14 replies to this topic

[Philip Whiteman]

Rubbing my hands at the prospect of Santa (more correctly, Mrs Santa) giving me a Carousel Lotus 38 for Christmas, I turned to my few Indy references in small-boy anticipation:

The one that gets me going, time and again, is Charles Fox's The Great Racing Cars and Drivers. Beautifully written, it comes from the same U.S. publishing house as James Gilbert's seminal book on flying, The Great Planes - a book held in the highest esteem by us propellerheads.

Having failed to find any reference to Fox - who was a contributor to both Car and Driver and Road and track at the time his book was published (1972) - via Google or TNF's search engine, I wonder if anybody can fill me in on whether he wrote more, or is still around? According to The Great Racing Cars... blurb, he was just 29 in '72, and appeared to live in San Francisco

[lanciaman]

Isn't Charles Fox the chap who rather seriously destroyed Sam Posey's CanAm car with some injury to himself, on behalf of a Car and Driver column that turned out to be more interesting than originally intended?

[MCH]

Just came accross an article about that crash on the web, it's from the June 1969 Car and Driver issue. Written by Charles Fox himself, title says "Crash Testing a Can-Am Car ".

http://dega.cs.unc.e...n/lola-art.html

[antonvrs]

The last piece I saw by Charles Fox was in a motorcycle magazine in the late '80s, I believe.He had contracted Multiple Sclerosis and was wheelchair bound.
He wrote some of the best pieces I've ever read in any motoring oriented magazine- in fact, some of the best magazine articles I've ever read, period.
His son, James, is also a writer. See: "UFOs: Fifty Years Of Denial?"
Anton

[Coogar]

Re: the 'crash test' of the Lola T190.
Even though writing about - and occasionally testing race cars is what I do for some of my time - I wish I'd written that piece !
Just superb.....And I can identify with all of it apart from the trees, mainly because there were no trees where I planted that F3000 !
I hope Mr Fox is still with us !

[Martyj]

Charles Fox wrote one of my favorite journalistic pieces of all time for Car and Driver. It was a lengthy article called "The Trinity" about the friendship and tragedy between Jackie Stewart/Jochen Rindt/Piers Courage. Fox knew all three men, and had a lot of insight. It was less about their on track deeds, and more about the human side of an unforgiving sport. I'll probably dig it out of my files and re-read it, especially since I just finished the Courage book as well.

He wrote this piece in about 1988, so he was at least active up until then.

[Lotus23]

Wasn't Charles Fox involved in rescuing Jim Hall from his big Can-Am crash at Stardust?

Or are my synapses crossed again?

[Lotus23]

Yup. Took a bit of googling, but it was 10 Nov 68, during the 6th, and final, Can-Am race of the 68 season.

Jim Hall ran into/over Lothar Motschenbacher (mechanical -- neither driver at fault) and the corner workers ran toward what was left of LM's car. Charles Fox and a couple of others ran to the overturned Chaparral, lifted it up, and got JH out. Jim spent some time in recovery (2 broken legs, inter alia).

Denny Hulme won the race and the 68 championship.

Still no clue on CF's current whereabouts.

[antonvrs]

I was able to contact Charles Fox's son, James and this was his reply:
________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Anton,

You will be glad to hear that he is alive and despite his illness, quite well. He is living with his wife just north of San Francisco. I will forward him your kind words.


all the best,

James Fox
________________________________________________________________________________
A small piece of good news for the beginning of the new year.
BTW, I did suggest that Atlas F1 and TNF might be of interest to him.
Anton

[Don Capps]

Anton,

Outstanding work!

Best regards,

Don

[Lotus23]

Great job, Anton! You get my Sherlock Holmes award for the week.

[Bob Brzezinski]

He wrote an article on the Ken Miles "Flip Top" Cobra (CSX2189) and one of its post Shelby-American drivers, Dave Ridenour, that appeared in one of the American car magazines about ten years ago. It was a wonderful piece, and I'm glad to hear he's doing okay.

[Andy Glaess]

Rubbing my hands at the prospect of Santa (more correctly, Mrs Santa) giving me a Carousel Lotus 38 for Christmas, I turned to my few Indy references in small-boy anticipation:

The one that gets me going, time and again, is Charles Fox's The Great Racing Cars and Drivers. Beautifully written, it comes from the same U.S. publishing house as James Gilbert's seminal book on flying, The Great Planes - a book held in the highest esteem by us propellerheads.

Having failed to find any reference to Fox - who was a contributor to both Car and Driver and Road and track at the time his book was published (1972) - via Google or TNF's search engine, I wonder if anybody can fill me in on whether he wrote more, or is still around? According to The Great Racing Cars... blurb, he was just 29 in '72, and appeared to live in San Francisco

This is an old string, but I came across a book that discusses Fox's illness: http://books.google....W...lt&resnum=5

Very sad to read of his situation. It is always a treat to read one of his articles, my favorite being the already mentioned "Trinity" from Car and Driver 1989. I'd say a book collection of his articles is overdue.

[Cynic2]

Thank you, Andy. While a sad situation, that was an excellent description of a great writer and even greater human being.

David

[group7]

back in post 7 & 8 here Lotus 23 mentions charles fox, and his rescue of jim hall from the crash of his chaparral at the stardust (las vegas)  can-am in 1968. I remember reading that piece, was it car & driver or road & track ? I've gone through my car & drivers from late '68 to 1970, no luck ! can't get to my R&T's at the moment.  maybe I missed it, or was it in another publication ? could any of our knowledgeable members assist ?

 

thanks.....mike in canada