NASCAR Nextel Cup, IRL Indycar, and USAC Sprint champion.
A pretty fair road racer too.  He and Jeff Gordon would have easily been the US best bets for a F1 champ had they chosen to race abroad.
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Chris,
You should come to Eldora sometime to find out if Ohioans are really dumb.  Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania are the mecca of sprint and midget car racing. Places like Winchester, Salem, and Eldora ooze US single seater history.  I've been to Winchester on a quiet autumn day before with nothing going on and much like Indy itself, you can hear the ghosts of the departed greats (Bill Vukovich, Jimmy Bryan, Don Branson, Jud Larson, etc.) walking the grounds.
Some little guy named Tony Stewart now owns Eldora, not sure what he does for a day job
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I think the banking was actually paved with bricks, which made it slick as snot when wet.  By all accounts Behra was just trying too hard on the damp surface, went over the banking and hit a flag post.  They eventually tore it down for one reason or another.  I don't think it was ever remembered with much fondness.
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Yep, Avus was formed by stretches of Autobahn.  Actually hosted the German GP once (in 1959) but was so universally disliked by the drivers it never went back.
The Auto Union and Mercedes teams did some impressive land speed record running on the Frankfurt Autobahn in in the pre-war days, unfortunately the great Bernd Rosemeyer lost his life in one of these attempts.
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I stand corrected, I knew that it was built to help relieve unempolyment and economic depression in the Eifel region, mistakenly thought the jackbooted chaps were in charge at the time.  Therefore, Hitler made no positive contribution to mankind.
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Hmm, don't know what to tell you Chris, never tried having Ebay purchases sent to my mothers home rather than mine.  My Paypal account has my address on it and never had problems.  Must be a Paypal account issue.
Us Ohiouns dunnnit seam anee dummer thn tha resst.
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Termie, It's included in the old Brunswick combined 1972/73 season review, both season's covered in about twenty five minutes each.  The video from Ganley in the '73 Iso, the voice over is done by JYS.  The Brunswick videos were originally Marlboro promo films, hence the selection of car & pilot.
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Hmm, the Nordschleife?  Obviously the ultimate incarnation of the racing circuit.  Maybe Hitler's lone positive contribution to mankind.  A circuit for the Gods, look through the list of winners and you don't find many duds.  Interesting that for all its fearsome reputation, comparatively few drivers have lost their lives there relative to places like Monza, Indianapolis, Le Mans, etc.
In Rob Walker's masterpeice article in the Nov. 1977 Road Track "Risk, Race Drivers & The Ring" he sums it up pretty well, Is the Ring really so dangerous, or do the drivers simply treat it with more respect?
Easy to speculate from the cheap seats.  I've seen some pretty terrifying footage riding onboard over Howden Ganley's shoulder while lapping the Ring in Frank Williams Marlboro Iso.  Still some of the most thrilling in car stuff I've ever seen.
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I suspect the P&M threat to pull may be in the interest of getting IMSA to stop screwing around with the regs.  They're getting a bit too NASCAR-ish with the "out of the blue" ballast and all.  Those of us old enough remember well the IMSA GTP Vette of the mid eighties.  That was then, this is now though, I don't see GM going the LMP route anytime soon.
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Hi Martin,
Will be there in sunny Florida for sure. Sebring is probably my favorite race of the year and nothing, but nothing will keep me away from the old bomber base in March.
See you there, cold beer in hand!
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It's interesting that Alan Stacey had a similar disability (lost his right leg below the knee).  Alan was a fine F1 & sportscar driver (he drove at Le Mans) until his tragic death, also at Spa, in 1960.  Graham Hill used to relate a funny story of how, at track physicals at European venues, when they went to check Alan's legs, Alan would put forward his good leg, then Graham would create a distraction, then Alan would put forward the same leg.
Apparently the doctors never caught on, or just turned a blind eye.
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I also think the sheer class of Rossi should be noted as well, he was the first guy to congratulate Nicky on his title.  That say's a helluva lot about Valentino.  It's easy to be gracious when your winning, but to show that kind of style when you know you've just thrown away a title show's tremendous class.  I doubt most of the F1 brats have a shred of that.
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Sorry, I originally wasn't going to start a thread, but since no one else has....
Hell Yeah!  Full props to the Kentucky Kid, I thought his title was dead after Pedrosa bullseyed him a few weeks ago but Valentino opened the door and Nicky took full advantage.
This is a big deal for bike fans in the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana region, since he's the first champ from our neck of the woods.  Watched him race since he was a teenager and couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Well done Trick Daddy, 2006 Moto GP Champ!
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Hi Termie, oh yes, had a good look at those, some great stuff.  There is a surprising amount of good Can-Am footage floating around out there.  The Can-Am series was well recorded on film, and people like Dick Wallen and Marilyn Motschenbacher have released nice videos in recent years documenting the Can-Am era.
Much of Marilyn's stuff is film she herself shot while husband Lothar was a regular Can-Am privateer.
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Hi guys, gone for a few days and just peeked in.  Nordic the 1971 F1 vs F5000 race was the one off Questor GP at the long gone Ontario Motor Speedway in California.  It was a big money event which drew all the F1 teams from Europe except Surtees.  Mark Donohue led for much of the race in a F5000 Lola but retired and the race was eventually won by Mario in a Ferrari, with JYS and his Tyrrell second.  There is a very nice film of this race that Speedchannel used to air as part of their "Glory Days" series, before Speed become the Good Old Boy network.
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