Turn Left...Turn Right

No, today's post is not about politics.  I thought I would cover (briefly) some road racing. The two images you see are not mine.  They are provided by the websites for the Grand Am and American Le Mans series, with Formula 1 not being quite so generous.

Grand Am

Copyright Grand Am

The American Grand Am series started its season as usual, with the Rolex 24 Hours Of Daytona.  The Ford/Riley of Allemdinger,Negri,Pew and Wilson took top honors.  The season's second event was held in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Garcia/Westbrook Corvette coming home first.  Next on the schedule is the April 27-29 Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead Raceway.

American Le Mans Series

Copyright ALMS

The other North American sports car endurance classic, The 12 Hours Of Sebring, belongs to The American Le Mans Series.  This past March saw teammates Chris Dyson, Guy Smith and Steve Kane took top honors followed by the combination of Lucas Lunr, Klaus Graf and Simon Pagnaud. 

The streets of Long Beach, CA came next with Lunr and Graf in their HPD-ARX-03A taking top honors, followed by Dyson and Smith in the Lola B12/60 and Alex Popow and Ryan Dalzel in a Oreca FLM093. 

Monterey, CA is next on the schedule on May 10-12

Formula 1

Then of course there is the "big one", Formula 1.  Below are the race by race winners this season.

Australia   Jenson Button   McLaren Mercedes
Malaysia   Fernando Alonso   Ferrari
China        Nico Rosberg   Mercedes

Next Race   Bahran

It is obvious to see by the "shallow" information that I have given you that I have not been following road racing very closely.  These are three top notch series with many of the world's top manufacturers, drivers and car owners involved.  I did follow F1 carefully last season and do miss all of the fanfare that surrounds it.

As a young boy in the 1960s I first became interested in the world of left and right hand turns.  I still suggest that for an American that decade was the best.  The Trans Am Series at it's best.  Parnelli Jones, Jerry Grant, Mark Donahue, Jerry Titus, George Follmer, Peter Revson and on.  There was the Formula A/Forumla 5000 series.  Group 6 Prototype Endurance cars here and in Europe.  Le Mans in 1967 with Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt.  Then there was the Can Am Series run throughout Canada and the U.S.  Unbelievable beasts with up to 1,000 horsepower.  F1 had Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jimmy Clark, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther and on and on.  For me this was road racing's golden age.

I hope to do a better job of observing at least, Formula 1 for the rest of this season.

Coming next?

Ken and Kenny.  Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace.