Lansing, MI — Vintage Motorsport Senior Writer Gary Witzenburg has earned a Gold Award in the category of Best Heritage Motorsport story from the Automotive Heritage Foundation for his “A Go at the ‘Ring” piece that appeared in the Sept/Oct 2019 issue.

By Gary Witzenburg

Witzenburg recounted his experiences co-driving the highly challenging 1979 Nurburgring 24-Hour endurance race for a BF Goodrich-sponsored AMC team with three talented professionals (Amos Johnson, Dennis Shaw and Jim Downing), along with an up-and-coming driver named Lyn St. James, and actor James Brolin.

“It ranks as one of the great experiences of my life, probably My Favorite Race among many good and satisfying ones,” Witzenburg said.

“I wrote about it at the time, but VM Editor D. Randy Riggs offered me the opportunity to do a longer, better, deeper and much more detailed account of that highly memorable four-decades-ago adventure,” he added. “I was able to write the 2019 story because I still had all my notes from our travel to get there, our drivers’ meetings, learning the course and the race itself. It was great fun to relive it again in that way, and I’m pleased and grateful that the Automotive Heritage Foundation Journalism Awards judges found it worthy of a Gold Award.”

A mechanical engineering graduate of Duke University, Witzenburg is a former auto engineer, race driver and advanced technology vehicle development manager who has authored eight automotive books. In addition to his work for Vintage Motorsport, his stories have appeared in a variety of national magazines. He is currently a contributing editor to Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com), a contributor to SAE Automotive Engineering and Hagerty.com, as well as president of North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year.