Sports Car Racing at Midland, TX 1960-62
The cover of the September 1960 Midland race program. Although Hap Sharp owned a 1959/60 Ferrari 250TR at one point, it never saw action at Midland Airpark.
Story by Willem Oosthoek, photos by Bob Jackson
The 3rd Annual Midland Sports Car Races took place on September 17-18, 1960, again at Airpark. Based on published spectator numbers – 4,000 on Saturday, 6,000 on Sunday – the event was a commercial success, but based on the number of entries, not so much. [Read more…] about Sports Car Racing at Midland, TX 1960-62
Smith’s Alfa Vintage Racing Chronicles
Luigi-and-me-at-PVGP 2004. Photo by Ed Hyman, AutoPhotos.
Story by Sam Smith
My love for Italian cars started in 1960. A visit to Marlboro Raceway allowed me to get up close to cars only seen in Road & Track magazine, like a long wheelbase California Spyder and Charlie Hayes’s 250GT Short Wheelbase Berlinetta. [Read more…] about Smith’s Alfa Vintage Racing Chronicles
Squarebacks to Love
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Sqaureback by Panther Westwinds chassis 15275
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
I wanted to sell our old Suburban, but I haven’t sold a car in years, and so someone told me to go to Facebook and look up groups on Chevy Suburban ‘Squarebacks’. And sure enough, that’s what the call them nowadays, Squarebacks, a term that presumably can be applied to just about anything with a square back. Ok, I get it. I’m not so square after all. [Read more…] about Squarebacks to Love
The Final Word on Squarebacks!
Delahaye
Humor By Richard Bartholomew
Taking the station wagon to new heights. From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2021.
Sports Car Racing at Midland, TX, 1959
In the first turn of Race 4’s opening lap, Ronnie Hissom’s Lister/Chevy and Emory Cantey’s Porsche 550RS came together, knocking both cars out for the weekend.
Story by Willem Oosthoek, photos by Bob Jackson
Last week we described the strong October 1959 entry list, at least for an SCCA Regional in the Southwest. Today we’ll have a look how the big modifieds – five Ferraris [two with Chevy engines], one Maserati/Ferrari, three Chevy-engined Listers and a Jaguar/Chevy – performed in the two races scheduled for their class during the 2nd Annual Midland Sports Car Races. Their individual chassis numbers were mentioned previously, so we won’t repeat them.
Tripoli 1939: Italian Job That Mis-fired
The late Clyde Berryman’s diorama of the Mellaha pits and timing tower.
Story by Robert Young
The fabulous ‘golden era of motor sport’ of the 1930s was dominated by the silver German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racers. The Italian challengers in their brave red Maseratis and Alfa Romeos were outgunned in a motor sporting equivalent of the blitzkrieg. From 1934, when the German teams came on the scene, to 1937, the European Championship ‘750kg’ formula for Grand Prix cars saw engine capacities of up to 6 liters employed, but in 1938 this was reduced to 3 liters and once again the silver cars ruled the roost, with the ‘titans’ driving the Mercedes V12 W154.
Gauld Checks Out the Ferrari Estate Car
The Series II Ferrari 330GT. American design, Italian coachwork. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.
Story by Graham Gauld
At the risk of a rebuttal, I would say that the terminology “Estate Car” or “Shooting-brake” came from the good old United Kingdom. One can trace this class-conscious terminology applied to a motor car to the early days of horse-drawn travel in the 1880’s when rich landowners needed a bulkier carriage to carry the guns and shooting impedimenta for blasting partridge and grouse out of the sky.
Juan Manuel Fangio Tribute
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt,
Captions by staff
From the Archives, September 2011
Juan Manuel Fangio impressed the European racing scene the second he stepped foot in the Old World in 1949. In his first season with the Maserati 4CLT/48, he won the San Remo, Pau and Roussillon Gran Prix. In 1950, he won the Gran Prix of Pau again, with a Maserati 4CLT/50. But it was at San Remo where Fangio truly proved his worth as both a driver and mechanic. A big end went the day before the event. That night he removed the sump, found the bad bearing, and polished the crankshaft with a piece of emery cloth. This alone took him two hours. Then he installed a new bearing and fixed it so it wouldn’t spin. Finally, “I told the mechanics to put the sump on while I went to bed. And the next day I won the race.”
Sports Car Racing at Midland, TX, 1958-59
Local resident and oilman Hap Sharp was instrumental getting the Midland Airpark Races established. Seen here during the October 1959 edition, he is at the wheel of chassis 2432, his hybrid entry: a Maserati 250S with a 3-liter Ferrari Monza engine. It was hot and humid, so in practice Hap tried the use of a rubber air hose to stay cool. It probably did not work too well. It was discarded during the actual races.
Story by Willem Oosthoek
Photos by Bob Jackson
When the name Midland is mentioned, people automatically think of Rattlesnake Raceway, or the more recent Petroleum Museum, which displays the various models of Jim Hall’s Chaparral 2 sports racer. But Jim Hall didn’t even participate when sports car racing began in the early days at Midland, and those activities weren’t held at Rattlesnake Raceway, which did not exist yet.
Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My Extra 5 Minutes of Fame
I brought the very same Canon IVS 2 35 mm camera that took so many B&W and even a dozen in color, to the interview for the program, “Lost L.A.” The first episode is called “The Fast and The Forgotten.” The five minute episode concentrating on me is called “The Forgotten Racetrack.”
By Allen R. Kuhn
Photographs courtesy of Matt Bass, Director of Photography PBS
Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My 15 Minutes of Fame and some Additional Footage from the Original Interview
In November of 2024, I was working on a project for VeloceToday, I heard “Ride of the Valkyries” playing on our phone. Another spam call, I thought. I looked over, and the name Tom Young showed up; by gosh, a real phone call! He was calling to see if I would help PBS SOCAL put together a half-hour show for a program called “Lost L.A.” This would be the opening season episode called “The Fast and the Forgotten.” [Read more…] about Behind the PBS SOCAL Story: My Extra 5 Minutes of Fame
Sharp’s Retro Part 4: French Classics
The Renault 4cv based Le Tank Burnel.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
You may recall that last week I mentioned that for a French show it contained a lot of Italian Cars, well having finished sorting through over a 1000 photos I can now say that for a French show it also contained a lot of very interesting French cars, and British cars too, and not forgetting the Germans and even a few American cars for good measure. I also mentioned that the themed displays this year were of a very high standard with the highlight probably being the Bugatti display. Titled “Bugatti, Les Insolites De Molsheim,” aka “Bugatti, the Unusual creations of Molsheim,” simply stunning and not a Type 35 in sight.