Klasika

[Radoye]

 

VN Monaka 1969, Grem Hil proslavlja tada rekordnu petu pobedu. Do danas samo ga je Sena nadmasio sa sest pobeda (1993.) a Sumaher izjednacio (2001.), od aktivnih vozaca najblizi je Hamilton sa tri.

 

Dzon Sartis u BRM, prvi dan kvalifikacija

Taj vikend u Monaku je bio najblaze receno cudan. Prvi dan kvalifikacija je ponisten nakon sto je FIA odlucila da preko noci zabrani visoka takozvana aerofol krila direktno povezana na ogibljenje. Razlog za ovo je bila serija teskih udesa na prethodnoj trci na Monzuiku (Johen Rint je pauzirao Monako oporavljajuci se od povrede). Timovi su se bunili ali odluka je ostala pa se u subotu krenulo od nule a najbrzi je bio lider sampionata Dzeki Stjuart u Matri. Iza njega je bio Ejmon u Ferariju, zatim Beltoaz u Matri pa Hil u fabrickom Lotusu i Sifert u privatnom Lotusu. Zvanicna vremena drugog dana kvalifikacija su bila za vise od sekunde sporija od onih ponistenih.

 

Na stratu (slika gore) najbolje je krenuo Ejmon ali njegovo vodjstvo trajalo je samo do Sandevo krivine gde ga je Stjuart pretekao na kocenju. Hil ubrzo prolazi Beltoaza a na zacelju Dzeki Oliver izlece i odustaje.

U desetom krugu Sartisu blokira menjac u tunelu. On je od starta vodio zestoku borbu sa Dzekom Brabamom koji je i sada bio tik iza njega i nije imao vremena da reaguje i izbegne iznenadno usporenog Sartisa. Usledeo je tezak udes u kome su oba bolida totalirana ali na srecu obojica vozaca su prosla bez povreda.

 

Ejmon napada Stjuarta za vodjstvo ali ubrzo mora u boks zbog iznenadnih problema sa upravljivoscu - ispostavlja se da je crk'o diferencijal, sto se ne da brzo popraviti pa baksuzni Novozelandjanin odustaje. Zatim u razmaku od samo jedan krug ispadaju obe Matre, prvo Beltoaz sa treceg mesta a zatim i Stjuart sa vodece pozicije, obojica zbog loma poluosovine. Ovo ostavlja Hila usamljenog u vodjstvu, iza njega je Zaki Iks u fabrickom Brabamu pa onda Pirs Kuridz u identicnom privatnom Brabamu za tim Frenka Vilijamsa. Borba za drugu poziciju traje do 49. kruga kada Iks odustaje zbog loma ogibljenja. Do kraja trke se vise ne dogadja nista vredno pomena, tako da je trece mesto na podijumu nasledio Sifert u privatnom Lotusu za tim Roba Vokera.

U istom krugu sa liderima bio je jos i Ricard Atvud u fabrickom Lotusu (zamenjivao povredjenog Rinta), a bodove su upisali jos i dvojac Meklarena - gazda Brus i zemljak mu Deni Halm. Trku je jos zavrsio i Vik Elford u privatnom Kuper-Maseratiju za tim Kolina Kreba, svi ostali starteri su poispadali. Ovo je ujedno bio i poslednji start na nekoj trci za svetski sampionat za Kuperovu sasiju i Maseratijev motor, ove dve nekad slavne firme odose u istoriju...

 

Elford u Kuper-Maseratiju

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/12/kas-kastner-1928-2021/

 

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Robert W. ‘Kas’ Kastner, the man who turned Nissan into one of the most powerful and successful players in North American racing during the 1980s and 1990s, died on Saturday at the age of 92.

 

[Radoye]

Pre 35 godina na danasnji dan:



https://www.racefans.net/2011/04/13/25-years-today-1986-spanish-grand-prix/

[Radoye]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Australian_Grand_Prix

[Romantik]

Gledam grid, kako je Minardi kvalifikovan na trece mesto!?

[Radoye]

Te sezone je Martini imao par jakih nastupa u Minardiju. Originalno je bio cetvrti a na polu Prost, ali Prost je odbio da startuje (vec je imao titulu obezbedjenu). Sto je jos bizarnije drugi Minardi sa Luisom Perez-Salom nije se ni kvalifikovao za start.
 

[Radoye]

 

VN Holandije 1965, u prvom planu Dzim Klark u Lotusu 33, ispred njega Grem Hil u BRM P261 a daleko ispred obojice Rici Ginter u Hondi RA272.

Nedelju dana nakon VN Britanije na Silverstonu cirkus je stigao na Zandvort u Holandiji. Bila je ovo druga sezona ucesca Honde u Svetskom sampionatu za vozace i Medjunarodnom kupu konstruktora i prvi znakovi da Japanci misle ozbiljno - naime, Ginter je na kvalifikacijama ostvario vreme 0,3 sekunde sporije od pola na kojem je bio Hil, a identicno vremenima Klarka i Sartisa pa su njih trojica rasporedjeni po redosledu kojim su ostvarili vreme - Klark drugi, Ginter treci a Sartis cetvrti.

Grid je pio poredjan u redovima po tri pa po dva i Ginter je odlicno startovao pobegavsi Hilu kojeg je u stopu pratio Klark.

 

Ginterovo vodjstvo je trajalo dva kruga, kad ga je Hil sustigao i pretekao uz pomoc zavetrine na pravcu start-cilj pred ulazak u Tarzan krivinu. U cetvrtom krugu Gintera prolazi i Klark da bi u petom krugu pretekao i Hila za vodjstvo. Klark se polako odlepljuje od Hila koji ne moze da ga prati, dok Gintera jedan po jedan preticu Gerni i Stjuart. Stjuart ubrzo napada i pretice Gernija a ubrzo i Hila i do kraja trke vija Klarka ali ovaj kontrolise tempo i uzima pobedu sa 8 sekundi prednosti. Do kraja trke Gintera pretice i Deni Halm ali ovaj ipak uspeva da ostane na sestom mestu i tako Hondi donese drugi bod nakon prvenca osvojenog na Spa. Treci je bio Gerni, cetvrti Hil (i poslednji u istom krugu sa Klarkom). 

 

Tokom proslave Klarkove pobede doslo je do kontroverzne situacije u boksovima kad je Kolin Cepmen udario policajca koji je pokusao da ga spreci da istrci na stazu i zbog toga bio uhapsen. Proveo je dva dana u pritvoru nakon cega je pusten.

Sto se tice Honde i Gintera, najavljena forma iz kvalifikacija overena je na poslednjoj trci te sezone kad su u Meksiku uzeli pobedu. Titulu je dominantno odneo Klark sa 6 pobeda (od 10 trka, brojalo se samo 6 najboljih rezultata) ispred Hila koji je pobedjivao dvaput. Na tabeli konstruktora dobio je Lotus ispred BRM i Brabama.

[Radoye]

 

37 dana do ovogodisnjeg Indi 500, u to ime 37. pobednik Indija 500, Bil Vukovic.

Rodjen u Fresnu u Kaliforniji kao Vaso Vucurovic u porodici srpskih imigranata iz istocne Hercegovine, Vukovic je bio zvezda u kategorijama midzet trkanja na kratkim ovalima od sljake. Sto se tice "velikih" automobila tu nije previse vozio, mozda samo par startova van Indija, ali je ostao zabelezen kao jedan od najdominantnijih vozaca ikada. Dve vezane pobede, jedna dominantna voznja i odustajanje u finisu zbog kvara pre njih i jedna dominantna voznja i tragicna pogibija u udesu koji su izazvali zaostali za vise krugova daje mu neprevazidjen procenat krogova provedenih u vodjstvu. Cak i neprikosnoveni EjDzej Fojt smatra da je Vukovic bio najbolji ikada...

Edited April 23, 2021 by Radoye

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/23/steve-stapp-1940-2021/

 

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Steve Stapp 1940 – 2021

By Robin Miller | April 23, 2021 3:53 PM

 

 

At various points during his 80 years, he was the spoiled brat of an Indy 500 driver, an up and coming IndyCar mechanic, a damn good sprint car driver, a fine fabricator, a foil for A.J. Foyt and a bully of USAC’s sprint division with Pancho Carter (main image, with Stapp in 1974). He was a good husband to Rosemary and father to Suzanne and Andy. He survived crashing a sprinter on his 70th birthday, being run over by a train and other old-age maladies.

 

But the essence of Steve Stapp is that he was a racer to the core, a friend to all and a man who never met a conversation he couldn’t hijack.

 

The Bopper, who died in his sleep Friday in his Brownsburg home, was one of those characters that made every day an adventure and most days a lot of fun. His storytelling was so entertaining until you looked at your watch and realized he’d been yapping for an hour. Of course, that’s why so many people loved Stapp and hanging out with him.

 

Fathered by Babe Stapp, a 12-time starter at Indianapolis, Steve always admitted he was incorrigible as a kid and once kicked Indy winner and perennial nice guy Johnnie Parsons in the shins. But he caught the racing fever and was running a sprinter by the time he was 21, and the highlight came at Terre Haute in 1960 when he broke Foyt’s track record.

 

He promised Rosemary he’d stop driving in those lethal 1960s when they had their first child, and that set him in motion to become a respected and in-demand mechanic for the big cars. He was helping A.J. at Milwaukee with his dirt car in 1965 when he recalled a memorable exchange.

 

“I’ve got a stopwatch and I’m timing him and he’s quicker than all the rear-engine cars, so when he pulls in after practice I tell him the good news, and he cusses me out and said I was either blind or stupid. So I threw the watch at him and told him to go time himself because he was the great A.J. Foyt. After he won the pole, things settled down.”

Yet the turning point for Stapp came in 1973, when he asked a young hot-shoe named Carter to drive his sprinter at Knoxville. Driving for The Bopper didn’t come with a lot of job security since he was liable to fire a driver at any time. “I knew about his reputation, but I also knew that (Larry) Dickson and J.R. (Johnny Rutherford) had driven for him and he had good cars,” said Carter.

 

Thus began an amazing run of success and bickering for the next four years as Carter/Stapp claimed the 1974 and 1976 sprint titles while 40 of Pancho’s 42 victories in sprinters were in a Stapp chassis.

 

“I had my way and he had his, and we argued back and forth so we just agreed to disagree and it worked,” said Carter with a chuckle. “Steve was a great fabricator with a good knack for setting a car up, and he relied a lot on what he’d done as a driver and it was a good combination.

 

“It was the best time of my career because we couldn’t be beat and everyone really wanted to beat us, and Stapp loved that.”

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Radoye

[Radoye]

 

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/25/bill-whittington-1949-2021/

 

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Bill Whittington, 1949-2021
By Robin Miller and Marshall Pruett

April 25, 2021 12:15 PM
 

 

The tumultuous life of Bill Whittington came to a fiery end Friday afternoon in a private airplane crash outside Winslow, Ariz.

 

Whittington, 71, and another passenger perished but details were still sketchy on Sunday as local officials and the National Transportation Safety Board have yet to officially confirm his death. Some of Whittington’s closest friends, however, are grieving after receiving private news of his passing.

 

“I just spent three days will Bill here in Florida last week, then he went to the Bahamas, then went back to Arizona,” Whittington’s former co-team owner and co-driver Randy Lanier told RACER. “He took a friend out in a Merlin (plane) there. It was a friend with terminal cancer who lost his pilot’s license, so he took him up flying.”

Amid stops to wipe away tears, Lanier said they last communicated Friday morning.

 

“We were close. He was my brother,” he said. “He sent me a message yesterday morning, it was scripture: ‘Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.’ And he said he was going to get ready to take his buddy up. His final act was taking up someone with terminal cancer.”

 

Along with brother Don, the Whittingtons became a fixture in American sports car racing in the late 1970s and early 1980s after they teamed with Klaus Ludwig to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979. That was the same year they purchased Road Atlanta.

 

They came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 1980 and both qualified five times for the Indy 500 during the next six Mays. Bill qualified sixth fastest in 1982 but lost an engine in the race and his best finish was 14th in his swan song in 1985. But their cars seldom had any sponsorship or advertising displayed and the rumor was funny money financed the operation.

 

Best known for his exploits in sports car racing, Whittington was one of IMSA’s most famous marijuana-smuggling drivers who financed his participation in the sport from profits earned in the drug trade. From his debut in 1978 through 1985, Whittington was a regular presence in victory lane, driving high-power Porsche 935s and early GTP cars.

 

His best season came in 1984 where he and Lanier’s Blue Thunder Racing team won the GTP championship; Lanier was credited with first and Whittington took second in the standings due the two driving separate cars at some rounds. Altogether, Whittington earned 14 wins and 29 podiums over an eight-year span in IMSA.

 

In 1986, Bill pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and conspiracy to smuggle marijuana into the USA from Colombia and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and ordered to surrender $7 million in property and other assets. A year later, Don pleaded guilty to money laundering in association with his brother’s activities.

Bill served five years in jail before being released in 1990 and Don spent 18 months behind bars.

 

Then, in 2018, Bill was charged with tax evasion for failing to report a $10 million investment generated through two off-shore bank accounts and also under-reported income from a Colorado resort owned by his daughters. He paid $1.8 million restitution to the IRS as a condition of his plea bargain and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

 

Upon his release, Whittington’s name and his Florida-based World Jet Inc. company appeared last year after it was awarded nearly $20 million in purchase orders from the state of Oklahoma to provide masks and PPE needed during the height of COVID-19. With World Jet’s failures to provide the PPE, the purchase orders were cancelled.

 

For Lanier, who was released from prison in 2014 after similar drug-related convictions that began in the mid-1980s, the chance to reconnect with Whittington was an unexpected gift.

 

“I got out about six years ago, and was pretty high-profile and couldn’t see him for a lot of reasons,” he said. “And then, just last week, all that changed and it had been 34 since we’d seen each other. It was like God brought us back together before he transcended.”

 

[Radoye]

 

[Radoye]

 

 

[Radoye]

 

VN Francuske 1972, Klermon-Feran, Zaki Iks u Ferariju 312B2 #3 ispred Emersona Fitipaldija u Lotusu 72D.

Cuvena staza poznata kao mali Nirburgring trasirana po javnim putevima oko ugasenog vulkana cije su serpentine vozacima cesto izazivale mucninu i povracanje vazila je za jedan od dragulja auto-moto sporta ali pocetkom 70-tih je vec pocela da pokazuje svoje neadekvatnosti za vrhunski sport. Jedna od mnogobrojnih staza u rotaciji za VN Francuske u eri kad su se vozile mnogobrojne trke van sampionata, Klermon-Feran je renovirana koliko je to bilo moguce pred sezonu 1972 kad je na nju dosao red da ugosti Svetski sampionat za vozace i Medjunarodni kup konstruktora.

Prethodna etapa sampionata trebala je biti VN Holandije na Zandvortu ali je trka otkazana jer staza nije prosla inspekciju tako da je proslo punih mesec dana od prethodne etape sampionata, VN Belgije na Niveju. U medjuvremenu je na brzinu organizovana trka van sampionata na Valelungi kod Rima pod firmom VN Italijanske Republike ali nije privukla bogznakakvo interesovanje pa se samo 7 bolida pojavilo na startu, bez Ferarija, i bez Nikija Laude koji je slupao svoj BRM u kvalifikacijama. Pobedio je Fitipaldi ispred de Adamica u Sartisu i Nanija Galija u prvom pojavljivanju na stazi za bolid konstruktora Tekno (ko prati karting sigurno mu nije nepoznato ovo ime).

Zato se za VN Francuske prijavilo cak 28 bolida - ukljucujuci i Dzekija Stjuarta koji je pauzirao Belgiju zbog problema sa cirem na zelucu. Stjuart je trebao da vozi novi Tirel 005 ali je sasija ostecena kad ju je slupao Sever pozajmivsi Stjuartov bolid da ga isproba. Tako su sva trojica Tirelovaca (bio je tu i debitant lokalni heroj Patrik Depaje aktuelni sampion francuske F3 koga je gurao sponzor Elf) vozili starije 003. U Meklarenu pored standardnog Denija Halma ovog puta je bio Brajan Redman jer je Piter Revson poslat u Ameriku da vozi Indikar na Pokonu, gde je bio i Ferarijevac Mario Andreti dok je njegova uobicajena rezerva Klej Regaconi pauzirao zbog slomljene ruke tako da je Komendatore za ovu priliku regrutovao gorespomenutog Nanija Galija iz Tekna da bude podrska Iksu. Umesto Galija Tekno je vozio Derek Bel. Matra je donela samo jedan bolid za Krisa Ejmona, ovaj put sa unapredjenom specifikacijom dok je BRM dosao sa cak pet bolida - za Beltoaza, Getina, Visela, Genlija i Helmuta Marka.

Ejmon je odlicno iskoristio novi bolid (i cinjenicu da je Stjuart ostao bez svog) i uzeo pol sa vise od sekund prednosti ispred Halma. Bila je ovo peta Ejmonova pol pozicija u karijeri. Iza njih su bili Stjuart i Iks a iznenadjujuce u treci red kvalifikovali su se Tim Senken u Sartisu i Marko u BRM. U cetvrtom redu su bili Sever i Fitipaldi. Gali je razocarao u Ferariju kvalifikujuci se tek 19. a sa poslednjeg mesta je startovao Beltoaz u BRM koji je slupao svoj bolid i preuzeo Genlijev.


Grid pred sam start

 

Ejmon je poveo od starta i ubrzo se iza njega uspostavio poredak Halm, Stjuart, Iks, Marko, Senken, Hejlvud i Fitipaldi. Nakon par krugova Fitipaldi krece u proboj i pretice Hejlvuda i Senkena, dok u devetom krugu prestize i Marka. Tom prilikom doslo je do incidenta koji je Marku zavrsio trkacku karijeru kada je Fitipaldijev zadnji tocak bacio kamen s ivice staze koji je probio vizir Markove kacige i izbio mu oko.

U medjuvremenu Lauda odustaje u 4. krugu zbog loma poluosovine na njegovom Marcu.

Peterson pretice Hejlvuda za sesto mesto a nedugo zatim Ejmon mora u boks zbog probusene gume. Bio je ovo tek prvi od cak 10 defekata sa gumama izazvanih ostrim vulkanskim kamenjem po ivicama staze. Stjuart preuzima vodjstvo pretekavsi Halma u 17. krugu a nedugo zatim i Halm ide u boks zbog probusene gume pa na drugo mesto dolazi Iks da bi i on morao u boks iz istog razloga. Tako na drugo mesto izbija Fitipaldi ispred Severa koji je pretekao Petersona.

Kris Ejmon, Matra MS120D, VN Francuske 1972.

U medjuvremenu Ejmon nakon servisa u boksu vozi trku zivota obarajuci rekord staze i probija se kroz poredak no uspeva da se vrati samo do treceg mesta pre nego sto je pala kockasta zastava. Pobedio je Stjuart ispred Fitipaldija, cetvrti je bio Sever, peti Peterson a poslednji bod je uzeo Hejlvud u Sartisu. Halm je bio sedmi, Iks je zavrsio jedanaesti s krugom zaostatka, samo dve pozicije ispred privremenog timskog kolege Galija.


Nani Gali, Ferari 312B2

Gali se nakon ovog izleta u Ferari vratio u Tekno s kojim je startovao jos tri puta te sezone bez znacajnijeg rezultata a naredne sezone je bio jedan od ucesnika u vrteski u drugom Iso bolidu za tim Frenka Vilijamsa pored standardnog Genlija u prvom bolidu, nakon cega je naprasno odlucio da batali trkanje. Umro je oktobra 2019.

Tekno je pokusao s novim bolidom 1973. a za vozaca su doveli Ejmona. Uzeli su bod na svom debiju na VN Belgije da bi zatim tri puta odustali da bi Ejmon naprasno dao otkaz pred sam start VN Austrije. Ejmon je za sezonu 1974. pokusao da se takmici u sopstvenom bolidu ali ni to nije bilo mnogo uspesnije. Do kraja karijere vozio je jos nekoliko trka za razne timove uzevsi jos dva boda na VN Spanije 1976. Pol sa Klermon-Ferana 1972. mu je bio poslednji u karijeri.

 

Patrik Depaje u debiju za Tirel

Nakon ove trke Klermon-Feran je proglasena nebezbednom za F1. Nastavila se voziti za F3 i nize kategorije ali i tu je bilo problema - 1980. tokom jedne turing trke u udesu su  poginula tri redara. 1984. vozaci bojkotuju stazu i od tada do 1988. ovde voze samo motocikli. 1989. staza je prekonfigurisana i skracena s originalnih 8 km na nesto ispod 4 km isekavsi pritom celu sekciju kroz planine. Godine 2000. nova sekcija staze je odvojena od javnih puteva i pretvorena u permanentni autodrom. Na njoj se danas voze nacionalni turing i GT sampionati Francuske. 

[Radoye]

Kad ga vec spominjasmo:

 

Chris Amon (1943 - 2016)

 

Despite never winning a championship Formula One Grand Prix, Amon won eight non-championship GPs, the Silverstone International Trophy, the 1000 km Monza, the Daytona 24 Hours, the Tasman Series and, perhaps most significant of all, the famous 24 Heures du Mans (alongside Bruce McLaren). These races included many of Amon's otherwise more successful fellow Formula One drivers. Amon also remains the only driver from New Zealand and Oceania to have raced for Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One.

 

In Formula One, Chris Amon took part in 96 Grands Prix, achieving 5 poles, leading 183 laps in 7 races, reaching the podium 11 times and scoring a total of 83 Championship points. Amon holds the record for the most different makes of car raced by a Formula 1 World Championship driver, with thirteen. A biography Forza Amon by journalist Eoin Young charts Amon's racing career and gives some insights into his personal life. The book makes clear one point on which Amon himself disagrees with most commentators, the issue of his bad luck. Amon has pointed out on several occasions that he competed for a decade and a half in Formula One and survived some serious accidents, notably in 1976, whilst others, including friends like Bruce McLaren, suffered serious injury and death. In 2008, motorsport journalist Alan Henry rated Chris Amon as his 13th greatest driver.

 

Reflecting on the 1968 racing death of Jim Clark, Amon said: "If this can happen to Jimmy, what chance do the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we'd lost our leader." In 1995, Amon was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. (ph: © Panini Studios Art: Wiki)

 

[Radoye]

 

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/29/paul-goldsmith-95-reunited-with-his-roarin-relic/

 

 

Paul Goldsmith, 95, reunited with his ‘Roarin’ Relic’

By Robin Miller | April 29, 2021 7:56 AM

 

 

He’s the oldest living Indianapolis 500 starter, the last driver to win when stock cars ran on the beach in Daytona, a motorcycle champion, a NASCAR winner and the highest-placing NASCAR regular ever at Indianapolis.

 

And Paul Goldsmith, the 95-year-old treasure who still flies his own airplanes, was reunited with some of his amazing history last week.

Thanks to the efforts of Gray Bostick, Griffin Motors Racing and Team GMR, Goldy got to drive a copy of the modified sportsman known as the Roarin’ Relic that he raced to fifth place on Feb. 21, 1958 — just a couple days before claiming the final Grand National race on the 4.2-mile beach course in Smokey Yunick’s Pontiac.

 

 

Goldy, who ran third in the 1960 Indy 500, took it up and down the runaway of his airport in Griffith, Ind. wearing a retro suit that was made for this occasion and then let family, friends and employees unwind the Olds Rocket 88.

 

“I can tell you that he loved it,” said Bostick, admitted Goldsmith groupie from way back. “And you could tell he was a real racer by how he scanned the dash gauges — and was the only one to drive who did a brake check.”

 

It was Bostick’s persistence that made this happen as the first meeting got snowed out and when they finally got to Florida, they discovered the original car was in the NASCAR Hall of Fame all painted up with Buck Baker’s name on the car.

 

“So we recreated the Relic as closely as possible and then we had the car hand-lettered and numbered and even had a couple of decals recreated to ensure an accurate representation.

 

“We were there all day and Paul never took off his uniform or his smile.”

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/30/inside-carts-2001-texas-debacle-the-lead-up/

 

Prica o trci koja se nije dogodila, ili sta biva kada bolidi vuku toliko G-sile u krivinama da vozaci pocnu da gube svest...

[Radoye]

2. deo: https://racer.com/2021/05/01/inside-carts-2001-texas-debacle-the-invisible-monster/

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/2021/04/30/dick-mann-1936-2021/

 

 

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By Robin Miller | April 30, 2021 9:17 PM

 

Dick Mann, one of the most versatile riders in American Motorcycle Racing history, passed away age at 87 earlier this week but he could have died a happy man following his resounding victory back in 1970 at Daytona.

 

In the biggest race of the year using the high banks and road course, and in his 15th try, Mann managed to beat the incomparable Mike “The Bike” Hailwood and rising American stars Gene Romero and Gary Nixon to give Honda its first-ever AMA Grand National win. “I beat Mike The Bike and nothing was ever sweeter but it sure as hell wasn’t easy,” said Mann back in a 1983 interview.

 

From the time he turned pro in 1954, the first year the AMA crowned a champion (Joe Leonard), the 20-year-old Californian was all about competing wherever they ran two wheels and developing the best bikes possible with his mechanical savvy. In 1959, he scored his first-ever AMA national in the TT steeple chase at Peoria, Ill.

 

Nicknamed ‘Bugsy,’ Mann was fast on everything — becoming the first rider to score victories on a mile, short track, TT and road racing during the 1971 season.

 

He’s best remembered for trying to win the 1970 title with a broken ankle in the season finale at Sacramento, which was featured in Bruce Brown’s documentary “On Any Sunday.”

 

When he finally stopped racing at age 41, he’d amassed 24 National wins (second on the all-time list) and then continued to compete in vintage races.

 

“Throughout nearly 70 yrs of motorcycle racing, his best attribute’s was his humbleness and keen eye,” said Steve Gregory, former AMA rider and one of Mann’s best friends. “He was a focused quiet guy, he always would offer someone a tip on how to improve their riding style or some mechanical advice, he enjoyed seeing and helping other’s enjoy the sport. What a life.”

 

Dick left behind Wife Kay, along with children Viann, Scott and step son Ken.

 

 

[Radoye]

Treci deo price o debaklu na Teksasu 2001: https://racer.com/2021/05/02/inside-carts-2001-texas-debacle-silent-running/

[Radoye]

Ode legenda... 😞

 

Bobby Unser 1934 – 2021

 

He conquered Pikes Peak before the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and had an inordinate grasp of how to make a race car faster when most of his competition wasn’t paying attention to those details. Then he took that track record into television for 20 years and launched another successful career. He never met a microphone he didn’t like, and nobody gave opinions on any subject with less filtering and more conviction.

 

But Bobby Unser, who passed away Sunday at the age of 87, should be remembered as one of the fastest, bravest and most skilled racers to ever sit in an Indy car...

 

https://racer.com/2021/05/03/bobby-unser-1934-2021/

[Radoye]

https://racer.com/gallery/bobby-unsers-life-in-pictures/

[Radoye]

Pobednicki bolidi Bobija Ansera sa Indi 500 parkirani ispred muzeja u Indijanapolisu s Borg-Vorner trofejom njemu u cast"

[Radoye]

 

Monako 1956, Fandjo u Skuderija Ferari Lanci D50 driftuje kroz Mirabo.

Fandjo se kvalifikovao na pol ali vec na startu ga je pretekao Mos koji nije ispustao vodjstvo do kraja. Fandjova trka je bila obelezena sitnim incidentima, u dva navrata je kacio ogradu i u drugom je ostetio bolid. Nakon popravke u boksu preuzeo ga je Kasteloti koji je pre toga odustao zbog kvara i zavrsio kao cetvrti dok je Fandjo presao u Kolinsov bolid i sa trece pozicije ga popeo na drugu zabelezivsi pri tome najbrzi krug...