Motorsport Legends Speak
Interviews & Words With The Heroes of Motorsports
This is where the rubber meets the road, where the smell of burnt rubber and high-octane fuel mingles with the sharp insights of those who have lived and breathed motorsports. Here, the legends of racing take the wheel, sharing their firsthand experiences, hard-won wisdom, and unique perspectives in a collection of captivating articles and exclusive interviews.
The Driver's Seat: Insights from Motorsports Legends
This is where the rubber meets the road, where the smell of burnt rubber and high-octane fuel mingles with the sharp insights of those who have lived and breathed motorsports. Here, the legends of racing take the wheel, sharing their firsthand experiences, hard-won wisdom, and unique perspectives in a collection of captivating articles and exclusive interviews. Get ready to dive deep into the minds of champions as they dissect race strategy, reflect on career-defining moments, and offer a glimpse into the intense pressure and exhilaration of life at the limit. Hear from visionary engineers, team owners, motorsport executives, and influential figures who shape the sport from behind the scenes.
I actually started racing with the Nissan GTP team late in 1988, while I was still racing Indycars. I was brought in to support Geoff Braham’s championship effort, and met them in Phoenix for a test at Firebird. My first race was the street race in Columbus, Ohio, and I...
When Peter Gregg did his deal to race BMWs in IMSA in 1976, he asked me to take over in the Brumos Porsche. At the end of the season, Peter decided he wanted to come back to Porsche to run the Trans-Am, and my Brumos deal went South. He hooked...
Zora Arkus-Duntov was a tremendous influence in my life, both personally and professionally. We shared so much, and he was such an influence early on, in the late ’50s, that he’s really the main reason that I got so involved with Corvettes. He led me into things that I never...
It was 11 in the morning. A 25-year-old German pastry cook was sleeping after a hard night’s baking. Until the phone squealed. He decided to ignore it, turn over and go back to sleep, but it was no good, the phone just rang and rang. So he answered it. At...
Bobby Rahal is one of the most well-rounded individuals to take part in motorsport. His reputation for using his brain in the cockpit was well deserved, and that intellect helped Rahal build a solid foundation for his post-driving career. Rahal retired from active CART competition in 1998 after a 17-year...
A rather prickly young man from Rome, Luigi Musso had all the qualities of a great champion, but he was killed before he could become one. Enzo Ferrari himself likened this Italian diplomat’s son to two of the sport’s greats, Felice Nazzaro and Achille Varzi. In fact, Musso was a...
Amanda Gutierrez is Vice President of the Automotive Restoration department at Kansas’ McPherson College. VR: Can you give us a little bit of background on McPherson College? It’s my understanding that it is the only four-year college program in the country devoted to automotive restoration? AG: That’s right. In 1972...
Photo: Bob Jackson In 1962, I was Jim Hall’s mechanic. There are many stories I could tell about the five years I worked for him; this is one of the more interesting ones. Jim decided we would go to the inaugural Mexican GP, scheduled for November 4, 1962. This was a...
Interview by Dennis Gray Morris Kindig is Executive Director of the proposed Monterey Museum of Automotive Arts that aims to build upon the legacy of Monterey’s storied history with the automobile. Conceived to honor and recognize the relationship the automobile has with the Monterey Peninsula, the Museum will pay homage...
Now, here was a giant killer. A man who beat the hell out of Mercedes-Benz at least twice and won Ferrari’s very first World Championship Grand Prix by beating the most successful racing car of all time. Born in Arrecifes, Argentina, in October 1922, Gonzalez was a tubby baby who...
As a young mechanic Tony Robinson answered an ad for work with London’s Ray Martin Motors. Little did he know that accepting the position would lead him to work on the Cooper-Alta being built for Stirling Moss, which would, in turn, lead to a lifetime of motorsport with the likes...
Bruno Giacomelli was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1952. He was always enthusiastic about racing and especially about single-seaters, working his way quickly into Formula Two, where he won the European F2 Championship in 1978 driving a works March-BMW. He managed to break into F1 in a 3rd McLaren in...
The world of motorsport has many colorful characters, but few as interesting and humorous as Akton “Ak” Miller. A founding member of the National Hot Rod Association, Miller combined his passion for hot rods and straight-line speed with an interest in open road racing to create some amazing specials for...
When he was a kid in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Patrick Depailler’s idol was French motorcycle champion and racing driver Jean Behra. The two were alike in more ways than one, as they shared a living-for-the-moment attitude that didn’t always pay off. Surprisingly, though, Patrick’s devil-may-care lifestyle didn’t really do his motor...
Swiss-born Bernard Juchli is the Higgins to Jay Leno’s Robin Masters and serves as the Major Domo for the Big Dog Garage where he is, at various times, mechanic, engineer, fabricator, manager and auto historian. Despite his full plate, he still looks forward to going to work. VR: So how...
The son of a wealthy textile manufacturer from Vercelli, near Milan, Italy, Marquis Antonio Brivio was one of the great Italian prewar racers: a gentleman driver every bit as professional as his main rivals, Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi. He, like his two more famous contemporaries, was a tough and...
Simon Moore Although consisting of only two books, the body of work credited to Simon Moore is both enormous and highly significant. Moore is the author of The Immortal 2.9, the definitive book about the 1935-’39 Alfa Romeo 8C2900, and the three volume set, The Legendary 2.3, which covers the...
The FIA regulations governing Formula One for 1977 allowed for a 3-liter normally aspirated engine or a 1.5-liter turbo-charged engine. Both were supposed to give similar power output, but I didn’t think the comparison was very fair. When Renault and Elf decided to enter the championship, they chose this unconventional...
Until the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), a Targa Florio had been staged every year since 1906, so Vincenzo Florio was determined to get it going again before the end of 1919. However, it was May before the wealthy Sicilian began to tour Europe to drum up entries, so...
Racer, Rallymaster and Former Car and Driver Managing Editor VR: Let’s start right at the beginning. When were you infected by the car bug? No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Le Mans, 1967. Giddy as a couple of kids, Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt are spraying champagne on everyone within range—race officials, photographers, crew members, even Henry Ford II. The calendar says June 11, but it’s really the Fourth of July and waving the Stars-and-Stripes is in high fashion. Driving...
Tim ParnellPhoto: Pete Austin It was my father, Reg Parnell, who first went to Donington Park in 1934. Living near Derby it wasn’t too far for him to travel. While at this first meeting, purely as a spectator, I think he became intoxicated with the sights, smells and aura of...
Owner and Chief Executive Officer, White Post Restorations VR: How is it that a major automobile restoration facility was founded in the little town of White Post, Virginia? No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Lorina Boughton McLaughlin was the first woman to ever win the “Man of the Meeting” Award given regularly by BP and Alcoa in British race events in the 1970s and 1980s! She is also one of the very few female full members of the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC). With...
Interview and photos (unless noted) by Dennis Gray Martin Swig is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vintage racer, car collector and founder of the California Mille vintage car rally. A graduate of Stanford University, Swig was a multi-franchise new car dealer in San Francisco for 40 years. No Subscription? You’re...
My career, like many people, started in Formula Ford, in 1971, before progressing to Formula Italy, and on to Formula 3—a championship I stayed in for about four or five years. Formula Three was a good experience for me and my team, Euroracing. In 1977 we won the European F3...
Haskell Wexler is an Oscar-winning cinematographer, taking home the coveted golden trophies for his work on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Bound for Glory. Not many car enthusiasts, however, know about his racing experiences. Wexler took driving lessons from Carroll Shelby, but gave it up when he discovered just...
In addition to being a successful real estate developer, Ted Gildred was appointed Ambassador to Argentina during the Reagan administration. VR: You were born in Mexico, as I understand. TG: Yes, I was born in Mexico City in 1935. My dad was a civil engineer and had worked, when he...
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