Sirs,

Article: The Racers; A Fresh Look at an Old Flick

I just finished watching “The Racers“. The writer of the article states "Kirk Douglas was never a good actor anyway." Who is this idiot? I have never met anyone like this. I would like to know who this man is because he obviously sits on his brain every time he sits down. Kirk Douglas is #17 on the 'All-Time Greatest Actors" list. Again, who is this blithering idiot?

Jim Sero

Jim, thanks for reading VeloceToday and your thoughts. The “blithering idiot’s” name is at the top of the aforementioned article.

Photo by Paul Gregory.

Hi Nicholas (Lancaster),

Thank you for remembering to let me know when your article (about Giulio Ramponi) was published - it is most kind of you. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to parts 2 & 3.

Looking through VeloceToday I see that you've written a very interesting piece on the Giulietta Sprint Veloce. The first time I saw a Giulietta Sprint was on my first visit to Italy with my father in 1955. I remember being gobsmacked (not a word one would have used in those days) by the proportions of line and pure beauty of it. We lived in Northern Ireland then and one just did not see anything exotic like the Lancia Aurelias, Siatas and such like that we saw on that trip - I thought we were the bee's knees in our two-tone Ford Zephyr Zodiac! Mind you, it took us all the way from Londonderry to Latina and back and never missed a beat. Happy days!

Again, many thanks and best regards,

Louis Cassoni

Mr. Cassoni was the manager of the Ramponi/Rockell business in London.

Pete,

Just a couple things: wasn't it Rob Walker who used to publish an analysis--or was it a preview-- of the season? Anyway, screw points. I’m lazy. could VeloceToday give us simply the average finishing position of the F1 competitors this year? I've always preferred this; it omits the subjective assignment of points per position. I kinda liked the idea of being able to drop one or two races from one's season too. And I like using the number of fastest laps in a season as a tiebreaker.

Toly Arutunoff

Toly, I’ll ask our F1 brigade if they can do this for you---

.

Ramponi with Alberto Ascari as a child. Ascari was a two time World Champion. Credit: B.A, Alridge.

Hi Pete,

Re Ramponi Part I-- Huh?

"Ascari's son Alberto, who would later go on to become Italy's only World Champion driver."
1950 first world driver's champion Giuseppe Farina?

Regards,

David Seielstad

Seielstad and others are part of our ‘vetting’ process. We changed “only” to “only two time World Champion”, which the author meant and the editor did not catch. Thanks, David.

Dear Sirs,

I am seeking information as to where I can get or have made the red and white glass for the parking/reverse on a 1948 202 Cisitalia Coupe, Frame no.103 engine no.146.

Salvatore DiChristina

Send responses to vack@cox.net

Dear Pete,

I am located in Brisbane Australia and while the owner of two 'vintage' Fiats [one a 1938 Australian bodied open Topolino 500 - a rare item here even!] I am also a regular contributor to magazines here [on all classic cars and events] along with enjoying your regular releases on Italian cars worldwide. I would appreciate it if you could pass on your submission guidelines so that I might consider items of interest to you.

Ross McGowan

Our guidelines are simple--an article can be anywhere from 800 to 2000 words, with 4-20 jpg images. However, do discuss the topic with the editor (vack@cox.net) before writing the article.

Hi Pete,

I really don't think the "SCCA type" of today realizes the debt owed to Gen. Lemay. He DID provide the venue to save sports car racing in America at the time. The Watkins Glen tragedy and the Le Mans disaster were a real double whammy and brought a lot of public anger and protest directed at us nuts who flaunted "furrin cars" so were probably rich dissolutes endangering their daughters!
Read LeMay by Jeff Allison
"My" Le May story is I was at a race and LeMay, Tilley and someone else (my senility tells me it was GM's pilot. Could this have been Roy Scott?) approached and this third person asked where my brother Chuck was. I said he was in Walter Reed Hospital (they did not know that he had been wounded in Korea). Le May turned to Tilley and said, "Get the information and send a plane for him." I thanked the General but said as my brother had a head wound, he could not fly. Le May countered, "Sorry, son. Transfer to the Air Force (I was in the Army) and we'll take care of you!"

The courtesies we were shown and the contributions to the Airman's Living Improvement Fund were important pages in the "sport" as we know it today. It gave people like Argetsinger and the Chicago lads as well as those in California time to convince investors of the value of permanent circuits, thus we had the Road Americas, the (third) Watkins Glen, Laguna Secas and the now gone Riverside, etc.

Sincerely,

Dick Irish

Peter,

Love your publication and I never thought I would see a picture of Gen. LeMay as delightful as the one in R&T of him driving a go-Kart, but the picture at Marlboro raceway brings back great memories since I grew up just a few miles away.

I was amused and amazed by Michael Bradley's taking exception to the comment about Gen. LeMay as casting aspersion on the General. I would certainly think that the General would be quite comfortable with "ardent right wing militant" and then I took another look. It wasn't that, I think, it was the word "although" which preceded it. Replace that word with "was not only, but" and I think the characterization of Gen. LeMay's backround really adds to the original article. It really was a surprise, I think, that the head of SAC found the time to champion sports car racing. And, yes, the head of SAC was an ardent right wing militant, his solution to Viet Nam in 1965 would have been to "bomb them back to the stone age". I certainly didn't agree with him at the time, and I think time has proven him wrong. But I still love the picture of him driving the go-Kart, and the one at Marlboro. I'll bet he was a darn good head of SAC, and I am glad he didn't become Vice-President. And if you are not familiar with the go-Kart picture I'll try to dig up the old issue of R&T and send a scan.

Doug Chadwick