john fitch

Lime Rock Park, The Early Years, 1955-1975, Reviewed

May 15, 2023 By pete

Review by Pete Vack

Lime Rock Park, The Early Years, 1955-1975
Hard cover with dust jacket
240mm x 330mm (portrait format)
680 pages
1070 color photographs
Printing 750, of which 150 will be signed/numbered. Signed/numbered only available through publisher, same price.
ISBN: 978-1-85443-316-9
$225 USD
Order here

As we all know too well, noise and racing cars go together, from the bellowing of American V8s at Laguna Seca to the perfectly executed downshifts of a Ferrari V12 approaching turn 5 at Road America. We love it.

But there are many who think otherwise, particularly at one of America’s most famous venues, Lime Rock Park in a remote corner of Connecticut. For there are those who prefer their idyllic weekends in those bucolic hills to be natural, quiet, and peaceful; the intrusion of a bunch of campers, race fans, extremely noisy race cars and even aircraft almost every weekend is a slap in the face that must be fought tooth and nail. But such battles are largely in the background. Few, aside from locals and regulars, are aware that a life and death struggle between the track and the locals has been going on since 1958 and continues to this day. [Read more…] about Lime Rock Park, The Early Years, 1955-1975, Reviewed

Tales from Le Circuit, St. Jovite, Mt. Tremblant

April 18, 2022 By pete

Planning the new racetrack near Quebec are, from left to right: Norm Namerow, John Fitch, Unknown, Jim Horne BP Canada, Sales, and Marketing, unknown, Ross de St.Croix.

By John R. Wright and Ross de St. Croix, 1967 Canadian Sports Car Champion

Le Circuit Mont Tremblant, also known at one time as St. Jovite is a 4.26 km (2.65 mile) race circuit about 13 km (8.1 miles) south of the village of Mont Tremblant in the province of Quebec, Canada. Pete Lyons in his book CanAm called it “…the swoopy, 2.65-mile mini-Nurburgring…”

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John Fitch and the Bridgehampton Oldsmobile

October 17, 2013 By pete

Original story By Eric Davison

Photography by: Albert Fisher, Eberhard Luethke, and Noel Werrett for the March 1966 edition of Car and Driver. Photos reproduced with the permission of Hearts Men’s Group.

It has been over a year since John Fitch died and I don’t suppose that all the great John Fitch stories will ever be told. He was a force of nature and while he always seemed to be the consummate gentleman, he was a fierce competitor, and while rules were rules, sometimes the application of common sense gave him an edge.

'An as yet beardless David E Davis checks the stopwatch.

In 1965, during his first stint as editor of Car and Driver, the late David E. Davis, Jr. conspired with his associate and good friend Brock Yates to do some wonderfully crazy things to make the magazine interesting, fun, and relevant. It would be hard for us old timers to forget the hypothetical match-up they created between a Pontiac GTO and a Ferrari GTO.

Naturally the story outraged Ferrari purists and tickled mightily the Pontiac fans. But it sure sold magazines and it sure did get talked about.

One of the other big ideas that they cooked up was a showdown between what were then called “super cars.” Invitations were sent to all the makers of such vehicles. The Pontiac GTO, Olds 442, Buick Skylark GS, Chevy Chevelle SS396, Mercury Comet Cyclone GT, and Ford Fairlane GTA; all these makers decided to participate. Wiser heads at Chrysler declined and warned that the folks at C&D were opening a real can of worms; basically an all-out track war. They were prescient.

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Goodbye, John

November 7, 2012 By pete

Elizabeth and John Fitch celebrate a win with the Cunningham C4R. Photo John Fitch collection.

John Fitch, one of America’s greatest drivers, died on October 31st at the age of 95. Shortly after, I received two short remembrances, one from Carl Goodwin and the other from Eric Davison. I was struck by how similar both sketches were in scope and nature; both Carl and Eric captured his kindness and sincere, warm personality. John’s racing life is well known by our readers and also covered in Carl Goodwin’s book “They Started in MGs”.
Below, a side of John Fitch rarely seen from two of our finest contributors.

By Carl Goodwin

It was a great pleasure to know and work with John Fitch for the last 28 years of his life. Some of it was for magazine articles but most of it was as the volunteer publicist for his company Impact Attenuation LLC, which held and developed John’s designs for energy-absorbing safety barriers to be used in racing (www.racesafety.com).

It was not always glamorous. But all of it was interesting. In fact Fitch was the most interesting person you could ever know. If only you could have been with us.

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