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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Stephen Cox
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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TONY STEWART-KEVIN WARD TRAGEDY: THREE LESSONS!
Sage advice from racer-writer-TV commentator, Stephen Cox.
Most of the racing world now knows that sprint car driver Kevin Ward, Jr. was killed after being hit by Tony Stewart's car during a race this past weekend at New York's Canandaigua Motorsports Park. Volumes will be written about this incident for months to come, but a few lessons are already evident.
1. Never get out of your racecar after a crash. Unless the car is on fire, sit still and wait. Once the driver exits the cockpit, he ...
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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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SHORT TRACK EXCUSES: ME, DANICA AND BARNEY OLDFIELD!
‘The true essence of auto racing is making yourself look as good as possible under the circumstances no matter where you finish, even if your last race had all the success of the Titanic but with fewer survivors,” blogs Stephen Cox.
Before you consider that a joke, please reflect briefly on the career of Danica Patrick.
I will begin by pointing out the well documented fact that auto racing's first legendary driver, Barney Oldfield, set a world speed record at the Milwaukee Mile in 1905 an...
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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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INDYCAR: THE SERIES THAT SOLD ITS SOUL!
Stephen Cox is awaiting the day when Indycar dumps its failed experiment with spec cars. Then we won’t need gimmicks any more.
I grew up in Indianapolis and I live for the Indy 500. I’ve worked on the TV crew during the month of May. I’ve watched Indycar my whole life. But I have no idea how the pole position
will be determined today.
The problem is not that the process is too complicated. I’m watching it on TV right now. The real problem is that I don’t care anymore. I don’t care anymore...
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BARN-FIND CARS: MY DEAL OF THE CENTURY!
Stephen Cox blogs about the collector car that didn’t get away.
“Barn-finds” really happen. In the mid-1990s my Dad was visiting an old high school buddy in southern Indiana. As they talked of the good old days, my father noticed a dirty, old car sitting inside his friend’s barn. It was a blue ‘71 Ford Torino.
The owner said that it had been purchased new by his mother, after which it was passed down to his son. It still ran pretty well when he finally got a new car and parked the Torino...
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