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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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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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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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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The series we now know as Formula One traces its roots back to 1906. Before the term, Formula One, was coined in 1950, essentially the same sequence of events were called the Grand Prix Series. But those words became bandied about so much that different ones were needed to describe the contest for the World Driving Championship. Nevertheless, each country’s race is still called a Grand Prix.

The very first Grand Prix took place on June 26 and 27, 1906. The venue was public roads in the vicinity of Le Mans, France near the Sarthe River, so it became known as the Sarthe Circuit.

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As I described in my July column, the first motorized-vehicle race on land is acknowledged by historians to be the 1893 Paris to Rouen. Other place-to-place races followed in Europe before the turn of the century. Many of them involved Paris as a location of origination or destination. Paris-Bordeaux-Paris followed Rouen in 1895, Paris-Marseille-Paris in 1896 and so on. The original purpose of these events was to demonstrate the viability of motorcars as a means of transportation. The first in the U.S. was the 1895 Chicago-Waukegan-Chicago. By 1907, the longest race to that date was from Peking to Paris.

The ultimate of the genre, however, was the New York-to-Paris in 1908. Wait a minute! How could there be such an automobile race when there’s the Atlantic Ocean between the two cities? Well, it depends on which way you go. To the West, there’s only the 53-mile Bering Strait separating the United States from Russia. The rest is land.

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When younger motor racing enthusiasts think of Daytona, images of stock cars on the International Speedway come to mind. But older folks remember that Daytona Beach was a site for setting early land-speed records.

The history of racing at the beach extends almost to the turn of the last century when cars themselves were in their infancy. Famous automobile personalities of yore participated including Barney Oldfield, Ralph De Palma, Ransom Olds, Henry Ford and the Stanley Brothers.

In 1970, I was sent on a photo shoot to Florida; the assignment included going to the Daytona 500. Because I had not obtained credentials in advance, I was ushered into the office of Bill France, Sr. Since I had previously raced sports cars, we had a short and interesting chat. I found him most affable and I was given a pass to go almost anywhere. Bill told me that oval races at Daytona Beach were as old as record attempts and that the Speedweek predated the Indy 500.

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Some 25 years ago, there was a vintage event like none other. It was the 1985 Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix. Why was it so different? Would you believe 19 Formula One and Indy veterans on the same grid, all in competitive open-wheel cars? How about Dan Gurney in his Spa-winning Eagle! Or Bobby Unser in the 1975 Indy-winning Eagle! Stirling Moss in a Lotus, the twin of the car in which he won the 1962 Grand Prix of Monaco! You get the idea. Another event that weekend we called the Fabulous Fifties Reunion featured more than 50 drivers who raced during the fifties, most in the same or similar cars. Afterwards, Carroll Shelby said, “I don’t know how this came about, but it’s not likely to happen again.” Road & Track’s article stated that “It may turn out to be the most successful vintage car race ever held on this continent.”

Actually, it was my idea and I ended up as the promoter. Here’s how it developed: For quite a few years, Johnny Von Neumann, Vasek Polak and I had second homes in Palm Springs. All three of us were on the same street within walking distance of one another. So it was natural that we would get together now and then.

During the 1984 Thanksgiving holiday, we were gathered at Vasek’s celebrating with wine and tall stories, some about races we used to have in Palm Springs during the fifties.

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The occurrences at the 2011 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans brought to mind those of 1955, the race that lives in infamy. More than 80 spectators were killed plus some 120 injured in the most horrendous accident in motor racing history.

My longtime and very close friend, John Fitch, was on the Mercedes team, co-driver with Pierre Levegh, whose car caused such carnage. A few years ago, I co-authored a book with Fitch, Racing With Mercedes. He told me a great deal about the accident and surrounding circumstances. Also, I talked with some others—Ken Miles and Phil Hill—who were there as well.

The 1955 season started on a down note when, on May 26, World Champion and revered driver Alberto Ascari died at Monza. A week later, Bill Vukovich was killed while leading the Indy 500. Both were highly skilled with vast experience.

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(See History of the Indianapolis 500 – Part One)

By Leigh Dorrington

The first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, won by Ray Harroun on the Indianapolis-built Marmon ‘Wasp’, began one of the longest sporting traditions in the world. And soon the whole world was watching. The history of the race reflects a century—The American Century—that defined a nation growing into its potential.

“The Speedway’, as it simply came to be known, was built on farmland near Crawfordsville Road five miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The property the Speedway was constructed on was connected to the city by a rail line that ran directly to Union Station in the center of Indianapolis. Reports of the first 500-mile race declared that 80,000 spectators attended, and estimated that 75,000 of those arrived by rail—this in a time when many people never travelled farther than ten miles from their homes in a lifetime.

The Midwestern state of Indiana was already a leader in automobile production and Indianapolis was its hub. With the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the success of the first ‘500’, the city found its pride.

The story of the Speedway and of the Indianapolis 500 is also the story of the individuals who made their mark—coming from backgrounds as varied as the nation itself to create the history.

The results of the races have been well documented. This is the story.

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Caracciola achieved an average speed of 101.1 km/h in the race from Brescia to Rome and back. It was the first time that the Mille Miglia – traditionally dominated by Italian drivers – had been won by a foreigner in a foreign car and the first time that a driver’s average speed exceeded 100 km/h.

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The story of the Indianapolis 500 is the story of America in a pivotal century—the beginning of the American Century. A rural nation rushing to embrace industrialization. Farm boys, fairgrounds and big city promoters. Seat of the pants courage and genuine genius. Foreign invasions—so to speak—and homeland traditions.

In 1910, the city of Indianapolis was home to 233,650 people and the 22nd largest city in America. The U.S. Center of Population in 1910 was in Bloomington, Indiana, just 52 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

Indiana was already one of the early centers of American automobile production.

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Jay Lamm is a long-time friend. Back in 2006, when he first thought of “LeMons,” I encouraged him. I told him he should simply go ahead and do it; the sooner he started, the quicker he’d discover exactly how it should be done. “Just make your mistakes and move on.”

The first 24 Hours of LeMons at Altamont Speedway, near Livermore, California, was a huge success. I had never seen so many people having such a good time at any motorsports event. The wacky car decorations, off-the-wall penalties for driving infractions, and total improbability of anyone even enduring to the finish, all made it work.

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The 12 Hours of Sebring 2011 was held Saturday, March 19th at Sebring International Raceway in Florida. The 59th annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, the first event on the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) calendar, offered exciting racing and ended with an unexpected winner.

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The 1965 12 Hours of Sebring Grand Prix is legendary because it was won by American drivers driving an American car. Jim Hall and his Chaparral cars broke several speed records but the overall records were not broken because of the record rainfall half way through the race. That deluge, the worst in Sebring history, also makes this race a legend.

In addition to the comprehensive 1965 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance race profile, Louis Galanos also offers the following videos that are a great accompaniment to his article on the epic race. Sit back and enjoy the race in five parts. FYI, the race starts at the beginning of part three.

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Story by Louis Galanos

In 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 at that time the Sebring race was second only to the 24-Hours of Le Mans. The fact that it was the only event in North America that qualified for points toward the Federation Internationale de l’automobile (FIA) World Sportscar Championship (WSC) didn’t hurt. As a result, Sebring became the premier sports car event in the U.S. and a must-attend if you were an aficionado of sports car racing.

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Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ magical run continued with their fourth overall victory in the 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway.

In the final minutes of America’s premier sports car race, a late caution suddenly turned the Rolex 24 At Daytona into a sprint race.

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Story and photos by Louis Galanos

Few 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 would drag on until its demise in 1992.

Blame for the slow death of this race series can be laid at the feet of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and their independent competition committee known as the Commission Sportive International (CSI).

The FIA and CSI were known for frequent rules changes many of which defied logic and common sense. In the late 1960’s the Ford – Ferrari Wars produced some magnificent machines like the 7-liter Ford GT40 Mk. IV prototype and the 4-liter Ferrari V12 prototype.

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Current regulations for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series are aimed at strict parity among the racing entrants. While seemingly the goal every year, certain time periods have seen a particular car or marque rise to the top on multiple occasions. This was especially true in the 1980s, as Porsche who won every 24 Hours of Daytona except one when they are beaten by Jaguar by just one lap. Here is a profile of the Porsche domination at the 24 Hours of Daytona during the 1980s.

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