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Jim Sitz

Louise Collins, Remembered

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Louise and Peter (Graham Gauld archive, photographer unknown)

By Graham Gauld, comments by Jim Sitz and Collin’s photos courtesy of Chris Price

I was truly saddened to hear of the death of Louise Collins, age 87, on August 18. She was a true character that greatly impressed this 22-year-old when I first met her with her new husband, racing driver Peter Collins, in September 1957.

By a strange coincidence I had actually seen a photograph of “ …actress Louise King” that had been published in Sports Illustrated magazine earlier that year where, in their report of the Sebring race, they had snapped a photo of this fair-haired actress sitting beside one of the cars. I was impressed!

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Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill, Part 3

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Phil Hill, World Champion. 60 years ago this week Phil finished third at the German Grand Prix for Ferrari. Photo of Phil Hill at the LA Times Grand Prix by Jim Sitz.

This week, 60 years ago on August 6th, Phil was at the Nurburgring where he placed third, behind von Trips and Moss, who garnered one of his greatest victories that day. Still, during practice, Hill became the first man to lap under 9 minutes, coming in at 8 minutes 55.2 seconds for pole position. Sitz recalls that Phil came into pits, and all the press was making a big fuss. Then he just blurted out, ”Yea, did one lap without screwing up.” The race finished with von Trips with 33 points for the World Championship, Hill 29 and Moss 21. The Championship would be decided at Monza, September 10th.

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Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill Part 2

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Phil Hill, World Champion. 60 years ago this week Phil entered the British Grand Prix for Ferrari. We celebrate his championship year. Photo of Phil Hill at the LA Times Grand Prix by Jim Sitz courtesy IMRRC.

Jim Sitz’s first tribute to Phil Hill, Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill was published on June 14 and received a great number of very complimentary comments. Jim’s recollections and insights illuminate a rarely seen side of the champion. This week, as we celebrate the British Grand Prix (held on July 15, 1961) of Hill’s championship year, Sitz recalls seeing Hill at Torrey Pines and Sebring, 1956 as both gain in stature in their respective careers. [Read more…] about Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill Part 2

Bill Pollack, Remembered

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Pebble Beach, 1956. Bill Pollack in the Stovebolt Chevy HWM leads Phil Hill in a Ferrari 860, Ernie McAfee in a Ferrari 121LM, then the Jag D-Type of Pierce Woods, Bill Murphy’s Kurtis 500X, and the Aston of Jack Graham. Photo by Jim Sitz.

West Coast racer Bill Pollack passed away at the age of 92 on July 16, 2017. We originally published this appreciation on August 25, 2017, and a week later published a second article with material sent by our readers. We have combined the two articles for our Archives feature this week.

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Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill

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Phil Hill, World Champion. 60 years ago this week Phil won the Belgian Grand Prix for Ferrari. We celebrate his championship year. Photo of Phil Hill at the LA Times Grand Prix by Jim Sitz courtesy IMRRC.

Recently, working with Jim Sitz, we recalled that it was 60 years ago that Phil Hill won the Formula One World Championship. So why not put together something on Phil Hill, divide the photos up into four segments, each of which to be published close to the date of Phil’s remaining 1961 F1 races, culminating in the Grand Prix of Monza. And, in addition to Jim’s photos, we sneak in a couple from other photographers. But throughout we’ll get Jim to provide first hand recollections of his talks with Hill over the many years they knew each other. [Read more…] about Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill

Discovering a Bugatti Atlantic

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Young Man With Bugatti We couldn’t identify the young man but the Bugatti is the Atlantic S/N 57374. But only Jim Sitz could come up with a location and date of the photo. Read on.

From the VeloceToday Archives, July 2017

In 1949 Strother MacMinn took these photos of the Bugatti Atlantic/Aérolithe (S/N 57374) when owned by Bob Oliver. The photos were supplied by Dale LaFollette at Vintage Motorphoto and published here with the permission of Bob Ames. Below, comments from Jim Sitz.

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Remembering Strother MacMinn

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Story by Jim Sitz
Photos by Strother MacMinn courtesy Bob Ames and Dale LaFollette

After reading Wallace Wyss’s recent article on the Pasadena Art Center, Jim Sitz thought there should have been a mention of Strother MacMinn, who devoted almost 50 years teaching at the Art Center. But MacMinn was also a sports car fan and photographer, and below we include a portfolio of photos from a very early Carrell Speedway event for our readers to identify. [Read more…] about Remembering Strother MacMinn

Bill Pollack, 1925-2017: An Appreciation

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Pebble Beach, 1956. Bill Pollack in the Stovebolt Chevy HWM leads Phil Hill in a Ferrari 860, Ernie McAfee in a Ferrari 121LM, then the Jag D-Type of Pierce Woods, Bill Murphy’s Kurtis 500X, and the Aston of Jack Graham. Photo by Jim Sitz.

West Coast racer Bill Pollack passed away at the age of 92 on July 16. Our thanks to Jim Sitz, Michael Lynch, Allen Kuhn, William Edgar and Willem Oosthoek for their help with this article. [Read more…] about Bill Pollack, 1925-2017: An Appreciation

Strother MacMinn and the Bugatti Atlantic

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, articles and posts.

Young Man With Bugatti
We couldn’t identify the young man but the Bugatti is the Atlantic S/N 57374. But only Jim Sitz could come up with a location and date of the photo. Read on.

In 1949 Strother MacMinn took these photos of the Bugatti Atlantic/Aérolithe (S/N 57374) when owned by Bob Oliver. The photos were supplied by Dale LaFollette at Vintage Motorphoto and published here with the permission of Bob Ames. Below, comments from Jim Sitz. [Read more…] about Strother MacMinn and the Bugatti Atlantic

And How! Strother MacMinn and the Delahaye

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, articles and posts.

The Delahaye was on cover of the February 1949 edition of Road & Track. The photograph was taken in front of the famous Ciros Nightclub. This is the same car which was photographed later that year by Strother MacMinn.

Strother MacMinn photos from the collection of Robert Ames
Courtesy VintageMotorphoto
Text by Jim Sitz

Strother MacMinn was one of my closest and dearest friends. I met him in 1951. He was a real gay blade and man about town, the Cary Grant of automotive circles. [Read more…] about And How! Strother MacMinn and the Delahaye

And How! Bob Temple at Palm Springs

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, articles and posts.

March 22, 1952, Palm Springs California. I was there cheering Roger on — wearing my specially-made Simca T-shirt that had amused Barlow when I came to his dealership earlier that same year.This is the first of the two Roger Barlow Simcas, seen here with mechanic Bill Pringle behind the wheel. Pringle raced this car in the event, while Barlow himself drove the new Simca special, #62, with right hand drive. Pringle finished second and Barlow fifth in the main event. Al Coppel won the class in his MG special.

As we have seen, Studebaker designer and part time photographer Bob Temple recorded sports car events at the Studebaker Proving Grounds and the Press on Regardless Rally in the early 1950s. Temple also went out west, and was there with Kodachrome for the Palm Springs races on March 22, 1952. Most remarkably, Jim Sitz was there as well and recorded all the cars on his invaluable set of index cards. He was therefore able to identify and comment on the cars and the personalities at the race. Our thanks to both the late Bob Temple and the very much still alive Jim Sitz.

Photos by Bob Temple courtesy Vintage Motorphoto
Story and captions by Jim Sitz

I had the good fortune to attend the March 22, 1952 event at Palm Springs, California. The photographs were taken by Bob Temple. I also had attended earlier events there in April and October of 1951.

The April 1951 event featured Jim Kimberly’s Ferrari 166 Barchetta and a young mechanic named Phil Hill, who drove his old Alfa 2.9. What a car! What a sound! The memory of Hill’s Alfa prompted me to follow his career. Race fans also saw and heard a Ferrari V-12 for first time on west coast. [Read more…] about And How! Bob Temple at Palm Springs

And How! Bob Temple at South Bend, 1951

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, articles and posts.

Bob Temple’s photo of the John Cuccio Alfa 2300, S/N 2111029, taken at the Studebaker Proving Grounds,
South Bend Indiana on June 23rd 1951.

As we mentioned last week, over the next few weeks VeloceToday will present photographs by Bob Temple, coming to us via the collection of Vintage Motorphoto’s Dale LaFollette.

Photography by Bob Temple courtesy Dale LaFollette
Story by Pete Vack

Recently, old friend Dale LaFollette sent me a group of scanned negatives, but he wasn’t sure of the locations, year, or event. Nor was I. Enter equally old mutual friend Jim Sitz. I knew Jim because he would fact-check my articles for R&T, AQ and Forza back in the last century. Dale and I sent the photos to Jim for identification. The event was so rare – an early SCCA regional in the Midwest – that even today there is no trace of it anywhere in magazines or the Internet (well maybe Motor Trend, says Jim). But, Jim doesn’t rely on the Internet. No. Jim Sitz has everything on index cards – a card filing system from the pre-computer era. [Read more…] about And How! Bob Temple at South Bend, 1951

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