John Morton’s rollicking remembrance of his time working for Carroll Shelby – “Inside Shelby American, Wrenching and Racing with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s” – is available from Motorbooks. On Dec. 7, Morton will receive the 2013 Lindley Bothwell Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fabulous Fifties Annual Banquet at the Proud Bird in El Segundo, […]
Sam Posey and Hurley Haywood are being honored this month. Posey has received a pair of awards – The Carl Benz Award and The Lee Iacocca Award. Haywood will receive The Spirit of Competition Award from the Simeone Museum. POSEY SNARES A PAIR The Carl Benz Award is presented annually by the Society of Automotive […]
The Road Racing Drivers Club has voted 37 racecar drivers and motorsports professionals into its membership for 2013. have been voted into the Road Racing Drivers Club in 2013. The new class includes 13 Regular Members from the open-wheel and sports-car racing ranks, 20 Associate Members and four Honorary Members. The current roster of RRDC […]
“The Evolution of Safety” video currently up on SAFEisFAST is a comprehensive overview of the safety initiative in motorsports from an awakening awareness in the late 1960s to the intensive efforts of present-day innovators to address the safety issue. Bob Varsha hosts the presentation which features RRDC members Brian Redman, Dario Franchitti and Dr. Steve […]
Jake Eidson and Joey Bickers finished seventh and 26th (out of over 110 entrants) in Sunday’s Grand Final of the 13th annual Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford extravaganza at Silverstone; but the final results do not do them justice. In cold, sunny and blustery conditions – quite different to the drab overcast and intermittent rain […]
David Brabham, 48, winner of the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and youngest son of three-time Formula 1 World Champion Sir Jack Brabham, is this week’s on-line instructor at SAFEisFAST.com. Brother Geoff also won Le Mans in ’93, and Geoff’s son, Matthew, is carving a promising career for himself in North America, having won […]
In the first of two weekends of the most intensive competition, 2013 Team USA Scholarship winners Joey Bickers and Jake Eidson got everyone’s attention at the 42nd running of the Formula Ford Festival at Brand Hatch. The pair got their first look at the Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray FF1600 cars on Thursday (Oct. 24) with […]
“Ganassi Unplugged” is currently running as a weekly online series on GanassiTV and can be accessed on UTube. The product is a short video – you could call it a Chip Clip – where the championship team owner and RRDC member gives his take on a number of topics. Launched on Sept. 26, the weekly […]
Lawrence Loshak, 36 of Grafton, Wis., is the 2013 recipient of the Mark Donohue Award, presented annually by the Road Racing Drivers Club for outstanding performance, competitiveness and sportsmanship during the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Loshak won two SCCA championships on Friday, Sept. 20 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. – Formula 1000 and […]
Team USA Scholarship winners Joey Bickers and Jake Eidson already have begun preparations for their foray to England to contest the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on October 26-27 and the following weekend’s Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone. The pair spent a day at CXC Simulations in Los Angeles, Calif., where they undertook a […]
Brand new RRDC member Andrew Aquilante and longer-standing member John Heinricy took home three titles during the 50th Anniversary of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., the third weekend of September. Aquilante celebrated his recent acceptance into the club with a pair of convincing victories. Starting from the GT-2 […]
“No one ever expects to crash,” says RRDC president Bobby Rahal, “But it does happen. Trust me on this one.” He then points out that there are certain things you can do beforehand – and afterwards – to help prevent serious injuries. Thus How to Crash is the subject in the first of three SAFEisFAST […]
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs currently running at Road America. The inaugural Runoffs – the American Road Race of Champions –were held at Riverside Raceway in 1964, sponsored by Car and Driver magazine. The RRDC celebrated the event’s golden anniversary with a dinner Wednesday night at Road America’s […]
After a hard-fought shootout among six talented candidates, young Americans Joey Bickers and Jake Eidson have been selected to carry the patriotic red-white-and-blue colors of the Team USA Scholarship in two prestigious end-of-season Formula Ford events in England. Rather than talking graphically about the banner, being in the position to carry it matters more. The […]
Joe Saward – one of the world’s premier motorsports journalists – is our latest on-line instructor for the Ask A Pro section of SAFEisFAST. F1 journalist, commentator and speaker Saward started motor race reporting the same week as he left the University of London in 1983, armed with a degree in history and a specialised […]
The Women’s Sports Foundation has joined RRDC member Lyn St. James in announcing the latest iteration of the Women’s Sports Foundation Women in the Winner’s Circle Project Podium Grant – an industry-wide $100,000 scholarship fund supporting young, talented female race drivers. Grantees can come from all forms of motor racing – karting, quarter midget, drag […]
This is a sad week for motorsports and, particularly, the RRDC. People very close to two of our members – Chip Ganassi and John Bishop – respectively lost a father and a wife with the passing of Floyd Ganassi and Peg Bishop, two of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet. Floyd Ganassi, Sr., passed […]
Candidates for the three 2013 Team USA Scholarships met with and were interviewed by the organization’s illustrious panel of motorsports experts during the IZOD IndyCar program this past weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. This year’s scholarship hopefuls are Joey Bickers, 21, from Moorpark, Calif.; Jake Eidson, 18, of Littleton, Colo.; Sean Rayhall, 18, Winston, […]
Is there such an animal as “the perfect lap” and, if so, how do you capture it? That’s a subject only the very quick and very precise can speak to. Our intrepid SAFEisFAST video crew of two went to the IZOD IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park this spring to talk to the very quick […]
Takuma Sato, the second Japanese driver to score a podium finish in Formula 1 and the first from Japan to win on the IZOD IndyCar Series circuit, is the latest top-line driver to lend his time to SAFEisFAST’s popular Ask a Pro program. Sato, 36, was a gifted bicycle racer in his teens before moving […]
This week, Skip Barber officially declared the front stretch at Lime Rock Park to henceforth be known as “The Sam Posey Straightaway”. In a delightful video clip posted on RACER.com, Skip chats with Sam in the middle of the newly dubbed ribbon of asphalt. Interestingly, none of Lime Rock’s corners have been named for individuals.
As our president Bobby Rahal says: “You have to check out our newest online video – Drive Smart, How To Be Safer on the Road.” The presentation is geared toward improving focus and awareness for young drivers, who have so many more distractions to deal with these days, not to mention learning the […]
The RRDC’s online driver development program SAFEisFAST has taken a giant step toward worldwide usage with the addition multi-language conversion of text and captioning. The site can now be read in 64 languages. Highly regarded English motorsports journalist Joe Saward published the breaking story today (Monday, July 15) in his blog and Business of Motorsports […]
The RRDC lost one of its oldest members with the passing Sunday July 7 of Chuck Dietrich at the Providence Care Center in his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. He was 88. Chuck, who began racing an MG-TC in 1948, was voted into the RRDC in 1958. He won the first of two SCCA National […]
Known for more than 50 years as the “Dean of American Motorsports Journalists,” the late Chris Economaki was among eight nominees voted upon by a panel comprised of NASCAR and NASCAR Hall of Fame executives, journalists, public relations representatives and former drivers. The Squier-Hall Award was created in 2012 to honor the contributions of media […]
Tom Kristensen posted his record-extending ninth victory in capturing the 90th running of the 24 Heures du Mans Sunday. His fellow RRDC member and co-driver Allan McNish scored his third win at the iconic Sarthe circuit in western France. The normal unbridled joy was overshadowed by the tragic death Kristensen’s fellow countryman Allan Simonsen during […]
Ben Edwards, lead commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Formula One television coverage, takes over as the latest Online Instructor on SAFEisFAST. Edwards has been involved in virtually every aspect of the sport during the past 25 years. Having started out working as a mechanic in his teenage years, Edwards began campaigning a Pre-‘74 Formula […]
The iconic achievements of Chris Economaki, the late dean of American motorsports journalism, will be celebrated on Saturday, June 15, at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, N.Y. The free talk, part of the on-going Center Conversations speaker series, will be at 1 p.m. at the Center located at 610 […]
On Friday, May 31, Mercedes Benz invited two of Great Britain’s foremost race drivers from past and present to Silverstone Circuit for a publicity op that proved a lark for both men – current Mercedes AMG Petronas shoe Lewis Hamilton and one of RRDC’s own, the legendary Sir Stirling Moss. They also brought a […]
It was two weekends ago – May 17-19 – that Sonoma Raceway (nee Infineon, nee Sears Point) hosted the 27th Annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival (nee several other monikers). No matter what it’s called, it’s still the grand annual party thrown by RRDC member Steve Earle – this year with more than 350 historic […]
The Audi Q7 is a premium, lavishly-appointed three-row utility vehicle with great on-road manners and capability, plus towing ability–without the off-road style or pretense. The Audi Q7 is a luxury crossover that focuses on comfortable seating for the whole family, as well as its on-road manners. Not that you’re likely to need much in the […]
This week Porsche factory driver Patrick Long takes the “Ask a Pro” experts seat to field your questions about motorsports. This season, Long has joined CORE autosport to compete for the ALMS GT championship. Like so many of today’s top drivers, Patrick Long began his career in karting, at age 8, notching numerous wins […]
One of the more talked about topics around racing paddocks today is blocking versus defending your position – the overt versus the covert and the fine line between the two. During the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend, Tom Davey and Jeff Tan found 10 racing people not only willing to talk about this often […]
Our lady of communications, Judy Stropus has just completed the 2013 California Mille with co-driver Chuck Schoendorf in her recently acquired 1952 Lancia Ardea. Judy and Chuck penned their fascinating adventure for velocitytoday.com. Several other RRDC members took part, including Steve and wife Debbie Earle in their Porsche 356 Speedster Cabriole and John and his […]
The Evening with Brian Redman presented by Firestone at Long Beach last week was an unqualified success. RRDC president Bobby Rahal conducted the much anticipated chat with Redman which is now posted on You-tube for your viewing pleasure. Sam Posey’s marvelous video overview of Redman’s career provides the introduction. Rahal doing his best impersonation of […]
Wolfgang Husdedt, one of the best known factory reps in this history of motorsports, has retired after 44 years with Bosch – 38 as the company’s motorsports manager. There are hardly any among the membership of the RRDC who don’t know Wolfie, who became a member in 2000. Our friend Gordon Kirby recently penned a […]
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull has “been there and done that” in the world of auto racing. Hailing from Los Angeles, he became involved with the sport as a youth and displayed plenty of ability behind the wheel in the early days of Formula Ford before realizing his calling lay elsewhere. An […]
A crowd of 350 representing all forms of motorsports from NHRA to INDYCAR and sports-car racing turned out for the RRDC Evening with Brian Redman presented by Firestone Thursday evening, April 18. This was the Road Racing Drivers Club’s fifth consecutive annual banquet held prior to the running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long […]
Takumo Sato, one of RRDC’s newest members, won his first IndyCar race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was Sato’s first IndyCar win in 52 tries and the first for A.J. Foyt’s team since 2001. He was joined on the podium by fellow RRDC members Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson. Dayton […]
Paul Pfanner, from our latest class of RRDC members, has published the 250th issue of RACER Magazine, dubbed “The Heroes II Issue”. Featured is Parnelli Jones, both on the cover with a painting of his 1963 Indy-winning Watson roadster by Rob Ijbema and in a 10-page piece by Robin Miller “The Versatile Mr. Jones”. Miller […]
