8 replies to this topic

[dbw]

here's a fellow that became an international personality and the very cornerstone of respected television news journalism.....so just what was the early racing history of one walter cronkite?

[rdrcr]

I don't know much about his racing career per se, though I do know that he drove at Sebring once.... Perhaps he was acquainted with fellow racer and sailor Briggs Cunningham?

[Frank S]

Originally posted by rdrcr
I don't know much about his racing career per se, though I do know that he drove at Sebring once.... Perhaps he was acquainted with fellow racer and sailor Briggs Cunningham?

And/or fellow television face Dave Garroway, who was a Jaguar SS-100 driver, if I am not mistaken.

adit:

The Bill Leyden in a Long Beach program mentioned in another thread was an early L.A. game or talk show (?) host, and Mr. Betty White, I seem to remember.

[lanciaman]

I recall that Walter raced an A-H 100-4, but that's the extent of it. And Garroway drove a Jag at least once at the Glen.

[dbltop]

Mr. Betty White was Allan Ludden , I think. He was a game show host.

[WGD706]

The Lancia team which competed in the 1959 Sebring 12-hour race consisted of Peter Baumberger,Walter Rohlfs and Walter Cronkite. They drove a Lancia Appia Zagato entered by Charles Kreisler, finished 40th overall, 5th in the Grand Touring 1300 class. They did 140 laps while the winning car,a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59 [0766] driven by Dan Gurney,Chuck Daigh,Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, finished 188 laps.

[Frank S]

Originally posted by dbltop
Mr. Betty White was Allan Ludden , I think. He was a game show host.

Aha!

[Barry Lake]

Here are a couple of posts I saved from the Racing History forum some months ago:


"I forgot the dean of American Television newscasters Walter Cronkhite! I saw him at Lime Rock in 57/58 driving a Lotus. I think it was a club race rather than a National race. It was one of those pretty Le Mans cars. You know, the Costin aerodynamics, The swept windscreen. As far as I know that was the only time he raced. Still counts. Cronkite."
Gil Bouffard

"Media type watchers. Believe Cronkite also ran Sebring. Think they had a set-up where he could
broadcast from within the car."
Michael T. Lynch

[Barry Lake]

And, from a story I did with Chris Economaki a few years ago:

"In 1959 Daytona Speedway opened and I moved there as the track announcer. In 1960 CBS TV came to Daytona and they televised a day of what I call 'creative races'. There were no points, and no series, they were purely for the TV. They used Walter Cronkite, (a famous newspaper columnist of the time) as their announcer. He used to race sports cars in those days, so he did have some knowledge of the sport, but the newspaper reviews of the telecast were just awful."