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fred wacker

Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

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By Jeff Allison

This article first appeared in Prancing Horse, the quarterly magazine of the Ferrari Club of America.

Before his passing in 2014, Glen Glendenning sent David Rex a box full of loose photo scrapbook pages—you know the kind with the black mounts that you’d slip over the corners of a photo, lick the glue on the back of the mount and position the photo on a page. Remember, they tasted terrible! Rex provided the photos to editor Pete Vack for possible use in VeloceToday.com. Luckily, Glendenning had written brief descriptions under some of the photos, and the pages were in chronological order. Taken with a 35MM single-lens reflex camera, Glendenning obviously had access to the pits, the track, and the people. He owned a public relations firm with a film lab, producing twenty-six films for the Schlitz brewery, so photography probably was natural for him. [Read more…] about Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

Velocity Group Website Review

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“I took this shot at my desk to portray the elements behind creating the website. Decades of event Media passes, a story in mid-edit, kind of a visual bibliography of books and old magazines. Yes, those are Road & Tracks, Sports Car Graphics, etc. from the early 1960s stacked on the shelves. The image on the screen is from when Fabrizio (Giugiaro) invited me to road test the Nazca and Scighera at Monterey.”… S.Scott Callan.

By Pete Vack

We felt that the quite unusual graphic description of Scott’s Alfa RL article deserved further discussion, which is clearly addressed through the complexity of automotive subject coverage on his web site.

I became aware of the scope of Scott’s website when I asked him to contribute to the Fred Wacker Gordini story. To show the range of the material he had, he linked me to his interview with Fred. [Read more…] about Velocity Group Website Review

Gentleman at Speed: Fred Wacker Jr.

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The below article is the second in a series.

A photo that says volumes about Grand Prix racing in the 1950s. Fred Wacker on the grid at Monza in 1954, where he will place sixth overall with a truly outclassed Gordini. Photo by Bernard Cahier

By S. Scott Callan
Photos by Bernard Cahier published with permissions

What could be more appropriate for VeloceToday than an American racing French Gordinis in Europe? Author S.Scott Callan allowed us to publish part of his full length interview with the late Fred Wacker, below. Stay tuned as next week we’ll review the new biography of Fred Wacker authored by his son and Bob Birmingham.

Fred was a friend of my Dad’s. He and Fred and Jim Kimberly spent a lot of time together in the early days of Midwestern racing.

After my Dad passed away Fred and I got into the habit of talking in the spring, when he was heading back to Chicago after wintering at the Palm Springs house, and in the autumn when he had just arrived. Fred would regale me his stories of getting started in racing with his black Cad-Allard, the eight ball. Racing at Sebring, around the roads of Elkhart Lake before they built Road America, at Watkins Glen, and down Argentine way.

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Frank Burrell and the Cad-Allard Part 1 of 2

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Wacker with the Burrell-prepared Allard at Watkins Glen. Frank Burrell is standing behind Wacker's right shoulder.

By Eric Davison
All photo courtesy of Barry Burrell and the Allard Register

Eric Davison, who originally hails from the Detroit area, witnessed the birth of sports car racing from a unique perspective; his father was an early SCCA member who traveled to Watkins Glen every year with his son, driving exciting cars like the drop dead gorgeous British Squire. Davison has not only written a series of eight chapters on those years for VeloceToday, but continually brings us new and interesting stories about the pioneers of the sports car movement.

While we are all familiar with the use of Cadillac engines in the Cunningham cars at Le Mans, the famous Cad Allards and the Frick Vignales, little is known of Cadillac’s behind the scenes involvement with the sport, encouraged by the team of Ed Cole, Harry Barr and the subject of this article, Frank Burrell. With the help of Frank’s son Barry, Davison traces the little-known involvement of GM’s Cadillac division which was looking for ways to bring the excitement of speed to their flagship luxury car. [Ed.] [Read more…] about Frank Burrell and the Cad-Allard Part 1 of 2

Watkins Glen Memoirs Part 2: 1949

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By Eric Davison

For the 1949 event we were ready. My Dad and I had a cabin reserved at the Seneca Lodge and many of the Detroit Region were going to caravan to the Glen. There were but few sports cars, mostly MG TCs and the trip was planned so that passengers could be rotated and everyone could experience a ride in a sports car.

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