road america

Joe Marchetti by Burt Levy

July 31, 2023 By pete

The essential Joe Marchetti.

By Burt Levy

The huge annual “International Challenge” vintage race at Road America is one of the must-do events on the vintage calendar—and I was privileged to be there, sometimes on the sidelines, sometimes covering it for magazines and judging in the concours and sometimes right in the thick of the on-track action as the event became what it is today. It all started for me back in the early 1980s, when my longed-for “racing career” was going exactly nowhere. I’d begun racing in 1971 in a series—maybe more like a plague?—of self-wrenched, under-funded, nickel-rocket and borderline lethal Triumph TR3s that rarely finished a race. Then I met Joe Marchetti. [Read more…] about Joe Marchetti by Burt Levy

Eagles at Road America

July 25, 2022 By pete

S.Scott Callan’s website is one of the most unusual and well written we’ve ever encountered. The history is accurate, the photos are fantastic, and he uses a format that allows his work to be elegantly displayed. It is always worth a visit and a long surf. Here is a excerpt from his latest adventure. [Ed.]

Story and Photos by S. Scott Callan

This year at the WeatherTech International Challenge at Road America was quite different. Two Historic Race Circuits (HRC) members had made a special effort to have this year’s focus on Dan Gurney and his Eagles. The Collier brought the Spa winning F1 car. The selection of Indy cars was significant, not only in their exploration of aero effects, but also in their array of engines which were experimentally impressive, ingenious in configuration, and sometimes outright amusing.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
Login Subscribe

Carroll Shelby and the OSCA

May 16, 2012 By pete

A Shelby portrait taken in about 1956 by racing photographer Alix Lafontant. It is inscribed “The very best to my good friend Alix. – Carroll Shelby.”

By Carl Goodwin

Photos by Alix Lafontant copyright Carl Goodwin.

1956 was a great year for Carroll Shelby driving the Italian cars he loved. Up until a late-season off-course excursion in the sand at Thompson Raceway, he had notched 19 wins at road courses from coast to coast, driving a Ferrari 4.4, Ferrari Monza, Maserati 300S, and a Maserati 450S.

We were accustomed to seeing Shelby toss around the big Ferraris and Maseratis owned by John Edgar and Tony Parravano, but he was also a great driver in under two liter Italian cars such as the OSCA. One such race was at Road America.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
Login Subscribe