It was July 19, 1974 that I really got to know John Young Stewart, even though I’d already met and worked with him several years before that British Grand Prix Friday practice day riding with him in a chauffeured Daimler out to Brands Hatch, a distance of some 25 miles from London’s Savile Row where we’d first made a stop at Jackie’s tailor. In the limousine with us were a cameraman and his sound recordist. Half turned to face Jackie in back, I sat up front with our driver. We were making a documentary for Trans World International, the film branch of International Management Group, better known as IMG, Stewart’s representative agents, then and still now. I was asking Jackie questions about his life in general, and more specifically of his years in racing and what he was presently doing in his then-recent retirement from Formula One, including this particular day of his providing color commentary for the BBC race weekend telecast. My recollection of that day and of how readily we were waved through traffic by Brands Hatch gate marshals, with Britain’s three-time World Champion aboard, remains vivid to the point of obsessing on the past.

Leap forward nearly 38 years to December 2011. Stewart—now Sir Jackie since knighted by Britain’s Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in November 2001—is again riding in a chauffeured car outside of London, and I’m again about to ask him questions, not from the limo’s front seat this time but by telephone far across the Atlantic and the breadth of America. This is the way my conversation went, in this order, with the first Formula One superstar.

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A.J. Foyt on the grid for the 1962 Daytona Continental, precursor to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Foyt served as Grand Marshal for the 50th Anniversary of this 24-hour race in 2012.

With over 50 years in motorsports – as a driver and team owner – American A. J. Foyt’s remarkable career has seen him make his mark nationally and abroad in at least four countries: Canada, Great Britain, France and New Zealand. His race record includes: winning the Indianapolis 500 four times in 35 consecutive tries; the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1967); and the Rolex 24 At Daytona (1983, ’85). He’s won 12 national titles with a total of 172 major race wins in Indy Cars, NASCAR, USAC stock cars, midgets, sprints and sports cars.

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Rathmann, who was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007, already was a three-time runner-up in the Indianapolis 500 (1952, 1957 and 1959) when he scored his greatest victory.

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Scaglietti gained Enzo Ferrari’s trust and respect both through his bodywork and design skills and for providing a retreat for Dino Ferrari as a youth. Scaglietti is credited with the “headrest” bump present on most racing Ferraris of the 1950s and 1960s, a design at first despised by Enzo but championed by Dino. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, with its pontoon fenders, is one of the most famous Scaglietti designs.

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I took this portrait of Phil Hill at his home in Santa Monica on June 6, 1993. It was one of a number I have taken of motorsports personalities. When I got ready to take the photo, Phil asked me what Fangio wore when I took his picture. I replied that he wore a suit and tie. So Phil went upstairs and changed his clothes. (photo credit: Art Evans)

On the night of November 10, 2011 a Tribute to Phil Hill was held at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The occasion — organized by Bruce Meyer’s Checkered Flag 200 group that supports the museum — celebrated the 50th anniversary of Phil becoming America’s first Formula One World Driving Champion. In addition to the festivities, the museum displayed an assemblage of cars Phil owned or raced.

A feature of the evening was the presentation of part of a documentary film about Phil Hill that his son, Derek, is working on. The part shown on multiple screens depicted the 1961 Formula One race at Monza where Phil clinched his championship driving a factory team 1.5-liter “Sharknose” Ferrari Dino Type 156. The film was impressive in its production qualities and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

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Derek Bell at Monza, 1983

Derek Bell celebrated his 70th birthday on 31 October 2011. Born in Pinner, Middlesex, Great Britain in 1941, Bell is considered to be one of the most versatile and popular racing drivers of his time.

Derek Bell began his racing career with Lotus in 1964. In Formula 1 he then took his place on the starting grid for Ferrari in 1969.

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The name Chuck Jones is one that perhaps failed to capture the notoriety in racing that other car owners and managers have enjoyed in the past, but Chuck’s amazing story is one well worth telling. Chuck Jones was raised in Southern California in the 1940s and came of age in the immortal post war era of hot rods and specials. Jones set his sights on Formula 1 at a young age, and worked tirelessly to reach his goal; passing through the ranks of the USRRC, F5000, and finally on to Team Ensign in 1975. Recently we had the chance to talk with Chuck, now 80 years young and residing in Florida with his children and grand children close by.

The interview is what could only be described as a brief recap of a career that saw interaction with some of the world’s top racing drivers. Drivers like Ickx, Regazzoni, Piquet, and many other notable names were all helped along by Chuck at different points in their professional careers.

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Fan­gio was born to Italian immigrants on June 24, 1911 in the small country town of Balcarce in Argen­ti­na – seemingly a very far cry from a future career as a five-time Formula 1 world champion. But the youngster, who did an apprenticeship as a mechanic, was inspired by his fellow countrymen’s passion for motor racing.

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Pete Lovely in the paddock at Laguna Seca during the 1992 Monterey Historics. (photo credit: Art Evans)

We knew him as “Pete.” (Not Peter!) When he was born, his thin mother looked as if she would have twins. His dad said if they were girls, they would be named Kate and Duplicate; if boys, Pete and Repeat. The result turned out not to be twins; just one boy.

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Gianpiero 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.

This is how Mister Momo, as he is now known, recalls those days and speaks about them, saying, “I have observed the Audi and Peugeot cars that have raced this year at Sebring: beautiful cars indeed, a spectacular fusion of technology and aerodynamics, but there is no comparison to my Ferrari 512 S of 1970!”

So says Gianpiero Moretti, the last gentleman driver whose name is forever linked to two legends of high calibre in worldwide motor racing namely, Ferrari and Porsche.

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Chuck Tatum was what you could say “at the right place, at the right time” by living in California in the early 1950s. It was the golden days of hot rodding, and there were no rules in regards to what or how you built your machine.

Coming out of the Second World War with a Bronze Star for his actions in the Battle for Iwo Jima, Chuck set about learning to build cars, and by the early 1950s he had been bitten by the road racing bug after a stint in midget and quarter mile racing with a few track roadsters he had put together. Chuck eventually moved into building Formula Vee racing cars, and his Crusader FVs are some of the most conquering cars that the budget formula has ever seen turn a wheel.

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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.

In addition to founding the storied California Mille in the early ’90s, Martin has been vintage racing a variety of mostly Italian marques for more than 30 years. He is a contributor to Sports Car Digest and a variety of other publications.

In advance of the 2011 California Mille, Martin sat down with Sports Car Digest to discuss his early passion for all things automotive, his time as a new car dealer, insight into what makes the California Mille go and much more.

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The movie character Michael Corleone once famously said of being in the mob, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

Brian Redman has had similar feelings about auto racing. Numerous times over the years, Redman told himself that he was retired from the sport, particularly after each of his three serious racing accidents.

And every time, the lure of fast driving pulled him back in.

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Steve Davis of Carmel, California spends many weekends at the helm of a Eagle Mk 5 participating in the competitive Formula 5000 Revival Race Series. Davis is a repeat F5000 Revival Series Champion, having won the championship in the inaugural 2008 season, in addition to being the 2010 champion.

Steve sat down to discuss his Eagle Mk.5, his Formula-5000 2010 Championship season, and himself. Besides all the history, Steve also shares with Sports Car Digest a lap of Laguna Seca in his Eagle, gear by gear, bump by bump, turn by turn. Great stuff.

Sports Car Digest: Could you give us a quick history of Steve Davis?

Steve Davis: I grew up in Ohio and I just always had a fascination with cars. In 1969 my cousin had a ’62 Corvette. One morning about 4 a.m. we headed out for Indianapolis for Pole Day.

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On Tuesday between the Pre-Reunion and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Cris Vandagriff, Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) President, agreed to sit down for an interview with Sports Car Digest. I knew a little about Cris, mainly that he had grown up around his father’s import car dealership, Hollywood Sports Cars. He knew and was friends with Pedro Rodriguez, Peter Revson, Jerry Titus, Phil Hill, Richie Ginther, Dan Gurney and numerous other heroes of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s U.S. and European sports car racing scene. Cris ran Hollywood Sports Cars and Ferrari of Beverly Hills in the ’80s and ’90s.

In 2010, his group HMSA inherited the mantle of the top historic race sanctioning body in the U.S. when they took over organization of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the previous weekend’s Pre-Reunion events. Cris’ history with these cars when they ran in period, and his understanding of how dangerous they are, gives his views of the events, cars and drivers on the historic race grids of today a unique perspective.

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments |
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Born in Halle, the son of a nobleman and major entrepreneur, after passing the final school examination, the Abitur, Huschke von Hanstein became a successful racing driver.

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Tom Walkinshaw passed away December 12th, 2010 at just 64 years of age after a battle with cancer. 

The Scottish-born Walkinshaw began racing in 1968 in an MG Midget, shortly after moving to the open wheeled realm by transitioning to a Lotus Formula Ford.  In 1969, Tom drove a Hawke to claim the Scottish Formula Ford title, before moving to British F3 in 1970, first with Lotus and later with March.

By 1974, Tom had worked his way into British F5000, the Shellsport Series having been opened up to a variety of formula cars from many different contemporary series. 

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Belgium is a nation that many will associate with some of the finest racing drivers ever to come to the top levels of the world hierarchy of motorsports; however, it was Jacques Swaters who did so much more for racers in Belgium than most people realize. 

Swaters’ made his international debut in sports car racing at the 1948 running of the 24 Hours of Spa in a MG Midget PB that he shared with the legendary driver/journalist Paul Frere. 

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By Jay Gillotti and photos by Curtis Creager

We were greatly honored to have Brian Redman as our guest for the Porsche Club of America Pacific Northwest Region’s 50th Anniversary last November. An additional special treat was provided by the folks at Vintage Racing Motors who allowed us to re-unite Brian with 917 chassis 017/004, the car he raced at Le Mans in 1970. It was my pleasure to moderate a tech session for about 40 of our members and presented here are some gems of recollection in Brian’s own words.

On choosing to drive with Jo Siffert in the factory Porsche team in 1969:

Brian Redman: I raced at Daytona with Vic Elford but after that race, Rico Steinemann, the Swiss team manager for Porsche said ‘Brian, do you wish to be #1 in your own car?’ Meaning I could choose a co-driver then be #1. Well, as #1 you got to do everything.

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments |
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Bruce Canepa has been involved with automobiles in one fashion or another nearly all of his life. He was born into a California car family, therefore his early fascination with anything mechanical was understandable, if not expected.

An accomplished driver, Canepa raced in period in Trans-Am, sprint cars, IMSA and others, punctuated by a third overall at the 1979 Daytona 24 Hours with co-drivers Rick Mears and Monte Shelton. He currently competes on the vintage racing circuit with the Porsche 935 he has owned since new, plus a wide variety of other desirable racing machines.

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments |
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