The Sept/Oct 2022 Vintage Motorsport issue is in the mail to subscribers and if you are a subscriber, thank you! It’s also headed to newsstands at Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide. If you’re not a subscriber, you can go to VintageMotorsport.com/Subscribe or call 877-425-4103. Single copies can be purchased at our online store HERE.
It ran in only two Daytona races in 1963, winning one by lapping the field on the big 2.5-mile D-shaped oval and on the road course the following day, pole position as fast qualifier. However, this one-off Pontiac Tempest Super-Duty 421 DNF’d in the Daytona Continental and then disappeared after being shipped to Mercedes-Benz in Germany for “evaluation.”
So, was this car the prototype Pontiac GTO, the tempestuous beginning of America’s greatest Muscle Car? We argue the point in our cover car and 7-page Salon feature story. And with the original long gone and vanished, how this re-creation came about is a fascinating story, now proudly displayed at Daytona’s Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The popular My Favorite Race feature this time homes in on veteran racing champion Johnny O’Connell, who’s record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is stellar. The one that checks all the boxes for Johnny is the 2001 edition of the Le Mans 24, where he co-drove the factory Corvette C5-R to a LMGTS class victory with Ron Fellows and Scott Pruett, beating the Saleen S7-R and Chrysler Viper competitors. He was told by Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan, “Don’t hit anybody. Don’t break anything and stay on the racetrack.” He didn’t, he didn’t and he did.
Our “Dazzling Duo” feature looks in depth at two exquisite race-bred Porsches, the GT2 Clubsport and Carrera Cup 3.8 RSR, which just happen to be the most desirable and hard-to-find 911 variants of their 993 generation. There’s lots of beauty, horsepower and speed here.
“Where’s the Apex” tells how the Brits in 1963 and ’64 discovered quarter-mile drag racing, when a U.S. Drag Racing Team was formed, with several of America’s top straight-line racers heading for England with their cars aboard the SS United States ocean liner. Don “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, “TV Tommy” Ivo, Tony Nancy and Dave Strickler were a few of the American drivers who took part in the 1st British International Drag Festival.
—all of it a huge hit with British fans.
We also go “Behind the Lens” with motorsport photographer Ron Nelson, who captured many of the world’s top drivers at famous circuits and great American races in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. It’s a real treat to see these images from the Indianapolis 500, the Milwaukee Mile and the first F1 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.
Showing off some of artist, designer and instructor John Krsteski’s amazing work is a visual treat and quite inspiring, he painting a certain car from different angles, mixing acrylic on canvas with digital illustrations to achieve the very colorful end result. His day job? Chief Designer at Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury division.
Vintage racing coverage includes the VRG’s Jefferson 500 at Summit Point, Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, Millers at Milwaukee, the Weathertech International Challenge at Road America and the PVGP Historics at Pitt Race.
Popular columns by Burt Levy, Pete Lyons, Jeff Allison, Jochen Mass, Jim McCraw and D. Randy Riggs are here as well, along with all the latest auction sales and trends by John L. Stein.
