10 Great Race Tracks That You’ve Never Seen, Part IV: Montpelier Motor Speedway

10 Great Race Tracks That You’ve Never Seen, Part IV: Montpelier Motor Speedway

July 5, 2017 Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance Indianapolis. Le Mans. Milwaukee. Those are the places that come to mind when discussing the oldest and most legendary race tracks on the planet. Montpelier is rarely mentioned, though it should be. Last weekend I discovered a small, dirt bullring in eastern Indiana that has been one of auto racing’s best kept secrets for over a century. Built as a half mile horse racing track in 1903, Montpelier Motor Speedway held its first automobile race on Tuesday afternoon, May 4, 1915. To put that date in perspective, it was Read More

HOOSIER HUNDRED: Dirt Racing’s Biggest Prize is Up for Grabs This Week

HOOSIER HUNDRED: Dirt Racing’s Biggest Prize is Up for Grabs This Week

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance The 63rd Hoosier Hundred is slated for Thursday, May 25, on the legendary Track of Champions at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Once considered the most prestigious dirt race in America, the resurgent Hoosier Hundred is quickly regaining its status and draws the top Silver Crown drivers in the nation. The rich history of the event compares favorably with any race on earth. No fewer than seven Indy 500 champions have won the Hoosier Hundred, including A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Sr. and Parnelli Jones. Auto racing at the Track of Read More

SHORT TRACK: Finally! A True Replacement for the Hooters Pro Cup Series

SHORT TRACK: Finally! A True Replacement for the Hooters Pro Cup Series

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance The Hooters ProCup Series was on top of the world in 2001. Brian Vickers was graduating to NASCAR after a three-year Pro Cup career. Joey Logano would join Hooters a few seasons later. Every short track superstar in the eastern half of the country knew that Hooters was the place to be. Johnny Rumley, Bobby Gill, Jay Fogleman, Jeff Agnew, Michael Ritch… they all knew that the money, the prestige and the path to the top went through Hooters Pro Cup. Hooters had big cars with big horsepower. This was the place where 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

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

What’s Going On? The EPA’s Plan to Annex Auto Racing

What’s Going On? The EPA’s Plan to Annex Auto Racing

June 28, 2016
Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
Even as Americans grill hot dogs, gawk at fireworks and celebrate freedoms we don't have, the Environmental Protection Agency recently planned to hit the motorsports community with a devastating blow. Although the agency now appears to be backing off the original plan, there is still no clear legislation to prevent it from reappearing.

The EPA's Clean Air Act, which has afflicted decent people since 1970, is an ever-growing but never totally understood mass of vagueness that the EPA calls upon any time it craves yet another vast expansion of its already criminally overreaching power.
GHOST TRACKS: Finding Indiana’s Portland Speedway

GHOST TRACKS: Finding Indiana’s Portland Speedway

March 29, 2016
The Stephen Cox Blog is Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
PHOTOS BELOW (hover mouse over each picture for captions)
 
Many years ago near the small town of Portland, Indiana, there was a popular go kart track that drew competitors from around the Midwest. For a short time I was among them.
 
Today the track is a cow pasture, covered in fertilizer and new farm construction, largely forgotten by the world. The remaining asphalt is broken and sinking back into the earth. No track signage remains. Track records are lost and Internet searches turn up nothing.