In 1948 Watkins Glen staged the first official American race for sports cars since the Vanderbilt Cup races of the early years of the century. This book is about the transformation of post-World War II racing in America and how road racing became a leading sport in the US, beginning at Watkins Glen and followed by Sebring, Daytona, Laguna Seca and other circuits. These historic first five years are fundamental to road racing in America when the race was staged through the village streets and neighboring countryside until a permanent track was built in 1953. The races introduced famous international marques such as Ferrari, Jaguar, Porsche, Allard, Healey and Cunningham and encouraged a pantheon of great drivers to develop, among them, Briggs Cunningham, John Fitch, Phil Walters, Phil Hill, Jim Kimberly and Walt Hansgen. Later, from 1961 to 1980, Watkins Glen was the site of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix Cameron Argetsinger, a lawyer and leader in upstate New York, was the man with the dream and the story of how he made it all happen against enormous odds is told in detail. It includes anecdotes and interviews contributed by many of the early participants, and has exclusive color photographs taken during years when color photography was practically unknown. In 2011, Watkins Glen celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first Formula 1 Grand Prix. Had the early Sports Car Grand Prix of 1948-52 not taken place and quickly become a huge popular success, Watkins Glen would long ago have disappeared in the annals of history. Instead, it remains to this day a challenging race track, with two nationally televised events each year, and it is the home of the world's first Motor Racing Research Library. Over 300 photographs provide vivid and fascinating illustrations of the men and machines who threaded together every part of this extraordinary story. Full race results and statistics for all entrants in the 13 races run between 1948 and 1952 are also provided in detail. A final chapter shows how many of the race cars from the early years are now highly valued and are prize-winners at concours events.

Auto racing legend Roger Penske began as a successful sportscar driver before transitioning to owning a race team and opening a car dealership. Within eight years, Team Penske won the Indianapolis 500. Today, the team boasts more than 580 victories, including an unparalleled 18 Indianapolis 500 wins and two at the Daytona 500. Penske's efforts on the track have been intertwined with his business ventures. Penske Corporation, with $32 billion in revenues, includes Penske truck leasing and rentals, retail automotive centers and logistics. In 2019, he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and related assets, including IndyCar, and led both through the coronavirus pandemic, when racing continued with no fans in the stands. This book chronicles more than 50 years of Roger Penske's racing history, with an overview of his business career, including the turnaround of Detroit Diesel.

The history of sports car racing in the states of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Washington DC in the 1950s and 1960s has long been talked of but never thoroughly documented until now. This is a story of a period when sports car drivers such as Jim Kimberly, Charlie Hayes, and Dick Thompson competed mainly for tin cups and glory on civil airport runways and private tracks before the age of professionalism took hold. They drove mainly European cars, Alfa Romeos, Allards, Austin-Healeys, Coopers, Elvas, Ferraris, Jaguars, Listers, Lotus, Maseratis, Porsches, and the American Scarabs, now highly valued by avid collectors. The histories of these cars are of great interest, and many are mentioned in this book by chassis number which will aid research by interested owners. A chapter begins with a synopsis of the activity in each year and is followed by detailed descriptions of the races. There is a comprehensive index, and the book is profusely illustrated with period photographs.

Gathered together for the first time, here is a comprehensive record of the motoring achievements and competition history of Briggs Swift Cunningham II. He was a competitor, patron and pioneering champion of road racing in the USA, and in addition to the cars that bore his name with pride and competed against the best in the world, the Cunningham team raced many other models in the late 1950s and early 1960s in both the USA and Europe. Further, during his long life, Cunningham owned a large variety of vehicles ranging from the mundane to the spectacular. Richard Harman has spent the past seven years researching this long overdue and worthwhile tribute to the accomplishments of the great man. He was granted unprecedented access to hitherto unpublished archive material by the Cunningham family and the families of the team members and has been able to trace the history of most of the Cunningham-owned cars in great detail. This book has been awarded the 2014 Cugnot Award by the Society of Motoring Historians and was shortlisted for the RAC Book of the Year Award 2014. It was also shortlisted for the 2013 International Historic Motoring Awards Publication of the Year