Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal
Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
Louis Galanos is a retired teacher, Vietnam vet and graduate of the University of Florida. While a college student he worked as a race official for Sports Car Club of America during the late 60's and early 70's covering race events at Sebring and Daytona and taking many photographs during what some call The Golden Age of Sports Car Racing. To see more pictures from Louis, visit his Flickr page at flickr.com/photos/smuckatelli.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona 50th Anniversary Heritage Display - Bringing Racing History Back To LifeBy Louis Galanos | Photos by Louis Galanos and as notedWell over a year ago the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) embarked on a task that even the great Hercules might have shied away from. That is to search the world over for every car that ever won, what we now call the Rolex 24 at … [Read more...]
1967 24 Hours of Daytona - The Revenge of “Il Commendatore”By Louis Galanos | Photos as creditedThe year 1966 was not a good year for Enzo Ferrari. Ford beat Ferrari with a humiliating 1-2-3 finish at both Daytona and Sebring and for the first time in six years they lost, again to Ford, at the Holy Grail of endurance racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans.With the 1966 World Sportscar … [Read more...]
By Louis Galanos | Photos as creditedJanuary 2012 marks the Golden Anniversary (50th) of sports car endurance racing at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in Daytona Beach, Florida.DIS was opened in 1959 by NASCAR founder, Bill France, Sr., after years of driving in and promoting stock car racing on the beaches of the Daytona area. From the beginning the new speedway was associated … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Louis GalanosHistoric Sportscar Racing (HSR) returned to the Daytona International Speedway during the 2011 Veteran’s Day holiday weekend after a year-long hiatus due to the unscheduled but necessary paving of the crumbling Daytona track.Blessed with plenty of Florida sunshine and mild temperatures almost 170 entries enjoyed the smooth new racing surface of the … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Louis GalanosSebring International Raceway has always held some wonderful memories for me ever since I worked as a race official at my very first 12-Hour Grand Prix in 1970. That was the legendary race where Mario Andretti in a Ferrari 512S beat the then leading Steve McQueen/Peter Revson Porsche 908 by 28.5 seconds, the closest Sebring finish up to that time. From that … [Read more...]
By Paolo D’Alessio and edited by Louis GalanosGianpiero Moretti is the last real “gentleman driver” of our times. During his 37-year career he took part in hundreds of races and drove over 40 different types of cars creating a long-lasting bond between himself and Porsche as well as Ferrari with whom he lived some unforgettable moments of his career as racing driver and businessman. … [Read more...]
By Louis GalanosIn secret testing almost two weeks (April 1 to be exact) after the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race Alfa Romeo arrived at Sebring with their one-of-a-kind, six-wheeled, twelve cylinder Alfa-Romeo T33/6/12. Designed to give the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 a run for its money, the Alfa Romeo sported a 5-liter V12/60 degrees/4v engine and six wheels in total. … [Read more...]
1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix Race Profile - “El Chueco” Rides A Hot SeatStory by Louis GalanosIn 1957 Sebring was holding only its sixth installment of the 12-hour race. With the growing popularity of sports car racing in post World War II America, the event was finally coming into its own since its creation by impresario Alec Ulmann in 1952.To many sports car fans in America … [Read more...]
1971 24 Hours of Daytona - The End of an EraStory and photos by Louis GalanosFew fans of endurance racing who attended the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1971 were aware they were witnessing the end of an era. Some would later say that the 1971 World Manufacturer’s Championship (previously known as the World Sportscar Championship or WSC) series would be the zenith for that series, although it … [Read more...]
Legends of Motorsports – Sebring Finale 2010, A Bobby Rahal Signature EventReport and photos by Louis GalanosThe Legends of Motorsports 2010 series of vintage races wrapped up their inaugural season with three days of racing and an awards banquet (December 3-5) at the legendary Sebring International Raceway.With two days of practice and qualifying plus a fifty-minute Enduro on … [Read more...]
Report and Photos by Louis GalanosHistoric Sportscar Racing (HSR) held its Sebring Historic Fall Classic 2010 on October 21-24 at the 3.70-mile Sebring International Raceway in Florida.For the past 14 years the Sebring International Raceway has been host to the season-ending event in HSR racing calendar. That event was usually held during the first week in December.This year an … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Louis GalanosThe 12th annual Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival was held the weekend of October 15-17 in Lakeland, Florida.Blessed with chamber-of-commerce-perfect weather, a record turnout of over 35,000 spectators were drawn to over 640 vintage cars, motorcycles and boats. It is no wonder this event is considered one of the best of its kind in the Southeast.The … [Read more...]
And Then The Rains Came - The 1965 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of EnduranceStory by Louis Galanos. Black and white photos by Dave Nicholas and color photos by Walker Fricks, Jr.Whether driver, crew member, race official or spectator, no one who attended the 1965 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring will ever forget that race.A record crowd of over 50,000 race fans came expecting a race to … [Read more...]
Heavens To Murgatroyd! - Big surprise at the 1969 24 Hours of DaytonaStory by Louis Galanos; photos by Louis Galanos and Fred LewisIf you had attended the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona … [Read more...]
Story and photos by Louis Galanos (except as noted)This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first race run by what some call the greatest race car in the history of motorsports, the Porsche 917.The Porsche 917 we know today and that was made a movie star by actor/racer Steve McQueen in the movie Le Mans was visually very different from the one that made its racing debut at Spa on May … [Read more...]
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