Carroll Shelby and Roger Penske

[slothead]

The car builder and team leader I most admired was Carroll Shelby. I bought and read a book about him in elementary school, and was primed for his upcoming success with the Cobra and in the Ford vs Ferrari wars. I'd love to own any iteration of a GT350 or GT500 Mustang, but I'd be scared to take it out the barn. We lost Carroll a few years ago but his legacy lives on and I enjoy racing replicas of his cars on Shelby-Hendrix Speedway.

My interest in recreating races from the golden age of Trans Am with cars and drivers from the series led me to do a lot of research and download every SCCA race report. (Every car in my pits has an assigned driver on the roster who actually drove that livery in a sanctioned race.) Anyone who reviews the Trans Am results from the latter 60's and early 70's has to be impressed with what Roger Penske and Mark Donohue accomplished. They dominated the series and won championships in both the Camaro and Javelin. They also won the Indy 500 and went on to dominate in the Can Am series in the Porsche 917/10 and 917/30. We lost Donohue in 1975 at age 38, but Penske remains a force in many forms of racing nearly 45 years later. I similarly enjoy racing replicas of the Penske-Donohue-Sunoco cars on my track.

Through slot cars I salute each of these American racing legends.

[slothead]

While watching Indy 500 qualifying this weekend I learned Roger Penske has won there 17 times so far. Wow, I had no idea his team has been that successful in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

I'm looking forward to this year's race next Sunday.

[73emgee]

I also enjoy reliving the history of motorsports through recreating the tracks and cars of the time. I much prefer fielding an accurate model of a historic car on a well detailed slot car track then in trying to set new lap records. You may also be interested in a new documentary "Drive like Andretti" another amazing driver, only driver to win the Indy 500, NASCAR champion, and of course F1 Champion.

[slothead]

Bob - I saw part of the Andretti documentary yesterday. Watched all 3 big races too - F1 at Monte Carlo, Indy 500, and Coke 600. Penske got win # 18 at Indy.

I agree with everything you said. On my oval and road course I've done my best to honor legendary cars and drivers. Love racing on my oval that looks like a Saturday night dirt track. I still have to add scenery to the road course to get that same sense of realism.