Mar
31
Terrible News
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment
It’s being reported that former British Touring Car Champion David Leslie (54) and Apex Motorsports Boss Richard Lloyd (63) were killed in a private jet crash in Britain. Richard Lloyd was also a former British Touring Car Champion. Our condolences to their families and the families of all the victims of this terrible accident.
Mar
21
2008 Event Schedule
Filed Under The Racing Historian | Leave a Comment
The Racing Historian is still finalizing our event schedule for 2008. We are hoping to attend or have representatives at 6 to 10 racing events this year. Once we have more firm commitments, we’ll post when and where we will be at in case you want to stop by and say hello! If you have an interest in being a correspondent and/or photographer for us, please drop us a line at webmaster@racinghistorian.com.
Mar
18
12 Hours of Sebring
Filed Under American Le Mans | Leave a Comment
If you missed the 12 Hours of Sebring on SPEED, you missed some great Sports Car Racing! For the first time in twenty years, Porsche took the overall win at Sebring International Raceway when the #7 RS Spyder of Penske Racing took the checkered flag first. The #7 was driven by Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard. There was also drama after the race as the Acura ARX-01b of Lowe’s Fernandez Racing failed post race inspection and was disqualified. The Acura, driven by Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz, initially finished the race just 13 seconds behind the #7 Penske Porsche.
Click here to download the Official Results in PDF format.
Mar
6
Open Wheel Racing: United at Last
Filed Under Open Wheel | Leave a Comment
By Brian Wegner
Photos: Performance Prints & Wegner FotografX
After 12 years, Open Wheel Racing has begun 
the process of mending the wounds that divided it in the mid 90’s. An agreement to run under one banner was signed on February 28th between the IndyCar Series Founder, Tony George, and Champ Car World Series Owner, Kevin Kalkoven.
After years of failed backroom negotiations that would have the two series’ back under the same roof, progress was made during the weeks leading up to the signing. Ultimately it took an olive branch that Tony George extended, in order to bring CCWS to the table. With both series’ continuing to deteriorate and lose fans, sponsorship opportunities, and drivers to NASCAR, some serious concessions needed to be made in order to unite. Looming talks of a heavily funded A2GP series that would be planning to run races in the United States, likely helped spur the timing of the negotiations.
IndyCar has a lot of work
to do in order to rebuild it’s brand in the marketplace and in the fan’s eyes. Let us not forget that we are no longer in the mid 90’s and the prospects for a quick infusion of cash into the series are unlikely to occur in the near future. A ‘united series’ does bring hope for the future health of open wheel racing in America. However, this is just a first step……but a big one in the healing process……
“This is a huge day for the IndyCar Series and for our sport as a whole, for sure,” said Andretti Green Racing co-owner Michael Andretti “Over the years, whether I was in the role of driver, team owner or promoter, I have always wanted a unified sport. That has been my only goal throughout this entire process and I applaud everyone who played a role in making this happen. So many people have worked tirelessly, both publicly and behind the scenes, to get this done. Everyone can now focus on taking the IndyCar Series to new heights for the good of our sport and everyone involved in it.”
During the negotiations, both series’ owners faced difficult obstacles. Probably the biggest hurdle was in the way in which to handle the scheduling for the upcoming season.
At issue, was the date of two important events on the same weekend. Both the Long Beach CCWS date and the IndyCar race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan just could not be rescheduled for numerous reasons. Both parties decided that for unification to happen this year that both events would have to be run even though the series would once again be split on that weekend. For Long Beach, it has been billed as a final farewell to Champ Car’s Panoz chassis.
“I applaud all of those that made this possible, but want to especially recognize all of those that made sacrifices and concessions to secure the future of open-wheel racing,” said Indy 500 winner and CART champion Bobby Rahal. “I truly believe that this is the first step toward restoring open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 to not only where it once was, but beyond.”
After years of failed merger negotiations and disappointment amongst the fans, the revival of open wheel racing in America may yet become a reality in the next decade. In the end game, the real winners are the racing fans. For my generation, where the Indianapolis 500 was the ultimate ‘can’t miss race of the year,’ and for future generations who may grow up dreaming about being in victory lane at the Indianapolis 500.
Mar
4
We are still looking for individuals who would like to contribute to the Racing Historian through writing articles, stories, and contributions to the Wiki editing staff. The pay stinks, and the boss is a slave driver…. but you’ll be making a contribution to our nation and serving your country by volunteering for service! OK, maybe that last part was a stretch, but we would love to have you none the less if you have a passion for American Sports Car Racing - Historic and Modern Day!
If you are interested, please drop us a line with a little biography, interests and background.
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PerformancePrints.com
Performance Prints provides high quality digital images, prints, printed merchandise, and stock photography at very competitive prices.
PerformancePrints.com is the Official Store of The Racing Historian.