Thomas Eugene McHale, T.E. to all who knew him, died Monday, Dec. 21, from the ravages of colon cancer. He was 68. Marshall Pruett remembered him fondly as “our anchor – our center – in a loud and noisy paddock filled with wanton self-importance. “Honda’s longtime manager of motorsports communications, the personification of calm and […]
Al Unser, the second of four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 four times, passed away Thursday at his home in Chama, New Mexico, after a 17-year battle with liver cancer brought on by hemochromatosis, a hereditary blood disease resulting in excess iron in the body. Unser is memorialized in numerous publications with remembrances […]
SIR FRANK WILLIAMS, 1942-2021 Although not a member of the RRDC, Sir Frank Williams is known to most of our membership and fondly remembered by those who called him a friend. His is a remarkable story of perseverance and sheer determination where his wife Virginia kept his doctors pulling the plug on the machine that […]
Two RRDC members – Greg Pickett and Paul Pfanner – are among the five-member 2022 SCCA Hall of Fame Class which also includes Charlie Clark, Howard Duncan and Mark Weber. GREG PICKETT There is longevity, and then there’s Greg Pickett. No other driver can claim to have won a Trans Am Championship race in […]
My life has been lived in two halves. The first was becoming a world champion race driver. The second was teaching the world to become champions. – Bob Bondurant Bob Bondurant, iconic racer and performance driving mogul, passed away Friday in Paradise Valley, AZ. He was 88 and survived by his wife Patricia. Racer.com traced […]
2ND ANNUAL ONLINE RACE INDUSTRY WEEK ANNOUNCED EPARTRADE and RACER are providing 55 hours, over 5 days, of Live Technical and Business Webinars from leading Industry Suppliers and Race Industry Leaders from around the world. The live webinars will run from 7:00am to 6:00pm PST, November 29 through December 3, 2021. The full schedule will […]
New York Teenager Becomes the Fourth Team USA Scholarship Driver to Scoop Top Honors since 2008 SILVERSTONE, England (Nov. 7, 2021) – Max Esterson produced a master class to seal victory in today’s 21st Annual Walter Hayes Trophy Grand Final at Silverstone, the home of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. Esterson, 19, from New York, […]
BRANDS HATCH, England (Oct. 31, 2021) – The 50th Formula Ford Festival ended in sensational style this afternoon with a thrilling 20-lap Grand Final in which Team USA Scholarship drivers Max Esterson and Andre Castro finished second and third behind Englishman Jamie Sharp. It was the first time two Team USA drivers had finished on the […]
Bobby Rahal personally delivered his 1986 Indianapolis 500-winning March 86C to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum October 22nd. Rahal gave his mentor and friend Jim Truman the victory in his final appearance at the Brickyard. Truman lost his long battle with cancer 11 days later.
Twenty-two-year-old Kyle Kirkwood from Jupiter, Florida became the first driver to win titles in Indy Lights, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Road to Indy program. Along the way, he won thirty out of fifty races for an astounding 60% winning percentage. His ten wins in Indy Lights ties Greg […]
A CHECKERED PAST – AL UNSER JR. We’ve all heard of the hold that alcohol and drugs had taken on Al Unser, Jr.’s life – to the detriment of his career and family. It was inevitable that at some point he would publicly face these personal demons. That time has come. Unser sat down with […]
Six talented young American drivers will assemble this week at the new Polecat Training Center facility in Lynchburg, Tenn., as part of a continuing process to select two Team USA Scholarship winners for 2021. Following two days of assessments, which will include driving on the technical 2.1-mile road course aboard the Polecat Racing Academy’s well […]
JIM PACE TO BE HONORED AT CHATTANOOGA The late Jim Pace will be honored Oct. 16 in pre-race ceremonies for the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival’s Pace Grand Prix at the Bend to be run on a two-mile street circuit he designed inside a bend in the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga. Pace was event chair and […]
Four RRDC members are among the nine motorsports luminaries comprising the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America induction class for 2022: Helio Castroneves, Peter Brock, Jack Roush and the late Denise McCluggage (left to right, below) Castroneves, the latest member of the 4-WIN Club at Indy, is the open-wheel category inductee. Brock, designer of the […]
The Annual Lime Rock Members’ Lunch is set for Sept. 5th during the running of the Historic Festival 39. Here are the details: WHAT: RRDC Members’ Lunch WHERE: Lime Rock Park, Conn. At the Historic Festival 39 In the Lime Rock chalet – on the infield hill above the paddock WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021 […]
The RRDC Class of 2020 included eight regular members, four associate members and four honorary members. Here are the new REGULAR MEMBERS: ERIC BACHELART – Indianapolis, Ind. Is the 1982 Belgian Formula Ford 1600 Junior Champion; 1984 Benelux Formula Ford 1600 Champion and placed second in both the European and Belgian Formula Ford 1600 Championships; […]
If you watched this past Sunday’s British Grand Prix, I think you’ll find our latest video most interesting. The title “How to Stay out of Crashes” In the video, five Champion Drivers from top racing series around the world explain the key to racing wheel-to-wheel without crashing: “Know who you’re racing against.” As IndyCar driver Pato […]
The 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed came off without a hitch in the face of discouraging odds given the state of the worldwide pandemic. Tour host Steve Austin of Portland’s Great Vacations called it “a brilliant, exciting, magnificent event that in most people’s books could never have happened.” Festival of Speed organizer and RRDC member […]
ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR TEAM PENSKE Josef Newgarden’s first-place finish in the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sunday came on the 50th anniversary weekend of Team Penske’s first IndyCar victory – Mark Donohue on July 3, 1971, at Pocono. Newgarden, who had suffered recently from stumbles while leading, fended off a late-race charge by Marcus Ericsson for […]
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford probably signed more autographs than any of the luminaries at the Speedway for the 105th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”. J.R. helped create the Official Souvenir Program cover for the race’s 2021 edition, hand-drawing the cars of four-time champions A.J. Foyt Jr., Al Unser and Rick Mears. Rutherford, […]
Helio Castroneves raised the Indianapolis 500 post-race festivities to a joyous new level in celebrating his historic fourth victory in the 105th running of the Memorial Day classic. After a couple of cooldown laps, “Spiderman” parked his No. 06 Sirius/XM Honda just past the yard of bricks and launched his now-traditional climbing of the fence, […]
Bobby Unser died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Albuquerque, N.M., his wife Lisa reported. He was 87. RRDC President Bobby Rahal commented on Unser’s passing: “We at the RRDC are saddened by the death of a national hero and icon, and one of our longtime members. Bobby Unser was a champion race-car […]
VIC ELFORD NEEDS OUR HELP RRDC members Marshall Pruett and Brian Redman are asking for our help: Our longtime member Vic Elford is in need of support “from the legions of friends and fans who’ve marveled at his exceptional talent and grace for more than half a century. “With the return of an aggressive form […]
Robert W. “Kas” Kastner, a giant in American motorsports, passed away Saturday at age 92. Kastner came up through the ranks from mechanic all the way to head of NPTI, Nissan’s dominant IMSA GTP program in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. An organizational wizard, Kastner headed up both racing teams and manufacturer programs, winning […]
LE MANS: TOM KRISTENSEN, by Tom Kirstensen with Dan Philipsen, is now available in the U.S. with foreword by Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. Between 1997 and 2014, Tom Kristensen won the world’s toughest automobile race, the Le Mans 24 Hours, a record nine times and finished on the podium on five more occasions. Every time his car […]
WILLIAM JEANES’ THE ROAD TO PICKLETOWN The Road to Pickletown – A Southerner Confronts Cowbells, Clowns, Cuba, Christmas, and Mississippi; written by longtime automotive and auto racing journalist William Jeanes, is not what one would expect to come from the pen of a car guy. Yet, here it is – a selection of the many […]
LYN ST. JAMES IS 2021 AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS HONOREE For the first time in 26 years, The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will celebrate a female honoree, the inspiring Lyn St. James, at the 26th Annual meeting, May 20-23, 2021. An accomplished race driver, St. James has used her celebrity to help advance the careers of […]
JUDY STROPUS TO BE ON “RACE TALK WITH TRISH” Our recently selected Motorsports Hall of Fame of America honoree Judy Stropus will be featured on “RaceTalk With Trish” on the Racing History Project Podcast Channel Wednesday, March 3rd at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Call-in number – 425-436-6385 Access code – 5762616# (enter when prompted) Or […]
Simon Gregg has announced the formation of the Peter Gregg Foundation and Peter Gregg Gallery, paying tribute to his legendary father. The Foundation will foster the careers of aspiring engineers by providing mentorship plus roles with current contending race teams. “The Foundation will have an annual contest that will award five scholarships to deserving young […]
[From the NTT INDYCAR SERIES weekly newsletter] RRDC President Bobby Rahal’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) racing team will celebrate its milestone 30th anniversary with the start of the 2021 season. The team, which began competing in 1992, will field two cars each in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and GTLM-class of the International Motor Sports Association’s […]
Janet Guthrie and Judy Stropus were announced as members of the 2021 class to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America this September at the Festival of Speed in Pontiac, Mich. The virtual announcement was held Saturday at Daytona International Speedway before the start of the Rolex 24. Stropus, representing the new […]
ROB DYSON TO CHAIR INDIA, NAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY MUSEUM Rob Dyson has been named chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, having served on the Museum board for 10 years. He succeeds Tony George who had been board chair for 35 years. George will remain involved as Chairman Emeritus. [motorsport.com front page image] Dyson’s personal […]
Howie Liebengood, Jr., a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, died Saturday in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrectionist attack on the Capitol building. He was off duty Saturday. Officer Liebengood was a member of the 2018 RRDC membership class. He raced extensively prior to joining the USCP in 2005, winning the 2000 […]
OSCAR KOVOLESKI 1932-2020 On Dec 28, we lost one of the great characters in motor racing – Oscar Kovoleski. An RRDC member for 50 years, Oscar had been in an assisted living facility in Scranton, PA, for a couple of years. He was 88. “Oscar Koveleski was a treasure,” said RRDC President Bobby Rahal. “His […]
STRONG SHOWING FOR RRDC MEMBERS AT THE SCCA RUNOFFS Despite a truncated 2020 SCCA National racing program, a herd of Club Racers answered the call for the National Championship Runoffs at Road America, Oct. 5-11 – 577 in all. Andrew Aquilante led a Phoenix Racing assault on the podium scoring a hard fought victory from […]
JOHN FERGUS SELECTED FOR THE SCCA HALL OF FAME RRDC VP and Treasurer John Fergus is one of five comprising the 2021 Class of the Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame. John’s official induction will occur during a virtual ceremony Jan. 23, 2021 – the opening day of the 2021 SCCA Virtual Convention. […]
“RACING GOES SAFER” WEBINAR SET FOR MONDAY, NOV. 30 The “Racing Goes Safer” motorsport safety foundation, EPARTRADE and Racer Magazine are teaming up to present a safety webinar during the Online Race Industry Week, November 30 – December 4. “A Crash Course in the History of IndyCar Racing Safety” is the title of the webinar […]
JIM PACE (1961-2020) remembered by his friend and business partner Byron DeFoor On July 25, 2020, I stood on the front straight at Road America in Wisconsin and witnessed the most terrifying crash that I had seen in many years. Jim Pace flipped over driving a historic Shadow Can-Am race car, and thousands of people […]
TEAM USA SCHOLARSHIP AT BRANDS HATCH FOR 49TH FORMULA FORD FESTIVAL BRANDS HATCH, DAY 1: Podium for Lee, Fourth and Fastest Race Lap for Aron WEST KINGSDOWN, England, Oct. 24 – Team USA Scholarship drivers Jackson Lee (below) and Bryce Aron were faced with some changeable conditions on the opening day of the 49th Formula […]
TEAM USA SCHOLARSHIP GETS FEET WET AT SILVERSTONE SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND, Oct. 10 – After two weeks of mandatory COVID-19 quarantine, Team USA Scholarship drivers Bryce Aron and Jackson Lee gained some valuable experience today in both wet and dry conditions during the final two rounds of the BRSCC Avon Tyres National Formula Ford 1600 Championship […]
