If memory serves me well, I shouldn’t be older than 14, I spent the weekend at my grandma’s home, and when I came back, my best friend told me that he and the gang went on a journey to the city’s abandoned racetrack, which had been, at this point, closed for several years. My friends had to cross a few neighborhoods and once there, they threw their bikes over the fence, jumped in, and then they rode a few laps on the track before leaving, afraid that someone had seen them and called the police. I was devastated. We had been planning this adventure for a while, and when they finally decided to go, I wasn’t there.
Little did I know that racetrack would be an integral part of my professional life in the future.
Before we move here, let me tell you where my hometown is. For the most part of my life, I lived in the town of Curitiba, in Parana state, located in Southern Brazil, a region predominantly populated by descendants of European immigrants. All those wonderful people who crossed the Atlantic pursuing a better life in South America naturally brought their traditions and their passion and among them was the love for speed.
The finest of the Brazilian auto industry at the time, a DKW leading the pack, followed by a Simca, and an Alfa Romeo.
Organized racing before and after the Great War, in Brazil, happened mostly on city streets or highways, from one town to the next and back. As the interest in auto racing kept growing, the authorities and the private sector saw a good business opportunity.
The birth of the track
The father of Curitiba’s racetrack was Flavio Chagas Lima; a businessman passionate about motorsports. In the 1950s he came up with the idea of a racetrack surrounded by a multi-sport complex that even included an artificial lake for aquatic activities. This mega arena would be built in one of his properties, located in the city of Pinhais, on the outskirts of Curitiba.
Finding investors for such a grandeur enterprise proved to be an impossible task, and Lima had to scale down his dreams, sticking with the racetrack only.
The construction began in 1965 and in 1967 it was done, or should I say almost done, since they ran out of money before paving the track.
The top pictures show the racetrack right after its inauguration, in 1967. The bottom left, a Formula-Ford race in 1970, and the bottom right is a touring car race in 1988. Picture courtesy: nobresdogrid.com.br
Oh well, who needs asphalt, right? Races were held at the new facility almost every weekend while the investors were scrambling for more money.
In 1968 a rich businessman driving a slightly modified 1958 Ford Galaxie won a race there, receiving the checkered flag ahead of some of the most powerful purpose-built cars in town. He was so happy with his victory that he decided to pay for the stone foundation of the track, making it ready to receive the asphalt.
The track was finally paved by 1969, and it started to receive competitors from all over the country. Unfortunately, the so-called first phase of the track was short-lived, Mr. Lima was a short-tempered guy, with a “It is my way or no way” attitude, and he didn’t take long before getting in trouble with the Brazilian Motorsports Association (Federacao Brasileira de Automobilismo). Lima was not happy having the FBA telling him how to conduct business and in a rampant outrage, he closed the track, 3 years after its inauguration.
The second chance
The circuit remained dormant for nearly 17 years until a consortium of a few investors and the government of Paraná signed an agreement for a 12-year concession. An initial sum of 2.5 million dollars was spent on renovations and in 1988, the racetrack reopened its gates to the public.
The facility was officially named after Raul Boesel (pictured above), a race driver who was born and raised in Curitiba. Boesel was a former F-One driver when he won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship.
During the 1990s, the Circuito Raul Boesel flourished with activities, even hosting events at the national level. The picture above shows the Carpizza – Chevy Opala during the 1993 edition of the 12 Hours of Curitiba.
Another businessman who got seriously involved with the racetrack was João Alexandre de Abreu, my ex-boss from the time when I worked for Powertech (check out the post: Best Job of My Life). In the early 1990s, he brought a team from the National Hot Rod Association to provide all the technical information for the construction of a concrete drag strip on the racetrack, right in front of the stands. It was also equipped with a state-of-the-art timing system and for many years it was the best drag strip in South America. Drag racing always brought the largest number of fans to the track, between 30,000 and 40,000 during the Festivals, in December. In the picture above, the Powertech top fuel #13 is going for its final match, during the Brazilian Drag Racing Festival, 2014.
The new administration never stopped improving the Circuit. In the early 2000s, it was homologated to host international events, like the World Touring Car Championship. (picture above). The track was renamed: Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba.
The South American Formula 3 Championship was a very popular attraction at the AIC.
The AIC was also the stage for some memorable races, like the one when the former F-One driver (and national treasure), Rubens Barrichello, won the 2014 Brazilian Stock Car title.
All good things come to an end.
The AIC became the second busiest racetrack in the country, only behind the iconic Interlagos, in São Paulo. The people responsible for the administration were truly passionate and they kept improving the facility, elevating it to the top 5 racetracks in South America.
But as early as 2010, the AIC started to face its biggest threat, urban development. Back in 1967, the city of Pinhais, where the track is located, was nothing more than a collection of small farms, but after more than 40 years the landscape of the region changed drastically. The farms were given away to residential neighborhoods and noise levels during the races became a nightmare for the local population.
The City of Pinhais and the AIC administration fought a fierce battle over the public disturbance. The authorities even threatened to take the case to court and shut down the facility for good, but in the end, money settled the dispute. Developers made an offer for the land that the owners just couldn’t refuse.
In December 2021, the AIC was officially closed and the demolition started a month later.
If speed is our religion, a racetrack is our temple. When a friend sent me the video above, I just couldn’t believe what was happening. My heart was crushed. There is even a story that a race fan placed himself in front of the machines that day, trying to stop the workers.
That is me, as happy as one can be, while working. This picture was taken at the Brazilian Southern Nats Meeting, held at the AIC, in 2015.
Yes, the AIC was my temple, but I didn’t go there just to worship, I had the privilege to be part of a team that worked in backstage. For me, it is still hard to grasp with idea that next time I go visit my hometown, the track won’t be there. I just hope the new homeowners living on that piece of land will be as happy as we were, during those magical years.
On the 2nd of December, 1988, the Orbiter Atlantis successfully took off from Kennedy Space Center at 09:30 EST, carrying a crew of five. The STS-27 mission was top-secret, one of those rare occasions when the Space Shuttle program was used for military purposes. Tucked inside the cargo bay was a surveillance satellite, commissioned by the US Department of Defense.
NASA launched Atlantis right on schedule, and the lift-off procedure was flawless. It was the second Space Shuttle flight after the loss of Challenger and tensions were very high.
The ship reached its orbit as planned but there was a minor hiccup during the deployment of the satellite and the crew had to perform a spacewalk to fix it. At the end of the day, the secret device was released and the current progress of the mission has been satisfactory.
On the third day in space, the crew received dreadful news from ground control; footage of the launching showed that a piece of the insulator from the right side solid rocket booster broke away and the debris damaged the fragile thermal protection of the orbiter. The crew used the camera installed on the robotic arm to assess the damages. They found out that one of the thermal titles was missing, and several others were damaged. To make matters worse, the arm couldn’t reach the area on the leading edge of the wings, the part of the orbit that experiences the most heat during reentry.
The crew sent the pictures taken by the robotic arm to NASA, but since this mission was highly classified, they had to use encrypted software and the images received had a very low resolution, making it impossible for the engineers to access the extent of the damages.
At this point, there was nothing thecrew or NASA could do other than pray. On December 6th, Atlantis started its journey back home, the reentry was initiated while the ship was flying over the Indian Ocean, as the Commander was aiming to land at Edwards Air Force Base.
To everyone’s relief, they made it through the atmosphere and safely landed at Edwards. When the technicians came to ship and inspected the damages, they were in disbelief, the level of breakage was way worse than what they were expecting. The fact that Atlantis didn’t burn during the reentry was nothing short of a miracle.
“Darn!!! I don’t think the insurance will cover this, guys!!! The crew of the STS-27 inspect the damaged heat shields.
Now that we know how close the mission STS-27 came to a disaster, we can only speculate that the loss a second orbiter in such a short period of time would have caused the termination of the entire program.
Even if you are not a movie aficionado, chances are that you have already heard the name Paul Newman.
Paul Leonard Newman was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on January 26, 1925. According to his family, he showed talent for the stage as early as 10 years old.
The actor
During WWII, Newman served in the US Navy, as a radio operator, for 3 years, in the Pacific. He started to pursue an acting career right after the war but the stardom only came in the 1960s when he starred in movies like The Hustler-(1961), (pictured above), and Cool Hand Luke-(1967).
The movie Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid-(1969), in which he starred with Robert Redford, propelled him to the status of a superstar. Newman had already been nominated 10 times for an Oscar when he finally got one for best actor in The Color of Money (1986).
The philanthropist
Paul Newman was one of those rare Hollywood superstars that used his fame and fortune to do good. In 1982 he created a brand of salad dressing named Newman’s Own, which became a huge success all over North America. Over the years, the company expanded its product range with items such as pasta sauces, cookies, lemonade, and popcorn, resulting in a larger market share.
Since day one, Newman made a declaration that all profits generated would be donated to charitable causes. The mission continues today through Newman’s Own Foundation. In total, more than $600 million has been donated to good causes since 1982.
The race driver
“I’m not a very graceful person. I was a sloppy skier, a sloppy tennis player, a sloppy football player, and a sloppy dancer with anyone other than Joanne. The only thing I found grace in was racing a car.” – Paul Newman
In 1969, Newman was offered the leading role in the film Winning, directed by James Goldstone. The movie follows the story of a fictional race car driver named Frank Capua, as he strives to win the Indy 500.
Goldstone convinced Newman to attend the Watkins Glenn Racing School and learn how to properly drive a race car. Having the leading actor perform some stunts himself would greatly simplify things on the production set. Additionally, taking classes has also helped him to perform a more convincing “race driver” attitude in front of the cameras.
Paul Newman and Robert Wagner enjoy a break during the shooting of Winning, 1969.
Paul developed a passion for racing during the time he spent at Watkins Glenn. The movie was filmed in an authentic Indy 500 setting, and interacting with individuals such as Bobby Unser, Tony Hulman, and Dan Gurney strengthened his newfound interest in speed.
The SCCA experience
Newman’s debut as a professional race driver happened rather late in life, when he was 47 years old, at Thompson International Speedway, in 1972. In an attempt to avoid unwanted attention, he signed the entry form as P.L. Newman, a practice that he kept throughout his racing career.
It didn’t take long to show that he possessed the qualities necessary to become a champion. Newman won the 1976 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) D-Production National Championship, at the wheel of a 1971 Triumph TR6. (picture above).
In 1979 Paul was invited to be part of the Bob Sharp Racing Team, establishing a long and successful partnership with Datsun/Nissan. In the same year, Driving a 280ZX, he dominated the season, winning races at Summit Point, Watkins Glen, Brainerd (Minn.), Lime Rock, and Road Atlanta, culminating in an SCCA National C-Production Championship.
Le Mans
Porsche was the dominant brand at the 1979 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1970s was a much less glamorous event than what it is nowadays. The global oil crisis forced some drastic rule changes, causing an exodus of the official factory teams and big sponsors.
The 1979 edition of the iconic race was no different. The grid was filled up with privateers and Porsche was the only works team, competing with the 936 prototype. The Germans were the favorite to win the race; the only challenge would come from the Ford-Cosworth-powered Mirage prototype.
But the biggest fuss that year was the presence of the Hollywood superstar Paul Newman. He joined the Dick Barbour Racing Team, sharing the driving duties with German Formula-One driver Rolf Stommelen and Dick Barbour himself. They qualified their IMSA class Porsche 935 in 16th position.
The race was a festival of breakdowns, all the Porsche 936s and the Mirages had to retire, most of them with mechanical problems, leaving the race to be decided among the lower classes.
The Kramer K3 Porsche #41, driven by Klaus Ludwig and Brothers Whittington won the race.
Followed by Dick Barbour Porsche #70, driven by Newman, Stommelen, and Barbour. Both cars experienced significant mechanical issues towards the end of the race, which nearly prevented them from crossing the finish line and receiving the checkered flag.
Finishing the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans in second place was a major boost in Newman’s racing career.
The man ended the 1980s by winning two additional SCCA championships in 1985 and 1986, while driving a Nissan 300ZX.
The Indy/CART years
Mario Andretti at the wheel of the Newman-Haas Lola/Ford, in 1983.
Paul Newman started his enterprise in the F-Indy community in a unlikely way. In 1982 he received a call from Carl Haas, inviting him to be partner in a F-Indy team, which Newman refused up front. Besides being fierce competitors within the CanAm series, Haas was an occasional supplier of race car to Newman, who claimed they typically arrived late and overweight.
Carl Haas was a persuasive guy, he told Newman the team was pretty much good to go. The man was the official distributor of Lola race cars for North America and as such he had secured the brand’s come back to F-Indy and also a contract with Ford as the engine supplier. Newman was still not convinced but when Haas told him that Mario Andretti would be the team’s driver, he finally changed his mind. For anyone with little knowledge in motorsports, Andretti needs no introduction, an extremely talented and versatile driver, also know for being a real team player, always committed to make things work properly.
The Newman-Haas Racing was officially born in October 1982, with high hopes for the next year season. But things were happening too fast, Lola assumed the team’s debut would be 1984, giving them a whole year to develop the car. With a such short notice, the Brits delivered a less than impressive car for the 1983 season.
Paul Newman, Lola’s manager Nigel Bennett, Mario Andretti, and engineer Tony Cicale.
Thanks to Andretti’s experience and the determination of the technicians, the Lola-Ford T700 was entirely revised and greatly improved, becoming a real contender. The result for all that hard work came with Mario finishing the season in third. Not bad for a rookie team with a car that was rushed into development.
The gorgeous Lola-Ford T800
In 1984 Andretti dominated the season with six wins, nine poles and scored a total of 10 top-ten finishes to win Newman/Haas’s first CART season championship. (picture above)
Another superstar that was part of the Newman-Haas history was Nigel Mansell. The British driver became the 1992 Formula One World Champion, driving for Williams. Thanks to a disagreement with the team’s management, he not only quit Williams but the F-One circus all together. He packed his things and crossed the Atlantic to become the number one driver at Newman-Haas team.
Paul Newman and Nigel Mansell.
Mansell took the F-Indy by storm. In his debut season, 1993, he won five races, scoring the championship and also the title Rookie of the Year. His aggressive driving style conquered hearts and minds of the American fans.
Thanks to a coincidence in the calendar, Mansell was the only race driver in history to hold both world titles at the same time, F-One and F-Indy, even of it was for only 3 weeks.
Brazilian driver Cristiano da Matta celebrates after winning the 2002 driver’s title for Newman-Haas.
Newman/Haas became one of the most successful teams in Indy/CART history, clinching 107 race victories, 109 pole-positions, and 8 driver’s championships, between 1983 and 2011.
The final years
Certainly the job as team’s owner/manager kept Paul busy but he always found time to step into a race car and hit the track.
In 1995, Paramount Pictures sponsored Paul Newman in the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving a GTS-1 class Mustang prepared by Roush. Literally showing to the world that age is just a number, his car carried the # 70 in honor of his age. Newman managed to win his class and finish 5thoverall, becoming the oldest driver ever to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race.
Newman went back to the Daytona once more in 2006, driving a Crawford-Ford prototype. Following his personal tradition since 1995, the car received the #79, reflecting his age at the time. The Crawford belonged to Newman-Haas but it received sponsorship by the Disney Pixar animated film “Cars”.
Paul provided his voice for the character Doc Hudson, a retired anthropomorphic race car in the first movie of the franchise (2006). This was his final role in a major feature film, as well as his only animated film role.
In June 2008, Newman made public that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was receiving treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York. He was a heavy cigarette smoker until he quit in 1986. Paul Newman died at his home in Westport, Connecticut on the morning of September 23, 2008. He was 83 years old.
Newman’s racing career was greater than what I wrote here, but if I wanted to tell every detail of it, I should have written a book instead.
The guy lived his life to the fullest but he always considered himself a common man. The title of his memoir reflects exactly that: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man. I haven’t read the book yet, but it is on my list.
I would like to finish this article on a lighter note, telling a couple of interesting stories involving Newman.
The Hot Rod Volvo
Paul Newman developed a curious interest in souped up Volvo station wagons. He owned more than a couple of those and at some point, he even convinced his pal, the famous TV host and notorious car guy, David Letterman to order one. Here it is the story, told by the man himself, David Letterman.
“One day Paul called me at home with an interesting offer“.
“Dave? I’ve got a deal from a guy in Maine,”
“It’s a custom Volvo 960 station wagon, OK? But it’s different. He’s going to take a small-block Ford V-8 racing engine, strip out the transmission and suspension, then supercharge it. My guy’s gonna make it for me. Would you like one?”
David Letterman was stunned, but in a split of second the car guy took over the sensible guy.
“Well yeah, Paul,” “Wouldn’t we all?”
“Supercharge the Volvo. Swedish safety be damned! Go nuts!”
“So, Paul eventually brings the car over, drops it off and this is the kind of car that people would stare at streetlights,” Letterman told his TV audience after Newman’s death in 2008. “It was like an atomic furnace under the hood. I used to love driving it. It would go 170 miles per hour (270 km/h) and underneath the exhaust system would glow bright orange.”
Then one day Letterman was in the Volvo on a New York Interstate with his girlfriend when she asked: “What’s that smell?”
Letterman turned to her and said, “Raw power and speed, baby.”
Wrong. The Volvo was on fire.
“We had to pull over, the car was shooting flames everywhere. It couldn’t handle the power,”
“I call Paul and say ‘ . . . Everything is on fire.’ But, wow, what a car!”
The most expensive Rolex in the world
In 1972, Joanne Woodward was seeking a present for her husband, and in a New York ‘Tiffany’ store she purchased a Rolex Daytona Chronograph, model 6239, for about $300.
She had the case back engraved with the words ‘Drive Carefully, Me’. A thoughtful gift indeed.
Newman really loved his Rolex, and he wore it daily, as hundreds of pictures taken through the 1970s and 80s can prove. But one day, in a burst of generosity, he gave his beloved watch away.
The year was 1984 and Nell, one of Newman’s daughters, was dating James Cox, a high school classmate. During the summer of that year, Paul hired Cox to rebuild a treehouse in the family’s property. One day Cox arrived a little late to work and Newman asked him – “What time is it?”, which the guy answered – “I don’t have a watch, I don’t know what time it is.” Paul unstrapped his Rolex and handed it to Cox. “If you remember to wind this, it tells pretty good time.”
No doubt it was a very generous act, not only because it was a Rolex, but because it was a gift from his wife, a gift that he loved very much. Perhaps Paul had the feeling that Cox would, eventually, became his son-in-law.
James and Nell broke up a few years latter but they remained good friends ever after. As for the Rolex, he kept it like a treasure, until 2017 when he decided to sell it.
Nell Newman and James Cox, in 2017.
It took less than 12 min for the iconic time piece to fetch the mind blowing sum of $17.8 million, setting a new record for the highest price ever achieved for a wristwatch at auction. As one would expect, a good portion of the money went to charity, through the Nell Newman Foundation.
This passion that we, gearheads, nurture for cars and motorcycles is, in most cases, a shallow one. Besides the cheap thrills of speed and the idea that by saving old cars from the junkyard we are preserving history, there are not a lot of good deeds in this hobby.
But every once in a while we stumble upon a story of selfless people at the wheel of powerful cars, on a mission to help others in need.
This story that I found on Demaras.com has all the ingredients of an amazing action movie, a fearless special ops soldier driving a Camaro that looks like it came straight from the Mad Max movie set, and a bloody war in the background. This is the proof that real life can be much more spectacular than fiction.
It was unusually cold on the morning of January 28, 1986, and orbiter Challenger had spent the overnight on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The first thing the engineers noticed that morning was ice crystals around the ship and the equipment. That was not a good sign.
The ship was (supposedly) ready for the 25th mission of the STS program. The purpose of the flight was to deploy a communication satellite and also to study Halley’s comet. At 11:39 EST, the orbiter took off, carrying a crew of seven, and among them one civilian, Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. After 73 seconds on its flight, a malfunction in one of the solid rocket boosters caused an explosion, disintegrating the whole craft. None of the crew members survived.
A Teacher among the astronauts
In 1985 NASA created a project called Teacher in Space, hoping that sending a teacher into orbit would increase public interest in the program, and also reassure the reliability of space flight at a time when the agency was under continuous pressure to keep its financial support. President Reagan said it would also remind Americans of the important role that teachers and education serve in their country.
McAuliffe was chosen among 11,000 applicants; she went through proper training and received the title of Payload Specialist. She was 37 years old when boarded the Challenger on that fateful morning.
The “O’ring” problem.
The two Solid Rocket Booster provided most of the thrust necessary to send the shuttle into orbit. Each one of them is a massive piece of equipment, with 45.46 m (149.16 ft) in height and 3.71 m (12.17 ft) in diameter.
The boosters were built in four segments at Morton Thiokol Company and then shipped to Cape Canaveral; once there, NASA would put them together and attach them to ship. Each segment is sealed with two O-rings, one primary and one backup, and since the beginning of the program, those O’rings proved problematic. Under extreme pressure, the seals would extrude from their seats rather than compressed. The Thiokol engineers warned NASA that the O’rings and their seats needed improvement but the agency always judged the matter was within acceptable safety parameters.
Many problems plagued the orbiters up to this point in the program’s development and perhaps, the O’ring issue was one of the easiest to be fixed.
The magnificent Challenger, at the launch pad, waiting for the countdown. NASA had the chance to postpone the mission, saving the lives of the crew members, but they decided to go ahead.
The morning of the Challenger launch was bitter cold, it had reached -8°C (18° F) overnight, and around 9 o’clock it was -3°C (26° F), a record low for a Space Shuttle launch. The Thiokol engineers expressed their concern that the cold weather could have harden the already problematic rubber seals, diminishing even further their capacity. Thiokol was in favor to postpone the launch, but NASA insisted to go on. After a brief phone call between the two parties, the engineers changed their opinion and gave NASA the green light for launch.
One booster breaks free and escapes the explosion, continuing its unguided flight.
As predicted, at the takeoff, one of the O’rings failed, on the right side booster, causing hot gas and flames to travel through the joint section. After 73 seconds into the flight, the ship exploded.
A televised catastrophe
The decision to take a civilian into space sparked a higher-than-usual interest among the population and the media around the world. The disaster was seen live by millions of people. I saw the video of the explosion later that day, at the evening news, and even after 37 years, I still remember the gut-wrenching feeling of it and how hard was accepting that a NASA’s space ship had been lost.
President Ronald Regan had been scheduled to give his 1986 State of the Union Address on January 28, 1986, the evening of the disaster. Some people believe that NASA was under pressure not to postpone the mission because Regan wanted to talk about it in his speech. Needless to say, the President canceled his discourse and he addressed the nation about the disaster instead.
The aftermath
NASA spent months recovering pieces of the wreckage from the ocean floor and also human remains of the seven astronauts. A series of investigations and safety commissions were launched. The government put the Space Shuttle program on ice for 32 months.
The result of the investigation just made official something NASA and Thiokol knew all along, the faultyO’rings were the culprit of the explosion.
The agency finally allowed the engineers to address the issue; the joints and the gaskets on the booster were redesigned and greatly improved.
The world always regarded NASA as the zenith of engineering, we always admired them as the most capable and efficient professionals on the planet. For me, and I believe for many others around the world, it is hard to believe that NASA allowed money and politics to interfere in the agency’s affairs.
The picture above shows the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial, right after a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at Arlington National Cemetery.
It was tragic that seven people had to die in order to get such a simple issue fixed. In the years that followed the accident there was lot of blaming going around but no criminal charges were ever filed.
As one would expect, the Teacher in Space program was canceled after the disaster.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, in Mount Hope, Ontario, is one of my favorite places in Canada. They have an impressive collection of vintage warbids, and one of the only two flyworthy WWII Avro Lancaster in the world.
Every summer the museum hosts the Vintage Wheels and Wings, an amazing show where the visitors can cherish a gathering of classic cars and airplanes at the same time.
The 2023 edition of the show happened on Sunday, July 16th and the TCM crew (my wife Estela and I) went there to check it out.
The meeting starts at the parking lot, with some interesting cars that didn’t make the pre registration, like this 1973 Brazilian built Chevrolet Opala. The car belongs to Bruno “Chumbinho”, a Brazilian gearhead that moved to Canada in 2019 and the idea of leaving his classic Chevy behind never crossed his mind. You can check more about the car in his You Tube channel: https://youtube.com/@OpalaInCanada
Another cool car at the parking lot was this super wicked Buick GN.
It was an overcast Sunday morning, with chance of rain but fortunately it didn’t happen. We took quite a few pictures and also made a short video. I hope you will enjoy it.
1968 Pro Touring Camaro
With the prices of a vintage VW Bus reaching the Stratosphere now a days, some people are improvising. This guy converted a Japanese micro van (I couldn’t figured out the brand) into a VW Bus look alike. The job was well done and the tiny van looks awfully cute.
FIAT Bertone X1/9Me: “I am gonna wait for the people to leave to Cobra alone, so I can take a good pic”. Estela: “Good luck with that!”A Coyote powered 1972 Torino1967 Shelby Mustang1967 ThunderbirdThe next generation of gearheads.Willys was a bit pretentious when they named the Jeep engine.1964 Mercury MarauderThe interior of the Mercury Marauder.Canadair CF-5McDonell CF-101 VoodooThe cabin of a de Havilland DHC-5 Buffalo1967 Austin-Healey 3000That little fella on the left was genuinely excited with the Oldsmobile. He went “wooooow“when he saw the car.
The emblem of the mission, showing the names of the Challenger crew. Every mission had its own emblem, used as a patch on the sleeve of the space suit.
On the 12th of July, 1985, on the launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the orbiter Challenger was getting ready for STS-51-F, the 19th mission of the program. Besides the constant flight delays and cancelations, NASA had secured government funding and it seemed like Americans were back in love with space exploration.
Challenger was the third orbiter built by Rockwell for the STS program, and after seven successful missions, it had proved to be a reliable one.
This amazing picture shows the Spacelab 2 inside Challenger cargo bay, ready to perform a series of experiments.
The purpose of the STS-51-F mission was to put in orbit the Spacelab 2, a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by Space Shuttle program. However it was a far less import assignment that really caught the public attention: the Carbonated Beverage Dispenser Evaluation, which was an experiment in which both Coca-Cola and Pepsi provided specially designed soda cans for the astronauts to enjoy while in space.
With all systems showing green, the countdown started but at T-3 seconds the launch was aborted, the computers detected a malfunction in the coolant valve of the #2 main engine. The launch was postponed to July 29, the closest day with favorable weather conditions.
On the scheduled date for its second launch attempt, (after a delay of 1 hour 37 minutes, thanks to a software glitch), Challenger ignited its engines and started the journey, roaring towards the final frontier at full throttle. However, the ship was not out of the woods just yet.
At 3 minutes 31 seconds into the ascent, the temperature sensor on the high-pressure fuel pump failed. A few minutes later, the supplementary sensor also failed, causing the system to shut down the center engine. Around 8 minutes into the flight, the same sensor on the right side engine also gave up, and the supplementary sensor was showing temperatures near red line.
At this point, the solid rocket boosters had already been jettisoned but Challenger was still attached to the external fuel tank. The loss of a second engine would have been catastrophic since the orbiter couldn’t be able to keep its ascending with only one engine. A worst case scenario would have prompted the crew to disconnect the external fuel tank much sooner then planned, causing it to fall over a populated area instead of the ocean. Ground control immediately ordered the commander to disable the automatic shutoff, keep the pedal to the metal, and pray for the two engines to hold.
The two remaining RS-25 engines carried out their obligation and put Challenger into orbit, although at a much lower altitude. NASA instructed the crew not to push their luck and bring the ship to a lower-than-planned orbit of 265 km when the original flight plan was 385 km.
The mission came very close to a total disaster, but thank God it didn’t happen. The Spacelab 2 task was considered successful, but the space soda cans received mixed reviews from the astronauts and the project was canceled.
From July 06 to 09, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park hosted the sixth round of the 2023 IMSA/Weathertech season, the Chevrolet Grand Prix.
The Thienes Racing LMP3, without the nose section. (photo – The Classic Machines)
The iconic Canadian circuit has the honor to be the only track to host an IMSA race outside the USA. It is the most important event in the Mosport’s calendar and I have been planning to go for a long time.
Photo – IMSA.com
The IMSA championship is divided in 3 prototype classes, GTP, LMP2, LMP3, and 2 GT/production classes, GTD PRO, and GTD. It can be a bit tedious to keep up with all the details that differentiate them, but it is fair to say that IMSA is pretty close to the European WEC. For example, the new top-class GTP is similar (if not the same) as the European Hypercar. That makes things a lot easier for the teams wishing to compete in both sides of the Atlantic.
Photo by “The Classic Machines”
My plan on Sunday was simple, leave home at 10 o’clock, and get there around 11, giving us plenty of time to go to the open grid/fan walk, for a closer look at the cars and to take some nice pics for the blog. But the place was absolutely packed, we took forever to find a parking spot and when we finally arrived at the paddock, the open grid event was over.
But we were determined not to miss anything else. We crossed the bridge as fast as we could, just in time to catch the start of the race.
This could have been a great pic if it wasn’t for the fence.
It is amazing to see those machines in action so close; feeling the thunder of the engines into your chest and the sweet smell of burned high-octane fuel.
Estela, my wife, and I recorded a very amateurish footage of the race, check it out.
We decided to leave a bit before the end of the race, to avoid the traffic jam. I was hoping to take some pictures of the race cars at the paddock but most of the teams had already packed their stuff and were ready to hit the road.
There were some different classes racing over the weekend as well.Photo by IMSA.com
When the checkered flag was dropped, the #60 Acura ARX-06, driven by Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist (picture above) won the GTP prototype class and the BMW M4 driven by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the GTDaytona class. The video below is a 6-minute-long race highlights.
This was my very first time watching a live sports prototype race, and it was a fantastic experience. To wrap up this post, I would like to share a beautiful description of our beloved Mosport that I found on the IMSA website:
-“The 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit tucked into the woods northeast of Toronto is both loved and feared by competitors. With blind turns and deceptively fast stretches, CTMP can send you to Victory Lane – or send you off course”.-
The Space Shuttle, or as it was officially named, Space Transportation System (STS), was one of the most emblematic chapters in NASA’S history and also the most catastrophic. In this series of 5 articles, we will go through the concept, execution, flaws, and tragedies that haunted the program.
July 21, 1969, at 02:56 UTC, the world watched in awe when the Apollo 11 commander, Neil Armstrong, left the lunar module Eagle and became the first man to set foot on the Moon. The successful mission was, in fact, one giant leap for mankind, as Armstrong later said, but for NASA and the American government, it represented something else. For years, the Americans had been mercilessly beaten by the Soviets in the so-called space race but that day, the crew of the Apollo 11 redeemed their pride, proving that hard work and the good ol’ American ingenuity can be unstoppable. Well, hard work, ingenuity, and a whole lot of money too, NASA funding peaked, by the late 1960s, at a staggering 4,5% of the federal budget.
When the crew of the last Apollo Moon mission came back home, in 1971, the public interest in space exploration had already wined down and Congress decided to drastically cut the flowing of money to NASA.
The minds in charge of NASA knew that the days of meager funding would inevitably come and as early as 1969, they started the development of a cost-effective program called Space Transport System or STS. The idea couldn’t be simpler, instead of one-time-use rockets, this program consists of a series of spaceships that could be reused time and time again. It would take off like a rocket, and land like an aircraft.
Ernest Von Braun, the father of the Apollo program (and also a former Nazi engineer), didn’t like the idea, he thought NASA should keep pushing the rocket technology and send a manned mission to Mars as soon as possible. But the concept of the STS gained hearts and minds among the government and in 1972, the Nixon administration gave NASA the green light to go ahead with the program.
The Space Shuttle idea also had a very important ally, the military. The guys in uniform saw it as the perfect vehicle to transport spy satellites and, who knows, maybe a couple of nukes into space too. “What the heck, let’s scare the bejesus out of those atheist commies!!!“
The Space Shuttle was never meant for deep space travel. As the name implies, the ship was designed to transport astronauts and equipment from Earth to a space station in orbit around the Earth and from this station, a different ship would travel to the Moon and beyond.
NASA received almost 30 different designs of the space shuttle from all the American air and space companies and after careful examination, they decided to go with the one from Rockwell International.
In 1974 the prototype was ready for some initial atmospheric flight tests. At this point, the shuttle was still without engines and had to piggyback a heavily modified Boeing 747 to take off and reach operational altitude. This first orbiter was christened Enterprise.
The picture above shows the moment when the space shuttle Enterprise is detached and starts a test glide. The 747 used as a carrier was a second-hand purchase from American Airlines and it was still wearing the company’s livery at the time.
The details of the machine
Simplicity and efficiency ruled the whole project. The shuttle or orbiter was designed to be powered by 3 main engines but to escape the Earth’s gravitational force, it needs the help of two solid rocket boosters. The ship is attached to the humongous fuel tank, in between the rockets. At a certain altitude, the boosters are released and after the ship consumed all the fuel, the tank is also jettisoned, leaving the shuttle free for a gracious space flight. The rocket boosters were also to be recovered and reused after each flight.
The journey back from space is not an easy task. The reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere is extremely dangerous since, at this point, the shuttle will be traveling at an incredible Mach 23, or 17,500 miles per hour or 7 km per second. The pilot must start the reentry at a 40° angle of attack and slowly bring the craft parallel to the ground and fly it like an airplane as soon as it starts to gain aerodynamic controls. Talking about working under pressure.
The friction of the air against the ship is so intense that without a thermal shield, the whole spacecraft would simply melt away. The bottom portion, most of the nose section, and the edges of the wings are covered with special ceramic tiles, measuring 6×6 inches and the thickness is between 1 and 5 inches. The tiles provide efficient thermal isolation to temperatures up to 1,260° Celsius, but they are extremely fragile against impact. (picture above).
A flawed spacecraft
Is hard to say if NASA was just being overly optimistic about this new program or if they were trying to guarantee the funding for it, but one thing is for sure, they certainly promised way more than they could deliver. NASA said the shuttle would make orbital space travel accessible to the masses and it would be so cost-effective that the agency could afford to send a shuttle to space twice a week.
To enhance the concept of a reusable spacecraft, the orbiter was conceived to be powered by three main engines, which considerably reduced its cargo capacity. To make the matter even worse, the cost of rebuilding those engines after each flight proved to be more expensive than the engines that equipped the rockets of the Apollo program. Some scholars argue that the shuttle could be more useful if it was originally designed as a glider, powered by detachable engines.
The first mission of the program was the STS-1, the orbiter Columbia took off on April 12, 1981, and came back 54,5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 37 times. Columbia carried a crew of two, mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. (picture above).
The launch happened on the 20th anniversary of the first human space flight, performed by the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. This was a coincidence rather than a celebration; a technical problem had prevented Columbia to take off 2 days earlier. That was the first of a series of flight delays and cancelations that marked the program during its existence. All sorts of technical gismos plagued the orbiters throughout the years, from falling heat shield tiles to frozen software.
A breathtaking picture of the shuttle Atlantis, in orbit around the Earth. The first flight of this ship was on October 3, 1985.
During the first half of the 1980s, the shuttles performed many different missions; launching and repairing satellites, taking astronauts to and from the space station, and so on. Those missions were more or less successful but the constant flight delays were a source of frustration among the team. NASA was still trying to show the world they were able to keep a regular flight schedule, even if it was a much lower pace than the unrealistic 2 flights per week originally promised.
The technical problems faced by the team were perfectly understandable; they were dealing with a new and complex machine that needed time to adjust and improve. It was the rush to keep a steady schedule of flights that proved to be a catastrophic mistake.
In the next chapters, we are going to revisit a couple incidents that almost ended in tragedy and also the two horrible disasters that claimed the lives of 14 astronauts.
The 2008 Formula-One season will always be remembered by the crashgate scandal when the Brazilian race driver Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed his car during the Singapore Grand Prix, helping his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso.
But for me, what I remember the most is how heartbreaking it was to watch another Brazilian driver, Felipe Massa, coming so close to winning the world championship and losing it in the last lap of the last race of the season, the Brazilian GP.
I never realized how that crash had significantly harmed Massa in his battle to win the championship. It was only when I read a couple of articles published on Demaras.com that I came to know some important detail about that infamous F-One season. Here is the original post:
Brazilians! Race fans! Get mad! GET ANGRY! Something must be done about the injustice done to Felipe Massa. It doesn’t matter how many years it’s been; justice never sleeps!
This inspiring driver who wore his heart on his sleeve was robbed of the Formula 1 World Championship, We’ve all been treated unfairly in our lives, and no matter how much time has passed, we’ve all hoped for justice. Felipe Massa must be retroactively awarded the World Championship for the gross injustice that occurred at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Renault went beyond teamwork to win at Singapore in 2008. Many involved in the crime including Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds faced severe punishment for their actions…but has justice been done?
Massa has this year started investigating legal action, saying it was the comments of those in charge of Formula 1 at the time that got his interest.
“It’s not like I woke up at the start of this year and was looking for that result in 2008. But we saw some interesting interviews from Bernie (Ecclestone) and also from (former FIA race director) Charlie Whiting, from (former FIA president) Max Mosley’s series that he did. And after that I thought what happened at the end was not correct. So I’m looking forward to understanding everything that happened.
Because to be honest I fought them to the last lap, I fought them to the last moment. I used a lot of my heart to celebrate that moment. We fought until the end. I won the race in Brazil, but maybe something that happened in that race in Singapore was not correct, for the sport and for the justice I would say.”
Felipe Massa
The powers-that-be in Formula 1 kept the scandal quiet until the end of the season, even though they knew that race fixing had occurred in Singapore. They tried to solidify the tainted championship and prevent Massa and Ferrari from appealing. Many people question whether a legal challenge to a sporting event from 15 years ago would be worth the paper it’s written on.
For Formula 1 to regain any credibility on the world stage, to maintain its tenuous grip on the title as ‘the pinnacle of motorsports’ the FIA must untangle this web of lies and do what is right.
Those who follow this blog know that every now and then I post an article that is related to militarism. I am not an expert in this subject, I just enjoy reading as much as I can about it.
This passion also led me to join the Brazilian Air Force, back in 1988. In the picture above, I am the first punk on the left. Oh boy, time really flies.
Not long ago I found an awesome blog, The Pacific Paratrooper, dedicated to exploring the history of the Pacific War. In their latest article, the author decided to lighten up a bit and he posted a series of memes and quotes about military common sense. Even if my experience in the barracks was short, it was impossible not to relate.
I was granted permission to repost the jokes here. “Sir, I hope you will enjoy it,Sir!!!”
A lot of life’s problems can be explained by the U.S. Military and its applications of common sense …
“Sometimes I think war is God’s way of teaching us geography.” (Paul Rodriguez)
“A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what’s left of your unit.” (Army’s magazine of preventive maintenance ).
“Aim towards the Enemy.” (Instruction printed on US M79 Rocket Launcher)
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend. (U.S. Marine Corps)
Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs always hit the ground. (U.S. Air Force)
If the enemy is in range, so are you. (Infantry Journal)
It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed. (US Air Force Manual)
Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. (Gen. MacArthur)
Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo. (Infantry Journal)
You, you, and you . . . Panic. The rest of you, come with me. (Marine Gunnery Sergeant)
Tracers work both ways. (US Army Ordnance)
Five second fuses only last three seconds. (Infantry Journal)
Don’t ever be the first, don’t ever be the last, and don’t ever volunteer to do anything. (US Navy Seaman)
Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid. (David Hackworth)
If your attack is going too well, you have walked into an ambush. (Infantry Journal)
No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection. (Joe Gay)
Any ship can be a minesweeper… once. (Admiral Hornblower)
Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do. (Unknown Marine Recruit)
Don’t draw fire; it irritates the people around you. (Your Buddies)
Mines are equal opportunity weapons. (Army Platoon Sergeant)
If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission properly. (David Hackworth)
Your job is to kill the other person before they kill you so that your national leaders can negotiate a peace that will last as long as it takes the ink to dry. (Drill Instructor)
On Jun 11, 2023, at 4 PM (local time), the Ferrari Hipercar #51 driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi receives the checkered flag, winning the 100th anniversary edition of the most iconic auto race on the planet, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This achievement also marks the Ferrari’s first overall victory in the Circuit de la Sarthe since 1965.
The two Ferraris at the front row, at the start of the race.
A total of 325.000 fans from all over the world showed up for the party. The two Ferraris qualified P1 and P2 for the start but at the opening lap it was clear that the mighty Toyota came to what would be their 6th consecutive victory at this legendary circuit. The Toyota drivers went so eager to take the lead that it seamed more like it was the last lap instead of the first.
You might remember the quote from the movie Ford vs Ferrari: “It always rain in Le Mans”, and this year wasn’t different. Heavy rain in the Porsche curves caused chaos before night fall. The picture above shows the moment when a Glickenhaus Hypercar stopped a spin, just in time to avoid being smashed by a GTE-Am Ferrari.
The all female race team Iron Dames brought their pink-liveried #85 Porsche (picture above) to a brilliant 4th place in the GTE class. Despite the good result, the team was deeply frustrated for missing the podium by one position, after fighting so hard through out the 24 hours race.
The two time Oscar nominated actor Michael Fassbender had a rather disappointing debut at Le Mans in 2022, when he crashed his car. Unfortunately, in 2023 it happened again, Michael run over some debris from earlier crashes at the infamous Porsche Courves, when he lost control of his GTE Porsche and crashed against the barrier (picture above). He was able to drive the car back to the pits but the damage was beyond repair.
The weekend was pretty awful for Porsche in general, with too many cars involved in accidents. Their best results was the Porsche Penske Motorsport #5, finishing the race in 9th overall.
Ferrrari had to share the spotlight with General Motors, which had an amazing performance this year. Cadillac scored 3th and 4th place overall and the factory sponsored Corvette Racing won the GTE class. GM will be shutting down the GTE team at the end of this season so, winning at Le Mans was the perfect farewell.
Another memorable GM car was the Garage 56 NASCAR Chevy Camaro, racing in class of it own, called Experimental. The team qualified 3 secs faster than the fastest GTE car and the drivers delivered a solid performance through out the 24 hours race.
After 20 hours of racing, the Camaro was going strong at 27th overall, leaving behind all the GTE cars. But nine minutes later, the former F1 world champion Jenson Button had to pull over at the pits with a major mechanical issue. The Hendrick Motorsport team spent one hour and 21 minutes replacing the gearbox. After that, the only goal was to finish the race, which they did superbly, receiving the checkered flag in 39th overall.
The LMP2 class also had a historical moment. The #34 Inter Europol ORECA finished the race in P1, scoring the first-ever Le Mans win for a Polish team. (picture above)
During the 24 hours of racing, the leading position was occupied by a few different cars, but the race will be remembered by the battle between Ferrari and Toyota. As usual, the fighting was loaded with drama.
At end of the eighth hour, race leader Pier Guidi spun his #51 Ferrari into the gravel at the first Mulsanne chicane, beaching his car as two cars clashed right in front of him. Guidi told reporters he thought everything was lost but the marshals did an awesome job lifting the Ferrari with a crane and putting him back on the track.
Moments later Kamui Kobayashi brought his #7 Toyota to a near complete stop, avoiding two crashed cars in front of him, just to be abruptly rear ended by Louis Prette’s GTE Ferrari. Unfortunately that was the end of race for Kamui.
The drama followed Guidi to end, testing the limits of ability and composure of the team. In two different occasions, the #51 Ferrari failed to restart during the pit stops. Thankfully the Italian driver had a good lead over the P2 Toyota, allowing enough time for the technicians to bring the engine back to life.
The #51 drivers, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi celebrate the historical win at Le Mans.
Not having Ferrari at the Sports Prototype competition for all those years just felt wrong, and I can not lie that I am thrilled to see them back. I was watching the onboard footage from the #51 car; Guidi was going on a parade lap, right after the checkered flag and when I saw the #50 Ferrari joining it, I just couldn’t hold the tears.
The very first time my dad took me to an auto race I was no older than 12 years, it was way back in the early 1980s. It was the beginning of the Lost Decade, in Brazil; a time when the country dived into hyperinflation and economic recession. Naturally, a very expensive hobby like motorsports was not a top priority among the population, but for a bunch of genuinely passionate aficionados, the scarcity of money should not be an obstacle.
The race my dad and I went to see that day was at a dirt track, in the city of Mafra, Santa Catarina, and all I can say is we loved every minute of it. Throughout the 1980s dirt tracks became a massive success in Southern Brazil, it was the most affordable way to get into the hobby.
A Chevy Opala, a veteran of the Speed on Dirt, was rescued after being abandoned for 15 years.
The good memories I have from that time are, the camaraderie among the teams, the smell of strong coffee in the mornings and the churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) at lunchtime, the sound engines, the cars passing by in front of us, the dust and sometimes the mud when it was a rainy weekend. It is called Velocidadena Terra, or Speed on Dirt, and it is amateur racing at its best.
A couple of years ago I found Poeira na Veia (dust in the vein) a website dedicated to preserving the history of the Velocidade na Terra. The author of the page is the journalist and race driver Francis H. Trennepohl, probably the biggest supporter Velocidade na Terra ever had.
The dashing Francis, in 1997, posing in front of his first dirt track race car, a VW Gol.
Francis started in motorsport in 1996, competing in Go Kart, and soon transitioned to dirt tracks. The picture above shows his very first race car, a VW Gol that he bought in partnership with a friend. He never told his parents about the acquisition until the day he brought the car home. He was 16 years old at the time. Unfortunately, in his debut race, Francis blew the engine of his VW. Tough luck.
Promotional flyer of the TTC.
Francis is a Jack of all trades in this field. During his career, he was more than just a driver; he was also a track marshal, mechanic, race director, and vice president of the Santa Catarina Motorsport Association. He went far and beyond to stay close to his passion.
In 2009 Francis created the TCC- Turismo Clássico Catarinense, a special class that brings back to the race track classic Brazilian cars from the past. In 2010, he couldn’t get his VW Beetle ready in time for the first race of the TCC, but his friends stepped in to help. He raced that day with a borrowed VW Voyage.
Racing on a budget can be complicated but Francis has been blessed with some truly good friends. In this brotherhood, they are always helping each other, even financially. This is the kind of camaraderie that exists in the Velocidade na Terra.
In 2022 Francis found a structural crack in the unibody of his VW Passat (pictured above ). Since the car was no longer safe for racing (or anything else for that matter), he considered calling it quits.
But then again, his friends were there and they wouldn’t let him retire. Led by another TCC driver, Rodrigo Pupo, they teamed up and put together a new race car, a VW Gol, and gave it to Francis as a gift.
Since day one the #2 VW Gol proved to be a winning car. It is a 1993 year model but it is very structurally sound, which is extremely important for any race car.
Even if it was not the original purpose of the TCC, it became the entry-level class for many young talent drivers in South Brazil. The class also holds the largest grid in most of the events in the Velocidade na Terra.
To keep the cost low, the rules are strict. The car is very close to what left the showroom 30 years ago. The engine is a 1.6-liter, 4-cylinder, fed by a double-barrel carb. This little mill can produce 135 hp. By the regulation, the minimum weight is 830 Kg (1,830 pounds).
The technicians Cristiano and Vithor, from Colodel Racing, are responsible to keep the #2 Gol in top-notch performance, and then again, a financial boost from friends is much appreciated. With a small donation of 80,00 Reais (16.14 American Dollars), you can have an area of 15×25 cm to display your name on Francis’s car. At the end of the day, it covers a good chunk of each race’s budget.
Most of the pictures of the yellow #2 VW Gol you see here were taken during the first race of the 2023 Southern Nats season, which happened in São Bento do Sul-SC, on May 20th/21st.
Francis won both races in the “Light” class that weekend, proving that hard work, talent, and a little help from friends is a winning combination.
Velocidade na Terra is the most grassroots form of motorsport in the country, and the secret of its success is simple, passion and friendship. I can hardly wait to go back to Brazil and once again watch a race on the “dirt”.
*Note of the editor- Francis H. Thennepohl is the creator of Poeira na Veia, a website dedicated to Velocidade na Terra. With more than 35 thousand pictures published so far, his page is a photographic record of dirt track racing in Southern Brazil, from the1950s until now. Make sure to check it out.
* You can also check my “Buy Me a Coffee” page. Thanks for your support. *
For better or worse, we are witnessing a major shift in the auto industry since… well, since the creation of the automobile; whether we like it or not, the automakers are going electric. I consider myself the most liberal car guy I’ve ever met, I have no problem with the EV, I just don’t like the way it has been shoved down our throats. We don’t have the necessary infrastructure for this change yet and the mining process to get the precious battery materials has proved a social and environmental calamity. In my opinion, the government and the industry are putting the cart in front of the horse.
But enough with all this blah blah blah, the reason for this article is to talk about one of the first victims of this electrification, the muscle car. We have seen the rise, the fall, the almost extinction, and the renaissance of this beloved movement. But now, after an unimaginable amount of rubber and premium gas burned throughout more than 50 years since its creation, the most thrilling chapter in the history of the auto industry has officially come to an end.
Mopar has always prided itself on producing the most badass muscle car ever and they wouldn’t let us down in this time of need. They will leave the party in great style. Dodge is releasing a couple of special edition Challengers to mark the end of the production and it is a very important occasion to be taken lightly. I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination and for that reason, I am republishing an article I saw in the Jesus Behind the Wheel. The author, Jesus Garcia, is a real auto journalist and I like his style very much. He captured the essence of the last Chally like no other. Enjoy it.
The seventh and final Last Call edition Dodge is the 8-second 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 featuring a 1,025 HP supercharged V8 Hemi.
Last Sunday, May 07 something unusual happened, while comfortably sitting on my sofa, wearing my beloved plaid shirt, and holding a beer, I watched a NASCAR race from the very beginning to the end… and I loved it. But there is a catch, the race was in Europe.
What I watched was the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season-opening race, which happened in the Ricardo Tormo circuit, in Valencia, Spain. Vladimir Tziortzis (pictured above), a driver from the island of Cyprus, won both races over the weekend.
You don’t like NASCAR?
I always have conflicting feelings about NASCAR. Although I love the concept of it, big American sedans, powered by insanely powerful V8 engines, racing against each other, I never had the patience to watch a race for more than 5 minutes.
The extremally professional Richard Patty’s team in action.
The pictures above show my most intimate experience with NASCAR. In 2006 when the Richard Petty Driving Experience visited Georgia, I bought a 3-lap ride around the iconic Atlanta Motor Speedway. Yes, it was a blast.
I just can’t fathom the idea of following race cars going round and round on an oval circuit for more than 3 hours… I believe watching a chess match can be more exciting than that.
That is precisely what I like about Euro NASCAR, there are fewer oval circuits and the races are pretty short. Oh yeah, baby!!!
The beginning
It is surprising how much the Europeans love the American car culture. You can find thrilling Hot Rod and Kustom Culture communities in Nordic countries and American classic car aficionados all over Europe.
When I wrote about the NASCAR experience in Le Mans, I found out how much the European race fans were excited to see those thunderous, big American V8 cars racing in their legendary circuit. The French were so passionate about NASCAR that they created their own.
In 2008, French rally driver Jérôme Galpin decided to make the European NASCAR dream come true. As a veteran race driver, he had good connections in the French motorsport scene and to make things even more convenient, his family business, Team FJ, has a lot of experience in building race cars. The first season was in 2009, and it was called Racecar Euro Series. The championship was held on 7 tracks across France, with 16 cars entering the inaugural race at Circuit Paul Armagnac, in the city of Nogaro.
In 2010 the series was approved as an International competition by FIA (Fédération Internationale de Automobile) after a race held in Nürburgring. The calendar was expanded further in 2011, to include more races across Europe.
The Machine
The cars are NASCAR “style”, but the European series has its own approach in building them. The teams can choose from 3 different body styles, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and Toyota Camry. Still, under the skin, the cars follow the 100℅ Parity rule: same cars for every driver, same parts on every vehicle, and major components sealed.
The cars are assembled at the Team FJ facility, located in Blois, France, and sold to the teams.
They are powered by the legendary Chevy 350CID V8 small block, fed by a four-barrel carburetor and producing 450 HP, not bad for a car weighing only 1200 kilos (2650 pounds).
Photo courtesy Ioan Pexan
The transmission is a 4-speed stick or paddle shifter. The wheelbase is 2740mm.
Team FJ is proud to say the European NASCAR is a 100% pure race car, with no electronic aid whatsoever.
Becoming officially part of the NASCAR family.
In early 2012, Team FJ signed an agreement with American NASCAR to sanction the series as part of the NASCAR circuit overseas. Though it remains registered as an International FIA class, the series was allowed to use the NASCAR name and logo.
The EuroNASCAR is attracting some legends of motorsport, like the 1997 Formula-One world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
This new agreement also opened the doors for European drivers to join American NASCAR and vice versa, which can be a real challenge since the two classes might look alike but they are very different.
On July 1, 2013, the series was renamed the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series after Whelen Engineering announced an agreement to become the title sponsor of the series through the 2018 season and forward.
An American Party
Jeff Gordon was the race Grand Marshal at the 2021 EuroNASCAR final, in Zolder, Belgium.
The championship is structured in two classes, The Euro NASCAR PRO, for more seasoned professional drivers, and EuroNASCAR 2, for young talents and gentleman drivers.
The chart below shows how a typical Euro NASCAR weekend is divided.
As exciting as the races can be, the atmosphere in the pits and around the race tracks is also amazing.
The fans have almost unrestricted access to the pits and drivers, and they also might find hot dogs, hamburgers, beer tents, American classic car meetings, live music, and cheerleaders. Every race is a party celebrating all things Americana.
The EuroNASCAR is growing fast, not only for all the reasons mentioned above but mainly because it is a great option for an entry-level class. Thanks to the simplicity of the construction, and the 100℅ parity rule, the cars are pretty affordable and also a blast to drive.
To end this article I decided to post a video from the Italian race driver and YouTube sensation, Alberto Naska. He sums up all the good this about the series, the differences between the American and European cars, and you can watch how it feels to drive the beast. Enjoy.
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As a kid, I had my heroes, just like any other kid in the world who grew up in front of a TV set. I have some vivid memories of Batman, Captain James Kirk, and obviously, Bugs Bunny. In my list of heroes, one is special, because he was a real guy, doing real stunts on a real motorcycle, jumping over real cars, buses, and believe it or not, rattlesnakes! His name was Evel Knievel.
Knievel started his career as a professional rider a bit late in life when he was 27 years old. He was the first daredevil biker to transform his stunts into a lucrative business and became a worldwide sensation in the 1960s/70s.
Robert Craig Knievel was born in the copper-mining town of Butte, Montana, on October 17, 1938. His parents broke up not long after he was born and the kid was raised by his grandparents.
Knievel was a very energetic teenager, a standout athlete in track and field, sky-jumping, and ice hockey. Unfortunately, he used part of this energy to become a petty criminal.
His very first bike was a Harley-Davidson he stole when he was 13 years old. Three years later his grandmother bought him a Triumph.
One night Robert was caught by the cops for riding his bike recklessly (no shi…!) and was taken to the local precinct. There, the police were holding a guy named Knofel, whom they called “Awful Knofel“. To call Robert “Evil Knievel” was a no-brainer. The name stuck, and some years later, Mr. Knievel legally took the name Evel, changing the “i” to “e” because, he said, he thought it looked better.
Evel and his beloved grandma, during his time as a motorcycle racer.
His career as a petty criminal continued, He was once again caught by the police, at this time, stealing hubcaps. Hoping the military life could straighten him up, the judge decided to give Evel a chance, it would either be going to jail or joining the army. Knievel jumped into the green uniform in the 1950s, but a regular infantry job wouldn’t do it for him; he volunteered to be a paratrooper and performed more than 30 jumps during his tenure. Afterward, he played semiprofessional and professional hockey, for a time with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League. Then he took up motorcycle racing full-time until falling and breaking bones in a race in 1962.
Jumping to glory.
When he was 27, Knievel became co-owner of a motorcycle shop in Moses Lake, Wash. To attract customers, he announced he would jump his Honda 350cc, 40 feet over parked cars and a box of rattlesnakes, and continue past a mountain lion tethered at the other end. More than 1,000 people came to see him, His jump was almost perfect, but he failed to fly far enough; his bike came down on the rattlesnakes. The audience was in awe.
“Right then,” he said, “I knew I could draw a big crowd by jumping over weird stuff.”
In 1965 he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils and began barnstorming Western states. Since he was constantly crashing, breaking bones, and staying in hospitals, it was impossible to keep a regular schedule and the group was disbanded. Evel began performing alone, traveling all over the USA, jumping over cars and buses.
Some guys in history were born to become legends and that might be the case with Evel Knievel, even if he turned out to be a controversial one. Some stories about his personal life are as extreme as his stunts. He said he had twice kidnapped his hometown sweetheart, Linda Bork, and married her after the second time. He said he had robbed a service station of $900 when the owner failed to pay off a $25 bet. He said he had worked as a card shark, a swindler, and a safecracker. How much of it is true or not remained unclear.
The Machine
Evel started his career riding Honda, Norton, and Triumph but his favorite bike was Harley-Davidson. For an American hero through and through, there was no other brand that could fit the bill.
He chose the XR 750, a bike designed primarily for dirt track competition, but it could also perform well on paved tracks.
The bike is lightweight (147 kg dry) but sturdy. Powered by a 748cc, air-cooled V-twin, producing between 70 to 100 hp, depending on the level of the modifications adopted. Evel said that the XR had so much torque that was difficult to keep it in a straight line after the takeoff. The picture above shows it clearly.
The worst crash.
To appease the audience (and his ego) Evel was constantly increasing the distance of his jumps. One day, when he was leaving a heavyweight boxing fight in Las Vegas, he came across the fountains of the Ceasars Palace and decided he could jump over it.
To get an audience with the casino’s CEO Jay Sarno, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from ABC-TV and Sports Illustrated inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and the deal was set for him to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967.
The jump was perfect but then again, the landing was a disaster. “It was terrible,” he said afterward. “I lost control of the bike. Everything seemed to come apart. I kept smashing over and over and ended up against a brick wall, 165 feet away.”
“Caesars Palace was by far my worst crash. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. It wasn’t the jump—it was the landing that was so bad.”-
Evel, falling off his Triumph Bonneville, at the Ceasar’s Palace.
Weeks before the stunt, Evel tried to sell the broadcasting rights to several TV companies but none of them accepted the deal.
Knievel knew that doesn’t matter the outcome of the jump, it would be a big event. Using his own money he hired a film crew to record the jump. Even his wife worked as a camera operator. In the end, he made millions selling his footage to the same TV channels that said no to him. The first thing he did after leaving the hospital was to buy a Rolls Royce, the picture above shows the car parked under the awning at his house on Parrot Street in Butte, Montana. I guess the car fits well Evel’s flamboyant persona.
The accident left him with a fractured skull and broken pelvis, hips, and ribs. He was unconscious for a month. The Ceasars Palace stunt made him an international celebrity and became the symbol of his career. In 1989, his son Robbie, who also became a motorcycle stuntman, tried the same jump and succeeded.
Wait a minute, Travis. Where is the Harley?
In 2018 Travis Pastrana honored his idol by replicating 3 of the most iconic Knievel jumps. Sure enough, the Ceasars Palace was among them.
The Ultimate Challenge
Evel saw his near-death crash in Las Vegas as “just another day at the office“. Soon after his recovery, he was back again jumping over a bunch of cars with his Harley-Davidson. But he knew his audience could at any moment get bored with his stunts. Fans have questionable loyalty, the moment they find something more exciting, they will turn their backs on you.
In 1974, Knievel came up with the idea that would be his most dangerous jump ever. He decided to fly over the Snake River Canyon, in Twin Falls, Idaho.
That is a 1600 ft, (almost 1/2 km) jump, no XR750 in the world (or any other bike for that matter) could propel Evel to the other side of the canyon. The only solution was going to the extreme, he hired aeronautical engineer Doug Malewick and retired US Navy engineer Robert Truax to build a rocket-powered bike.
Evel and his son Robert, checking the Skycycle 2, before the launch.
The first machine was named Skycycle X1 and it looked promising but after some testing, the X1 proved to be unfit for the task. The team decided to go full “space program” and they built the Skycycle X2, a real rocket for Evel (picture above).
The Skycycle 2 was designed to gain speed running on a 108 ft rail ramp.
Yes! That is the correct kind of helmet you should wear when flying a homemade rocket over a canyon.
On September 8, 1974, more than 10,000 people showed up to see the crazy stuntman reach the sky. Potato farmers, housewives, hippies, bikers, Boy Scouts, topless women, and a marching band, were all there and the atmosphere was something like 1969 Woodstock. People were so pumped that many had rioted a day before, burning Port-A-Potties and ripping the roofs off of beer trucks.
The crew fired up the Skycycle X2 engine and Evel ran on the ramp like a… well, like a rocket.
Just like many other stunts he performed before, this one looked like everything was going according to plan. When Knievel left the ramp he was flying at 350 miles per hour. The X2 soared 2000 ft over the canyon.
But the parachute deployed too soon, just after the launch, and instead of completing the jump, the rocket came down, floating to the canyon floor. Fans around the globe watched closed-circuit broadcasts in movie theaters, while ABC’s Wide World of Sports aired the event a few weeks later.
At least the parachute worked well. Skycycle 2 landed gently at the bottom of the canyon, leaving Knievel without serious injury. For his efforts, he made $6 million, not too bad considering he didn’t break any bones this time.
Self-made millionaire
Knievel and one of his favorite toys, a 1973 Ferrari Daytona.
Evel Knievel wasn’t only a crazy stuntman, he was a master marketer. The guy was charismatic, no doubt about it, and he knew how to use it. As a result, he became a pop culture icon and the money just followed its natural course.
He also made a ton of money with licensed toys.
“I wasn’t the richest man in the world, but for a cycle rider from Montana, I was having a damn good time”- Evel Knievel Evel was photographed here with some of his best pals before flying to New York to attend a heavyweight fight. He owned the Learjet you see in the picture and more often than he should, he used to fly the aircraft himself, even if he never got a license.
Jumping in England
As a worldwide celebrity, Evel Knievel brought his circus to Wembley Stadium, in London, England, on May 26, 1975. He was set up to jump over 13 buses. In order to allow him to reach the necessary speed, the organizers built a ramp that stretched all the way over the stands.
Surprise surprise! He crashed there, too, breaking his pelvis, vertebrae, and hand.
After the crash, despite breaking his back, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement. Near shock and not yielding to Frank Gifford’s (of ABC Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley field stating, “I came in walking, I’m going out walking!”
After the Wembley crash, the famous actress Ann Margret came to visit Evel, at the London Hospital on her way to the Cannes Film Festival.
The long way into retirement.
At this point in life, Evel was a rich man and adored by fans all over the world. He was popular not only for the stunts he successfully performed but mostly for the ones that he crashed. The fans couldn’t get enough of the stuntman that just refuses to die.
He knew that he could run out of luck at any moment and retirement now should be his most reasonable option… wait a minute, reasonable and Evel Knievel are two things that do not go together in the same sentence.
Walking away from the spotlight is not an easy thing to do.
Knievel kept a busy jumping schedule. On October 25, 1975, he successfully jumped fourteen Greyhound buses at the Kings Island theme park in Ohio. The stunt was the official record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson and Knievel kept it for 24 years. The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel’s longest successful jump at 163 feet. After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement
The shark jump.
In 1977, Knievel came up with another crazy idea, for a change he would not jump over cars or buses, he would jump over a gigantic tank…full of sharks!!!
This stunt was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jaws, which was released in 1975 but was still a sensation at the time. The jump was scheduled for January in Chicago, IL and sure enough, the organizers built a gigantic tank and filled it with 13 (small) sharks. Unfortunately, the jump never happened. During his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of his Harley and crashed into a cameraman. Knievel broke both arms and had to cancel the stunt, but what really got him devastated was the permanent injury the accident caused to the cameraman, who lost his eye. The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel, that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary, Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story was ready.
The disastrous shark jump was the breaking point for Evel. He retired from major performances and limited his appearances to speaking only, rather than stunt riding, saying ” A professional is supposed to know when he has jumped far enough.”
Robbie Knievel visits Jay Leno.
After Evel retired, his son, Robbie Knievel, took his place. Robbie became an accomplished stunt biker and during his career, he broke several records and successfully performed some of the jumps his father had failed before.
The last of gladiators.
As far as he remembered, Evel underwent as many as 15 major operations to relieve severe trauma and repair broken bones — skull, pelvis, ribs, collarbone, shoulders, and hips. “I created the character called Evel Knievel, and he sort of got away from me,” he said.
He had a titanium hip and aluminum plates in his arms and several pins holding other bones and joints together. He was in so many accidents that he occasionally broke some of his metal parts, too.
Living on the fast lane also took its toll, his health had been compromised by years of heavy drinking; he told reporters that at one point he was consuming half a fifth of whiskey a day, washed down with beer chasers.
Mr. Knievel had been in failing health for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. In 1999, he underwent a liver transplant after nearly dying of hepatitis C, which he believed he had contracted from a blood transfusion after one of his many hospital visits. He died on November 30, 2007, victim of pulmonary disease, in Clearwater, Florida.
The image of Evel Knievel, the death-defying daredevil riding his Harley-Davidson, jumping over rows of cars, trucks, and buses, became the personification of America’s love affair with motor vehicles. In 1999 he was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
This is not going to end up well.
Knievel also became the hero of thousands of kids worldwide, inspiring some daring cul-de-sac stunts. And indirectly responsible for a few broken bones.
“Bones heal, chicks dig scars, pain is temporary, glory is forever”-Evel Knievel
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Back in the early 2000s, my wife and I were working as delivery drivers for a Pizza Hut store, in Kennesaw GA. We and our manager, Robert, shared the same passion for rock’n roll, and one day, to our surprise, he trusted us with his most beloved possession, his Pink Floyd CD collection.
Later that night, while burning copies in our apartment, we came across the “Relics” album. We just couldn’t believe that was actually Pink Floyd stuff. We were used to more mainstream songs, played on the radio, songs like Comfortably Numb and Another Brick in the Wall. We had never had contact with the band’s light and psychedelic side of the band before.
We all know how rock bands can blossom and venture into much more mature creations. The Beetles is a good example of this but the transformation of Pink Floyd is unparallel.
A creative machine
This early stage of the band is marked by the presence of the guy who started it all, the frontman and lead guitarist Syd Barret.
After going through various name changes, in 1965, the original members of the band, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Roger Walters, and Syd Barrett, settled with Pink Floyd, which is a combination of names of two American blues musicians Barrett loved, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Pink Floyd, in 1967. From left to right, Roger Walters, Nick Mason, Syd Barret, and Richard Wright.
Syd pushed Pink Floyd to the status of the leading band in the psychedelic movement, singing, playing guitar, and writing most of the songs on the band’s 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as well as its first hit singles, “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play.” He could fit perfectly into the stereotype of the rock’n roll genius: highly intelligent, and creative but unstable. Some would say that his mind-bending songs and stage performances were the results of his heavy LSD addiction.
Barrett soon started to lose connection with the real world. The frail state of his mental health and the drug addiction made him an unreliable bandmate and an embarrassment during live presentations.
In the fall of 1967, Pink Floyd was in the USA, for a much-desired American tour. The band was invited to play live in two different TV shows, as part of the advertising campaign for the tour. In both presentations, Barrett seemed to be in some other world. He just stood on the stage, in a catatonic state of mind, without playing or singing. Foreseeing a much bigger humiliation, the band’s manager canceled the whole enterprise. It became clear that Barrett’s behavior could no longer be tolerated.
Gilmour steps in.
In hopes of bringing back some balance to the band, the members reached out to David Gilmour, inviting him to be the fifth member of Pink Floyd. The idea was to push Barrett to a “behind the scenes” songwriter role. This arrangement didn’t last long and by 1968, Syd was no longer part of Pink Floyd.
Hiring Gilmour was a fortunate decision. The fame and popularity of Pink Floyd continued to grow through the late 60s and early 70s. In 1973 the band released the iconic The Dark Side of the Moon, which became one of the best seller rock albums of all time. Even if the band was, at this point, going in the desired direction, the members felt that leaving Barrett behind was a harsh decision. Even the new guy, Gilmour, felt uneasy about it, after all, he and Barrett were long-time friends.
Wish You Were Here.
Pink Floyd became the master of concept albums, and The Dark Side of the Moon might be the best example ever. The album focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, exploring themes like conflict, greed, time, death, and also the problem of mental illness faced by Syd Barrett. The album became a monumental success, propelling the band’s popularity to a level that they never thought possible.
Writing songs about their missing friend was the way they found to cope with Barrett’s absence and the possible regret of letting him go. Syd was no longer physically among them, but his influence never left.
Pink Floyd at the Abbey Road Studio, London UK, 1975.
But it was only in their next album, 1975 I Wish You Were Here, that Barrett became the center point of their work. Roger Waters’ lyrics tell us about the hardships faced by the members during the transition from an underground band, making music for a small but devoted audience – and the present. Pink Floyd had become a worldwide phenomenon, generating millions of dollars for themselves and for the music industry. The camaraderie that once existed between them was not the same anymore. Tying the song cycle together are two compositions about Syd Barrett: the nine-part opus “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and the short, haunting title track.
The song opens with the sound of a car radio tuning away from the previous track (Have A Cigar), across a station playing Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony (the part was recorded using the radio of Gilmour’s car). The next part jumps on to Dave playing the delicate 12-string acoustic guitar intro. “It is all meant to sound like the first track getting sucked into the radio, with one person sitting in the room playing guitar along the radio,” Gilmour explained.
Syd Barrett, by the time when he left Pink Floyd.
Roger Waters claimed that David Gilmour’s four-note guitar motif summed up a “sort of indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd”. It is in fact, one of the most beautiful guitar intros in the history of rock and roll. It’s simple and meant to be casual, to the point that Gilmour can be heard coughing, followed by some breathing right before the main guitar comes along.
I always thought the coughing/breathing was there on purpose, considering how Pink Floyd was an experimental band, but legend has it that Dave could not hold the cough due to his heavy smoking at the time. When he heard the final take, he was devasted but the band decided to keep the recording the way it was. Gilmor quit smoking cold turkey on the following day.
But Waters later said: “Shine On is not really about Syd — he’s just a symbol for all the extremes of absence some people have to indulge in because it’s the only way they can cope with how fucking sad it is, modern life, to withdraw completely.”
The last appearance
On the 5th of June, 1975, Syd Barrett made a surprise visit to Abbey Road Studio, where the album was being recorded. He showed up at the same time engineer Brian Humphries was working on the final mix of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” He’d put on so much weight that the others didn’t recognize him for several minutes. He’d shaved his head, too, along with his eyebrows. He even wanted to help with the recording but according to the members of the band, Barrett had no clear idea of what was going on in the studio. Waters couldn’t hold the tears when he saw his friend so lost, so detached, so disengaged from the world around him. “Wish You Were Here” deals with that mental inability – the refusal, even – to engage with reality, and it served as much as a rallying for Waters as a sad tribute to Barrett’s better days.”
That was the last time all five Pink Floyd guys were seen together.
Final thoughts
Both Roger Waters and David Gilmour agree that “Wish You Were Here” is one of the band’s best songs, if not the best. It is a worthy homage to a dear friend.
Wish You Were Here album was released on September 12, 1975, and became one of the most emblematic works of Pink Floyd. By 2004 it had sold an estimated 13 million copies.
Barrett died at home in Cambridge on 7 July 2006, aged 60, from pancreatic cancer. None of the Pink Floyd members attended the funeral.
In a statement, Wright said: “The band is very naturally upset and sad to hear of Syd Barrett’s death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band lineup and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire.” Gilmour said: “Do find time to play some of Syd’s songs and to remember him as the madcap genius who made us all smile with his wonderfully eccentric songs about bikes, gnomes, and scarecrows. His career was painfully short, yet he touched more people than he could ever know.”
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The Classic Machines 