaines, the entire effort was far too inconsistent for fans to latch onto, and the concept eventually became fodder for late night comedians and dagger-bearing music critics alike. Brooks would quickly extinguish all plans to promote the Chris Gaines persona, including a motion picture, and the entire effort would disappear into the artist’s archives as his most off-the-wall stab at infiltrating the Billboard Hot 100.

What does any of the above have to do with Porsche’s attempt toward the end of the 1980s to expand its impressive racing success into the open wheel environment of the CART IndyCar series? Like Brooks, the strategists from Stuttgart were confident that their mastery of nearly every sports car series they had ever entered would translate into a similar dominance of America’s oldest-running championship. The German brain trust also opted to go it completely alone in developing its entire program, designing not just an engine suited for Indy’s high speeds, but also an all-new chassis, despite having close to zero experience with oval competition.

See where this is going? Strap in, and feel free to crank up the Chris Gaines.

CART before the horse

Porsche had made one prior effort to interface with Indy’s American fans, back in 1980 when it tested a planned turbocharged flat-six-engined open-wheel design at Ontario Motor Speedway. That effort was dashed by a quick rule change that reclassified the 935-sourced motor as a pure race power plant, reducing allowable boost and rendering it non-competitive. Startled by the politicized takedown executed by United States Auto Club, the automaker withdrew, refocusing on IMSA and Formula 1.

Things were different seven years later. Backed by CEO Peter Schutz and managed by give-time IMSA champion Al Holbert (who was wearing two hats as director of Porsche’s North American motorsports operations), the automaker was set to bring a brand-new, 2.65-liter turbocharged V-8 (designed by Hans Mezger, and good for 800 horsepower) matched with an in-house chassis, dubbed the 2708.

It’s unclear why Porsche elected to run the final two races of the 1987 CART calendar, given that the 2708-powered car had barely had time for any testing whatsoever. In fact, the development team had been unusually resistant to the idea of putting the body shape through its paces via a rolling road wind tunnel, despite repeated urging from luminary driver Mario Andretti, after having spent some time behind the wheel, to do so.

Porsche’s confidence in its product stemmed in part from how quickly the development for its original 1980 test car had been, even though that example rode on a third-party chassis. Unfortunately, this was the racing team’s first effort at producing a true open-wheel ground effect car, and the aero data logged nearly a decade beforehand no longer reflected the much faster reality in the current IndyCar starting grid. Convinced it had a winning hand right out of the box, Porsche rolled in to the paddock at Laguna Seca intent on shaking up the status quo.

Even with Al Unser behind the wheel, however, it was clear that Porsche was out of its depth. The car had trouble just keeping pace with Indy’s back-markers. Starting third from last, the 2708 proved to be heavier than most of its rivals while failing to offer the downforce required for Unser to truly take advantage of its prodigious horsepower. To make matters worse, Porsche tapped out seven laps into the race due to mechanical difficulties. Trouble continued as the team failed to even qualify for the next event in Miami.

It was a stunning reversal for a company accustomed to excellence wherever it chose to race. Porsche was forced to quickly reconcile with the reality that it had fallen short. It had been clear to everyone around the series, too, that Porsche was almost entirely unprepared for the rigors of Indy.

Back to square one

With an entire off-season to ponder its problems, Porsche ditched its bespoke chassis for an off-the-shelf March 88C chassis for the following 1988 season. Part of that decision had to do with a plan for March to work on a custom solution for Porsche which could be implemented the year after.

Each car remained based around the same 2.65-liter V-8. With talented driver Teo Fabi now in the cockpit, the 2708 would see as high as a 4th place finish at Nazareth in 1988 … but that was as high as the Germans climbed; another string of mid-pack finishes and mechanical failures resulted in a 10th-place finish in points at the end of the year.

A far more serious hit to the 2708 program was the death of Al Holbert in October of the same year, as the result of an aviation accident. Rudderless in the world of American motorsports, Porsche relied on former Penske manager Derek Walker to whip things into shape for the 1989 season.

Finally starting to gel

The arrival of the March 89P—a car that had been built with Porsche’s input—would herald the best year ever for the brand’s IndyCar program. It was a low bar to clear, but a single win at Mid-Ohio (buttressed by a trio of podium finishes and five additional top fives) propelled Teo Fabi to claim the fourth overall position in the driver’s standings as the season came to an end.

This was hardly the result expected overseas, especially given that the 2708 had yet to finish an Indy 500, this time dropping out after 23 laps. Still, there was a lot to like about the newly revamped V-8. When the engine wasn’t breaking down and forcing the team to retire, the car managed to hang with more established competitors (thanks in part to advanced engine management system developed by Porsche). Convinced it was on the verge of success, Porsche green-lit a two-car team for 1990, with John Andretti sliding into the second seat alongside a returning Fabi.

Outmaneuvered, outrun, out of gas

Porsche was not clear of trouble, however, once again running headlong into the political cabal governing Indy competition. When the March 90P arrived on the scene in 1990, it was instantly targeted by team owners scared witless that the advanced carbon-fiber design would run roughshod over their less-advanced entries.

Facing a revolt, CART declared the 90P “unsafe” due to how low the driver sat in the design. This judgement was laid bare by data that proved the March chassis was actually better at protecting the occupant than any other in the series. It was a move that would later be derided as shortsighted by a ruling body seemingly intent on chasing away a big-money newcomer.

Forced to pivot with almost zero time remaining before the start of the season, Porsche and March ended up rushing a heavier, less structurally stiff aluminum design to Indy, while running earlier races on the schedule using the previous year’s design. It was a recipe for disaster: another virtually untested Porsche chassis suffered numerous technical issues taking it out of contention, and the decision to stuff the turbo between the engine and the driver created a serious fire risk during refueling if the heat generated from the turbo should ignite methanol fumes. Hundreds of in-season adjustments were required to keep the 90P rolling, and Fabi finished 10 spots behind his previous year’s highlight (with Andretti taking 10th in the points race).

Lessons learned, lessons ignored

Unsurprisingly, Porsche pulled the plug on its Indy dream after the 1990 season. Facing mounting financial problems across the board, the company was unwilling to further finance what had turned out to be an expensive and embarrassing debacle. Although rumors of a return as an engine builder would percolate throughout 2019, to this day Porsche has never again set foot at the Brickyard, leaving Indianapolis with no better than an 18th place finish.

There are plenty of lessons to be drawn from Stuttgart’s approach to CART. Without a solid foundation in the series, it was a massive risk to invest in an in-house development program using data that no longer reflected the state of the art. Tapping an experienced partner from the start would have avoided many of the tears shed over the 2708’s ineffective first season. It was a further mistake to not fully account for the disruptive impact of a company with Porsche’s reputation would have entering a relatively closed competitive gene pool like Indy. It should have been clear that rival builders and teams would make every effort to stymie its development advantage once a competitive team appeared on the horizon.

The 2708’s failure should have served as a helpful warning to other operations seeking to get involved in a brand-new, high-stakes motorsport without doing their homework. Strangely, a mere 10 years later, Toyota would make many of the same errors as Porsche did in its bid to dominate Formula 1 racing. Many of Toyota’s missteps from engineering to politics and management were eerie echoes of Porsche’s Indy experience, proving that perhaps the most blinding factor in any new motorsports effort is success somewhere else. Not knowing what you don’t know, as the old saying goes, can humble even the mightiest motorsports giants. Same goes for country music stars.

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Dario Franchitti and Tom Cotter are distant but kindred spirits. They share a passion for cars and a love of motorsports, and they both know the thrill of a victory lane celebration. Franchitti and Cotter also share firsthand knowledge of just how quickly the joy of racing can turn to heartache.

Franchitti, a four-time IndyCar champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and Cotter, who worked on the public relations side of racing before becoming the Barn Find Hunter, were guests of co-hosts Justin Bell and Tommy Kendall on Episode 5 of The Love of Cars, presented by Hagerty. This week’s show focused on the guests’ automotive roots and their love of automobiles, but both spoke of the same horrific accident—the fatal crash of Canadian racing driver Greg Moore in October 1999—as a defining moment in their lives.

“It was harder with Greg because I was younger,” says Franchitti, who was 26 when Moore was killed. Twelve years later, when two-time Indy winner Dan Wheldon was killed in the season-ending 2011 IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Franchitti had a different perspective. “With Dan, I was quite hardened by that point, and I was just able to get on with it. I was, I think, maybe mentally stronger. That sounds callous, but I don’t mean it that way. I was just like right back to work. This is what I do. By that point I was prepared to take any risk to be successful.

“I look back now … and I’m in the swimming pool today with my two daughters … and I just think, I don’t recognize that person. But that was my reality. That’s what I was prepared to risk, to do.”

Cotter, who worked for Charlotte Motor Speedway for four years before starting his own communications firm, worked in the motorsports world for 25 years. He represented Roger Penske when Penske driver Al Unser, Jr. won the Indianapolis 500 in 1994 and remembers the celebration fondly. Years later, Cotter was the PR rep for Moore’s Mercedes-Benz team when the Canadian driver was killed in the Marlboro 500 in Las Vegas.

“You stand on victory lane at Indy, and then you have to handle funeral arrangements,” Cotter says. “In PR you have to wear all the hats.”

Cotter eventually sold his communications firm—and immediately bought his dream car, a Shelby Cobra. He has since authored 17 books. As host of Hagerty’s Barn Find Hunter, Cotter drives around the country in a 1939 Ford woody wagon, which he bought when he was 15, and searches for forgotten automotive treasure. His enthusiastic passion for cars is palpable.

“I like to find cars in an organic way,” says Cotter, who filled in admirably on The Love of Cars after Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason had to postpone his appearance on the show. “It’s all about the search … My passion is to find cars and give people encouragement to go out and find their own.”

Franchitti, who was born and raised in Scotland, credits his grandmother’s gift of miniature F1 model cars as the start of his enthusiasm for cars. “When I was a boy, my grandmother—she’s still with us; she’s 94—spoiled me something crazy,” he says with a laugh. Franchitti joked that his father, George, owned some great cars (like a Ferrari Dino and Porsche 911 Turbo) before “he blew all his money on my racing.”

“That passion for cars hasn’t diminished,” Franchitti says. “If anything, it’s gotten worse.”

He then shared a video of his most recent purchase, a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona—one of only 19 European versions built. Referring to it as “my kids’ inheritance,” Franchitti says the car “blew the toy budget out of the water.”

Franchitti’s racing career ended prematurely when he was involved in a violent crash on the final lap of the 2013 Grand Prix of Houston. He suffered two fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle, and a concussion. “I never thought it would end in a parking lot in Houston, I have to say. I thought if anything was going to bite me it was going to be one of the big ovals.”

Franchitti named Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, and A.J. Foyt among his racing heroes. He is very close to Stewart, and he says he and Jones became “great pals” after Franchitti finally worked up the courage to introduce himself to the legend. “He was granite … I was afraid of him,” Franchitti says. “And he was delightful.”

Franchitti lived in Nashville for 14 years—he no longer lives in the U.S.—and says he enjoyed some great driving roads in Tennessee. Nothing, however, compares to his homeland. “Scotland is where it’s at,” Franchitti says. “A road trip in Scotland in the right month—October, maybe, just before the weather turns and when the crowds are smaller. We’ve had some of the best times driving all kinds of cars in the north of Scotland.”

Sounds like love.

There’s so much more to see in Episode 5 of The Love of Cars, so check it out below. If you want to watch the show live each week, new episodes air every Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

The post The Love of Cars: IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti, Barn Find Hunter Tom Cotter discuss the highs and lows of racing appeared first on Hagerty Media.