Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of a sports car racing series. In the high-stakes world of sports car racing, drivers don specialized fire-resistant, aerodynamic racing suits, ensuring both comfort and safety during the demanding endurance races, as exemplified by the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss was a British Formula One driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several different motorsports competitions and has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the Formula One World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished in second place four times and in third place three times.
Motorsport, motorsports or autosports is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two-wheeled motorised vehicles under the banner of motorcycle racing, and includes off-road racing such as motocross.
Philip Toll Hill Jr. was an American automobile racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States. He also scored three wins at each of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races.
Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980). In addition, the site has also been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the IndyCar Series. The facility is currently owned by NASCAR subsidiary International Speedway Corporation.
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement. Grand tourers are most often the coupé derivative of luxury saloons or sedans.
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It includes a 0.686-mile (1.104 km) oval track, a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) road course, and a 4,400-foot (1,300 m) drag strip which is among the premier drag racing venues in the world. The complex receives about 500,000 visitors annually.
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, 64-kilometre (40 mi) east of Toronto. The facility features a 3.957 km (2.459 mi), 10-turn road course; a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) advance driver and race driver training facility with a 0.402 km (0.250 mi) skid pad and a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) kart track. The name "Mosport", a portmanteau of Motor Sport, came from the enterprise formed to build the track.
Panoz is an American manufacturer of sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz, son of Don Panoz. The company has also been extensively involved in professional racing, and designs, engineers and builds its own race cars. Panoz products have included the Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster, the Panoz Esperante, and the Panoz Avezzano.
Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI. The class was intended to provide an entry level class where drivers could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles. The idea to form the new class came from Count Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani who saw the need of a class for single-seater racing cars where younger drivers could take their first steps. It is often speculated that this class was founded as a reaction to Italy's lack of success in the 500cc Formula Three, and although Italian marques dominated the first year of the formula, they were soon overtaken by British constructors.
Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club of America GT World Challenge America and Trans-Am Series and the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Cameron Argetsinger was a sports car enthusiast, lawyer and auto racing executive best known for creating the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York, and making it the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix from 1961 through 1980.
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed United States Road Racing Championship. Rolex took over as series sponsor in 2002.
Bridgehampton Race Circuit was a race track located near Sag Harbor, New York, United States. The circuit opened in 1957, following a series of road races held from 1949 until 1953. It was one of the first permanent road racing venues in the United States, opening after Thompson Speedway, two years after Road America, the year after Watkins Glen International, and the same year as Lime Rock Park and Laguna Seca Raceway. In its early years, Bridgehampton was host to major international series, including the World Sportscar Championship, Can-Am, and NASCAR Grand National. By the early 1970s, the track was used mostly for amateur events. The track closed permanently in 1999.
The Zerex Special was a sports racing car. Originally a Cooper T53 built for the 1961 United States Grand Prix, it was rebuilt for usage in American sports car racing, and featured open-top bodywork. Initially using a 2.75-litre version of the Coventry Climax FPF straight-four engine, it later used a Traco-Oldsmobile 3.5-litre V8. The car won numerous races throughout its four-year career, being driven by drivers such as McLaren and Roger Penske.
The Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Spyder is a unique racing sports car purpose-built in 1962 by Ferrari to achieve victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was the last Ferrari racing sports car with a front-mounted engine and the last of a series of Ferrari race cars known as the Testa Rossas. The "I" in its designation indicates that the car has an independent rear suspension.
Edouard (Ed) Swart was an active Dutch touring car and sports-prototype racing car driver from 1961 until 1972. He drove for the Abarth works team from 1965 till 1970 in the European FIA Touring Car Challenge and in the European FIA 2.0 L Sports-Prototype Challenge races. He was also a founder of three Dutch racing teams and Clerk of the Course for all the races at Zandvoort including the Formula One Grand Prix from 1974-1981. After his retirement in 1972 he returned to racing again in 1975 participating in historic races and some IMSA races in the USA after his immigration to California in 1980. He has raced in many different race car types (50) including touring cars, sports and prototype cars, Can-Am cars, Formula Atlantic, Formula 2, Formula 5000 and Formula One cars. From 1961 till 2016 he participated in 500+ pro and historic race weekends on 87 different race tracks in Europe, South Africa, United States, South America, Australia and Canada. In 2010 he was invited to join and is a current member of the RRDC, and in 2012 was inducted into the SVRA Hall of Fame.
August Uihlein Pabst Jr. is an American sports car driver from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In ten years of racing, he won two national championships - the 1959 USAC and 1960 SSCA road racing championships. Pabst made one NASCAR start at Riverside International Raceway. He is a former member of the board of directors for Road America.
