Chronicles’ Mike Matune is trackside at the SVRA vintage GP, held in conjunction with one of the hobby’s most exciting single-marque club events – SAAC 41.
The Shelby American Automobile Club held its 41st convention in concert with SVRA’a Mid-Ohio GP. In addition to shows, open track events and dinners there was an SAAC-only race. Curt Vogt would take top spot home in his 1970 Mustang Boss 302, top, followed across the finish line by pole sitter, Scott Hackerson’s ‘67 Mustang. Here they le...
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Porsche 917
QUICK VIC: VIC ELFORD CELEBRATES 80th BIRTHDAY!
Iconic racer was one of the fastest drivers in the highly competitive Sixties and Seventies racing scene.
Vic Elford’s lap records include Targa Florio, Nurburgring, Daytona, Sebring, Norisring, Monza, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Riverside and Le Mans. He was the first driver to lap Le Mans at over a 150 mph average in the Porsche long-tail 917 in 1970.
Known as “Quick Vic” to friends and competitors, Elford is one of the few drivers to excel in sports cars, rally cars, and Formula 1 at a c...
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2014 ART CENTER CONCOURS: SPOTLIGHT ON ENTERTAINMENT!
Wallace Wyss blogs about the annual design college car show, this year showcasing the entertainment business.
The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is the place where a great percentage of the world's car designers are trained. Its hilltop location is a fitting place to have a car show, but I think it is a stretch to call it a "concours" because there are so many owner-modified cars on display. For example, nobody cares if it is a 100% stock Iso Grifo because many of these young des...
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PENSKE’S CAN-AM PORSCHE 917: THE FINAL CHAPTER!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
Part VII: The Legacy.
“In two of the races – Atlanta and Elkhart Lake – the car lapped the entire field. That’s doing something. This was an unbelievable car.” – Chief mechanic John “Woody” Woodard.
Porsche enjoyed a dominance in 1972 that McLaren could only dream of. McLaren’s five-year stranglehold had been crushed, and Porsche had earned their first Can-Am Challenge Cup.
But many years passed before the pa...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN-AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
Part VI: The Title.
“The talk around the pit area was that no one could touch them. They knew that it was the beginning of the end of Can-Am. The L&M Porsche was making history.” – Marilyn Motschenbacher Halder.
No other track on the Cam-Am schedule offered sweet corn and bratwurst like the little food stand at Elkhart Lake. Everyone on the circuit looked forward to it. The stand remains there today, j...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN-AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
Part V: The Turning Point.
“Mark [Donohue] and the other people behind the Porsche are not lighthearted types. They take the whole thing very seriously.” – Pete Lyons, Road & Track.
Thankfully, Penske Racing had only two weeks to stew in their misery.
The next race was scheduled at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The teams generally arrived in the middle of the week. If no track time was available ...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN-AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
Part IV: The Embarrassment.
“I had a five-liter, naturally-aspirated nothing.” – George Follmer
With what appeared to be a fully developed, dominant racecar, Porsche was ready for their public unveiling. They chose the third race of the season at Watkins Glen as their moment of truth. After all, everything seemed perfect. The teething problems with the L&M Porsche’s turbocharger dump valve at Mosport surely ...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN-AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
PART III: The Replacement.
“We drove by the seat of our pants. We had to muscle the car around the track. We did not have cool suits.” – George Follmer
George Follmer arrived in Atlanta early Friday morning in a rented Ford Crown Victoria.
“I didn’t know him from Adam,” said chief mechanic Woody Woodard. “But I’d certainly heard his name. He was a good guy.”
Marilyn Motschenbacher Halder, then marrie...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN-AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
PART II: The Accident.
“A doctor specializing in football injuries told him, no, his sore left knee was really a knot of shredded ligaments. There was surgery and a six week plaster cast and a career grounded.” – Pete Lyons, Road & Track.
The story had to be cleaned up for the press.
If the truth came out on national television, nobody at Porsche or Penske Racing was going to be happy about it...
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PENSKE’S L&M 917 PORSCHE: UNTOLD STORY OF CAN- AM’S MOST FAMOUS CAR!
Stephen Cox blogs about the most iconic of the thundering Turbo Porsche 917s.
Part 1, The Beginning.
“I loved those days. I loved those times. I loved the people. It wasn’t like now where everybody goes and hides in their motor homes. Everyone was there for each other.” – Marilyn Motschenbacher Halder
Mosport International Raceway had an innocent charm that’s long been missing from today’s clinical, overly sanitized racecourses. The grass was too high. There were no sand traps.
The ...
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