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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Men! How tall are you?

If you answered less than six feet, your odds of playing in the NBA are 1 in 1.2 million. Sorry, short kings, you’ve got your work cut out for you. However, if you answered more than seven feet, this is where things get interesting. Males measuring seven feet or taller have a 1-in-7 shot of being a pro baller.

Views are certainly clearer at that altitude. The same odds could surface when shopping for full-size sport utilities. Take the Sequoia, for example. Toyota’s long-running full-size sport utility doesn’t face the same competition—in terms of quantity of competitors—seen by mid-size and compact SUVs. Toyota only really has to outduel its domestic counterparts for the attention of buyers shopping for big rigs with a rear hatch—tackle the Tahoe and subdue the Suburban. Exterminate the Expedition. Whoop the Wagoneer. I’ll stop.

In case you missed it, Toyota rolled out a new Sequoia for the 2023 model year, replacing the old generation that had graced streets and trails since 2008. The all-new three-row truck ditched the tried-and-true 5.7-liter V-8 for a twin-turbo V-6 hybrid powertrain across all trim levels. What it lost in cylinder count it made up on the stat sheet; Toyota’s new big tree delivers almost 50 more horsepower and can haul nearly one ton more than the outgoing model. On the flip side, Toyota also scrapped the power roll-down rear glass beloved by the model’s most faithful buyers.

I quite enjoyed my time in the old Sequoia, which we used as a photoshoot support truck in Southern California in 2021. Its lumbering V-8 and leviathan size evoked memories of my family’s old 1996 Suburban. Naturally, I was curious to sample the latest edition.

A couple of months ago, a 2023 Sequoia Capstone painted in Supersonic Red arrived at my downtown Detroit doorstep. At first blush, it looks dramatically different than the old rig. Bulbous curves are replaced by numerous edges and angles—less Winnie the Pooh, more Storm Trooper. Its new look shrinks the overall curb presence despite gaining three inches in overall length.

The Sequoia was and always will be big. Appropriately, the new generation’s assembly was moved from Toyota’s Princeton, Indiana, assembly plant to San Antonio, Texas, alongside its bed-carrying brother, the Toyota Tundra. From the front glass forward, the new Sequoia is virtually identical to the new Tundra. Underneath, even more twinning ensues. The Sequoia has the same underpinnings as Toyota’s big pickup. In fact, the fully boxed steel frame, dubbed TNGA-F in ‘Yota-speak, shares its architecture with everything from the Tundra to the Land Cruiser to the Lexus GX and more.

The 3.4-liter V-6 between those rails can be had in the Tundra, too. The 437-horsepower hybrid plant delivers 583 lb-ft of torque and a 9000-pound towing capacity. The electric generator of Toyota’s i-Force MAX hybrid system is found within the bell housing between the engine and the 10-speed automatic transmission. As with most tech, this could prove divisive for Sequoia buyers of old, who preferred the dead-nuts simple naturally aspirated V-8 engine.

Fed by a 1.87-kWh battery, the electric motor does its part to deliver a combined 20 miles per gallon for a four-wheel-drive Sequoia, an improvement of three MPG over the old engine. The rear-wheel-drive Sequoia does two better at 22 miles per gallon. Out on the road, the hybrid engine packs plenty of punch for quick merging and stoplight pulls. Coming to that stop was curious, though, as the brake pedal was softer than I expected. Still, it was a smooth ride throughout and, despite the increase in length, the new truck felt more maneuverable.

Specs: 2023 Toyota Sequoia Capstone 4×4

• Price: $76,865/$80,906 (Base/as tested)
• Powertrain: 3.4-liter twin-turbo hybrid V-6, 10-speed automatic transmission
• Horsepower/Torque: 389 hp, 479 lb-ft (engine only), 437 hp, 583 lb-ft (hybrid combined)
• Layout: four-wheel-drive, four-door, seven-passenger sedan
• Curb Weight: 6185 lbs
• EPA-rated fuel economy: 19 mpg city, 22 mpg highway, 20 mpg combined
• 0–60 mph: 5.6 seconds
• Competitors: Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Jeep Wagoneer, Nissan Armada

The Sequoia’s overall footprint feels smaller from the driver’s seat. Chopping almost three inches from the overall height of the vehicle surely has something to do with it. Combining this lower-slung feel with a more responsive engine creates an overall sportier package. The pivot from an independent rear suspension layout to a multi-link system with a stick axle doesn’t noticeably hinder the ride quality in the new-gen rig.

Reverting back to a live-axle rear layout, something the first-generation Sequoia (2000–2007) had but the second-gen model ditched, is especially noteworthy when you size up the competition. The headline change for the latest iteration of GM’s full-sizers was their switch to an independent rear layout. Ford’s big box has been without a stick axle for more than 20 years.

The ride is also enhanced by exceptional seats that are both comfortable and quite handsome in Capstone’s exclusive white and black leather. This luxury trim line (think GMC Denali) is quite a handsome package, with several touches, like the digital gauge cluster, the drive mode selector, and the radio knob, that look like actual architectural capstones.

The Cap’ is the top dog among Sequoia’s five trims. Among its glint and glimmer, 22-inch rims, American Walnut interior trim, and power running boards top the list. (Pro tip: Do not hop into the truck with haste lest you prefer your shins to collide with the lowering boards.) It’s a truly luxurious feel that no doubt will give the Yukon Denali and the Grand Wagoneer a run for their woodgrain. The Capstone is also the only Sequoia grade to feature acoustic glass in the front doors for more exterior sound deadening. Despite this hush-hush tech, we did notice a faint whistle from the driver’s side door at highway speeds.

At this level of opulence, you’re also treated to a 14-speaker JBL sound system. Toyota’s premier stereo is right up there with GM’s Bose systems in volume and sound quality but still needs some refinement before competing with Acura’s or Volvo’s more luxurious speaker sets from ELS and Bowers & Wilkins.

Sound and climate are easy to control from the driver’s seat, with a 14-inch infotainment screen underlined by a set of physical climate control buttons. Steering wheel buttons are logically placed for cruise control, sound, and scrolling through telemetry on the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. The angled wireless phone-charging pocket saves console space and prevents the phone from sliding should you take the big tree off-road. (Oh, and thank goodness for a USB-A on the dash!)

Back-seat passengers have three types of charging options as well as a pared-down climate control interface. Similarly styled captain’s chairs are a bit more rigid but just as comfortable as their front-seat counterparts. The third row folds, but not flat—a consequence of the new stick axle over the retired independent rear suspension. Should you wish to haul loads beyond a few suitcases, give some additional thought about how many people are tagging along.

When tested, the 2023 Sequoia Capstone exceeds an $80K price tag after factoring in delivery fees. This is where things get dicey. You can buy a lot of truck for that kind of dough—a new Escalade starts at $83K, though with much fewer options included.

Even at the base trim level, the Sequoia skews on the pricier side of most full-size SUVs. A brand-new base 2024 Sequoia—which is unchanged from the 2023 model—is more expensive than Tahoe, Yukon, or Expeditions and just a bit less money than a Grand Wagoneer. Still, depending on options and trim levels, Sequoia is right in the mix and should be on your shopping list.

For my money, I’m still taking a Suburban, though I think that has more to do with my affinity for the Bowtie. If you’re in the market for a hybrid-powered full-size SUV, the new Sequoia is the only game in town. Sit down, “1-in-7,” this new truck has a 100-percent chance of playing in primetime.

2023 Toyota Sequoia Capstone 4×4

Price: $76,865/$80,906 (Base/as tested)

Highs: More horses and pulling power, feels more maneuverable, handsome styling that shrinks overall curb presence.

Lows: Stick axle eats into cargo space, pricey at lux trim level, no more V-8 or power back glass.

Summary: The all-new Toyota Sequoia loses cylinders, but the performance and curb appeal gains are signficant.

***

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Low sun flickers through straight rows of evergreen firs. In the air there is a song of rustling branches and snow crunching under the weight of winter boots. The Rocky Mountains look painted on the horizon in pale whites, blues, and browns. The whole scene is a Bob Ross piece come to life.

A race car slices through the canvas, sliding, snorting, shifting. Hold on to your brushes, Colorado, we’re going ice racing.

Earlier this month, a bunch of people who like cars and don’t mind the cold gathered for the F.A.T. International ice race in Aspen, Colorado. Fans and racers were greeted by an invitation-only car roster that contained everything from the Le Mans-winning Porsche GT1 to a Meyers Manx dune buggy. And the competitors were equally eclectic, with stunt drivers, road racers, circle trackers, influencers, engineers, and even Hagerty’s very own YouTube video host of The Driver’s Seat, Henry Catchpole, charging out onto the snow.

The temporary track, which was constructed along with a paddock and clubhouse on a sprawling tree farm, was a technical series of twists and turns with plenty of opportunities to get sideways. For three days, drivers tackled the slippery snow-ice surface, sending clouds of the white stuff sky-high.

The festival, held just outside of America’s winter-skiing mecca, was the first of its kind in the United States. The affair has plenty of history overseas. Its roots harken all the way back to 1952, in Zell Am See, Austria, where several skiers tethered themselves to the back of motorcycles and raced around a frozen lake. This sport, called skijoring (look it up later on YouTube), marked the beginning of Porsche’s ice-capades.

Zell Am See is a winter sports utopia in the Austrian Alps and served as the location of Porsche’s family estate. The first ice race was held to honor Ferdinand Porsche, who was laid to rest in the town a year earlier.

After the first go in 1952, Austria’s frozen speed fest became an annual tradition, and for over two decades, glove-wearing thrill-seekers gathered to compete on the frozen surface of Lake Zell. Then, in 1974, the event was canceled after a snow plow fell through the ice and its driver drowned. Zell Am See’s ice racing scene went dark for over four decades.

In 2019, the great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Ferdi, championed the event’s revival. Along with college friend Vinzenz Greger, Ferdi brought the ice race back to life.

“We studied together at the University of Vienna and wondered why only a few young people of our generation are as interested in motorsport as we both are,” Ferdi said in a Porsche press release. “One day, when we were skiing in Zell am See, we noticed the studded tires on my father’s Porsche 550. I knew a little about the events that had taken place there many years ago—but unfortunately far too little. It was incomprehensible to me that ice racing had not taken place for many years.”

The two joined forces, with former F1 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck and ex-Porsche factory driver Richard Lietz also on board to launch the rebirth.

The first three years of the GP Ice Race, as it was initially called, were a hit. However, the ensuing events were delayed due to the pandemic. By the beginning of 2024, Ferdi and friends had reloaded and rebranded: GP Ice Race became F.A.T. Ice Race.

Motorsport history buffs might recognize the brand as a sponsor that adorned the side of Porsche’s fiercest race cars. Hello, 962! Back then F.A.T. was a German logistics company. Now, F.A.T. International is a projects and events company, co-founded by Ferdi.

“The name F.A.T. International caught our eye,” said Ferdi, who was searching for a name to reestablish the event. “The brand wasn’t there anymore so the intellectual property was up for grabs. We felt that it was the perfect roof brand for the whole event going forward. And because it said ‘international’, we decided to go beyond Austria.”

First stop: America. Aspen, Colorado, specifically.

In its first year, the Aspen ice race brought the heat. “If you ain’t sliding, we ain’t providing,” said Ferdi. Indeed, the on-track action was awesome, and set against Colorado’s scenic backdrop, it was a photographer’s day dream.

Mobil 1, Chevrolet, VW, Ford, and obviously Porsche got in on the fun. The result was a group of cars that looked more like a Gran Turismo selection screen than a race paddock: a Baja-suited Land Rover, a Mercedes Gullwing, two Ford RS2000s, and a school of safari-style 911s, just to name a few.

“The amount of amazing race cars and road cars that were brought in was something to drool over,” said Ryan Tuerck, who supplied two rides for the exhibition: a V-10-powered Supra and a 1966 Toyota Stout drift truck. “The Toyota Stout, being a proper drift car with a lot of steering angle, really allowed me to throw it around and not worry about hitting an icy spot which would normally spin you out.”

Most of the runs were timed, though fast laps were probably the last thing on everyone’s mind (aside from Tanner Foust who laid down an absolute heater in a stock VW Golf R). “It’s not so much about like split seconds or being the fastest,” says Ferdi. “It’s more about enjoying the time together, sitting in the sun, having a beer after discussing cars.”

Drivers swapped notes and cars, creating some uncommon pairings along the way. Stéphane Ortelli, the French driver who won Le Mans in the GT1-98 R that was supplied for the event, hopped in a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car, and Henry Catchpole borrowed the “keys” to Tuerck’s drift truck.

The final two days ended with an awards ceremony and, of course, an electronic dance DJ set. “The car is the centerpiece, what brings us all together, but in the end the people bring the party,” said Ferdi. Consider it brought.

We’re already looking forward to next year’s slippery festivities.

***

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In just over a week, NASCAR will take to the high banks for its “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing”—the Daytona 500. More immediately, this coming Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will grace the gridiron in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII. What would happen if you put these two events in a cocktail shaker? A high-profile race set inside a stadium?

Well, somebody already did, and the results were mighty sweet.

Here’s how the 2023 Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals went down: Last December, more than 200 race teams filed their way into downtown St. Louis’ stadium for the big event, arriving in a parade of semis, trucks, and trailers. Every winter since 2016 (aside from 2020’s cancellation due to the pandemic), the Dome at America’s Center has welcomed the nation’s top dirt late-model and modified drivers for a weekend of dirt-slinging and door-banging on a temporary fifth-mile banked clay oval. In its short history, the show has grown from an experiment to one of the discipline’s most renowned affairs.

The first-ever midget race was held in 1933 at Loyola High School Stadium in Los Angeles. Crowds grew quickly, and before too long, purpose-built arenas like Gilmore Stadium across town hosted races. (Hagerty Media editor-in-chief Larry Webster even sampled indoor dirt at the famous Chili Bowl midget contest.) Stadium racing is not limited to pint-sized roadsters, though. NASCAR has turned laps at venues like Chicago’s Soldier Field and Bowman Gray Stadium remains a bucket list attraction for stock-car thrill seekers. The idea of racing on an arena floor is not new. However, the idea of racing inside a football stadium in the middle of the NFL season—that’s a whole different ball game.

Football fans will recall that, in the early Nineties, St. Louis was in the market for an NFL franchise. The city’s beloved Cardinals left for sunny Arizona in 1988 and America’s gateway to the west was searching for a team to fill the void. Public bonds helped fund a newly proposed stadium to be built next to the city’s convention center. By 1995, a full-size football arena capable of holding over 67,000 fans was complete. Midwest football fans eventually got their wish as the Los Angeles Rams were moved to St. Louis later that year.

The new St. Louis Rams developed into a high-flying, high-scoring squad, earning the nickname “The Greatest Show on Turf.” The move lasted for twenty years, resulting in one Super Bowl win in 1999. Before the start of the 2016 NFL season, St. Louis Rams relocated from their home at the Dome to L.A. (the franchise’s home city from 1946–1994). The Rams were back in California, leaving the St. Louis dome with plenty of vacant dates on its event calendar.

Enter Cody Sommer, a fresh-faced mover and shaker within the dirt world. The 36-year-old has a history of big projects with varying degrees of success, from a three-year partnership with the dirt racing’s most popular driver, Scott Bloomquist, to an indoor midget race in the Indiana Pacer’s field house. In December 2016, Sommer and a crew hosted the inaugural Dirt Nationals in Gateway. While other projects have come and gone since then, the Dome has remained a staple on the dirt track calendar.

Part of its staying power has come from the incredible finishes and unlikely heroes. Tyler Carpenter comes to mind—a blue-collar from West Virginia who bested a roster of cars with better equipment to take consecutive titles in 2019 and 2021, winning $30,000 in his most recent triumph. His brash attitude and aggressive driving style are perfect for the track’s tight confines.

And he’s consistently good at providing a decent soundbite.

“It’s either make the move or be moved,” Carpenter told reporters in 2021. “I don’t want to crash them guys. Hell, I like ‘em all. We’re here to race … they’ve had their opportunity to win big races. This is the only shot I got as of right now. I ain’t got the backing they got (to win at bigger tracks).”

Indeed, indoor etiquette differs from the typical farm field dirt oval. “There’s definitely a different code of conduct at the Dome,” says Minnesota modified driver Jake Timm. “Everything happens so fast and the races are so short, you don’t have any time to waste. If you are faster than someone you need to be willing to throw an elbow to get by or you might as well not try!”

The sport’s purists may be quick to critique the on-track product, which more closely resembles a WWE match with plenty of contact and lots of hurt feelings. The temporary surface often develops deep ruts and the on-track speeds never hit triple digits. However, most are happy not to be sitting at home fighting winter boredom and accept the race for its minor flaws, understanding that no race at all would be a greater evil.

And so, tens of thousands of fans filled the Dome last December. This year, the event’s attendance had grown so substantial that organizers opened another section of seating for Saturday’s big dance.

The event is a three-day pressure cooker and reaches a massive crescendo on its final day. Preliminary races in the two days leading up to that night pare down the competitive field from over 120 late-model dirt cars to just 20 for Saturday’s feature race. “You have to segment out the night and not think too far ahead,” says Illinois driver Brandon Sheppard. “If you can’t qualify well and you’re buried in your heat, there’s no point in thinking about the feature until you’re in it. The key to going fast is balancing risk versus reward.”

He adds: “And keep it between the walls, baby.”

Tyler Erb did just that in 2022, winning his first Dirt Nationals in his Days of Thunder-inspired green and yellow paint scheme. The 25-year-old fan favorite from Texas captured the checkered flag just four days after losing his father to a heart attack. An emotional Erb stood on the roof of his car to celebrate as fans whooped and hollered.

Erb was back this year to defend his title, joining perhaps the strongest field to ever start a Gateway late model feature. The final night’s pre-race festivities are yet another thing that sets the December dance apart from the other thousands of dirt races run throughout the rest of the calendar year. After the Dome lights went out, fans held up their phone lights and sang “Proud to be an American,” which was followed by indoor pyrotechnics that sent heat waves into the lower seats. Each of the 20 drivers walked out of a smoke-filled tunnel, one by one, like pro wrestlers entering the ring. Dirt racing’s hottest driver, Ricky Thorton Jr., even wore a giant gold championship belt; other drivers opted for costumes or disparaging signs that took shots at their competitors.

The 40-lap late model feature was one of the cleanest yet, with only a few on-track incidents. Sheppard, who started on the front row, quickly assumed the lead and built up a decent gap on the rest of the field. Not to be discouraged by his lackluster starting sport, Thorton quickly charged through the field. With less than 10 laps to go, he was in second place and taking chunks out of the leader’s interval.

With one to go, the two were bumper to bumper. Thorton went low, and Sheppard went high.

Thorton’s shot was just short as he slid behind Sheppard, clipping the wall. Thorton ultimately settled for second. The crowd erupted as a new champion was crowned: King Sheppard, the Seventh. “To win in front of a home crowd that big is insane,” says the man who cut his teeth running on the dirt tracks that surround St. Louis. “It’s hard to put a number on it, but definitely a top 10 moment in my career.”

Sommer and crew have already announced that the Gateway Dirt Nationals will be back in December 2024, so mark this weekend on your calendar. Football be damned, this indoor contest might be the “Greatest Show on Dirt.”

The post Former NFL Stadium Now Hosts the “Super Bowl” of Dirt Racing appeared first on Hagerty Media.

One of the worst side effects of digital photography is the additional step that it takes to bring your photography into the real world. If you’re not diligent in saving files or inspired to make prints, whole catalogs can be lost to the annals of time. Without physical negatives, plenty of my photos that grace this website no longer exist beyond a line of code in our system. It’s a major bummer.

And I’ve only been shooting for six years. Imagine a career photographer’s photo storage conundrum. I have plenty of colleagues who squirrel their stuff in hard drives that look like bank safes. That’s all well and good, but what happens if, one day, that drive doesn’t turn on? The world will have gained one more paperweight.

The Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, gets it. This repository of automotive history and memory includes over 120 archival collections, 26,000 books, and 200,000 magazine and journal issues. Even better, they are open to researchers and the public by appointment. and Revs’ extensive photo collection is available online through the Revs Digital Library (RDL)—presently with 700,000+ images and counting.

The Institute is currently in the process of digitizing another two million shots, including images by the recently acquired André Van Bever Photography Archive. “Throughout his career, André Van Bever chronicled motor racing history, from Juan Manuel Fangio in 1949 to Niki Lauda in 1975, making him one of the most renowned visual witnesses of post-war motorsport,” said Scott George, Curator of Collections.

Preservation of information might be the most important thing on this planet. For my money, photos are artifacts right up there with the Declaration of Independence, the Parthenon, and Dale Sr.’s helmet. Luckily, the Revs Institute recognizes the importance—and the impact—of preserved shots within automotive space.

“Caring for photographs is a real responsibility, because by and large, they are unique,” said Miles Collier, founder of the Revs Institute, in a press release. “They are one image taken by one photographer, at one moment in time, and if something happens to that image that moment in time is forever lost.”

Van Bever was born in Brussels in 1922. His career in photojournalism began at 18 years old when he covered a motorcycle race at the Bois de la Cambre in Brussels as a favor for a friend.

In 1947, he began a 28-year stint as the official photographer of Belgian newspaper Les Sports. Throughout his career, he was assisted by his wife, Nicole Englebert-Van Bever.

“I realize now that he had an artistic side, but he didn’t [realize it],” Englebert-Van Bever told Revs. “Although, I found there is an element of research in every photo. He saw himself as more of a photojournalist who was always under pressure. He wasn’t aware of his artistic side in my opinion.”

The couple became close friends with many of the drivers, especially fellow Belgians Paul Frère, Olivier Gendebien, Lucien Bianchi, and others.

Van Bever’s negatives will be cleaned, logged, and processed over the coming year, then uploaded to the RDL and tagged so that the photos are searchable by scholars and the general public. (The entire RDL can be found at library.revsinstitute.org.) Until then, check out a sampling of Van Bever’s remarkable work in the slideshow below.

The post 18 Moments of Motorsport Magic Through André Van Bever’s Lens appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Tuesday was a big day for stock car racing as NASCAR: Full Speed debuted on Netflix. The five-episode docuseries follows last year’s 16 playoff drivers as they race toward the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

If you’re apprehensive about yet another motorsports documentary, I get it. I certainly was.

Since its debut in 2019, F1’s Drive to Survive has become a global phenomenon, perhaps making the biggest waves right here in the States. According to a Nielsen study, the sport’s U.S. fan base grew about 10 percent in light of the show’s success. Fun stat: More than 360,000 viewers who didn’t view F1 in the latter part of the 2021 season watched F1 racing in 2022 after first watching Drive to Survive.

These stats were likely regurgitated in the board room of every motorsports sanctioning body here to Timbuktu, as aspiring documentarians pitched other series on similar ideas. In the past few years, plenty of disciplines have rushed to make a bare-all docuseries. In 2022, the USA Network premiered a 10-episode NASCAR series, Race for the Championship. Last year, IndyCar launched 100 Days to Indy on the CW. Both were legitimate attempts but lacked the trademark rawness and drama that Drive to Survive served in its five seasons.

The rumblings surrounding NASCAR: Full Speed signaled that the show might be different. For one, the project had some serious power players in the mix. The production studio Words + Pictures was behind the lens. If that sounds familiar, this is the same group who created The Last Dance, a ten-part documentary that focuses on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls, and the 2017 Academy Award-winning O.J.: Made in America.

Oh, and retired NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the executive producer.

Still, I’ve been bit before. When you know a subject matter so intimately, a production’s flaws can stick out like a sore thumb. I recently watched a tennis expert break down the inconsistencies in Break Point, another hot Netflix doc produced by the Drive to Survive crew.

Girding myself for disappointment, I tuned into the big red ‘N.’

The first episode opens in Martinsville, Virginia, at the penultimate race of the season. It’s a time of high stress for the remaining playoff drivers who are attempting to make the final four cutoff for the season-ending showdown in Phoenix. This is a great snapshot of the sport at its most tense. The intimate pre-race convos between lovers and teammates, which are rarely shared during the event’s traditional coverage, excellently build the suspense. Long gone are the early-season races, where a mulligan or two can be tolerated; it’s go-time in Martinsville.

Then, the show quickly pivots, jumping back a couple of months to the days leading up to the playoffs and the respective cutoff race in Daytona. This Tarantino-style timeline could be confusing to the entry-level viewer, however, the doc employs a fuzzied shock jock radio voice to slowly explain the context. We join Denny Hamlin as he prepares his two daughters for school.

Throughout the episode, we’re given incredible access to the personal lives of each driver in the spotlight. This is where the show shines. It’s intriguing to watch these superstars who wrestle race cars around the track at 200 miles per hour performing mundane tasks. Hamlin burns a pancake during his family’s morning routine.

Unsurprisingly, it is the veteran driver Hamlin who provides the best sound bites: “I don’t want my competition thinking ‘Oh gee shucks, what a nice guy.’ F*ck that.”

In addition to interviews with a roster of drivers, you also hear from plenty of pundits and even executive producer Dale Jr., who eloquently explains the sport’s subtle complexities and provides clear context. In fact, as you roll through the midpoint of the episode, the experienced NASCAR fan will start to understand the intended purpose of this docuseries: make new fans.

First, the decision to set the first episode at Daytona is intentional. It’s the same track that will open the 2024 season in a couple of weeks. What a way to prime an audience. Second, the explanation of NASCAR’s playoff system, one of the most nuanced components of the sport, is laid out and explained multiple times so that even a person who has never witnessed a stock car race can comprehend. Drafting, inspection, personas, reputations—everything is laid out like a grade school curriculum.

At one point, bored of explanation, I started to reach for my phone. Then, the cameras travel inside a hauler to listen to a prerace speech from a crew chief. Wait, I’ve never seen that. We even see team owner Coach Joe Gibbs pull Hamlin aside to talk about a soundbite that aired on the driver’s podcast earlier in the week. Juicy!

And it’s all shot and composed really well. There’s plenty of neat framing, unique perspectives, and a great soundtrack.

Despite setting most of the first episode at Daytona, a place where Dale Earnhardt dominated but ultimately passed away, there is no mention of the Intimidator. There isn’t mention of any Hall of Fame driver, for that matter. Make no mistake, the series is here to explain today’s NASCAR. That might rub some fanatics the wrong way, but for the sake of the sport’s future, I’m fine with highlighting modern-day heroes. The lack of personality is one of NASCAR’s current issues and NASCAR: Full Speed is trying to provide a remedy.

Bubba Wallace, the second-ever Black driver to win in NASCAR’s premier level, is chronicled heavily in the first episode. Rightfully so. Wallace has worked his tail off to be in the Cup Series, and found himself right on the playoff cut line during the show’s filming. He also drives for Hamlin and co-owner Michael Jordan. Yeah, that Jordan.

The episode ends with the closing laps at Daytona. A huge flip is followed by late-race dueling, and a triumphant—and exhausted—Bubba Wallace on pit lane receiving congratulations from teammates and Jordan alike. Orville Peck’s “Daytona Sand” accompanies the scene. This doc consistently has the kind of stuff that will likely put your arm hair on end, even if you aren’t a NASCAR fan.

NASCAR: Full Speed is an excellent primer for new fans and provides plenty of intimate never-before-seen moments for the most devout followers, and it wraps it all in a shiny cinematic bow. I’m excited to watch the next episode.

***

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Sick Week 2024 kicks off on January 28 at Orlando Speed World. This year, instead of ushering in the new year with Florida sun and burnt rubber, I’m holed up in my Michigan home surrounded by snow. Rather than shed a tear (it would likely freeze), let’s go back to 2023 and relive the event through my camera. If you’re anywhere near this year’s southern soiree, I suggest you go. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to search last-minute flights to Orlando. —CN

Throw the Baja 1000 and the NHRA season in a blender, and you get Sick Week. During a five-day rally, drag racers in everything from decommissioned Crown Vics to hot-rod Firebirds cover over 1000 miles of public roads, visiting four different drag strips and making multiple runs to net the quickest time. The top cars here lay down quarter-miles in the realm of an NHRA Pro Stocker—under 7 seconds, at speeds exceeding 200 mph. Yet the real goal for the hundreds who compete is simply to finish.

“It’s super grueling,” says Hagerty contributor Tony Angelo, who participated in the 2023 event in a 10-second Firebird. “There’s limited sleep, and tons of parts break. But when you finish, it’s the greatest feeling of accomplishment ever.”

I caught the Sick Week bug last winter during its stop in Bradenton, Florida.

How Sick Week Works: Road to Strip to Road

Aside from burnouts, the most common sight during Sick Week is pant legs wriggling under cars, usually accompanied by shouted profanities. Roadside repairs are the rule, not the exception.

Teams are capped at two people, and the use of a support vehicle is strictly prohibited. Some racers tow spare parts, drag slicks, and other road-trip necessities in a single-axle trailer behind their ride. No trailer queens here.

Each morning, the group departs from a hotel for a nearby strip. At the racetrack, racers might swap tires, tune carburetors, or even change supercharger blower pulleys to prep their street-legal cars for the drag strip. Once each driver makes a pass (or multiple passes if they want to improve on their time), they pack up, convert the car back to street mode, and point their hood scoops toward the next town.

What You’ll See at Sick Week: Beasts of All Kinds

A common complaint about drag racing (and just about every professional racing series nowadays) is that the cars are too much alike. That’s not a problem at Sick Week, where you can see everything from a Volvo wagon to late-model trucks alongside the standard muscle car fare. They compete in more than a dozen classes. Many of the vehicles are seriously quick—a stock Porsche 911 Turbo S would run mid-pack—but all are welcome. A 1997 Jeep Wrangler competing in the stick-shift class ran a 19-second time.

How Sick Week Started … and How It’s Going

Sick Week is in only its third year, but the 350 entry spots sold out in all of two minutes. Sick Week’s founder, Tom Bailey—a celebrity in the drag-and-drive niche—is a four-time champion of Hot Rod’s Drag Week. His street-legal 4000-hp 1969 Camaro, capable of 5-second passes, unofficially holds the title as “the fastest street car in America.”

It was at Drag Week in 2021 that Bailey and a group of friends began discussing what they would do differently if they had their own event.

“At the top of our hit list was good track prep,” says Bailey. “Put us on great tracks where people can run their best times.” Bailey, a Michigan native, had spent his summers testing in Florida and discovered several quality strips within a day’s drive of one another. “I thought: ‘Why hasn’t anyone done this?’”

Bailey and his posse rushed to assemble the first Sick Week in 2022. It was an instant hit. “I remember arriving late to a track one day and seeing the cars lined up for miles,” says Bailey. “It was packed on a Thursday morning in February.”

What’s Sick Week Like? Hurry up and wait

“It’s hard to go fast. It’s even harder to make every stop,” says Angelo, the Firebird driver. This is a sentiment shared by all, as getting the drag car to the track is half the battle—Florida traffic is enough to force the coolant out of any radiator. You can only relax once you’re in the staging lanes. While they wait for their pass, some weary competitors sleep in the seat, on the ground, or on a hood.

You Don’t Have to Race: Join the Sick Ward

Of course, the real draw, at the end of the day, is the raw power of drag racing. Sick Week brings in so many spectators that Bailey created the “Sick Ward” for people who just wanted to cruise with the group and enjoy the camaraderie rather than race. Members of the Ward, as well as local drag nuts, pack the stands at every Florida and Georgia stop—pretty amazing for a weekday event.

***

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If you loved Netflix’s Drive to Survive, buckle up for another high-speed Netflix docuseries, called NASCAR: Full Speed.

The five-episode docuseries, which premieres on Netflix on January 30th, will follow last year’s 16 playoff drivers as they race toward the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Each episode will be 45 minutes in length. A trailer for the new film debuted earlier this week, providing a sneak peek into the drama captured during the last season’s on- and off-track action.

According to NASCAR, the documentary “will bring fans behind the scenes, exploring the physical and emotional challenges of competing for a championship at the top level of stock car racing.”

Before you pass NASCAR: Full Speed off as a cheap copy of Drive to Survive, know that this effort has some serious horsepower—and cred—under the hood. The production studio Words + Pictures created this series. If that sounds familiar, these are the same people who created The Last Dance, a ten-part documentary that focuses on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls, and the 2017 Academy Award-winning O.J.: Made in America. Retired NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. also joins as executive producer.

The documentary comes at a time of great sea change. “NASCAR has kicked down the door to an entirely new era recently—with new tracks, cars, team owners, and stars combining to deliver some of the best competition the sport has ever seen,” says NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Tim Clark. “Now is the perfect time to introduce people to the characters, competition, and chaos that make NASCAR so compelling while still giving our most passionate fans plenty of new insights into their favorite teams and drivers.”

The last big NASCAR film series to hit screens came in the fall of 2022, when the USA Network premiered a 10-episode series, Race for the Championship. Last year, IndyCar launched also its docuseries titled 100 Days to Indy on the CW. Both seemed like rather ambitious efforts with plenty of compelling behind-the-scenes drama, but neither took America by storm in the same way that Drive to Survive did back in 2019.

A Netflix property, given the app’s 247 million-plus users and cultural influence, has plenty of promise to make any series a touchstone overnight, from Tiger King to Squid Games. Will NASCAR be the next trendy docu-series to dominate water cooler chat and incite massive FOMO? Only time will tell.

Will you tune in?

***

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A red Miata dangles from the arm of a construction crane, suspended several stories in the air. Hooked behind the rear bumper, its round nose points to the pavement below. In an instant, the tiny sports car plummets to the tarmac. It smashes and falls, shiny side down. If that wasn’t cruel enough, a gray 1985 Dodge van with “Blink 182” painted on the side enters stage right and backs into the dead, red convertible.

End scene. Fin.

Said Miata drop is the climax to a Blink 182 music video for the band’s 2001 hit song “The Rock Show.” The whole premise is that the record label gave Blink a check for its latest video. The pop-punk trio rolls up to a bank in the gray Dodge van and then chases the check in order to commit a day of stunts with the windfall: throwing dollar bills off a roof, freeing pet shop doves, and the like. Rapid cuts of this buffoonery are mixed with footage of the band playing at various locations. It’s all the kind of stuff that captivated the minds of young teens and shot Blink 182 to the top of the charts in the early 2000s.

While it’s safe to say the folded Miata was probably written off as a total loss, the van’s whereabouts were always a mystery. “The band rented the Dodge for the shoot,” says 32-year-old superfan Andrew Baldwin. “After the video, it ended up in the hands of a radio station and sat in their lot for a while. Then a station employee purchased the van and owned it for better part of a decade.”

In the 23 years since the video, Blink 182 became one of the biggest rock bands of the 21st century. It’s three central members came and went before finally reuniting last year for a reunion tour. By all accounts the band still rocks and brings the same juvenile humor prevalent in their songwriting, live performances, and music videos. (Look no further than the tour name, The Rock Hard Tour.)

Only one question was left unanswered until recently—no, not “What’s my Age Again?” but rather: Where on Earth is the Blink 182 Dodge van?

“We first found it a few years back, posted online,” says Baldwin. “There were rumors someone was going to buy it. Somebody passed on it. Other people chose not to buy it.” He and his girlfriend Taylor didn’t lose interest. “We thought about it a whole lot. Nobody really said where it was and nobody would give the exact location.” Online chatter was only mildly helpful.

The couple eventually found the van using Google Street View. “We had enough clues to get close.” The faded “Blink 1-8-2” on the side rendered it immediately recognizable to a guy like Baldwin, who remembers watching the music video when it was on the air in ’01. He was able to get in contact with the owner. Still, Baldwin found himself hesitating at the prospect of taking the van home. He contemplated what he might do with an old music video prop that, in his words, “ran, but not well.”

“It was actually my girlfriend that said, ‘Go for it and think about it later.’”

A thousand bucks later, the van was theirs. After shipping it to their house in Texas, they commenced to flushing the gas lines and dropping the tank. According to Baldwin, the Dodge needs a new carburetor, new brakes, and a bit of TLC throughout. “The goal is to get it road-worthy by the time the band tours this summer. We’re going to take it shows and tailgate.” While it might not command the dough that a Bullitt Mustang or a Bandit Firebird will fetch at auction, the van has plenty of historical provenance among the right crowd.

“For me, I love the band and the music and part of it how ridiculous it feels to own a 38-year-old van in the garage that you’re going to restore,” he says. “It means a lot. I get a funny feeling sitting in the driver seat.”

The van’s musty interior appears just as it was when the band piled in for filming of “The Rock Show” video. Even the rear doors, which impacted the Miata during the shoot, remain permanently wedged shut. More two decades later, the giant gray van is a rolling time pop-punk capsule.

“It’s awesome. I smile every time I step in the garage and see it.”

The couple is documenting the entire Blink 182 van saga on their Instagram. Follow along at @therockshowvan.

***

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They’re closing in. Can you see it? Can you feel it?

We are refining the automobile, improvements coming in hundredths, not tenths. Eventually, we will have the perfect car. Every behavioral science department is humming. Teams armed with algorithms and reams of data are forecasting what buyers want and need. The technology exists—we can have an eleventy-twelve-speaker sound system, heated seats, and four cup holders. Heck, we could have 14 heated cup holders if that’s what the focus groups agreed on.

The Lexus TX is the logical product of this march toward customer optimization. It is technically a new entrant into the three-row, midsize luxury SUV segment. The TX replaces the enlarged Lexus RX, previously dubbed RX-L, and rides on the same platform as the Toyota Grand Highlander. Luxury buyers in America don’t want a minivan, so the ones with minivan needs buy something like this instead. Earlier this month, a 2024 Lexus TX 350 showed up to my Detroit doorstep wearing a coat of Wind Chill Pearl paint. I opened the driver’s door.

First impressions: This ute is nice. The Lexus ideals of comfort, quality materials, and subtle style converge here. It’s not an enthusiast’s zenith, like a 1968 L88 Corvette or a 1000-horsepower Mopar. But if you need to shuffle seven human beings to highway cruising velocity while every one of their phones charges, it’s then that you’re appreciative of the TX’s seven USB-C ports. A 14-inch touchscreen dominates the dashboard. There’s “NuLuxe” synthetic leather trim all over, save the leather-trimmed steering wheel, plus snazzy ambient lighting to jazz up the place at night.

More than anything, though, the unibody TX has space, for people and things. The aim here is full-size, body-on-frame SUV-like capacity (think Lexus GX) with better packaging, more car-like handling, and much better fuel economy—27 mpg highway in this front-drive TX vs. 21 mpg in the upcoming GX.

Most impressive was that this loaner TX was the base model, the TX 350, estimated to cost $55,050. (The average transaction price for a new car in 2023 is about $48,000.) I felt like a 19th-century peasant who time-traveled to Target’s clearance aisle. These lux sport utilities, even in standard trim, are mind-blowing in their tech and comfort. My daily driver, a last-gen Chevy Colorado, is a ’65 Mustang compared to the new TX.

The TX can be had in nine different variants, ranging from this base front-wheel-drive TX 350 to the all-wheel-drive hybrid TX550h+ Luxury. The latter is the only one of the bunch with a 3.5-liter six-cylinder, whereas the other flavors utilize a 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-four, with or without hybrid assistance. Inside, the trims are also varied in their level of equipment. The chief differences among the spread are the materials, sound system, and seat count. Luxury trims ditch the middle row bench for a pair of captain chairs, turning the seven-passenger Lexus into a sixer.

Regardless of where or how you sit, all chairs are super comfy. The front buckets are heated, and true to Lexus form, can hold buns for extended miles without causing cramping or tingling. Lexus, though, seems to be the most proud of its work in the back row. And unless you play in the NBA, the manual-folding third row ain’t too bad.

“It’s only human to want the best seat in the house. And it’s only Lexus to make every seat the best seat,” said Dejuan Ross, group vice president and general manager, Lexus Division. “TX prioritizes comfort in every row.” It helps that it is riding on a sport utility platform with a 116-inch wheelbase that’s only four inches shorter than the span you’d find on a Chevy Tahoe.

Specs: 2024 Lexus TX350 FWD

Price: $55,050/$55,050 (Base/as tested)
Powertrain: 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, eight-speed automatic transmission
Horsepower: 275 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 370 lb-ft @ 1700–3600 rpm
Layout: front-wheel-drive, four-door, seven-passenger sedan
EPA-rated fuel economy: 21 city, 27 highway, 23 combined
0–60 mph: 7.1 seconds
Competitors: Acura MDX, Volvo XC90, BMW X5, Genesis GV80

Perhaps the most divisive part of this Lexus is its face. This seems to be the ongoing trend and the key differentiator amongst luxury cruisers that can do it all. The GV80’s giant argyle smile or the X5’s big ol’ kidney bean—if you want to be a competitor in this space, you better thrill with the grille. Even after a week-long loan of the TX, the verdict is still out. On one hand, the horizontal slats look menacing, like a Cylon Centurion helmet. On the other, it has the same face as my wall-unit air conditioner.

Like an appliance, the drivetrain performs the intended task with acute reliability. I drove the TX to Indianapolis for a weekend and whether we were open-road motoring or gridlock juking, the mid-size SUV was unfazed. The eight-speed automatic delivers smooth, consistent power from the 275-horse turbocharged four-cylinder. (I would prefer a shifter that moved and clicked rather than rocked into gear, however.) This Goldilocks power output should work well for anyone. Even the towing capacity is decent at 5000 pounds. To put that in perspective, that’s a thousand more than the turbo-four-powered Ford Maverick.

Given the size, the TX overachieves with its turning radius and is perfectly capable of navigating the tightest spots, despite its three-row status. There aren’t any glaring blind spots and the vehicle’s four corners feel within your grasp. It’s big, but not ungainly. The brakes do their job, but they felt a bit soft, and required a long push and a heavy foot for stop signs. Stopping and starting are smooth nonetheless with MacPherson struts up front and a five-arm multi-link out back. The rig feels composed in abrupt turns and highway cloverleaf exits.

It’s an extremely pleasant ride, and even with base trim, the TX still knows how to cosset its occupants. The touchscreen works well, and dual physical knobs allow for quick adjustments while maintaining a view of the road. The seven-inch digital instrument display clearly provides all pertinent driving information. The buttons on the wheel aren’t as overwhelming as some of the new luxury wheels, though I did struggle to toggle between regular cruise and adaptive cruise and was fed a this-feature-is-not-available-now message regarding the cruise on multiple occasions. (In fairness, this is technically a prototype vehicle and thus not part of the regular production run.)

Lexus’ NuLuxe synthetic leather is applied liberally throughout the spacious cabin. I also enjoyed the adjustable cup holders in the center that could be unclipped if you wanted to place something larger or oblong between the front row. My only big gripe for the interior may be a sign of my dinosaur status, but there were only USB-C ports, no older types.

The standard 12-speaker sound system is plenty loud but lacks that refined clarity that true audiophiles seek. I’d be curious what the 21-speaker PurePlay Surround Sound (available in Premium and Luxury variants for $1160) can do for the ear.

Of course, when you start tacking on the available options like 22-inch wheels for $2140 or the $895 convenience package that includes a Traffic Jam Assist, the three-row SUV that I tested for $55,050 quickly surpasses the $60K or even $70K threshold. At that mark, this vehicle is out past its depth into waters filled with sharks like the Mercedes-Benz GLE or a Genesis GV80 Prestige.

This base-model TX is right where it should be, in among the other handsome seven-passenger haulers like the Acura MDX or the Volvo XC90. And if refining the automobile in 2024 means everything you need and pretty much nothing you don’t, I get the appeal. Buyer decisions for a segment like three-row crossovers often come down to the most minute differences in aesthetics or utility, like a grille with horizontal vs. vertical slats or a center console with removable cup holders. The Lexus TX manages to give the focus groups what they want, without losing focus on the comfort and usability fundamentals that matter most.

2024 Lexus TX 350 FWD

Highs: Seems even bigger on the inside, can hold seven adults comfortably, powertrain is smooth and predictable.

Lows: Too many buttons on the steering wheel, slightly spongy brake pedal, infotainment menus have a learning curve.

Takeaway: The TX might be a new name, but it looks, feels, and drives like a veteran three-row luxury family hauler.

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Good luck trying to stand out at PRI. Held in the sprawling Indiana Convention Center, the annual December convention for the motorsports industry features over 3300 exhibitor booths packed with anything from prize wheels to six-figure custom cars. Gloss paint, wild headers, mail-box-sized intakes, and more shiny bits than the New York Philharmonic—these cars are designed to be bug zappers for gearheads, whether the company they advertise is selling patented rubber grommets or wall art. When a modest, black 1923 Model T draws a crowd at PRI, you know it must be special.

“Special,” in the case of this car, is an understatement. The black roadster surrounded by throngs of blue-jean-wearing, swag-toting convention-goers pays tribute to perhaps the most important car in hot-rodding.

To celebrate Isky Racing Cam’s 75th anniversary, the performance camshaft manufacturer posed the idea of a special build and enlisted the help of notorious hot rod fabricators Dennis Taylor and his family. Hot Rods by Dennis Taylor has built plenty of old Fords and is known for its work on ’33 and ’41 Willys, with over two hundred builds in the books.

After some spit-balling about Camaros and other platforms, Taylor posed the idea of building a tribute car to celebrate the Model T owned and customized by Ed Iskenderian, the founder of Isky Racing Cams. “I’ve built a lot more complicated and faster cars,” says Taylor, “but none of them compare to this car because of its historical value.”

The T was built by a teenage Iskenderian in 1938, long before the term “hot rod” even existed. Back then, they were called “gow jobs” and other slang. Car-crazy youngsters stripped weight, added horsepower, and took their souped-up rides to cruise or burn the quarter-mile at the Santa Ana Drags in Southern California. (Side note: The track served as a primordial hotbed for hot rod culture as we know it today. Taylor, for example, grew up within “bicycle-riding distance” of the legendary SoCal strip).

Unlike the roughshod gow jobs that infested the area, Iskenderian’s ’23 was a cut above, and appeared on the cover of the June 1948 issue of Hot Rod, during the magazine’s first year of publication.

“Back in the day, that car was considered fancy, and it showed people that you could build a hot rod as a show car,” explains Taylor. “It had a beautiful leather interior.” (At waist height, it’s easy to see that Taylor’s faithfully recreated new leather interior is stunning as well.)

“He mounted the generator lower on the engine,” continues Taylor. “And the car also had a dual-system exhaust.” Police were known to crack down on hoodlums with loud pipes back in the day, when fast cars were vilified, so Iskenderian built exhaust pipes that could be run straight or diverted through a muffler.

That level of fit and finish was carried over to the tribute car parked on the short-pile black carpet in Isky’s PRI booth. The roadster is immaculate, with a tidy presentation, confident stance, and gorgeous curves that carry from the firewall to the roadster’s turtle deck. The whole thing came together in the time it might take you or me to build a model car. “I worked 15-hour days, seven days a week, for three months,” says Taylor. “I was really honored to be building it.”

After a visit to check out Iskenderian’s original T at the Museum of American Speed in Nebraska, Taylor decided he wanted to make a tribute and not an exact copy, so he turned to the “Camfather” for guidance on what engine he might choose for the new car. Iskenderian’s answer was simple: “Use whatever is the latest, greatest motor that’s out there.”

Taylor was amazed. “He’s so open-minded at 102 years old, that he would choose something new and not an old flathead with Ardun heads.” Marching orders received, Taylor dropped a 7.3-liter Godzilla Ford V-8 between the frame rails and mated it to a Tremec five-speed manual. Out back, he opted for a quick-change rear-end sourced from fellow hot rodder David Freiburger.

For Taylor, some aspects needed to be true to the original—the trim on top of the body, the angle of the windshield, the flying skull grille ornament. The valve covers, too.

Rather than machine the covers out of billet, Taylor opted to cast them, like Iskenderian did back in the day. That, he says, was the most challenging part of the build. “I have my own furnace and sand, but I’ve never done anything that big,” he says. Assistance came in the form of a new technology—3-D printing. Taylor’s daughter’s boyfriend Nick printed the covers used in the casting process to create the final mold. The crew poured the covers just a week before the car was slated to go to SEMA.

“I remember thinking, there’s no chance those letters come out of the mold,” says Taylor of the complex relief script on top of the covers. “We made two, they worked, and then we looked up and said, ‘Thank you!’”

Once the car was buttoned up, the crew took it out to SEMA for its debut. Hot-rodding cognoscenti know exactly which Model T it is built to honor, though the engine might throw them off. No matter where it is, whether Las Vegas or Indiana, this T draws a crowd.

***

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Hole-y moly! Last night, the $500 million F1 weekend came screeching to a halt for a loose water valve cover on the Las Vegas street course.

Just nine minutes into the first practice session of the novel race, the cover dislodged, resulting in massive damage to the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. The Alpine of Esteban Ocon was also reportedly involved in the incident.

Ferrari boss Fred Vassuer called the incident “unacceptable.” The damage was so significant to the Ferrari that Sainz was almost unable to participate in the second practice session, although his team worked furiously through the delay and managed to change the chassis and allow Sainz to return to the track for Free Practice 2. As Sainz’ car was being swapped in the paddock, multiple drainage covers were sealed on track. FP2 eventually started at 2:30 a.m. PT on Friday and was extended to 90 minutes to make up for lost time.

In a swift turn of fate, both Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz had pace, going 1-2 in the second practice. However, because of the nature of the repairs made to the Ferrari, the FIA ruled that Sainz will be given a 10-place grid penalty for the race.

Unlike Vassuer, Mercedes principal Toto Wolff had a different tone in his post-practice comments. “That is not a black eye. This is nothing,” he said of the incident. “They are going to seal the drain covers and nobody is going to talk about it tomorrow morning.”

When a reporter pushed back, Wolff didn’t back down. “It’s completely ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. FP1, how can you even dare try to talk bad about an event that sets a new standard to everything?” Wolff asked. “You’re speaking about a drain cover that’s been undone. That has happened before. That’s nothing. It’s FP1.”

Wolff would know. His driver George Russell was the victim of a similar incident in the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when a loose drain cover damaged his car during FP1. Monaco also had a drain cover pop off in 2016.

Still, the world’s hyper focus on this event is likely take any small blemish and blow it out of proportion. No doubt this is not the start that event organizers wanted.

Is this small hole a big deal? Let us know what you think in the comments.

***

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There it sat, one of the most famous cars to ever conquer the 24 Hours of Le Mans: a Porsche 917. The Gulf livery sizzled under the California sun, rock chips casting shadows across the surface like tiny craters on a powder blue moon. The imperfections are a badge of honor and a direct connection to pushing past 200 miles-per-hour on the Mulsanne Straight. This is the car that immortalized Steve McQueen and terrified anyone competing against the House of Stuttgart.

Typically, a blue and orange 917, regardless of winning history, is an A-list celebrity among extras. Any public display of the car commands attention, with drooling mouths and snapping phones. And yet, there it sat on a carpet of turf at Sonoma Raceway, all by itself. No fans, no cameras.

Here’s the thing: Velocity Invitational isn’t your typical vintage-racing event.

 

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Walk less than 100 yards past the glorious 917, and you’ll see why, last weekend, the famous Porsche didn’t command its typical throngs of spectators. There were simply too many contemporaries with equal provenance on the race-course property—many of them hitting triple digits on the 2.52-mile track—to spend time soaking in every detail of the Porsche race car.

Last weekend, Sonoma Raceway hosted over 20,000 fans, drivers, and crew members for the fourth annual Velocity Invitational. The event, typically held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, was moved three hours north to California’s wine country. Over 200 cars filled Sonoma’s paddock, from rowdy Trans-Am muscle to lithe prototype supercars and everything in between. Lauda, Andretti, Hamilton, Parnelli, Gurney—chances are your favorite driver probably once drove one of the cars that snaked around the 12-turn course.

This year, papaya orange was à la mode as McLaren was the featured partner. The firm dusted off the greatest from its days gone by to celebrate the marque’s 60th anniversary—big-block-toting Can-Am cars, multi-colored Sennas, and enough vintage Formula 1 cars to host a grand prix. Even the CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, got in on the action, competing in a couple different vintage classes.

Brown and company were able to lure out some of their most formidable drivers, as well. IndyCar star Alexander Rossi and F1 young gun Lando Norris headlined a list of top-shelf drivers.

As always, the attendees you’re more likely to overlook have the best stories, like the man who calls himself Captain Marco. A Lotus 11 owner and driver, he is one of the oldest licensed sea captains and has spent years sailing. When asked if there were any similarities between the two disciplines, he responded, “You’re always looking for the next boat to pass.”

Or 25-year-old Chase Johnson, who maintains a Ferrari collection and gets to saw on the wood-grain wheel of a Ferrari Testa Rossa. Johnson, an accomplished open-wheel driver in his own right, also organized a sprint-car exhibition that sent smoke spewing from Sonoma’s Turn 11 hairpin late into Saturday night.

This was my first Velocity Invitational. When I learned of the expected Can-Am roster and the event’s new location at Sonoma Raceway, I saw the opportunity to scratch two items off my bucket list in one weekend. And both lived up to the hype. I won’t soon forget the way the McLaren M8s sounded when they crested Turn 3A, or the way the vintage F1 cars danced through the shadows cast by Sonoma’s towering grandstands.

The whole event was a photographer’s dream. Low sun, tons of elevation, and plenty of hot metal. And the fact that you could spend ten minutes poring over every detail of a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 with your camera, without having to push past fans, made it even better. I encourage you to click through some of my favorite shots from the weekend.

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Ready the cannons, ’cause this is an explosive send-off. Last weekend, Ford debuted the final iteration of its vaunted GT supercar in public for the first time. The 800-horsepower Ford GT Mk IV was a blur of red, white, and blue as it scorched around Sonoma Raceway in California’s wine county.

Billed as the “ultimate and final track-only Ford GT,” the Mk IV adds power and downforce to the Blue Oval’s mid-engine supercar formula.

For this ultimate expression of the production GT, Ford again turned to long-time partner Multimatic. The Canadian manufacturing and engineering firm provided assembly for the third-generation Ford GT, launched for the 2017 model year. In 2019, the company’s performance arm, Multimatic Motorsports, developed the Ford GT Mk II for customer track use. Just 45 examples were built.

Last December, Ford announced that production of GT road cars was coming to a halt, making the 2023 model year the supercar’s final one. To commemorate the run, Ford revealed plans for a juiced-up “long-tail” sequel to the Mark II track-only car, this time dubbed the Mark IV in reference to the final iteration of the original Ford GT40 that conquered Le Mans back in 1967. Appropriately, Ford planned to build 67 examples.

Nearly a year later, Ford yanked the silk off the GT Mk IV at Velocity Invitational, a historic motorsports gathering that attracts the finest vintage race cars to Sonoma, California. Multimatic’s ace driver, Scott Maxwell, was on hand to exhibit the Mk IV’s impressive pace on the 12-turn, 2.5-mile road course.

In addition to racing professionally for Multimatic since 1992, Maxwell served as lead development driver on the third-generation Ford GT road car, the Le Mans-winning race car, and Multimatic’s GT Mk II. “This is a much more aggressive car,” he said, motioning toward the Mk IV parked on Sonoma Raceway’s pit lane.

Maxwell has driven the low-slung supercar on most of North America’s premier tracks, from Laguna Seca to Road Atlanta. “Anybody can hop in a Mark II and drive it fast or slow and be comfortable. It’s the easiest supercar I’ve ever driven in my life. The Mark IV is more raw. It likes to go quicker because that’s when the downforce kicks in.”

 

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According to the Multimatic Motorsports team, the new GT posts lap times that rival those of the LMP2 prototype race car. Compared to the Mk II, this follow-up is approximately 400 pounds lighter and has about 40 percent more downforce. Even the car’s tub was reworked to accommodate a different roll cage.

All told, the new machine’s body and ground effects generate 2400 pounds of plant. “The aerodynamics are pretty spectacular,” said Sean Mason, motorsports manager of Multimatic’s Special Vehicle Operations department. “We could get more downforce, but we don’t want to overload the tire.” In addition to aiding stick, the new carbon-fiber bodywork gives the car a refreshing appearance.

“There’s not a hell of a lot left from the Mark II,” said Mason. “The tail lights are the same,” he added wryly.

Likely, competitors will see much of those old lamps, because this thing is fast. The twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 engine behind the driver can produce north of 800 horsepower on pump gas. The Mark IV also features Multimatic’s Adaptive Spool Valve (ASV) suspension. As the car drives around the track, the adaptive suspension’s spool valves constantly adjust the dampening based on inputs from the driver and the track surface.

Buyers aren’t expected to tame this beast entirely by themselves. Ford Performance will host driving days for customers and their new playthings, and Multimatic, including Maxwell, will be in attendance to support.

To answer the question we’re all wondering: Cost is a cool $1.7M. Though, like many limited halo machines of this nature, all 67 are sold as of this writing. That’s more than triple the cost of the standard-issue road car, which commanded a price of around $500,000.

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Kevlar, Aramids, Zylon, highly-oriented polyethylene filaments—the materials used to construct Formula 1 cars sound like science fiction substances, so it came as a shock when an infraction on a “wooden plank” made headlines last weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

Second place finisher Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who finished the race in sixth place, were disqualified following the race in Austin, Texas, because the composite panel on the underside of each of their cars measured less than the legal thickness in post-race inspection. Headlines generalized the material, calling it wood, when really it’s a lot more complex than a sheet of OSB.

The casual F1 fan might wonder why there’s a plank under the car in the first place, let alone why the penalty would be as severe as disqualification. Let’s get you up to speed.

Like most other parts on these 16-million-dollar modern marvels, the foot-wide strip that runs the length of the car is a composite material. According to F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech on Twitter), the plank is actually a glass-filled resin, not wood or treated wood, as some have claimed. (There is a wood-based version of this material, called Jabroc, which any weekend racer can purchase for their car’s underbelly, but unsurprisingly, F1 teams use a more advanced composition.)

The plank under an #F1 car was introduced as part of the post-Senna safety drive.
It's there to prevent the teams running a car too low. As this will wear away the material & give evidence the car was too low
It's not actually wood, but a glass filled resin. #F1Tech #COTA #USGP pic.twitter.com/p69hAMRBCf

— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) October 23, 2023

Material complexities aside, the plank’s task is quite simple: prevent F1 cars from bottoming out excessively on track. Instead of the costly carbon structure that comprises the underside of these cars grinding against the tarmac, the plank takes brunt of the abrasive force.

Rubbing the pavement; wouldn’t that slow you down? Should you be that low in the first place?

Yes, but also yes. The microscopic amount of drag generated by a scraping underbelly is drastically outweighed by the gains of driving a car that is low to the ground. In addition to powerful engines, hybrid motors, and giant tires, F1 teams rely on aerodynamics to create speed. Of the many forces that air can exert on a car, downforce is perhaps the most important. To put it simply, engineers want the most amount of air to travel over the car and the least amount of air to go under. Air over the top pushes down on the wings, ducts, and curves of the car to “plant” it in the pavement, and in turn achieve maximum grip.

To minimize the amount of air traveling under the car, teams make every effort to “seal” the car to the ground. The lower the car, the better. Teams generate such large downforce numbers, that a grand prix car could theoretically drive upside down. As you can probably imagine, an extremely low ride height will also bottom out on a race track’s undulating pavement. Hello, light show.

Throughout the 1980s, F1 engineers pushed their cars lower and lower, and a trail of yellow embers from beneath the rear wing became a common sight. Then, in 1994, the FIA ruled that every team had to fix a 10-millimeter thick plank, called a skid block, to the underside their cars. Teams would incur a penalty if the block revealed more than one millimeter of wear at the end of a race. (To nobody’s surprise, the first skid block violation was given that first year of implementation.)

Over time, teams started to place small metal blocks on top of the skid block so that the plank would be protected from extreme wear. In 2015, the FIA mandated that the alloy be replaced with titanium. These new blocks make sparks like F1 days of old, but are much safer.

Back to last weekend. Hamilton and Leclerc wore through the titanium blocks and, then, through at least a millimeter of thickness on their planks. Was this foul play or something else?

FIA officials acknowledged that the infraction was “probably a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the Sprint race schedule that minimized the time to set up and check the car before the race.”

That the violation happened to two different cars would suggest this perfect storm scenario is true. Teams operate on the smallest of margins, chasing a sweet spot that creates maximum speed and minimum ride height. One millimeter too high, and suddenly your season is on the skids—the other kind.

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Chevy folks relish pointing out that their beloved small-block V-8 often powers hot rods from other makes. Yet Ford fans have a riposte: Crawl to the back of many of those rides and you’ll spot the Blue Oval’s nine-inch rear differential. For years, it has been preferred among customizers. But why?

A rear differential, regardless of manufacturer, is a work of mechanical genius. Inside a bulbous metal housing known as the “pumpkin,” an intricate ballet of gears converts the driveshaft’s longitudinal rotation 90 degrees to drive the rear wheels. There are three main components: First, there’s a grooved-metal mushroom affixed to the driveshaft, called the pinion gear. It drives a ring gear, which looks like, well, a ring. In some drag-racers and rugged off-roaders, that ring essentially drives the wheels. But in most passenger vehicles, power is transferred via another set of gears that allow the wheels to run at different speeds—as happens when turning a corner—without binding. (Hence the word differential.)

In early cars, the ring and pinion gears meshed at a 90-degree angle, with the pinion positioned at the ring’s 3 o’clock mark. However, in the 1920s, a Rochester, New York–based inventor figured out that angling the pinion’s teeth would allow more of them to engage with the ring at once, thus imparting more strength. This new setup (hypoid offset in engineering speak) also allowed the pinion to be mounted lower on the ring, meaning the entire car body could sit lower without a huge driveshaft hump inside. Middle-seat passengers everywhere can be thankful.

The Ford nine-inch, introduced in 1957, incorporated all that smart thinking but had distinct advantages. First, there’s the diameter of its ring gear at—you guessed it—nine inches. That’s larger and thus stronger than most contemporaries. Ford engineers increased the angle of the pinion’s teeth, as well. The diff was largely created at the behest of designers who were obsessed with lower floorpans, but the real benefit was quickly discovered by drag racers: The angle of the teeth imparted the strength to stand up to high-horsepower engines and fat rear tires.

Plus the unit was easy to work on. You access its guts by removing the driveshaft and 10 bolts, and the gearset drops out of the housing like a (heavy) printer cartridge. That means gear swaps can be done at a workbench rather than under the car. Some racers even carried multiple dropout diffs in their trailer for quick substitutions.

Ford phased out production of its nine-inch in the 1980s. Yet 30 years on, the rear end remains a favorite among enthusiasts for its strength, abundance, and convenience.

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When we drive our cars, they collect signs of that use—patina, in collector-car speak. The latest issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine, in which this article first appeared, explores the delight found in such imperfect cars. To get all this wonder sent to your home, sign up for the club at this link. To read about everything patina online, click here. 

Detroit knows a thing or two about patina. We’re not talking about ruins. Please. The abandoned buildings that dot the city’s 139 square miles will always infatuate national media but have little new to tell you about the place or the resilient people who live here. We’re referring instead to the passion and creativity that pushes through the cracks. This is a city where you can have the best meal of your life adjacent to an oil refinery, where grimy clubs have nurtured new musical genres. Detroiters understand that things can be better in spite and sometimes because of their imperfections.

That attitude extends to cars. Although the classic car scene here is best known for the pristine muscle machines that crowd Woodward Avenue each August, clubs have emerged in recent years that celebrate age and wear. There are differences in the cars they welcome, but no one takes the differences, or themselves, too seriously. Members include young blue-collar guys, married couples, and at least one librarian. Everyone helps each other out—a GM engineer who commutes in a 1980s Suburban (aka “Shot of Burban”) lays killer pinstriping.

We invited members from multiple clubs to hang out in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood. It’s anchored by Michigan Central Station, the imposing Beaux-Arts building that once symbolized the city’s despair but is now owned by Ford and is nearing the end of a $740-million restoration. Consider it a massive barn find and proof that the best stuff is always worth saving.

1952 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight

Owner: Dean Beattie — Machinist
Owned since: 2017
Patina level: Cultivated Crust
Patina philosophy: “Rust is cheaper than chrome.”

The Detroit car scene means a lot to Dean Beattie—so much so that he started a podcast dedicated to it. He has been a gearhead since high school, and he has fond memories of working on Chargers and Road Runners with his friends. But life happened, and Beattie had to get rid of his muscle cars. Looking for a cheap way to get back into the hobby, he picked up his well-worn Ninety-Eight, added some personal touches like pinstriping, and joined a local car club. “I just fell in love with it because of the patina,” he explains. “Plus, it would cost a fortune to fully restore this car, with all the chrome.”

1966 GMC Series 1000

Owner: Tommy Perry — Technical writer
Owned since: 2023
Patina level: Aging like Clooney
Patina philosophy: “Every scratch and dent was earned.”

Tommy Perry used to work at a restoration shop, so he appreciates concours-level cars. But for his personal vehicles, he isn’t interested. “It’s possible to appreciate the history of a vehicle when it’s kept mostly as is.” Perry, a Mopar guy at heart, took a chance on his GMC because it had a compelling story. It was owned by farmers in Rochester, New York, who used it as the “good truck,” rather than a work truck. They sold it to Perry’s family friend, who held on to it for 32 years. “I’m lucky to be its next caretaker, hopefully for the next 30 years, too. I plan to keep it mostly stock—except maybe lowering it a few inches—and use it as our club’s push truck for our race car.”

1964 Mercury Comet

Owner: Clifton Darnell — Snap-On dealer
Owned since: 2011
Patina level: Rode hard and put away wet
Patina philosophy: “Shiny cars are cool, but driving your car is cooler.”

When you look at this rough-and-ready Comet, you probably wouldn’t guess that owner Clifton Darnell moonlights as a custom painter. “Rule of thumb is a painter never has a nicely painted car,” he quips. Yet he insists he’ll eventually get around to transforming it into a 1960s-style custom. “A lot of people tell me to leave it alone, but I want to make sure that the car is still here in a hundred years. To save it, I have to replace all the sheetmetal, do the bodywork, and paint it.” But there’s a lot of downtime that goes into paint and bodywork. So, rather than let it sit uncompleted, Darnell continues to drive and enjoy his Comet, warts and all.

1949 Cadillac Series 62

Owner: Jim & Joyce Krom — Engineer / Librarian
Owned since: 2013
Patina level: Zombie in a tux
Patina philosophy: “We have no philosophy—we just think it looks badass.”

Cadillac’s Clark Street Assembly plant stood for decades just a few blocks from where we conducted our photo shoot, so this ’49 was built by people who lived right here in this neighborhood. Clearly, they built it to last. Jim and Joyce Krom found it in 2013 in nearby Milford, Michigan, and have since attested to its hardiness by driving it 1146 miles to Tennessee and back. As for its appearance, the Kroms have done precious little aside from replacing the original front bumper and swapping tattered wheel covers for aftermarket chrome caps and rings.

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The biggest news to come out of the Formula 1 world all season just hit like that second cup of coffee on a Monday morning. The FIA, the governing body for Formula 1, just approved the application submitted by Andretti Formula Racing LLC to become the series’ 11th team.

The vaunted Andretti name is one step closer to the F1 grid. According to the FIA, the team will now “progress to the next stage,” which includes commercial discussions with Formula One Management (FOM).

The deal may not be done, but this news is big. The Andretti team, which is captained by retired racer and motorsport magnate Michael Andretti, was the only candidate to gain approval by the FIA in 2023, out of the four teams that made it to the formal application process. It is not as easy as just submitting a sheaf of paperwork: Teams have to prove they have the cash—the entry fee alone is $200 million—to join the F1 grid as well as share how they plan to have a positive societal impact by “manag[ing] the sustainability challenge.” Along with the rest of the F1 grid, any hopeful must prove that it “plans to achieve a net-zero Co2 impact by 2030.”

Back in January, we sat down with Michael Andretti. The second-gen racer—whose father, Mario, won an F1 world championship in 1978—pointed to 2025 as the target year. While his team’s driver roster has yet to be announced, Colton Herta’s name was mentioned, and it was made public that Cadillac and General Motors were partnering with Andretti Formula Racing LLC to gain grid access. In what capacity the two companies will participate in Andretti’s F1 bid is yet to be determined.

FOM holds the next hoop. F1 popularity is sky-high right now and, one guesses, is making money hand over fist. The teams on the grid all share in the revenue (advertising, TV contracts, etc.), and an extra team means a smaller percentage for the initial ten. Anyone joining must bring enough value to grow the pot to feed 11. The Andretti name? In our minds, the value of that name doesn’t get much more obvious.

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“Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue!”

A three-piece band strummed guitars and bashed drums as it belted the Lynyrd Skynyrd melody into the cool spring night. Above the band, highlighted against the neon-lit fog of the smoke machines, swayed a two-story party deck constructed of plywood and crammed with cheering NASCAR fans. In front of me, by the feet of the lead singers, howled a group of rowdy college boys wearing backwards Bass Pro Shop hats and tank tops. To my left stood Matt Kaulig, a University of Akron quarterback, who has a net worth of $5M and owns several NASCAR teams, thanks in part to the capital generated by a patented filter that keeps leaves out of household gutters.

The Dixieland scene was unfolding in the center of the Talladega Superspeedway in eastern Alabama, on a temporary row of concert stages, party decks, and RVs called The Boulevard. The half-mile stretch of nighttime revelry is a staple of every Talladega NASCAR weekend. If the Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of stock car racing, then Talladega is a primetime SEC college football game.

Daytona is about a decade older than Talladega, too. In the 1960s, NASCAR founder Bill France was looking to outdo what he had done in Daytona. NASCAR was growing by leaps and bounds, and for his second act, he wanted to build a track that was bigger, faster, and more accessible than the 2.5-mile Florida speedway. In 1968, France and his team broke ground on an abandoned Air Force base in Talladega. About a year and a half later, the four-million-dollar project was complete. NASCAR made its first visit in September 1969, but many of the series’ top stars were absent: High speeds and tire degradation caused many racers to boycott the inaugural race. Richard Brickhouse took the checkered flag, his first and only victory in the Cup Series.

Since ’69, fans have flocked to the 2.66-mile circuit, NASCAR’s largest and fastest oval. It’s so fast, in fact, NASCAR must restrict the amount of air and fuel traveling into the engine of each race car to keep race speeds below 200 mph. Two times out of the year, the typically quiet patch of land nestled in the Talladega forest transforms into a bustling mini-city, sprawling over 3000 acres and, at the most recent count, holding upwards of 175,000 spectators.

As a long-time stock-car fanatic, I have always wanted to see this mecca of speed (and infield parties) for myself. Last April, I sent out a message on Instagram asking if any of my photography buddies who traveling the stock-car circuit were planning to camp during NASCAR’s spring visit to Talladega. As luck would have it, a few of them were and still had enough real estate on their reserved infield lot for a small tent. Two weeks later, my truck was packed with everything from stakes to camera lenses. The only thing that was missing was a copy of Talladega Nights:

“I’m Ricky Bobby. If you don’t chew Big Red, then f*** you.”

The 2006 cult classic featuring funnyman Will Ferrell only added to the Alabama track’s reputation. Every NASCAR weekend, some team pays tribute to the movie with a comical social media post or a press conference quote. 17 years later, the references are going strong: Ahead of the 2023 race in September, Stewart-Haas Racing secured Old Spice and Wonderbread sponsorships to recreate the two most popular schemes from the movie. Teammates Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece even capped off the unveiling press conference with a “Shake and Bake” handshake.

You’re likely to see more Ricky Bobby fire suits than collared shirts on the Boulevard, too. Friday night of the race weekend, after setting up my tent and meeting the neighbors, who kindly offered me and my friend some type of smoked meat, I strolled over to the infield party. I have been to a couple of Southern soirées, and Talladega’s was fairly convivial: Debauchery was fleeting, and minimal party fouls were committed.

There was a lot of drinking, though. At one point, NASCAR star Noah Gragson rolled past in a golf cart. He looked, as the kids say, “lit”—but we all had a sheet or two in the wind.

I awoke Saturday morning with a raging headache. As the intense morning sun began to dry the dew on my tent, I stumbled to the media center, looking for coffee. Early practice for the Cup Series race on Sunday was already underway. Cars roared around the 33-degree banking, tickling 200 miles per hour. Gragson’s racer flew by. I flinched in sympathy—how could anyone not call these drivers athletes, especially those who had partied the night before?

Despite the breakneck speed, Talladega isn’t a physical contest so much as it is a mental game. Racers often call it a “high-speed game of chess.” The restricted pace means that drivers flat-foot it around the track. Since nobody is lifting, air is the chief weapon. As in a group of Tour de France bicyclists, drafting is paramount. For most of the race, the 40-car field is a coagulation of cars. “Pack racing,” as it is called, only exists at a few tracks on the NASCAR schedule.

This type of racing is rather polarizing among those in the garage area. Some drivers love the mental gymnastics it requires to leapfrog through the congestion. Others are quick to point out that the tight packs do nothing but create a pressure cooker as laps tick away. When the pot boils over, that’s called “the big one”— a multi-car wreck, often tossing vehicles airborne. At NASCAR’s most recent pack race, Ryan Preece barrel-rolled in the air 10 times in an accident during the closing laps. Most of Talladega’s races end in smoke and bent metal.

Saturday night, like Friday, was rowdy, though much of the industry contingent was absent as they rested up for the main event on Sunday. A few fellow photographers sat around our campfire and told ghost stories deep into the night. The track is probably haunted: Legend suggests that when Andrew Jackson seized 22 million acres of what would become Alabama from the Creek Nation in 1814, a Creek shaman cursed the land. Others say that, like the house in Poltergeist, Talladega was built on an American Indian burial ground. Drivers know the tales, and believe them: In 1973, 37-time winner Bobby Isaac was leading a race at ’Dega when voices in his head told him to get out of the car immediately. He pulled into the pits and refused to finish the race.

Sunday came like Christmas morning. By 3 p.m., the Cup field rolled under the green flag and, true to form, pack racing brought high drama and several wrecks. On the last lap, Alabama native Bubba Wallace was leading when he was spun out by the second-place car.

Hello, “big one.” So long, Talladega.

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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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Five months after the sole dirt race on NASCAR’s schedule, the nooks and crannies of Bristol Motor Speedway’s towering aluminum grandstands are still filled with orange Tennessee clay. The remaining residue, which closely resembles Cheetos dust, is a reminder of the transformation that the track has undergone each spring since 2021. For fans of the series, the dirt is also a reminder that, next year, things will change at Bristol.

Three years ago, NASCAR made its highly anticipated return to dirt, the first time the Cup Series had competed on the surface in 50 years. Rather than use one of America’s numerous clay ovals, NASCAR and Bristol opted to cover the beloved half-mile in Bristol, Tennessee, with 2300 truckloads of the orange stuff.

Ahead of this year’s fall date, NASCAR announced that Bristol’s spring race would no longer be a dirt-caked contest and that the track would utilize the original concrete for its two NASCAR weekends.

Even to the astute NASCAR fanatic, this announcement may have gotten lost in the post-season playoff hype. The Cup Series, after all, is only seven races away from deciding its 2023 champion. Bristol, though, has always been a barometer for the overall health of NASCAR.

Since NASCAR’s first race at the track in 1961, the half-mile paved oval in the Appalachian foothills of Tennessee has grown from a backwoods bull ring to a coliseum replete with eight-story grandstands, corporate suites, and Colossus, the world’s largest center-hung jumbotron. By 2002, capacity had risen from its original 18,000 seats to 160,000, and fans flocked there to watch the best 500-lap battle on the circuit. Like NASCAR, Bristol was riding a high.

In the late aughts, when NASCAR’s popularity was decreasing and attendance was in a tailspin, Bristol suffered too. The track’s 55-race sellout streak came to a screeching halt in 2010, and for the first time since anyone could remember, Bristol had to advertise in order to sell tickets.

Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) purchased the track in 1996 and more than doubled seating capacity, experimented with track configurations, promotions, and additional events to pique interest. In 2012, the track was resurfaced to bring back close-quarter racing. In 2016, the Bristol infield hosted a college football game.

The Cup Series dirt race was another in a long line of experiments. After the first attempt to hold it, in 2021, was plagued by weather, the following two years produced action-packed racing. Still, despite the dramatics, Bristol couldn’t fill every seat.

Looking back, a full house might not have been the end game. During that three-year stretch, especially the maiden race, the dirt date was all anyone could talk about. Fans jarred and sold the dirt that accumulated outside of the track. Even if Bristol hadn’t officially sold out, it had regained the hype.

Now, after three attempts, NASCAR is abandoning the messiest race on the calendar. But deserting the dirt is not an indication that the health of the series is failing—in fact, the decision signals the opposite. (The series has experienced some high points in viewership; After NBC’s first two races of the season, which included the Chicago street course, they reported the best start in ratings since 2017.)

Leaving this novel race in the dust proves that NASCAR refuses to be complacent. For years, the sanctioning body’s top brass seemed content to collect dollars while their grandstands hemorrhaged fans. Led by president Steve Phelps, the new guard of NASCAR is capable of pivoting quicker than an all-star point guard.

New venues are commonplace. Last weekend, another experiment was confirmed as a success: The LA Coliseum would once again hold an exhibition race in 2024. And the Cup Series’ radical new car is hitting its stride in its sophomore season, drawing the eye of international drivers like Shane Van Gisbergen, Kimi Räikkönen, and Kamui Kobayashi. Stock car stock is high. Why?

For years, tradition was a fundamental part of NASCAR. This was a flaw, not a virtue: Commitment to convention left the series flat-footed when times changed. When it started to experiment with 2008’s Car of Tomorrow, stage breaks, and points formats, there was immense backlash.

Now, rather than exclusively emulating the past, NASCAR is maintaining both sides of the house while embracing trial and error. New races can be short-lived. Ideas like rain tires on ovals, large spoilers on decklids, and two races in one day can be tested and abandoned in a year’s time. Don’t like something in NASCAR? Stick around, and it might change.

And if you want another dirt race, one thing’s for certain: You won’t have to wait another 50 years.

***

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This week, Virginia is for Miatas.

Ahead of their weekend visit to Virginia International Speedway, some of the MX-5 Cup cars from the popular Mazda spec series made a pit stop into Martinsville, Virginia for a two-day test on the NASCAR oval.

Despite being only 46 miles apart, the two track layouts couldn’t be more different. VIR is a sprawling network of asphalt ribbons with different available configurations. MX-5 Cup races on the 16-turn, 3.2-mile road course. Martinsville Speedway, on the other hand, is a paperclip-shaped half-mile oval. This old track primarily hosts stock cars and other circle trackers. (NASCAR first visited in 1948.)

The test, which marked the first time MX-5 Cup cars have run on an oval in an official capacity, was held to determine the feasibility of a regular season oval race with the series. Imagine, a swarm of four-cylinders encircling the speedway like a giant buzzing conveyor belt. Several drivers from MX-5 Cup and the stock car ranks were on hand to run the Mazdas through their paces on the tricky half-mile.

Of the lot, the most recognizable name by far was none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. According to the retired driver, NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton and other top brass approached him last weekend about the test. By Tuesday, he was strapping himself one of the roadsters for his maiden voyage.

“It was a blast,” Dale Jr. later shared on his podcast. “The car is not easy, but you get up to speed relatively quickly. From there, finding the next two tenths or tenth is a challenge.”

Considering Junior has spent 99.9% of his career in full-bodied stock cars, it was interesting to hear his impressions of a spec Miata. “It does a few things differently than I’ve ever experienced in any kind of car,” he said. “It does have power steering, so the wheel is very light. The braking feels like it’s push-button braking—like you could touch it with your finger and it would stop the car on a dime.”

By all accounts, from Dale Jr. to MX-5 team owner (and multi-discipline racer) Chad McCumbee, Martinsville and the Mazdas paired well, like pimento cheese and white wine. The prospect of full-scale races seems highly likely.

Martinsville is an excellent venue for the MX-5 Cup’s foray into oval racing. The track is relatively flat, and it is essentially two road racing hairpins connected by relatively long straights. Those who are slow section masters are sure to excel at the track.

You may also see some of the NASCAR stars join MX-5 Cup regulars on track if a race date is scheduled. Like an MX-5 Cup car, NASCAR’s new car is all but a spec-racer, meaning most of the parts are identical between teams. NASCAR also increased the number of road course races on its calendar, too. If a stock car driver was looking for some extra seat time outside of a simulator, an MX-5 oval race might be a viable option.

Regardless of who is in the race, if it becomes a reality, circle this event on your calendar. The MX-5 series is known for its full-contact racing and close finishes. Forcing them to duke it out within the tight confines of one of NASCAR’s most popular ovals is sure to create a race that any motorsport fan could love.

***

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We’ve got two tickets to (automotive) paradise!

On August 16, at the Monterey Jet Center in Monterey, California, join fellow car connoisseurs and airplane aficionados for a party like no other. All ticket holders will enjoy an up-close look at some of the world’s most impressive airplanes and automobiles, gourmet culinary stations, an open bar with signature cocktails and non-alcoholic options, interactive entertainment, a live DJ, and dancing. This shindig will be the talk of Monterey Car Week.

The best part? We’re giving away two tickets.

Participants may enter the Sweepstakes by following both @motorluxofficial and @hagerty on Instagram and tagging two or more friends in the comments section; OR by sending an email to social@hagerty.com with “MOTORLUX® Sweepstakes” in the subject line, along with your name (first & last) and email address. Entries received outside of the Promotion Period will be void. Members may submit only one Eligible Entry during the entire promotion period.

The Promotion will begin on July 28, 2023, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) and will end on August 4, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EST (the “Promotion Period”). Entries received outside of this time will be void.

Read below for eligibility and further details.

ELIGIBILITY

The Promotion (“Promotion”) is open to the Public, limited to US Citizens, who are 18 years of age or older at the time of qualification. By entering this promotion, participants agree to abide by all terms of these Official Rules. Participants will be automatically disqualified for any failure to conform to these Official Rules. This promotion is subject to all applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations and is void wherever prohibited or restricted by law. Employees of Hagerty and their immediate families, and any affiliates or partners of Hagerty are not eligible to win.

ODDS OF WINNING

Odds of winning a Prize are dependent upon participation in this Promotion and the number of Eligible Entries received.

DRAWINGS AND PRIZES

There will be one (1) winner randomly drawn from all entries received during the Promotion Period who will win two (2) MOTORLUX Passes with a maximum value of One Thousand Fifty Dollars ($1050 USD).

Prize winner will be contacted within five (5) business days via email after the Sweepstakes Promotion Period ends. Winner has five (5) business days to respond to Hagerty and provide evidence of eligibility and accept the prize. Should the winner selected fail to provide evidence of eligibility and/or communicate acceptance of the Prize, a new winner will be selected and provided the same timeframe for response, and so on, until winner meets eligibility requirements and accepts the Prize. Prizes will be delivered via postal mail.

PROMOTION RESULTS

Information about Sweepstakes winners is available by contacting Hagerty.

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By participating in this Promotion, Participants agree to be bound by these Official Rules. In order to be declared a winner and claim a prize, the selected participant must be eligible according to these Official Rules, respond to the Sponsor or its representatives without delay once contacted. Participant will respond to accept the Prize within five (5) business days.

There is one (1) Promotion Period (“Promotion Period”) within the overall Sweepstakes. Participant must comply with the foregoing and comply with the time periods (if any) required by the Sponsor in relation to the above. If a selected participant does not comply with these Official Rules, he/she will be disqualified and will forfeit the Prize and the Sponsor can, at its sole and absolute discretion, select another participant in accordance with these Official Rules.

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Award is provided “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either expressed or implied, by Sponsor. No prize substitutions or cash alternatives are available; except Sponsor reserves the right to substitute an award of equal or greater value, should the award be unavailable. By accepting the aforementioned award, the recipient consents to the use of the recipient’s name, voice, portrait, picture, statement, or likeness for advertising and publicity purposes without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend this Promotion should causes beyond Sponsor’s control corrupt the administration, security, or proper play of the Promotion. Decisions of Sponsor are final and binding in all matters, except as stated otherwise herein.

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Sponsors of Promotion Games of Chance offering and awarding prizes valued at $600 or more should be aware that they are responsible to obtain a signed, legible copy of an IRS form W-9 from every winner that they issue a prize to. This means that any eligible entrant who has been verified as a prize Winner you issue a prize of $600 or more to, will need to fill out a W-9 form for you to keep on record, regardless of the number of times in the course of a tax year the same person wins a prize. In addition, if one person wins multiple lower-valued prizes within the same year, which when added together total $600 or more, they too will be required to complete a form W-9. It is not necessary to send the actual or copy of the W-9 to the IRS; however, the information contained thereon will be used by the Sponsor to complete an informational report for the IRS, such as a 1099-MISC form for each appropriate Winner.

PUBLICITY RELEASE

Upon submission, entrants grant to Hagerty a royalty-free license to use, retain, and publish their first name and last initial and submission (and any portion thereof) in print and any other media (including social media) for any reason (including, but not limited to advertising, promotions, development, or education-related purposes) so long as the videos are credited to the name of the entrant.

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Hagerty will not distribute, disclose, or sell any personal information provided in connection with the program to third parties, aside from any personal information as may be required by law.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

Hagerty is not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by participants, or by any of the equipment associated with or utilized in the promotion; (2) mechanical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or faulty equipment; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the promotion; and (4) any error that may occur in the administration of the promotion, the processing of entries, the announcement of the prizes, or in any promotion-related materials. Participating members agree not to institute any claim against, and to release and hold harmless, Hagerty and its owners, officers, directors, employees, agents, or representatives from any and all liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses, costs, taxes, expenses, emotional distress, or damages of any kind, direct or indirect, arising from or in connection with participation in the Promotion or the acceptance, use, or misuse of any award and/or the participation in, or the travel to and from and attendance at any award-related activity. Participants also waive all rights to claim punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees and costs.

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Except where prohibited, participant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with this Promotion, or any prize awarded, will be resolved individually, without resort to any form

of class action, and exclusively by the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan or the appropriate Michigan State Court; (2) any and all claims, judgments, and awards will be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Promotion (if any), but in no event does this include legal fees; and (3) under no circumstances will participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and participant hereby waives all rights to claim, indirect, punitive, incidental, and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules and Regulations, or the rights and obligations of the participant and Sponsor in connection with the Promotion, will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Michigan, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of Michigan or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Michigan.

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It was “the greatest romance in Pittsburgh’s early history,” according to the New York Times.

The paper was, of course, referring to the 19th-century marriage between Captain Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley of the British Army and Mary Schenley. The teenage daughter of a wealthy Pittsburgh family, Schenley eloped with the 40-something officer to England. Hearing the news, her father reportedly fainted, then ordered the federal government to intercept the couple’s ship.

The ship was never caught. Eventually, her father softened; when he passed in 1850, Mary received an incredible inheritance. As a well-heeled landowner would, Mary became a philanthropist. One of her largest donations was a 300-acre plot of land just east of Pittsburgh’s city center.

The plot of land, along with 120 acres purchased from Mary by the city, became Schenley Park.

Motorsport fanatics, certainly those with a panache for vintage racing, will likely recognize this park. Every July the ribbons of pavement that cut through the undulating, bucolic grounds serve as a temporary race course for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

The inaugural running of this vintage exhibition race took place on Labor Day Weekend, 1983. About 75 cars showed. According to organizers, the first event had some kinks, specifically large barrier gaps and unmonitored trails that allowed unsuspecting joggers to breach the course. Runner, meet top-speed race car.

Everyone made it out unscathed, and the event blossomed. Car shows were added to the docket. Yearly spectator count quickly surpassed 40,000. Manufacturers caught on to the event’s success and quickly joined the fray, with Buick becoming the first presenting sponsor in 1996.

According to organizers, the present-day running is the nation’s largest vintage street race and its largest vintage race event. Of course, this assertion can be made thanks to the event’s 10-day slate, which includes a race weekend at Pittsburgh International Race Complex north of town and the historic Schenley Park exhibition, the two races bridged by a week of parties, driving tours, and car shows. The event is a non-profit, with proceeds going to residential care, treatment, and support for autistic and intellectually/developmentally disabled individuals in the Pittsburgh region. The suggested donation for admittance is less than a ticket to the movies.

After hearing about the exhibition for years, I finally visited, armed with camera and walking shoes. (The latter is incredibly important, should you choose to forgo the shuttles in operation.) The 41st running of the Schenley Park race celebrated Ferrari and the 100th anniversary of MG.

At just over two miles in length, the 23-turn course utilizes a mix of two-lane city streets and unmarked, paved park roads. The vintage exhibition is incredibly photogenic. Sight lines are plentiful and there is no need for photo holes or camera turrets: There isn’t a catchfence in sight. Rather than the typical FIA-grade barriers that line street courses for IndyCar, Formula 1, and other national touring series, Schenley’s racers rely on Jersey barriers and hay bales to keep them out of spectator’s laps. Squint, and it feels like you’re sitting trackside at a 1950s SCCA race.

Schenley, like New York City’s Central Park, is a dense mass of green. You can easily lose sight of the track if you take the wrong trail or become disoriented on the adjoining golf course. High-pitched wails of race cars serve as an excellent compass.

The vintage run groups feature predominately smaller cars with short wheelbases and small displacement. (Sorry, Trans-Am, you have to sit this one out.) Still, they’re no slouch for speed. The production-car class over two liters and the vintage open-wheel racers are especially quick, though the former turned my head the most: Alfa GTVs, Datsun 510s, and even a few Volvos, all done up with period-correct liveries.

After an afternoon of shooting, I took about 3000 images. For you, dear reader, I boiled it down to 40.

Race cars in Schenley Park—this may be the greatest romance in Pittsburgh’s modern history.

***

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In an anonymous industrial complex just west of South Bend, Indiana, there’s a building that would rival Santa’s workshop, though you may not be able to tell from the outside.

The only way to distinguish the building from every other warehouse on the block is a sign over the front entrance featuring a reclining kangaroo in boxing gloves. This is the logo for Round 2, a company founded, sold, restarted, and renamed by longtime toy man Tom Lowe.

The firm produces an array of collectible toys for all ages. Between its lines of model kits, die-cast vehicles, slot cars, and model railroading the 40-person team at Round 2 produces over 1000 individual products. They occupy the shelves and pegs of nearly every hobby shop as well as national department store chains like Walmart, Target, Hobby Lobby, and Meijer. More importantly, they’re keeping vintage brands like Johnny Lightning, Lindberg, and AMT on store shelves long after the original companies shut their doors.

To understand how an empire of plastic and steel miniatures was built in the shadow of Chicago, you must go back to the early 1990s. Lowe, who had already self-funded and started his first company, Safe Care Products (known for its Velcro football called WhataCatch), noticed that toys from his childhood were fetching big bucks in used toy catalogs. Citing the demand, he researched the trademark behind one of his beloved childhood brands, Johnny Lightning.

In 1969, Topper Toys started producing miniature die-cast under the brand Johnny Lightning a year after Mattel debuted its first line of Hot Wheels. The underdog brand became a household name amongst car crazy youngsters, no doubt amplified by its sponsorship of Al Unser Sr. and his Indy-500-winning exploits in 1970 and again in ’71. Despite the success, Topper halted production later that year and filed for bankruptcy in 1973.

Twenty years later, Lowe purchased the Johnny Lightning brand name for the rights to the die-cast line. He then ditched Safe Care and selected a more jovial moniker for his burgeoning toy company: Playing Mantis.

Throughout the 1990s, Playing Mantis sold exact replicas of the toy cars Topper cast nearly three decades earlier alongside a line of new Johnny Lightnings—which included drag racers, mid-century customs, and movie cars. He also purchased the rights to more shuttered brands. For example, Aurora, a plastics company known for making model cars in the 1960s, was purchased and rebranded by Playing Mantis as Polar Lights. Lowe was bringing the classics back to adults, now in their 30s, who remembered playing with these toys on their living room floor in the 1960s and 70s. The company flourished.

By 2004, he decided to get out of the game and sold the Johnny Lightning rights to RC2, another toy company. RC2 was purchased by Japanese toy manufacturer TOMY in 2011, and by 2013, Lowe’s beloved Johnny Lightnings had ceased production.

No matter. In the background, he had been working to develop a larger scale die-cast and other toys under his new company Round 2 (cue the reclining kangaroo). Lowe swooped in to save Johnny Lightning again and re-acquired the rights in 2015.

One of the constants throughout the selling, buying, and reorganizing has been Tony Karamitsos. Fresh out of college, the South Bend-native interviewed for Lowe and Playing Mantis in its early days. “One of my buddies told me about Playing Mantis,” says Karamitsos. “I was blown away that Johnny Lightning was in Indiana.” Since then, he graduated from design to brand manager, and when Lowe re-acquired Johnny Lightning, Karamitsos was already on the Round 2 team. Now, in 2023, the company has three die-cast brands, five model kit brands, and their own brand of slot cars. “To see all this grow and expand…it’s crazy,” he says.

The sprawling set of office rooms joined to a large warehouse are indeed expansive. Chad Reid, Round 2’s marketing manager, greets us in the entrance. Unlike Lowe and Karamitsos, Reid wasn’t alive during the 1960s and ’70s. The history isn’t lost on the fresh-faced youngster, though, and he guides us through the campus with an encyclopedic knowledge of the die-cast, models, automobilia, and posters that line Round 2’s walls and conference rooms.

First stop, the design room—the heart of the company. Every designer who works for Round 2 has a desk in the room. The entire floor is a dense network of cubicles, with various employees developing new model kits, slot cars, and of course, Johnny Lightning die-cast. Model kits line the interior shelves, nestled like bricks on the wall. These are reference kits purchased from eBay and ranging from new releases to the early days when models were as plentiful as Netflix titles. Michigan model companies MPC and AMT are well-represented.

“We might even do a silent box because it turned out so well”—a voice is overheard from a nearby desk. Chuck Zitta examines the proposed box art for a Datsun 280ZX. The art was freshly painted by Brad Leisure and the work turned out so well that Zitta is considering leaving all text off the box to let the art speak for itself. Many of the style and techniques like hand-painted box art that were used by the brands back in the day are faithfully upheld by the Round 2 crew present day. Thanks to this attention to detail, many of their offerings looks like they could have occupied the shelves of Kresge’s.

Next to Zitta’s desk, designer Jamie Hood is hard at work on a 1/25-scale model of Black Beauty, the menacing Chrysler Imperial from The Green Hornet.

Hood, the sci-fi expert according to his co-workers, graduated from art school with a major in illustration and began designing exterior graphics for RVs. (In fact, he may be the first designer to adorn a camper with a mountain vista.) Eventually, he found Round 2, where he designs kits and illustrates box art, and deals with licensing.

Much of the job requires a certain tap dance around licensing, naming rights, and usage conditions. “Every situation is different. When it comes to Star Wars, for example,” he motions toward the box depicting a giant spaceship, “I had to fight to put figures in. And even then, you’re limited to the scale that you can produce.”

Not to mention the frenetic fandom surrounding much of Hood’s largest projects. “It becomes complicated when you create something and your references are a filming miniature that they used for special effects and a full-size set with actors. Sometime the dimensions are physically impossible,” says Hood. “Or, in the case of Star Wars, creators built several Millennium Falcons through the various movies. Which one do you follow?”

We circle the cubes and find brand manager Karamitsos reviewing a batch of “test shots.” These are early examples of what the produced vehicle—whether model kit, die-cast, or slot car—will look like. He picks up a 1:64-scale Pontiac GTO: “See how this roof is flat? That’s not right.” He picks up a more recent test shot of the same GTO. It looks nearly identical to the first except the roof more closely matches to the original roof line of the Poncho. (Karamitsos has been wrenching on cars for years and even drag races his blue 1969 Camaro, so he knows a thing or two about accuracy.)

Including the initial digital 3-D models, the review process could go several rounds until team members are confident in the final piece. Then, the finalized test shot is approved for tooling overseas. This process is one of the most expensive steps, so it requires the staff at Round 2 to critically think about how they can get the most bang for their buck.

Reid shares a project that he’s been developing: a first-generation Chrysler minivan. “You go, ‘Okay, it kept the same body from ’84 to ’90. We can make a Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager if we do four different front die-cast grilles,” says Reid. “It’s all about getting the most out of the tool.”

Adjacent to the maze of cubicles, boxes of reference materials are stacked in the corner of the design room. Vintage toys, paint swatches, magazines—anything to spark an idea is at the ready for the designers. Reid picks up an old set of AMC paint swatches and sets it back down on the pile. Beyond the ideation materials, there’s well-lit desk covered in white seamless paper used to create studio shots of the finalized products.

We take a quick tour of the other rooms, which prominently feature stacks of new and old merchandise. We blitz past a small studio setup where Reid records monthly newsletter videos unveiling new products and teasing future releases. Many of the toys may be retro in nature, but that doesn’t stop Round 2 from leveraging its social reach to build awareness around its brands.

The other half of the company’s South Bend campus is a warehouse that serves as their digital hobby shop. “We wanted a place where people can get anything Round 2” says Reid, “So we have the Auto World store. We have inventory of all of our products here. We also provide customer service as well as parts replacement for flashing or tooling issues.”

Customer service for a toy company? As if on cue, an employee to the left of us is fitting together a plastic Chevelle model. He brings in a colleague to analyze the fit of two parts using the instructions and then hops back on the phone with the customer to share their solution. Now, that’s service.

The warehouse is filled floor-to-ceiling with inventory. Back behind the boxes are old tooling blocks. Most of these steel cubes, which contain channels for injecting raw material into, are overseas where much of the company’s casting and tooling are done. A few are still over here. “They’re much heavier than you think,” says Reid.

We are about to leave when he motions for us to follow him to the back of the warehouse. There, parked cheek-to-cheek is a portion of Lowe’s car collection, which includes a widebody Dodge Hellcat, a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, and a Plymouth Superbird. It makes sense that the man responsible for filling shelves with die-cast, model kits, and slot cars for three decades would have a few full-size toys of his own.

***

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I should be doing so many other things right now. Instead, here I sit, my face glued to my screen watching some of the best onboard rally footage known to man. Thank you, Nicky Grist.

During a career that spans over three decades, the Welsh navigator has captured 21 overall rally wins, 417 stage wins, and a sole championship in 1993, all from the passenger seat of rally racing’s most formidable cars—like the all-wheel-drive Ford Focus in the video below.

After starting out in amateur rallying, during which he moonlit as a car salesman, in the early 1990s Grist made it to the World Rally Championship—think Formula 1 for rally racing.

In 1993, copiloting for Finnish marvel Juha Kankkunen in a Castrol-liveried Toyota Celica, Grist and his teammate earned the WRC championship title. He stayed with Kankkunen until 1997, when he joined a rising star by the name of Colin McRae on the 555 Subaru World Rally team. The duo was a flash of blue-and-yellow brilliance and delivered the Japanese team multiple manufacturer titles.

Then, in 1999 the duo packed their bags and split for the Blue Oval, joining the M-sport Ford team in a shiny new Ford Focus.

McRae never captured a WRC title in the Focus, though he came awfully close in 2001 and showcased some truly brilliant drives throughout the season. One of those epic drives is on display here. In a recently uploaded video by Nicky Grist Motorsports, the hall-of-fame codriver breaks down a stage from the 2001 Rally Great Britain in Wales.

Grist opens the eight-minute video by providing some context for the 2001 campaign. He then pulls up some of the actual pace notes he used to direct McRae through the second stage of the rally dubbed “St. Gwynno.”

Grist provides an interpretation of his complex instructions: “’Slow,’ which is heavy brake; ‘minus,’ which is a bit of a dab of the brake, and ‘plus,’ [which] means flat-out in that gear.”

“In typical McRae fashion, he’s very committed, very broadsided,” Grist says during the viewing, noting that the British driver’s aggression and commitment pace is a gradual crescendo throughout the stage.

At 6:49 we encounter a rather tense moment: When McRae flicks the Focus through an uphill chicane and comes dangerously close to clipping a roadside post. Grist’s insight and commentary is amazing, and the onboard footage feels like it was directed by some art house guru—morning sun flickering through trees, spectators lining the road, and McRae furiously sawing on the wheel.

The two stars won the stage but lost the battle in Great Britain, missing the season-long war by two points. McRae passed away in 2007 after his helicopter crashed just north of his home in Lanark, Scotland. His legacy lives on in videos like this spectacular onboard footage from Wales.

***

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Since its primordial days of unkillable four-cylinders, cassette decks, and convertible tops, the 4Runner has always been—undeniably—a truck. Just as it was drawn up in 1983, it’s a body-on-frame rig, and from behind the wheel, the ride feels like it.

Throughout its 40-year existence, the Toyota 4Runner has remained committed to these rough-and-tumble roots. Though reasonable concessions to safety and comfort have made inroads over the model’s five generations, the 4Runner is one of the few enduring SUVs in this genre that has resisted devolving into a round-edged soft-roader.

Indeed, the 4Runner drives like a light-duty truck, bobbing and trundling along highways and city streets. Road feel reminds me of my daily-driver Chevy Colorado. On the other hand, the 4Runner carries gobs more social cachet than any truck. Here in Michigan at least, you rub shoulders with plenty of fellow 4Runners, replete with aftermarket hop-ups like big bumpers and cargo racks. If you don’t want to join the Jeep Army or Bronco Nation, the 4Runner platoon seems to be an attractive alternative.

Gone are the days of Toyota’s bulletproof 22RE four-cylinder engine, of course, and even the V-8 that graced the fourth-gen rig. In their place remains a tried-and-true 4.0-liter V-6, its 270 horses doing just enough to propel the Toyota’s 4675-pound heft. The 4Runner’s 5000-pound towing capacity is more than Wrangler, but less than other domestic body-on-framers.

With more than 47 cubic feet of cargo space, this old-school five-seater will happily swallow people, gear, and luggage, returning about 17 mpg hauling it all around. During a recent move, the Runner accepted box after box, like a magic wardrobe. Compared with softer unibody SUVs like the Honda Passport Trailsport, the 4Runner’s boxy greenhouse provides an unabashedly tall, truck-like seating position with great sight lines.

Specs: 2023 Toyota 4Runner 40th Anniversary

• Price:$40,990 / $47,720 (base / as-tested)
  • Powertrain: 4.0-liter V-6
  • Output: 270 hp and 278 lb-ft
  • Layout: Four-door, five-passenger SUV
  • Weight: 4675 lb
  • EPA Fuel Economy: 16/19/17 mpg (city/hwy/combined)
  • 0–60 mph: 7.7 seconds
  • Competition: Jeep Wrangler, Ford Bronco, Kia Telluride, Dodge Durango

This 4Runner has been on sale essentially since 2014, yet Toyota sells 100,000-plus of them each year regardless. For 2023, buyers have the option to double-down on some Toyota nostalgia with a 40th Anniversary Special Edition package that introduces 17-inch bronze wheels, retro-inspired vinyl exterior graphics, and a sprinkling of special edition flair throughout the cabin, where a leather-wrapped steering wheel and cozy heated SofTex synthetic leather seats await you. I only wish that Toyota included a more-aggressive tread for this heritage package; some BF Goodrich A/T KO2s would look stellar here.

Additional references to the 4Runner’s big 4-0 birthday are embossed on the floor mats, the logos on the front headrests, and the badges on the center console and above the glovebox. Production volume is limited to 4040 examples. We get it, 4Runner—you’re 40.

This birthday-party doesn’t come cheap, however, with a starting price of $47,120. Compared with the original 4Runner’s $10,500 price tag (about $30,000 today), the truck itself isn’t the only thing that has ballooned. You’re probably better off saving about seven grand and purchasing a base SR5 4Runner instead. Then again, with a new-generation 4Runner on the horizon—one that could be a drastic deviation from the body-on-frame, sliding rear-glass off-road darling—this may be worth an additional dive in the couch cushions. After all, reliving your golden years is priceless, and time travel isn’t cheap.

2023 Toyota 4Runner 40th Anniversary

Highs: 40th Anniversary package properly evokes 4Runner beginnings. Fun retro stripes; Squint, and it’s “Suddenly Last Summer.” Can haul a lot. Back glass still rolls down.

Lows: Extra goodies are purely cosmetic. A special engine or a knobby tire would make it all feel more … special.

Takeaway: If you would consider getting a 4Runner tattoo, the 40th Anniversary edition is for you. If you want a 4Runner with unique flair, buy a base SR5 and spend $7000 in the parts catalog.

***

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Shelly passed a can of cold beer and a plate of French fries over the antique bar top. A waitress in her middle-age, she spoke matter-of-factly, barely looking up from her tasks as she answered my questions. “The reporter in here before you called this the ‘Rest Stop of America.’ Most people just take a sh**, fill up, and leave.”

I chewed on the fries, and on the thought that someone was here before me, doing the same exact thing that I was doing. Working over the same group of locals for insight into this odd little place. For Shelly, it was an unremarkable rehash. Routine is what makes Breezewood go ’round.

Only 178 people live in Breezewood, a south-central Pennsylvania plot that lies just east of the Allegheny Mountains. There is no city hall nor elected officials, with locals leaning on larger Bedford County for governance. None of that is unique for an unincorporated community in this country. Breezewood is, however, a fascinating anomaly born specifically of America’s highway system—a colorful, fluorescent-lit monument designed to be visited on wheels, more waypoint than destination.

From the main drag, U.S. Route 30, it’s two hours to Pittsburgh or three to Philly. Also known as the Lincoln Highway, this route dates back to 1913, part of the first transcontinental highway designed specifically for automobile travel. The road follows the path of a valley over which the two-lane Pennsylvania Turnpike sweeps east-to-west. Interstate 70, another two-lane freeway, ushers traffic north-south to and from the Maryland border.

Travelers looking to hop from I-70 to the Turnpike, I-76, are offered no convenient merge or seamless cloverleaf. Rather, they must come to a screeching halt and weather the quarter-mile stretch of traffic signals, gas stations, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants—aka Breezewood—before the transition is complete. The reason for this is an entanglement of arcane red tape, relating to the cost of a proper interchange compared with qualifying for federal funding to forgo one. The upshot, however, is fascinating: In 2019, Bloomberg reported that 3.5 million passenger vehicles and 1.5 million trucks roll through this commercial bottleneck in a given year.

Every travel stop is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Breezewood does not sleep.

***

Prior to my arrival, I read no fewer than three full-length feature articles on the town, from outlets like The Wall Street Journal to the New York Times. What’s the obsession? For one, the town is a pressure cooker of commercial Americana seemingly airdropped in rural Pennsylvania. Breezewood’s slow decline has also come to exemplify, for some, what’s wrong with fickle corporate culture and ruthless capitalism squashing local businesses. In 1991, Business Week called it “a polyp on the nation’s interstate highway system.” The town has even become the punchline for a smattering of internet memes.

No matter how you slice it, Breezewood is a spectacle. Fine art photographer Edward Burtynsky snapped a shot of its main drag in 2008. A print of the photo sold at a 2017 Sotheby’s fine art auction for $43,750.

In the 15 years since Burtynsky’s shot, Breezewood’s only drastic changes are the varying fast food signage and a new, squeaky-clean Sheetz gas station. The layout remains the same: The motorist logjam occurs in a valley, its low point a four-way stop between I-70 and U.S. 30. It’s the gladiator pit for elbows-out motorists—a dizzying array of green signs, white arrows, and orange barrels. The congestion is difficult to appreciate until you take 30 out of town and look over your shoulder into the stew. From this elevated vantage point, particularly at night, the town is a magnificent canvas of lights and logos. It looks simpler from this perspective, too. Traffic engineers’ fingerprints suddenly seem comprehensible, from stoplight bypass ramps to a four-lane megastrip for westbound traffic.

Breezewood is a “traveler’s oasis” reflecting the state of American car culture, its siren song a fugue of gasoline fumes and roller hot dogs. Heavy-hauling semi-truck drivers clash with business travelers, vacationers, and everyone in between. The chirp of air brakes meets car horn blasts. This strip of I-70 is one of the only segments of American interstate with a stop light, so stop-and-go traffic is a fixture. Even if everyone is paying attention and every truck driver double-clutches to perfection, the section still produces backups. Gridlock is a guarantee during peak hours, so its severity is the only meaningful variable. On a holiday weekend, like over Memorial Day? Well, if you’re gonna sit still, you might as well eat a Beef ‘N Cheddar.

Amid my dirt-track race-chasing adventures all over the Midwest and Northeast, I’ve driven this stretch of turnpike plenty of times. The toll road connects the Midwest to some of the nation’s most historic circle tracks. Eric Weiner, the executive editor of this website and a Pennsylvania native, has too. We were talking road trips one day when Weiner pitched that I stay in the town and report on what I found. Rather than a pit stop, I’d spend 36 hours in Breezewood—longer than most people might spend cumulatively in their entire life.

Less than a mile from Breezewood’s main drag, I sat on a stool at the Wildwood Inn, sipping the beer Shelly served up. The two-story hotel has outlived most of the other businesses in Breezewood. In 1955, Walter and Clara Price opened the restaurant. Traveling families turned off the Pennsylvania Turnpike for a warm meal, or to view its “world famous” collection of antique spoons and plates.

Back then, Breezewood was known as the “Town of Motels.” Present day, there are only a few options for a clean overnight stay. The Wildwood Inn no longer offers rooms. “I remember when the Ramada was nice, with chandeliers and a swimming pool,” said Shelly. “I worked there.” My haven was the Holiday Inn Express, a four-story box hotel wedged between the area’s busiest gas pumps: TA and Sheetz.

***

At the town’s peak, according to one local, Breezewood could sleep nearly 10,000 people. Handsome hotels like the Penn Aire, built in 1955, welcomed travelers with its light-up-script sign and ornate front entrance. The Breeze Manor, constructed several years later, was the first inn with a swimming pool. Whether you lived on the East Coast and were headed west or lived in the Midwest and were driving east, most vacationing families couldn’t get further than Breezewood in a day’s drive.

Though these mid-century hotels were new to the region, the promise of transit and hospitality was not. “You go back far enough, there was no Breezewood,” longtime local Forrest Lucas told me.

What is today Bedford County has been a travel hub since the first trading post in 1750, built on existing Native American trails. A couple miles to the east of where I was nibbling on fries sat Ray’s Hill. In 1836, shopkeeper John Nycum established the Ray’s Hill post office—reportedly the smallest in the United States, measuring six by eight feet—and served as its longtime postmaster. Ray’s Hill soon became known as Nycumtown. (You call the shots, it seems, when you control the means and the mail.)

Next to Ray’s Hill sat the town of White Hall and its 22-room inn, which served as a stagecoach stop for for westbound travelers leaving Philadelphia. Locals of White Hall and Ray’s Hill dubbed the valley between their towns “Breezewood.”

In the early 1900s, Breezewood became a stop on the Lincoln Highway. A young Dwight Eisenhower and his comrades rambled past in their Army convoy in 1919 amid a 62-day journey, known then as the Trans-Continental Motor Truck Trip. Frequent reports on the state of America’s roads—as well as the effectiveness of nascent off-road motor vehicles—were sent back to Washington.

A decade later, Breezewood was on the eve of its first big break. To improve travel through the area, namely through the Alleghenies and the Appalachian Mountains, the federal government began to build the Pennsylvania Turnpike using seven tunnels from a failed 19th century railroad project. Approximately 15,000 workers sourced from 55 different construction companies laid pavement at a rate of about 3.5 miles per day. The Turnpike, also known as America’s first expressway, was finished in 1940. Breezewood was enshrined as Exit 6, and business boomed.

In 1941, Merle Snyder established Gateway Motel and Restaurant for turnpike goers. Gateway Travel Plaza, as it is now called, is one of the only businesses remaining from Breezewood’s golden age. Rather than the original bed and breakfast with a second-floor bunkhouse, though, it looks today largely like any other highway stopover—a TA truck stop, Exxon fuel station, showers, a Dunkin’, and an Arby’s.

***

Interstate 70 was built in 1960, and the aforementioned strange set of clauses pertaining to the funding of the highway would ultimately change the fate of every soul who worked in, lived in, or passed through Breezewood.

Section 113b of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 mandates that motorists must have the choice whether to enter onto a toll road. Under Section 113c, the state and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) could use federal funds to build an interchange between the new I-70 and the Turnpike, but both parties would have to agree to stop collecting tolls when the funding ceased.

Naturally, toll authorities were unwilling to use their own revenue for an interchange that would give travelers the option to leave toll roads. The PTC was also expecting a decrease in dollars when construction on I-80—which also runs east-west though Pennsylvania—was finished.

State highway officials took matters into their owns hands. Their solution: Extend I-70 north, past the east-west Turnpike, and connect it with U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway. There, in Breezewood, motorists would have the option (required to ensure federal funding) to stay on U.S. 30 or pay the Turnpike toll.

Thus, Breezewood transformed from Pennsylvania Turnpike exit to literal tourist trap. The quarter-mile strip of asphalt held a captive audience for food, fuel, and lodging. Businesses got in line for a piece of the pie. By 1969, there were a reported 19 motels and 10 gas stations in town. Travelers pumped more than a million total gallons into their cars per day.

***

Breezewood looks a lot different now than in its heyday. A strip of chain stores overtook the mom-and-pop shops. Corporate tenants also appear to be struggling, however. On U.S. 30, for a couple of miles in each direction, there are just as many abandoned buildings and overgrown parking lots as there are functioning businesses.

The ethos of commercialism-gone-amok that some people project on Breezewood only touches on the community’s present predicament. With the decline of available lodging options in town, the entire economic system relies on less-than-12-hour tourism and is handcuffed to the interchange. Everything actual locals might spend on, from groceries to auto parts stores, are located in neighboring towns.

Breezewood businesses rely heavily on big rig trucking and truckers. Two large truck stops—a TA and a Flying J—are positioned on the east and west sides of the valley. There, long-haul drivers refuel, repair, and rest. This lifestyle forms the basis of Breezewood’s most communal activity, with drivers exchanging “howdy-dos” and general small talk around the lot.

Breezewood’s workers and businesses there aren’t in control of their prosperity or demise as much as they are subject to shifting traffic patterns. The paving of a new road or the widening of another could shuffle people away from Breezewood’s nuanced interchange.

Take Interstate 68, for example. The east-west highway runs about 20 miles south of U.S. 30 and was completed in 1991. Suddenly, those traveling from Washington or Baltimore to the Midwest could avoid the PA Turnpike—and Breezewood—completely by taking 68 through northern Maryland. The town’s Howard Johnson closed the same year I-68 was finished.

Plenty of other external factors have changed the travel landscape since Breezewood’s mid-century boom. Airfare, for instance, has become a whole lot more affordable. And even the most affordable new cars are capable, comfortable highway cruisers with relatively excellent fuel efficiency. The once-essential need to stop, rest, and refuel just isn’t there anymore.

At one point during my visit, I drove up the hill on the west side of Breezewood to attempt my own version of Burtynsky’s five-figure-fetching shot. With my camera on a tripod, balancing precariously on the edge of my truck bed, I could see it all through the viewfinder. Plastic and metal signs that once advertised promising businesses had been painted over, smashed, or covered with the banner of some new venture. Some businesses were dark, others completely abandoned. Breezewood’s fall from its peak has been slow and steady, rather than sudden.

“There’s just not enough traffic to maintain all the businesses,” says Forrest Lucas, whose family opened the Traveler’s Rest Hotel in 1968. “Hotels became low-rent apartments. This brought in drug problems.”

Businesses either die or adapt, and Crawford’s Gift Shop has done the latter. The Crawford Family moved their taxidermy business from Everett, Pennsylvania, to Breezewood in 1957. Travelers—and local schools—shuffled in to view exotic mounts in the building on the east side of the strip. Then, in the 1980s, the family renamed their store Crawford’s Museum (and Gifts) and sold souvenirs alongside their preserved critters.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers football team started winning in the 2000s, Crawford’s began to sell black-and-yellow regalia to fans. Football accoutrement soon replaced the more familiar souvenirs, though the popular animal mounts remained. Now, Crawford’s is known as “Your Black and Gold Headquarters,” and John Crawford V runs the show. The business seems to be doing well enough, and part of that has been diversifying income streams beyond foot traffic. Much of John V’s merch is now sold online. “We sent a Steelers jacket to Israel,” he said before quickly resuming inventory checks.

Most of Breezewood’s employees live outside of town, in Bedford County and the surrounding valleys. They list off cities like Everett or Bedford or just stick a finger in the air and say “up on a hill over there.” By its working class, Breezewood is treated more like a factory or warehouse than a proper town. Clock in, clock out. Most tell me something to the effect of, “Breezewood isn’t a city. It’s a stop.”

Emphasis on the stop. Traffic is indeed a nightmare in Breezewood, but nobody is doing anything about it. Some type of bypass to divert traffic would require township or county levels of government approval, and money, but Breezewood can hardly sustain itself in current conditions. Not to mention that any bypass would, in effect, completely obviate Breezewood’s entire reason for existence. Everyone is soldiering on, but for how long, who knows?

On my way out of town, I took a detour to investigate the town’s abandoned highway tunnels, closed after the Turnpike’s four lanes were rerouted to avoid the one-lane underground bottleneck. The mountain passes are now a cult attraction for trail-hungry hikers and bikers. The stretch of road, pockmarked and overgrown with vegetation, has been used for feature films, most notably for 2009’s The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel. Nature abhors a vacuum.

I prefer to think of Breezewood as a town in perpetual flux. Before the government turned it into an artificial choke point, before Breezewood even officially existed, this valley was a throughway for travelers. Once a pit stop for the tired or hungry, its sheer novelty and history have also ensnared the curious, like me. Maybe some savvy investor will swoop in and turn abandoned businesses into a long rows of EV chargers; there’s already a new bank of Tesla chargers in the Sheetz parking lot.

Or maybe, if more businesses shutter, some areas could be turned into a trail system or nature preserve for eco-tourism. However Breezewood evolves, or whatever ultimately takes its place, the right vision could once again turn it into someplace people want not just to stop, but to stay awhile.

***

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Yesterday, Le Mans hopefuls hit the French circuit to practice and qualify for this year’s 24-hour contest. With the race quickly approaching, media members were already swarming drivers, microphones and lenses at the ready. One of the world’s top road racers and winner of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, Kamui Kobayashi, took the opportunity to drop some news.

Alongside NASCAR chairman and CEO, Kobayashi announced that he would make his first NASCAR attempt later this summer. On August 13, 2023, the 36-year-old Japanese driver will trade the button-covered yolk of a prototype Toyota racer for the steering wheel of a Camry stocker, competing with 30-some other good ol’ boys at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

His team isn’t some lame-duck outfit either. Kobayashi will drive a third entry for 23XI racing, a North Carolina–based outfit co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and Cup star Denny Hamlin. Earlier this year, stunt star Travis Pastrana successfully qualified for the Daytona 500 with this part-time group.

To the casual motorsport fan, this may seem like second-page news. It’s not. Kobayashi’s NASCAR debut will mark yet another unconventional driver this year to strap into a stock car. This season alone, Jensen Button, Jordan Taylor, and Kimi Räikkönen have made attempts at NASCAR’s highest level. It appears as though the Cup Series’ Next Gen car, with its sequential shifter, independent rear suspension, and low profile tires—all components also present in GT cars—is piquing the interest of road racing’s top talent. Who might we see next?

For the first time in 20 years, a Japanese national will race in the @NASCAR Cup Series – @kamui_kobayashi will drive for @23XIRacing at the Brickyard 200 at Indianapolis this August! #LeMans24 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/uCXHGtrdtO

— Super GT World (@supergtworld) June 7, 2023

Kobayashi’s announcement also highlights the awkward position in which NASCAR put itself when it signed with Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports to field a stocker for Le Mans’ experimental Garage 56 entry. That decision reportedly didn’t sit right with Toyota. NASCAR’s attempt to infiltrate Le Mans would surely be mentioned to a manufacturer that has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall the past five years, right? Think again.

NASCAR held the Kobayashi news until Le Mans weekend and made the announcement in front of a Camry stocker festooned in Gazoo Racing stickers. “It’s my dream, actually,” Kobayashi told The Associated Press. “It’s such a big sport in the United States and racing in Europe, I never had the chance or opportunity to race NASCAR. I think the opportunity will be challenging for myself because it is such a different category.”

More immediately, Kobayashi will focus on this weekend at Le Mans, where he serves as team principal for Toyota Gazoo’s two-car team.

***

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Ross Bentley is a professional driving coach, sports car racer, and author of the bestselling Speed Secrets book series. He will join us each Monday to explain and dissect aspects of high-performance driving. Sharpen those pencils, take a seat, and speak up in the comments below. Class is in session.

Race car drivers have been called many things, from daredevils to names we dare not print in these refined digital web pages. Let me add a few more (family-friendly) descriptors: scientists, timekeepers, mathematicians, database managers, statisticians, and problem-solvers. In the span of one lap, racers perform thousands of calculations, at speed, while facing the consequences of even the slightest miscalculation.

The best drivers look at what’s ahead of them and calculate the best way to get from where they are to the end of a track’s section in the least amount of time. They use geometry to determine the perfect line through a corner or series of corners. Driving the ideal line requires thinking beyond the geometry of curves, as tracks are not two-dimensional with consistent surfaces. Elevation changes, banking, and different grip levels of various surface conditions turn these calculations into, at the very least, a 3D matrix.

Elite drivers also have an inner clock that can discern differences in time within fractions of a second. They can hustle a car through a nine-second section of track, and at a gut level compare what they just did with the previous lap they completed two minutes ago, knowing that one was seven tenths of a second faster. Then, they store that information in their mental database so they can pull it out again on the next lap or, perhaps, even a year later. Fun fact: The tales of superstars’ memory storage are legendary. Ayrton Senna could recall the number on his tachometer at many points on a track, within 10 rpms.

The scientific method is the process of identifying a problem, proposing a theory, and then experimenting with an open mind to see if the theory is correct. How is that any different from a driver arriving at an unfamiliar race track?

The new track is the problem. Proposing an idea of how to get around it in the least amount of time: That’s the theorem. Next, you experiment with hundreds, if not thousands, of variations to see which is correct.

Even more fascinating, two drivers can run their experiments, and arrive at two different solutions to the problem. This is just like arithmetic. Watch the best drivers closely and you’ll notice subtle differences in how they get around the track.

Even when Lewis Hamilton and George Russell turn lap times within a few thousandths of a second of each other in largely identical F1 cars, they’re using different algorithms. Consider just how many discrete techniques and skills each driver uses over the course of a three-mile circuit. We can lump all of these into the broad categories of braking, cornering, and acceleration, but each one can be broken down into dozens of variations. And then there are category combos such as trail braking. When you add them up, you’re looking at hundreds of differences, in just one corner. And yet, the cumulative result could be the blink of an eye.

Now, throw other cars into the mix, and consider just how many variations there are in the positioning of just two competitors going into one corner. This adds to the infinite number of scenarios. Overwhelming, right? So, how do the best drivers consistently make the right decisions?

Pattern matching.

While no two patterns in an on-track scenario will be exactly the same, there will be similarities.

When you’re driving on the street, approaching an intersection, and you “just knew that red car was going to pull out,” that’s pattern matching. You’re applying your past experience at an intersection to a new scene. Most new teen drivers arenʻt very good at this, because they havenʻt seen as many scenarios play out. Now, two drivers who have both driven for twenty years are not necessarily equally good at pattern matching. Some drivers are either more naturally gifted at this all-important skill, or they’ve developed the ability through practice.

The best racers are better at playing the odds than their competitors, too. They are excellent statisticians and know when to go for it, and when to exercise restraint. We think of them as being smart racers who make better decisions, and that’s accurate … to a point. They use this knowledge to gamble. Like gamblers, racers complete statistical analysis, playing probabilities. Quickly. There are very few people in the world who process as much data in their heads at such a high speed.

Still, even the best gamblers go through losing streaks.

To be able to peer inside the mind of the world’s best racers and observe this multi-level neuroprocessing occur at speed would be beyond fascinating. It would be literally mind-boggling, because the best drivers are more than just drivers.

***

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The post Racing 101 #6: Why racers are superhuman scientists appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Ross Bentley is a professional driving coach, sports car racer, and author of the bestselling Speed Secrets book series. He will join us each Monday to explain and dissect aspects of high-performance driving. Sharpen those pencils, take a seat, and speak up in the comments below. Class is in session.

Logic, fear, and self-preservation—these mental facets stand between you and crashing every time you head into Turn 1 (or your favorite switchback on a mountain road). Is one more important than the others?

First, we must consider our brains and how they process information. Think of logic as a 1961 Volkswagen Beetle. Fear and self-preservation might be a Koenigsegg. Research has shown that our conscious mind, which is where logic lies, can process about 2000 bits of information per second. Our subconscious, the home of fear and self-preservation, processes information at supercar speed, over four billion bits per second. This difference in speed explains why we can do things without consciously thinking, aka when on auto-pilot, more easily and much faster.

In our world of motorsports, doing anything faster is a good thing.

When approaching a corner, you don’t have time to make logical calculations about the amount you should slow down. Even if you could, you wouldn’t have time to look down at your speedometer to check how you’re doing. Instead, you rely on your subconscious mind. Goodbye logic, hello instincts.

Is it fear, then, that’s setting your corner entry speed? Hopefully not.

What if a driver believes—truly, deep down inside, believes—that they can take a 100-mile-per-hour corner at 150? What stops a driver from trying that? Some may mislabel it as fear, but it’s really self-preservation at work. The only thing that stops a driver from crashing in every single corner is the desire to continue. Continuing leads to further learning, which translates to more speed.

Still, there’s a fine line between fear and self-preservation.

Fear often leads to inaction or inappropriate action. I suspect you’ve had at least one moment in your life when you froze in panic mode. That’s fear kicking in.

Consider this example: Sometimes, the best thing to do when entering a corner too fast is to release the brakes and give some grip back to the front tires to allow them to turn as much as possible. When fear has set in, we tend to do the wrong thing—hanging on the brake pedal, causing the car to slide off the road or track.

In 2018, four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, driving a Ferrari and leading the season-long championship up to that point in the year, crashed out of the lead at his home race in Germany. In the rain, he approached a left-hander and locked up the brakes.

I yelled at the television, “Lift!” Despite me doing my best to coach him through the tube, the fear synapse in his brain locked like his tires, and he slid off the track and into a tire barrier.

Even the best racers can mess up this balance between logic, fear, and self-preservation.

Whether you’re an F1 driver, an autocross weekend warrior, or a hairpin-highway fanatic, fear can play a factor in a different manner, too. It’s often fear of failure that motivates us to do something—or not do something—more than fear of injury or death. This fear of failure could be a concern about the financial impacts of an impact, how you’re going to explain a wreck to your significant other, or worrying about what others might say about your driving abilities if you make a mistake. It’s a fear of the unknown, essentially.

In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, frequent International Space Station houseguest Chris Hadfield wrote:

“In my experience, fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling you have any control over what’s about to happen. When you feel helpless, you’re far more afraid than you would be if you knew the facts. If you’re not sure what to be alarmed about; everything is alarming.”

Apparently, flying spaceships and driving fast cars are not all that different. Fear of the unknown is not a good thing to have in mind when approaching a corner. Toss that out and let’s focus on self-preservation.

In fact, it’s our self-preservation that gets us around the track or back home after a blast through that mountain pass. To be a really fast driver, you need a healthy dose of self-preservation. Too much and you’ll be slow, and you won’t be exercising your self-preservation. Too little—not heeding its warnings—leads to crashing too often, and that means you’ll be on the side of the road or track.

The right amount of self-preservation leads to driving near the limit often enough that you can fine-tune the ability to drive near the limit. It’s a cycle. Oh, and you certainly learn a lot more when you’re on the track than you do when you’re stuffed into a tire barrier.

Surprisingly, when you spend enough time in this zone, you eventually get used to it. It becomes normal, and you don’t do inappropriate things out of fear. Instead, fear gives way to self-preservation. You become comfortable being uncomfortable, and you respond appropriately. You look into the upcoming corner, do some subconscious calculations based off of the sensory information coming into your brain, and you set a speed that will allow you to negotiate that corner again and again. You’ve preserved yourself long enough to take another lap or run up the highway, learn more from that experience, and continue the cycle.

Exceptional drivers make those subconscious calculations faster and more accurately than others. Much of that comes from experience, but it’s the type of experience that makes the difference. If all of that experience is well below the limits of the tires, for example, self-preservation will never set in, and never force your brain into that mode where it must calculate at a speed that allows you to survive.

Consistently comfortable is kind of boring. Even worse, it’s slow. Consistently uncomfortable? That’s fear at work. Being fast on track is about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Thank you, self-preservation.

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There are three things you need to know about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before we begin:

3

The frenzied pace of metro Detroit feels like another world. Life slows down up there, and the locals make their own entertainment.

2

There’s snow. A lot of it. Six months of winter equates to about 25 feet of the stuff, so the locals, they make their own entertainment.

1 …

… lap to go.

*

A high-speed procession of snowmobiles stormed past a fluttering white flag. Out front, a pair of Polaris sleds led the pack. Ross Erdman on the purple machine held a narrow lead over Joey Burch, who was catching a face-full of snow from the leader’s wake.

Undaunted, Burch charged toward Erdman as the duo rounded the first set of turns on the one-mile snow-covered oval. Pouring onto the oval’s backstretch, Burch caught a strip of ice. His snow-track studs met the shiny stuff and shot the second-place rider forward. He was now side-by-side with Erdman, and the two were practically rubbing shoulders as they careened down the dimly lit straight at over 100 miles per hour.

In turn three, Burch passed Erdman on the inside, pitching his sled sideways to slow his charge. Burch’s momentum carried him into the turn’s outer snow bank, which opened the door for Erdman to pull even on the outside.

Burch, now off-line, was deep in the fluff. He kept on the throttle, though, and launched his sled airborne, showing the bottom of his skis to the thousands of fans who lined the track. Despite the dramatics, Burch was still dead even with Erdman just a few hundred yards from the finish line.

Welcome to the Indy 500 of snowmobile racing. Who wanted it more?

The two crashed into one another as Burch steered left. More contact. This time Erdman turned into Burch, clocking his rival so hard that he went up on one ski. Neither rider slowed, neither gave an inch, and the two remained locked together as they skittered across the line, a photo finish for the ages.

After more than nine hours, the I-500 snowmobile race was decided by .0001 seconds. Burch was declared victorious. (His win came 17 years after his father suffered a heart attack while competing in the race.) Fans who braved frigid temps and persistent snowstorms were rewarded with a thrilling climax to the 500-lap contest—the closest finish in the race’s 54-year history.

“It all started with a handful of guys sitting at a restaurant,” says I-500 chairman Ric Federau. According to its snow-covered lore, the idea for a long-distance snowmobile race in Sault Ste. Marie was first synthesized in 1968 when a group of dining friends spotted a new Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car across the street in a dealership lot. The car sparked a debate whether a snowmobile could make it 500 miles. Back then, the sleds were more go-kart, or riding lawnmower, than race vehicle. Completing a 500-mile enduro would be quite the feat.

The discussion made it out of the restaurant. First order of business: Find a proper location to hold their “Indy 500 for snowmobiles.” Across town, less than a mile from the Canadian border, sat an old World War II ammunition bunker. The storage facility, like the town’s Raco Army Airfield, was a remnant of WWII-era military fortification. The property was owned by the city and had gone unused for years. Even better, the plot of land was a swamp, and all of the Soo’s water drained into the low field—the perfect canvas for an oval ice track.

The group employed an engineer to design a mile-long circuit, and the U.S. Army Corps and the National Guard were brought in to destroy two of the three concrete ammunition bunkers on the property. (The third still exists today.) Repurposed motel cabins were brought onsite for race control, and an old section of the Soo Locks was fashioned into a metal crossover bridge.

Work continued throughout 1968, and by the winter of ’69 the track was ready. Snowmobile racers converged for time trials that January.

On February 8, 1969, 47 snow machines lined up for the first annual I-500. According to historian John Kenn, the Mackinaw Bridge (the bridge between Michigan’s two peninsulas) lowered its fair from $3.50 to $1.50 to support the race. Thousands of fans flocked to watch the novel contest fire off at 10 a.m.

After more than 13 hours, Dan Planck crossed the finish line first on his Ski Doo, and the original question posed by the dining friends had been answered: A snowmobile can make it 500 miles.

Since that first race in 1969, the I-500 has grown into a week-long party with numerous ancillary events. The population of the Soo temporarily spikes, delivering a boost in tourism dollars during a time that otherwise would be slower than sap. Michigan’s former governor, Rick Snyder, recently proclaimed the race as “Michigan’s premier winter sporting event.”

“The I-500 has weathered every kind of bad economic situation that the state has endured,” says Federau. No doubt the race’s persevering strength is bolstered by its volunteer workforce. “There’s not another professional race in the world that is totally operated by volunteers,” he says.

Although the community mindset hasn’t changed since the race’s early days, other components, like the track, the machines, and the riders have evolved quite a bit. Purpose-built race sleds replace the hopped-up stock machines that populated the grid back in the day. The Ski Doos, Artic Cats, and Polaris sleds are much faster. Heavier, too. Riders have to be in tip top shape, and the pace is so grueling that multiple racers swap stints behind the handlebars. “They’re doing 125 mph, alongside 38 other riders, with nothing but Kevlar on their back, split seconds apart in a cloud of spray,” says Federau.

To keep up with the breakneck pace, the I-500’s officiating has grown from a guy in the back of his pickup bed with a stopwatch to a full-fledge crew. Timing and scoring officials are hired through NASCAR and are flown up from Atlanta. “The day after our race, the guys who do our timing are on a jet to the Daytona 500 with all the transponders,” Federau says.

Team infrastructure, too, has swelled. Each individual race team now has about a dozen crew members. Some of the race engineers and crew chiefs stare at computer screens the whole race and don’t even leave their heated trailers in the infield.

Just like the Indy 500, pit stops are routine. In additional to fueling during the stops, teams may swap riders, swap skis, and perform engine or clutch maintenance. A good stop is about 22 seconds, and most of the time they take place during the plow breaks that occur every 100 laps.

The lapse in action is necessary for track conditions. Unlike the early days, which featured a snow-covered course, the one-mile oval is now primarily ice, which avoids the friction of snow and makes for a faster lap. Nearly 2 million gallons of water are dumped from tanker trailers to build out the course.

Melting isn’t an issue (unless the town is met with an unseasonably warm winter), but the track crew is presented with a different problem: The snowmobiles’ aggressive metal studs wreak havoc. In the same way that race car drivers search for grip on a paved course, riders are looking for patches of ice to sink their studs. The sharp bits grind away at the surface, throwing loose ice dust all over the course. Plow trucks are essential.

With a race that can last more than nine hours in often sub-freezing temperatures, the 100-lap breaks are also a good time for fans to catch a breath. But not everyone is there to watch. Some spectators are simply attending a party that happens to have a snowmobile race in the background. Drinking is optional. Bundling is a must. Knee-length puffy jackets, animal fur, and wool-lined everything are trackside couture. Listen closely and you’ll hear the swishing of nylon and polyester layers in symphony with the muffled claps of gloved hands.

In addition to warm clothing, most partiers have a heated home base. This could be a motorhome, an enclosed trailer, or even a school bus. Spectators park their rigs in a lot above the track. The lucky ones are backed up to the track’s front stretch perimeter for optimal spectating.

One long-time fan transformed a Better Made Potato Chip trailer into a rolling kitchen with a big-screen TV and dining benches. Smells of sweet smoke and beef rolled out of the trailer, which was outfitted with carpeting sourced from the local casino and a commercial flat-top grill.

Fans walk in and out of the temporary abodes. Some watch on snowbanks, others stand around campfires, others take shots of brown party liquor from carved ice luges. It’s a scene. Ten thousand people in snow pants, yet the only ones in a hurry are out on the track.

***

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From relying on newspapers for race results to receiving in-race updates in the palm of your hand, the way in which auto-racing fans consume the sport is always changing.

The most recent hot button within the sport’s consumption is the quantity of streaming services. Subscription-based streaming platforms have ballooned over the past five years, providing high-definition coverage with complex graphics and telemetry for anything from sports car racing at Sebring to snowmobile racing in Wisconsin. In an instant, grassroots racing can be pulled from every corner of the continent to your backlit screen. And the coverage is just as good as it is on the national broadcasts.

Watching a Formula 1 or NASCAR race on the television feels like you are there in person, and sometimes even inside the driver’s helmet. This year, NASCAR followed F1’s lead and debuted a thimble-sized camera that can be mounted to any driver’s helmet foam. The camera provides a racer’s eye view of the spectacle. It’s awesome. I could watch an entire race from that perspective.

Oh, and the data on any broadcast is remarkable. The amount of figures flashed across the screen would likely overwhelm any Nixon-era crew chief.

So why would anyone leave the comfort of their home to watch a race?

The roar of the engines, the smell of burnt rubber, the camaraderie—I could go on, but I know I’m preaching to the choir.

I would like to offer a less-obvious allure: the venue.

In motorsports, the venue and its surrounding area is just as important as the cars on track. Plenty of courses produce intense on-track action, sure, but what sets certain raceways apart from others—and lures fans away from their screens—is the track’s window dressing. The ancillary bits.

The structure on the outside of turn three that promises cold beer and a unique vantage point.

The river outside of the track that hosts race-day tubing runs.

The bar down the street where drivers’ signatures adorn its cinderblock walls.

Gamers and Jeep product managers would call these “easter eggs.” Whether on campus, or down the street, almost every track has at least one. If you think your local track doesn’t have a hidden gem, chances are you haven’t immersed yourself amongst the race course’s cognoscenti. Let’s take a look at some of our favorites.

Sebring’s Turn 10 and Green Park

Really, the entirety of Sebring’s spectating zones could be regarded as the track’s special location. The 17-turn Florida track annually hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring. Despite being considered a jewel of pro sports-car racing’s triple crown, the 12-hour enduro seems secondary to the party.

Portions of the infield, such as Green Park—which is neither green nor a park—as well as Turn 10 are particularly rowdy. Long before his stint at The Doors frontman, Jim Morrison got drunk on Chianti at Green Park and nearly stumbled onto the track. Today, fans bring couches and chairs to spectate. Rather than pack up, they simply set fire to the furniture.

Watkins Glen has been domesticated and Bryar Motorsport Park was shuttered, leaving Sebring to carry the torch for rowdy road courses.

IMS Snake Pit

Indy’s infield party zone has endured since the speedway’s early days, though the Snake Pit, as it’s called today, looks a lot different than it did back in the day.

Since the 1920s, fans flocked to the inside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Turn 1 to watch open-wheelers pour into the sweeping corner. Over time, that area became the designated hangout for college-age fans looking for a place to cut loose. By the ’70s, it was known as the “Snake Pit,” where mud wrestling and loud music were commonplace.

As the inside of the first turn became crowded with grandstands and additional buildings, Snake Pitters had to find a home somewhere else, so they moved to the inside of Turn 4. The party atmosphere faded, and the Pit nearly became extinct.

In 2010, however, Speedway staff revived the pit inside the Indy oval’s third turn. Large temporary stages are erected for a race-day music festival. Lights, smoke, premier electronic dance artists, and throngs of young fans keep the Snake Pit legacy alive.

Hillbilly Hotel

In the early 1970s, Korean War vet Benny Corbin transformed a small sandy dirt track in Barberville, Florida, into a half-mile, clay-paved speed palace.

Within his demo crew, seven-year-old David Blackwelder was responsible for driving one of the tractors. After six decades, and numerous track changes, Blackwelder is still here. He’s traded the tractor seat for a three-story structure outside of Volusia’s third turn known as the “Hillbilly Hotel.”

What started out as a small area next to the fence, reserved for Blackwelder and his closest friends, has evolved into a VIP suite on wooden stilts. One story, then another, then a third—Blackwelder added to his structure as safety precautions pushed his group back from the fence and retaining walls eliminated sight lines.

At a backwoods oval track, the perspective is a unique treat, and portions of the first and second floor are enclosed to supply dirt-free spectating. Blackwelder even ran a plastic drain hose to the ground for depositing empty beverage cans. (Florida is one of the 10 states that uses a 10-cent bottle-deposit system.) Down on the ground floor, he also built a kitchen with a working sink and a portable toilet. All told, the homebuilt structure can accommodate 45 people.

How do you gain access to the best seat in the house? Blackwelder has one prerequisite: “If I like you, you can come up.”

Butler Treehouse

For Midwest dirt fans, you don’t have to travel to Florida to get a bird’s eye view of a dirt track. Some crafty diehards at Michigan’s Butler Motor Speedway built a treehouse on the edge of a neighboring property to take in the local action. Stickers and signs adorn the massive tree, and climbing up through the branches is reminiscent of the dream treehouse from the Peter Pan movie Hook.

To misquote Pan, “All the world is made of faith, trust, and dirt track dust.”

Apple River Tubing

Sticking with the dirt-track theme, Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin, invites fans out to the nearby Apple River for a morning of race-day tubing. The track offers bus transit from the river to the track and promises to “have you back to the track way before hot laps start!” Floating, then racing, in the heart of cheese country—I can’t think of a more indulgent summer day.

Seneca Lodge

In 1944, Donald L. Brubaker steered his 1941 Packard into Watkins Glen, New York, with plans to establish roots in the Finger Lakes town. He had just purchased a camp that he intended to run while raising his family.

The original campus lodge, a log cabin that Brubaker built in 1947, burned to the ground in 1948. With the help of local volunteers, Brubaker’s cabin was rebuilt and reopened in the same year. And just in time to host the banquet for the inaugural Watkins Glen Grand Prix.

Since then, the lodge has been a mainstay for racers, and the Bench and Bar Tavern room is evidence. Numerous patches, stickers, and pennants line the walls of the room. To this day, winners still hang their wreath on the wall.

Barber Motorsports Park

The Alabama Rollercoaster, as it’s called by its most devout, is the poster child for window dressing. What other track features a 230,000-square-foot museum, multiple installation art pieces, and enough giant animal sculptures to be considered an inanimate zoo? The on-track product is great, and IndyCar visits every year, sure, but the real fun is searching the property for the hidden Easter eggs. Can you spot the zombie or the wild monkey?

Siebkens Hotel

After emigrating from Northern Germany in 1912, Herman and Laura Siebkens opened the Elm Park Hotel in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. While Herman Siebkens leaned on his hotel expertise to establish Elm Park as a world class hotel, it was his daughter Olive (aka Ollie) who made the resort’s name synonymous with auto racing.

For three years (1950–52) the small Wisconsin town hosted a race through its streets. Jaguars, Allards, and Cunninghams whizzed past Siebkens front door awning. After racing was decidedly moved out of town, Ollie helped with the completion of the purpose-built race track on the outskirts of town.

Since 1955, Road America has become one of North America’s premier road-racing facilities. During that time, Elm Park, now known as Siebkens Resort, has remained a weekend destination for drivers, crews, fans, and even “King of Cool” Paul Newman, who stayed in Room 11 while filming Winning.

Carteret Speedway

“The place is wild and reminds me of putt golf mixed with a museum and a race track,” motorsport journeyman Andy Newsome says of the North Carolina bullring. “The place is one of a kind.” If you go, make sure you spot the old Union 75 ball towers outside of the fourth turn that were once used by NASCAR spotters at stock car racing’s superspeedways.

Nelson Ledges

This is an odd one. Supposedly, Nelson Ledges sports car course in Eastern Ohio has a rather rare set of concrete bathrooms. During a visit to the quirky track, a grounds manager mentioned that the Smithsonian Museum offered dough to take the vintage bathrooms off of the property. The story goes that these are some of the last remaining concrete potties in existence. Who knows if there’s any validity to the story, or if the track worker was pulling my leg. Regardless, it’s a testament to the wild, wacky, and supremely wonderful Easter eggs you may find at a race track.

Does your local track have a hidden gem, oddity, or Easter egg? Let us know in the comments below.

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Via Imola

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Let’s say the Jeff Gordon Monte Carlo that rolled across the block at The Amelia was too much of a museum piece for you. Maybe you don’t need the provenance of NASCAR’s Wonder Boy in your retro stocker, and you’re looking for something with a little more grit.

Meet “Buckwheat.” This 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix stocker was campaigned by NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace on the way to his first—and only—Cup Series championship. Now, it can be a part of your collection.

The 1989 season was a tumultuous one for the sport and for Missouri-born Wallace, who was in his sixth year of Cup Series competition. Among the field of NASCAR stars, there was a changing of the guard: Hall-of-famers such as Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and Buddy Baker were retiring from full-time competition, passing the torch to fresh-faced perennial contenders Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, and Rusty Wallace.

Wallace drove Buckwheat to a 15th place finish in the NASCAR season finale at Atlanta to claim the 1989 title over Earnhardt by a scant 12 points. (Earnhardt won the race, in which a one-car crash would cost part-time racer Grant Adcox his life.) Making Wallace’s championship win even more impressive, he beat the Intimidator while he and team owner Raymond Beadle—in another life, a well-regarded drag racer—sued one another over contract disputes.

Wallace’s title stands as Pontiac’s first championship in NASCAR’s modern era. After the tobacco-liveried Grand Prix brought Wallace and Beadle the ’89 championship, it was retired from NASCAR competition and campaigned in the Historic Stock Car Racing Series.

To prep the car for vintage racing, a fresh 358-cubic-inch V-8 was married to a Super T10 four-speed and shoved down the center of the Laughlin tube-frame chassis. Bilstein shocks, Wilwood brakes, and a rebuilt 4.30:1 rear differential round out the vintage prep. True to original form, the car still features a Kodiak paint scheme, Goodyear slicks, a full rollcage, and period gauges.

The current owner acquired the Pontiac stocker in 2009. Then, in 2018, the NASCAR Hall of Fame came calling, requesting to display the car in its Glory Road exhibit, a curved embankment in the museum’s entryway featuring select cars from the sport’s 75-year history.

Glory Road’s spectacle is practically worth the price of admission ($27 for adults, $20 for kids) and being selected for the display is quite an achievement. Perhaps adding to the honor is the fact that the particular collection of stock cars that included the Wallace Pontiac was hand-picked by NASCAR driver-celebrity Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions” exhibit.

After Wallace won the championship in ’89 he joined forces with “The Captain” Roger Penske. While he racked up the wins aboard Miller beer-sponsored Pontiacs, then Fords, then Dodges, he could never quite duplicate a full season of success like he did in 1989.

For Wallace, the 1989 season stands as an early spike in a 22-year NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Over three decades later, the Buckwheat possesses plenty of significance without being so steeped in history it should be kept under glass. It’s rarer than the numerous fifth- and sixth-gen stockers available on Racing Junk yet more accessible than, say, a car driven by the Earnhardts or Gordon. How exactly does that influence the bidding? We’ll soon see.

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Fast friends are hard to come by in the paddock, regardless of discipline. In the heat of battle between a field of drivers, each with their careers on the line at every turn, we know that even the bonds between teammates can be strained.

Bad blood, verbal jabs, and on-track altercations are far more common than chemistry or compassion, so in the anti-spirit of the heart-shaped holiday, we went full cynic and ranked the greatest auto racing rivalries throughout the sport’s history. (You’ll find that many of these clashes ultimately gave way to lifelong friendships.)

From the Intimidator versus The Wonder Boy to a pair of manufacturers, this list highlights the most potent of conflicts.

8. Andretti vs. Foyt

The rivalry between Andretti and AJ Foyt was more of a product of similar career paths than explicit incidents between the two drivers. Foyt’s career started about five years before Andretti. Still, Maio caught up with Super Tex quickly. From their early days at backwoods bullrings to their multiple wins at the Brickyard, the two American drivers more often than not shared the same racetrack, vying for the same top step on the podium. IndyCar, NASCAR, sports car racing—it didn’t matter. Where there was Foyt, there was Andretti and vice versa.

“There’s always someone better than you, someone who’s dominating, and that sure raises your game,” Andretti wrote in Motorsport Magazine. “You have to do something different to beat him. So you watch him, see what he does better, you work harder. This inspires you, and I love those challenges with a rival.”

7. Valentino Rossi vs. Marc Márquez

We couldn’t leave our two-wheeled friends off the list. Championship rider Marc Marquez famously went from posing next to Rossi for a fan photo as a boy to besting the legendary rider for his first Moto GP title in 2014.

Naturally, the two hall-of-famers were bound to mix it up on track. In 2015, Rossi reportedly kicked Marquez from his bike. Then, in 2018, Marquez sparked an incident which collected Rossi. After the race, Rossi didn’t mince his words:

“This is a very bad situation, because he destroyed our sport … because he doesn’t have any respect for his rivals, never.”

Marquez took fault for the incident, calling it a “mistake.” Despite taking ownership for the crash, Rossi refused to shake Marquez’s hand later that year. Imagine angering one of your childhood heroes.

6. Keselowski vs. Edwards

In NASCAR’s modern era, rivalries are certainly less prevalent than they once were. Drivers under the intense scrutiny of media, sponsorships, and team owners with high expectations are better served focusing on their craft and performance.

Every so often though, a highly aggressive rookie comes along who rubs a few of the veterans the wrong way. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and most recently Ross Chastain have tangled with their elders on their rise to stardom. The prior did so on the way to his first race win—an indecent that would spark a series of on-track altercations.

In 2009, Keselowski—a relatively-unknown commodity at the time—tangled with fan favorite Carl Edwards coming to the finish line at Talladega. Edwards flipped violently and Keselowski sprayed beer in victory lane.

The two would have a couple more run-ins over the next year before Edwards finally intentionally spun Kes into the fence at Atlanta in 2010. Later that year, Edwards hooked Keselowski left into the wall while battling for the lead at Gateway. After the race, it was the youngster’s father who called for an end to it all.

“I’m sick and tired of this,” Bob Keselowski said. “I’ll get my own damn uniform back on and take care of this. He ain’t going to kill my boy.” Whether it was the elder’s words or just happenstance, the intense rivalry never resurfaced after that night.

5. Lauda vs. Hunt

Formula 1 in the 1970s was chock-full of characters with long hair, big sunglasses, and thick sideburns. Sir Jackie Stewart, Gilles Villeneuve, Emerson Fittipaldi—handsome dare devils in pillowy Nomex. It was the rivalry between Formula 1 greats Nicki Lauda and James Hunt was so captivating that even decades after it dominated headlines, it captivated screenplay writer Chris Morgan and eventually director Ron Howard in 2013’s Rush.

Compared to the movie, though, the rivalry was reportedly far less nasty. The two more closely resembled colleagues, founding a friendship early in their careers while traveling Europe in the open-wheel feeder series. They even shared a flat.

Still, their public perception made them compelling adversaries. British playboy versus stoic Austrian—delicious fodder for a Hollywood script.

4. Earnhardt vs. Gordon

When Jeff Gordon showed up on the NASCAR grid in 1992, Dale Earnhardt was at the top of his game. The squeaky-clean 21-year-old Gordon, wrapped in a dayglo rainbow fire suit, was a natural foil to the Intimidator—a man as tough as nails who drove a black car and used the chrome horn.

Earnhardt won his seventh and final championship in 1994, the same year that Gordon won his first race. Both were viewed as preseason favorites to win the 1995 title. As the season progressed, the duo became locked in an intense championship battle. Earnhardt joked mid-season that the youngster would have to toast with milk if he won the title.

He would do just that, toasting the Man in Black at the 1995 NASCAR awards ceremony with a glass of milk from his chair at the champion’s table. Gordon and Earnhardt rivalry was fully formed. To Earnhardt fans, Gordon was a “crybaby,” the antithesis to the roster of good ol’ boys that put the sport on the map. The clash split the NASCAR fanbase down the middle and catalyzed it’s 1990s boom in popularity.

3. Senna vs. Prost

In the late 1980s, McLaren teammates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were two of Formula 1’s best drivers. Senna, a hot-blooded Brazilian, and Prost, a strait-laced Frenchman who earned the nickname “Professor,” engaged in several landmark battles throughout their open-wheel careers. (That will happen when you share the same equipment.) A tenuous relationship throughout, their gentlemen’s rivalry turned toxic at Imola in 1989.

Prior to the grand prix, the two agreed that whoever got the jump from their front-row starting positions, would lead the other into the first turn. Senna earned the honors. Later in the race, Prost decided that the informal agreement should be renewed as he jumped Senna on a restart, catching his teammate off guard. Senna would eventually get back around Prost and take the win. Still, the seed was planted.

After the two traded top honors for much of the season, the bad blood boiled over at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix when they nearly collided contending for the top spot. Like many of racing’s spats, though, the animosity eventually faded and the two restored the respectful nature to their rivalry.

2. Snake vs. Mongoose

Back in the 1960s, drag racers Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “Mongoose” McEwen frequently lined up against one another in opposite lanes. Both won races. Both had excellent nicknames.

In 1969, McEwen approached Mattel to sell them on funny car sponsorship. Rather than plaster one car with Hot Wheels logos, he sold them on a dual sponsorship of two fiberglass floppers. When the sponsorship dollars settled, it was Prudhomme in a yellow 1970 Plymouth Barracuda and McEwen in a red 1970 Plymouth Duster. The two drivers battled in match races on the strip, Hot Wheels produced diecast toy sets of the dual Mopar monsters, and Mattel minted moolah from the duo’s drag racing popularity.

It doesn’t matter that this conflict was as real as professional wrestling. Go ahead, try to name another motorsport rivalry that got a toy deal.

1. Ford vs. Ferrari

This is the ultimate motorsport rivalry and thus earns top honors. The amount of money that was spent to best the other puts Ford versus Ferrari on a shelf by itself.

If you’re not familiar with the story, it goes something like this: Ford and Ferrari almost ink a deal to form a corporate alliance. Enzo backs out in the 11th hour after deciding the Prancing Horse would be better served without Ford’s overlording despite the promise of some serious cash. Henry Ford II gets hot under the collar and vows to beat Enzo at his favorite past time: sports car racing. And in Enzo’s own back yard, Le Mans. After spending enough dough to support a small nation, Ford finally breaks through in 1966 and wins Le Mans. They made a movie about it starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale.

(If the movie didn’t do it for you, or you want to parse out reality from Hollywood, check out Leo Levine’s Ford: The Dust and the Glory, Karl Ludvigsen’s The Inside Story of the Fastest Fords, A.J. Baime’s Go like Hell, or simply click here.)

The disagreement between two tycoons changed the course of auto racing forever. Talk about a rivalry.

Honorable mention: Cole Trickle vs. Rowdy Burns

In 1990, open-wheel standout Cole Trickle stormed onto the NASCAR scene. He was fast but burned through tires and wrecked often. The dart without feathers clashed with his then-teammate Rowdy Burns. The two sparred frequently culminating in a wheel chair and rental car race to dinner with their team owner.

Burns eventually had to retire from the sport after a wreck left him with concussion-like symptoms allowing their rivalry to form into a true friendship.

Reined-in by veteran crew chief Harry Hogge, Trickle would go on to NASCAR glory. Cue freeze frame and guitar solo.

Yes, we are referring to the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, starring Tom Cruise as Cole Trickle. While it certainly isn’t a real-life spat, the feud-turned-friendship between Trickle and Burns tops our list of fictitious motorsport rivalries.

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Via Imola

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After the checkered flag dropped on 2023’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, it was the Meyer Shank Racing Acura GTP racer in victory lane. The team of four drivers, in their pink driving suits, hooted and howled on top of the podium. Then, they donned a matching set of Swiss watches.

Every year, Rolex awards its Oyster Perpetual Cosmographs to the victors of the Florida endurance race. This year, Helio Castroneves won his third Rolex 24. If the Brazilian driver ever wanted to open his own watch shop, he certainly has the inventory. Castroneves, despite his recent victories, does not hold the record for most Rolex 24 wins. Scott Pruett and Hurley Haywood hold the title for most overall triumphs at five.

Much in the vein of warm Indy 500 milk, Daytona’s unique tradition dates back to the primordial years of the famous race.

Flash back to 1959. Daytona International Speedway was a newly minted racing facility featuring steep banks and broad turns, a layout that allowed hopped-up sedans and business coupes to seemingly fly around the 2.5-mile tri-oval. The France family, led by patriarch Bill Sr, welcomed racing’s best to its landmark race course. It also greeted a new sponsor: Rolex.

On paper, a partnership between America’s first racing family and a British-founded Swiss watch company might seem odd. In reality, the prestige of each partner elevated that of the other. To commemorate the relationship, starting in 1966, Rolex inscribed the speedway’s moniker—Daytona—into the dial of each Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph.

Over the next three decades, Rolex bolstered its relationship with auto racing. In 1968, the company worked closely with three-time Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart.

Then, in 1992, Rolex fortified its bond with the famous Florida speedway and became the title sponsor of Daytona’s 24-hour endurance race. The company that originally partnered with the burgeoning facility in the late 1950s returned as the sponsor of professional sports-car racing’s longest stateside soirée.

For two circuits of the chronograph’s needle, drivers compete on Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course. Sticking with the enduro theme, Rolex also partners with another 24-hour motorsports contest: The company is the official timepiece of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Whether in America or overseas, in the race against time, it’s only fitting that a Swiss watch be awarded to the winners.

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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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No other race car is more synonymous with the legacy of motorsports magnate Dan Gurney than the deep blue, cigar-shaped Eagle Mk 1.

After a couple years of stateside success with his burgeoning All American Racers team, Gurney turned his focus to Formula 1 in 1966. Gurney enlisted English designer Len Terry, the same madman who penned the Indy-500-winning Lotus 38 to design a new F1 car. The result: AAR’s Gurney Eagle Mk 1.

Aboard a Mk 1, Gurney won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, besting the likes of Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon, and delivering a win to his Anglo-American Racers team—the name of Gurney’s UK-based Formula 1 which made its debut in 1966. The 1967 victory marks the first and only time an American driver won driving for an American team.

Gurney’s breakthrough was in chassis #104, one of four Mk 1 racers built by AAR. This year, at Amelia Island, Gooding & Company is offering chassis #101, the first one built of its kind.

This 1966 Eagle Mk 1 was entered in several European and American grands prix. While the first Eagle never found victory lane, it was driven by some of the most recognizable names in mid-century motorsports, including Bob Bondurant, Phil Hill, and, of course, Dan Gurney.

Unlike chassis #104, which was powered by a 3.0-liter V-12 Weslake engine in Belgium, chassis #101 was shoved through chicanes by a 2.7-liter Coventry Climax four-cylinder.

In 1967, chassis #101 was sold to Canadian driver Al Pease, who entered the car in 10 races, including the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix. By that time, the aging Eagle was an antique among modern winged warriors and Pease earned the solitary achievement of being black-flagged for excessively low speeds.

The car was then sold to F1 collector Tom Wheatcroft, who owned the Eagle for 38 years. In 2009, it was purchased by the current consignor. Under their care, the car received a “sympathetic restoration” by J & L Fabrication in Washington state. There, a reproduction 2.7-liter Climax was fitted in the car (though the original accompanies the car at auction).

In 2014, the Eagle found the race track once again, at the Monaco Grand Prix.

“American teams and drivers have had inconsistent success in Formula 1, but Dan Gurney’s Eagle is the best-known, the best-looking, and the most successful American F1 car with its win at the 1967 Belgian GP,” says senior auctions editor Andrew Newton. “Dan Gurney’s cars were far more successful on this side of the Atlantic, but this one is highly significant as the first Eagle, even though it is powered by the four-cylinder Climax engine. Gooding sold the first V12-powered Eagle back in 2013 for $3.74M so this car’s $3,000,000–$4,000,000 estimate 10 years later seems perfectly reasonable.”

Chassis #101 laid the foundation for Big Eagle’s European foray. It may not be the most successful Formula 1 Eagle, but it was the first.

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For most, retirement means ditching the frenzied pace of a full-time job to relax, slow down, and enjoy the autumn stages of life. This is not the case for Dan Binks.

In 2020, after a 38-year career in sports car racing, the Michigan resident walked away from the sport that he had dominated for decades. Rather than slip into an easy chair or steal away to some tropical beach, Binks turned to circle track racing, building engines for sprint car and midget competition.

On paper, the move was unexpected. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Binks and his de facto driver Tommy Kendall were unstoppable, first with the Mazda RX-7 GTU program in IMSA and then the Roush Mustang team in Trans Am. The duo piled on the wins. Then, in 2002, after a brief stint in NASCAR, Binks began his tenure at Corvette Racing.

Over time, Binks became a face of the franchise. With buckets of bravado topped in a silver buzz cut, he sported just as much American spirit as the yellow Corvettes that he spun wrenches on. In his 18 years with the team, Binks and his team earned countless titles. Sebring and Daytona were personal playgrounds, and overseas the team racked up six victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

After so much success delivering wins to teams that turn right and left, why circle track racing, and why now?

Binks grew up attending open-wheel dirt shows in California with his father. Visits to the long-gone Ascot Park specifically lit the fuse early on. “I loved dirt,” says Binks. “But my expertise came in road racing, so I went and did that.”

He never stopped following the sport, though, and vowed to return in his retirement. Of the countless dirt track races in a calendar year, one in particular stuck out. The Chili Bowl, an indoor dirt race in Tulsa, Oklahoma that could be considered the Daytona 500 of midget competition, was on Bink’s bucket list.

After he left sports car racing in 2020, he set to working building midget and sprint car engines using a warehouse full of parts he had purchased from Katech—the long-time engine component supplier for Corvette Racing. LS goodies including “seven or eight $10,000 crankshafts” that once propelled C5, C6, and C7 race cars to international dominance, now line Bink’s personal shelves.

To construct his four-cylinder midget engine for the Chili Bowl, Binks chopped an LS V-8 block in half, removing cylinders two, four, six, and eight. The end result was the lightest midget engine in the paddock. At last year’s Chili Bowl, Binks partnered with another car owner to debut his motor. The car was fast, but an accident ended the team’s run for indoor glory.

This January in Tulsa, Binks is back for more. And with another bullet in the chamber. Joining his formidable four-banger is an ultralight three-cylinder engine—the only creation of its kind. The novel powerplant is about 80 pounds lighter than a traditional midget engine. In the Chili Bowl, there is no minimum weight rule (or hardly any rules, really).

Rather than entrust his engines to another team, Binks brought his own equipment this year, snagging a couple of chassis from perennial front runners Clauson-Marshall Racing. “You can either learn the information over time or you can buy it,” says Binks “Right now, I’m buying it.” To help run the show, he brought in old road racing adversary Kevin Doran.

Like Binks, Doran won numerous times at Daytona’s Rolex 24, including twice as a crew chief, once as a team member, twice as a manager/owner, and once as a car manufacturer. More recently, Binks and Doran have collaborated in other open-wheel dirt and pavement circle track races. For these efforts, they employ future USAC Hall-of-Famer Kody Swanson as their driver.

At this year’s Chili Bowl, they tabbed Swanson for the four-cylinder midget and youngster Dairin Naida to drive the three-cylinder entry. Both drivers will try to best some 400 other competitors dueling inside Oklahoma’s largest clears pan building on a quarter-mile bullring.

The level of competition at the Chili Bowl is arguably higher than any sports car race. “I would be happy with the top 75,” says Binks. “If I got to the B-Main, I would be ecstatic.” The fact that he’s won Rolex watches and sipped champagne on Le Mans’ top step doesn’t’ dilute his drive for success in midget racing, and his determination to succeed in the discipline is palpable.

Forget the white sand, Binks would rather spend his retirement on the Oklahoma clay.

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Munchkins, Coke syrup, and white-painted tractor tires. What sound like elements for a bizzarro Wizard of Oz production are actually the makings for an indoor auto race at Indiana’s Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

Built in 1952, the arena in Fort Wayne typically hosts minor league hockey, basketball, and rock concerts throughout the year. It’s also home to a group of rough-and-tumble rollerskaters known as the Fort Wayne Derby Girls.

The Rumble, however, is a different type of four-wheel action.

The last weekend in every December, the main concrete floor of the 13,000-capacity building transforms into a race track to host one of America’s oldest motorsport disciplines, active since the ’30s: midget racing.

Indiana’s Allen County arena has welcomed this sort of racing since the 1950s, when it was overseen by a variety of organizing bodies. In 1956, prior to sanctioning the Indy 500, fledgling race organizers USAC hosted their first-ever race, right on the Coliseum’s concrete. As the arena grew, the indoor racing became a wintertime tradition. Today, it may as well be a continuation of the holidays for local—and far-flung—open-wheel fanatics.

In addition to the midgets, several other open-wheel and kart support classes get in on the indoor antics. The various classes are scattered through the building’s access tunnels and underground rooms. Quarter-midgets, miniature versions of midgets driven by grade-schoolers, are parked behind the second-turn bleachers, their full-size siblings behind turn four. Karts are in the basement.

Micro sprints are pitted in a back hall, next to the arena’s armory of folding chairs and portable plastic tables. These shrunken sprint cars, which traditionally sport 600cc motorcycle engines and race on dirt, bang wheels on the paved floor within the Coliseum’s cramped quarters.

The 1/6-mile circumference of the temporary oval may be a generous measurement. It’s tight. Jersey barriers and chain-link fencing form the outside retaining wall while tractor tires slathered in white house paint create the inside perimeter. In any class, from the four-stroke karts to the full-size midgets, the Rumble’s racers are almost always turning. To be fast, drivers must cut dangerously close to the tires in the corner and wash out right next to the barriers on the straights—not that they are truly “straight,” even then.

“Throttle control, especially when there is no rubber down, plays a huge part,” says racer Nick Hamilton. The second-generation driver knows a thing or two about going fast on the Coliseum’s floor. He won Fort Wayne’s midget feature in 2017 and was eyeing a second title in the 2022 show. His entry, powered by a fuel-injected Yamaha FJ1200, packs a wallop, but it’s all for naught if he’s stuck in behind back markers.

“You have to really be ready for when the car in front of you makes a mistake,” adds Hamilton. Negotiating traffic is key; and only a few laps into the 50-lap affair, the track becomes a conveyor belt. “A little front-bumper persuasion is usually alright but it’s a thin line between rattling someone’s cage and dumping them.”

Hamilton drives a car for Mel and Don Kenyon, midget racing royalty. “Miraculous Mel” started racing back in the mid-’50s and is regarded as perhaps the best to ever belt into a midget. After a 1965 accident at Langhorne Speedway, Mel lost the fingers on his left hand. Brother Don and their father created a special glove that could slip onto a stud on the steering wheel so that the older brother could use his left hand to help steer. After the incident, Mel racked up numerous wins in the pint-sized racers as well as eight starts—and four top-five finishes—in the Indy 500. Each December, Mel and Don field multiple midgets at the Fort Wayne Rumble, usually with Hamilton behind the wheel of one.

It’s a family affair, even for the Hamiltons. Older brother Kyle, a Rumble winner as well, came out of racing retirement to join his brother and the rest of the crew. For Kyle, it’s about the history of the race and the roster of talent involved in the show.

“I’ve been coming here every winter since 2001, when my dad ran. I watched legends like Billy Wease, Dave Darland, Tony Elliot, and Tony Stewart battle every year and dreamed of getting to cut it up with them.”

To win in 2022, the brothers would have to best perennial threat Tony Stewart. The hall-of-fame racer and Indiana-native is an 11-time winner of the Rumble. Stewart drives one of the Munchkins, a short-wheelbase midget built by Fort Wayne fabricator Mike Fedorcak.

According to legend, Stewart bought the unique midget during a booze-soaked Christmas poker game back in 2005, at the height of his NASCAR prominence. Once the deal was made, Stewart entered him and his purchase into the 2005 Rumble, using as the driver name “Mikey Fedorcak,” Fedorcak’s fictitious son from Gnawbone, Indiana.

After ironing out a few wrinkles in the VW engine, the Munchkin ran like a champ and Stewart stole the show. When the unknown driver took off his helmet in victory lane, Fort Wayne’s fans went wild.

Sure, Stewart is an all-time great, but the Munchkins are no slouch. Fedorcak has built a handful of the petite (even by midget standards) open-wheel racers out of his shop some ten miles down the road from the Coliseum. “I wanted to build and design something that made up for my lack of driving talent,” he told the Rumble crew a few years back. The Munchkins are fast—so fast that, back in the day, USAC re-wrote the rules to outlaw Fedorcak’s creation. Now, the ultralight, ultrafast Munchkins have found a home at the Rumble with Stewart, Fedorcak, and a few other drivers.

Regardless of class, quick lap times at the Coliseum hover around the seven-second mark. The laydown karts can be just as quick as the midgets, and the karts don’t even have a roll cage.

“I’ve seen several people get roughed up in the karts over the years,” says sprint car racer Ryan Ruhl. “It feels like being on a tacky bullring, except you’re a few inches off the ground turning 7.5-second laps.” Laying down, the tractor tires suddenly grow larger in the peripherals and the Jersey barriers become the Cliffs of Dover.

The “tack” is created from soda syrup spread over the concrete floors and will yank the shoe off your foot if it’s not tightly tied. “It’s fun, how much grip you get out of a car when the coke syrup starts to work,” says Kyle Hamilton. “You run such a high gear ratio that the acceleration is incredible for a midget in that small of an area. It feels like you are riding a bull.”

At the end of the weekend, it was young Kyle Hamilton who stood in victory lane once again, having survived an action-filled 50-lapper that ended just a couple hours before the clock struck 2023. The final race of the year, in one of the oldest indoor venues—sounds like a dream. By Wednesday, that week, the race track was gone, the dirt replaced by ice and the cars by sweaty, hip-checking hockey players.

“But it wasn’t a dream. It was a place! And you, and you, and you, and you were there!”

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(While researching a Ford GT40 Mk IV that was converted into an open-cockpit racer, I discovered a trove of monochrome shots from a 1966 Can-Am event at Stardust International Raceway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The collection of photographs sent me down a rabbit hole and hoovered most of an afternoon. Enjoy! -Cameron)

Construction equipment clatter is part of the Las Vegas Strip symphony, as high rises are born, refurbished, demolished, and then replaced with even larger hotels, theme parks, and resorts. A new build site on the backside of the casino row promises a different structure—one that is completely novel to a city that’s seen it all. At the corner of Koval and Harmon, a 39-acre plot which once contained a dilapidated nightclub and abandoned parking lot rubble has been cleared to make way for a multi-level Formula 1 paddock.

In November, the F1 circus will invade Sin City, its star racers competing under the halogen glow of a brand-new street course. The scale is hard to grasp. By the time the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend starts, F1 and its parent company Liberty Media will have spent an estimated $500 million. The property at Koval and Harmon alone cost the firm $240 million. Despite experts anticipating the Vegas GP to be the most expensive sporting event to attend in 2023, F1 expects an estimated 100,000 ticketed fans per day throughout race weekend.

The course layout is part of the excitement surrounding the race. A portion of the 14-turn, 3.8-mile track will utilize the Vegas Strip.

While racing on the neon artery is a new endeavor, racing in Las Vegas is not. For decades, Sin City has hosted numerous auto races, from the Formula 1 grand prix in the parking lot of the Caesar’s Palace to the short-lived Stardust International Raceway.

Stardust, named after the Las Vegas resort that funded the effort, was built in 1965 as means of attracting big money and a bright spotlight to the hotel and its hometown. In an area called Spring Valley, just to the west of the Strip, the three-mile 13-turn road course and a front stretch that doubled as a quarter-mile dragstrip hosted United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC), Can-Am, Trans-Am, USAC Indy Cars, and NHRA competition.

As you can imagine, a mecca of speed and sport built on the outskirts of Sin City may also attract some unsavory characters. Its tumultuous beginnings were extensively researched and written about in the 2018 book Stardust International Raceway: Motorsports Meets the Mob in Vegas, 1965-1971.

According to the authors, Stardust was established by a notorious racketeer. Wiretaps, casino skimming, Howard Hughes, and the beginnings of Watergate could all be traced back to the raceway and its operators.

The racing, on the other hand was legendary. International-level road racing talent clashed on the course. Hap Sharp took the first race in a Chaparral. John Cannon and John Surtees won the next year. And in 1967, Mark Donahue swept the Can-Am and Trans-Am races driving for Roger Penske. In 1968, Bobby Unser won in a rare open-wheel race two months before he won his first Indy 500. For five years, giants came to the desert and left with hardware.

This particular set of photos, shot by two greats, Bob D’Olivo and John Ethridge, captures the 1966 Can-Am race at Stardust, and serves as a time machine to the salad days of big-engine American sports car racing. Bowtie power, connecting rods, and primordial aerodynamic devices.

The Can-Am series was just taking off, and while most of the pack resembled muscle-bound versions of 1950s fiberglass road racers, there were hints of what was to come, such as the two white Chaparrals that sported upside down airplane wings seemingly mounted on popsicle sticks.

Out front of the gaggle, John Surtees—a British madman who won in anything with wheels, amassing seven Grand Prix motorcycle racing championships and a Formula 1 championship (1964) driving for Ferrari. Surtees won the ’66 Can-Am meet in Vegas, aboard an open-cockpit Lola T70.

The Can-Am race looks like a regional autocross event compared to a modern F1 race. The track is but a strip of meandering tar over the desert floor and race cars are strewn about the paddock with minimal tents, trailers, or ropes. There are hardly any structures save for a bit of fencing along the front stretch and a Martini & Rossi-sponsored pedestrian bridge.

The track closed in the early 1970s and is long lost to land development. Now, Spring Valley is subdivisions and convenience stores. This November, a few miles to the east of this commercial congestion, the lights will go out on the grid and a new era of Las Vegas racing will begin.

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This red, 427-powered, Gurney-bubble-fitted Le Mans stormer is a real-deal Ford GT40 Mk IV. The paint and bodywork are purely emulative, though; this Ford never saw France at night. No, its history is a bit unique, and some lucky bidder at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction will have the chance to own this car and thus a portion of the lore surrounding America’s most prominent Le Mans endurance racer.

Even though the Ford GT40 Mk II swept Le Man’s podium in 1966, the Blue Oval remained committed to improving upon its venerable mid-engine machine for their next go at the French 24-hour race. Ford engineered its new entry, dubbed the “J-Car,” to be lighter, more powerful, and slipperier through the air. The chassis was formed from lightweight honeycomb-aluminum panels and wore novel, more aerodynamic bodywork.

Testing the new J-Car was critical—and deadly. In August of 1966, two months after he was snubbed Le Mans glory, Ken Miles was killed while shaking down a J-Car at a private test in Riverside.

Ford pushed forward with development of the next-gen racer, eventually maturing into the Ford GT40 Mark IV. In total, 12 chassis were built. Four test mules wore the J-Car bodywork. Four more were fitted with refined bodywork and sent overseas to fight for Le Mans glory. Of the four chassis, J-5 was at the head of its class after 24 hours, with A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney winning first overall. An American team, and American car, with two American badasses behind the wheel—the number-one-sporting red and white livery would be immortalized forever in the annals of sports car racing.

Then, the FIA, Le Mans’ sanctioning body rewrote the rulebook in 1967, after the American’s dominance. The Mk IV was deemed illegal and the final four (J-9 through J-12) were left unfinished.

This is where things get looney. Kar Kraft—the same Michigan-based in-house firm that Ford used for development of the Mk IV—transformed two of the unused J chassis cars into open-cockpit racers. The cars were tested but never saw competition; that is, until they were sold to Agapiou Racing.

Devout Shelby fanatics will recognize this name. Charlie Agapiou was an English-born mechanic who moved to L.A. without prospects and began working for Ken Miles in 1962 while the fellow expatriate was driving a Sunbeam Alpine for Rootes Group. Not long after Miles moved to Shelby American, he recruited to Agapiou to come work for the Texan.

Agapiou worked at Shelby American through the glory years, until he was drafted during the Vietnam era. After a stint in the Army, Charlie and his older brother Kerry started their own road racing team in 1969. They ran pretty successfully with a Lola T70. Then, Ford sold them the Mark IV scraps to the brothers for $1. With the pile, the brothers went off to compete in Can-Am against the likes of Chevy-powered white Chapparals and orange McLarens.

The J-10 chassis was fitted with new bodywork and Boss 429 power. In two years, the open-cockpit racer hosted a hall of fame roster. Peter Revson, Jack Brabham, George Follmer, David Hobbs, and Vic Elford all spent time in the seat, but it was Canadian John Cannon who did most of the driving. After a crash during the 1970 season, J-10 was sent to England where it remained under the Agapiou brother’s ownership until 1989. It was then that the new owners began returning the car to Mark IV spec.

In 1996, the unfinished car traded hands once again. After a four year restoration (see: owner Jim Holden describing his quest for an original spec Boeing 707 wiper motor on a GT40 forum) J-10 finally saw the restoration finish line. Its Mark IV bodywork, which it never wore in period, was even formed by Holman-Moody fabricator Ken Thompson using molds from an original Mk IV. Since J-10 never sported the long tail curves back in the day, it never had a proper livery. Instead, its owners opted for the most recognizable among the 12 Mark IVs: the 1967 Le Mans-winning red and white paint. It debuted to the public at Amelia Island in 2018.

So what can we expect in Kissimmee for this unique GT40 Mark IV? Well, for one, Mecum’s estimate indicates it expects $2M–$2.2M. Large as those numbers are, the average value of a GT40 Mark IV ranges from $3.9M in Fair (#4) condition to $8.1M in Concours (#1) condition. “Even though the estimate is lower than the Hagerty Price Guide value, I think it is appropriate for a GT40 that is lacking so many original parts,” says Hagerty automotive intelligence editor Greg Ingold. “The Can-Am GT40s were highly unsuccessful and the fact that this car has been rebodied back to a coupe isn’t great for its value.”

Sure, J-10 may never have graced the Mulsanne or been doused by Gurney’s champagne spray. But what it lacks in Le Mans provenance it makes up in other history. As with any race car, parts, tires, and bodywork were swapped race-to-race, which means the concept of “originality” is more nebulous than with a road car. When purchasing a desirable vintage racer in the present day, you’re buying a serial number and a story. This car has both.

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Good shoes take you good places. —Seohyun, South Korean pop star

For the next chapter of our safety saga, we turn to the feet. Shopping for driving shoes, however, presents a somewhat complex decision tree. We turned to Chris Emery of The Racers Safety Source and a couple of club racers to help us navigate the process.

Before you even select a type of shoe or determine a price point, you should consider the context in which you’ll use this footwear and how often you plan to wear them. Shoe requirements vary across driving disciplines. Many high-performance driving education (HPDE) events don’t require anything beyond closed-toe shoes.

Some drivers swear by skate shoes—with a wide footprint perfect for heel-toe downshifts—while others prefer the tight bunch and shallow sole of a Euro shoe, like Piloti or Chicane.

Certain groups or sanctioning bodies may require you to wear an SFI-rated shoe. (SFI, like Snell for helmets, is a non-profit organization that certifies safety equipment through constant testing.) If you’re running with the big dogs, you may also see FIA-spec in the shoe requirements. Other sanctioning bodies may use a general statement regarding shoe fire-proofing and certification. For example, the NASA rulebook says:

Shoes made of fire-resistant material or common cowhide leather are required. Shoes must cover the entire foot so that there are no exposed areas of the skin.

Regardless, its best practice to check with your group(s) or event organizer prior to plunking down dough on a fresh set of kicks.

After all, next to your helmet, shoes may be the most important purchase when it comes to safety gear. Driving instructor Alejandro Della Torre refers to feet as the unsung heroes of the sport. “At a track like Waterford Hills—which has 13 corners—I independently touch the pedals two dozen times per lap,” ADT says. “In a twelve-lap race, that’s nearly 300 times. And that doesn’t include modulations on the pedals.”

Indeed, the soles on your feet are an important tool in high-performance driving. Shoe fit largely comes down to personal preference, though, which highlights the importance of trying the shoe on for yourself. According to Emery, the biggest pitfall in the shoe-buying process is an impulse buy. “Drivers will decide they need a new set of shoes and buy them sight unseen,” says Emery. “They’ll go out and buy the most-expensive—or the cheapest—without trying them on.”

Hagerty senior editor and club racer Eddy Eckart agrees: “You want shoes to fit well. If there’s a shop near you that lets you try on those fancy fireproof kicks, take some time to head there instead of ordering online. Once you find a brand that works for you, it’s easy to stick with them.”

When you do try the shoes on, make sure you sit down and stretch your feet as if you were reaching for the pedals. Emery advises sitting against a wall. While sitting, take note of how the shoe fits around the ball, the arch, and the sides, of each foot. Consider tongue thickness, Velcro cross straps, lace location as well.

The overall fit of the shoe should be “comfortably snug,” as Emery puts it. This may require you to go down a half or a full size from your street shoes. For extremely broad or narrow feet, you may want to consider a custom solution—especially if you plan on spending a long time in the car.

A thin, stiff sole will allow you to better gauge pressure on the pedals. Even with a thin sole, though, you should still feel support from your chosen pair. “The amount of intense and sustained braking pressure needed from high-speed straights into low-speed corners—for example turn 5 at Road America—will make your brake foot sore after even a few laps,” says Della Torre.

You should also consider the material of the shoe. Suede and leather present different levels of friction on and around the pedals. Like overall fit, personal preference will be the deciding factor here. Above all, stay away from shoes made with synthetic material; they can melt in the presence of heat.

Once you purchase a pair, consider a couple measures to increase their longevity. First off, try to avoid walking long distances in your new racing kicks. Tread can wear fast, and that includes walking around the paddock. You should also refrain from throwing your shoes in the washer. Molecule makes spray cleaners designed for safety gear, using fluid that doesn’t break down Nomex.

The longer your good shoes last, the further they’ll take you.

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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.

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The new year brings new resolutions, new aspirations, and new goals. If you enjoy photography, you may want to apply this forward-thinking to taking pictures in 2023. What better way to improve your craft than by attempting new shots and techniques the next time you’re at a car show, auto race, or meet-up?

Some of my favorite shots have been premeditated and planned months in advance. From my snowy perch in Northern Michigan, January is an excellent time to create a hit list for the next time I conduct a photoshoot or attend a race.

I’ve compiled an assortment of techniques that I tried to improve last year. As with our previous tutorial, it’s best if you shoot in a manual mode. This will allow you to adjust your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO independently of each other.

Underexposing

This shot is simple yet incredibly counterintuitive. Basically, you’ll want to aim your focus point at your subject vehicle. Rather than exposing for the entire frame, expose for the sky. This means that the metering in your camera will be far below zero (provided your focus point is on the car). In turn, your sky will be the appropriate brightness, while the car will be dark or completely black.

The toughest part of this shot is determining when it will be most effective. You’re using the silhouette or the reflections in the paint to convey the car’s presence. These shots seem to work best when the sun is low, the subject is backlit, and/or when there are minimal distractions on the horizon.

This also works for cars on track. Look for where the sun is reflecting in the pavement. Expose for the hot spot and as cars pass through it, take the shot.

Maybe you forgot to try this while shooting. If you use editing software, like Lightroom, for example, you can decrease the exposure there. You can also boost the silhouette effect by boosting highlights and increasing the shadows.

Flick shot

I’m not sure if this is the official title of this type of shot, but that’s what I call it. (If you have a better name, let me know in the comments.) You’ll want to set your camera up as if you were conducting a long-exposure pan shot. Also, you’ll want to make sure your velocity is set on “single frame.”

For my most successful flick shots, I’ve used a 1/4-second shutter speed and a corresponding aperture. Put some distance between yourself and the subject, regardless of whether the latter is moving or stationary. Press the shutter. As soon as you hear the shutter open, flick your camera away from the vehicle in any direction. This timing is key, and you’ll have to practice to get a clear car. The trails of light, whether it be from chrome hot-spots or white trim, will create cool trails in the shot. Your background will also look quite psychedelic.

Experiment with which way you swing your camera. The direction in which you swing will create light trails in the opposite direction.

Car-to-car

Car-to-car, or “rollers” as the youths call them, are so much fun, but they require multiple people, safety gear, and an open road (a closed road is safest).

The schematics are simple. Hop in the back of a vehicle and secure yourself with a harness. (Home-improvement stores sell construction harnesses that work quite well.) The subject vehicle will trail behind, and you’ll snap away. Once you have this type of shot mastered, you can riff on it by changing your position relative to the subject vehicle. If you’re shooting from a minivan, open the side door and try shooting from there.

Some tips: Make sure your drivers are steady. The best car-to-car shots happen when the camera car and the subject vehicle are traveling at the same speed. Also, slow the shutter. An easy trick is matching the shutter’s denominator to the vehicle speed—30 miles per hour, 1/30 second.

Finally, use a wide-angle lens with the subject car eerily close. Sometimes a telephoto will mute the sense of speed. I prefer to use a 24–105mm lens with stabilization.

Wide angle

On that note, 2022 was the year I really fell in love with the wide-angle lens—particularly 16-35mm. I used it frequently for pans and static shots. Once you use a wide angle long enough, you’ll start to see how you can accentuate the car’s lines or emphasize the background with perspective. Be careful not to exaggerate the wrong thing. When shooting portraits, for example, stay away from the really wide stuff unless you want your subjects asking, “Do I really look like that?”

Take this shot of the Porsche Cup car. I really wanted to highlight the lofty wing, so I shot wide and placed the foremost corner of the wing in the center of the frame. Then, I cropped in so that the vanishing-point perspective travels from the tip of the wing to the sun-drenched horizon.

Don’t sleep on using wide-angle lenses to pan, either. Light trails will bend based on the curvature of the lens.

Edit more

We have the technology. Why not use it? I always run my images through editing software. Lightroom Classic is my go-to. Lighter applications such as Snapseed work quite well in a pinch.

Familiarizing yourself with editing photos will allow you to accentuate, downplay, or repair certain elements in your photo. I can’t tell you the number of times I “saved” a nearly unusable photo in Lightroom. Also, YouTube has numerous tutorials on the tools inside editing software. Be careful of getting too heavy-handed in your edits. Tools like “clarity” and “saturation” should be used in moderation. Then again, go wild; let that freak flag fly.

In 2022, I sought to improve my black-and-white shots, specifically by forcing myself to maximize the filter’s effect. Think of monochrome filters as an opportunity to reduce the clutter of color in your photo so that the viewer can focus on a form, light, or texture.

Do any of these tactics sound appealing? Do you have any photography techniques on your to-do list? Let me know in the comments below.

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From wall rides to slide jobs and last-lap passes, professional motorsports in 2022 served up a wealth of late-race drama. As 2023 approaches, we count down the top ten finishes from the action-packed season in the rearview mirror.

10. Final four battle in Phoenix — NASCAR Truck Series

This year’s season Truck Series finale in Phoenix was likely what NASCAR executives envisioned when they first unveiled the elimination-style playoff format in 2014. Throughout the season, drivers race for points and wins to seed amid a group of championship-eligible contenders. The playoffs begin at a certain point in the second half of the season, and drivers are eliminated from contention in a cutoff after three races. After a few rounds of cutoffs, four drivers remain to vie for the championship in a highest-finisher-take-all finale.

Unlike ball-sport playoffs, the eliminated drivers—along with the rest of the field—still race. Sometimes they can even spoil the party for contenders or influence the outcome in more subtle fashion.

This year in the NASCAR Truck Series, however, there were no little fish to spoil the prevailing currents. The final four championship hopefuls were the top four trucks from the closing laps at Phoenix. Witness the fender-banging, spinning, and victory snatched by the narrowest of margins.

9. Tomac’s beach blast — Supercross

Heading into Daytona, Eli Tomac was tied with Ricky Carmichael for number of wins at the outdoor course, with five. In the closing minutes of the moto, Tomac chose the correct line through a rhythm jump section. A lapped bike slowed first-place Cooper Webb, and Tomac snuck around the outside, securing a historic sixth win at the crown jewel race.

8. Third-to-first for Gragson — NASCAR Xfinity Series

Darlington, one of NASCAR’s oldest and most historic tracks, always serves up intense finishes. Maybe it’s the rapid tire degradation over the porous South Carolina pavement, maybe it’s that the preferred racing line is right against the wall, or just maybe it’s the allure of taming the track known as the “Lady in Black.” This summer, all three ingredients combined to create one of the most epic recipes for a NASCAR Xfinity Series finish.

While Kyle Larson and Sheldon Creed swap body blows, Gragson slips past the two frontrunners.

7. Last lap slide job — USAC Midgets

Midget racing is on the rise. Short races, high excitement—it’s motorsport’s version of TikTok.

In midget racing, a “slide job” is a fundamental maneuver. Basically, a driver takes an aggressive low entry into the corner and washes up in front of another car to complete a pass. At Jefferson County Speedway, in Nebraska, a late-race flurry of slide jobs break out and ends with the front two drivers hooking one another, allowing the third place race to scoot to victory.

6. Punt and politic — Supercars Championship

Shane Van Ginsberg held a narrow lead over De Pasquale during the lap of Supercars’ Round 20 at Townsville. As the two approached the final corner, De Pasquale performed a last-ditch dive bomb and spun Van Ginsberg.

The punt wasn’t not even the most dramatic part. De Pasquale, realizing that stewards would likely penalize him for the reckless move, slows to give Van Ginsberg the spot. The wily veteran that he is, Van Ginsberg slows so that his rival can’t give up the position. Since he was unable to surrender the position, officials had to dole out a time penalty to the punter. Still, the duo were so far out in front of the third place driver, that after the five-second penalty, it was still Van Ginsberg and De Pasquale one-two in the running order.

5. Dixon’s dramatic drive — IndyCar

Over a third of the way into the Nashville Grand Prix, veteran Scott Dixon was in dead last in a damaged car. It looked as though the Iceman would have to wait another weekend to tie Mario Andretti in the win career win column with 53 (second all-time).

An ensuing drive for the ages mounted, with Dixon willing his wounded car to the front of the pack. Fifty-one laps later, Dixon was in victory lane, after surviving a late-race restart and subsequent challenge from Scott McLaughlin. “Kudos to the team,” Dixon said in a post-race interview. “We had a big crash there that took half the floor off the car. We had to take four turns of front wing out, so we had no grip. Nashville is so awesome.” And so was win number 53.

4. Rip the top — World of Outlaws Sprint Cars

$100,000 is a lot of money. It’s also the type of purse that can really help the bottom line of a sprint car team trying to string together a World of Outlaws championship as the crew ping-pongs from coast to coast.

Huset’s Speedway in Brandon South Dakota set the dirt racing world on its ear when it announced that its biggest race of the season would pay $100,000 to the winner. Late in the race, second-generation sprint car racer Sheldon Haudenschild went where the rest of the field wasn’t, locating a thin strip of tacky clay near the top of the 3/8-mile dirt oval.

In the final five laps, it looked like Haudenschild had another gear as he surged from fifth to first, passing the final two cars in one corner.

3. Ride the Miata Train — Mazda MX-5 Cup

If you ever attend an IMSA sports car race, make sure you arrive early in the weekend. Often the best—and closest—racing takes place in supports series. Mazda MX-5 Cup, for instance, delivers on drama, weekend after weekend. Since the cars are so similar in this spec series, drivers—often young and still sharpening their race craft—are forced to make bold moves. Oh, and they draft.

Even at a track like Road Atlanta, the effects of the draft are noticeable. (Shake and bake!) Of the intense Miata finishes this season, the season finale at the Georgia track arguably shines the brightest as the battle for the overall points championship is added into this volatile buzz-bombing cocktail.

2. Duel in the desert — Formula 1

Formula 1’s new car arrived at the beginning of 2022. For the first time since the 1980s, ground effects became a staple of the novel platform’s design. Two large channels running front-to-back under the car sucked the car to the ground. It was the series’ hope that the trailing vehicles would be less upset by turbulent wake behind the front runner, and therefore racing would be tighter.

This ability to run closer to one another was showcased in the season’s second round at the Saudi Arabia GP. Eventual winner Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc swapped the lead multiple times in the closing laps before finishing less than a second apart.

1. Ross Chastain’s wall ride — NASCAR Cup Series

Hands down, the most insane finish of the season was Ross Chastain’s wall ride at Martinsville. Needing two positions on track in order to transfer into the final round of NASCAR’s elimination style playoffs, Chastain exited the second turn of the paper-clip-shaped oval, grabbed fifth gear, and kept his foot to the floorboard. By positioning his car close to the wall on the entry of the third turn, he surfed the retaining wall, executing a move borrowed from racing video games.

When the smoke and debris cleared, Chastain passed five cars, set a new stock car lap record at Martinsville, and set social media into a tizzy. Memes were made and T-shirts were printed.

The move incited debates about whether NASCAR should police against future wall rides, not to mention if it could be successfully conducted at other speedways. The verdict is still out. We do know that this will go down as one of the most remembered passes in NASCAR history, if not the most outright.

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Since the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916, racers and teams have charged up the craggy Colorado mountainside, through switchbacks and undulating sweepers, on everything from motorcycles to semis.  Prior to the paved road, gentlemen drivers, and electrified record breakers we know today, Pikes Peak Hill Climb was a dirt and gravel gauntlet that only the most-hardened racers dare to conquer.

Don’t get it twisted, the 12-mile, 156-turn climb is still plenty dangerous in the present day, with steep cliffs and a 4700-foot elevation gain from start to finish. Back in the day, though, the race possessed a certain level of grit and innovation unseen in today’s contest. The intersection of these values is highly prevalent in monochrome photos captured in the 1960s. America’s open-wheel and road-racing champs pitched sedans, sprint cars, and sports cars up the winding dirt road with reckless abandon.

Of the thousands of entrants over the years, this Jaguar D-Type (shown above) driven by Billy Krause has to be one of the coolest.

Krause was one such old-school renegade racers. He could also be considered the Forrest Gump of motorsports, rubbing shoulders with auto racing’s giants throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Yet he is relatively unknown as a racer compared to contemporaries like Carroll Shelby, Dan Gurney, and Mickey Thompson.

Legend has it that his family thought open-wheel dirt track racing was too dangerous. Despite winning a midget championship in 1955, Krause made the transition to professional road racing when his father bought him a $10,000 3.4-liter Jaguar D-Type—the rig supposedly once ran at Le Mans.

A native of California, and nicknamed the Compton Comet, Krause campaigned his D-Type throughout the Golden State. In 1958, he finished third in the Riverside Times Grand Prix, behind Chuck Daigh’s Scarab and Gurney’s Ferrari. At Laguna Seca, he shared a grid with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and Jim Hall.

Over the next few years, he became a known commodity in the professional sports car ranks, earning rides in a Maserati Birdcage, a Lotus 19, and Max Balchowsky’s “Old Yeller.” Krause was one of the first Shelby Cobra racers before defecting to the Bowtie to drive a Corvette for Chevrolet at Daytona.

Meanwhile, a 327-cubic-inch small-block Chevy found its way into the Jaguar’s engine bay. With the Corvette power, Krause raced the D-Type up Pikes Peak in 1960 and 1961, earning a personal best of 14 minutes and 49 seconds (and a second in class, in both outings).

After driving a few other famous cars, such as a Lotus 30 and a Lola T70, Krause retired from racing to maintain a Honda dealership. Still, his legacy lives on in the record books and in this black-and-white photo of the dirt-tracker turner road-racer willing his Chevy-powered Jag up Pikes Peak.

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Plenty of race-track corners have earned nicknames for their complexity or pucker factor. But Thunder Road’s “Widowmaker” isn’t even a corner—it’s a retaining wall.

The front-stretch barrier at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont, is an ominous slab of slanted concrete slathered in green and yellow house paint. Back in the early 1970s, while racing at the paved oval, East Coast hotshoe Rene Charland smacked the wall in his Chevelle stocker. A photographer caught the scene: Four-time NASCAR Sportsman Series champion, vaulted into the air.

“They call it the Widowmaker for a reason,” says Flo Racing correspondent Matthew Dillner. “I’ve seen a few people get bit by it even in the times that I’ve gone.”

It’s a recipe for disaster. The racing groove narrows on the exit of turn four, forcing drivers to either give quarter or flirt with the Widowmaker.

The ominous wall is just part of the formula that sets this Vermont quarter-mile oval apart from the numerous short tracks dotting the American countryside. Broadcaster and NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Ken Squire founded the track in 1960 with support from a local paving contractor. Squire chose to run races on Thursday night rather than on Saturday—a tradition that remains today—because Thursday was when the day workers from the local quarry got their paychecks.

Since then, the track has become a staple for Northeast short-track ringers. Plenty of national-level talents circle the light poles every Thursday night, too, but Thunder Road’s distance from NASCAR’s primetime stage in the American Southeast hides many local drivers from the spotlight. Vermont may not be considered a racing hotbed, but the level of competition and the car count here are exceptional.

Even Vermont’s current Governor Phil Scott gets in on the action. Prior to serving as Vermont’s face, Scott won the 1996 and 1998 Thunder Road late-model championships. And he’s a two-time winner of the track’s most illustrious race: the Milk Bowl.

Named after Vermont’s dairy industry—which produces 2.7 billion gallons of milk annually—the historic race celebrated its 60th running in 2022.

Squire, the man who started it all, is no longer the owner but is still a mainstay at the track, belting his legendarily verbose lines from the press box. “It’s like magic to hear a voice that you grew up listening to at Daytona or Talladega calling a late-model race tucked in the mountains of Vermont,” says Dillner.

From its origin story to its color scheme, “There’s nothing typical about Thunder Road,” Dillner says. Even the spectators have an unusual experience: In the photo, behind Charland’s airborne Chevelle, you’ll spot a grassy knoll. Known as Bud Hill, the hillside offers spectators a unique vantage point from an unconventional perch—but bring a trowel. Dillner said that, on his first visit, he had to borrow another fan’s scoop to dig into the hillside and level his camping chair.

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Shopping for clothes can be an overwhelming affair. Imagine going to the mall and picking out an outfit in which each article of clothing not only influences your style but could save your life.

Such are the stakes when shopping for motorsports safety gear. Throw into the mix acronyms, model names, and safety certifications, and a newcomer has every reason to throw up their hands.

To help demystify the gear-buying process, we’ve assembled a series on safety equipment for beginners, with help from industry expert Chris Emery of The Racers Safety Source.

“We believe in educating the driver to help them make the decision for their budget,” says Emery. “I’m not just here to sell someone the most expensive thing, because that might not be the best fit.”

This series will walk you through the basics for each piece, from helmets to shoes.

Let’s start with your head.

Part 1: Helmets

Before you make any helmet purchase, you should first check to make sure the model is Snell-certified. Named after racer Pete Snell, who lost his life in a 1956 SCCA race, the not-for-profit Snell Foundation develops and certifies helmet-safety standards. The organization tests over 3000 different helmets for disciplines ranging from horseback riding to car racing.

On the motorsports side of things, Snell Standards are updated every five years. You will want to look for a sticker that says “SA” or “Snell,” followed by the year in increments of five. SA2020 (or Snell2020), as of this writing, is the most recent certification year. In 2025, certified helmets will have an SA2025 sticker.

“You need to identify where and how you’ll use your helmet to determine the required rating,” says Emery. “SCCA, NASA, other driving clubs, and track-day groups traditionally require that the helmet is at least within 10 years of the current standard.”

Karters, you will want to look for a “K2020.” Fire protection is the biggest difference between karting and car-racing helmets. You can use an SA2020 for karting, but don’t ever use an K2020 in your car.

“I’ve seen people do something similar when they rush out and buy motorcycle helmets for high-performance driving at a track day or high-performance driver education [HPDE] course,” says Emery. “Car helmets are rated for impact and fire protection; motorcycle helmets are not.”

The next thing to examine is fit.

Like shoe companies, each helmet manufacturer tends to have a trademark fit. Stilo and Arai, for example, favor heads that are more oval-shaped due to the shape of their liner (the layer within the hard shell). Bell and Impact models tend to sit on the crown of the head, with rounder liners.

Of course, fit will vary within a single manufacturer’s range, and the differences between models can be minimized by swapping out different pads with varying thickness.

Higher-end helmets typically fit better. When building lower-quality models, a manufacturer may only send a couple shells to be certified by Snell, accommodating small to extra-large sizes by changing only the thickness of the padding inside the approved shell. On the flip side, a company like Arai will, most often, submit a shell to become certified with a correlating liner and matching pads.

When shopping, you’ll also want to be mindful of weight. Budget helmets tend to be heavier; lighter-weight materials, like carbon-fiber, push you further up the price bracket. Additional weight from more affordable composites could cause fatigue.

“If you don’t often go out and race, you might be lacking neck muscles or a strong core,” says Emery. “Even the g-forces from your street car on track will strain your neck.”

You’ll also want to consider the size of your helmet’s eye ports. Helmets like the Bell HP77 and the Arai GP7 are traditionally used by open-cockpit racers because they have smaller eye ports. Helmets like the Bell M8 and the Arai GP5W have larger eye ports for better visibility.

Helmets don’t last forever. That said, if you take care of them, they can last years. “It really depends how often you’re using it. Sweat and oils will breakdown pads or just make them stink,” says Emery. “If you can get three to five years out of your helmet, you’re doing a good job.”

Within that time, there will be another Snell certification year. Hello, SA2025.

Check out the selection of helmets at The Racers Safety Source.

Join us next time as we discuss driving suits.

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The post Safety gear for racing beginners: Helmets appeared first on Hagerty Media.

At its heart, off-road racing is a family sport. The Wilson Motorsports family, for example, has competed in the Baja 1000 over multiple generations for 25 years. Three brothers—Ronnie, Ricky and Randy—along with their sons, in-laws, and grandkids, campaign two Class 1 buggies and have multiple podium finishes and wins in the historic endurance race.

Every November, off-road families and teams flock to the Baja California Peninsula. For this year’s Baja 1000, Wilson Motorsports brought down 78 family members and friends-of-family members, 18 chase vehicles, a motorhome, and two pre-runner trucks. The team rented out an entire hotel in Ensenada and provided food and gas for everyone helping them out. The cost: about $150,000.

If you want to race the Baja 1000, you need a few things. Of course, you’ll need a well-prepped car that can survive the grueling hours of whoops, rocks, sand, and silt. You’ll also need people to run chase for you. “Chase” is a bit of a misnomer, because teams aren’t following race cars directly on the course. Instead, they travel the highways and access the course from various dirt roads branching off the main roads. The chase truck needs to access the course, set up a mobile pit, service the car, pack it all up, and then chase the off-roader to the next designated pit location.

You’ll always need chase trucks and a pit crew in Baja, which is why large families like the Wilsons can make it work. What about competitors who don’t roll as deep as Wilson? What are we supposed to do?

Fortunately, there’s a way to get supplemental pit support on a relative shoestring. In fact, you can rent a whole fleet of professional pit folks, complete with fabrication abilities. Total cost: $500. All you have to do is run BFGoodrich tires.

Think of this group as your rent-a-family.

BFG’s history in Baja is a long one. The company started a race program in 1976 to test its tires and expanded to this rental pit program in 1980. Since then, BFG has become the winningest tire manufacturer in Baja with 100 wins, many on the 40-inch T/A KR3 tires worn by the unlimited Trophy Trucks but also on the 37-inch T/A KDR3 and 35-inch T/A KR3 race tires for limited classes. Some teams even run their street-legal T/A KM3 mud terrain or T/A KO2 tires. Regardless of elected tire, the BFGs have a stout sidewall and plenty of tooth for the clay, gravel, and silt.

Putting BFGoodrich to work

This year’s Baja 1000 was a loop race, starting and finishing in Ensenada. Five full BFGoodrich pits were scattered throughout the course—the closest stops were still some 150 miles apart. Each pit is staffed with about 20 knowledgeable folks, usually racers themselves. There is a medic, a fabrication guru, and Spanish-speaking members on hand to communicate with the local racers. There are hand tools, cordless impact guns, all the fluids you could possibly need, pneumatic jacks and jack stands, welding equipment both MIG and TIG, a plasma cutter, a chop saw … the list goes on. If these guys can’t fix it, you’ve probably burned your car to the ground.

Before the race, teams transport their fuel and tires to the pits they want to utilize. Fuel is usually delivered in 11-gallon dump cans labeled with team names. If five cans at $130 each is too pricey, BFG has some dump cans on site for you.

During the race, when drivers are five miles or so away from a BFG pit, they call into a main radio channel (more on that in a minute) to warn of their approach and advise the services needed. The pit boss advises Lane 1 or Lane 2, so drivers know where to park.

Back in the pits, the energy is palpable. A fueler suits up with gloves, apron, and helmet while the rest of the crew stages the tires and jacks. Crew members have a pit book that lists where the fuel inlet is located, the fuel type required, and lug nut size.

As the vehicle stops, the work starts. BFG performs a visual inspection and asks the driver(s) if there is anything specific they need to check. Water is given to driver and co-driver. There may even be a driver swap between the two occupants.

On average, it takes three minutes from start-to-finish for fuel and tires. Not F1 fast, sure, but pretty darn quick for chunky off-road tires, a makeshift pit, and occasionally in the dead of night. Of course, if something is wrong the car, it will take much longer. One time, BFG swapped out a clutch for me. That took much longer than three minutes, but it kept my team in the race.

BFG Relay: A friendly voice on the radio

BFG also provides two radio channels for communications: BFG Main and BFG Relay. The relay stations are set at points around the race course that transmit information about racers’ location. Folks running with the crew can call this channel to report emergencies or ask about their car’s location. While mobile internet like Starlink have improved Baja communication, it still can be hard for teams to know exactly where their car is running. Out in the middle of nowhere, it’s great to have BFG Relay on your side.

However, there is still one piece of the puzzle missing. How do teams locate the access roads off the highway? BFG-supplied pit books have detailed maps, coordinates, and driving directions to every access point on the race course. To access the course at race mile 613.15 this year, for example, the pit book provides clear instructions using Baja Highway 1’s kilometer markings. Chase trucks turn west at kilometer 127 onto a dirt road and zero out their odometer. Then there are precise driving directions, based on the odometer reading, that guide chase trucks to the course intersection. Teams can get the information on a GPS file as well. This is invaluable information for a newbie team and worth the price of admission alone.

The price of admission

It costs a lot to have the best, and so BF Goodrich tires are not the cheapest option. Race tread can cost anywhere from $600 to $800 per tire (cheaper racer pricing is available for competitors). Even the DOT tires can be pricey, with the KM3s running from $230 to about $750 depending on size, and the KO2s from $200 to $675.

You also run the risk of having to wait in line at a BFG pit. Pit boss Frankie Broughman says cars are usually at least two minutes apart, so waiting typically isn’t a problem. This year, Broughman’s pit was relatively quiet, performing mostly refueling and tire changes. Though, the crew did replace an A-arm and welded a light bar to a car.

There are other pit services you can hire. Mag7 and Baja Pits offer up sites every 50–60 miles, but they are more expensive. These services, though, can support motorcycles and quads in addition to full-size off-roaders.

If you’d like to race in the Baja 1000, I recommend finding a team that will let you volunteer as a crew member. You’ll better understand the organization and logistics it takes to get a race team off the ground. You can find teams on Facebook, Instagram or on forums.

After you get your feet wet with a team, buy—or build—a car and find a small, local race. A limited car will teach you how to drive and keep it all together in the harshest conditions. Class 1600 or Class 11 is a good start for those who like air-cooled Volkswagens. Side-by-sides are also a good choice. If you’ve always wanted to race a truck, class 7S is for smaller stock vehicles—think Toyota 4Runner or Chevrolet ZR2. The Stock Full class is for full-size trucks. (For more information on race classes, check out the SCORE rule book.)

BFGoodrich provides pit service for every SCORE-sanctioned race in Baja. The San Felipe 250 is usually held in the spring, the Baja 500 is in June, and the Baja 400 is in September.

You’ll always need people, and money, to successfully conquer Baja, but for those who don’t have a troop like Wilson Motorsports, BFGoodrich is there with its rental family. And you don’t even have to visit them for the holidays.

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The post How to race in the Baja 1000 on the cheap appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If the best time to buy a winter coat is in the summer, perhaps, the best time to purchase a race car is during the winter. Regardless of whether this logic follows, we visited the Hagerty marketplace to see what they had in the way of go-fast rigs and compiled a list of drag strip racers (and one bonus car) for you to peruse.

After all, race cars—like chocolate cake or a good book—never go out of style. (I realize that I may be biased.)

1965 Plymouth Satellite

Drag racing fanatics are sure to recognize the words “Color Me Gone” painted on the doors of this 1965 Plymouth Satellite. Back in 1960s and ’70s, Michigan drag racer Roger Lindamood was a venerable threat on the quarter-mile in a similar Satellite.

Prior to making the leap to full time racer, Lindamood was a transmission specialist for Chrysler. According to drag racing historian Phil Burgess, Linadmood was influential in helping another Detroit-area Mopar team, the Ramchargers, switch from manual transmissions to automatics. Thus, the tribute Satellite for sale, here, has a 727 Torqueflite automatic. The gearbox is mated to a 528-cubic-inch Hemi built by Godfather Racing.

A full roll cage, Mikey Thompson race slicks, and a removable Ram Air hood complete the strip-ready appearance. Though, it’s not just for show. Lindamood’s son raced this car professionally as recently as 2012, and the car comes equipped with a B&M ratchet shifter and Hurst line lock (for supremely smokey burnouts).

Should you wish to transform the Satellite back to a more reserved appearance, all glass and all trim are included in the sale. But why would you? Instead, take it to a local strip and say “Color me gone.”

1993 Dodge Dakota

If you’ve ever wanted a 12-second drag car, this truck might be an excellent place to start. Built for NHRA Stock Eliminator competition, this Dodge Dakota features a dragstrip-ready 318-cubic-inch V8. “I never thought a 318 would have the potential that this Dakota has displayed,” says the seller who has owned the Flame Red pickup since 2004. Since then, they’ve taken the truck down the strip eight to ten times. Front discs help bring the whole show to a stop.

For $21,500, you can own the Dakota with its current 904 Torqueflite automatic transmission. In addition to the pickup, the seller is also selling a new lightweight 904—which, by their estimations, will propel the rig to 12.30-second elapsed times. Regardless of where the truck lands on the time sheets, these 1990s minitrucks look like a hoot at the strip.

1957 Chevrolet 150

The Dakota seller seems to have the market cornered on streetable race cars. Listed from the same stable, this 1957 delivery wagon is powered by a “fresh” 355-cubic-inch small block Chevy. Its seller is in the process of transforming a cruiser into a drag racing Junior Stock competitor, a tribute to their father who started racing in 1964. A Muncie four-speed, Hedman headers, and Cragar SS wheels help round out the image of this American Graffiti-era wagon. It also comes with a barrel of aftermarket parts—some installed, some outside the car—such as CalTrac tractions bars, tubular A-arms, Calvert shocks, and a chambered exhaust to be hung this week.

According to the seller, this Arizona car is rock solid. Should you have the dough, this card-carrying member of the Bowtie brigade would make a perfect stoplight thumper befit for Woodward and retro drag racing alike.

1965 Ford Mustang Pace Car

This is not a race car, nor is it complete. It is worth mentioning for our pace car collectors out there. This 1965 Mustang is in the middle of a full subframe-off restoration, and the seller wants you to take over the project. According to the listing, the bodywork is almost complete, and, from the pictures, we can see the pony taking shape on shop stands.

Of the 180 Mustang pace cars produced this year, only 66 are registered. Should restoration see completion by the next owner, it’s sure to lead the pack at any car show or race track.

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The post These 3 drag racers are ready for the strip appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Imagine Lewis Hamilton instructing rival Red Bull to build a car for the Indianapolis 500, and then introducing the team to a new engine supplier. While this may be unthinkable today, just over 60 years ago, this exact scenario played out with Dan Gurney and Lotus.

American racer Dan Gurney had never driven in the United States’ richest—and most famous—race, the Indianapolis 500. In 1962, he decided to join the Indy crowd.

In his Brickyard debut, Gurney drove for fellow American dynamo Mickey Thompson in the Harvey Aluminum Special. The bloated, rear-engine roadster ran a production-based Buick V-8, unlike most of its Offenhauser competitors. It was underpowered but Gurney still qualified an impressive eighth.

Days later, Lotus boss Colin Chapman unveiled his Lotus 25 at the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix. Gurney, having made the flight across the Atlantic, was driving for Porsche. Chapman’s revolutionary, slim design caught the eye of many people in the paddock, Gurney included.

The Lotus 25, which Chapman had initially sketched out on a napkin, was the first-ever Formula 1 car to use a monocoque chassis. Since the car was constructed from a box, which looks like a metal canoe, it was more rigid and nearly three times lighter than Chapman’s previous F1 design. After he witnessed the car compete, Gurney reportedly told Chapman: “My god, if someone took a car like this to Indianapolis, they could win [the race] with it.”

After the Dutch race, Gurney contacted the Lotus boss and asked if he’d like to attend the 500 as a spectator. The American even payed for Chapman’s airfare. (Fun fact: Apparently Chapman was so hesitant to go that he postponed making a decision until the ticket actually arrived.) Gurney retired from the 1962 race with engine trouble.

The blown motor didn’t matter. Gurney had succeeded in stoking the English engineer’s interest. Chapman’s biographer Gerard Crombac recalled: “I well remember after his return, when he described the old-fashioned, front-engined ‘roadsters’ he had seen, he was laughing his head off.” In Chapman’s eyes, Indy was in the technical dark ages compared to F1. The field, which was composed primarily of primitive, front-engine roadsters, was ripe for the taking.

Chapman was also notorious for following the dollar. During his stateside field trip, he noticed the substantial purse awarded to Indy 500 competitors. The 1962 winner earned $125,000 (adjusting for inflation, that’s about $1.16 million in today’s dollars). The cash was more than Team Lotus would earn in an entire grand prix season.

If Chapman ever wanted to win Indy’s big money, he would someone to sponsor the Lotus effort.

As luck would have it, Ford executives Don Frey and Dave Evans were at Indy in ’62. The duo reasoned that competing in, and ideally winning at, the legendary 500 could be a game-changer for the Blue Oval. Ford’s C-suite knew all about Gurney, too. They were impressed by his showing in their Galaxie stockers at the Daytona 500.

The stars were aligning for Gurney and new convert Chapman.

After the British Grand Prix, which was won by Jim Clark in a Lotus, Chapman and Gurney flew to Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. The Englishman came across as arrogant and dismissive of the peculiarities and traditions of Indy.

The famously diplomatic Gurney got Ford back on side with his pitch. Ford was already developing a lightweight, alloy version of the Fairlane’s V-8 engine for Indy. The group devised a plan to use the engine in the new Lotus cars, with red-blooded Gurney behind the wheel.

Gurney and Chapman left Ford’s Dearborn office with an agreement from the firm to supply engines and pay for the 1963 project. They brought in Jim Clark as the other driver.

While Chapman might have had his eyes on the Indy winnings, Gurney was primed to make some dough before the newly formed team ever took to the grid, reportedly earning $180,000 ($1.65M in 2022) on the brokerage.

After some serious development, Ford was able to pull 365 horsepower out of the V-8 on race fuel.  The methanol-burning Offy engines were producing north of 400 ponies, but the Ford required two fewer fuelings during the race.

Lotus, meanwhile, set to work refining the Lotus 25 for its two star drivers. Compared to the F1 car, the newly minted Lotus 29 was heavier. It also had asymmetric suspension links for the 2.5-mile track’s four left turns; the 25s were symmetrical. In one of its first practice sessions, with Gurney at the wheel, the Lotus 29 set the second-fastest lap ever turned at Indy.

Dwarfed by the monster, front-engine roadsters, the two Lotus cars backed up their pre-season speed in qualifying for the 1963 Indy 500. Clark lined up seventh, with Gurney 17th.

In the race, Gurney finished seventh and Clark came home second. Many felt the foreign Lotus was robbed of the win after American hero and eventual winner Parnelli Jones escaped punishment leaking oil in the closing stages. Nonetheless, second was still worth $100,000 ($917,000 in 2022).

It was a remarkable debut for Chapman, Lotus, and Ford. “When you were part of his team you quickly came to realize this was a guy working at redefining the cutting edge of racing technology. That was a real motivating factor,” Gurney once told journalist Alan Henry.

Despite the apparent success, Gurney felt uncomfortable being linked to the project. Many within the Indy community resented Ford for pumping dollars into a team with roots outside of America. Results weren’t kind to Gurney either. His Lotus was withdrawn from the 1964 Indy 500 because of trouble with its Dunlop tires. And in 1965, while Clark had his Indy breakthrough in the Lotus, Gurney’s engine broke after 100 miles.

Automotive historian Leo Levine recalled: “Gurney, the man who was the catalyst in the program, was also the man who got the short end.”

It wasn’t all bad for the Big Eagle. Gurney used the winnings from his Indy stints to establish his fledgling All American Racers team, which would become one of the perennial powerhouses at the Brickyard.

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The post How Lotus invaded Indy with the help of Dan Gurney appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Drive along I-64, through West Virginia, and you can’t miss the sign for Nitro. I’ve always wanted to stop in this city of 6500, enticed by the name alone. Earlier this fall, while returning from Tennessee aboard a Mazda CX-9, I finally made that right turn onto the mountain community’s main drag.

At the onset of the United States’ involvement in WWI, the government began searching for a place in which to build a gunpowder plant. Considering such factors as coastal vulnerability to foreign attack and proximity to railways, Uncle Sam selected a nugget of land 12 miles west of Charleston to serve as one three such ordnance manufacturing towns. Roads, houses, and the all-important gunpowder factory were erected in fewer than ten months.

After contemplating “Redwop” (gunpower spelled backwards) as its name, The Ordnance Department settled on Nitro. In 1918, construction reached such a fervent pace that multiple streets and buildings seemingly sprang up overnight. Nitro was booming.

At its peak, Nitro’s factories could produce 350 tons of gunpowder per day and population had surged to nearly 24,000. The salad days were short-lived. Less than two weeks after WWI concluded in November of 1918, nearly 12,000 Nitro residents had scattered, abandoning the industry town.

Mazda, like Nitro, was born out of industry. Prior to its legacy of rotary engines and sporty chassis dynamics, Mazda was a cork manufacturing company that sourced the porous material from an abundance of trees in Hiroshima, Japan.

Cork and rotary sports cars are in the past, now, and Mazda makes its greenbacks mostly by moving crossovers like the compact CX-5 and new CX-50. But even in such tall-riding family haulers, including the three-row CX-9, the company has a knack for imbuing even ordinary driving with verve and fluidity. These are, after all, the same people that make the Miata.

Specs: 2022 Mazda CX-9 Signature AWD

• Price: $47,210/$48,830 (base/as-tested)
• Powertrain: 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-4; six-speed automatic
• Horsepower: 250 hp
• Torque: 320 lb-ft
• Layout:  all-wheel-drive four-door, six-passenger SUV
• Weight: 4400 lbs
• EPA-Rated Fuel Economy: 20/26/23 mpg (city/hwy/combined)
• 0-60 mph: 7.0 seconds
• Competitors: Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Jeep Grand Cherokee L.

Debuting for the 2007 model year, the CX-9 marked the largest vehicle Mazda had ever brought to market, timed to meet a surging demand for high-riding family haulers. Now well into its second generation—which debuted for 2016—the CX-9 remains the biggest beast in Mazda’s fleet. For context, a Chevrolet Tahoe still has five more inches between the wheels, and the CX-9’s interior runs a bit more cramped than rival unibody three-rowers like the Kia Telluride.

Mazda’s Skayctiv-G 2.5 Turbo engine launched with the original CX-9 seven years ago, as did the top-tier Signature trim. Our Snowflake White Pearl tester was equipped with both. Also equipped on our rig—and new for 2022’s CX-9—is the i-Active all-wheel drive. If you’re not familiar with the marque’s trademark system, it uses sensors throughout the vehicle to determine where to send torque. Simply put, i-Active can do things like sense if your wipers are on and adjust accordingly to the expected wet conditions.

Still adding improvements this late in the lifecycle is a matter of necessity, South Korean newcomers like the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade are genuinely fully formed expressions of utility, luxury, and value. They pack more horsepower, too, with V-6 engines that produce 291 horsepower to the 250-horse four-cylinder in the CX-9, with similar fuel efficiency.

Mazda’s turbo-four and six-speed automatic drivetrain isn’t as smooth from a stoplight in the CX-9 as it is in the smaller Mazda3 Turbo and CX-5 Turbo, especially under heavy acceleration. Once on the move however, delivers a Goldilocks amount of pep to maintain momentum at low revs. The aforementioned all-wheel drive is sure-footed and the brakes feel up to task of slowing the 4400-pound SUV.

Most family crossovers differ from one another to the extent that name-brand toothpaste does—slightly different flavors of the same fundamental product. But if the CX-9 has a unique selling point, it’s how it handles its size. The Mazda confidently negotiates congested city driving and can be at times even entertaining on country roads. Expressway lane changes are sharp and well-controlled, but be sure to deactivate the electronic nannies lest even minor lane wandering prompt “coffee break” reminders between the cluster gauges.

Chassis tuning has always been a Mazda strength, but the brand’s recent ambitions to carve out a niche in a more premium price point really began with the 2016 CX-9. That was a while ago, but even in 2022 the CX-9’s interior impresses compared to entry-level luxury cars. The Deep Chestnut hide looks rather dashing against the other eclectic materials—Santos Rosewood and aluminum—used throughout the cabin. The quilted front seats, too, are a lux touch from what most people perceive as a mainstream Japanese brand.  Exclusive to the top rung are heated second-row captain chairs and premium Nappa leather. The sharp 20-inch aluminum rims from the CX-9 Grand Touring carry over to the higher trim.

All of this goodness comes at a price, however. The Signature trim is the pinnacle of a seven-trim menu, but with an MSRP of $50,330 it’s right about on par with the top-tier Telluride and Palisade. The Ford Explorer King Ranch comes in at around $56,000, while the Jeep Grand Cherokee L has boxes that can be ticked to the tune of more than $70,000. In that context, the CX-9 Signature is a bit of a bargain.

Opening the doors reveals first- and second-row buckets with plenty of head-and-leg room for grown adults. While it takes a bit more effort to access the third row compared to, say, a minivan, the seats are fairly comfortable once you fall into them. However, like most three-row crossovers, keeping the third row up means precious little rear cargo space. Families that only occasionally need the third row in a pinch will find it useful, but those with three or more kids would do better in a minivan like the Carnival, Odyssey, or Sienna. Mazda hasn’t offered a minivan since the undersized Mazda5, dead in America since 2015.

So, Nitro was pretty cool. Past its prime, but still worth checking out. Much the same with the CX-9, which is a outdated-seeming by modern tech standards but perfectly pleasant and functional. The front seats can cool, heat, and support well under a long haul. A click wheel on the center console works well to navigate through the 10.25-inch screen mounted on the dash. Side note: it’s odd that the screen remains the same dimensions regardless of trim level. Given the modest screen, the climate controls are physical buttons below. The clear distinction is refreshing when the industry is trying to combine all infotainment into one super screen. The 12-speaker Bose system can properly fill the cavernous space.

Most family crossover shoppers are in the market for a vehicle that will usher family members and sports gear around in comfort. In 2022 we are blessed with many vehicles—the Toyota Highlander being a prime example—that execute this brief competently but with little effort to satisfy the driver. If you need a lifted people mover but want something that feels like it was engineered by people who care about driving, the CX-9 is the way to go. And with the option to go big on luxury appointments, you’ll be finding excuses to take long road trips rather than wait in line at the airport. Go skiing, camping, or in search of dark skies for stargazing. Or, perhaps, a mountain town with explosive beginnings.

The post 2022 Mazda CX-9 Signature Review: Aging gracefully appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Brazil’s late-race drama between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez reminded us that Formula 1 teammates aren’t impervious to infighting. The Red Bull duo and their Sao Paulo spat, however, is nothing compared to other intra-team drama throughout Formula 1 history. We take a look back at some of the rather complicated, strained, and downright dysfunctional relationships.

1986-87: Mansell-Piquet

“I’ve won three world championships. He’s lost two.”

Such was Nelson Piquet’s response when asked about his former Williams teammate Nigel Mansell. The Brazilian went on to call Mansell “stupid” and his wife “ugly.”

The loathing was mutual.

Piquet was a playboy who, at one point, had the two love interests living on different floors of the same Monaco apartment block. Family man Mansell was a part-time policeman on the Isle of Man, walking a beat on the small island between Britain and Ireland. They were complete opposites.

It wasn’t surprising that Piquet enjoyed playing on Mansell’s persecution complex. The story goes like this: during a race weekend, Mansell needed the sole toilet in the Williams motorhome, but Piquet had beat him to it. Even worse, he refused to unlock the door, laughing manically at his teammate’s discomfort.

It was Mansell who would have the last laugh, as he passed Piquet for the win in a daring move at the 1987 British Grand Prix, later that year.

1989: Prost-Senna

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna had—arguably—the most famous teammate rivalry in F1 history. McLaren supplied the fastest cars, and they were driven by F1’s two fastest drivers.

In one corner, you had Senna, a swashbuckling Brazilian. The other, there was Prost, a more reserved Frenchman. They reneged on a deal in San Marino, crashed into one other in Japan, and played games of high-speed chicken with pit walls on more than one occasion.

When the dust settled, they each claimed one championship during their respective stints at McLaren. Mutual disgust persevered well after their days in the Marlboro-liveried cars. It wasn’t until the Frenchman’s retirement that the feud eventually softened. And, in the end, Prost served as a pall bearer at Senna’s funeral.

1982: Villeneuve-Pironi

Two championship-caliber drivers, an ever-improving car, and ambiguous team orders—Ferrari’s 1982 season was a recipe for disaster.

The wheels really came off at San Marino. Ferrari ordered drivers to hold their position in the closing laps. Either Didier Pironi didn’t get the memo or disobeyed team orders entirely, overtaking teammate Villenueve with a lap remaining.

There’s a photograph of Pironi spraying the champagne from the podium’s top step and second-placed Villeneuve is looking away in disgust. Even Enzo Ferrari said that he felt sympathy for Villeneuve after Pironi “misinterpreted” the pit signals.

Whatever the truth was, it did nothing to diffuse Villeneuve’s rage. Two weeks later, he died trying to eclipse Pironi’s qualifying time at the Belgian Grand Prix. No teammate battle has ever ended as tragically.

2007-12: Vettel-Webber

During a rather wet 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel smashed into Mark Webber, eliminating both from contention. “That’s just kids, isn’t it? They haven’t got enough experience,” said Webber. “They do a good job and then they [redacted] it all up.”

In 2009, the pair became Red Bull teammates. This didn’t iron out the creases in their relationship. At the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, the two collided once again. More spats followed, usually regarding the team’s perceived favoritism toward Vettel.

In a 2013 race, Vettel was given the order “Multi-21,” which meant hold position. Seb passed his teammate anyway. Following the race, a wide-eyed Webber was incredulous and visibly frustrated with the young driver. No surprise, Vettel gets a good kicking in Webber’s autobiography.

1980-81: Reutemann-Jones

At the end of 1981, Carlos Reutemann suggested he and Williams teammate Alan Jones might try to ‘bury the hatchet.”

“Yeah, in your back, mate,” Jones replied.

Reutemann was an artist at the wheel but psychologically frail. Jones, on the other hand, was tough as nails. He showed up to the 1981 Italian GP with a broken finger after “an altercation with some gentlemen on a London street.”

Reutemann had a clause in his contract saying he must let reigning champion Jones past in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Despite the verbiage, Reutemann went on to win the race. Jones was apoplectic and refused to go on the podium while Williams fined Reutemann his winnings. The softer teammate ended up losing that year’s championship by a single point to Nelson Piquet.

Both drivers quit their F1 careers. Then, both drivers returned for respective short stints. Perhaps, they had more in common than they realized.

2007: Alonso-Hamilton

One was a two-time reigning world champion, the other a rookie. Few were expecting the advantage to go anywhere other than Fernando Alonso’s. Yet, halfway through the season, he and Lewis Hamilton had won two races apiece and the English novice was leading the championship.

Hamilton felt he should have won Monaco because he thought he was the quicker driver. But the real drama started in Hungary.

Hamilton double-crossed Alonso by not letting him pass in qualifying. Keen to put his young teammate back in his place, the Spaniard lingered in the pit longer than he was supposed to, ruining Hamilton’s grid lap. Alonso was given a five-place grid penalty.

Furious with McLaren, the Spaniard demanded they run Lewis out of fuel, and if they refused his demands, he would go to the authorities with emails proving McLaren was holding stolen Ferrari technical documents.

Following the threat, the relationship between Alonso and team boss Ron Dennis was over. McLaren was fined $100-million. Over a decade on, Hamilton and Alonso still don’t see eye-to-eye.

1985: Senna-de Angelis

Italian Elio de Angelis joined Lotus in 1980 and immediately found comfort in his new team. You can imagine, he wasn’t pleased when the team signed up-and-comer Ayrton Senna for 1985.

Senna’s future was bright, and the team gravitated to his side of the garage after he won the second race of the season. Then, Senna literally requested that engineer Nigel Stepney and a couple of de Angelis’ faithful mechanics come to his side of the garage.

Reliability on de Angelis’ car duly evaporated. Later in the season, Senna made a daring pass on the Italian. Enraged, de Angelis went looking for Senna and had to be stopped from assaulting him. He left Lotus at the of the year.

2014-16: Hamilton-Rosberg

Life as teammates must have been tough for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The two grew up together, dreaming of winning world titles. Then, in 2013, they became friendly rivals in identical cars. The path to a championship was through one another.

The duo got along well, that is, until they had a car to challenge for the championship. In 2014, they collided during the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton took the title, and their relationship suffered.

Perhaps the most telling demonstration of their antipathy was after the 2015 U.S. Grand Prix. In the cool-down room before the podium ceremony, Hamilton tossed Rosberg the runner’s-up cap. In a scene from the playground, the German instantly hurls it back at him.

In 2016, Rosberg bested his friendly foe by using what he had learned competing with Hamilton all those years. He lifted the 2016 title and immediately retired thereafter. The toxicity between teammates was too much.

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In the closing laps of last Sunday’s F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, drama between Red Bull teammates stole the show, sending the internet into a tizzy.

In case you missed it, Max Verstappen held sixth position with less than a lap remaining, one spot ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio “Checo” Perez. Verstappen, who clinched the driver’s championship over a month ago, was asked to surrender his position to Perez before the two crossed the finish line. An additional spot for Perez would be a welcome boon in points, as the Mexican driver was—and still is—locked in an intense battle for second place in the driver’s championship standings.

Verstappen refused.

“I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that question,” he said over the team radio. “Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.” As soon as Verstappen finished his transmission, the F1 world chimed in. Twitter feeds swelled with comments that labeled the young champ as “classless” and “spoiled.”

Wow …ok I guess there is a “I” on a team right there. Just wow

— Tony Kanaan (@TonyKanaan) November 13, 2022

Red Bull held an emergency team meeting following Verstappen’s defiance. When the two-time champ emerged, he vowed to help his teammate in Abu Dhabi. Will it be too little, too late? Time will tell; remember that revenge is a dish best served cold.

The real question is: Was Verstappen justified in his refusal to move over, or should he have surrendered the spot?

Regardless of the discipline, team orders in auto racing have a long and complex history. In North American motorsports, explicit team orders are frowned upon, even penalized, by certain sanctioning bodies. Earlier this year, NASCAR team Stewart-Haas incurred a point penalty and fine when one of its cars slowed to block rivals so that the other Stewart-Haas could squeak by.

Formula 1, on the other hand, has adopted the team order tactic since the sport’s early days. In 1955, Mercedes asked Juan Manuel Fangio to let teammate Stirling Moss win in a grand prix in the Englishman’s homeland. Lorenzo Bandini surrendered his position to fellow Ferrari driver John Surtees so that he could notch enough points for the 1964 championship. In 1982—you get the idea.

Most examples of this … strategic collaboration weren’t as accepted as they are today. “I came up watching F1 in the Prost-Senna era, when most considered team orders to go against the intent of the sport,” says Hagerty editor Eddy Eckart. “You either had position on merit or you didn’t, and to slow down in a motor race was the antithesis of the activity itself.”

In the following decade, team orders became common practice. So much so that by the late 1990s, in the throes of Michael Schumacher’s dominance, it was speculated that Eddie Irvine served as Schumacher’s roadblock. Teammate choreography and tactics were morphing into blatant, convoluted exercises to achieve track position or maximize points, feints which sullied the sport’s image.

By 2002, the FIA outlawed team orders.

The ban didn’t last long. Less than a decade, in fact. Ahead of the 2011 season, the FIA deleted article 39.1, which prohibited team orders. Nearly every year since then, team collusion has reared its head in at least one grand prix.

You can’t fault the teams. Modern F1 racing seems to enable the orders. Competitors are constantly searching for the extra edge, that final thousandth. In an era of two-car operations, complex pit strategy, and a high degree of passing difficulty, support from a teammate is just another way to get ahead.

Orders have become increasingly transparent. Think of Valtteri Bottas playing a support role to teammate Lewis Hamilton’s multiple championships with Mercedes, or of last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, in which Perez held up title contender Hamilton to help Verstappen secure his first championship. Verstappen applauded his teammate, calling him a “legend” for delaying Hamilton. To borrow a line from the two most dynamic teammates Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr, in 2019 it appeared the teammates went together like “cocaine and waffles.”

Last weekend, we witnessed a lack of reciprocation from Verstappen. This is what got F1 fanbase so steamed.

“Eddie Irvine once said being Michael Schumacher’s teammate was like being hit in the head with a cricket bat every other weekend,”says F1 reporter and Hagerty contributor James Foxall. “If you’re the number one driver, giving someone that kind of bruising treatment at every race, you have to give something back. Schumacher settled up when he gifted Irvine the 1999 Malaysian GP.”

“[Brazil] was a chance for Max to give something back,” says Foxall. “And the crazy thing is, it was for sixth place, which on the Red Bull scale of success might as well have been 16th.”

The next time Perez is asked to help his teammate, he may think twice.

Still, Verstappen isn’t in the wrong.

Fans adore the incredibly talented Dutch driver because he is unapologetically brash, not because he is generous or poised. Just a few minutes before the Perez kerfuffle, Verstappen refused to back out of an overtake on Lewis Hamilton, causing a collision between the two drivers. Verstappen received a five-second time penalty for his aggressive move.

Rather than apologize, Verstappen looked Sky Sports in the eye.

“To be honest, I went around the outside and immediately felt he wasn’t going to leave space, so I just went for it. He didn’t leave me space so I knew we were going to get together. It cost him the race win and it gave me five seconds. It wouldn’t have mattered anything for my race.”

As bull-headed they are, that move and the incident with Perez are true to Verstappen’s character. There’s something to be said for being genuine, especially in an era in which you get the feeling that drivers are reading interview responses off cue cards.

Most of the men on the grid seem to be some combination of handsome, politically correct, and bland. Verstappen is, as Eckart says, “cut from a different cloth.”

Verstappen’s refusal to relinquish a six-place spot underscores the ardent driver’s ruthlessness. Without it, Verstappen likely wouldn’t have had a full season of F1 competition under his belt before he turned 18. He is unrelenting in his pursuit of perfection, a throwback to other hot-blooded legends like Senna and James Hunt. (Go ahead and google “Hunt the Shunt.”)

Intensity is mistaken for selfishness by a new and young F1 fan base. The exponential growth in F1 viewership is well-documented, and it’s reasonable to assume that many of the fans questioning Verstappen’s character haven’t witnessed this type of ferocity. They may be too young or too new to the sport to remember the questionable—yet necessary—moves that won Schumacher seven world titles.

In addition, those that arrived since Drive to Survive may assume team orders are as mandatory as taxes. They are unfamiliar with the sport’s salad days, when it was all take and no give.

Veteran fans of the sport may recall a counterpoint to the no-holds-barred attitude of early 1990s F1, the moment when Senna let teammate Gerhard Berger through to win his first grand prix in 1991. First, let’s point out that this was one blip in the career of a driver who, on the track, took no prisoners. Second, Senna was 31 years old, a veteran who could see the forest through the trees. Verstappen is 25.

Asking Verstappen to backpedal in Sunday’s final lap was a foolish request in the first place. Red Bull should never try to tame the feral genius that hunted down two successive championships and dropped them at its door.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. Motorsports what you crave? Head to Imola, Hagerty’s HQ for all things racing. 

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Since most of us only sell a vehicle every few years at most, the process of listing your ride can be daunting. There’s a lot to think about: which of the numerous online platforms should you use? How detailed will you make your listing? How about that all-important sale price? Thinking about these factors leaves little mental bandwidth for what’s become one of the most critical elements behind getting top dollar for your car: the photos.

Good photographs can be all the difference between a successful transaction and a listing that gets ignored. While some have the funds to spring for a pro shooter, most sellers take their own photos. We’ve compiled a list of six tips to get the most out of your photography—even if you’re just using your phone’s camera. Whether you’re selling on Facebook or Hagerty Marketplace, here are some useful pointers to get you started.

Consider the weather and time of day

This is the easiest—but perhaps most underutilized—tip. You may have heard the old adage, “shoot with the sun at your back.” Providing that you aren’t under a severe time-crunch to list your car, you should completely avoid shooting in direct sunlight. Intense shadows can accidentally hide a blemish, and bright spots can make a clean interior look like a spotted cow’s hide.

I suggest waiting for some cloud coverage to diffuse the sun. If you have a spell of clear days, you could take the photos during the morning or evening golden hours—when the sun has gone beyond the horizon, but the sky is not yet dark.

Depending on the hue of your car, sunny shots can be useful to convey color. You may want at least one in your photo portfolio, but if you have the time, varying the angle and presence of the sun along with the time of day will paint a broader picture of your ride than a single session under the harsh afternoon rays.

Choose a prime location

Where and how you park your ride is incredibly important. First, make sure your spot is level. Parking on undulating terrain may cause your car’s suspension may unnaturally sag or tilt. Choose a location where there are minimal distractions in the background. If you can drive the car to a photo location, I suggest a park or a parking lot. (These wide-open spaces will be useful for the next tip, too.)

Side note: If you desire a sunny shot in your listing, park your car with the nose or rear facing the sun. The rays will wash along the side of the car and imbue some brilliance into the paint.

Positioning: where to stand and what lens to choose

Most sellers shoot their cars on a camera phone, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about using the existing lens to get the best photos. Depending on the generation of iPhone, for example, the built-in camera will have a focal length ranging from 28mm to 33mm. (Lenses with focal lengths of 35mm to 50mm best mirror the human eye.) So that your car doesn’t look bulbous or distorted, it’s best practice to put some distance between you and your ride—say, 10 feet or so with a phone camera, and about 20 with a camera. This is where that parking lot comes in handy.

Similarly, if you’re taking pics of your car with something other than a camera phone, lens selection can drastically influence how the car looks. A longer focal length, say 200mm, will flatten the car and more accurately convey the proportion. Auction companies often use this telephoto-style lens for an establishing three-quarter shot of the exterior.

Also, mind the angle at which you shoot your car. For example, a low shot may be more visually compelling, while a shot from a ladder may better showcase the car’s curves. It’s best to include both in your listing’s portfolio.

Add video

While you’re snapping away, take a video. In an age where everything from birthdays to concerts are consumed through the lens of a camera phone, it’s incredible how many auctions don’t include footage. Record a video of your car running, or of you rowing through the gearbox. Heck, even a video of you walking around your car helps. It doesn’t have to have Academy Award-winning cinematography; it’s simply a chance for interested parties to get a more detailed feel for your car.

Editing is your friend, but don’t go overboard

Editing your photos is not trickery. Photoshop, on the other hand, is dishonest. There’s a difference between increasing the exposure and digitally erasing a door dent. In fact, most professional auction photography is edited.

Simply put, editing should make the photograph look like the real thing. You can use free applications such as Snapseed to help your photos. In short, you’ll want to drop the highlights, lift the shadows, and add a touch of contrast. Make sure not to be too heavy-handed or else your vehicle will look like a cartoon.

Select your shots with purpose

Dramatic photos get clicks, and the more eyes on your listing, the better chance you have at getting the number you want. Your lead image should be something arresting that makes your audience curious for more information. These shots are more about capturing emotion than specific details about the car, so consider that sun-splashed photo with a gorgeous backdrop, a low-angle shot to communicate your car’s aggressive nature, or something similarly engaging.

***

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It was eight o’clock on a Saturday night in central Indiana. The late summer sun was setting behind the backstretch, and clouds of bugs were already gathering in bright stadium lights. Local racer Mark Tunny was about to fold himself into the cockpit of a winged modified machine and battle 43 other weekend warriors in a three-hour figure-8 race at the Indianapolis Speedrome.

About 15 miles east of The Brickyard, the old track resembles a flat parking lot. Girdled by aluminum grandstands filled to the brim with figure-8 fanatics, the fifth-mile oval has served as the site for the epic endurance race since 1977.  If you’re not familiar with the format, it’s about the same as a door-banging circle track race, but rather than running the course’s oval perimeter, combatants turn into the paved infield and drive through a crossover. And every September, the discipline’s top talent pass through this intersection for three hours straight, risking everything for a shot at a 10-foot-tall trophy, a decent paycheck, and—above all—bragging rights as winner of the World Figure-8 Championship.

No other series, apart from maybe a destruction derby, can actually promise contact, and the fact that something this inherently dangerous exists in the face of this modern-era’s extreme caution is truly enticing. There’s a reason why you don’t see Sunday racers dipping down to the grassroots level to run a figure-8 race, though I imagine plenty of fans would like to see them try.

The annual race is figure-8’s version of the Indy 500 that happens across town. Even a decent showing in the lesser-known Indianapolis tradition will initiate you into the figure-8 fraternity. Since 2003, the Tunny family has won the race 12 times, with Bruce Tunny landing the first blow. In 2022, his son Mark was poised to continue the family’s two-decade reign and clinch his third victory in the heralded race. “I feel like the second was almost more special,” he said. “You don’t feel like a one-hit wonder.” Already zipped to the chin in purple Nomex, he gave no indication of nerves, and answered my questions with the patience of a university professor.

Tunny’s tranquility was a surprise, considering that over the next few hours—if the 37-year-old was lucky—he would pass through an intersection filled with smoke, debris, and cross-traffic some 900 times.

Indeed, the figure-8 racing presents the world’s fastest intersection with no street signs. “You have to find your holes last second,” said Tunny. On average, about 10 incidents of “light contact” and three “big ones” take place during the three-hour race.

“There’s nothing mentally, physically, emotionally, that could prepare you for something like that,” said Craig VandeWettering, another driver on the grid. “Last year, they had to pull me from the car after the race was over.” Making the tow from Minnesota, VandeWettering is one of three entrants not from Indiana or Kentucky. And he almost didn’t make the starting lineup, eking in during the last few minutes of qualifying.

Even if you don’t qualify for the race on lap time, your weekend isn’t over. Alternates who don’t make the show cycle into the race during cautions, and until attrition takes enough of a toll, there are consistently over two dozen cars packed into the tight bullring. “You’re happy when you see friends go out because it’s one less car you have to deal with,” said VandeWettering.

The Minnesota man, along with the rest of the field, strapped in. As a local starlet belted the National Anthem, one of the drivers tucked a pack of cigarettes and lighter into a square-shaped metal box near the rollbar.

“It’s a long race,” he said.

The field of winged racers, lead by Mark Tunny and his cousin Ben on the front row, stampeded under the fluttering green flag, and a timer on the jumbotron started its countdown from three hours.

During the first hour, you should try to stay on the lead lap. Or, at least that’s the general consensus from the pros. This is, of course, easier said than done. Less than two minutes in, and leader Mark Tunny was already dragging the brake to avoid t-boning backmarkers.

Unlike other motorsports, which typically ratchet up tension as the race progresses, the World Championship race is nail-biting all the way through. Just five minutes in, the conveyor belt of cars was weaving through the intersection like a troop of choreographed dancers. Anxiety: pegged.

“You have to run in packs,” explained Steve “the Bull” Durham. “If you get to a crossover and you’re just one car against something like seven cars, they’re not going to stop for you.” Durham, like the rest of the drivers, has a full-time job outside of racing. When he’s not rushing the intersection, he works construction and owns his own lawn care business.

A 20-year veteran of the big figure-8 race, he knows the rulebook like a favorite song. Though, from the sound of it, the book is pretty thin. “They’re pretty lenient on rules,” he said. “You get the weight, the wings, and spoiler set, you’re good.” Back in the day, top-tier fugure-8 cars were largely late model production cars such as second-gen Camaros or Mustangs. Now, a majority of the cars are built by one of the five chassis manufacturers. There isn’t a motor rule, though most teams opt for the tried-and-true small block Chevy. And some slide the engine so far back that they have to mount it at an angle so that the driveshaft can clear the driver’s legs. Inside, drivers can adjust brake bias and shock damping during the race via dials.

The Bull also explained that you might want to weld an extra bumper hoop on, but you should avoid making it a battleship as the added weight will slow you down. “If you can survive this race, there’s a big race in Colorado.” I think he meant the car, but I couldn’t be sure.

Back on track, and the Bull was holding his own inside the top ten. Tunny was still out front, but he hadn’t put any distance on the rest of the field, though. And the intersection now more closely resembled the clouds of bugs that swarmed in the lights above.

To fly through the crossover is one-part premeditation, one-part luck. Some drivers try to time an opening, while others like Doodle Harris say, “Oh, hell with it,” flinging their 2500-pound contraptions through the intersection. I asked him how he navigated the treacherous crossroads, expecting some insider knowledge from the crowd favorite. He looked at me plainly and, in a drawl straight-from-Louisville, he said, “You just go’on through there.”

Regardless of method, Doodle, The Bull, along with The Marksman, Mr. Excitement, The Outlaw, and the rest of the figure-8 contingent were zooming through the crossover without incident. In fact, much of the calamity occurred in the corners. Tunny pointed out that sometimes drivers will become hyper-focused on the intersection and cause a wreck in the corner as a result of their break in concentration.

Just over halfway through the contest and the intersection hosted its first “big one.” A four-car smash caused the crowd to erupt. During the pause in action select drivers ducked into the pits outside of the cramped track for service. Unlike most short track affairs, the pit stops are live, and every minute spent in the dimly-lit paddock are precious positions on track. Crew members, cousins, moms, and sisters hop in with headlamps and impact wrenches.

Mark Tunny relinquished the lead during a round of stops but was back out front by lap 300. As the countdown fell under twenty minutes, a light sprinkle fell over the speedway. As if racing through an intersection twice per lap wasn’t stressful enough, drivers had to contend with rain on their visor and a potentially slick surface.

471 laps in, Tunny crossed the line as the clock ticked to zero, earning his third victory in the historic race. If his second victory ranked higher than his first, I wondered how he felt about his third. After all, the triumph tied him in the record books with his father, and car builder, Bruce. On cue, he laid a thick burnout down the backstretch. (If there were any bugs in the lights, they were gone now thanks to the Hoosier-supplied smoke out.) He created a similar plume on the front stretch and then jumped on the roof of his car, fist pumping all the way through.

In victory lane, he was no longer the serene driver I had spoke to before the race. “You look at the list of 3-Hour winners,” he said, sweat dripping from his brow,” they’d wax anybody’s a** in NASCAR.” Drivers, the gauntlet has been laid.

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Heritage is king here at Hagerty. The relative freshness of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86, however, is cause enough to celebrate an encouraging fact: Affordable performance is not a thing of the past. Petite, rear-drive, haunchy little 2+2 coupes. Naturally aspirated four-cylinder mounted in the nose. Nearly mechanically identical, with standard six-speed manual transmissions. Lightweight. Low center of gravity. Divine steering. Both on sale, right now, for around $30,000.

In the future, sentences that start with “Back in the day” will refer to right now.

Part of the appeal of the “Toyobaru” twins is that they aren’t saddled with the baggage of a historical moniker. The much-hyped Supra and Nissan Z have a lot to which they must measure up. Subaru and Toyota introduced the first-generation BRZ and Scion FR-S (as the GR86 was first badged) for the 2013 model year, to wide acclaim. Among very few weak spots was a lack of mid-range power, which has been addressed for this second generation. Once again, these back-to-basics sports cars demand no malt-milkshake nostalgia. Cheap thrills, in the best possible sense.

Apart from a handful of bushings and steering knuckles, and mounting points for the rear stabilizer bars (whose diameters differ by one centimeter), these are the same car under different skin. The subtle hardware differences are noticeable primarily during on-limit driving, but neither is necessarily better. Sprinkles or pop rocks, on the same delicious cupcake base.

Same seven paint colors. Same row of silver plastic “switches” on the center console. The shared engine cover has “Toyota” and “Subaru” molded into the same black plastic. Navigate to the Wikipedia page for the BRZ and you are redirected to the page for the GR86 coupe.

This sameness has been observed since the beginning of the coupe’s original run a decade ago. As the story goes, Toyota engineers Tetsuya Tada (now revered as “Mr. 86”) and Yoshinori Sasaki were hard at work developing a sports car. “If you want to make an enjoyable sports car, it should be front engine, rear-drive, like the Toyota Sports 800,” Sasaki told Top Gear back in 2013. “That car had a flat-two engine, and we liked the low center of gravity, but Toyota didn’t have this kind of engine. Around the same time we were planning the 86, our relationship with Subaru had just begun. Both sides were thinking hard on a collaboration.”

The collaboration came in the form of a Subaru boxer engine stuffed between the fenders of a slinky 2+2 coupe. Thanks to the compact 2.0-liter flat-four, the cars that rolled out of Subaru’s Gunma Plant in central Japan possessed a low center of gravity that helped lend them remarkable agility. Stateside, the cars arrived with MSRPs starting in the mid-$20,000s, which was on par with the Civic Si and VW GTI. They landed as either a Subaru BRZ—an acronym that signified its Boxer engine, rear-wheel drive layout, and the word “Zenith”—or as a Scion FR-S. (When Scion folded after 2016, the latter became the Toyota 86.) The first-generation collab was—and still is—a joy to drive, carrying on for nearly a decade until the two manufacturers ceased production in 2020 to focus on this—the next iteration.

The duo’s new coupes arrived earlier this year with 20 percent larger engines and updated styling, retaining their high fun factor and reasonable sticker price. As before, a Torsen-type limited-slip differential comes standard. Subaru kept its BRZ model name, Toyota rebranded its counterpart as the GR86 to reflect the increased emphasis on its factory motorsport efforts, championed by Gazoo Racing.

Second verse, same as similar to the first.

Underneath the hood, a 2.4-liter boxer engine offers a bit more juice compared to the old one (228 hp, up from 205 horsepower in 2020). Most importantly, the new engine successfully eliminates the mid-range torque plateau that left so many drivers underwhelmed. Overall, there is a 15 percent increase in torque (184 lb-ft) over the previous generation.

Indeed, the added grunt is a welcome boon. Combined with a 2900-pound curb weight—seriously trim for a modern car—both the Subaru and Toyota feel lithe whether on the open road or race track.

Our head-to-head test with these two vehicles confirmed that they are worthy sequels to their predecessors, not to mention inspiring subjects for multiple “would you rather” arguments. To suss out the effects of the small differences between the BRZ and GR86, we drove them at Michigan’s GingerMan Raceway earlier this summer, piloting each across the state a couple of hours from our editorial office in Ann Arbor.

So, given the choice between a 2022 Subaru BRZ and the 2022 Toyota 86, where did we land?

Cameron: Subaru BRZ

If you were to cover the badging and the distinctive front fascia of the two cars in a kind of parking-lot Pepsi Challenge, I’m not sure I would be able to tell the difference between the two. At least not with confidence. The distinctions between are them minor, but my preference for the Subaru BRZ is wrapped up in its curves, the particular way it behaves on track, and my personal brand affinity.

In general, both coupes are a hoot to drive on a road course. There’s a reason you see first-gen examples at open track days, drift events, autocross—all of it. The sensation of speed is constant, even heightened compared to cars with much more power.

These are go-karts with CarPlay and room for a full set of wheels and tires.

You can feel them working under you—the gentle body roll whispering about weight transfer, the brake pedal communicating variations in the road surface as you scrub speed before a corner. They’re rigid enough to feel planted and inspire confidence, yet plenty forgiving for the novice racer. It’s hard to imagine better modern tools in showrooms today, at least for learning the handling tendencies of a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car. Seasoned track rats, too, will enjoy hucking them around corners.

Though each rides on MacPherson-type struts up front with a double wishbone out back, little suspension differences between the two influence the handling at speed. The BRZ is the less serious, more playful twin, with a hollow front anti-roll bar (compared to the 86’s solid rod) and a smaller rear bar than its counterpart. The trade-off is that the Subie seems less forgiving under early throttle and has more of a tendency to push the front wheels when you aren’t patient on corner entry. Under braking, both are stable. The real fun happens when you roll off the brake pedal as you dial in steering, at which point the BRZ will slide its rear end just so, straightening out as you gently add throttle and exit the corner.

The GR86 has a snappier personality, less fluid but more precise. Even on the road, spirited driving in the BRZ is a moonlit sway, whereas the 86 is a red-hot flamenco.

Perhaps to mirror this playful nature, the BRZ’s front fascia wears a permanent smile, with rounded edges in the grille and body lines. I think this better reflects the mission of this car, which so engages drivers likely buying their first sports car. The sharp-and-solemn 86 front clip reminds me of the guy who treats every week of fantasy football like he’s playing in the Super Bowl.

I also prefer the BRZ for its engine. Yes, it’s the same as the Toyota’s, but I respect that the flat-four is a Subaru product. The marque’s boxer is synonymous with rally racing, and despite its grainy exhaust note, I can’t help but think back with affection to the stalwart EJ-series boxer-four that put so many Subies in victory lane. Imagine a small-block Chevy in a Ford Mustang; or rather, don’t, because it makes my skin crawl. A Subaru engine belongs in a Subaru.

Maybe only the most attentive buyers will exhibit similarly inside-baseball reasoning. The deciding factor may well be just what they can get their hands on, or that they’re from a Subaru family, or they want to one day move up to a GR Supra. Whatever the case, drivers have two excellent options in the new BRZ and 86.

Specs: 2022 Subaru BRZ Limited (manual)

• Price: $27,995/30,495 (base/as-tested)
• Powertrain: 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, DOHC 16-valve; 6-speed manual
• Horsepower: 228 hp @ 7000 rpm
• Torque: 184 lb-ft @ 3700 rpm
• Layout: Rear-wheel drive, four-passenger, two-door coupe
• Weight: 2835 lbs
• EPA-Rated Fuel Economy: 20/27/22 mpg (city/hwy/combined)
• 0-60 mph: 6.0 seconds
• Top Speed: 140 mph

Specs: 2022 Toyota GR86 Premium (manual)

• Price: $27,000/30,300 (base/as-tested)
• Powertrain: 2.4L 4-cylinder, DOHC 16-valve; 6-speed manual
• Horsepower: 228 hp @ 7000 rpm
• Torque: 184 lb-ft @ 3700 rpm
• Layout: Rear-wheel drive, four-passenger, two-door coupe
• Weight: 2833 lbs
• EPA-Rated Fuel Economy: 20/27/22 mpg (city/hwy/combined)
• 0-60 mph: 6.1 seconds
• Top Speed: 140 mph

Grace: Toyota GR86

With these twins, I find their lack of pretense endearing. These are sports cars, first and foremost, wearing brand badges that will impress nobody. The revamped sheetmetal is a nod to attitude—the Toyota more so, in the case of the swaggering ducktail that comes on the Premium model—but the interiors are far from staid. Unless you’re the kind of hard-core minimalist who considers heated seats an indulgence, there is nothing distracting inside these interiors—no voice assistants, gesture controls, or cutesy digital graphics. Adjust the mirrors via the pad on the door panel, yank/slide the seat into position, perhaps plug in your phone to CarPlay. No drive modes to program, no seat settings to code to a button. On the manual models, there’s not even Subaru’s notoriously beepy lane-assist to deactivate. You and the car. It’s really that simple.

Both Japanese houses have clearly spent development resources differentiating the handling behavior between the BRZ and GR86. In addition to the elements Cameron mentioned above, the spring rates and damper tuning of each system are unique. You don’t have to be a pro driver to notice the difference in personality, either. After several sessions around GingerMan, the GR86 proved pickier about the line it preferred. Fail to open your hands upon corner exit at the speed it likes, and the back end will let you know. The BRZ tolerates more slop in this regard before it reacts, and even then it does so gradually whereas the Toyota, as the kids say, claps back.

I like that in a car.

The Toyota had already won my eye for looks and motorsport cachet, but I was pleasantly surprised when its sassier on-track tendencies revealed themselves. The Subaru is friendlier, but the Toyota’s more specific about what it wants. As a relatively green driver who is still working on her sensitivity to driving dynamics, I appreciated the clarity. Knowing that, if I owned one, I could futz with the setup myself sealed my opinion: Get the one you like, and change what you don’t.

And if we’re going to compare rally pedigree, dear Cameron, allow me to point out that Subaru’s rally glory days are gone. Toyota is the one unleashing a WRC-engined, all-wheel-drive and locking-diff hatchback for the street.

Track driving aside, one should not underestimate the wonder of cheap, rear-drive, naturally aspirated fun. Especially in The Year of Our Lord 2022, it’s a revelation. In that very glow, I spent plenty of time over the course of ten days driving both and on the street in the Toyobaru twins. If there’s any weakness at all between the two of them, it’s that neither is an especially refined highway car; there’s too much drone from the four-pot, something even the supposedly premium stereo can’t mask. And the suspension likes to ping-pong over expansion joints, which gets old even within the span of a couple of hours. Fair to say, though, drivers looking to smile every time behind the wheel will tolerate these minor nuisances. It’s arguable that the Camaro and Mustang offer added performance for similar money, and there’s always the trusty Miata, but none combine the BRZ/GR86’s tossability and sheer driving joy in a daily-driver package.

Sure, it’s a little early to be talking about heritage. Let’s just say we have a good feeling about the long-term prospects of these two.

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Every generation of enthusiasts has a car that lends itself to customization. Whether it’s mechanical simplicity, such as was the case with the Model A, beauty and power—think the small-block-equipped 1957 Chevy—or sheer quantity and dependability, such as the 1990s Honda Civic hatchback, some cars become rolling canvases, practically begging for modification. Each automotive tribe seems to have its own roster. For Bow-Tie-loving speed freaks, there are few better blank-slate cars than the Chevrolet Nova.

GM debuted the car in 1962 as the Chevrolet II. Available in multiple body styles, from a two-door coupe to a four-door wagon, this stubby, basic people mover shuffled down suburban streets with a tiny-for-1960s-America 153-cubic inch four cylinder or a 120-horsepower, 194-cubic-inch straight six. As with most cars during the era, mission creep between the front fenders increased the available engine options to a 327-cubic-inch small block V-8 in less than three years.

In 1968, a new-generation Chevy II rolled onto showroom floors. With a longer wheelbase and coke-bottle styling, the novel Chevy read as a 7/8th-scale Chevelle. And the Nova name, initially the top trim level, now featured more prominently across all trims (the Chevy II moniker was completely abandoned in 1969).

The styling and shape remained largely unchanged until 1975, save for the addition of the bulky five-mile-per-hour bumper in 1973. The boxier ’75 Nova was the beginning of the end, and just three years later production ended to make way for the Citation. By that point, several million of these cheap little cars had been produced. They would, for decades after, be among the easiest, cheapest ways for kids to get into cars.

Kids like me, I fell in love with the 1968–1974 era Novas in large part because my father raced a ’71 in the Street Stock class in his first go on the circle track scene. Novas were seemingly everywhere as I grew up trackside at dragstrips and ovals. With a short wheelbase, relatively light curb weight, and ample room between the rails for a V-8, the Nova was a perfect starting point for a would-be racer. I marveled at the shoehorned big blocks and home-fabricated tubbed rear ends housing massive drag tires, and the extensive prep for circle track racing that strengthened my dad’s Nova for battle.

I always aspired to own one, but by the time I had the disposable income to do so, my shot at a ’68 or ’69—or at least one that didn’t resemble Swiss cheese—was gone. Still, I remained encouraged by the ’73 and ’74 models that remained attainable. “Those years are interesting given that underneath it’s mostly the same as the 1968-72 pre-facelift cars,” says Price Guide Editor Greg Ingold, “but the big bumpers definitely help with affordability.”

As luck would have it, a silver 1974 Nova popped up in Dundee, Michigan, about an hour south of our editorial office in Ann Arbor. After revisiting the Craigslist ad several times to gawk at the car, I decided to call the owner and check it out.

In less than two hours’ time, I was sitting shotgun in the coupe as the seller rowed through the four-speed between two aftermarket bucket seats. The 350-cubic inch small block roared through the Flowmaster dual exhausts. Sold.

With dents on the roof and rockers, it wasn’t perfect, nor was it stock. The front suspension utilized aftermarket A-arms and the rear end came loaded with 4.11:1 gears. The owner explained that he bought the car from someone in California who raced the car. See what I mean about blank canvas? Even Novas roaming the streets are unlikely to have been left untouched.

Following my girlfriend home along I-75, I came to understand why four-speed road-goers aren’t typically armed with such an extreme gear ratio. At 65 miles-per-hour, I sounded like Earnhardt on a flyer. Revs for days.

After a brief stint in Ann Arbor, I road-tripped north to my dad’s shop. Over 250 miles of highways and back roads teased out the muscle car’s shortcomings. The shift linkage jammed on occasion, and the seats were mounted too high, making your 5’11” author feel like Shaquille O’Neal in a clown car. All the better—projects for the winter.

We took the car to the drive-in movie theater (those oversized malaise-era bumpers make for great footrests) and cruised around for a couple evenings. Now, it sits, awaiting suspension mods to improve the ride and, if I can swing it, a transmission swap.

While it sits, values are on the rise. “I have noticed that domestic mid-70s cars are starting to increase in value and desirability,” said Ingold. “A lot of cars in that category which used to be dirt cheap are actually commanding decent money for really good examples.”

Excellent condition (#2) Novas and even drivers (#3) are steadily ticking up, although it’s still easy to find a decent example for under $10,000. Of course, expect to pay more if someone’s once blank canvas has been painted with a built 502 cubic-inch V-8 with all the supporting improvements.

Data from the insurance side of Hagerty also suggest that Novas command a fairly broad array of interest. The folks who grew up with them naturally take the lead—37 percent of folks calling us for insurance on one of these cars are Gen–Xers. Yet Millennials also seem to get it, accounting for more than a quarter of quotes. It looks like the Nova will continue to serve as a blank canvas for years to come.

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In a calendar year, the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop builds about 330 engines. When you do something that often, at that kind of volume, you tend to get pretty good at it. Quick, consistent. Hendrick engines have won the last two Cup Series championships.

How quick? Last year, during the Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown, John Boydston and Dave Frey teamed up to bolt together a small-block V-8 in 23 minutes and 39 seconds. The bigger shock that this time is nearly two minutes off of the record set back in 2014.

For 20 years, Hendrick Motorsports has paired 12 Hendrick Certified Master Technicians with 12 Hendrick Motorsports engine department team members (using a random draw) to compete against one another in a sort-of engine builder pro-am. To be eligible, the technicians must have exemplary customer services scores and pass the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) exam. Frey, for example, is a technician at Hendrick BMW, just down the street from the motorsports campus, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Build teams assemble 358-cubic-inch Chevrolet engines similar to the fuel-injected engines that run every NASCAR Cup Series weekend. Two rounds over two days. Componentry like the throttle bodies and the injectors are placed on the intake in advance, but in large part it’s a 243-piece puzzle. “Some things were simplified with the engine,” says Boydston, “but it’s basically what you put together in your garage if you were building an engine for your old muscle car.”

Engine assembly competitions have a long history in NASCAR country. Back in the day, before engine shops monopolized to the remaining several suppliers we have today, every team built their own engines. Randy Dorton, over in the Henrick stable, was considered one of NASCAR’s premier engine builders. In 2003, as stock car teams began form early engine shop alliances (subsequently decreasing the number of NASCAR engine shops) Dorton brought the tournament in-house and leveraged the expertise of Hendrick Automotive Group by forming the two-person teams.

Twenty years later, the competition is bigger than ever. For their speedy work last year, Boydston and Frey each take home a fully-stocked tool box courtesy of NAPA Auto Parts. For many of the participants, its more about the bragging rights than any tools or trophies. “We’re racers. We’re competitors. That’s our life,” says Boydston, citing the pride and bragging rights that come with winning the in-house contest.

He adds: “It also brings a ton of camaraderie between the dealerships and the motorsports arm.” Just as it’s true for Sundays, teamwork is the key to winning. “Most of the guys build the same,” says Boydston. “The real time savers are tool management, preventing mistakes, and efficiently communicating with your partner.” He points out that many technicians have to get used to using standard tools in the build process. So the duo can move quicker, the engine department employees often stage wrenches for their metric-minded partners.

Still, nobody’s perfect, especially against the clock. “I’m bad about dropping stuff,” says Boydston. “Your hands are slick and I do it almost every build.” The drops must not hurt too bad as last year’s victory is Boydston’s second triumph in six years of competing. He’s one of the few to have multiple titles.

A 19-year veteran of the engine shop, Boydston spent 12 years traveling as an engine tuner for Hendrick’s NASCAR teams. Since leaving life on the road, Boydston now works in sub assembly, assembling dampers, oil pumps, idler bearings and other pieces that will be used in final engine assembly. This year, the wily builder will attempt to defend his crown in the Showdown and join the elite as a three-time winner.

“Be ready for a show,” says Boydston. “We’re all friend don’t get me wrong, but once the buzzer goes off, there’s no friends out there other than my teammate.”

To watch this year’s build-off, tune into hendrickebs.com on Wednesday November 9th for two days of live coverage.

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This weekend, NASCAR rolls into Phoenix Raceway for its season finale weekend. Stock car fanatics will watch as the series’ top three divisions do battle at the desert oval to determine who will be crowned champion. Some will tune in from their living room. Others, more fortunate, will be there in the stands and the suites.

Only the bravest will watch from the track’s Oasis in the Sky—a seated platform that lifts a dozen fans 150 feet in the air for 30-minute intervals.

You've seen a NASCAR Championship race but what about in the air?

Our VIP guests will be lifted 150 feet in the air on the Oasis in the Sky!

: https://t.co/nuzqNE5ic3 pic.twitter.com/KuJMrEG155

— Phoenix Raceway (@phoenixraceway) November 2, 2022

The speedway’s newest fan amenity is courtesy of Dinner in the Sky Canada. Since 2006, the Vancouver-based company has provided aerial dining in more than 60 countries by suspending a rectangular bar top from a construction crane. Chefs and staff sporting harnesses work standing up in the middle of the bar, while patrons wine and dine sitting in bucket seats equipped with five-point racing belts.

True to form, this weekend’s high-flying experience will treat race fans to food and beverage service, during which they can watch their favorite drivers drive in circles below their dangling feet. “We look forward to giving VIP guests at NASCAR a new perspective,” said Julie Connolly, COO of Dinner in the Sky Canada. “Watching the Championship Race from 150 feet up in the open air will be an unforgettable experience.”

Frankly, it was only a matter of time. The Oasis in the Sky is yet another example of a raceway thinking outside the box for improved fan experience. Over the past decade or so, many speedway bosses have opted to yank out aluminum grandstands in favor of more comfortable seating (with benches upon which to place your drink), trackside motorhome parking, increased suite capacity, and entertainment lounges. A hanging bar, however, might be the most extreme attempt to tear fans away from their television sets.

It also comes as no surprise that Phoenix Raceway is the first to attempt the stunt. Since it was first carved into the Arizona desert in 1964, the track has undergone numerous layout changes and renovations, most recently having completed a $178M project, which involved moving grandstands and the start/finish line back in 2017. Just a few years later, in 2020, the evolving oval first hosted NASCAR’s season finale.

This Sunday’s Cup Series race promises to be a hot one, with an eclectic mix of drivers in contention for the season title. Regardless of which championship hopeful stands atop the championship stage, the real winners may be 15 stories in the air.

That gives a whole new meaning to “coming out on top.”

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Yesterday, amid the custom builds and product booths that densely packed the Las Vegas Convention Center, Nissan flaunted its brand-new Z GT4 racer to SEMA show attendees. While the official reveal of Nissan’s latest track rat happened back in September—and the car has even seen some competition, thanks to NISMO’s rigorous testing in Japan—the industry show debut marked the first time that it could be drooled upon by the American public, who finally received some powertrain stats.

Featuring a beefy front valence, massive rear wing, roll cage, steam-roller-sized slicks and other calling cards of purpose-built road racers, Nissan’s SEMA car comes dressed in a black-and-red livery with its famous number 23 tattooed on the nose in white. (Fun fact for the workday watercooler: Nissan’s frequently uses the numeral because, in Japanese “2” is pronounced “ni” and “3” is pronounced “san.”) The GT4 car joins a list of venerable Z racers, from the first Fairlady Z (S30), which tamed Monte Carlo rally stages in the early-1970s, to the modern Z GT500, found in Japan’s Super GT series.

In addition to providing the first real-life glimpse of the car, Nissan also opened up the stat sheet on the GT4 racer. For increased bang, Nissan passed its VR30DDTT engine—utilized in the current Q50 and road-going Z car—to in-house motorsports tuning firm NISMO. Now, the race-tuned 3.0-liter twin-turbo DOHC six-cylinder cranks out 450 horsepower and 443 foot-pounds of twist, up from 400 and 350.

While the length of the machine (172.4 inches) is the same as its stock counterpart, the GT4 racer is an inch wider (73.6 inches). The whole rig weighs about 3100 pounds— though, keep in mind, balance of performance rules may alter the final stats depending on series.

Speaking of sanctioning bodies, where will this thing compete? In 2023, Nissan will provide pilot customer teams with its new Z for wheel-to-wheel racing in SRO’s Pirelli GT4 America series and Japan’s Super Taikyu Series. (Note: As of this writing, the Z racer is pending SRO homologation.) Stateside, it will rub shoulders with perennial contenders such as the Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche’s 718 Cayman, and BMW’s M4, and newcomers to GT4 racing like McLaren’s Artura and the recently unveiled, seventh-generation Mustang.

As far as which team will elect which pony, we will likely learn in the coming months. “We are in the throes of preparing for the 2023 racing season—testing here locally this past weekend,” said Nissan’s global program director for sports cars Michael Carcamo. “And we look forward to continuing to talk with teams and continue to establish the Z as a force to be reckoned with on tracks around the world.” Additional teams who choose the Rising Sun for the 2024 season will be able to place orders by mid-2023. But first, they’ll have to scrape together $229,000 and then search for additional change in the couch cushions to pay for shipping and handling.

Time will also reveal which car, out of the ballooning GT4 roster, is the odds-on favorite. If appearance signifies performance, look for Nissan’s newest Z to be at the top of the pylon.

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Q50 might be the name at the very bottom of the bowl in the alphabet soup of luxury model names. Red Sport 400, on the other hand? It might sound like the name of a NASCAR race or a new flavor of Mountain Dew, but at least it’s memorable. In actuality, Red Sport 400 is Infiniti’s top-tier, high-performance trim package for its long-running Q50 sedan and Q60 coupe. The 400 part refers to horsepower figure for the 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6. The Red Sport part … sounds cool?

Before we get into how the Red Sport 400 came to be, let’s wind the clock back to the mid 2010s. Introduced in late 2013, the Q50 replaced the beloved Infiniti G37 compact. Though it retained its predecessor’s rear-wheel drive layout and VQ-series V-6 engine, the Q50’s styling was blander Infiniti’s much-hyped steer-by-wire system did not win affection. Now, nearly a decade later, all of this car’s competition has moved on to a new generation. Audi’s current-generation A4 arrived for the 2016 model year, BMW launched a new 3 Series for 2019, Cadillac replaced the ATS with the 2020 CT4, and Mercedes-Benz just introduced a new 2023 C-Class. There’s even a relative newcomer in the mix with the Genesis G70.

These are formidable foes. But after a week driving a Q50 Red Sport 400, this particular Infiniti may yet hold some appeal for premium buyers who prioritize subtlety and brand loyalty.

If the ordinary Q50 is the other white meat of the premium sedan segment, the Red Sport 400 is the sticky, sweet bourbon glaze. First available on the 2017 Q60 (the two-door coupe version of this car) the Red Sport 400 trim brought the VR-series twin-turbo six—an evolution of the long-running VQ-series engine—along with sport disc brakes, sport-tuned suspension, 19-inch wheels, and a bevy of interior upgrades. It remains available on both rear- and all-wheel-drive variants. Every Q50 comes with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder. Here, the difference is that the Q50 Red Sport 400 engine produces 400 horsepower rather than the base 300 ponies.

Ranking above the current Luxe and Sensory trims, the Red Sport 400 brings more of the same for 2022. A distinct nose and 19-inch aluminum wheels (both affixed to the Sensory) are included, as well as brushed dual exhaust tips. The price tag ($61,455, including a $1025 destination fee) reflects the Red Sport’s top rank, requiring about $15K more than base MSRP. This isn’t meant to be a full-bore BMW M fighter, and the price—lining up almost exactly to that of an Audi S4 Prestige—reflects its mid-tier performance.

Specs: 2022 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 AWD

• Price: $58,975/$61,455 (base/as-tested)
• Powertrain: Twin-turbo, 3.0-liter V-6; seven-speed automatic
• Horsepower: 400 hp
• Torque: 350 lb-ft
• Layout: Rear- or all-wheel-drive four-door, five-passenger sedan
• Weight: 4019 lbs
• EPA-Rated Fuel Economy: 19/26/22 mpg (city/hwy/combined)
• 0-60 mph: 4.5 seconds
• Top Speed: 155 mph
• Competitors: BMW M340i, Mercedes-AMG C43, Genesis G70 3.3T, Audi S4

It’s not an M3, but it is fast. Or, I should say fast enough. This distinction is key. Too many sport sedans in this space pursue breakneck performance at the expense of comfort and drivability. Instead, the twin-turbo six remains quiet in the background until called upon for serious highway merging or playful stop light takeoffs. In those moments the V-6 is urgent and confident all the way up to its 6400-rpm power peak, but there is little theater in the mix. If you want whines, burbles, or crackles, it’s best look elsewhere. Maturity and reserve rule here.

Going isn’t the problem for the Q50; it’s the turning and stopping. Infiniti’s steer-by-wire system feels numb, and the brake pedal felt soft. The combination whispers “pontoon boat” more than it screams “sport sedan.” If Infiniti could tighten things up in these two areas, it would serve to wake up the overall driving experience. The base models can get away with the budget luxury cruiser vibe, but if you’re going to call it the Red Sport 400 …

This is, however, a decent-looking four-door—especially given its age. The paint, dubbed Dynamic Sunstone Red, plays a big role in the aesthetic success of this car. It’s moody and mysterious in shadow, sparkling in sunlight, and a blur of rich red in motion. The rounder body lines helps the Q50 stand out from the BMW, Audi, and Cadillac, which have all gone angular. Like the Genesis, this car is happy to leave the oversized grilles and racing stripes to the other guys.

That quiet confidence doesn’t quite translate to the interior, though, where barely mid-grade luxury materials fall flat. The general feel isn’t horribly far off from the $27,000 Nissan Sentra SR I reviewed earlier this year. (Quilted leather seats with matching red stitching and a woven carbon-fiber center console are the exceptions here.) Ergonomically the seats are fine, though the front buckets would benefit from something like a distinguishing massage feature to up the luxury flavor. The Bose stereo won’t elicit praise from audiophiles, but the 16-speaker system is, if anything, robust. The back seat is somewhat cramped, more like the CT4 than the 3 Series.

If there’s a bright spot here, it’s that these sedans—especially the Autobahn bullets—but be controlled via highly-complex, often-intimidating haptics, fussy touchpads, and numerous submenus. Space age mega screens have a way of distracted from the task at hand. The 2014-era tech here is oddly refreshing, even with the goofy tilting click-wheel and two stacked screens. The top one is reserved only for navigation and a back-up camera, which tells you how far infotainment has come since this dashboard was designed. Physical buttons flank each side of the dual display, something about which we will never complain. Given the intuitive nature of the center stack, it’s surprising that the steering wheel buttons are anything but, with odd symbols and strange toggles.

As far as comparable choices in this segment, the Infiniti’s biggest problem is that the Genesis G70 is simply better in every way that matters. Maybe the Red Sport 400 engine is a bit more charismatic, but the G70’s gorgeous interior, modern but approachable controls, and superior handling are undeniable. Only the most dedicated Infiniti and Nissan fans have much of a reason to stay loyal to the Q50. So if you were one of those high-schoolers who wanted an SE-R, or a tuner with a 350Z in the early 2000s, you won’t be let down. When it’s time to take the kids to practice or pick up milk from the store in a hurry, this Infiniti is up to the task. You’ll look good, at least. But you’d likely feel better driving any of the Red Sport 400’s rivals.

2022 Q50 Red Sport 400 AWD

Price: $58,975/$61,455 (base/as-tested)

Highs: Quiet, confident powertrain. Reserved yet handsome exterior styling. Approachable controls, though not state of the art.

Lows: Underwhelming interior materials. Uninspired steering and braking. Cramped back seat.

Takeaway: The 2022 Q50 Red Sport 400 is a conservative alternative, if that’s your preferred flavor.

The post 2022 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 Review: Conservative alternative appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Last weekend, I visited East Lansing Kart Track (ELKT), just outside the sprawling and bucolic Michigan State University campus, for a test-and-tune. Built in 1961, the track hosts weekly racing (and open practices) April through October, for locals and far-flung speed freaks alike. The 0.45-mile course, which more closely resembles the picturesque setting of a hardwood state park, features about 10 (depending on the configuration) drastically different corners. The variety ranges from wide-open kinks to tight hairpins.

Classes are equally diverse. ELKT welcomes a half-dozen different two-stroke and four four-stroke run classes (as well as an open invitation to those who favor two wheels). My kart, a used Briggs-and-Stratton-powered Margay, slots into the L206 Senior class, which features drivers over 15-year-old and combined weight of 365 pounds or more. According to track owner Kevin Haun, this class is one of the course’s most competitive.

Haun’s family purchased the ELKT in 1973. Through his family’s stewardship, the track has not just endured since then—it’s thrived. “We were here last weekend for their season finale,” said a fellow karter, “and the pits were so packed we had to park out by the road.”

Compared to the prior weekend, Saturday’s open practice, had a totally different feel. Some karters were shaking down new pieces. There was a family of three generations setting quick times. And others, like me, were just there to turn laps and enjoy the autumn sun. Think open-top color tour in a 10-horsepower kart. The relaxed nature of the event allowed me to run the kart, digest, tune; then rinse and repeat for five hours. Unplugging, really zeroing in on an activity that demands attention and focus, has a way of letting deeper thoughts simmer in the background. I came away from my day at ELKT, particularly after interacting with the owners and drivers, feeling like I’d touched on some valuable best practices for life. Here they are, in no particular order:

Ask questions

When it comes to setting up a kart, I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s the honest truth. Prior to my visit, I orbited competency through brief calls with my father and ample time scouring karting forums. Still, there was much room for improvement. One of the easiest trackside alterations is tire pressure, and for that I turned to the experts who might know how to adjust for colder fall temps and 25-year-old surface. I asked multiple drivers for tips, ultimately arriving at an average figure for my R80 Hoosiers (which are like hockey pucks). I hit the track with 14 psi at all four corner … and quickly learned my second lesson.

Be patient

The first session of the day served as a quick reminder that some sayings really are truisms. Patience is indeed a virtue. For my early runs, my tires were cold and every corner felt as slick as ice. I imagine I looked something like a horse on rollerskates through those first few laps. Still, with other karts on track, I felt the urge to pick up pace before my tires were ready. Sort of like opening the microwave door before your leftover lasagna has fully thawed.

Hunger has a way of overriding good sense. After stabbing the throttle, it was cold lasagna for me and my kart: a lazy spin on the exit of the track’s tightest turn. I should have waited.

Make friends

This one is quite easy in a setting where people have similar proclivities. (Lesson 1—ask questions—often opens the door here.)

As I was unloading my gear, a gentleman pulled up in a Chevrolet Traverse with a single-axle open trailer. As a fellow solo operator, I took note of his kart stand, which had a hand-powered winch affixed to the end. It’s one way for lone wolves to lower our karts onto the grid.

We started talking about the stand, which led to introducing ourselves. His name is Roger. Despite being in his sixties, Roger has only been karting for four years. “I always passed this property,” he said. “Then one day, I decided to stop in.” Simple as that. Not long after, he purchased a kart and went racing.

Roger and I hit the track at the same time on multiple occasions that day. His souped-up 206 four-stroke with a billet connecting rod—and who knows what else—made him lethal on the straights. And the chrome wheels made the kart look as fast, too. I had major kart envy.

When I surrendered my kart to Associate Managing Editor Grace Houghton for her first karting adventure, Roger chirped up. “You want to try mine?” I jumped at the opportunity. In addition to forging a new friendship, the seat time allowed me to benchmark where my kart was in terms of performance. All from the seed of a little friendly banter.

Push yourself

After a couple sessions, I was really getting the hang of the nuanced track. The back section of the track has a 90-degree left-hander that can be hit wide open providing you’ve mastered the line. As I got quicker through this section, I started to hit the engine’s rev limiter earlier and earlier. To gear my kart for a higher top speed, I purchased a 63-tooth gear from Haun at the parts shop (on credit—boy, do I love the racing community). The change would sacrifice some low-end speed, and with only a couple sessions left in the day, I debated whether I should make the change at all. Call it laziness or complacency, I went back out to focus on the slower segments with the old 65-tooth sprocket.

Two laps in, I brushed ELKT’s notoriously tall curbs and slipped the chain. Fate was shouting at me to make the change. With half the job already done, I wheeled my kart back to the paddock to change sprockets. After the swap, the difference in top speed was marked. Eventually I was able to build toward a quicker lap time and eventually hit the rev limiter again, though much later on the straight. Lesson learned: Don’t rest on your laurels. Make the change.

Observe your surroundings

The final two corners—a sweeping 180-degree right followed by a 180-degree right—were especially tricky. To find my way through the set, I employed two strategies. First, I waited to go out during one of my sessions. Instead of joining the group, I posted up from a good vantage point of the problematic section and watched how the more experienced drivers were tackling the corners.

Then I hopped in and joined the fray. Positioning myself behind the veteran drivers, I embarked on an informal lead-follow. The few laps that I was able to keep the faster racers in view paid great dividends in overall speed through the tricky segment.

Get out there

I know this one sounds cheesy (and I’m half-sure it was a cruise line slogan), but stick with me. It is not easy to pack up a vehicle—whether it be a kart or a full-size race car—along with the requisite equipment, travel many miles, only to then show up to an unfamiliar place. That’d be daunting for just about anyone. The time investment alone is considerable; I can think of so many things I would rather do on the Friday night before race day than make sure my air tank is full, my tie down straps are tight, and that I have the appropriate amount of underwear. The key here: envision the sweet time that you’re going to have out on the track. These memories are going to stay with you much better than a Friday night rewatching Days of Thunder.

Regardless of the specific discipline, racing requires premeditation and focused intent. There’s no app for race prep, so just trust the process. Stick with it and get out there. It’s worth it.

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Like that first time driving on a road course with three pedals and a shifter, operating a camera on fully manual settings is often highly intimidating for the novice. That’s doubly true at the race track, where fast-moving action can be overwhelming. Standing trackside means maintaining control over the sensory overload of noise, vibrations, and puffs of dust or tire smoke.

For starters, you’re wrestling with fatigue before you even flip the switch on your camera. There’s travel, credentials, safety gear, the disparity in permitted shooting locations from track to track—it’s a lot of energy to invest in opportunities that zip by your lens at speed. It might be tempting to simply rely on an automatic setting, but I’d encourage you to resist that urge. While the manual setting requires a bit of extra care, the ceiling for great results is much higher. Knowing how to individually adjust ISO, shutter speed, and aperture on the fly means you can quickly react to changing demands in the field. It’s a lot of dials and buttons, but knowing how settings affect one another and contribute to the final image is the real trick.

There’s nothing quite like capturing the power of a racing moment in a photo, but it takes a lot of work to line up that perfect moment. I’ve prepared a list of five action shots that you can add to your arsenal—ranked from beginner to most difficult. Think of it as a creative safety net for when you get flustered.

Once you get familiar with the mental and physical demands for these types of shots, it will become an unconscious part of your cognitive process—much like a guitar player can belt a tune while simultaneously strumming. When you know how to make your camera do what you want it to, there’s a lot more mental real estate for dialing in composition, lighting, and other variables.

For the sake of this tutorial make sure you are in your camera’s manual mode, with your preferred auto-focus setting. (I prefer AI Servo on my Canon 1DX as it continuously works to focus on the car as it moves.) Also, make sure your camera’s frames-per-second (FPS) setting is at its highest velocity. This will allow you to take a machine-gun style burst and hopefully catch your subject at its most dramatic. (The only drawback is the amount wading required to get through all the duds.)

Let’s begin.

Head-On

The head-on shot is arguably the easiest out there. Find a corner or straight where the car is coming right at you and fire away. (Whether you chose to backlight the car with sun or have the sun at your back is a matter of personal preference.) To capture the car, crisp and clear, use a shutter of 1/1000 or quicker. Since the car’s wheels are barely visible, the fact that they appear motionless is less important. If it’s bright outside, make your shutter quicker to decrease exposure. Leave your aperture wide open—the smallest-number f-stop.

The key here is to be using a longer lens, preferably a telephoto, with a fast (big) aperture so that we can separate the car from the background. Motorsport photography’s do-all lens, the 70-200 mm F2.8, works well in this instance.

With the 2.8 aperture, we can even shoot through catch fences and other obstructions. At the Rolex 24, for example, I’ve seen plenty of fans achieve the same image as a credentialed photographer because they shot “through the fence.”

Once you get the hang of this head-on shot, experiment by putting different objects in the foreground or by changing where the car is in frame. For the shot above, I shot through the wire fence with an 85mm lens at F1.8. The blue fade is the edge of an energy drink sign that was attached the fence. If you look closely, you’ll see a bit of grain in the image. Since I was shooting in low light, I increased my ISO (which affects the image texture) so that I could still use a fairly quick shutter to capture the car head-on.

Panning

Panning seems simple on paper, but in reality it’s a technique packed with nuance. First, pick a shutter speed of 1/125 second or slower. Then, increase aperture until the image is properly exposed. (Keep ISO at 100, unless you’re shooting in low light.)

The most critical element of panning has nothing to do with the camera and everything to do with your feet. Where you stand is essential. The farther back that you can be from your speedy subject, the better (providing you want to achieve a shot that’s crisp bumper-to-bumper). By standing further away, you can properly swing your camera with the car as it travels. Smooth and slow. If you get too close your swing will be too quick and highly inaccurate. Also, for beginners, try to pick a spot inside the apex of a corner, at least 20 yards away. There, the car better matches the trajectory of your lens as you rotate.

Now that you have your spot, get comfortable and take a couple practice swings. Did that feel natural? Do you have a firm footing? I prefer to keep my feet at least a foot-and-a-half apart with my toes slightly pointing to where the car is going. This allows me to unwind as I move with the car.

In my experience, it’s best to choose a singular focus point for this exercise, rather than brackets or whole frame. When the car enters the frame, settle on a spot, whether it be the door or the front wheel, and try to keep the focus point consistent. (I prefer the A-pillar, for whatever reason.) Then fire away.

With each repetition, preview your image in the camera. If you didn’t get any “keepers,” either try again or go a little bit quicker with the shutter. If you’re getting plenty of crisp shots, I encourage you to go lower on the shutter speed (remember to increase your aperture to compensate for the longer shutter).

It’s also a wise idea to use in-camera or lens stabilization. This will help compensate—albeit nominally—for any small irregular movements in your panning motion.

Remember to play with different lenses, too. Panning with wider lens—or even on the outside of a corner—will yield drastically different results.

A fun challenge: try connecting the tire’s sidewall lettering in your pans. The shutter speed at which you’re able to achieve this will depend on the car’s actual speed. For example, in sprint cars, its consistently a 1/50-second shutter that turns Hoosier into a solid, white ring.

Panning through objects

Once you have your panning shots dialed, you can start placing objects between you and your subject. As you swing your lens, the static foreground components will turn into long trails.

While you can use your autofocus to pick up the car through the obstructions (some newer cameras are really good at this), I prefer the old-school manual focus method.

First, find your position behind something where you can see the car intermittently. Greenery, fans, and fences work quite well. The big difference between this technique and straightforward panning, is the shutter speed. I’ve had the best luck with anything slower than 1/15 second shutter. This allows the obscuring object to better “break apart” into something unrecognizable. These pans take time. Stick with it, and experiment with autofocus and manual focus.

Life hack: try this type of shot at the beginning of the race or session. As cars tootle around during the pace laps, use auto-focus to “pre-focus” your lens to the correct focal point. Then, switch your lens to manual. Next time the cars come around at full honk, they will be in focus.

Twist Pan

Once you’ve graduated from basic panning, you are ready to try the twist pan. (I’m not even sure that’s the official name, but that’s what I call it.) You’ll need a zoom lens for this type of shot.

Basically, you stand where you would for a pan. Rather than waiting for the car to pass you, start shooting while it’s approaching you.

At this a diagonal angle, you will twist the zoom from its longest reach to its shortest. For the shot above, I started at 200 mm and twisted as the car approached me to 70 mm. While I’m twisting the lens, I’m also panning with the car and trying to keep a singular focus point on the same part of the vehicle. For these shots, I try to remain focused on the closest headlight.

As far as shutter speeds, I’ve had the most success between 1/40 and 1/15 second.

This is one of my favorite shots because the streaks in pavement have a vanishing point.

Twist Pan (Away)

The inverse of the twist pan is arguably the most difficult action shot because it’s a truly awkward maneuver to zoom in on the car as it darts away. Use a similar shutter speed and position as the other twist pan method.

The best thing with this shot—and every other one listed—is practice. Repetition is key. Seeing yourself improve with each attempt is truly rewarding.

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As a throwback to one of Plymouth’s most memorable advertisements from the muscle-car era, DodgeGarage is teaming up with a Detroit-based vinyl company to offer all 14 of Dodge’s High Impact colors in one rainbow-streaked wrap. From the Plum Crazy nose to the White Knuckle-coated tail, this custom scheme is sure to turn heads.

The multicolored ball started rolling earlier this summer, when Dodge wrapped a display Challenger in all 14 High Impact colors to celebrate the revival of three heritage colors (B5 Blue, Plum Crazy, and Sublime) for the coupe’s final year in production. Now, for $3700, plus installation, DodgeGarage will sell you the multi-color wrap of your very own, which can be installed by any 3M-certified installer.

As jarring as the saturnalia of shades may be, this aftermarket option could become collectible. For one, most Moparheads remember the advertisement and may appreciate the old-school homage. As the golden era of internal-combustion muscle fades, perhaps they will be more likely to plunk down extra cash for one of these vinyl-cloaked, nostalgic Challengers.

Also, a wrap is temporary. If this were a custom paint job, the collectibility conversation may be different. If the technicolor stripes appeal to you, fly that freak flag. Unlike that tattoo you got on spring break, you can remove this vinyl anytime, with minimal risk to your original paint.

The ad from 1970, which appeared in a Plymouth brochure, showcased the latest custom interior and exterior options in the firm’s Rapid Transit line. With the tagline “Performance alone does not a supercar make,” the ad boasted the firms’ most fashionable goodies, including the Roadrunner pinstripe, Pistol Grip shifter, and shaker hood. A 1970 Barracuda in the ad, covered in 25 vertical stripes of varying colors, touted the “latest West Coast flavors.” (Clearly, the California custom scene had major swing.)

Unlike the other hot-shot options in the advertisement, the Paint Chip ‘Cuda was an illustration. A memorable render nonetheless, Mopar man Tim Wellborn ended up commissioning a custom to match the advertisement. The Bomb Factory, a restoration shop in New Orleans took on the project of transforming the right side of a stock Ivy Green 1970 Cuda with 25 vinyl stripes. Currently, the car is on display at the Wellborn Museum for patrons to gaze on the most historic Mopar to never exist.

Should you want a similar rainbow in your driveway, you now have that option.

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“The big thing is our haulers,” says NASCAR team owner Justin Marks.

Before the start of Trackhouse Racing’s sophomore season—and first campaign as a two-car effort—Marks dropped massive cash to wrap a pair of Peterbilts in matte black and blue chrome vinyl. Haulers, typically, don’t get this kind of attention as part of race prep.

“I blew out the budget on the haulers and caught some people off-guard,” says Marks. “We rolled into Daytona, though, and everyone was talking about how good they looked.”

Not even a full race in, the young team was already turning heads. It’s a calculated piece of Trackhouse’s strategy.

“Traditionally, teams don’t pay attention to those things, because they’ve been so focused on what it takes to make the race cars go fast, but we are fundamentally a marketing company,” explains Marks.

This attention-to-detail mindset has propelled what started as a small start-up team into a multi-car, championship-contenting juggernaut. Less than two years ago, Trackhouse had never seen a Cup series race. Now, with three Sundays left in the 2022 season, it’s in the thick of the championship hunt.

How did this transformation happen? How did Marks, now 41, become one of NASCAR’s most popular owners seemingly overnight? To answer these questions and more, we got in touch with the hyperactive team owner for an in-depth breakdown.

Born in St. Louis, Marks grew up watching dirt racing in Iowa with his grandfather. Tracks like Knoxville and 34 Raceway set the hook. The young fan’s time in the Midwest was short-lived, however; his father, Michael, was one of the first to shuffle the family out to San Jose ahead of Silicon Valley’s tech revolution. In California, the family gained firm financial footing which allowed Justin to pursue his interest in road racing.

A 1969 Datsun 510 served as his first set of wheels on track, competing in SCCA’s San Francisco region. Not long after, Marks went pro racing thanks to a sponsorship from his father’s electronics company. It was a large jump by any measure: The rookie racer, with less than 20 green flags under his belt, proved a serviceable teammate to ace drivers like Boris Said in road racing’s pro ranks. In the mid-2000s, Marks made his stock car debut in the ARCA series.

In the following years, Marks bounced between disciplines, series, and sanctioning bodies before teaming up with Chip Ganassi as a part-time driver in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series. He earned his sole win at a rain-soaked Mid Ohio in 2016.

While racing, Marks had other irons in the fire—one being a role in the nation’s premier go-kart rental facilities, GoPro Motorplex in North Carolina. “I’ve always been interested in business,” says Marks, whose team consistently plays counterpoint to seasoned teams rooted in conventional thinking. “I grew up in Silicon Valley and had a front-row seat to new disruptive business and [it] was always something that fascinated me.”

In 2019, Marks made a decision that would send his world into a blender.

“I’ve always wanted to be successful at the highest levels of NASCAR. And I wasn’t going to do it as a driver,” says Marks. “But the barrier of entry from the Cup Series was so high, so I had never really considered going Cup racing. Then, I started hearing about the new car.”

Propelled by the insider insight that NASCAR was on the precipice of introducing its radically new Next Gen stocker, Marks announced that he would enter the Cup Series as a team owner. “The new car represented an opportunity to be successful with things that I thought I was good at things that I could do.” This included bringing new partners into the fold and quickly adapting to the radically-new racer. Marks had spent years in and around IMSA cars, suppliers, and partners. NASCAR’s novel machine, which borrowed heavily from its road-racing, France-owned counterpart, was familiar territory for Marks.

Marks leased a charter from a fellow team for the 2021 season, which guaranteed a starting position in each race and brought in Ty Norris as partner. No stranger to launching new teams, Norris helped stand up Dale Earnhardt’s race team in the late-1990s. Now, the industry veteran would help Marks build the foundation of their fledgling team. Trackhouse Racing was born.

The 2021 season was very much a building period, as the new car was still a year out. Trackhouse’s sole driver, Mexican-born Daniel Suárez, did well on occasion but never found victory lane. Looking for a solution beyond the one-year charter lease, Marks called old employer Chip Ganassi in hopes that he might sell his two-car team. Rather than purchase an additional charter for millions of dollars, Marks sealed the deal with Ganassi in the fall of 2021. “He made me a great offer that required my attention,” said Ganassi during the press conference that announced the big sale. Trackhouse headquarters remained in Nashville, while Ganassi’s old 140,000-square-foot building became the team’s new race shop.

Marks wasn’t done making waves. As if the acquisition of one of NASCAR’s longest-tenured owners wasn’t enough, he brought Latin pop artist Pitbull into the fray as co-owner. For their driver lineup, they retained Daniel Suárez and added Ganassi driver Ross Chastain, an eighth-generation watermelon farmer known for his scrappy attitude—and for smashing watermelons from the roof of his car during victory celebrations.

Behind the scenes, the new Cup team owner faced the herculean task of marrying separate shops and two sets of employees under one common goal. “I approached this new car with a complete clean slate,” says Marks. “I didn’t want anybody working for this company that didn’t like the new car or think it was really cool.” Any employees who didn’t embrace the change were kindly asked to leave.

The end result was a group of people that he says “approach the car like solving a puzzle, with an open mind, enthusiasm, and positivity.” He adds: “With this car, I feel like that translates to speed.”

So far, it has.

Earlier this year, Suárez, a 30-year-old driver from Monterrey, claimed his first Cup victory in his 195th start, becoming the first Mexican-born driver to win in the series. Melon man Ross Chastain is a multiple-time winner this year and a serious threat for the title.

Beyond the actual spinning of the wrenches, Marks continues to develop Trackhouse as a brand that has roots in racing but reaches far beyond the discipline. Building the firm into an entertainment brand ranks high on the new owner’s list. Earlier this year, Trackhouse signed pro golfer James Hahn. The team also brought Formula 1 star Kimi Räikkönen to the United States to race in the team’s Project 91—a program devoted to placing drivers, on a part-time basis, from other series in NASCAR Cup car.

As for Marks, he still trades his owner hat for a helmet from time to time. Most recently, he strapped into a NASCAR truck to race at the site of his prior NASCAR triumph, Mid Ohio. True to Trackhouse form, the cameras were there, along with the spotlight. All anyone could talk about during the truck series’ inaugural visit to the road course was Marks’ one-off race.

This cocktail of creativity—athletes, apparel, and everything else—has morphed Trackhouse into a legitimate force. Each person at the company, according to Marks, is all in. “I’m standing in the shop right now, looking at 60 people on the floor working, and every single one of them contributed to how we’re doing things,” he says.

Trackhouse is a team effort, one that’s making waves beyond just NASCAR. If the sensational haulers are any indication, no detail is too small—or too big.

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

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The stick-shift Porsche 911 just got a little more accessible. Porsche just unveiled the 2023 Carrera T with a standard seven-speed manual, slotting in below the Carrera S—previously the entry point for three-pedal 911 buyers of the current 992-generation car.

The base-model Carrera continues to exclusively offer an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic.

In 1967, Porsche debuted the 911T—an entry-level Porsche that prioritized simplicity over creature comforts. The “T” stood for “touring.” Once the four-cylinder 912 went out of production in 1969, the T was the low Porsche in the 911 pecking order, behind the mid-tier 911E and alpha dog 911S.

Fifty years later, Porsche brought back the “T,” for the 2018 model year. This 991.2-generation 911 Carrera T carried the same stripped-down philosophy as its progenitor—rear seat delete, lightweight glass, lowered suspension, and cloth door pulls. While this modern-age grand tourer was not nearly as bare-bones as the 1960s Spartan, it was damn-near close to a base model. A little more special, though.

Then, when the 991 platform gave way to the current 992 generation for the 2020 model year, it meant a hiatus for the Carrera T. Meanwhile, this “pure” trim level filtered down to the 718 Cayman, 718 Boxster, and Macan crossover.

Now, it’s back. As before, the T will nestle itself in the 911 lineup between the base car and the Carrera S.

The 2023 Carrera T is lighter and lower than the standard Carrera, which should appeal to driving enthusiasts. Deleting the rear seat (which is still available as a no-cost option) and including a standard seven-speed manual—plus thinner glass and a smaller-size battery—help shave 100 pounds from the base car. Dripping wet, the whole rig is 3254 pounds. Aiding the performance cause is PASM Sport, which comes standard in the T and lowers ride height by 10 mm. The Carrera S donates its mechanical limited-slip differential with torque-vectoring, as well. Rear-axle steering is available as an option, which it is not on the base Carrera.

The ordinary Carrera engine soldiers on untouched here: 379 horses from a twin-turbo, 3.0-liter six-cylinder. The manual delivers a 0-60 sprint in 4.3 seconds, but if you’re willing to sacrifice a clutch pedal there is a no-cost eight-speed dual-clutch (PDK) that reduces the shuffle to 3.8 seconds. The combination of lightweight glass and reduced sound deadening should help drivers better appreciate the flat-six exhaust note.

Outside of the minor mechanical tweaks, the T enjoys a few cosmetic glow-ups. The new wardrobe features Titanium Grey Carrera S wheels (20s up front and 21s out back) and dark grey accents on the mirrors and doors. Interior goodies include the smaller GT Sport steering wheel, throaty Sport Exhaust System, and four-way adjustable sport seats.

Despite the less-is-more persona, the Carrera T does offer the usual bevy of customizable Porsche options from seat belt color to decorative stitching, leather accents, and lots more. (Is it still lightweight with a full-leather interior, four seats, and a 13-speaker Burmester audio system?) Exterior colors run the gamut, and Porsche even offers its “Paint to Sample” custom pigment that was previously unavailable on the outgoing, 991-generation Carrera T.

How much will the newest T set you back? When this rear-drive coupe reaches dealerships in Spring 2023, MSRP will be $116,600 (plus a $1450 delivery fee). Given that its 2022 Carrera S counterpart is a touch pricier at $124,450, uses the same engine, three pedals, and many of the same choice performance bits, the T might as well stand for “takeoff.”

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By the time teams rolled into the Circle City for the 1963 Indy 500, the Watson-built roadster affectionately nicknamed “Calhoun” was a seasoned veteran. Behind its wheel, Lloyd Ruby finished seventh at the big race in 1960 and, the following year, rookie sensation Parnelli Jones came home 12th, after leading 27 laps.

And in 1962, Jones broke the 150 mile-per-hour mark in qualifying, led 120 laps, but succumbed to brake issues in the second half of the race.

It was the 1963 race, though, that immortalized the car—and solidified Jones’ title as a multi-discipline hall-of-fame driver, finding victory lane in sports cars, off-road Broncos, and open wheel. Featuring a few new improvements, Jones was back at the top of the pylon throughout the month of May, and in the closing laps he and old Calhoun held a 43-second lead over Jim Clark in a rear-engine Lotus-Ford.

The four-year-old car hadn’t lost an ounce of pace, but it was losing oil.

While completing the remaining circuits, calls from around the track claimed that Jones’ car was leaking oil from the side-mounted tank. Despite the reports, race organizers USAC never black-flagged the entry. The California driver and his trusty steed cruised to their first 500 triumph.

Calhoun was back in 1964 with Jones at the wheel, but a fire cut the car’s final race short. In its tenure, Calhoun lead the 500 for 321 out of 647 completed circuits.

But the onward march of progress heads to no one. The fact that a car was this successful, with minimal changes, over four years underlined how unknowingly stagnant the Indy scene had become. Rear-engine roadsters were a growing dot in the mirrors of the proven Offenhauser-powered Watson roadsters. In fact, just one year after Calhoun’s final bout, a fresh-faced Scottish driver named Jim Clark would bring the rear-engine layout its first win in 1965 aboard a Lotus-Ford, signifying that the revolution had arrived.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum highlights this era of great change in its latest exhibit, “Roadsters 2 Records.” A period of immense change at the Speedway, from 1960 through the early-1970s is succinctly condensed into two large rooms of the actual cars that brought about these radical changes. I thought I’d share some of my favorites from the collection. If you’d like to see these cars—and so much more, including the helmets, tech, and other Indy innovations throughout the decade—I urge you to pay a visit. The exhibit runs until the first week in November 2022.

1961 Kimberly Cooper-Climax

Fun party trick: Next time you’re in a room full of Indy fanatics, ask them which car was the first rear-engine roadster to start in the 500. Many may incorrectly guess this Cooper-Climax T54 that ran in 1961. (The first rear-engine to qualify was a Gulf-Miller in 1939, driven by George Bailey. Not that George Bailey.)

While it wasn’t the first—or even the second—rear-engine roadster to roll onto the Indy grid, it was arguably the most important. “The first shot in the the rear-engine revolution,” says its exhibit placard. Driven by Jack Brabham, the royal blue, cigar-shaped racer featured a Coventry Climx inline four-cylinder, which was out-powered by the proven Offenhausers. Still, the machine made excellent pace, made possible by its lightweight configuration. If A.J. Foyt’s winning Watson roadster was a rhino, the Cooper was a lithe butterfly, and one that flew to a respectable ninth-place finish.

1964 Hurst Floor Shift Special

In 1964, one of stock car racing’s most innovative mechanics ditched the fenders and built an open-wheel racer for the Indianapolis 500. Despite the rapid innovation and eclectic mix of front and rear engine roadsters on the 500 grid, absolutely nothing looked like the mad mechanic’s creation. Known as “Smokey’s sidecar,” the car featured an offset pod where the driver sat, gauges mounted by the driver’s forearm, and—the only thing conventional about this rig—a proven 255-cubic inch Offenhauser inline four mounted out back.

Rookie driver Bobby Johns spun the car into the retaining wall during qualifying. Try as they may, the car couldn’t be repaired in time to make another run. The novel racers never saw action again.

1965 Sheraton-Thompson Special

The most successful Lotus in IndyCar history started life as a backup car. The cigar-shaped roadster was another bullet in Team Lotus’ chamber for its 1964 Indy 500 drivers, during the month of May. After a disappointing 500, Team Lotus sold all three of its Type 34s to FoMoCo.

Ford eventually gave the car to A.J. Foyt, after Foyt and Parnelli Jones each piloted the car at undercard events throughout the 1964 season. What a difference a year made. Foyt was hot out of the gate, earning pole positions in each of the first four races, including the 1965 Indy 500. The battle was lost for the front-engine roadsters. Ford’s top two shoes, and the most revered drivers at the speedway, had switched to the rear-engine roadsters.

1968 Pepsi-Frito Lay Special

By 1966, Watson roadsters that had cleaned house the previous decade were quickly becoming antiques—the last one to compete (also on display) ran in ’66. It was clear to owners, mechanics, and drivers that the winning formula at Indy was a rear-mounted engine. Somebody either forgot to tell legend Jim Hurtubise, or, more likely, he just didn’t listen. For the strong-willed driver nicknamed “Herk,” it was likely the latter.

In the display, a photocopied entry form next to the car—which is displayed as it was found—reveals that Hurtubise was the owner, driver, and chief mechanic. The “Mallard,” as he called it, was more of a compromise between the old and the new. Its engine, while still in front of the driver, sat more toward the middle, and the whole car weighed less than 1350 pounds.

Plagued by fuel injection problems in its maiden voyage, the roadster failed to qualify for the 1967 Indy 500. No to be dissuaded, Hurtubise brought the same car back a year later in a rather dapper Pepsi-Frito Lay livery and made it into the show. After nine laps, he suffered an engine failure, ultimately becoming the last front-engine roadster to compete in the 500.

1972 American Marine Underwriters Special

The primary sponsor is ironic if you consider that the whole front half of this 1972 Antares looks like an upside down boat. Jokes, aside the construction of this particular roadster was quite calculated as it was the first Indy car designed on a computer, using “data processed onto punch cards containing long numeric formulas and equations.”

The first of its kind, the Antares also uses a primordial version of ground effects. A rounded bottom uses airflow under the car to create downforce. Team owners Pat Patrick and Lindsey Hopkins were also ahead of their time in their use of onboard telemetry gathered through sensors on the car and sent back to the an engineer in the garage. Despite the three revolutionary advances, which have become best practice in the industry today, the Antares never found success on track and could only ever muster a 24th in the big race.

1972 Sunoco McLaren

In the years following the rear-engine revolution, aerodynamics surfaced as the hottest, most-polarizing topic at the Speedway. Teams scrambled to develop and build new aero features into their cars.

McLaren debuted its M16 in 1971. To workaround USAC’s rule that disallowed bolt-on aero devices, Big Orange shaped a rear wing into the engine cover. The cars were quick from the drop, populating three of the top four starting positions at the ’71 Indy 500.

Roger Penske, most likely taking note of the M16’s instant speed, ordered two M16Bs for the following year. The refined car possessed a shorter nose so that the massive rear wing could fit within USAC’s maximum length rule. Teammates Gary Bettenhausen and Mark Donohue combined to lead a total of 151 of 200 laps, with Donohue leading the final 13 circuits. His  marked the first of Penske’s 18 Indy 500 victories as a team owner.

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In celebration of our first drive review of the rip-roaring new Corvette Z06, we got to cooking on a list of the coolest—and most unique—Corvettes to ever cross a finish line. After all, the package began as a low-profile effort to put competition parts in the hand of SCCA’s A-Production racers. This was back in the 1960s, when GM elected to (officially) withhold factory support in motorsports in the years following the tragedy at Le Mans. For less than two grand, “Zora’s Option 6” delivered a 360-horsepower 327-cubic-inch small block, aluminum wheels, a limited-slip diff, and more robust suspension components including a larger sway bar and stiffer springs.

Shortly thereafter, a Z06 first found victory lane at the hands of Mickey Thompson and Doug Hooper. And while Z06-specific victories represent a slim slice of the Corvette’s overall racing triumphs, much of the marque’s success, whether on a road course or a drag strip, should be attributed to those primordial Corvette competitors. Cheers to the Z06; thanks for keeping the lights on.

Betty Skelton’s 1956 Corvette

Naturally, before the Z06 package ever graced GM’s option list, hot-rodded Corvettes still found their way to the track. The model’s first-generation was more than a worthy canvas for go-fast alterations. Many rolled into victory lane in national club racing. Though, arguably more unique than the roll-bar-wearing C1’s that captured checkers from Sebring to Le Mans, were the group of relatively stock appearing racers that performed speed trials on Daytona Beach.

Of the Chevrolet roadster drivers, Betty Skelton was the star. Known as “The Lady of Firsts,” she was an aerobatics pilot, first, before transitioning to competition on four wheels. She was the first woman to pace the Daytona 500 as well as the first woman to test drive for Chrysler. Skelton was also the first woman to be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame. Pictured here in 1956 aboard a Vette of the same year, Skelton would end up setting three women’s land speed records on the Daytona Beach course.

Cunningham’s 1960 Corvette at Le Mans

In 1960, Zora Arkus-Duntov and American privateer Briggs Cunningham teamed up to enter Corvette in its first 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the model’s French coming out party, the team used three 1960 Corvettes with go-fast goodies including 283-cubic-inch Fuelies, heavy duty brakes, a beefier suspension, and limited-slip differentials. At the conclusion of 24 hours, one of the three had upset the field of Euro counterparts Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Porsche to win the GT class—and finish eighth overall.

Corvette’s stellar rookie run at Le Mans would set the tone for future landmark performances at the iconic endurance race.

1963 Grand Sport Corvette

Perhaps inspired by the performance at Le Mans in 1960, Zora commissioned and oversaw the development of a lightweight, ultra-powerful apex-eater called the Corvette Grand Sport. His original plan was to build 125 lightweight homologation models to satisfy road racing’s GT rulebook. But in 1963, the program ran head-on into GM’s self-imposed racing ban and had to cease production on the racers. Still, several made it through, and of the finished Grand Sports, Zora and his team distributed them to privateer teams.

Of the rare breed, perhaps the most notable was Chassis #005, which traded hands several times between John Mecom, Jim Hall, and Roger Penkse. Before Penske became “The Captain,” and before Texan Jim Hall ever built a Chaparral race car, they teamed up to drive the Grand Sport in select races, such as the 12 hours of Sebring (shown above).

Don Kirby’s Corvette Funny Car

While many factory stock Corvettes infested the local drag strips from Englishtown to Lions, in period, there are a few more obscure fiberglass creations that turned heads in NHRA’s Funny Car class. Tom McEwen, the Mongoose himself, even ran a rather wicked C3-bodied flopper after his stint in Mopars.

It’s Don Kirby’s candy red second-gen funny that has us absolutely salivating. If you live life a quarter-mile at a time, the name may strike you as familiar. During the glory days of NHRA’s fiberglass funnies, Kirby owned a fiberglass repair and paint shop that was known as the Funny Car Supermarket. There, Kirby and his team could make, paint, letter, and mount a new body. According to a profile in Hot Rod, the shop could churn out 20 painted cars in a month. As a fiberglass repair shop in the 1970s, you can imagine that a fair number of damaged Plastic Fantastics rolled into the garage bays. Perhaps, this is why Kirby elected to utilize a C2 for his personal flopper. “When [Kirby] unveiled his ‘topless’ model, everyone took notice,” wrote Car Craft back in the day. “His first week out produced a 198 mile-per-hour shot at the lights.”

Spirit of Sebring ’76 Greenwood Corvette

Detroit-born brothers John and Burt Greenwood were Corvette’s motorsports strongmen during the 1970s and 80s. John grew up street racing down the Motor City’s Woodward Ave in his 1964 Corvette, before eventually turning to SCCA competition where he won early and often.

The duo’s most famous creations were their wide-body third-gen Corvettes which tap-danced between rulebook margins. Its first iteration debuted on the floor of Cobo Hall for the 1974 Detroit Auto Show. The second group of Greenwood C3s featured coil overs on all four corners and an even more aggressive aero package, like the Spirit of Sebring ’76 pictured here. Under the Revolutionary scheme, boomed a different type of canon—a 467-cubic inch aluminum big-block V-8, producing north of 700 horsepower.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Corvette GTP racer

It may come as a surprise that a mid-engine Corvette raced in professional road racing competition over three decades before the first mid-engine Corvette road car was born. Gm partnered with Lola to create a purpose-built tube frame sports car draped in a very loose interpretation of fourth-gen Corvette bodywork. Save for some stickers and maybe the nose, it was a stretch to call the beast a Corvette. Beginning in 1984, the IMSA grid featured a couple of these GTP racers with car-specific powerplants. Lee Racing campaigned a 5.7-liter V-8 block, while Hendrick Motorsports (pictured here) used a 3.4-liter turbocharged V-6 in its Goodwrench-liveried ‘Vette.

Corvette Racing’s C5.R

In the early-1990s racing manager Doug Fehan convinced GM to campaign its C5 Corvette—which was mid-development—and eventually enlisted car builders Pratt & Miller to transform the develop the model into a purpose-built road racer. The car debuted on the grid of the 1999 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

Two years, one first Le Mans debut, and a first win later Corvette Racing was back at the Florida high banks, this time, with “the Intimidator” Dale Earnhardt and his son splitting driving duties with team regular Andy Pilgrim. That year was also special for the Corvette crew, as the sister car claimed first overall, a rare feat for GT cars.

Corvette Racing’s C8.R

Another Pratt & Miller-built beast, the C8.R debuted in 2020, in conjunction with the release of the mid-engine production car. Featuring a race version of the LT6 small block, the 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 propelled the novel car to six class victories in its debut season. A year later, the mid-engine racer won its class victory in the Rolex 24, sweeping the top two steps of GT competition.

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Last year, for 2021, Mercedes-Benz introduced its AMG GT Black Series Coupe, a 720-horsepower track demon capable of 0-60 in an impressive 3.1 seconds. Even more staggering is its price tag of $325,000; the Black Series is the ultimate iteration of the AMG GT Coupe, and thus customers must pay a price as lofty as the supercar’s runway-sized wing. Not since the 2014 SLS AMG Black Series has black been so definitively back … albeit also available in several sizzling colors, from orange Magma Beam to a lime Green Light Magno.

Mercedes recently loaned us a 2021 AMG GT for review, dropping a sinister-looking coupe at our editorial office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The slinky two-seater featured matte black exterior paint, black wheels, black calipers, and an interior slathered in, well, you get the idea. Cloth, leather, and carbon fiber—all midnight. It is, however, not a Black Series. Mercedes dubs this Bruce Wayne-worthy sports car the Stealth Edition. Given the heads this $137,000 coupe turns, we can’t say the moniker squares with our experience.

For the 2021 model year, AMG mildly refreshed its aging flagship GT—first introduced for the 2015 model year—with heightened performance and more standard equipment. The 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 base model received a boost in ponies from 469 hp to 523 hp and a similar bump in torque, from 465 to 494 lb-ft. Adding to extra thrust, AMG tossed in the electronically controlled limited-slip differential, AMG Ride Control adaptive suspension, and “Race” drive mode previously included as standard in the AMG GT S.

And what’s a refresh without a special edition? To that end, the Mercedes performance arm out of Affalterbach doled out this Stealth Edition, combining Black Series aesthetics with high-performance grand-touring capability.

There’s a funny thing about stealth, though. Visit any airshow, and it’s the stealth fighters that get the most eyeballs. A $9150 option on the order form, the Stealth Edition cloaks the exterior and interior in AMG’s Night Package and boasts a bevy of other no-pigment-parts. Combined with the suitably menacing burble emanating from four black exhaust tips, the Benz draws curious gazes and howls from downtown alleys.

The smoked look and matte Graphite Grey Magno paint ($3950) indeed add something extra to the AMG GT’s attractive profile, which is more familiar in a classic Mercedes silver finish. The coupe’s design remains essentially gorgeous. Upon its original release in 2014, Daimler VP of Design Gorden Wagener cited the challenge inherent in trying to craft a new icon on par with the 300SL, arguably the most beautiful sports car of all time.

Borrowing some of the 300SL’s classic proportions, the GT sports an impossibly long nose, its A-pillar nearly at the midpoint of the wheelbase. Its bean-like greenhouse perched above the rear axle is similarly evocative of its gull-winged ancestor. Even without the wing or the aggressive front fascia that distinguish the full-attack Black Series, the Stealth Edition elicits just as many slack jaws as a new Corvette or 911 GT3.

It delivers smiles behind the wheel, too. We scored some track time with the black beast on the tight and twisty Waterford Hills road course. The big Benz is all about carrying momentum here, tearing through turns like a screaming German bowling ball. On the straights, you’re suddenly into triple digits with a braking zone fast approaching. This is where AMG’s seven-speed dual-clutch transmission shines; not only is it quick to bang off downshift requests from the paddles, it’s generally smart enough to handle cog-swapping on its own. Only twice during our multiple sessions did it stumble and leave us in the wrong gear upon corner entry.

Senior Editor Eddy Eckart—also a club racer—was particularly impressed with the AMG GT’s agility, relative to its size. “Placing that long nose is so critical in this car,” he says. “In that respect it’s unlike any other front-engine, rear-drive car I’ve driven.” Despite that, the Benz is more than willing to turn when properly coaxed. Eckart’s advice: “Get it pointed, rotate with gas, and hang on.” Even though the AMG GT Stealth Edition isn’t a pure apex eater like its more competent Black Series brethren, or even the track-oriented AMG GT R, it’s plenty proficient for a few track days per year. More important, it’s fun.

The onboard telemetry—including a throttle trace display—serves well to guide a driver of any skill level. We did, however, note that its pedal seemed a bit soft after hard use and—perhaps the biggest on-track knock—driver helmets consistently clanged the interior of the roof sill. You should also make sure to switch off automated emergency braking prior to any track use; even during mild-pace lead-follow warmups chasing Road Test Editor Alejandro Della Torre, the Benz flashed warning lights and bucked even with plenty of space between cars in the braking zone.

The ride home from Waterford gave us a chance to sample the AMG’s on-road manners. Comfort has to be a focus for any luxury performer, especially a Mercedes. Road noise is muffled well, especially for a low-riding sports car with a chassis this rigid. Engine noise, however, could be a bit more bombastic—or at least as full of character for the driver as it sounds for passers-by. “Could use more theater,” agrees Eckart. AMG’s not-too-rigid, diamond-quilted leather performance seats had plenty of bolster for the impromptu track day, but sufficient wiggle room for the highway drive home—a rare happy medium. The only awkwardness comes from the electronic seat controls on the side of the seat, which are tricky to operate once the door is shut. The plush steering wheel, reminiscent of cloth karting wheels, feels good, though fewer buttons on the spokes to prevent any unintentional tapping couldn’t hurt.

Unlike the new 2+2 SL, the GT sacrifices its back seat in favor of a more intimate interior. The GT convertible offers open air above, but you’ll be pleased to know that the coupe’s rear hatch opens to reveal decent cargo space for two, despite the shallow appearance. It’s no GT500 trunk, and the mid-engine Vette has the advantage of a frunk (not to mention half the sticker price), but the Benz has much more space in its booty than the Jaguar F-Type.

Over on the console, things are simpler. A large trackpad is flanked by eight buttons arranged in a V-shape to echo the engine lurking up front. This is a level of design detail most welcome in a six-figure sports car, and the mixture of physical buttons, climate controlling toggles, and one large trackpad strikes the right balance between streamlined and sensible. We only wish the flanking buttons were raised rather than recessed, as they have a propensity to catch crumbs and other detritus. The upscale Burmester audio system (a $1300 option) provides a clean, upscale sound, but given the tight cabin’s layout it lacks a certain fortissimo that’s delivered in larger sedans like the S-Class.

Speaking of sedans, a quick aside: Two years before the Stealth Edition or the Black Series, AMG introduced the AMG GT 4-Door, a raked-roof Panamera competitor riding on a modified E-Class platform. The four-door is bigger, more spacious, and more powerful in top-dog GT63 form, but it’s also a lot more awkward to the eyes, as if the GT coupe were mashed together with a CLS-Class. Mercedes would have done well to call it something else and leave the GT name to this handsome two-door.

Some may choose the GT because its styling is referential to Benz’s timeless 300SL. Others might want a road-going attention-getter with a taste of the pedigree that sees Mercedes consistently dominating GT3 competition or pacing the Formula 1 field. It’s certainly spicier than the more regal Lexus LC500, more carefully considered than the Aston Martin Vantage, and a stronger styling statement over the immutable Porsche 911. What’s clear is that Mercedes-AMG got this car so right eight years ago, when it first launched, that it remains every bit as satisfying as it is alluring.

Stealth? Sure. In no form, however, would we call the AMG GT a sleeper.

***

2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Stealth Edition

Price: $118,600 / $137,050 (base / as-tested)

Highs: Looks amazing, sounds even better, gets plenty of attention

Lows: Interior is a bit cramped, ergonomics stumble here and there. Could use a bit more theater.

Takeaway: Black Series attitude with everyday appeal. Good luck flying under the radar in the AMG GT Stealth Edition (as if you ever really wanted to).

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In case you haven’t noticed, the recently unveiled 2024 Mustang is rocking the headlines. Ponies, pixels, funky e-brake, gasoline—huzzah! If you prefer Mustangs of a more track-oriented variety—ones with wings, stripes, and slicks—then the six new racing Mustangs, and the Mustang Dark Horse, for that matter, should be at the top of your seventh-gen release notes.

During Wednesday night’s unveiling, Ford made it abundantly clear that where there is racing, there will be a Mustang. Ford’s iconic muscle car will compete on a national level in a variety of sports car, drag racing, and stock car series.

Among the new fleet of Mustang racers, perhaps the most anticipated is the Mustang GT3. In 2024, the Blue Oval will return to GT3 sports car racing with an all-new car, a purpose-built, aero-improved Mustang road racer with a 5.4-liter Coyote-based V-8 behind the galloping chrome horse. In addition to making the new Mustang available to customers, current GT4 partner Multimatic will manage a two-car GT3 team for Ford’s factory-backed efforts. The motorsports outfit famously helped put the Ford GT back in Le Mans’ victory lane.

Speaking of the French endurance race, the recent announcement revealed that the new car will also be eligible to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, come 2024. “Mustang is raced at all the great tracks around the world, but there is no race or track that means more to our history than Le Mans,” said executive chair Bill Ford at the debut. The Blue Oval looks to “shock the world again,” this time in America’s storied, front-engine muscle car.

Even sooner, a new Mustang GT4 car will be available for race teams as early as 2023. Consider the coupe a diet GT3; the car will be eligible to compete in its respective sports car classes in IMSA, SRO, and FIA GT, banging doors with Porsche 718 Caymans, BMW M4s, and McLaren Arturas.

Also for 2023, a new version of the Mustang will debut in the Australian Supercar series. There, the Mustang has been a front-runner since it replaced the Falcon in 2019.

The new Stang will also appear at the strip in the coming years for NHRA’s newest run group, Factory X (FX), joining the Cobra Jet, COPO Camaro, Challenger Drag Pak, and other approved coupes produced after 2019.

As for you circle-track devotees, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to see any seventh-gen Mustang stockers (though if you look close in the shots provided, we do see the new grille applied to what looks like a Next Gen Cup car).

Ford’s switch to pony-only motorsports didn’t happen overnight. Glance back just 15 years, and its auto racing landscape looked entirely different. One of the biggest shifts arrived in 2010, when Ford opted to use the Mustang as its model for NASCAR Xfinity Series competition. Up until that point, the Blue Oval utilized business coupes and sedans among the stock car ranks. The prized Mustang was reserved for GT sports cars and drag racers. Since then, Mustangs have galloped into seemingly every circle track series, Australian Supercar, Formula Drift, and now top-tier GT3 sports car racing.

Visit a race track next year, and you’re more likely than ever likely to spot a Mustang on the grid.

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“Anybody can do a burnout in the Walmart parking lot,” says Cleetus McFarland. “It’s avoiding obstacles … that’s the real challenge.”

Last week, the traveling circus known as Cleetus & Cars rolled into Bristol Motor Speedway, America’s most beloved short-track, for a weekend of tire-frying, stunt-jumping, sedan-crashing debauchery. Its ringleader—and founder—Cleetus McFarland is a modern-day P.T Barnum, welcoming a roster of fellow YouTube sensations and automotive influencers to perform for thousands of fans under his tent.

Prior to adopting the goofy moniker, McFarland was Garrett Mitchell. Through countless blog-style YouTube posts of wacky rebuilds and wild stunts, the Nebraska-born gearhead and grassroots drag racer became an internet sensation, one that wore Pit Vipers, wrapped everything in Old Glory, and punctuated each video title with an exclamation point.

In 2020, at 25 years old, McFarland purchased the abandoned Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, and renamed the 3/8-mile oval the Freedom Factory. The paved oval that once hosted stock car racing’s rising stars soon became a de facto studio for the young personality’s YouTube channel. Among the shenanigans, arguably the most viral was Freedom 500; a pay-per-view event in 2020 featuring wheel-to-wheel racing at Desoto with nitrous-boosted retired Crown Vic cop cars.

Since the first race, the list of niche celebrities has grown longer—and more prestigious. To be part of the action, word on the street says you must have a six-figure minimum follower count on one social media account or a blue check next to your name on Instagram.

This summer, McFarland decided that one Freedom Factory was not enough. He took his show on the road. The two-day festivals are more fun than a barrel full of donut-ripping monkeys, and Freedom Factory fans—which skew towards teens and twenty-somethings—have the opportunity to meet their heroes. (We saw multiple admirers carrying turbos for McFarland to sign.) Though the 100-lap Crown Vic races—which still feature nitrous-boosted, retired Panthers—is Sunday’s headliner, the Saturday night burnout contest brings out its fair share of hoots, hollers, and “hell yeahs” from the packed aluminum grandstands.

The event at Bristol was particularly raucous. The Tennessee track’s title as The Last Great Coliseum set expectations high. Thousands of ticket-holders trooped to the nation’s third-largest outdoor stadium for a nose-burning festival of organized automotive chaos that left noses burning, eyes stinging, and adrenaline high.

In Thunder Valley’s infield, where NASCAR teams would park their transporters, Cleetus and crew built a temporary burnout pit from Jersey barriers and metal fencing. The clover-shaped pit featured a long shoot and several coves for drivers to put their Gymkhana skills to the test while melting their meats.

The competition is serious stuff—or, at least, as serious as it can be. The field of nearly 100 vehicles was divided into three run groups—Rivals, Pro, and Open—whose contestants vied for a combined purse of $15,000. The first class featured famous YouTube builds and celebrity drivers, the second purpose-built burners. Open, arguably the most hilarious, was a sign-up basis participatory class. Anything from four-wheel-drive trucks to two-wheel-drive airplanes ignited its tires in the pit. A panel of judges graded each performance, based on tip-in (the NHRA burnout-style entry into the course), wheel speed, and coverage of the course.

To kick off the event, McFarland wed a couple who proposed to one another at a Cleetus & Cars in Florida last year. “Do you Colt Mantooth take Sarah to be your freedom-loving wife?” the ringleader asked the couple, who were each dressed in all-white wedding attire.

Mantooth: “Hell yeah, brother.”

Then, the groom, in his tuxedo, hopped in his 2005 Mustang and lit a smoky, “freedom-loving” burnout in the pit.

One nation, under Cleetus.

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Across the digital world, most published content is bite-size, designed for quick consumption. Still, deeper stories have a place—to share the breadth of an experience, explore a corner of history, or ponder a question that truly engages the goopy mass between your ears. Pour your beverage of choice and join us each day this week for a Great Read. Want more? Have suggestions? Let us know what you think in the comments or by email: editor@hagerty.com

The tape rolls. Two Detroit junkers sit side-by-side in a Missouri field. A few yards away, a blue Ford F-250 idles loudly, chrome glinting in the sun. After a beat, the truck flings forward, tires churning mud. The Ford slams into the two cars head-on, roaring over them, leaving craters in the trunks. Then it charges offscreen.

A cut in the tape. The Ford is back in position. Another stab of the throttle, and the truck lunges back toward the scrap. This time, though, the driver punches the brakes halfway through. The beast heaves to a halt atop the cars. Glass shatters. Behind the camera, a kid bursts into laughter.

There it is.

The Ford’s driver, in shades and a cowboy hat, opens the door to take in the view. Then he backs up the truck, crushing the cars further into the clay. The kid can’t stop laughing. The Ford dismounts the heap. Its air horn bellows.

In the spring of 1981, that fuzzy VHS recording was a shot heard ’round the world. It documents the moment when Bob Chandler, in a primordial version of the world’s most famous monster truck, became the first man in history to crush a car with a 4×4.

Or did he?

Texan Jeff Dane also says he was the first. That his truck, a jacked-up diesel F-250 named King Kong, was the first to publicly crush a car, at Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Dragaway. This is how early monster-truck stories go. Ask ten different fans where the sport came from, you’ll get ten different answers. A fleet of overbuilt 4x4s evolving into a billion-dollar industry—that trajectory sounds a lot like fiction anyway. Back in the day, the stories weren’t kept in books, just shared through local newspapers and word of mouth.

Either way, on that cold Missouri farm, Chandler discovered the importance of showmanship. His first take was procedural, the second drawn out and dramatic.

The guy at the wheel looks down, one hand out the window, crushed cars reflecting in cheap sunglasses. He is no longer just a carpenter with a cool truck. He is Bigfoot.

The Ford was a ’74, the ’80s were just beginning, and the timing was perfect. America was about to go big hair and Reaganomics. Bigfoot would become the first monster-truck household name, and it fit right into the decade. Monster trucks were size and color and noise, Guns N’ Roses, Hulk Hogan, and Trump Tower all bound up in a day-glo wrapper. They were everything cool about a famously loud era and a wicked distraction from real life.

The industry never stopped growing. Monster trucks are now purpose-built machines of nearly 1500 hp. They are designed to perform intense acrobatics, climbing, smashing, and soaring over virtually anything in their path. The franchised events that showcase the largest of those trucks, called Monster Jams, are a family affair, safe as milk and run with the technical efficiency of Grand Central Station. YouTube holds monster-truck cartoons and sing-alongs aimed at kids.

To understand how all this came to be, you have to go back to the ’60s. When the Big Three began placing emphasis on off-road freedom. Ford’s scrappy little Bronco paired the utility of a Jeep with the comfort of a small sedan. The Blue Oval’s domestic rivals eyed the Bronco’s booming sales and quickly turned out similar offerings.

By the early ’70s, American trails were infested with sport-utilities. Off-roading was booming, especially on the West Coast, where hot-rodders took to the dunes with tube-frame contraptions on balloon tires designed for Arctic exploration. In this world, in 1974, Missouri’s Bob and Marilyn Chandler purchased a brand-new Ford F-250. They enjoyed camping and off-roading with it but quickly became frustrated with the lack of 4×4 parts available in their home state. In 1975, they partnered with friend and fellow off-roader Jim Kramer to start Midwest Four-Wheel-Drive, an aftermarket supplier near St. Louis.

The F-250 served as Chandler’s shop truck, but it also was a catalog showcase. Before long, Chandler and his souped-up Ford were local celebrities, making short work of local off-road events. But also short work of the truck’s components. Chandler earned the nickname “Bigfoot” for his aggressive driving style.

Chandler was a carpenter by trade. Rather than replacing broken pieces with similar equipment, he opted to upgrade his truck with heavier-grade parts. “I never had the thought to build a monster truck,” he said, in a 2010 interview. “I kept putting bigger tires on it. Then I broke axles, so put bigger axles on … Then I didn’t have enough power, so I put a bigger engine in … It was a vicious circle for three and half years.”

After months of mission creep, Chandler’s truck was a behemoth. Riding on tires four feet tall and the 2.5-ton axles of a military top-loader, Bigfoot could perform crab walks and tilt its front clip. A 640-cubic-inch Merlin big-block sat between the front fenders.

Chandler thought his truck could drive over anything, including junkyard cars. In 1981, inspired by a tough-truck competition on ABC’s Wild World of Sports, he and Kramer put that idea to the test. The duo took the blue Ford out to a friend’s barren cornfield, where they made that tape with the laughing kid. The car-crush clip was spliced into a promotional video that played on a loop at the Midwest Four-Wheel-Drive office. A promoter noticed the footage during a visit, asking Chandler to recreate the stunt for a sideshow at a regional tractor pull.

Chandler was hesitant at first, worried about sullying his truck’s image. But he eventually agreed. Fans went wild.

“Another surprise is in store at the Pull-o-rama. By popular demand, Bigfoot! The mammoth 1974 Ford featuring dual steering axles and weighing in at 9200 pounds, returns for a terror pull of its own.” – Marion County Fair advertisement

Chandler’s rig was quickly becoming a headliner—national newspapers, magazine covers, as a prop in the 1981 B-movie Take This Job and Shove It. From local fairs to stadium floors, farm-fleet fans were coming for the tractors but staying for the big Ford. At the Pontiac Silverdome one night, announcer Bob George referred to Chandler’s pickup as a “monster truck.” The name stuck.

The evolution continued, driven by fan appetite. Debuting in 1982, Bigfoot II sported a set of 66-inch tall Goodyear Terra tires—now an industry standard, but originally made for floater-spreader farm implements. In 1983, Chandler was invited on an episode of TV’s That’s Incredible, to race another lifted truck across a course made of junkyard cars. Chandler called on a friendly rival, Everett Jasmer, for the second truck.

Jasmer, a Minnesota drag racer, had met Chandler at a mud bog years before, and the two had stayed in touch. Jasmer’s Chevy K10, dubbed USA-1, was a proper foil to Chandler’s Ford, and so the two squared-off on national television. The race was a nonevent—Jasmer’s truck broke after just a few crushed cars—but the exposure spooled interest in the growing sport.

Other relationships were far less friendly. Builders and drivers argued over who did what first, but there was also intense competition to be the largest, the fastest, the most-booked. No rift was more volatile than the one between Chandler and Fred Schafer, two Midwesterners more alike than they’re probably willing to admit.

Schafer lived in Granite City, Illinois, some 25 miles from Chandler’s shop. In the mid-1970s, while Chandler was busy off-roading, Schafer was terrorizing local dragways. “I wasn’t quite fast enough and didn’t have financing to become professional,” he says. “But locally, I was the man to beat.”

One day, Schafer paid a visit to Midwest Four-Wheel-Drive to check out Chandler’s rig. “I don’t want to knock his truck, but it looked pretty rough,” Schafer says. (Like every drag racer, he revels in heads-up comparisons.) After seeing Bigfoot, he thought, “I’m going to go home and build me a Chevy truck. I don’t like Fords. Never did.”

By 1979, with the help of his buddy Jack Willman, Schafer was done. A self-described horsepower nut, he had transformed a ’79 Silverado into an alcohol-chugging beast with a blown 454 under the hood and “Bearfoot” painted across the doors. The moniker wasn’t a reference to his rival—it was an homage to Schafer’s pet American black bears, Sugar and Spice.

Schafer soon received offers to exhibit his truck—and his bears—at tractor shows. Each appearance paid $500. “Back then, there was only a few trucks in the United States,” he says. “We would be booked for months and months and months.” Ahead of a 1982 truck show in Wisconsin, a local rag advertised King Kong, Bigfoot, and Bearfoot as the only three monster trucks in existence.

Again, the claim’s validity hung on who you asked. What everyone seems to agree on: Those three put on the biggest and best shows.

Like Chandler, Schafer built additional trucks to meet spectator demand. Little Bearfoot, a 1982 Chevy S-10, became the first monster truck to utilize planetary axles—a pair of Rockwell PS115s sourced from a military front-end loader. To demonstrate his innovation’s strength, Schafer threw a log chain around a pillar of an interstate overpass, then hooked it to the S10’s rear. All four tires lit up when he stabbed the throttle. Schafter sent a photo to Petersen Publishing, the company behind Hot Rod magazine. The company immediately flew a rep to Illinois to recreate the shot.

Chandler eventually invited Schafer out to a Bigfoot appearance, a tractor meet in Ridgefield, Ohio. As the bear wrangler tells it, Chandler drove out first in his truck, grabbing the mic and introducing his competitor. (“When I came out in that Chevrolet, there were a whole lot more cheers.”) Elvis had been upstaged. “That was the first and last appearance with Bigfoot for about five years.”

Things only grew worse between the two men. In 1984, bearded rockers ZZ Top asked both drivers to lend their trucks for a music video. Schafer says Chandler named his price first. Not wanting to lose, Schafer quoted the band’s managers a much lower fee, earning the booking. Adding insult to injury, Schafer’s truck appeared in an episode of Knight Rider, in a TV pilot, in a Volvo commercial, in an ad for Coors beer. Bigfoot may have been the first monster truck in America’s living rooms, but Bearfoot felt like the only one on TV.

Somewhere in the middle of Bearfoot’s rise, Chandler sued Schafer over the trucks’ name similarity. Motive was unclear. The civil action turned relationship fissures into canyons. “It’s been ugly ever since then,” Schafer says. “Ugly.”

These were the salad days of the sport. As the ’80s progressed, more monster trucks were brought to life, names like Blue Thunder, Frankenstein, Monster Vette, Excalibur, Krimson Krusher, King Krunch. Most rigs in North America were what the business calls Stage II—planetary axles, a full rollcage, around a foot in suspension travel. Gone were the production frames that had supported early trucks, replaced by purpose-built or ex-military rails.

Promoters heeded the packed stands and abandoned, limited-capacity fairgrounds. Football stadiums and 80,000-seat arenas were easily filled. Fans swung from the rafters chanting “Bigfoot, Bigfoot!” And yet the machines were still mostly unpolished, the drivers generally inexperienced. Trucks broke often, snapping axles or blowing engines, marooned on a pile of junk cars.

Keeping a truck running back then was a herculean task. Monster rigs had to withstand major punishment as their drivers ran full-steam into full-size Cadillacs and Lincolns, then landed on bare concrete floors. Owners quickly learned consistency was key.

“Some people thought this was going to be a fad, a flash in the pan,” says Jeff “Wildman” Cook, the founder of Auburn, Indiana’s International Monster Truck Hall of Fame. “You needed a reliable truck because that’s what promoters wanted. If all the trucks are broke, you’ve got unhappy fans.”

As many of those builders were drag racers, match racing was the logical next step. Moving on from running just a few four-wheeled stars at each event, promoters began to book more than a dozen a time. In 1988, truck- and tractor-pull sanctioning body TNT Motorsports staged the first-ever monster-truck race championship, the Monster Truck Challenge. Events were broadcast on ESPN, then a fledgling sports network looking to fill air time. The audience grew further.

With match racing, drivers now had a tangible goal: a finish line and a trophy. The 4×4 arms race kicked into overdrive. This third stage of evolution produced machines that were lighter, faster, and stronger than ever. Aluminum and fiberglass replaced steel, and the chassis and roll cage grew into one integrated piece, like a period NASCAR stocker. Bigfoot 8 is generally agreed to be the first Stage III truck. Under a fiberglass body shaped like a 1990 Ford F-150, that tube-frame machine was a tech masterpiece, built from the ground up, its parts drafted on a computer.

The exposure did not go unnoticed: Sponsor money was everywhere. Chandler had corporate funding from Ford and Mattel. Jasmer had Chevrolet and plastic-model company AMT. In 1992, Schafer signed a high-dollar deal with Dodge. The cash influx helped keep the spectacle on the road, and it helped teams build more versions of existing trucks, for more shows at once. Bigfoot alone had an entire fleet of Ford-sponsored offspring. Many were carbon copies of the original truck, while others were unique projects, like Bigfoot Shuttle, a lifted Aerostar minivan with 48-inch rubber.

Naturally, fans demanded more. Ten years in, crushed cars and quick runs were no longer enough; people wanted airborne trucks, a feat then attempted by only the most daring drivers. The most reckless joined Bigfoot and Bearfoot as fan favorites. North Carolina mud-bogger Dennis Anderson built his first truck at 22 years old using parts plucked from local salvage yards. If Chandler was a builder and Schafer was a racer, then Anderson was a scrapper with dirty knees and a wink. His first truck, a 1952 Ford panel, was a hodgepodge of parts. Competitors teased him for the way it looked, to which he retorted, “I’ll take this old junk and dig your grave.”

Over time, Anderson upgraded his rig into a legitimate monster truck, able to withstand his aggressive driving. He beat Bigfoot and other stars on occasion, but he was most known for his conservative use of the brake pedal. And for the airbrushed skulls adorning his truck, Grave Digger.

“He used to be called ‘One-Run Anderson,’” Fred Schafer says. “He might only last one round, but that round was a dandy.” When Stage III trucks arrived, Anderson’s was a showstopper. His green and purple 1950 Chevrolet panel truck began to supplant Bigfoot as top monster draw. George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” played on the PA at every show, announcing Digger’s arrival.

By 1991, money was being made hand over fist. The United States Hot Rod Association, the big dog in truck and tractor pulls, had recently purchased TNT, its competing sanction. The USHRA held exclusive booking rights to the top trucks, including Grave Digger. As the organization grew, its management noted the profit funneling to individual drivers and made a grab. “They used to give us $3000 for the show,” Schafer says. “We’d make about $12,000 in T-shirts—of which they would take about 40 percent—and we’d walk out with about ten grand.”

Bearfoot’s driver says the firm got greedy: “We’re going to give you a dollar per shirt. Take it or leave it.”

If that monopoly didn’t jibe with many drivers? Tough luck. The USHRA had an exclusive contract with every American football stadium on the calendar. The monster truckers had two choices: tolerate the new deal or leave. Bigfoot left. Grave Digger stayed.

Just like that, Chandler was out. The man from that Missouri cornfield, forced from the house he built. An industry built on showmanship kicking its number-one showman off the stage. Chandler’s performances were relegated to smaller stadiums and tractor pulls in two-horse towns. The USHRA became something like Formula 1 for top-tier truckers. Growth was still immense, but Bigfoot’s departure was a marker. The early days were now firmly in the past. Monster-truck shows still fill stadiums, but something is missing. The ’foot is history.

And so that is the story of how monster trucks came to be. Or at least, that’s what the man with the megaphone told me, and what I choose to believe: Salute Jeff Dane, don’t mess with Sugar or Spice, Bigfoot got screwed, and Bob Chandler is still the king. No matter what anyone says.

Don’t believe it? Find your own field and ask someone else.

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***

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“I really screwed up. When you start a project like this,” says Mike McNamee, motioning to his 1985 Buick Somerset road racer, “you need to add up how much it’s going to cost you, and then multiply that by your age.”

We stood trackside at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, as the club racer confessed, jokingly, to his miscalculations when he purchased his prized Buick exactly 30 years ago. A digital analyst by trade, McNamee used tech and teachings to resuscitate the retro ride. Now, years after its sole win in the Trans-Am series, the 500-horsepower Buick is still clipping curbs and burning straights at vintage races throughout the West Coast.

Inspired by the relatively cheap price tag, McNamee bought the car as a basket case, a pile of metal and fiberglass with detached front and rear clips. Shocking, if you consider that just three years prior to its disheveled state, the car was cresting the high banks of Daytona in the 1989 Rolex 24. At that point, though, the endurance racer’s day on the grid were numbered.

Designed by Ron Nash, the tube-built chassis had already served its best years at the hands of Elliott Forbes-Robinson. The Canadian hot shoe delivered many strong runs with the wide-body Somerset, including a win at Sonoma Raceway in California, circa 1985. This victory marked the only time a Buick ever won in the long-running Trans-Am Series. Despite its success, by 1986, the winning chassis was relegated to backup car duty. It ran just once, at the Detroit Grand Prix, ultimately failing to finish after a broken header filled the cockpit with exhaust fumes.

After the ’86 season the car and two other Buicks were sold to Gordon Oftedahl, who took this particular chassis to Daytona with a V-8 under the hood rather than the Indy-proven Buick V-6 block.

Enter Mike McNamee. It was 1992 and the avid club racer was growing tired of his Porsche 914. “I’m a technical guy, so one day I used a program to analyze the suspension,” he says. “It was all jacked-up.” Instead, he started searching for a purpose-built racer; something with a tube frame. The retired Buick was the answer.

When McNamee stepped in to bring the car back to life, he went directly to the original designer for input in the reassembly process. Using Nash’s guidance and stacks of period photos, he embarked on a rather meticulous rebuild. Up until that point, he had considered himself a decent wrench. The Buick, however, would serve up a bevy of new challenges. For a car this obscure, McNamee had to fabricate everything by himself, which included learning how to bend tubing and weld aluminum. “It’s never been to another shop,” he says, proudly. Once the Buick was returned to its former glory—which included the 4.5-liter V6, Weismann five-speed, and the 1985 livery—McNamee had to figure out how to tune the beast.

One of the biggest hurdles was dialing in the sway bar setup. Initially, he had a big bar up front and a lighter one out back. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t get the car to turn, so the tech guy purchased Performance Trends suspension analyzing software. “You plug in your sprint rates, all this crap, and then click ‘optimize,’” he says. The program suggested lightening the front bar and removing the rear altogether. Lo and behold, that was exactly how Nash set up the suspension back in the day.

“It’s quite easy to drive,” he says of the car which bears a striking resemblance to the Buicks driven to NASCAR championships. “At 2500 pounds, it doesn’t feel like a stock car.” Back in the day, Trans-Am utilized a formula to determine a vehicle’s mandatory weight by factoring the engine’s displacement. Since the Buick utilized two fewer cylinders than its competing Ford or Chevy V-8s, the Buick was permitted to run light.

On track at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, he spent the weekend dicing with Mustangs, Capris, Camaros, and Corvettes. According to its proud owner, the car’s strengths are under braking and through some of the corners. “I get killed down the straights.”

Still, the finishing position isn’t important to McNamee. “When I surfed or rode dirt bikes, it wasn’t about the boards or the bikes, it was about hanging with your buddies,” says the SoCal native. “It’s the same thing at the Reunion.” Besides, the unique Buick garners plenty of fanfare in the paddock, with spectators walking past the 1985 Trans-Am championship-winning car—a pristine white third-gen Firebird—and up to the Somerset’s slotted grille. If anything, that makes the painstaking restoration worth it.

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One of Formula 1’s classic races, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, is also the fastest race of the season. In honor of the Italian GP scheduled for September 11, we look back to 1971 when it resulted in the closest finish in F1 history and a very unexpected winner.

In racing, it doesn’t matter where you qualify: It’s where you are at the checkered flag that counts. That was one of things that went through Peter Gethin’s mind as he lined up 11^th in the Italian GP’s 24-car field.

Gethin, a chirpy horse-racing jockey’s son from just south of London, started sensibly rather than spectacularly. The 31-year old left the heroics to other drivers and the race lead changed four times in the first 10 laps. Nonetheless, he’d stayed in touch with the lead pack from the start.

Monza was, and still is, the ultimate slipstreaming circuit on the F1 calendar. Before the chicanes were introduced in 1972, pretty much the whole lap was a flat-out dash. Even more than now, drivers used the hole punched in the air by the car in front to draw them along. Then when the time was right, they’d pop out of the slipstream and cruise past their rival.

As every driver at Monza knew, the start-finish straight in the run to the checkered flag would be the key to winning this race. But Gethin believed he had one big advantage: the gutsy V-12 in the back of his BRM.

At the mid-point of the race, the Briton was tussling with the McLaren of countryman Jackie Oliver. There was history here. Peter had been a McLaren driver until two races previously. He’d made his F1 debut for the British team in 1970 when it was struggling to pick itself up from the sudden death in a high-speed crash of team boss Bruce McLaren.

Then weeks before the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren chief Teddy Mayer had told Gethin that Italy would be his last race for the team. Fortunately for Peter, BRM had offered him a way to stay in F1 and he left McLaren before the previous race in Austria. It was Oliver who’d taken his seat.

Using 500 of the V-12’s revs more than he’d been told to before the race, Gethin dealt with Oliver and started cruising up to the leading bunch. This had comprised Ferrari’s Clay Regazzoni and newly crowned champion Jackie Stewart. But by lap 17, both were out with engine trouble, as was the other Ferrari of front-row starter Jacky Ickx.

The man doing most of the leading was Ronnie Peterson in the March. But perhaps the favorite was Chris Amon in the screaming V-12 Matra. He’d qualified on pole position and the former Ferrari driver was desperate to win his first Grand Prix. He’d already led nine laps and was well in the mix.

Grabbing for the oil-streaked tear-off visor on his helmet to get a better view of the race’s final laps, the famously unlucky Amon inadvertently took hold of the whole visor. Ripping this off, his eyes now had no protection from the 200 mph wind rushing by. Vision impaired, he dropped back.

The race now looked to be between Peterson, Stewart’s Tyrrell understudy Francois Cevert, Mike Hailwood in the Surtees and Howden Ganley in Gethin’s sister BRM. Peter was just behind in fifth but had no intention of staying there. He knew the win was up for grabs.

Slowly and pretty much unnoticed by the four leaders, the BRM edged closer and on laps 52 and 53 out of 55, he led. Peterson certainly hadn’t realized the Briton was a serious contender. “I was trying to work out how to beat Cevert – he was the one I really had to watch,” he later told his team boss Max Mosley. “I knew I must lead into Parabolica because he hadn’t the speed to pass me between there and the finish line.” Parabolica is still a feature of Monza. A long, high-speed right hander, it leads drivers onto the start-finish straight at the end of the lap.

As the cars started their final lap, Peterson’s red March was leading Cevert’s Tyrrell. Braking for Parabolica, that last time, it was the Tyrrell that had the advantage. But Ronnie had positioned his car perfectly to nick the lead from the blue car and sprint to the checkered flag.

Outbraking the Tyrrell, as he’d intended, Peterson then ran slightly wide. No worries, he should still have the momentum to win the dash to the flag. Except when he checked his mirrors, a white car was filling them. Scrabbling for grip and in a cloud of dust on the inside, Gethin passed both the March and Tyrrell and planted the throttle to start the drag to the finish flag, flexing the muscles of the mighty BRM V-12.

Peterson swung the red car to the right, as close behind the BRM as he dared, to pick up its slipstream. He felt the tow from his rival and as they got to within 100 meters of the flag, he jinked out to the left. His car began to surge closer to the lead thanks to the effect of the slipstream.

Cevert on the outside of Peterson was trying to outrace them both, and Hailwood’s Surtees was still only a yard or so behind. As the flag neared, Gethin shot his right arm triumphantly in the air, knowing that perceptions could play a significant part if the finish was as close as he thought.

It was. But the power from his V-12 had got the better of his four Ford Cosworth-powered rivals. He’d won the race by inches, 100^th of a second ahead of Peterson, who was 800^th of a second in front of Cevert. Hailwood in fourth was still less than a tenth of a second behind Gethin.

It remains the closest finish F1 has ever seen. And with an average speed of 150.75 mph it was the fastest grand prix ever run for years.

As for Gethin, he’s credited with leading a grand prix for a mere three laps and 10.7 miles, all of them at that Italian race. And over a Formula 1 career spanning five seasons he scored just 11 points – nine of them for his win in Italy. Being at the front when it counted really was all that mattered.

***

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In today’s era of motorsports, the consensus is that youngsters can’t go racing unless they have tremendous financial support from their families (even at the amateur club racing level). I’ve never been intimidated by that reality. Instead, I’ve embraced the challenge of being able to fund my racing efforts personally, while also paying my way through Portland State, where I’m currently a senior studying business management and leadership. To accrue the necessary funds, I have multiple part-time jobs and I’m also operating a motorsports-focused media company, which provides services to drivers, teams, and businesses nationwide.

I have been a lifelong motorsports fanatic, especially when it comes to IndyCar. When the SCCA announced the National Championship Runoffs were returning to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2021, I knew I wanted to find a way to be there. I grew up within the SCCA paddock, working on my father’s local race team in the Pacific Northwest. As a young boy, I watched many of my idols and friends compete at the SCCA Runoffs on television, which shaped my love and passion for the legacy club racing event.

I already had a few years of racing experience under my belt, so I focused on acquiring a car that had a more legitimate chance of being competitive at the Brickyard. I began saving.

The car

That spring, I picked up a 1982 E-Production class Mazda RX-7. I spent a couple years racing my 1971 E-Production RX-2 in the SCCA Majors Tour so the RX-7 was a logical next step. The Mazda had sat for nearly eight years in the previous owner’s old garage. It was a car that I had watched race locally as a child. The challenge, then, became prepping the old car in less than a month for an intense summer slate ahead of Runoffs.

Making monthly college payments, while also budgeting my racing efforts, wasn’t easy and required a lot of diligence. Purchasing the car, then servicing and replacing many of the aging—or expired—components ate up much of my nest egg. I felt that the bigger 13B rotary motor that came in the car was tired, so I opted to take my recently rebuilt smaller 1.1-liter 12A, from my RX-2 and drop it in the newer RX-7.

With a car that needed so much, it was essential to start with the basics by replacing safety gear and components that were in immediate need of repair. Additional improvements had to be spread out month-by-month, to chip away at making the car faster and more reliable.

In less than one month’s time, I had the car race ready and staged at the Portland Super Tour. I had to adapt quickly to the new chassis that I had never driven before, while also sorting through mechanical kinks. After dealing with a fuel pump failure Saturday, I was able to win on Sunday (over three other class competitors).

The prep

As the season went on the car got progressively quicker, I methodically replaced older parts on the car. I swapped the blown-out shocks for Koni single-adjustable dampers, installed Techno Toy Tuning lower control arms, equipped fresh Cobalt Racing Brake pads, and replaced other smaller components that showed signs of age.

Ultimately, sacrifices for certain upgrades had to be made if I wanted to make it to the Runoffs in October. I was, after all, working with a shoestring budget. I didn’t touch the Miata five-speed transmission that came in the car. I also retained the stock brake calipers, hubs, and rotors.

As the season progressed, I had to plan out all my qualification requirements and logistical challenges. Living in Dundee, Oregon, I had to find a way to get my car out to Indiana. The entry fee alone was $1100. Add in transportation, consumables, prep, and personal travel costs; suddenly my budget was thinning quickly.

Rather than purchasing new parts, I chose to buy some used parts from generous racers. I was also practical with my tire usage. Many Runoffs competitors show up with four new sets of sticker tires for all three qualifying sessions and the race. I arrived at Indy with one set of new tires and one set of scrubbed-in tires. (Prior to Runoffs, I spent the entirety of 2021 running on take-offs from other generous competitors and friends.) Of the four sticker tires, I redeemed two through Goodyear’s contingency program and purchased the other two myself. It was the first time I ever had new slicks on the car. Many racers will tell you, to be fast, you must have fresh tires each weekend. I learned how to drive cars on old rubber and still achieved multiple victories and podiums on tires that other competitors may have otherwise thrown away.

Approximately 850 cars were present at the Runoffs this year. With limited track time available throughout the week-long event, I focused on doing my homework ahead of time. Although just making it to the Runoffs was an achievement, I wanted to make my investment worthwhile and compete as best I could, despite a limited budget and a less-than-ideal car for the class. With 31 competitors entered in E-Production, I wanted to achieve at least a top 15. I studied onboard videos—from 2017, when the Runoffs first visited Indy—for months, focusing on visual cues to memorize. I also spent time driving on my sim, in hopes of accelerating the learning curve.

SCCA Runoffs

After the first two qualifying sessions on used tires, I found myself ninth and tenth, respectively. I was pleasantly surprised. For the final qualifying session, I put my new Goodyear slicks on for the first time and gained another 1.5 seconds, which put me sixth on the grid. Although it was just qualifying, I was beyond thrilled with that starting spot. Considering my RX-7’s trap speed was 6-15 mph slower than everyone who qualified in front of me, I was ecstatic to have the car working so well through the corners.

Unfortunately, the race did not go as well as qualifying.

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In the closing laps of the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix, a pair of McLaren drivers lit up the 4.2-mile Zandvoort circuit and brought the cheering crowd to their feet. It was a contest for the ages; a masterclass in race craft—and car control—by two of the best to ever strap into an F1 car.

Two things important to the storyline of the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix occurred on the 21s lap of the 70-lap race. The Honda engine, that propelled leader Keke Rosberg in the Williams entry, expired in a cloud of smoke. On cue, Niki Lauda’s red and white McLaren ducked into the pits to change tires.

The Austrian resumed the race in eighth place with a fresh set of rubber. The reigning world champion’s plan was on track. Now he just had to hope that his McLaren and its occasionally undependable TAG turbo V6 would hold together until the finish.

Lauda and teammate Alain Prost had dominated the previous season, winning 12 of the 16 races. It had been the culmination of Niki Lauda’s incredible resurgence on the back half of his Formula 1 career.

In the first half of his career, he claimed two world championships, been badly burnt in a life-threatening accident, and the returned to the grid to win even more grand prix. Then, Lauda suddenly retired after deciding he was “bored with driving round in circles”.

But within three years, the champ had changed his mind and, in 1982, he came back to Formula 1 with a plan. He wanted to help mould an average race team into an exceptional group. In his short stint at McLaren, he had done so. He also wanted to win races again. Success came almost instantly. And he wanted to lift the world title once more. He checked that box in 1984.

That third title came courtesy of stealth and consistency in the face of Prost’s blistering pace. Lauda had only been ahead by the tiniest of margins (half of a point) at season’s end. Then again, he always did enjoy winning on economy.

The 1985 season had been a different matter. Prior to the Dutch Grand Prix, Lauda had finished just two of the ten races. He had amassed a meagre five points; unreliability had blighted his season.

Prost, meanwhile, had won four grand prix in 1985 and scored ten times as many points. At the previous race in Austria the Frenchman snatched the championship lead with a vicotry. That had hurt Lauda, who felt the pain of losing his home grand prix. To add insult to injury, he had announced his second—and final—F1 retirement before practice and dominated the race, before his turbo failed.

The Dutch race was going to be payback. Lauda knew all about winning around Zandvoort. He’d already triumphed there twice before in the first part of his career, at the wheel of a Ferrari. Things were different now. He had to beat teammate Prost, who was at the top of his game.

The task got easier on lap 32 when Michele Alboreto’s Ferrari headed for the pits. Lauda was now second behind his counterpart. Then, the next lap it was Prost’s turn to go for new tires. Lauda’s #1 McLaren was finally out front.

Formula 1 pit stops in the mid-1980s weren’t blink-and-you’ve-missed-them, like they are today. Prost’s 18-second stop, though, was leisurely even for the era. By the time he’d accelerated back down the pitlane he was in third place behind Ayrton Senna and Lauda.

It took the Frenchman until lap 48 to dispatch the Brazilian and his Lotus. Still, that still gave him 22 laps to catch—and pass—Lauda. Over the course of 1985, Prost had yet to be outqualified by Lauda. On pure speed he was confident he could eclipse the Austrian. For his part, Lauda felt sure that when it came to race craft, he had the edge. It was set to be a fascinating duel.

On lap 51, Niki held a 7.1 second advantage. Alain dug in and started closing the gap. It came down relentlessly by around half a second a lap. On lap 57, Prost recorded the fastest lap of the race. By lap 61, the two Marlboro-sponsored McLarens were nose-to-tail.

Anyone who thought Lauda announcing his retirement was shorthand for “I’m not interested in this anymore” was in for a surprise.

In 1985, there was no DRS, so there was only one realistic passing zone at Zandvoort. To make the move stick, drivers had to follow the car in front closely round the Bos Uit right-hander and onto the pit straight. Once they picked up the slipstream, they would attempt to pull out and out brake their rival into Tarzan, an intimidating corner at the end of the pit straight.

Prost later explained that whenever he got close to Lauda through Bos Uit (now Arie Luyendijkbocht), his car was disturbed by the turbulent air coming off the McLaren in front. The dirty air meant that he could never get quite close enough to Lauda to make the move at Tarzan.

That wasn’t the only reason Prost was struggling. The more-experienced Lauda was putting on a clinic out front. When the cars came up to lap backmarkers, Lauda purposefully adjusted his speed so he could pass the slower cars quickly without breaking momentum. Prost’s execution was less precise.

For example, Lauda’s treatment of Nelson Piquet is classic. As the two battling McLaren’s approached the Brabham to lap the Brazilian for a second time with seven laps remaining, Niki eased off very slightly. It was imperceptible to the eye, but the slight change in pace kept Lauda from overextending himself to pass Piquet.

Frustrated by his inability to overtake his teammate, Prost tried to get creative. In his desperation to get around Lauda, the typically smooth driver dropped wheels off the track and locked his brakes on corner entry.

Unperturbed, Lauda’s lead remained intact until the checkered flag; two tenths of a second was all the separated the two. The race is considered Lauda’s masterclass in racecraft. The 36-year-old three-time world champion had overtaken a younger Prost in the pits long before leapfrog pit strategy was ever a thing.

Following his win, Lauda never finished a Formula 1 race again. The Dutch Grand Prix was his 25^th victory, tying him with Jim Clark. When it came to guile, few could match the wily Austrian, even at the very end of his remarkable career.

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While scrolling through a Corvette forum one day, Doug Manista discovered a 1981 Corvette race car that was about to meet its final destination: the cold steel of a car crusher in French Lake, Minnesota. In an instant, the California native was on the phone with a junkyard halfway across the country. A sale was negotiated, and the Corvette’s life was spared.

In a past life, this C3 was a venerable road racer at the hands of Jim Sanborn. The Waterloo, Iowa driver and his widebody Corvette shared the track with the likes of Willie T. Ribbs, David Hobbs, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, and Paul Newman during ’80s Trans-Am competition. Unlike many of the tubeframe beasts that they dueled, the Corvette sat on a stock 1976 chassis. A handicap, no doubt. Still, Sanborn was able to eke out impressive finishes at places like Mid-Ohio and Road America, squarely in the top half of the run sheet.

All good runs come to an end, and eventually the Vette was retired after its last race, an SCCA gathering at Land O’Lakes Raceway in August 1991. Not long after, the decommissioned C3 was tucked away in a Minnesota barn, where it sat for 28 years.

“It was full of dead rats when I found it,” says Manista, gesturing at his reborn racer, parked in the paddock of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during 2022’s Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The avid racer, who frequently competes in the vintage scene with his two sons, already had a triumvirate of high-polish C2s with pedigrees—a 1963 split-window, a 1965 Fuelie roadster, and a 1965 coupe—so he opted to go a different route with the barn find. After cleaning out the vermin, he sorted the mechanicals, which included original Hurst Airharts (sourced from a DC 3 airplane). Ultimately, however, he left the car untouched.

“I just used some toilet bowl cleaner to put the shine back in the wheels,” says Manista. “It still has the old SCCA sticker on the door.”

The orange-and-white Corvette is a total time capsule, from the deep-dish chrome wheels to the stone-chipped fiberglass nose. (If body panels could talk!) Don’t let the blemishes fool you, though. This thoroughbred gets up and goes, thanks in part to the 355-cubic-inch small-block hunkered underneath the massive air scoop. “Only the block, heads, carburetor, and fuel cell are new parts on this car,” says Manista, who laid down a 1:38 at Laguna Seca on a pair of two-year-old tires during practice for the 2022 Reunion. Then, disaster.

Coming out of Andretti Corner, the big Vette sheared one of its original rear axles. Manista expedited the shipment of a new stick to the track so that he and his crew could install it the next day and have the car ready for the race weekend. But when the new axle arrived, much to his dismay, it had a different flange. Eventually his crew developed a quick fix and the new one was installed.

By Saturday, Manista’s barn find Corvette was back on track—this time with Chris Hines in the drivers seat—dicing it up with the Mustangs and Camaros it once faced in the Trans-Am series more than three decades ago. Hines finished an astounding second in class. From dead rats to fast laps, this Corvette has seen it all and, under Manista’s care, it’s poised to live at least another three decades.

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This year, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion featured cars and stars from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In celebration of the French endurance race’s 100th year, the paddock at WeatherTech Laguna Seca was packed with the most iconic cars to ever rip around Circuit de la Sarthe, divided into four run groups. Organizers even staged a Le Mans running start for the “1972–1982 Le Mans” group. The gathering also showcased what was, according to the Reunion, “the largest exhibition of winning or historically significant Le Mans cars ever assembled,” parked cheek-to-jowl under a large tent in the infield—replete with armed security guarding the (inter)national treasures.

Indeed, the pedigree and the volume were jaw-dropping. Eclectic, too. Even after four days at the track, you never quite grew accustomed to the neck-snapping scenes—a Gulf-liveried 917 rolling through the crowd, the Le Mans–winning 1967 Ford GT40 Mark IV basking in a wash of California sun, or the four-rotor roar of a Mazda 787 signaling the commencement of the day’s activities. Among the cars that traded the three-mile blast down the Mulsanne Straight for a two-story drop down The Corkscrew, there was something for everyone.

We highlighted a dozen of our favorites, making sure to not duplicate marques so that we may give a flavor of the diversity within Laguna’s pits. Did your all-time favorite Le Mans racer make the cut?

1949 Aston Martin DB2

Following WWII, English businessman David Brown purchased Aston Martin—which was, at the time, nothing more than a low-volume sports car manufacturer. Brown also bought coach-built luxury marque Lagonda and installed its Bentley-designed 2.6-liter inline-six in Aston Martin’s newest model, the DB2.

Riding on a shortened DB1 chassis, this Frank Feeley–designed coupe was the first car to be fitted with a Lagonda six, in an effort to win at 1949’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car was one of three entered by Aston Martin, but the only DB2 to utilize the novel engine, which produced 166 horsepower. Mechanical gremlins struck the new combo early, as a broken water pump forced the DB2 to retire after only an hour of competition. Despite the early retirement, the new coupe would prove to have lasting effects on the English marque, in style and in performance.

1950 Cadillac Series 61 “Le Monstre”

American gentleman racer Briggs Cunningham brought two Series 61 Cadillacs to Le Mans in 1950. In a high-speed A-B test, Cunningham kept one relatively stock and commissioned fabricators from Grumman aircraft to transform the second into a streamlined prototype that, upon completion, resembled an alien pontoon. Despite the wild looks, the boat-shaped Cadillac prototype retained most of the Series 61 running gear, including the 331-cubic-inch V-8, under its lumpy skin.

While in France, it was dubbed “Le Monstre” for its imposing proportions amongst Europe’s petite sports cars, and (according to legend) Le Mans officials spent hours crawling around the car to certify that it was, indeed, a Cadillac. Three inches narrower, and some 13 mph faster than its Series 61 counterpart, Le Monstre finished 11th in the French endurance race, ironically one spot behind the other Caddy.

 1952 Mercedes Benz W194 300 SL

By the ’50s, Mercedes Benz had won every race that mattered—except one. A conquest at Le Mans was noticeably absent from its mantle. That all changed in the summer of ’52, when the German manufacturer entered three 300 SLs into the French endurance race and emerged victorious, capturing the top two steps on the podium. To differentiate the three silver beasts, each car sported a different color around its grille. With blue on its nose, the Series 194 belonging to Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess stormed across the line first, at the conclusion of 24 hours.

1958 Ferrari 250 TR

Arguably the most beautiful car to compete at Le Mans, this Ferrari 250 TR is one of 19 pontoon-bodied, V-12-powered Ferraris. Purchased new from Maranello by Jaroslov Juhan, this 250 TR was painted blue (!) and raced at Le Mans in 1958. After 72 circuits, the roadster was involved in an accident and rendered unable to finish.

Luckily, the Ferrari was returned to the factory where it was repaired, painted red, and shipped to Vasek Polak. Once stateside, the car was campaigned throughout the West Coast. Bad luck struck again, though, and it ended up in a tree, on fire, during a race at Laguna Seca. The car was eventually repaired and sold to David Love, who campaigned the born-again Ferrari in SCCA and then at the Reunion for 25 years straight.

1964 Alpine M64

The Index of Thermal Efficiency is bestowed to teams using calculations derived from vehicle weight, fuel consumption, and distance covered. In 1964, the honors went to this Alpine M64, which averaged 21 mpg for 292 laps (2436 miles) with aid from a 1149-cc, inline-four-cylinder sipper. The group finished first in class (17th overall).

A year later, the Alpine team returned with the same efficient bullet—wearing additional M65 cladding—in hopes of collecting more hardware. However, the second year wasn’t as kind to the home team. Sporting a new rear clip that would make Exner proud, the Alpine’s second go was cut short due to cooling problems. The fantastic, finned racer was squirreled away in storage for a decade until a Renault executive arranged its sale to a Bugatti enthusiast. After trading hands once more, the Alpine returned to the site of its original, efficient triumph 57 years later, in 2022.

1965 Iso Bizzarini A3/C Corsa

A low, V-8 growl might be the last sound you’d expect from the exhaust tips of an Italian-bodied Le Mans racer, especially one that shares the grid with other high-pitched wails and shrill buzzes. Such is the case for this Iso, which borrowed a Chevrolet 327 to shove it to a first in class in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 400-horse, front-mid-engine coupe was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini, the same Italian fellow responsible for the Ferrari 250 GTO. Cash was tighter at Iso than at its Italian counterpart, and (according to legend) Bizzarrini drove the Iso to and from Le Mans, ultimately lacking funds for a haul. Hard to believe; then again so is the engine choice.

1967 Ford GT40

One year after Ford broke through for its first win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Blue Oval returned with a brand-new car, save for the 427 engine and transmission. Four GT40 Mark IVs were entered in the 1967 race. With American icons Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt behind the wheel, the only GT40 to avoid trouble finished a whopping 32 miles ahead of the second-place Ferrari, setting a record for race pace in the process. This was the only time chassis J-5 saw competition, as it was promptly retired and donated to The Henry Ford in 1971.

1969 Porsche 908/02 LH “Flunder” Langheck Spyder

Selecting a car to represent Porsche on this Le Mans list is difficult task. Rather than opting for the low-hanging 917, 935, or 962, we went with a more obscure choice. (Also, the name is just fun to say.) Flunder Langheck translates to “flat fish long tail.” The predecessor to the world-beating 917, this was the only 908 to receive the extend-o treatment ahead of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans. The odd creature—propelled by an air-cooled, 3.0-liter flat-eight—crossed the finish line third overall and first in its sports prototype class.

1996 McLaren F1 GTR

According to legend, Gordon Murray never aspired to enter his F1 supercar in wheel-to-wheel racing. It was McLaren’s customer base that tipped the scales, as the firm received numerous requests for an F1 racer. After a couple serious dudes approached McLaren with the idea to race in an endurance series, an agreement was reached, and a three-car racing program was born. Since Le Mans regulations capped horsepower at 600, the race version was less powerful than the road goer, despite sharing the same BMW-sourced 6.1-liter V-12. In its first race at Le Mans, the F1 GTR shocked the world and took first overall. One year later, the mighty Mac was back for more, with seven entrants, including this FINA-liveried Team Bigazzi entry that finished eighth overall.

1999 Panoz LMP Roadster

After the FIA discontinued the GT1 class, which included the aforementioned McLaren F1 GTR, Panoz opted to transform its fleet into Le Mans Prototype (LMP) spec and compete in the Euro Le Mans and American Le Mans series. Underneath its big schnoz, Panoz fit a 6-liter 625-horsepower Ford by Elan Power. In its first 24 Hours of Le Mans as an LMP racer, the Panoz finished seventh overall. Stateside, the car experienced success, capturing the Petit Le Mans on the road to the 1999 ALMS team—and manufacturer—championship.

2003 Chevrolet Corvette C5.R

As part of the fleet that secured Corvette Racing its 2003 manufacturer’s championship, this C5R finished third in class and 12th overall at that year’s French contest. But it didn’t slip into retirement quietly after the victorious season. Instead, it was crashed by Dale Earnhardt Jr ahead of a race at Sonoma Raceway.

Years later, the NASCAR driver revealed on his podcast that he thought he was pulled from the fiery wreckage before his trip to the hospital: “… Somebody pulled me out of that car. And I thought that it was a corner worker because I felt somebody put their hands under my armpits and pull me out of the car. I didn’t get out. I don’t have any memory of myself climbing out of the car.” He went on: “…When I got to the hospital, I was like, ‘Who pulled me out of the car? I gotta say thanks to this person,’ because it was a hand! It was physical hands grabbing me! I felt it. And there was nobody there.”

Since the accident, the car has been restored by Pratt & Miller to its original form, resplendent in the livery in which it ran at Le Mans in 2003.

2005 Audi R8 LMP1

Aboard this Audi, Tom Kristensen won the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans and became the all-time most successful driver in the French endurance race, surpassing Jackie Ickx’s six career overall wins. The victory was also Audi’s fifth triumph in the race. 2005 also marked the final year for the R8 LMP racer, as the diesel-powered R10 TDI swooped in the following year to continue Audi’s dominance in endurance racing.

2012 DeltaWing

We saved the wildest for last. Designed by Ben Bowlby and constructed by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers, the DeltaWing was entered in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Garage 56 banner. This entry slot is reserved for experimental cars, and the rocket-shaped roadster was just that, featuring front tires just four inches wide, and a cockpit just in front of the rear axle. Approximately half the weight and half the power of the prototypes it ran again, the DeltaWing utilized a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine to shove it around Circuit de la Sarthe. Sadly, the 1,047-pound experiment was involved in a wreck on lap 75 and did not finish. The DeltaWing would undergo several iterations in the following years, before retiring for good in 2016.

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As the sun set on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, concluding a Friday full of wheel-to-wheel vintage racing, the party was just getting started. A throng of Eighties- and Nineties-era machinery infiltrated the California track’s infield for Radwood in the Paddock. Featuring supercars, race cars, oddballs, and rarities from the Nintendo generation, the curated display of nearly 50 cars had something for everyone. Highlights included a mint Dodge Shelby GLHS pulled by an equally pristine Dodge Dakota (still sporting the dealership window sticker), a pair of Nissan GT-Rs, and the Hoonigan Ford RS200 driven by Ken Block to YouTube stardom.

Vendors served up mouth-watering grub while a DJ spun the generation’s most metallic bangers. Those who left the track early surely missed out.

If you’re unfamiliar with Radwood as a brand, let’s get you up to speed. Inspired by Goodwood Revival’s period-correct automobiles, attire, and entertainment, Art Cervantes and his fellow dudes developed an event to celebrate all things radical—specifically, any car from 1980 to 1999. “We wanted a space to celebrate these cars,” says the Radwood founder, “and every car show in California was all metal bumpers or modern supercars.” The first event, held in 2017 just outside of San Francisco, offered 150 spots, first come, first serve. They sold out immediately.

Since then, Radwood has grown into an international phenomenon by tapping into show-goers’ nostalgia, which has always gone beyond cars. In addition to the usual rows of bodacious rides—MR2s, Beats, Countaches, 944s, R5s, Testarossas—Cervantes and his crew booked famous rappers, held extreme sports exhibitions, and handed out awards for best attire. To manage the behemoth, which quickly became a full-fledged brand with global reach, Cervantes left his software development job in Silicon Valley.

“It’s cool to see cars we appreciate in our backyard,” says Cervantes of the Laguna Seca show. “This is the area where it all started and to come back close to the original site, feels like everything has come full circle.” Free to the public, the event deviated slightly from a traditional Radwood event in that the Eighties and Nineties relics were hand-selected by Cervantes and crew from a bevy of entry applications.

Those who were selected to showcase their rad rides wre labeled as “Radwood Royalty” and became eligible to win a few awards for best in show. Pity the judges as the level of quality was sky high. Top honors, appropriately named Raddest in Show, went to a Peter Orlinski for his cherry red 1989 Merkur XR4Ti. The Reagan-era coupe sported a 3.0-liter Duratec V6—with a T3/T4 Turbo—mated to a G-Force T5 transmission. “It was already an honor to be selected and be part of the show,” says Orlinski. “I honestly had no idea that there was any awards at this event, so winning the raddest of the show was a very humbling and amazing experience for me.”

Eventually the scene cooled as the marine layer sent everyone running for warmer clothes, trading their neon track suits for jackets. An evening well spent among bodacious rides and Monterey’s most rad.

Should you wish to participate in the next show, visit radwood.com.

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Monterey Car Week kicked into high gear, yesterday, as drivers hit the track for their first of many sessions at this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Over 500 vintage rides packed WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as drivers made tackled the undulating 2.2-mile course, filling the dusty hills with the sound of speed.

Laguna Seca has hosted the gathering since its inception in 1974. What started out as a one-day event has grown into a four-day celebration of motorsports, featuring the upper echelon of vintage racers, celebrities, live music, and mouth-watering fare.

Of the 11-turn layout, the most notable section is The Corkscrew. The two-story drop between Turn 8 and 8a is a crowd favorite, and fans line the fencing to watch their favorite relics make the dramatic plunge.

Among the vintage steel, the featured theme this year is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Multitudes from the famous French endurance race are featured throughout the property, from a massive tent loaded with the iconic Le Mans cars to run groups segmented by the years in which they competed in the contest. They’re real and they’re spectacular.

Joining the throngs of Le Mans racers are an equally impressive array of vintage cars from other road racing disciplines. Rides from Trans Am, Formula 1, SCCA, IMSA and other sanctioning bodies had their moment in the California sun. Pit awnings crammed full of title-winning metal—and carbon fiber—light up the paddock with color. Ferrari Red and Gulf Blue share the spectrum with Eighties Day-Glo and Nineties vinyl. Celebrities, like Adam Carolla in his Hawaiian Tropic-liveried Porsche 935 or Ford Boss Jim Farley aboard a Cobra, are commonplace.

Though, not all were blowout affairs. In fact, many of the most captivating entries belonged to those who were there on a budget, like Horatio Fitz-Simon. The British youngster and his father were there campaigning their Lotus 26R. The pint-sized left-hand drive Lotus shod in a coat of BRG, rubbed shoulders with Cobras and Mustangs in the SCCA production class. “We don’t even have a tent,” says his father, explaining their shoestring affair. True to Chapman form the Lotus would get passed on the straights but then make all the time up (and then some) in the corners.

Despite the levels of provenance, the racing is still plenty frantic in certain run groups. There, drivers don’t mind close quarters; though, sometimes things get a bit too close. The day ended with an on-track scuffle between two 1990s-era Trans Am cars. Bent steel and punctured rubber were flatbed towed back to the pit area.

And this was merely the first day. More to come.

Your humble author was there to witness it all, with two Canon cameras in hand. Scroll through the gallery of my favorite shots, below.

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Brian Salazar didn’t realize what he was getting himself into when he submitted the winning eBay bid. It was earlier this summer, and he was suddenly the new owner of a barn find race car.

“Honestly, it is more than I wanted,” says Salazar of his Sixties-era caged sprint car, which spent a majority of its retirement sealed away in storage. “I’m not that type of guy, but it’s been a great story.”

While trawling local listings, a red-and-white circle tracker caught Salazar’s eye. Even though Salazar has lived in the heart of Midwest dirt racing—and only an hour from the Sprint Car Capital of the World in Knoxville, Iowa—for the past decade, he had never owned, let alone aspired to own, anything like it. But the old sprinter’s all-original condition lured him in.

A rolling time capsule, the car sported a coat of cracked paint, a rusty roll cage, and chrome fuel injection stacks. Under the hood was a 396 cubic-inch Chevrolet big-block mated to a Culbertson in-out box. Halibrand magnesium knockoff wheels wrapped in dry-rotted Firestone dirt rubber completed the eye-catching relic.

Over the next few months, Salazar went deep down the rabbit hole into the history behind his vintage racer—a journey sparked by an unexpected phone call. Salazar wasn’t an hour down the road, towing the car with an open trailer and his F-150, when his phone rang. On the other end of the line: historian Ed Sanders.

“I’m like a tick on a hound dog,” says Sanders. “I don’t quit ’til I find the story.” The Missouri-based circle track history buff made a series of queries once he heard the car had been sold, and in less than 15 minutes, he was speaking to its new owner. Sanders could remember when the car terrorized local Midwest tracks, including Olympic Stadium in Kansas City. “It was a heck of a car back in the day,” he says, “I hate to see it leave Missouri.

The oldtimer nevertheless supplied the info to the new owner, Salazar, filling the information gaps from the initial eBay listing. Built by Junior Hower for driver Jim McMurray (no relation to NASCAR driver), the car originally featured a small-block Chevy. The engine was a far more conventional—and lighter—powerplant for that era of circle tracker. “I don’t think Junior would’ve done it,” Sanders says of the 396 cubic-inch transplant. According to the historian, Hower was an experienced builder and one of the top welders in Kansas City to boot, having taught the trade at a local college.

Sanders suggested reaching out to Ray Boyles, the nephew of Junior Hower and one of the original sponsors of the team.

In 1963, a young Ray Boyles damaged his 1960 Corvette. Rather than taking the fiberglass beauty to a shop, he exacted a shade-tree repair in his own garage. Word quickly spread about Boyles’ skills, and before long he had his own body shop exclusively for Corvettes, located in a southeast suburb of Kansas City. Ray Boyle’s Corvette Village was on the map, and by 1966 he was buying, selling, and repairing sports cars from around the country.

In addition to his love for polished plastic fantastics, Boyles was—and still is—an avid dirt tracker. (His son Joe has numerous Chili Bowl entries and his grandson races throughout the Midwest today.) Back in the Sixties he supported the #48 team and in return they painted his business’ name and address across the hood. He even rebuilt the front section of the frame, in the Corvette shop, when it was damaged by driver McMurray mid-race. “I would’ve probably put it back with small-block in it, but they put the big-block back in, so … well … ok,” he says with a chuckle. Boyles also informed Salazar that the #48 was chosen because it was double Hower’s usual choice, #24.

The Corvette whisperer invited Salazar to his Kansas City dwelling to share photos—suggesting the car presents today as it ran in the late-1960s—and show him a trophy he received for sponsoring the car back in the day. Before Salazar could leave, Boyles challenged him to a homemade racing board game.

Over the next couple months, Salazar went back-and-forth on what he should do with the car. A museum? A restoration? Each new crack in the paint was a falling grain of sand in the hourglass. While he waffled, he enjoyed the relic for what it was: a conversation piece. He took it to the Albaugh Classic, one of Iowa’s largest car shows, and let anyone willing to fold themselves through the cage sit in the car. Sandwiched among throngs of muscle machines and super cars, the lowly barn-find sprinter stole the show.

In the midst of the action, another show-goer approached Salazar and the two began chatting about the mystery 396. “He told me that if this was installed in 1970—which I think that’s the year they swapped engine—there was a chance it could be out of a 1970 Chevelle” says Salazar, clearly excited over the discovery. “After a quick Google search we found the VIN to be a match.” This meant the 396 cubic-inch engine had a larger bore from the factory which bumped the cubes to 402.

It’s discoveries like this that keep the car’s story interesting. Salazar began a personal adventure of grassroots automotive archeology and came back with more knowledge than he ever thought possible, not to mention a wealth of new friends. From playing a board game with a total stranger to being the star of a car show, Salazar reveled in the newfound territory.

“When you start talking to people who have been there, done it, touched it, know so much about it, and then they tell you about each person involved and their personality, the whole experience becomes so powerful.”

While he’s still not sure what he’ll end up doing with the old sprinter, Salazar is certain that he would embark on this journey all over again, given the chance.

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Jimmie Johnson was the most dominant driver in NASCAR’s modern era. In his 16-year Cup Series career he won 84 races and tied the all-time-record of seven Cup championships set by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Despite his dominance, Johnson never generated the following that his fellow Hall-of-Famers enjoyed. Even his mentor, Jeff Gordon, who only tallied four championships, remains a household name interwoven into American culture long after his retirement. Johnson, not so much.

Throughout his career, Johnson was seen by the media and fans alike as vanilla. Robotic, even. Those who know the Southern Californian growing up might argue otherwise, and his Hendrick team’s results spoke for themselves. Johnson’s #48 car would show up to the track and roll away with the trophy seemingly every race, nary a drop of drama spilled over the course of the weekend. The only criticism he drew was that there was nothing to criticize.

If there is a Jimmie Johnson of the hybrid world, it’s the Kia Niro. Roughly the size of a Honda HR-V or VW Taos, this tall hatchback is a clinical execution of an efficient people mover. This the vehicle that a majority of urban and suburban American singles small families should own, regardless of what they think they need. Spacious, comfortable, cost-effective, and comporting itself with adequate performance, the Niro is well-suited for short daily commutes and long road trips. There’s plenty of cargo space, too; way more than your average sedan. Kia’s stellar 10-year, 100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty doesn’t hurt either.

The Niro’s story began in 2017, when Kia brought the stubby, cladded little bean to the states as a hybrid (HEV) and direct competitor to the Prius. Remember that gas prices at this point in time were hovering at roughly $2.60 a gallon—not exactly an urgent call to action for hybrid and EV adoption. Despite the fact that the Niro was more crossover-like and more affordable, the Prius was already—and would remain—a household name, and sales of the latter dwarfed the former. (For those keeping score at home, the Prius is Jeff Gordon in this SAT-level analogy). A year later, the South Korean brand introduced a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Niro, which added capability for 26 miles of all-electric range. Then, in 2019, Kia debuted the Niro EV, essentially a Hyundai Kona Electric with a larger body and the same 64-kWh battery, providing 239 miles of juice to the smaller Kona’s 258.

Since then, Kia’s compact crossover has quietly hummed along, Johnson-like, save for a few tech adds and styling tweaks. Herein lies part of the Niro’s problem: In 2022, a PHEV powertrain is a lot less novel than it was five years ago, particularly when pure EVs are such a big part of the current conversation. From Hyundai’s sleek Ioniq 5 to Jeep’s weirdo 4xe Wrangler, dealerships are bustling with models that use the juice from an outlet.

Sales figures, however, suggest things are just fine in Camp Niro. Through July, Kia has sold about 4000 more Niros than last year (18,309 to 14,465). One imagines that current gas prices make even this aging steed seem appealing.

Earlier this summer, the Kia dropped a 2022 Niro PHEV on our doorstep in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Painted Horizon Blue over charcoal in EX Premium trim level, the long-roofed Niro looked surprisingly dapper. In more muted colors like silver or gray, it’s basically invisible.

Of the three Niro PHEV trim levels, EX Premium is at the top, some $6900 more than the base LXS ($30,885). Even though the ultra-lux package somewhat diminishes the point of cost-conscious vehicle, the highlights will elevate your Niro from a rental lot ringer. Power sunroof, 10.25-inch touchscreen display, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a Harman Kardon audio system, and a bevy of driving assists that will only be worth the upcharge to those who lean on smart cruise, traffic sensors, and backup cameras. This car’s target market of ordinary, non-enthusiast commuters certainly fits that bill.

The SynTex seating material is reserved for the top trim as well. Synthetic leather is very in right now—it’s more breathable than leather, easier to maintain, and attractive to those woke to veganism and sustainability. Kia’s material feels just as good as those of other manufacturers, though more rugged crossovers like the Subaru Outback make it seem like a more compelling lifestyle choice. In addition to the SynTex wrapping the seats and the heated steering wheel, other glossy plastics with red and silver accents adorn the cabin, affirming Kia’s—and cousin Hyundai’s—ability make cheap materials look acceptable.

The rest of the interior is unfussy, a little drab, yet remarkably comfortable, like a pair of Old Navy slacks. The cabin is plenty spacious for front and rear seat passengers and has over 50 cubic feet of luggage space. Senior editor Jeff Peek and I used the Niro to explore the abandoned ruin at the Packard Plant for an upcoming story. The Niro swallowed us and all of our gear whole—an impressive feat if you consider the modest 106-inch wheelbase, which is five inches shy of a Camry’s.

In the Niro you sit more upright than a compact sedan, but lower than your typical crossover. In fact, driving most compact sport utilities feel like sitting at a tractor’s tiller compared to the Niro. That slightly lower center of gravity pays dividends; on my way to work one morning, I swerved to avoid a roadkill carcass and the Niro juked with unexpected readiness.

The well-tuned suspension no doubt aids the low-slung affair. MacPherson struts up front and multi-link in the back—again, nothing special. Turning radius, true to the segment, is sublime. Ricocheting through metro grid is where the South Korean kart shines. Steering has just enough heft to keep you straight on highways (something that plagued the Venue) yet is light enough to parking lot pivot. Imagine you’re an entry-level programmer, five minutes late for a coding session. The Niro is your chariot.

Performance isn’t the point here, and the Niro makes no attempt to set your hair on fire. A combined output of 139 horspeower for this 3200-pound vehicle is enough that the Niro can get out of its own way. But there are some bumpy elements to what should be a seamless experience. For one, Niro’s six-speed dual-clutch transmission has a tendency to excessively wind out under hard acceleration. It’s not a big deal for the rare moments it comes up, and most of the time you’ll just be amazed that the thing delivers 560 miles of range on an 11.4-gallon tank. Others in the media have been critical of the clunky hybrid handoff between electric and internal combustion. It’s not perfect, but over a week spent in the PHEV, I’d say that the powertrain is much smoother than in the plug-in Wrangler 4xe.

What Kia gives up in its utilization of the Atkinson compression cycle—which is more efficient than the Otto, at the cost of reduced low-end power—it immediately makes back with aid from the electric motor. (Shoutout to English inventor James Atkinson, who never found success in period with his design; you were born 100 years too soon.)

The Niro’s infotainment system is another no-fuss aspect to the machine. The neatly packaged center console and comforting use of physical buttons works well, and the 10.25-inch screen—with Kia’s super cute bulb transistor display for the radio station—is a welcome focal point in the interior. The eight-speaker Harman Kardon audio system is probably a bonus compared to the base stereo, but it won’t win any awards from audiophiles.

All of the Niro’s available tech has somewhat muddled its original pricing model. When the Kia arrived six years ago, it was about the same price as the Prius across trim levels. Now, the Niro EX Premium (depending on hybrid, PHEV, or EV powertrain) is on average a couple grand more than the comparable top-level Prius offerings. I suspect the better value if you must have a plug-in is the $34,685 EX, which has leather upholstery and heated seats, but across the board the standard hybrid Niro gives more bang for buck. Whether the PHEV is worth the roughly $4000 premium is a question worth answering with a test drive before deciding on competitors like the Prius, or even the larger Ford Escape plug-in hybrid.

Around the time we sampled the 2022 Niro PHEV, Kia debuted next year’s model at the New York Auto Show. The 2023 Niro promises updated styling and a few more ponies under the hood, perhaps implying that it was time to wake up this veteran performer.

Ironically, it was only until Johnson announced his big switch to IndyCar that fans began to flock. If his career has taught us anything, it’s that people can appreciate a good change of pace. Hyundai may be hoping this to be true.

***

2022 Kia Niro PHEV EX Premium

Price: $30,885 / $37,820 (base LXS / as-tested EX Premium)

Highs: Comfortable ride. Sweet spot height between a sedan and a compact sport utility. Certified fuel sipper, handsome interior despite budget materials.

Lows: EX Premium trim feels overkill on what is really a budget people mover. Could stand to have a bit more flash in looks and drivetrain.

Takeaway: Want a Prius alternative with a wagon layout and a killer warranty? Try the Niro for size.

The post Review: 2022 Kia Niro PHEV EX Premium appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In just a few days, Monterey Car Week will overrun the quiet California ocean town with the world’s rarest and most seductive vehicles. They’ll quite literally be everywhere: at the myriad shows, entered in the concours, or conspicuously parked between rental cars in hotel parking lots. Many will also be up for grabs at various auctions around town.

The crop of race cars for sale this year is particularly mouth-watering, from a Ferrari campaigned by Carroll Shelby to a Dupont-liveried Monte Carlo driven by Jeff Gordon. Let’s take a look at the highlights.

1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti

RM Sotheby’s, lot 355

Estimate: $25M–$30M

Hold onto your trousers, Enzo: This Ferrari is poised to make a big splash next week. This Scaglietti-bodied Ferrari (chassis number 0598CM) is just one of two built in this spec and possess a matching-numbers chassis, body, and engine. Featuring a 4.9-liter V-12, this big-displacement Ferrari was raced by many of the world’s greatest drivers from the mid-century, including Juan Manuel Fangio, Phill Hill, Masten Gregory, and Jim Rathman. Oh, and some Texan named Carroll Shelby.

In fact, Shelby won more driving this exact car than any other car he drove in his career, amassing eight wins and ten podiums for So-Cal Ferrari privateer John Edgar. The chicken farmer’s inscription on the fuel tank reads: “Mr. Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built.” We’ll soon know to what degree bidders share the same sentiment.

1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight

Bonhams, lot 60

Estimate: $7M–$8.5M

Developed in opposition to the Ferrari GTO, which took sports-car racing by storm in the early ’60s, the Jaguar E-Type Lightweight arrived for Briggs Cunningham and Kjell Qvale, respectively, ahead of the 1963 12 Hours of Sebring. This car was not far behind, delivered to Cunningham in June 1963.

Chassis number S850664 was just the seventh Lightweight built, and the second of the three sold to Cunningham. Equipped with a more reliable four-speed, the Jaguar arrived at Le Mans in 1963 with a #14 on the door and Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst sharing driving duties. Ironically, the gearbox failed an hour into the race. The ZF five-speed was fitted after returning home from the French contest.

In the years since, the Jaguar has traded hands multiple times and has been maintained to resemble the car as it appeared roaring down the Mulsanne in 1963, sporting an aluminum 3.8-liter inline-six and the classic American livery with Cunningham stripes. “With a string of famous collectors (sometimes owned more than once), this lightweight E-Type would be an excellent addition to any collection,” says Hagerty’s manager of Valuation analytics John Wiley.

2007 Porsche RS Spyder Evo

Gooding & Company, lot 24

Estimate $6M–$8M

Some 35 years after Porsche and Penske dominated Can-Am racing with variations on the turbocharged 917, the two groups came together once again to campaign the RS Spyder in global endurance racing. This car, one of only 17 RS Spyder prototypes built between 2005 and 2008, captured two outright wins, four class wins, and ultimately helped The Captain earn back-to-back American Le Mans Series championships.

Underneath the yellow-wrapped carbon fiber beats a 3.4-liter V-8 producing over 500 horsepower. “The thrill of shifting this engine at 10,000 rpm and taking turns flat-out in fifth and sixth gear, with complete control, is like none I’ve ever experienced,” says the consignor. Even over a decade since its dominance, this modern icon is still a head-turner, and has been celebrated as such at vintage exhibits like Porsche’s Rennsport Reunion. “This is the last prototype racing car a collector will be able to buy from Porsche, and you don’t need a team of people to run it.”

1998 Ferrari F300

RM Sotheby’s, lot 342

Estimate $6M–$8M

In the winter of 1998, Ferrari invited over 800 journalists to Maranello to preview its newest Formula 1 racer, the F300. The Rory Byrne–designed car utilized a novel 3.0-liter, 80-degree V-10, which spun to some 17,500 rpm and produced 800 horsepower.

The marriage between the new car and F1 phenom Michael Schumacher was electric. Despite losing driver’s championship, the 1998 season represents a large step towards Ferrari’s dominance later in the Aughts. In this specific car (chassis number 187), Schumacher went four-for-four in the win column, making it the most successful Ferrari Formula 1 chassis ever. In 1999, it was acquired from Scuderia Ferrari by its current owner, who has since preserved the car in its as-raced condition: still undefeated.

1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Scaglietti “Tour de France”

Broad Arrow,* lot 29

Estimate: $6M–$7M

Designed by Pinin Farina and built by Scaglietti, this aluminum-bodied competition Berlinetta turned gentleman racers into forces to be reckoned with. The 3.0-liter V-12 shoved the lightweight Berlinetta to many victories, including a series of “Tour de France” races (1956–1959). That impressive string of wins earned the car its moniker.

This, the only car on the list without a racing livery, nonetheless has a very colorful past. Pierre Noblet purchased a brand new Berlinetta (chassis 0619 GT) for his racing escapades in 1957. Following just one season, Noblet was back in Maranello for a newer “Tour de France,” a three louver Series II (chassis 0805 GT). Likely for tax purposes, Noblet requested that he retain his original chassis number for the Series II. Ferrari obliged, and 0805GT was now 0619GT.

In 1960, Noblet ditched his Series II for a 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione. The discarded Ferrari traded hands several times before reportedly rearranging the brick wall of a Peugeot factory at the hands of a young driver. The damage sustained didn’t spell the end of the line for this Ferrari, though: By the early ’70s renowned Ferrari restorer Wayne Sparling took ownership of the TdF with the aim of returning it to its prior glory. By 2003 the car made its post-restoration debut.

In 2016, following Sparling’s passing and the sale of this “Tour de France” Ferrari, the car’s original body panels were located on his property. Under the stewardship of the two most recent owners, the original panels were fitted to the car in a no-expense-spared restoration in Italy. Now, 65 years after this Berlinetta was first delivered to Noblet, it is Ferrari “Red Book” Classiche certified.

1969 Porsche 908/02

Gooding & Company, lot 44

Estimate $4M–$5M

After the 2.2-liter Porsche 907 but before the burly 917, Stuttgart’s finest fielded the 908 for sports car racing. Even though Ferdinand Piëch and engineer Helmut Bott originally conceived the car as a coupe, Group 6 specs in 1969 forced the team to reimagine the Porsche as a Spyder. 220 pounds lighter than the original design, the 908/02 weighed in at just over 1300 pounds dripping wet. A 350-hp, 3.0-liter flat-eight pushed the bantamweight 908/02 to around 180 mph.

This Spyder (908/02-010) was campaigned by Porsche at Brands Hatch, the Targa Florio, and the Nürburgring in 1969. Even more iconic are the drivers who sat behind the wheel, including Vic Elford, Richard Atwood, and Pedro Rodriguez. After its stint as a works car, the 908 participated in four 24 Hours of Le Mans under privateer banners.

Unlike many 908s with gaps in their histories, this particular 908 has extensive documentation dating back to its first days on the track.

1965 Shelby Cobra 427 Competition

Mecum, lot F52

Estimate $2.4M–$3.3M

Only one of 23, this rare factory-built Competition 427 Cobra (CSX3006) raced throughout Europe in 1966. The Cobra’s most notable race came at the Ilford Films 500 at Brands Hatch, where it emerged victorious, securing the first—and only—significant European triumph for a production Shelby 427 Cobra, with David Piper and Bob Bondurant sharing driver duties. After trading hands several times, Legendary Motorcar Company restored the Cobra back to its original specifications, including the metallic blue paint, FIA Halibrand wheels, and a left-hand-drive configuration.

1974 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12

Bonhams, lot 78

Estimate $1.7M–$2.2M

Armed with an 11,000 rpm, 3.0-liter flat-12 screamer, this Tipo 33 TT 12 (chassis 007) recorded three runner-up finishes in 1974. The 500-hp prototype racer has had only three owners since its competition debut, and appears to be unrestored. “It is one of the most original Tipo 33s and an excellent value for a sports racing car of this era,” says Wiley.

1994 Nissan Skyline GT-R “JGTCC-GT1” by Hasemi Motorsport

RM Sotheby’s, lot 216

Estimate $500K–$550K

“With road-going Skylines so popular in the market at present, their reputation as successful race cars is often overlooked,” says Wiley. This is shocking considering how dominant the cars were through the early ’90s.

In fact, “dominant” may severely understate how much success Nissan’s third-gen Skyline GT-R found in Japanese touring car competition. The car went undefeated for four straight seasons. No other manufacturer found victory lane from 1990 to 1993. The R32 burnished its reputation abroad as well, experiencing success in Australian and European series.

This super coupe was built by Hasemi Motorsport in partnership with NISMO for the 1994 Japan Grand Touring Car Championship and driven by “Mr. Skyline” Masahiro Hasemi to second place in the season standings that year. Hasemi piloted this Skyline to victory in the inaugural 24 Hours of Tokachi endurance race, besting the rest of the pack by ten laps.

After its final race in 1995, the R32 was retired by Hasemi and showcased at their team offices. A year later, the current Tokyo-based consignor acquired the car from the race team.

1962 Kurtis-Kraft Aguilla

Gooding & Company, lot 14

Estimate $450K–$500K

Frank Kurtis and his Kurtis-Kraft company were synonymous with open-wheel performance throughout the mid-20th century. Their midgets, sprint cars, and Indy roadsters were as fast as they were beautiful. The firm solidified its reputation in the 1950s at the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the ’50s, taking home no less than five Indy 500 victories.

As Kurtis approached retirement in 1962, Houston gentleman racer Herb Stetler commissioned an open-wheel car for SCCA competition. Kurtis suggested his company could produce a car that would be able to compete in Formula 366 and sports car racing by building removable bodywork. Underneath those salacious curves, Stetler and mechanic Dale Burt bolted in a 327-cubic-inch small block Chevy married to a four-speed transmission. Despite the parts pedigree, the Aguilla was unable to finish any of the dozen or so races in which the car was entered.

Earlier this year, the car was stripped bare and refinished in the original livery. One of the last Kurtis-designed racers, the Aguilla may be one of the most beautiful.

1972 AAR Gurney Eagle Indy Car

Gooding & Company, lot 59

Estimate $250K–350K

No name carries more cachet across all racing disciplines than Dan Gurney. Regardless of the series or venue, the man built, drove, and owned winning race cars. The 1972 Eagle Indy Car—true to Gurney form—was one of the most successful chassis in the sport’s history and was the first car to exceed a 200 mile-per-hour lap average. Chassis 72-11 is one of approximately thirty ’72 Eagles built. It was sold new to veteran Indy team owner Lindsey Hopkins and driven by Mel Kenyon over three seasons, notably finishing fourth in the 1973 Indy 500.

According to Wiley, the trouble with collecting Gurney cars is that they rarely change hands. This 1972 Gurney Eagle Indy Car represents an excellent opportunity to take one home.

2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR “Jeff Gordon”

RM Sotheby’s, lot 208

Estimate $150K–$200K

In 2001, after Jeff Gordon won his fourth championship in seven years, fans thought it was only a matter of time until “Wonder Boy” would eclipse Earnhardt and Petty’s high-water mark of seven titles. Sadly, the “Drive for Five” never happened for Gordon.

Still, the Aughts presented some highlights for Gordon and his #24 team. In fact, during this car’s tenure, Gordon won 11 races over the course of three years. While he never pulled into victory lane with this piece, car number 24-224 is representation of three very successful seasons. It also comes dressed in Dupont’s flame scheme, an equally-popular follow-up to the rainbow livery the team ran in the ’90s. Underneath the flames, an equally loud 830-horsepower Hendrick SB2 V-8 awaits its new owner’s heavy right foot.

Are you planning to attend Monterey Car Week? Keep up to date on the latest news and events by subscribing to our special edition newsletter or text Pebble22 to 227588 (CAR LUV) for real-time event updates straight to your phone.

*Hagerty has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Broad Arrow Group. You can read more about it here.

The post 12 race cars on 2022’s Monterey auction grid appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Whether you’re a seasoned hot shoe or a green-horned beginner, chances are at some point in your journey to the track, you’ve considered attending a driving school, tried to glean tips from a veteran racer, employed a driving coach, or been assigned an instructor at a track day to help you improve your craft. While many of these tactics are helpful in getting up-to-pace, they have their shortcomings.

A few years back, pro driver Kai Goddard surveyed the driving instruction landscape and noticed a need for improved high-performance driver education (HPDE). There weren’t many coaching services with a personal touch or individual focus, or if there were, they were difficult to find unless you knew someone who knew someone. Many of the existing offerings required students to visit a distant track for instruction, and if you were able to attend a school, you probably had to split instructor time with other students and work in an unfamiliar car. If you were assigned an instructor at a track day, he or she was probably a good driver with plenty of experience, but chances are they were doing it to get discounted or free track time, and driver instruction was not their profession.

Goddard also observed numerous preventable incidents at open track days. Over time, he found that many of these accidents had a common cause—they were the result of poor driver education, as well as a general lack of understanding of vehicle dynamics, especially when it came to the operation of high-performance vehicles. Goddard thought that an accessible, personalized, one-on-one coaching service could be the solution to fill the void. Even better, a coaching service that could bring the coaches to the driver, rather than the other way around. So, in 2019, he founded Track Rekord. The high-touch, tailored solution pairs driver and coach at their track of choice.

Factoring in discipline, pedigree, and location, matches are made by Godard and his business partner at Track Rekord, Steve Kimpton, from a growing roster of 26 vetted coaches with experience from numerous pro racing series, including Indy Lights, NASCAR, IMSA, SRO and USAC. “We’re really proud of the team that we’ve assembled,” Goddard says. “We feel there is a huge difference in the combined level of experience of our coaches and others out there. In 2021 alone, we worked with students at 23 different tracks around the country.”

Additionally, the choice of track plays big into the success of the student. Allowing the driver to select a track or organized event caters to their schedule and comfort level. “You don’t have to get on an airplane to attend a school or meet your coach,” Kimpton says. “Drivers can work with a Track Rekord coach locally, at the track where they typically spend most of their time in their own car.” You don’t have to be a member of a private club to use Track Rekord’s services either; their coaches accompany students to track day events all over the country.

“Our ultimate goal is to make our students quicker, keep them safe, and show them a good time at their preferred track wherever that may be” Kimpton says. Track Rekord’s coaches employ a variety of methods to help students achieve their potential, such as reference laps set by the coach in the student’s car, lead-follow on track, in-car instruction, radio communication, video analysis, virtual coaching, and simulator work. There is a strong reliance on data acquisition and analysis, something that is facilitated with GPS-based technology that can easily be installed in the student’s car. Driver and coach may spend as much time off-track analyzing video and data as they do in the car. According to Goddard, the coach’s duties are just as important away from the track as they are at the track: “Our coaches spend much more than just the time at the track with a driver. The time devoted to preparation ahead of time and debriefing after the instruction time on track is a big factor in a successful relationship with the student.”

Understanding driver needs and providing appropriate feedback is incredibly important, so Track Rekord doesn’t follow a rigid curriculum or fixed lesson plan. Instead, each plan is developed by the coach for the individual student, based on their specific needs, experience, and discipline. “There are so many track-day coaches who are set in their ways and don’t listen to the driver,” Goddard says. “Drivers come to us and we often have to undo a lot of bad habits and incorrect technique before they can really start to learn.” Kimpton adds, “We focus on the relationship with the client—listening to them and understanding how they learn is key to a successful partnership.”

In addition to personalized one-on-one coaching, Track Rekord also offers virtual and small group coaching, provides race driver development programs, as well as offering precision and stunt driving services, and can also run exclusive track events. Regardless of the discipline or disposition, Track Rekord has the keys you need to improve your driving skills.

For more information, visit, www.trackrekord.com.

The post Track Rekord delivers personalized coaching for any driver appeared first on Hagerty Media.

For a testament to the popularity of circle-track dirt racing in the United States, look no further than the clay oval carved into the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While attendance has dipped among some of the country’s national racing series, both spectator count and purse values are trending up in the dirt-racing world. Despite the cost of diesel, car count remains steady. The scene is so hot—and critical for the future health of premier divisions—that even America’s most popular venue, a squeaky clean mecca of speed, is getting in on the mud-caked action.

First constructed in 2018, the track was a joint venture between the United States Auto Club (USAC) and the IMS. The banked quarter-mile was erected just inside the apex of the 2.5-mile speedway’s third turn, with permanent barriers installed around the perimeter and temporary grandstands lining the front stretch. A ceremonial yard of bricks was mortared into the wall below the starter’s stand. The event was christened “The BC39” after Bryan Clauson, an accomplished dirt racer who made three Indianapolis 500 starts before he was slain in midget competition.

Over 100 drivers showed up to that first race.

The race quickly became a crown-jewel event for dirt racers. Every summer, contestants flock from numerous states, multiple countries, and several disciplines to try to tame the bull ring aboard their four-cylinder powered open-wheelers. Now in its fourth year, the midget race held in the shadows of Indy’s iconic pagoda is bigger than ever.

For 40 years, USAC was the sanctioning body for the Indianapolis 500. Then, in 1996, it was booted from the race following the advent of Tony George’s Indy Racing League. Still, the club continued to call Indy home—literally occupying an office outside of the Speedway’s first turn—as did nationally sanctioned road racing, karting, and other open-wheel disciplines, including dirt midgets.

USAC’s national midget series is a hot bed for young talent. The tube-frame cars weigh less than 1000 pounds, have 400 horsepower, solid axles, and no traction control—a recipe for burgeoning drivers to sharpen their control. NASCAR stars like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell first cut their teeth in these pint-sized buggies on the bull rings across the country. Prior to them, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and A.J. Foyt each found victory in midgets early in their hall-of-fame career. This year’s roster featured a few current NASCAR drivers, IndyCar veteran Zach Veach, and ten-time sprint car champ Donny Schatz. The diverse field also featured seven female racers.

Midget racing’s most prestigious race, ironically not sanctioned by USAC, is the Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Last winter, editor-in-chief Larry Webster made his dirt debut at the annual indoor contest, slicing and dicing with nearly 400 other entrants. If the Chili Bowl is the Daytona 500 of midget racing, consider the burgeoning Brickyard battle a close second.

“Next to Chili Bowl, this is the hardest race to make,” says NASCAR Cup Series regular Chase Briscoe. “You’ve got 80-something drivers here. I feel like it just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.” Briscoe, an Indiana native who race midgets long before he strapped into stock cars, affirms that the venue definitely plays into the prestige.

“Any time you can race here—whether it’s the oval, the road course, the dirt track, the parking lot—it’s just special. I think everybody in motorsports dreams of getting to race at Indianapolis.”

In addition to enticing unique drivers into the fray (ones who might not make more than a couple midget races all year), a unique subset of fans were also in attendance. Some declared that the dirt track at IMS was their only experience with short-track racing. It’s a reminder that some fans follow the track itself and support the venue regardless of the racing that takes place on the grounds. New followers are good for both parties, USAC and IMS.

Those in attendance are treated to an epic, two-night schedule of racing, sliding, and tumbling. As the night matures, the surface evolves. Loose dirt packs against the wall, forming a “cushion.” Only the most precise—and often the fastest—drivers place their right rear against the embankment which guides the car around the corner. Climb too far up the clay curb, and calamity ensues.

Each year, the venue produces some of the season’s best finishes. “The track was purpose-built for midgets, so that definitely helps,” says racer-turned-reporter Dillon Welch, who temporarily traded his NBC mic for a helmet and a shot at Indy glory. “The guys who prep the track are the best in the country, in my opinion.”

IMS employed Reece O’Connor of neighboring Kokomo Speedway to oversee the track layout and supervise the construction. Unlike a pavement course, surface work never ceases on a dirt track, so every year IMS brings O’Connor back to prep the circuit ahead of the show. Keeping the right level of moisture in the clay is the key to an exciting race, and it takes an experienced groomer like O’Connor to maintain a track, especially amid the unpredictable weather of August.

Competition was electric in 2022. 16-year-old Dominic Gorden held off a slew of veterans for the biggest win of his young career on the first night. During the second evening, IMS treated fans to a special exhibition run by Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan. IndyCar veteran Kanaan suited up for several laps aboard a midget, a task that made the Brazilian superhero look human. “The sensation of speed is 10,000 times that of an IndyCar,” he said following his first laps in the car. Buddy Kofoid, a rising star destined for Sunday racing, took the feature win that night.

The dirt oval is part of a larger trend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For decades, the track lay dormant for most of the summer. NASCAR arrived in 1994. Formula 1 followed for a spell. Now, the track is consistently humming with the sounds of race cars—a second IndyCar date, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, GT World Challenge, and the IMSA WeatherTech Series in 2023.

IMS President Doug Boles has been responsible for much of this growth, the dirt race included. Before this year’s contest, he told reporters that the BC39 is his second-favorite race of the year, runner-up to the Indy 500.

“It’s a way to connect to heartbeat of our sport,” Boles said in an interview with FloRacing. “Our sport doesn’t survive without the local racetrack and through the national level of drivers who support those tracks.” During the event, the hands-on boss Boles was true to form, holding court with drivers and shaking hands with seemingly everyone in attendance. After drivers retired from the race, it was often Boles who commended the driver for their valiant effort before any team member.

With support from Boles and the rest of the IMS crew, it’s no wonder that this burgeoning dirt race is experiencing such immense success. Paired with the celebrity status of the Speedway and the disciplines’ momentum, the dirt race in Indy’s third turn has a bright future.

The post Midget racing invades Indianapolis Motor Speedway appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The evening before my flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, my phone involuntarily updated and, in the process, wiped out thousands of photos. Numerous digitally preserved memories, scrubbed clean, all at once. Everything is temporary.

Should I have backed up my cell shots to the cloud? Absolutely. Did I? No. For some reason or another, the typically automatic backup process hadn’t triggered for about a month. By the time Cameron’s No Good, Very Bad iPhone Photo Massacre of 2022 (so named in the textbooks of future generations) struck, it was too late. Troubled as I was, there was no time to mourn; more pressing was the matter of packing enough clean underwear for a three-day road trip in my boss’s 1986 Ford Mustang GT.

The plan: Meet editor-in-chief Larry Webster and his son down in the Queen City. Spend an evening at Bowman Gray Stadium watching stockers circle one of America’s oldest—and most unique—short tracks. Drive the Fox-body home to Webster’s house, while he flew back to catch a meeting.

Saturday night, the day of the race, it rained. A torrential downpour soaked Bowman Gray’s grounds, washing away all hope for competition that evening. Imagine traveling to the Louvre only to find it closed because the sprinkler system had gone off. Despite the setback, we stuck to the plan. Webster handed me the keys to his Mustang that night. I would ride at dawn.

Ford unveiled its third generation Mustang in 1978. Lighter, shorter, and with much less chrome, the pony car riding on Ford’s new Fox platform was a radical departure from any previous Mustang. “Put everything you’ve learned about Mustangs into the Inactive file,” wrote Car and Driver in a review of the 1979 model.

The Mustang—along with its equally-fresh stablemates, the Fiesta, and Fairmont—received favorable grades from reviewers following its transformation. Ford had finally trimmed the fat and the new fighter was leaner and more nimble. By 1986, the Fox body generation was coming into its own. The Blue Oval had also ditched the carburetor in its legacy sports car, in favor of fuel injection. Another big boon was the GT trim that supplanted the short-lived Cobra Mustang. The Mustang GT’s 302-cubic-inch V-8, which was the most powerful engine in the 1979 model with 140 horsepower, now pushed past 200 and the venerable ’86 could lay down sub-15-second quarter-mile times.

Across the aisle, Mustang had stiff competition in the Camaro, which was experiencing a similar glow-up in the mid-1980s. Car and Driver pitted the two against one another in a performance test at California’s Willow Springs road course. Their conclusion: “Our overall feeling is that the 5.7-liter Camaro is more fun for blowing sludge out of your brain on a deserted two-lane, but the Mustang is the better all-around automobile. In all but the wildest maneuvers, it’s more coordinated, more comfortable, and more poised—in other words, a nicer car to live with.”

I left Winston-Salem early. The long commute back north to my home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, began with clear roads and clear skies. After a couple hours in the car, tossing through the gradual twists of Highway 89, I had to agree with that contemporary assessment, which has aged well. Less accurate is this bit of hyperbole from the same article: “Today, both the Camaro and the Mustang have enough power under their hoods to light a small city.” Imagine time-traveling back to ’86 with today’s 460-horsepower Mustang GT.

The Fox can still light up its driver, thanks to that engine. The deep growl from the set of Flowmasters out back helps. (And masks the creak of ’80s plastic.) As I shuffled through the gears of the Borg-Warner five-speed, leaving waves of V-8 noise in my wake, it certainly felt like I was setting land-speed records.

I stopped for lunch in Galax, Virginia. (The city’s intergalactic-sounding name comes from Galax urceolata, a leafy plant found throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains.) Galax’s primary industry is furniture, which means a turn down any side street often yields a pile of prepped lumber stacked stories high. The downtown is rather quaint, punctuated by small businesses like Canton Restaurant.

Canton has been a staple of Galax since the Seventies. It’s owned by a couple who divide and conquer when it comes to orders and food prep, and the restaurant is one of several Chinese-cuisine establishments owned by the family throughout the United States. I arrived on Sunday, sharing the dining room with the church crowd. As families discussed the local happenings and ran through the upcoming soccer practices and appointments for their children, I took note of a giant fish in a tank on the other side of the room. He didn’t have a name, the owner said, but he was a 13-year-old dragon fish. I asked how long dragon fish live. “I don’t know. You never know. They’re just like people.”

While waiting for a plate of chicken, I searched for a place to stay along my wandering route back to Michigan. I figured a couple hours more in the Mustang would be a great way to get more acquainted and close out the first day. Looking at the map, I found southern Virginia and the town of Pulaski. Another cool name. Once there, I located the Jackson Park Inn—a 1920s grocery warehouse renovated to house weary travelers such as myself.

Pulaski is nestled against Virginia’s portion of the Appalachians and is situated just a few clicks southwest of Roanoke. According to an ornate sign in its cute downtown, Pulaski sprang up at the coming of the railroad. Initially called Martin’s Tank, the town was renamed after Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski. “The Father of the American Cavalry,” Pulaski saved George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

According to the National Library, “The British caught Washington in a precarious position with a clever flanking maneuver. It appeared that the Americans might be routed and Washington captured, but Pulaski—possessing no rank—asked Washington to give him temporary command of some cavalry. Washington assented and Pulaski skillfully led a counterattack, helping delay the British enough for the Continental Army to retreat and regroup.” Casimir was given chief command of the American Light Dragoons.

Monday morning, I made like a dragoon and rode my pony out of Pulaski. The new-for-’86 sequential port fuel injection, which provides one injector per cylinder, keeps throttle response lively. The Mustang and I bounded from stoplight-to-stoplight, finding an easy rhythm. I was a pair of taillights and Ford mud flaps.

I planned for this day to be pretty cut and dry. Once I was clear of the Appalachians, I completed a four-hour rush north along I-77, so that I could reach Pennsboro Speedway in West Virginia before sunset. Inspired by an episode of NBC’s Lost Speedways, where Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his cohost visit the famous abandoned race track, I decided to indulge my own proclivities for automotive archeology and pay a visit.

I-77, despite its status as an interstate highway, is an excellent ribbon of pavement for a road trip. Its somewhat dramatic curves and length connecting Virginia and West Virginia remind me of Pennsylvania’s I-80—a tourist’s expressway. There’s plenty of roadside beauty, especially through the Mountaineer State’s undulating countryside, and traffic hustles along fast enough to cover solid distance in a day of driving. I relished each opportunity to pass and watch the needle dive toward the speedometer’s 85-mile-per-hour terminus.

Time in the Mustang allowed me to reflect on the importance of those iPhone photos lost. Why did it sting? I ate the food, I watched the sunset, I did the thing. Yet there was comfort in saving those moments in a tiny black box. Why? Shouldn’t the memories in my own head be enough? Would losing some of them be so bad?

On my way up to the track, I passed a funeral procession with a Red Bull van bringing up the rear. I wondered if it was it part of the motorcade, giving the departed wings. Drive long enough by yourself and truly stupid thoughts like that start to sound witty.

Unlike today’s speedways, the Pennsboro is shaped like an imperfect egg, which would be fine if horses were still racing there like they did from 1887 until the 1960s. Even after years over overgrowth, you can still see the variances in banking, width, and turn radius. Eventually, auto racing took over the venue as far-flung speed freaks flocked to watch dirt all-stars battle for checkered flags. “The Hillbilly Hundred” and “The Dirt Track World Championship” garnered national attention. Now, the track lies dormant, year-round.

By the time I arrived at the old fairgrounds, the sun was low, casting an eerily beautiful glow across the field where the track once stood. As if it was a sign from the still-angered racing gods, a black cloud moved in over the sun the moment I set foot on the property, and with it came a sprinkling of rain. I walked the track, undeterred, imagining what it would’ve been like to be a fan—or even a driver—at Pennsboro. A river runs through the track and mid-corner bridges used to usher cars over the water. The front stretch buts up next to a knoll where fans would dig their seats into the soft hillside. Some of the structures like the ticketing booth, the Skoal Tobacco sign, and the bridge guardrails still stand. They aid in creating a mental picture of how Pennsboro looked in all of its glory. Tracks with this kind of character don’t get built anymore.

The rain picked up, pelting the vestiges of the old speedway, so I hopped back in the Mustang and took off for Marietta, Ohio. I planned to stay at the Lafayette Hotel on Webster’s recommendation. “The place floods a bunch because it’s right on the Ohio River,” he said. “Old and musty. It’s great.”

Indeed, Lafayette smelled like grandmother’s basement and was just as cozy. I took the cabin room, which was the size of a water closet and featured ornate, hand-carved wooden furniture as well as oxblood tile in the bathroom. At the hotel bar I met Steve Simpson, an engineer from Milford, Michigan, who helped develop the 1984 Corvette. Much like the Fox-body Mustang, the Corvette enjoyed dramatic improvement throughout the ’80s; by the time the ZR-1 rolled out in 1990, the C4 Vette was a dagger.

Simpson and his group of boomer buddies had just retired from a day of riding the curves of Southeast Ohio. They were now bellied up to a bar, trading stories about love and loss. “Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while,” said one of Simpson’s buddies, showing the group an iPhone photo of a love interest. Sleep that night, which doves cooing in eaves outside my window helped invite, felt well-earned.

Tuesday—my final day in the Mustang. I liked it enough to not care that it burned oil and refused to charge my phone through the cigarette lighter. I planned to visit the Peoples Mortuary Museum in the morning, but after dialing up the number on the back of the pamphlet, I was informed that the museum was closed on Mondays. Even death needs a day off.

I traveled north on I-77. Rather than make a highway haul like I had done the day before, I took an impromptu exit and tore off into the wealth of tight corners and steep drops. The Mustang is poised on the road, especially for its age. The short wheelbase and humble track width were ideal for the squirming roads of Southeast Ohio. The rear end gently pivots through long corners and the body roll is relatively minimal. From the driver’s seat, the car feels like a compact by today’s standards. Compared to this old Fox, a 2022 Mustang is a leviathan.

I arrived home that evening, having covered more than 700 miles from Winston-Salem to Ann Arbor. The wound of losing all those photos was healing over. I had made a bounty of new memories, anyway. Will what my camera captured present the same way when I come back to this webpage in a decade? Two decades? Definitely not. But there’s no forgetting what I saw over the hood of that Fox-body, windows down and twin pipes roaring.

The post Foxtrot: Winding roads, a giant fish, and an ’86 Mustang appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Seventy-five gallons of race fuel slosh suspended over my head in a plastic container the size of a bathtub as 33 open-wheel sprint cars flash by. One peels off from the pack and darts down pit lane. It’s our team’s car. I shuffle back a couple steps so that my toes aren’t crushed by the car’s massive Hoosiers. The caged roadster skids to a stop in the pit box. Tire changers, tire carriers, and fuelers leap toward the car. Gripping a hose connected to the bathtub of methanol, our fueler climbs on top of the vehicle and straddles the exposed fuel tank. The nozzle clicks into the tank; that’s my cue. With all of my force, I yank down on a lever to open the fuel valve.

Gallons of the good stuff rush out of the container, through the hose, past my nose, and into the tank.

Any amount of spilled alcohol paired with a spark from the burbling engine, or the wheel guns, could send the whole shebang up in a blaze. If it does, it is my duty to close the valve early so that we don’t literally fuel the fire. In that case, I’m probably on fire, given my precarious position to the suspended methanol. No big deal.

For two summers I’ve volunteered for this duty as “deadman”—a rather odd position on the pit crew roster, responsible for manually operating the gravity-fed fuel tank valve. The name, despite its ironic allusions to my safety, comes from the crew member’s ability to bring the fuel to a dead stop. Prior to pumps (which still use a deadman to control a valve), teams used gravity to fill their cars in IndyCar, Formula One, and sports car racing. And this is how teams still fill their sprint car tanks every Memorial Day Weekend, at the Little 500.

Quarter-mile oval Anderson Speedway annually hosts a 500-lap pavement sprint car race on the evening prior to the Indianapolis 500. Appropriately dubbed the Little 500, the marathon race —held about an hour north of the Brickyard—has been an Indiana amuse-bouche to Sunday’s crown jewel since 1949.

Joe Helping built the track in 1948 and opened it under the name Sun Valley Speedway. The story goes that Helping was originally planning to build a bowling alley and rec center amid his 32 acres on the outskirts of town, but two Anderson councilmen convinced him to build a circle track instead. Perhaps ignorance is bliss. Emulating the Indy 500, the inexperienced track owner announced his own 500-lap race featuring 33 cars. According to track historians, pressure was on Helping to reduce the number of laps for fear that teams might rack up pricey tire bills. Helping relpied, “Then we’ll run bicycles, because we’re gonna have a Little 500 and that’s the way it’s gonna be.”

Eighteen cars finished the first Little 500 in 1949, and five did so without making a pit stop. Helping had himself a race.

Even if tires aren’t tested, tempers sure are. After more than 70 years, drivers and teams hailing from numerous racing disciplines flock to the bullring every Memorial Day Weekend to bump, gouge, and route their way to victory.

It may seem odd that I volunteered a prime summer night to stand under a tub of fuel and risk my life, but the decision seems less foolish when you consider the pedigree of the people that I rubbed shoulders with, inside Anderson’s cramped infield. Last year, ex-Corvette Racing boss Dan Binks made his debut as sprint car engine builder at the Little 500. His venerable V-8—likely built with parts used to secure Corvette wins at Le Mans—was stuffed between the tubular frame rails of Kevin Doran’s sprint car.

If you’ve paid attention to American sports car racing the past two decades, you may find Doran’s name familiar. He’s won numerous times at Daytona’s Rolex 24, including twice as a crew chief (1986 and ’87), once as a team member (1989), twice as a manager/owner (1998 and 2002), and once as a car manufacturer (2004). Now, with power from old foe Binks, Doran has his sights on an elusive Little 500 victory.

Apart from stock car racing’s upper echelons, the Little 500 is the only circle track race on the entire continent to feature live pit stops. “Live” meaning racing action is not paused to allow time for teams to service their vehicles. The time a driver spends on pit lane is valuable time lost on the track.

Additionally, the pit stops are held inside the quarter-mile oval on the paved figure-eight track. Teams cram in like a town seeking refuge in a school gymnasium. Hot dog buns are next to the Advil, which are next to the Crescent wrenches, which are in boxes next to the lawn chairs. The only thing separating the infield’s contents from the action on the track are a few strategically placed concrete barriers.

Back to the pit stop. Much like an NFL kicker, the deadman—and the rest of the crew, for that matter—must withstand concentrated pockets of pressure. Unlike a driver, who has hundreds of opportunities to perfect a corner, the crew only has a couple shots. And if someone like the deadman messes up their rather simple task, guess whose head is on the spike. While I remain hanging on the valve like a monkey in a fire suit, the several other crew members set to changing the tires. Since Doran’s team is one of the more professional outfits, the car is equipped with pneumatic jacks. Someone sticks an air-hose in the side of the cowl to raise the car.

Fueling is complete, new tires on, but our job isn’t done yet. As soon as the car is serviced, you mush scream and flail your arms like a banshee. Sprint cars lack a starter motor, so they require a friendly push from a pickup truck to get going. Once the spotting official at the end of pit road notices our antics, they direct a Silverado to our pit stall, where it shoves our driver away, nearly clipping the toes of another team’s crew member.

Victory is in the hands of the driver now.

The post Dead Man Walking: Pitting a 900-hp race car appeared first on Hagerty Media.

As Jenson Button sat on the starting grid in Hungary, he might have reflected on another opportunity to win his first grand prix slipping away.

A triumph from 14th on the grid comes with incredibly long odds, particularly around the tight twists and turns at the Hungaroring—a notoriously tricky circuit with minimal passing zones, on the outskirts of Budapest. Additionally, there was stout competition in front of his white and black Honda, that afternoon.

Among the 13 competitors in front of the Briton, there was the identical team car of nine-time grand prix winner Rubens Barrichello, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, and Renault’s three-time race winner Giancarlo Fisichella. Right behind Button, the current world champion Fernando Alonso sat poised in another Renault.

On top of that, no other manufacturer than Renault or Ferrari had yet to win a grand prix that year. And Button’s Honda was hardly a contender. Sure, he finished third in Malaysia. He even started from pole position at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, leading three laps before his engine detonated. The highlights, though, were sporadic. After six-and-a-half seasons and 112 grands prix, many felt Button deserved a victory for his efforts and those of his Honda team.

To add insult to injury, a ten-place grid penalty for an engine failure before the race had dropped him from fourth to 14th in the Hungary GP starting order.

The weather was the only thing on Button’s side that day. Hungary in August is usually sunny and oppressively hot. In 2006, it was dull and overcast. Then, just before the grand prix, it rained for the first time in the race’s 20-year history. A wet race meant possible chaos. On the starting grid, Button’s Honda teammate chose wet tires. The winless driver felt that was too cautious. He believed the Michelin intermediate was the right rubber for the conditions.

Despite the wall of spray that engulfed the field once the starting lights went out, all but one made it through the opening lap. Jenson made up three places, passing some slow starters. Still, 11th wasn’t much to get excited about, especially when Michael Schumacher had already vaulted from 11th on the grid to fourth on that first lap. And perhaps even more impressive, Alonso rocketed from 15th to sixth, overtaking Button in the process.

“I was a bit more cautious just because this is such a long race and in those conditions … We knew we had a quick car and we didn’t want to throw it away on lap one,” Button recalled.

As he navigated the rain, Button wasn’t losing ground on the leader. He started to realize that he had the right equipment to do the job. His silky driving style was well-suited to the damp conditions, the V-8 in the back of the Honda delivered its power smoothly, and the Michelin intermediate tires were definitely the right choice.

This was confirmed by Button on lap five, when he sliced past Fisichella’s Renault. A lap later he pulled a similar maneuver on Michael Schumacher into turn one. The German struggled heroically with a Bridgestone intermediate tire that wasn’t quite up to the job. Button made it briefly into third place behind Kimi Räikkönen and Alonso on lap 17, dropping back to fourth when he stopped for tires.

It was on lap 26 that things started to turn in his favor.

Räikkönen, momentarily distracted by his team’s chatter over the radio, crashed into a back marker. In the moment of confusion, Button jumped ahead of Pedro de la Rosa. Then, the safety car came out, enabling the debris covering the track to be cleared.

Alonso’s 40-second lead was wiped out in one go. By lap 45, Button—now charging and believing that victory was at least a possibility—had Alonso’s lead down to half a second. As he bore down on the blue and yellow Renault, the pair began trading fastest laps.

A lap later, the cynics thought they had the answer to Button’s speed: He was running light, having to stop to refuel as Alonso ploughed on. In fact, it was Alonso who pit for fuel some five laps later.

Even so, Honda knew the win was far from guaranteed. While Button would have to stop again for fuel and new tires, his Renault rival had a clear run to the finish.

Except he didn’t. Leaving the pits on lap 51, Fernando nearly went off at the first turn, in an uncharacteristic move. TV cameras told the truth. The Renault’s right-rear wheel nut flew off. As the wheel left the car, the Alonso was pitched into a spin and out of the race in the second turn.

Button’s final pit stop went like clockwork. He simply had to reel off the laps. “In a way, it gifted us the victory but looking at it now, it’s actually a shame,” Alonso said. “I think we would have had a great race.”

It was Honda’s first Formula 1 win as a chassis and engine manufacturer since 1967. For Button, it had taken 113 attempts, but he’d finally won a grand prix.

“The checkered flag came around too quickly,” Button later recalled. “I had so much going through my mind the last couple of laps, it just went in the blink of an eye, and I really wish that the race was longer than it actually was.”

Apart from Jenson and Honda’s landmark day in Hungary, no manufacturer other than Renault or Ferrari would win a grand prix in 2006. Let’s hope the 2022 grand prix throws up a similarly unexpected victor.

The post 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix: Honda’s surprise victor appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The 1979 French Grand Prix is evidence that it only takes two drivers to make race. The battle featured ground-effect cars with turbo engines (much like the upcoming French GP this weekend). By the time they waved the checkered flag, though, nobody was talking about the technology.

The yellow Renault nose cone featuring a blue #16 was so close to the gearbox of Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari it looked as if the two were fused together. Villeneuve had already lost the lead to Renault driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille, after leading the opening 46 circuits. Now, with 10 of the 80 laps left, third-place-running René Arnoux was hot on his tail, and the Ferrari’s tires were finished.

The French-Canadian Villeneuve had desperately wanted, no, needed to win round eight of the championship, the French Grand Prix. After the season’s first four races he was leading the championship. Then, teammate Jody Scheckter won rounds six and seven.

Entering France, Villeneuve found himself ten points behind Scheckter. Winning—and claiming the nine points for a win in those days—would re-energize his challenge.

But it wasn’t just Villeneuve’s South African teammate standing between him and victory. While the new-for-1979 Ferrari 312 T4 had won four of its first five races, the French Grand Prix was a matter of homeland pride for Renault.

Two years earlier, the French car maker joined Formula 1 with a then-radical 1.5-liter V6 turbocharged engine. Every other car in the field was a tried-and-tested normally aspirated 3.0-liter. For good reason, too: the forced-induction Renault was quickly dubbed the “yellow tea pot” because it frequently went up in a cloud of steam.

Over the intervening season-and-a-half, Renault—with its experienced lead driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille—started to get on top of its turbo troubles. Then, three races prior to the French Grand Prix, Renault launched its new ground-effect RS10 chassis that used air flowing under the body to suck to the track (like many of the other cars in the field).

A month’s break between round seven and the French GP had enabled Renault to refine the RS10 further. The firm even tried a race distance test at Dijon, but failed because Jabouille was exhausted after 60 laps.

That hadn’t deterred the lanky Frenchman. Throughout practice and qualifying his new RS11 had been the quickest thing around the 2.36-mile track. Arnoux and Jabouille occupied the front row, ahead of Villeneuve.

While turbo power enabled Renault to rocket down Dijon’s long start-finish straight, Ferrari had a weapon of its own in Villeneuve.

The weather on race day dawned cool, perfect for a turbo car. And both Renaults had extra head supports to counter the withering G forces that ground-effect cars inflicted on drivers’ necks around Dijon.

Initially, it was a Ferrari that led. Arnoux almost stalled his Renault off the line, but even a decent getaway wouldn’t have kept the scarlet Ferrari behind him. Villeneuve’s launch was so quick that even Jabouille, who had a clean start, couldn’t keep the lead. The Ferrari stayed in front for 46 laps.

After 30 laps Jabouille’s Renault was tucked right behind the Ferrari. Villeneuve knew the game was up. “For the second half of the race, my car was all over the place,” he admitted after the GP. Jabouille eased past the Ferrari at the end of the pit straight. The race was done.

Or was it?

René Arnoux’s grand prix had been far less serene than his Renault teammate’s. After that start-line stumble he’d dropped to ninth place.