INDY 500: Bump Day Happened This Week And No One Noticed

INDY 500: Bump Day Happened This Week And No One Noticed

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance As most racing fans know, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is slated to run the Indianapolis 500 in a Honda-powered entry from Andretti Autosport. Less well known is the fact that my Electric GT Championship competitor, Stefan Wilson, was bumped out of his confirmed seat with Andretti so that Alonso could inherit the ride. In return for quietly stepping away from a confirmed Indy 500 seat, Wilson was promised a grab bag of favors including preferential treatment for a future ride. This deal makes sense for everyone on a lot of Read More

Richard Petty, Third Place and the Night the Track Fell Apart

Richard Petty, Third Place and the Night the Track Fell Apart

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance My only race at West Virginia’s Ona Speedway was with the Super Cup Stock Car Series on June 2, 2012. Driving the Boschett Timepieces #21 for J. J. Pack, we had a strong race car and finished a very respectable third in only my second series start. I was really happy with third until I learned that the two cars ahead of me were accused of illegally soaking their tires. This would have made me the first legal car across the finish line. Head slap. Now, of course, third place seems terrible. Read More

COLLECTOR CARS: 1974 International Pickup vs 1975 Ford F150

COLLECTOR CARS: 1974 International Pickup vs 1975 Ford F150

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance It’s no secret that vintage pickup trucks are the latest rage in collectible vehicles. They are inexpensive to restore, utterly reliable, born with a lengthy shelf life and they are enormously popular right now. If a collectible truck is on your wish list, here’s what you should know about two of the mainstay trucks from the 1970s. 1974 International Pickup When I began racing dirt tracks in the late 1980s, my father’s ¾ ton, red-and-white International 200 pickup with a Comanche 345 V8 served as our hauler. Frankly, it was better at Read More

TRAPPED IN A BURNING RACE CAR, PART V: One Year Later

TRAPPED IN A BURNING RACE CAR, PART V: One Year Later

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance It’s been a full year since a mechanical malfunction caused my race car to burst into flames at Circuit of the Americas, sending me to intensive care with life threatening injuries. The whole story is here. Rather than revisiting the past, this blog will provide an update on the miraculous healing that’s taken place over the last 12 months and a big “thank-you” to all who have lent such wonderful support. The mishap occurred on February 13, 2016, leaving me with 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns over seven percent of my Read More

Five Things You Won’t Expect When Your Race Car Catches Fire

Five Things You Won’t Expect When Your Race Car Catches Fire

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance It was exactly one year ago that my race car caught fire at Circuit of the Americas during an endurance event. You can read more about it here. Suffice to say that as fires go, this one was bad. Perhaps the following thoughts from that experience will be helpful to my fellow racers. 1. You won’t be able to see a thing, and it’s worse than you think. If you’re racing in daylight, your eyes will adjust to the ambient outdoor light as you drive. When you glance down inside the cockpit, you Read More

TRIUMPH SQUARE BARREL: From WWII Bomber to Grand Prix Winner

TRIUMPH SQUARE BARREL: From WWII Bomber to Grand Prix Winner

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance Triumph took the world by storm in 1938 by introducing its Speed Twin, the first of the great British parallel twin street motorcycles. But their enthusiasm – and sales – were cut short by World War II, which began the following September. Triumph engineers quickly adjusted to wartime production by re-designing the Speed Twin’s excellent 500cc power plant for military use as a portable generator. The cylinder heads and barrels were cast from aluminum and the generator’s operating temperature was kept in check by connecting an external fan to the engine’s tin, Read More

PLYMOUTH SUPERBIRD: The Car That Richard Petty Built

PLYMOUTH SUPERBIRD: The Car That Richard Petty Built

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance It has been claimed that Plymouth’s legendary winged muscle car, the 1970 Superbird, was the brainchild of NASCAR champion Richard Petty. The rumor has been around for decades but I’ve never found anyone with first-hand knowledge who could absolutely confirm or deny that the car’s origins truly began with The King of Stock Car Racing. But opportunity knocked two weeks ago when Petty was in attendance at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida, which I co-host for NBCSN. I found him relaxing backstage late in the show and hollered, “Hey, King!” Although Read More

MECUM ANAHEIM and the Man I Never Expected to Meet

MECUM ANAHEIM and the Man I Never Expected to Meet

November 23, 2016
Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
“Do you remember me?” the strange man asked insistently. “Your show gave me something to live for. I've been waiting for this all year. You told me to come back, and I want you to know I made it.”
 
We were halfway through NBCSN's live coverage of the Mecum collector car auction in Anaheim last Friday when a middle aged man walked up to me with tears in his eyes. “Do you remember me? Do you?” Honestly, no, I didn't. But as he told his story it began to come back to me.
RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: Trans Am’s 1966 Pan-American Endurance Race (Part 3 of 3)

RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: Trans Am’s 1966 Pan-American Endurance Race (Part 3 of 3)

November 15, 2016
Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
(Part 3 of a 3-part series) John McComb ordered a new car for 1967. The choice was easy. Given his success in the 1966 Group 2 Mustang, he ordered a new notchback for 1967 to pick up where he left off with the Shelby program.
 
The 1967 Mustang was the model’s first major redesign and the car gained both size and weight. McComb didn’t care for either.
 
“Even though the ’67 car had a wider track, it was a heavier car, so I don’t really think the wider track helped,” McComb said. “The ’66 car was just a very reliable, quick car. I always thought the ’66 car was better than the ’67 anyway.“
 
While awaiting delivery of the new car, McComb pulled his old mount out of the garage to start the new season. The 1966 car still ran strong, competing at the Daytona 300 Trans-Am race on February 3, 1967 and in the 24 Hours of Daytona the following day.
RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: Trans Am’s 1966 Pan-American Endurance Race (Part 2 of 3)

RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: Trans Am’s 1966 Pan-American Endurance Race (Part 2 of 3)

October 20, 2016
Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
The next weekend John McComb was racing again. The Trans-Am Series Six-Hour Pan-American Endurance Race was to be held at Green Valley Raceway in Texas. The sanctioning body mandated a second driver for each team due to the length of the event. McComb chose veteran Brad Brooker, a successful club racer who had logged plenty of miles in the Group 2 notchback’s nearly identical twin, the Shelby GT350.
 
Run entirely in a downpour late on Saturday evening, September 10, 1966, the Pan-American race would become an epic battle that still stands as the #12 Group 2 Mustang’s greatest triumph.