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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With the minutes ticking down on the Rolex clock in Pit Row, there was an epic battle for the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona title taking place on Daytona International Speedway’s road course.

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If one has the occasion to visit Yvan Mahe’s Equipe Europe workshop in Ozouer Le Voulgis, France, the feeling one can get is that of dropping in on a living classic car museum.

Situated in the picturesque French countryside, about 30 miles from Paris, the Equipe Europe garage is specialized in the restoration, preparation, service and development of historic racing cars.

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The Louwman Museum was opened by HRH Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on July 2, 2010. This opening marked the culmination of eight years of very hard work by Mr. Evert Louwman and his management team, led by Museum director Ronald Kooyman. Regulations being what they are, this was the time it took, from the first application to build a museum to the actual opening.

Beginning on the Louwman Collection

Owner of the collection, Mr. E.V.N. Louwman

Mr. Louwman’s father, Piet Louwman, started collecting cars as early as 1931, when a client (Mr. Louwman Sr. was in the business of importing and selling cars in Holland, among which Dodge) traded in his Dodge 1914 model (a car with all mod-cons) for something newer. This car is “the mother lode” of the Museum and takes a place of pride. The car collecting bug had found very fertile ground and Louwman never looked back. Now the Museum itself houses 236 cars of a great variety and is considered to be one of the finest all-round collections in the world.

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By Louis Galanos | Photos as credited

The 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 Championship (WSC) trophy solidly in Ford hands many were predicting that the ten-year dominance of Ferrari cars in endurance racing had come to an end. Many believed the much talked about and much written about three-year-long Ford – Ferrari War was being won by Henry Ford II and his mega buck program would bring Ferrari to its knees.

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One of the oldest open-wheel racing cars competing at the 2011 CSRG Charity Challenge was the unique 1958 Bourgeault Formula Junior owned by Simon Favre of Milpitas, California.

Formula Junior got its start in 1958, when the FIA adopted a rules package suggested by racing driver and journalist Giovanni “Johnny” Lurani, to provide an entry-level class where racers could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles. The FIA eliminated Formula 2 and 3 classes, and Formula Junior took its place.

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Daytona International Speedway in 2012 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the track’s first road race, a three hour event won by Dan Gurney when he coasted across the finish line with a blown engine.

The first two road races were three hour events, the third and fourth were expanded to 2000 kilometer contests, and the now-traditional 24-hour race distance was first run in 1966. It was shortened to six hours in 1972, and cancelled completely in 1974 due to an oil embargo and the resulting fuel shortage. Consequently, this year marks the 44th time the circuit has hosted a 24 Hours race, and I believe I’ve photographed at least half of them.

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January 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 with stock car racing and to this day is well known for America’s premier stock car racing event known as the Daytona 500 or “The Great American Race.”

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Ford’s start in Britain had humble beginnings. In 1903 two Ford Model A cars were shipped to England and a modest trade began. The Ford Model B took to London’s roads in 1905, forming part of the earliest fleet of motor taxi cabs. It was the world debut of the Model T at the 1908 Olympia Motor Exhibition that convinced Ford a British company was needed.

To celebrate the centenary of Ford of Britain in 2011, the company has been digging through its photo archive to reveal rarely seen images. Each week in 2011, Ford released a new picture that best illustrated its relationship with Britain and its society. Here are our Top 20 favorites.

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Bob Ensign of Ensign Restoration Services of Latham, New York, has been in business for 16 years. His philosophy is, “Do what you love. Love what you do. It is going to work.” His short cropped hair, animated gestures, steel blue eyes and great stories draw you in. Bob demands the highest quality. Here he discusses his work with restoration of a 1949 Maserati A6 1500, a 1953 Cunningham C3 Coupe and his unique MG custom while giving a tour of his shop.

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It was an eventful era that ushered in groundbreaking technical developments for the evolution of the automobile. In this period the automobile became an important mode of transport and powerful item of sports equipment, new plants were set up, and in 1926 the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft from Stuttgart merged with Benz & Cie.

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The Mercedes-Benz Museum at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany is a depository of the history of the automobile, motorsport, commercial transportation and the Twentieth Century altogether, presented in one of the most modern museums in the world.

Two names, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, stand above all others in the company’s history. But there were many others, both known and unknown, who contributed to the history of the longest-established automaker in the world. They are also represented in the singular exhibits of the Mercedes-Benz museum, particularly in Mercedes-Benz’ long history of success in motorsport.

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This 1961 Chevrolet Corvette factory race car, soon to be auctioned at Mecum’s January 24-29, 2012 Kissimmee Florida event, possesses a host of rare options and a provenance worthy of the velvet rope treatment at any of the world’s finest auto museums or vintage races.  Gulf Oil sponsored and driven to an SCCA B-Production national championship by the likes of Dr. Dick “The Flying Dentist” Thompson and Don Yenko, it stands as one the most successful and important production-based Corvette race cars ever constructed.  All the more impressive considering it was never supposed to exist.

Though hard to believe today—with manufacturers spending millions of dollars on motorsports and publicizing their efforts through some of the world’s finest marketing firms—there was a time when the mere mention of auto racing within the walls of an American auto company would spark outbreaks of upper-management indigestion.

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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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By Art Evans

The first Vanderbilt Cup Race, held in 1904, amounted to pandemonium according to press reports. Newspaper and poster promotion drew a huge crowd. Estimated to be as numerous as 50,000 spectators were lined dangerously close to the entire course, some actually straying onto it. There were so many people that they became part of the spectacle.

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first contest of any real international stature held in the United States. Until then, major events took place in Europe and were dominated by cars made in Europe and driven mostly by Europeans. Because racing improves the breed, as they say, European cars were, with some exceptions, superior to those made in the United States.

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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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By Edward Lenahan

“The most exciting thing about piloting an old vehicle,” I said to my wife Marguerite, “is the nagging sense it’s going to kill you.”  We had just experienced our own brand of excitement, barely stopping our old tandem bike before a busy intersection, and this comment wasn’t so much a casual observation on my part as it was a way of making our near-death seem innocuous and charming.

To her credit, Marguerite shrugged the whole thing off as if this were normal for her, which, since finalizing a poor choice of men, it is.

Anyways, this particular morning being Sunday and there being considerable amounts of time to drink small oceans of coffee, read auction catalogs, and ponder life’s great philosophical questions from the soft confines of the couch, I concluded for the thousandth time that I don’t like math.  Particularly when applied to bicycles and vintage cars.

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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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