37 replies to this topic

[josefk]

I collect old magazines mostly covering F1. As a by product over the years I have picked up the odd magazine covering US open wheel racing (Indycar). I have quite a few copies of Racer Magazine which from promising beginnings now doesn't even seem to cover the races. Getting to the point I also have a few copies of a magazine called Indy Car Racing Magazine, which at some point seems to have changed its name to Championship Racing Magazine. It no longer seems to be published but working back from the Volume numbers it must have started around 1983. This magazine seems to have much more detail on the US Indycar championships.

Does anyone have any more information on Indy Car Racing magazine, when it started and stopped, was it monthly, did it always cover the actual races as well as magazine pieces, did it cover both CART and IRL series or just one?

As I have mostly completed my F1 collections I was thinking of filling in gaps in my Indycar knowledge so if anyone also knows what other magazines covered US open wheel racing pre 1983 or post for that matter and has an recommendations I'd be fascinated to hear.

[Flat Black 84]

National Speed Sport News was a newspaper that covered American OW racing extensively. In 1950 Chris Economaki took over editorship of that publication.

Speed Age is another, although I know little about it.

Hot Rod and Motor Trend sometimes had articles about the Indy 500 and other OW races, as well as drivers and cars.

Life Magazine usually covered the 500 with an article and sometimes (1964) with great photojournalism as well.

I suspect Road & Track may have provided some coverage, but I really don't know for sure.

[RA Historian]

Indy Car Racing magazine had a checkered history. It was started in the early 1980s, published by Griggs PUblishing, if memory serves. Gordon Kirby was one of the founders. It was a tabloid, printed newspaper style on newsprint. After a few years it went to a magazine format. Kirby left, and a variety of others came and went. Sometime in the 1990s it was purchased by Ned Wicker who kept it running for a number of year, perhaps until 2000 or so. Around the time of the split in 1996 the magazine covered both series. After a few years it dropped IRL coverage and concentrated on CART. This was in response to subscriber complaints, as I recall. Whatever, things got rougher as time went on and it eventually went out of business.

In the early days, especially when Gordon Kirby was involved, it covered CART in detail. The publication schedule was a bit fluid; initially it was on a set schedule, but somewher along the line was changed to a system where it was published after each race. Hence, during the summer it came out frequently, but was a bit scarce during the off season.

I am recalling this from memory, mind you, so the details may well not be exactly as stated above. Be that as it may, in the early years it was rather good, but ran out of steam as the years went by, and it eventually disappeared. A good effort, but as it the case with so many print publications, unable to compete as the electronic age came about.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 05 July 2009 - 02:35.

[Rob G]

On Track was another magazine that did a fine job covering Indycar racing in the '80s and '90s, along with nearly every other road racing series in North America and many around the world. In addition to news and race reports, they were particularly detailed about qualifying sessions and listing the race results for the major series.

[B Squared]

Autosport did a fine job of covering IndyCar for many years too.

Brian

[HDonaldCapps]

Speed Age began with a May 1947 issue and went fairly strong until about early 1956 when it began to misfire and sputter badly and then finally died, not mourned by many by that time, around 1960 or so. Up until about early 1956 it is generally quite good, but after that....

Road & Track generally became far more "road" than "track" by the early Seventies, so racing was generally the Rob Walker reports and whatever happened to strike the editor's fancy at that moment.

Indy Car Racing went from a magazine format to a tabloid format back to magazine format. As Tom points out, it started out strong, but then seemed to bounce a bit and then flutter and then disappeared. As Tom says, a truly checkered career. The first two or three years were very, very good, but then it began to shift direction and the content suffered.

On Track, which appeared in 1981 -- after Formula and then Racecar died and rising from their ashes -- and expired in 2000, did a yeoman's job in covering Indy-type racing. Its demise has left a void that has and probably never be filled on the American scene.

As Brian points out, there came a point where Autosport really began to cover the American scene and the USAC and CART events got very good coverage, the annual season end wrap-up being especially worth reading.

Of course, one of the constants of the later coverage is Gordon Kirby and there seems to have always been NSSN....

[fbarrett]

Friends:

Then, of course, there is AutoWeek, and from 1948 roughly through 1960s, Hot Rod. One can learn far more (not always authorized) details from Walter Haesner's (? spelling) loosy-goosy Indy 500 yearbooks, before political correctness set in.

Frank

[wenoopy]

Friends:

Then, of course, there is AutoWeek, and from 1948 roughly through 1960s, Hot Rod. One can learn far more (not always authorized) details from Walter Haesner's (? spelling) loosy-goosy Indy 500 yearbooks, before political correctness set in.

Frank

I often bought 'Racer' magazine in 1998-99, which generally was interesting reading, and had a very good 'For The Record' section at the back giving very detailed results for most US racing categories. But around that time they hived off 'Champ Car' magazine, so that to get the same editorial cover I would have to spend twice as much (not that it was overly expensive), so I stopped buying it! But it was good for keeping track of CART and Indy Lights, which were of interest to a Scott Dixon fan in those days.

What about the Floyd Clymer Indy 500 Yearbooks. I have a couple of early 1960's ones, are they still published? And there were also the "Auto Week Racing Fan Guides" I bought a couple of those in the 1990's - do they still come out?

[josefk]

Friends:

Then, of course, there is AutoWeek, and from 1948 roughly through 1960s, Hot Rod. One can learn far more (not always authorized) details from Walter Haesner's (? spelling) loosy-goosy Indy 500 yearbooks, before political correctness set in.

Frank

I've never heard of the Walter Haesner yearbook. The National Indy 500 Collectors Club pages on Indy Yearbooks doesn't have it listed. Can you remember any more about it.

[pete3664]

Of course, the Indy 500 only, but the Hungness yearbooks were a reference for a lot of people as to what cars ran with who and what modifications had been made or new cars released. They didn't cover the whole year, but were a pretty good clue as to what was goin on.

[Flat Black 84]

If you're willing to pay a bit, another outstanding source on the 500 are the actual programs from the race itself. They can be purchased on ebay, and, generally speaking, are more expensive the older they are. I'm in the process of completing a collection of the programs from 1946 through 1981. Latest purchase is the '74 program, and I still lack 18 before completing the run.

[RA Historian]

Simply put, there really is no reliable, informative magazine about Indy Car racing any more. Indy Car Racing is gone, as are many others. On Track was simply the best, not only for Indy cars/CART, et al, but also for all forms of racing. As stated above, it covered everything, and had full results boxes of just about everything. As a reference tool it is very valuable for the 20 years of its publication. I am glad I have every issue in my archive. It is nothing less than a crying shame that it is gone, a victim of low circulation, I suppose. Racer never really reported on racing, and to be frank, I still have not figured out exactly what it considers its mission to be. Autoweek used to be a quick, weekly update on things, but now that it has gone to every other week (at no decrease in price--in effect doubling the cost!! Which is why my subscription will be allowed to lapse.) it no longer is topical. For example, since the Milwaukee race was the first week of a two week cycle, it never even got mentioned! NSSN is the only thing going which gives you the news in the same week it happened (here in the US), but their coverage tends to be uneven and never in depth. Plus, for better or worse, everything in that paper still carries the undercurrent of its dirt track roots, even after all these years. Road & Track once the best of the monthlies, is but a sad shadow of itself. In reality, it is just a slick Motor Trend, nothng more than a monthly collection of road test after road test. Racing has all but disappeared. The Track part is gone. I have every issue since early 1956 in my archive, but this is another magazine that I have placed on my 'will not renew' list. Autosport has changed, as a related thread has stated. I stopped subscribing a few years ago, unwilling to put up any longer with the jingoism, the printing of rumors as fact, the garish graphics, and the lessening of US coverage. I had subscribed for a few decades, but just reached a point around 2004 or so when I decided that the content was no longer worth the cost. Not to mention that Kirby has since left.

Man, all that is depressing! Outside of the web (and there is a LOT we can say about that!) there really is no source for thorough, up to date racing news. Not like when I first got interested in racing, when I could go down to the local pharmacy and peruse a magazine rack filled with titles such as Road & Track, Competition Press, Sports Cars Illustrated, Speed Age, Sports Car Pictorial, Sports Car Graphic, On The Grid, Canada Track and Traffic, Sports Car Guide and others whose names are lost in the mists of time, but added to the sheer enjoyment that a young schoolboy found in the world of sports cars and racing. Ah well....

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 05 July 2009 - 16:34.

[josefk]

Forgive me if this is a daft question but do the Floyd Clymer Yearbooks and The Hungness Yearbooks only deal with the Indianapolis 500 race and not the Championship then? I think the Indy Reviews covered the IRL as a whole and the Autocourse Champ/Cart covered that championship as a whole? But all that is post 93

If that's right was there nothing in yearbook form covering the Indycar championship (assuming there was such a thing) from whenever it started.

[RA Historian]

Speaking of yearbooks, there was a series of 'official' CART/Champ Car yearbooks published from 1993 through 2006. I believe Autocourse produced these from 1993 through 2005, with the 2006 edition being a Champ Car product. Jeremy Shaw was the editor. I think that there may have been an IRL equivalent very briefly.

In any case, after the 2006 season book, they stopped being published. Too bad, as off hand I am not aware of a book that covers the entire season since, and they were always a good thing to have on the shelf as reference.

Tom

[ac_Masaryk]

I am also very interested about Champ Car History, but there were few things outside America I think

[wenoopy]

I am also very interested about Champ Car History, but there were few things outside America I think

There was "The Indycar Racing Handbook" by David Phillips published by Sidgwick & Jackson, London with a "Full 1993 Season Race-by-Race Review".

It covers Nigel Mansell's Championship win and some historical background to the Series, but the 'full review' extends only to 12th placings (as did the championship points). I presume it was a one-off (as was Mansell's participation).

[HDonaldCapps]

Speaking of yearbooks, there was a series of 'official' CART/Champ Car yearbooks published from 1993 through 2006. I believe Autocourse produced these from 1993 through 2005, with the 2006 edition being a Champ Car product. Jeremy Shaw was the editor. I think that there may have been an IRL equivalent very briefly.

In any case, after the 2006 season book, they stopped being published. Too bad, as off hand I am not aware of a book that covers the entire season since, and they were always a good thing to have on the shelf as reference.

Tom

Tom & Others,

There was the Indy Review which the IMS began publishing in about 1993 or 1994, I think and did so until some point about 2001 or maybe 2002, one of the reasons the Carl Hungness annuals ended in 1997. It was, to be nice, pretty sorry.

There was the the CART: The Men and Machines series of annuals that went from about 1986 or so until maybe 1993. Not much more than picture books, really.

As mentioned, the Memorial Day race itself would often get good to excellent coverage in various magazines, there being several years when the Hot Rod coverage of the race was simply outstanding; Car Life, Motor Trend, you name it, used to feature that particular race, but the rest of the series was generally ignored. However, things would pop in the most amazing places at time, such as the 1964 Nassau coverage that appeared in one of the hot-rodding magazines and was excellent since some of the pictures were superb and it actually contained full (or nearly so) results, something highly unusual at the time, along with some of the rounds of the National Championship getting coverage in odd places. From time to time Sports Illustrated would have coverage of a USAC Championship round, with other sports magazines doing the same, with even The Sporting News, Ray Marquette as I recall, covering the events for awhile.

Don

[wrighty]

While i'd have to check back (and i don't have many copies, they were rarer than hens teeth over here and the subscrition copies i had were lent out and never returned), i think open wheel also used to cover the indycar scene, although more from a perspective of dirt-track drivers who'd 'made it to the big league', so from that POV it filled a void where often the history of a driver before they reached 'the pinnacle' was a little sketchy
I'll see if i can find the few copies i have and see if the Indycar-related material i remember is in there

[HDonaldCapps]

Yep, I forgot about Open Wheel and a number of other similar magazines.

Problem remains that with the demise of On Track, nothing else has really managed to fill that void.

[Andy Glaess]

Auto Racing magazine, circa 1966-1971, 72? I have some of those, and they are pretty good for their day. Covered everything from F1 to Stock Cars, Champ cars of course.

I think that race reporting really has a hard time dealing with cable television and the internet. 30 years ago readers had to catch up on racing via reports in Road & Track, On Track, etc.. Now, we just watch the race itself. So demand for race reports, of old news of any kind, is way down.

I'd like to have both, of course, but there aren't too many of us like that out there. Not enough to make it lucrative. And, if I had to choose, I'll take the TV broadcast over the 2-3 page race report.

[B Squared]

Gordon Kirby from a 2006 column on auto racing magazines, that fits well in this thread.

http://www.gordonkir...it_is_no16.html

Brian

[RA Historian]

Kirby's column nails it.
Tom

[josefk]

I agree that article from Gordon Kirby explains a lot.
OK, so now I get it, unlike in the UK say, one can't get a first hand contemporary perspective on American open wheel racing from Magazines. There is no "bible" and no magazine consistent enough to give that perspective.

If I have understood correctly all the various Yearbooks again don't cover the Championship as a whole but only it's most famous member the Indy 500 race.

So if one wanted to get a perspective on the Indycar championship what resources are there that cover the wider series not just Indy?

[RA Historian]

I agree that article from Gordon Kirby explains a lot.
OK, so now I get it, unlike in the UK say, one can't get a first hand contemporary perspective on American open wheel racing from Magazines. There is no "bible" and no magazine consistent enough to give that perspective.

If I have understood correctly all the various Yearbooks again don't cover the Championship as a whole but only it's most famous member the Indy 500 race.

So if one wanted to get a perspective on the Indycar championship what resources are there that cover the wider series not just Indy?

Josefk, that is exactly the question. There really is no place to go anymore to get a season long perspective on US Indy car racing. On Track, far and away the best of the past generation is gone, Autoweek has abdicated its role in race reporting, and NSSN is the only one left but they leave much to be desired. Yes, I am afraid that there is not 'bible' covering what we want anymore.

As far as an annual is concerned, as far as I know, there simply is none that covers the season such as the Autocourse Indy Car and Champ Car yearbooks did up until a couple years ago. All gone.

If anyone knows of a source, I for one would appreciate it.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 07 July 2009 - 23:10.

[rateus]

The CART: Men and Machines and Autocourse yearbooks did cover the whole series, not just Indy. Of course, how well they do it is another matter.

[RA Historian]

The CART: Men and Machines and Autocourse yearbooks did cover the whole series, not just Indy. Of course, how well they do it is another matter.

Errrr, DID it......

Past tense, I am afraid, not present.

Tom

[HDonaldCapps]

I think that missing the "first draft of history" through the lack of any magazines covering the racing scene, the American one in particular, will have its consequences down the road for the historians tackling this era. I certainly don't envy them.

[JB Miltonian]

It seems pretty obvious to me that there would be a VERY limited market for magazines about current F1/IRL racing. Who wants to READ about races that are decided during the pit stops? It's bad enough to WATCH them.

[RA Historian]

JB, you may well be right about the size of the market. That after all is what has driven all the mags we have mentioned either out of business or into other areas of publishing.

I also think that Col. Capps has raised a very valid and troubling point; the absence of the first line of reporting and, I should mention, the followup and very important line of the all inclusive annual, is a potential pit of non-information for the future historians and enthusiasts. There simply is no place where one can go and pull a volume off of a shelf or dig into a box of magazines to find out information. No On Track, no Autocourse Indy Car Annual. True, most stuff is on the web somewhere, but for how long, how accessible, and how easily captured and stored. Not the same, at least to me.

One source that exists in limited form, not yet mentioned above as far as I can recall, is series media guides. Generally they have full results boxes but are of limited availability and by their very nature are not objective in any reporting. Further, far from all have guides at all.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 08 July 2009 - 13:09.

[B Squared]

The split has further convoluted history (personal opinion only), in that Scott Dixon and Sam Hornish are currently proclaimed as the all-time win leaders in IndyCar racing. From what I understand, IMS acquired all rights of the ex-CART, Champ Car statistics and have (in more show of brilliance) decided that the only statistics that matter are from 1996 on. To ignore the likes of A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr., etc. as a part of the history is beyond my comprehension.

Brian

[Flat Black 84]

josefk,

Are you seeking these materials for personal pleasure or for a serious research project (not that the two are incommensurable, of course)? If the latter, then there are certainly numorous sources but none that are easily accessable, comprehensive and reasonably objective. In the more difficult category of sources are the Indy 500 programs that I mentioned, but those programs also exist for race courses such as Trenton, Altoona, Ascot, Milwaukee, Pocono, Michigan, Phoenix, DuQuoin and Langhorne, just to name a few. Also, local newspapers in those venues will have relevant reportage stored in their archives. Some of these newspaper articles may be available digitally, but the vast majority will not be. In other words, if you're into this subject for anything other than "mere" pleasure, you've got your work cut out for you.

Edited by Flat Black 84, 08 July 2009 - 15:00.

[HDonaldCapps]

This entire discussion has gotten me to thinking about the larger issue of sources, secondary in this case, but still important, and just how those trying to sort out the present-but-will-be-history when, as Tom point out, you cannot pull an annual off the shelf or rummage through the stacks of magazine. The media guides are often overlooked as a source, but they must be approached with some caution, of course.

We have enough difficulties already dealing with the decades far behind us, but the lot of the future historians seems to be pretty dismal to be honest. Like Tom, I have serious reservations as to the permanence of whatever exists online, something which several studies have confirmed -- citing a Web site only to have it vanish is not very uncommon, especially over a matter of time.

Digitization is another matter, but if there is nothing to digitize....

I have been tempted, as a result of this thread, to start another thread entitled "Pity the Poor Historian" as if the Rear View Mirror column still existed. In addition to this issue, there is another issue that is woven into this -- the aging of those who have been the sources for us in the past: Gauld, Nye, Ludvigsen, Kirby, Lyons, Printz, to name but a very, very few. Tom is no spring chicken and neither am I for that matter.

Again, I think that several here have made some very interesting points and have gotten me, at least, mulling all this over.

This almost makes me feel like a professor again, trying to sort how to approach a topic and then design the research effort needed to see what we can find.

[Flat Black 84]

And the aging "human sources" are, of course, not confined to historians. With every passing month we lose drivers, promoters, reporters, engineers and car owners. This phenomenon fills me with an urge to interview every relevant individual over the age of, say, 65, but then reality descends upon me like a load of bricks.

[RA Historian]

Tom is no spring chicken ....

Gee, Colonel, thanks for noticing...., I think.......

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 08 July 2009 - 18:07.

[T54]

Don Capps raises an excellent point, that parallels pretty much the current history of the automobile in general: Indy car history before the split was very interesting, well documented and we are still fascinated by it today.
Indy car history since is very interesting on the CART side of things, while the IRL history at the same time has been pretty much a complete bore, at least to me.

In the same manner, most of us love old cars when they had personality and did not look like toasters on wheels and their history and details are well documented by fanatics on both the writing and the reading sides, but frankly who is keeping track today of the detailed history of the Ford Fairmont, the limited edition Lincoln Continental MK34 with rich Corinthian leather interior and signed by Calvin Klein, or such a milestone as the Toyota Tercel?

So frankly, I can't say that I am particularly excited to know or not, the chassis number of the 2004 Indy 500-winning Dallara or whatever chassis it was. In fact I would bet that in 30 years from now, it will still be a formerly expensive boat anchor.
We have gone into an era of utter racing boredom, just like with our road cars.

[HDonaldCapps]

Completely out of the blue but somewhat related....

David Bordwell: Doing Film History

....since it does touch on the topic of "doing history" and rather parallels the efforts that a new niche in the realm of history has to undertake to establish itself. As film history has slowly developed and evolved, so has that of a niche within a niche -- automobile racing history within the realm of the history of the automobile. At any rate, some might find it interesting and be able to draw parallels.

Edited by HDonaldCapps, 09 July 2009 - 07:10.

[fines]

Very interesting article, thanks for the link, Don! I heartily encourage others to read the article, too, even if it's a bit long, yet it is also very rewarding. Just one of the interesting quotes:

Historians in any discipline do more than accumulate facts. No facts speak for themselves. Facts (...) help us ask and answer questions.

And I would say the asking of questions is the most important part...

[wrighty]

......And I would say the asking of questions is the most important part...

and i would suggest that without a person or a car or an event then there's nothing to ask about ;)