Motorsport People Profiles
The World's Greatest Drivers, Owners, Engineers & Personalities
Profiles of past and present automotive personalities. The drivers who risked their lives in the early days to the engineers who creatively changed the world of automobiles, this is a celebration of the people who played a major role in the world we love.
Pantheon of Speed: Legends of Motorsports
Dive into a captivating collection of profiles and exclusive interviews with the greatest names in motorsports history – the drivers who defied limits, the engineers who pushed boundaries, the designers who shaped iconic machines, and the visionaries who built racing empires. From the daredevils of early Grand Prix racing to the modern masters of Formula 1, we celebrate the men and women who have etched their names into the annals of motorsport legend.
It’s not often that a Formula One driver can turn his hand to World Championship rallying. Look at 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen. He cut his Grand Prix career short in 2010 to join Citroën, but could only turn in mediocre results, before returning in 2012 to what he...
As you’ll read elsewhere in this issue, we sadly report that the elder statesman of American motorsport, John Fitch, has passed away at the remarkable age of 95. As outlined in his obituary on page 12, Fitch’s life read like some kind of wild adventure novel melding Indiana Jones, Captain...
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...
Take something for granted, and we risk having it ripped away. For me, foolish me, Peter Bryant was always going to be there. An interesting guy, a very human guy, fun, warm, witty—often scandalously so—bright and innovative, astoundingly energetic. A ball o’ fire whose boisterousness could be alarming, but mostly...
Joe Huffaker, an icon of the sports car racing world since the 1960s, passed away peacefully in his Novato home, surrounded by family, on February 25, 2022. He was 95 years old. Born on Feb. 4, 1927 in Terre Haute, Indiana, at age 17 Joe built a roadster street car...
It had been a long, hard ride from winning masses of kart races when he was a kid to winning the 2009 Formula One World Championship. But, like so many other kart stars of the last 30 years or so, Jenson Button did it, with a lot of team changes...
Like a large number of enthusiasts in the historic racing community, I was at first startled and then fascinated by the recent unfolding saga of the change in leadership at the Monterey Historics. Once the initial shock of Steve Earle’s departure had set in, many questions began bubbling to the surface....
Longtime sportscar entrant and driver Bruce Leven has died at the age of 79. Leven founded Bayside Disposal, the Seattle-based garbage collection and disposal firm, and grew it into an international concern, which allowed him to afford to go racing. As one of IMSA’s Gentleman Driver team owners in the...
Ferdinando Minoia Biography Ferdinando Minoia was born in Milan on June 2, 1884. Known by his friends as Nando, he started racing in 1904 and his first major race was the 1907 Targa Florio. That year he won the Coppa Florio held near Brescia in Italy in an Isotta-Fraschini. In...
Michael Schumacher Biography Michael Schumacher was born on the third of January 1969 to Rolf and Elisabeth Schumacher. The family move to the town of Kerpin-Manheim, a working class town near Cologne, Germany. It was there that the family became involved with karting. Michael, only four at the time was...
John Von Neumann was one of those towering figures in the sports car world of the ’50s. He was one of the founders of the California Sports Car Club that eventually became the largest Region of the SCCA. He pioneered Porsche in the Western U.S., not only in racing, but...
Dr. Elio Zagato passed away in Milan, Italy, on September 15. The son of Ugo Zagato, founder of the famed Milanese coachbuilder, Elio played a significant role in both automotive design and the Gran Turismo racing scene in the post-war era. Having first raced in 1947 with a rebodied Fiat...
South Africa has a rich motor racing history, and during the 1930s a number of International Grands Prix were held at major centers around the country. Whitney Straight won the first South African Grand Prix in 1934, and later visitors included the Auto Union team with such greats as...
Tucked away in a little potato-farming town, 250 miles south east of Buenos Aires, is one of the most important motor racing museums in the world, a tribute to the little town of Balcarce from the man whose life story it tells. It is the Centro Tecnologico-Cultural y Museo del...
After 36 seasons, time seems finally to have caught up with Formula Atlantic. We are saddened to report that the most prolific training category in American open-wheel racing history appears to have run its course. Current series owner Ben Johnston recently announced that “due to the downturn in the global...
David Scotney was, for many years, the face of Lola Cars at motor racing events around the world. Born and bred in the Huntingdon area of Cambridgeshire, David honed his mechanical skills at local garages during and after his apprenticeship. In 1978 he joined Lola, working on the T500 USAC...
Few would argue with the notion that Tazio Nuvolari was one of the five greatest racing drivers of all time; some would even say the greatest. But as the years pass, the number of people who saw him race diminishes, so how can we really know? It is easy to...
Former SCCA hot shoe Art Huttinger has died from heart failure in a Florida Veteran’s Hospital at the age of 91. Born in 1925, he grew up in Great Falls, Montana, and excelled as a high school athlete in football, basketball, long distance running and speed skating. In 1942, at...
On August 28, we lost our great and good champion, Phil Hill. The entire world of motor sports is saddened. He was a wonderful and honorable friend who will be sorely missed. After hearing of Phil’s passing, it was inevitable that many of us were on the phone with one...
Now Auto Union’s number one driver after replacing the dead Bernd Rosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari and his Auto Union Type D on full song at the Nürburgring on 23 July 1938. The great Italian came 4th after crashing his own car and taking over H.P. Muller’s Type D.Photo: Fiat Few would...
Keith Duckworth Biography Since the partnership was formed in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth along with Bill Brown and Benny Rood, Cosworth has become the most successful independent engine manufacturer in history with a string of driver and manufacturer titles to its credit in a wide range of...
John Gunn, an independent entrant who contested some of North America’s most prestigious auto racing championships during a career that lasted 20 years, has died of heart failure at his Florida home at the age of 71. Gunn began racing on the Club level in 1965, winning the SCCA’s SEDiv...
Drino Miller has lost his long battle with cancer at the age of 72. An early off-road racing legend—his Baja Boot was the first purpose-built off-road racecar—Miller later expanded his influence into sports car and Indycar racing. He was one of racing’s great innovators, choosing to pursue the sport after...
I had the privilege of interviewing Harold John Coombs a couple of years ago for Vintage Racecar’s Jaguar XKE issue (August 2011). In period, he was affectionately known by some as “Noddy,” others more formally, but again with a certain fondness and a deep respect as “Mr. John.” I simply...
On New Year’s Day of 1967 the South African Champion, John Love, was pipped at the post in the season opening South African Grand Prix at Kyalami when his Tasman Cooper faltered in the closing stages whilst comfortably in the lead and was forced to stop for fuel because of...
Hero is far too modest a word to describe Eddie Rickenbacker. Racing driver, World War 1 ace, Medal of Honor winner, holder of no fewer than seven Distinguished Service Crosses, car manufacturer, Indianapolis Speedway owner, Pacific Ocean crash survivor, founder of Eastern Airlines. Not even superhero comes close. What makes...
Born to a Paris butcher and his wife in April 1937, the late Jean-Pierre Beltoise had won the incredible number of 11 French national motorcycle racing championships, in three years, by the time he was 28. After that, he made a profession out of being a champion of many forms...
The Endurance Rally Association has announced that Philip Young, Rally Director and founder of the ERA, has died following complications arising from a motorcycle accident in Burma. He was 67 years old. A prolific ambassador of the historic rally movement, Philip was a larger-than-life character who pushed motorsport boundaries, organizing marathon...
Leon Thery Biography Léon Théry was born in 1879. Having started out as a mechanic it was said that his mechanical knowledge helped him to understand the need to drive according to the car’s abilities, often nursing his car home to victory when others had fallen by the wayside. His...
Mark Donohue Jr. Biography Mark Donohue Jr. trademark was his versatility. He raced and won in sports cars, Indy Cars, stock cars; on both oval tracks and road courses. He was a two-time USRRC Champion, a three-time SCCA Trans-Am Champion, a Can-Am Champion, winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona,...
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