Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys

For much of its history, motorsport projected an image of hyper-masculinity, tradition, and exclusivity. Yet LGBTQ+ people have always been part of racing, even when the culture of the sport made openness difficult or dangerous. Join motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for a talk that explores the often-overlooked history of LGBTQ+ representation in motorsport through the stories of pioneeri...

In 1903, more than 220 competitors set off from Versailles bound for Madrid in what was supposed to be the greatest automobile race ever staged. They never made it. Within hours, drivers, mechanics, soldiers, spectators, and bystanders lay dead or dying along the roadside. Cars crashed into trees, burst into flames, and plowed into crowds. The death toll mounted so quickly that French authorities...

It would be the darkest Month of May in Indianapolis 500 history. In 1933, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway promised fans the safest race the Brickyard had ever seen. New rules, new technology, and a renewed focus on stock-based machinery were all meant to prove that America’s greatest race could survive the crushing weight of the Great Depression. Instead, the month became one of the bloodiest cha...

Long before the name Offenhauser became synonymous with Indy glory, there was Harry Miller: a self-taught machinist and visionary whose engines transformed racing forever. Between the 1920s and the dawn of World War II, Miller-built cars dominated American motorsport with stunning speed, elegant engineering, and an obsessive devotion to craftsmanship.  But behind the brilliance lay financial chaos...

The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix holds a strange place in the Formula 1 history books. That weekend, drivers boycotted what they perceived as unacceptably dangerous conditions at the Montjuïc Park street circuit; barriers had been poorly assembled, and in some cases, there were no bolts holding the Armco together. To keep the event on schedule, team bosses descended onto the track with wrenches in hand...

For more than 70 years, Formula 1 has been one of the most exclusive — and challenging — arenas in global sport. And while over 1,000 drivers have entered a Grand Prix, only five of them have been women. But who were these women? How did they get to F1? And what barriers stood in their way?  Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for an exploration into the fascinating lives...

From Formula 1 to the Indianapolis 500, motorsport often presents itself as a meritocracy, but for much of racing history, women were explicitly and systematically banned from competition. From formal rules to informal “gentlemen’s agreements,” the exclusion of women from the world of speed lasted for decades, shaping who was allowed to compete and who could only watch from the sidelines. Join awa...

While motorsport is often perceived as a man’s world, the history of racing is littered with trailblazing women who refused to accept the rules — both formal and informal — that prevented them from racing. And thanks to them, we’ve transformed the definition of what a racing driver can be. Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock as she highlights some of the most influential w...

Some men are born to set land speed records. Others feel their calling is creating ever more technologically advanced machines for the Indianapolis 500. Still others succumb to the siren song of long-distance desert racing. And some prefer to work behind the scenes, where they can transform the world of racing via promotion. But Mickey Thompson was no normal man, because Mickey Thompson attacked a...

Twenty-five years ago, the racing world lost Dale Earnhardt at Turn 4 on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, but while the man may not be here physically, his legacy remains an integral element of NASCAR — and American motorsport as a whole — to this day. But how exactly did that happen? How did Earnhardt — who started his career during an era where stock-car racing was still a niche sport — evo...

In 75 years of Formula 1 history, only one driver has been crowned World Champion after his death. In 1970, Austrian racer Jochen Rindt was so dominant behind the wheel of an exceptional car built by Colin Chapman of Team Lotus that no driver could bridge the gap to his place on the top of the championship standings despite there being four races remaining in the season after Rindt's death. Mo...

August 17, 1975. In warm-up for the Austrian Grand Prix, American icon Mark Donohue loses control of his March 751 after a tire fails. He careens through a metal Armco barrier and trackside signage and is knocked briefly unconscious in the wreckage. Against all odds, Donohue seems fine and heads back to the garage — where he begins to complain of a worsening headache. He's rushed to a local hospit...

Unlike the NFL, MLB, or even Formula 1, NASCAR has never had a drivers’ union, but not for lack of trying. In the early 1960s, Hall of Famer Curtis Turner joined forces with the Teamsters in a bold push to organize the garage area — a move that got him blacklisted by the sport he helped build. Over the years, similar efforts were quietly floated and just as quickly shut down. Why has unionization...

If Bernd Rosemeyer had not existed, historian Anthony Pritchard remarked, then the National Socialist Party would have had to invent him. Tall, blond, strong, and domineering, Rosemeyer became the pride of Adolf Hitler's motorsport program, and the epitome of its goals. The press couldn't get enough of him, hailing him a “radiant boy,” a “bold fighter.” “Beautiful blond Bernd,” they gushed...

In the build-up to the 1934 German Grand Prix, the already formidable Nürburgring was transformed. Gone were the days of packing a race track with nothing but enthusiasts; under the control of new chancellor Adolf Hitler, motorsport was the ideal venue in which to display the might of his new, robust Germany under the Third Reich. Track facilities were draped in swastika flags, while a regiment of...

In the late 1950s, the folks in charge of The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza had to face a harsh reality: They had spent millions to revitalize the banked oval that had been an original feature of the track back in the 1920s, but that had been destroyed prior to World War II. They had thought the Italian Grand Prix would be made all the more compelling with a flat-out banked section to challenge the...

Camille du Gast wasn't the first woman to get behind the wheel of a race car, but she was the first woman who gained international recognition for doing so when she began taking part in grand epreuves as early as 1901. She was the first woman in France to earn a driver's license, the first woman to hold an official role in the Automobile Club de France. But to call Camille du Gast a racer...

If you're a fan of the Indianapolis 500, then there's a good chance you know who won the first race back in 1911: It was Ray Harroun behind the wheel of a Marmon Wasp, the only driver in the field to opt against using a riding mechanic and running solo — albeit with a little help from a relief driver. What if I told you that might not be true? What if I told you that we don't actually...

On August 21st, 1909, the 300-mile Wheeler-Schebler race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was waved off — not because that weekend's racing had claimed the lives of five drivers, mechanics, and spectators, but because, after the racing had continued, yet another car crashed into a pedestrian bridge crossing the racing surface. No one was killed in that crash. No; the real reason the race was bei...

On May 12, 1957, a group of locals from Guidizzolo, Italy gathered in front of their homes to watch some of the world's finest sports cars flash by en route to the finish line that would mark the end of the grueling Mille Miglia. For 30 years, other locals and previous generations stood alongside that very same ribbon of road, watching that very same race. But on May 12, a Ferrari 335 S scythe...

In April of 1978, a chartered plane full of USAC officials crashed just outside of Indianapolis, killing everyone on board. With American open-wheel racing already in disarray as team owners began to demand greater accountability from their sanctioning body, the plane crash only served to accelerate a battle we've come to know as the Split. What role did that plane crash play in the ultimate f...

From the moment his father died behind the wheel of a race car, Alberto Ascari was haunted by loss. Against his mother's wishes, he pursued a racing career of his own and went on to become Formula 1's first-ever back-to-back World Champion with Ferrari. Still, he was unable to shake the feeling that he was following in his father's footsteps — right down to wondering if he, too, would...

When we last left the Formula 1 scene, the 1977 season was underway. Over a decade had passed since the formation of the Formula One Constructors Association — an organization first formed to guarantee better starting, prize, and travel money for low-budget teams, but that had morphed into a powerful force that could challenge for control of the sport. In this special two-part feature on “Deadly P...

Many of the defining characteristics of modern Formula 1 — two-car teams, limits on who can enter the sport, big-money broadcasting deals, and so much more — are the direct result of a decades-long battle between the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA, which represented the teams) and the Federation du Sport Automobile (FISA, a subsidiary of the FIA).  Fans have likely heard of the FISA/FO...

In the mid-1960s, the Chevrolet Corvair became the most reviled car in the United States of America. The automotive press loved this zippy rear-engined machine for its crisp handling and its race-y feel — but it didn't take long before the machine to become the center of hundreds of lawsuits alleging that the car was not only responsible for injuring and killing its drivers and passengers, but tha...