Salty Dog’s Grand Prix and the Future of American Racing

Salty Dog’s Grand Prix and the Future of American Racing

Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance I started late. I didn’t drive in my first professional auto race until age 21. Before that, I was addicted to go kart racing. No, not the World Karting Association or the National Karting Alliance. I’d never heard of them. My karting career began by paying five dollars for ten minutes of track time in a 5 horsepower, 25 mile per hour fun kart at tiny, tourist-driven venues during our family vacations. We stopped at go kart tracks from Virginia to Utah. Any track, any time. It wasn’t real racing, but it 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

EGT Driver’s Club Welcomes Stephen Cox as Newest Member

EGT Driver’s Club Welcomes Stephen Cox as Newest Member

Source: Pole Limited, UK January 4, 2017 The Electric GT Championship, the world’s first 100% zero-emissions GT championship, is delighted to welcome Stephen Cox into the EGT Drivers’ Club.American racing veteran Cox has a vast amount of motorsports experience and is impressed by how forward thinking and innovative the Electric GT Championship is. Cox becomes the 11th member of the Drivers’ Club, joining Stefan Wilson, Vicky Piria, Dani Clos, Leilani Munter, Tom Coronel, Alice Powell, Tom Onslow-Cole, Ricardo Teixeira, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Kevin Ceccon, with an eventual 20 drivers being chosen to race the all-new Tesla Model S P100D. Born Read More

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 1 of 3)

RACING’S GREATEST UPSETS: Trans Am’s 1966 Pan-American Endurance Race (Part 1 of 3)

October 5, 2016
Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance
 
 
On a hot summer afternoon in late August 1966, the telephone on John McComb’s desk rang.
 
On the other end was automotive design engineer Chuck Cantwell of Carroll Shelby’s legendary racing shop, calling with the surprising news that Shelby had a Mustang Group 2 racecar for sale.
 
McComb was delighted since his prior inquiries at Shelby had been met only by rejection. He had raced MGB sportscars for years but his first taste of Ford V-8 power came while driving Peter Talbert’s notchback Group 2 Mustang earlier that summer in the Trans-Am event at St. Louis. McComb and Talbert were leading the race until an exhaust pipe came loose, forcing them to settle for third place.
 
But McComb was already hooked. The car was more powerful than anything he’d ever driven. He wanted one of those Mustangs.
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.