Blogs

By Larry Edsall I have a son-in-law and grandson who are huge Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans. I’m sure, just like the rest of Junior Nation, they were disappointed to learn recently that their favorite driver was sitting out two races in the aftermath of a concussion. By missing those races, he forfeit seemingly any chance he might have had to win his first Sprint Cup championship.

By Christian Overland, Executive Vice President, The Henry Ford   The Goodwood Revival is world renowned for celebrating the living history of motor sports. One of the great stories of this year’s Revival is the 45th anniversary of the Ford Mk IV win at Le Mans. Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt were the first American drive team and all-American car to win the 24 hours of Le Mans race. This incredible win was supported by the best team in the business, led by Carroll Shelby.

By John Oreovicz Is there any sport in the world that features as much infighting between the governing body and the participating teams as Indy car racing? Don’t kid yourself: the dissention in the sport didn’t start with the CART/IRL split of 1996. It goes all the way back to the late 1970s, when CART was formed by a group of team owners who believed that USAC focused almost exclusively on the Indianapolis 500 and was not placing enough emphasis on the kind of season-long championship the teams needed to survive as business entities.

by John Oreovicz With the Olympics and the spirit of international competition currently on the minds of many, perhaps it’s a good time to address the issue of American involvement in Indy car racing. Ryan Hunter-Reay leads the IZOD IndyCar Series standings with four races remaining, and the 31-year old from Fort Lauderdale is in position to become the first American Indy car champion since Sam Hornish, who won three IRL-sanctioned titles in 2001, ’02 and ’06. The last American driver to win an Indy car championship under CART sanction was Jimmy Vasser in 1996.

By Larry Edsall So, you think you know a lot about the early history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

by John Oreovicz   After some challenging early testing, the new Dallara DW12 Indy car chassis is finally showing signs of progress. 

By Brian Wilson, Benson Ford Reseach Center, The Henry Ford In 2009, The Henry Ford acquired the collection of well-known photographer Dave Friedman. The collection documents over 60 years of automobile races and racecars across a wide variety of race types including Formula 1, Sports cars, Trans-Am, Can-Am and stock cars. Now, over 10,000 images from the collection are available for viewing on Flickr.

By John Oreovicz Tech-savvy racing fans have been eagerly following the progress of the DeltaWing project, which is set to make its competition debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June as the 56th entry reserved for new and unique automotive technologies.

By Larry Edsall “When you are 11 or 12, your whole life is filled with people telling you what to do,” says 11-year-old Annabeth Barnes. “But when you’re racing you make your own decisions... You’re totally independent.” Barnes races go-karts. She is one of three young racers featured in “Racing Dreams,” a documentary film to be broadcast nationally February 23 on PBS’s POV (Point of View) series.

I happen to be a Ford guy, simply because the first car I remember was the old blue Ford my dad bought brand spankin' new in Memphis, TN to move our family out to Phoenix, AZ in the summer of 1956.  It was a six-cylinder, impossible to stop tank that doubled as a solar-powered, all-metal, mobile convection oven from May through September. That was one great car.