49 replies to this topic

[Indian Chief]

I have a couple of questions for those watching F1 for the last 25 years or more.
1. When did Live coverage of all F1 races start in Europe and America?
2. Before the races were shown on TV, how would you keep in touch with F1? How would you even get the results of the races?

[Don Capps]

Chief,

Hmmmm, well since I didn't have a TV during the 1950's when I lived in Europe, don't really know the answer to that one, but I did listen to the BBC broadcasts and updates of the races in addition to those on German radio.

In the early 1960's when I was back in the US, CBS did show on film the USGP a few times. Then ABC picked up the Monaco GP on its Wide World of Sports show and sandwiched in GP racing - they started showing dribs and drabs here in there twix all the other stuff. This was all delayed by a week or so, of course. In the 1970's there were a few attempts at same day broadcasts - the 1970 Monaco being one if I recall. Actually, the first European race broadcast live via satellite to the US was the 1964 Le Mans race.

Somewhere along the line after doing the racers on a delayed basis since 1981, ESPN started them some of them live and by about 1985 or so was doing almost all of them.

In the Ancient Days, we devoured the racing weeklies and monthies such as Autosport, Motor Sport, Autocar, Motor, Competition Press, Road & Track, Sports Car Graphic, Car and Driver, Powerslide, L'Equipe, etc., etc., and so on. In the US, sometimes the only place to find the winner of a race if you lived outside the NYC or LA or SF areas was in the winners section of Sports Illustrated.

You HAD to be dedicated regardless of what sort of racing you followed, at least in the USA. Only a few Southern papers even carried NASCAR that much, and fortunately I lived in one of them - they also as a result carried info on other series. I used this trick to become a press stringer for a wire service. No guts no glory...

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Dennis David]

Chief – As far as myself I started following Formula 1 in 1962. My heroes were Graham Hill, Clark and Colin Chapman. When Hill joined Clark at Lotus my dream came true only to die the following year. The only race they ever showed on TV was Monaco in May. What with that, Indy qualifying and the race, May was the big month for racing. Oh and Le Mans was also shown on TV or at least parts of it. Besides that there was Road & Track with Rob Walker and Auto Week use to have a lot more racing when it was still a newspaper. Following Formula 1 took a lot of imagination to fill in the gaps but no other racing has done the same for me save for Le Mans. I use to design racing cars, not so much as draw them but actually designing the layout, suspension etc. I continued to be a Lotus fan later with Rindt, Fittipaldi, Andretti and Peterson. When he died the fun when out of me for around 10 years but was revived with Gilles and later Senna. The first F1 race I saw in person was the Dutch Grand Prix in 1973 while I was in the Army. Being stationed in Germany for four years I was able to go to a number of Grands Prix. Now I’m able to travel and try to take in at least one F1 race a year. This year it was in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, Next year Indy and maybe Canada. Currently I root for Mika Hakinen but not with the same passion as I did for my heroes of the past.


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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Xaxor]

My sources way back then were much the same; Autosport, Road & Track, ABC Wide World of Sports. However, I also remember a magazine that I collected called AUTO RACING. It was a newsprint mag with few ads. It did a pretty fair and even-handed job with stories on NASCAR, USAC and F1. Every issue also had a profile of a famous driver or team owner. These went something like..."Jackie Stewart as I've known him by Anthony (Andy) Granatelli" ...Does any of this sound familliar? Sadly, many years ago I threw out my collection of AUTO RACING. However, one issue has resurfaced. It's the one where Clark wins the 1968 SA GP.

My most definitive source of info was Road & Track. I loved R&T and read it constantly. Manney and later Walker did a superb job with reports of every GP. My collection from mid 60's to mid 80's is still pretty much intact. However, R&T has changed a lot over the last 15 years and I don't care for it anymore.

Finally, I must mention Grand Prix International. This glossy 80's mag was famous for its photography. The F1 and WCR coverage was spectacular. I have maybe 10 issues and still look at the pictures from time to time.

[Dennis David]

Xaxor - I can just picture myself looking at old race pictures. I think that we can all aggree that we've "raced the race" many times in our imagination.

------------------
Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Uncle Davy]

For same-day race results in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s, before ESPN and live TV, we would call the local newspaper or TV sports desk and make some poor sap go look at what came over the AP or UPI wire services. It usually worked.
For more details, we'd have to wait for Competition Press (later rechristened AutoWeek) to report on it a couple of weeks later.
And the definitive story would come out even later in Road & Track, with the incomparable Henry N. Manney (and later, Rob Walker, a former privateer F1 entrant) weighing in.
You had to be resourceful and patient to be an F1 fan in the US back in the old days.

[This message has been edited by Uncle Davy (edited 11-27-1999).]

[Fast One]

Same for me as for you guys. R&T, SCG, CP and bugging the hell out of the local sports caster, who never seemed to have more than the top 5 finishers. Until I discovered (and could afford Competition Press, I'd have to wait on Road & Track to fill in all the points. That poor bastard thought I was nuts, calling long distance at 11:30 at night to ask about some funny furrin' race in France or Mexico.

I was lucky though. The Ford assault on Le Mans led to alot of increased coverage of European racing on ABC's wide world of sports. Then minutes of taped coverage of the 1965 Monaco GP, in two segments, sharing the screen with billiards, wrist wrestling and cliff diving! It was watched gratefully, though, because it was all there was. I wonder if it didn't seem more magical because it WAS so hard to come by.

A word on HNM III. Was he not one of the greatest sports writers of the century? He made racing live through his words, and again I feel lucky to have been around to read his reports. I grad school we were asked to list the three writers who most influenced our writing. I picked Our Man Henry without hesitation. No one else had ever heard of him. Guess that's why I turned out to be a better writer. I still pull out his race reports and read them. They are gems.

[Uncle Davy]

I suggest we urge R&T, or whoever holds the publishing rights to Henry Manney's writings, to issue a Manney anthology. The UK had Denis Jenkinson to chronicle motorsports, and he has become the stuff of legend; the USA had Henry, and his sense of humor. It would be a shame if his writings were forgotten.

[Fast One]

Actually R&T did a special collection of Manney's stuff, sold seperately for the low, low price of $19.95 or something. What I want is every word the guy ever wrote under one cover. Alot of my old magazines are gone, and I missed the early Manney years. Let's all write R&T and beg!

[Don Capps]

I did that right after they released the thing! They claimed to be considering a second volume...yeah, right!

I was lucky enough to have met HNMIII in Europe before I returned to the States for keeps (save the odd deployment (REFORGER), or "extended" visits thanks to Uncle Sam). Most rave (justifiably) about Denis Jenkinson, but have met both and read both for many years, the nod is to HNMIII.

Lord, he could write! As a mere stringer, I tried to be like HNMIII, but as you can imagine, wire services aren't given to prose as poetry. Alas and aleck!

HNMIII was as big a flake in person as he was in print. He was always wonderful to me and others who obviously worshipped him -- I truly think we embarrassed him! It has been about 20 or so years since I last saw, before he had the stroke that led to his eventual death.

Without HNMIII or Rob Walker R&T is zero to me. I am finally letting my subscription lapse and about 45 or years of reading &/or subscribing to R&T will come to an end. Such is life. Oblidee, oblidah, Life goes on as the Fab Four used to say.

PS: Now you know why I became a stringer, so I didn't have to call for the information anymore....I could go in and get the wire copy on Sunday after Church.

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps




[This message has been edited by Don Capps (edited 11-27-1999).]

[Dennis David]

REFORGER - Wow, Ive been through 4 of those, six trips to Grafenwoehr and countless trips to Wildflecken. That brings some memories from the past.


------------------
Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/



[This message has been edited by Dennis David (edited 11-27-1999).]

[Seppi_0_917PA]

Originally posted by Indian Chief
Before the races were shown on TV, how would you keep in touch with F1? How would you even get the results of the races?

I recall that in the early 1970s on CBS radio at something like 6:45pm on Sundays, there was a motorsports news show. I could count on it for same-day results for F1, CanAm, etc. which was otherwise impossible in the U.S. at the time. The show was not publicized, I think I just happened upon it one day while driving.

Does anyone else remember hearing these broadcasts? What was the name of the primary announcer? I should know this but I can't seem to bring it up.

[Ray Bell]

A thread that was here before me?

Note that Fast One and Xaxor haven't posted since 2000... and Indian Chief gave up two years ago... sadly, I miss Fast One as he was a sincere follower of the great FJ.

I wonder if these blokes will get an e.mail notification of this thread being reactivated?

Anyway, on topic... we only got a paragraph or two in the morning paper (usually... well, if Jack wasn't winning) on the Monday. A picture in the monday afternoon paper if there was a really bad crash. Then in 1976 we had a direct telecast from Japan... followed four years later by the commencement of regular telecasts.

Three or four local monthly magazines carried regular full reports, and we got the American and British magazines about two months later. So, basically, we savoured each race for about three months!

[Rosemayer]

I started following F1 in 1959 while in Jr High.No television or radio just Road & Track, Sports Car Graphic.Thank God for ESPN and then Speed Channel.

[Keir]

Autoweek & Competition Press was my bible in the early days!!

"Wide World of Sports" would offer bits and pieces of coverage, with the occasional same day broacast!!

.....but nothing compares to today!

[Stephen W]

I used to have to wait for Motoring News to come out each week to catch up. Although in my formative years I couldn't afford to by it every week (pocket money constraints) so it was in my diary to buy the issue after the Grand Prix.

I did get Motor Sport every month but it was often a long time to wait but it was worth it just for Jenks!

On TV I too remember Monaco in the early 60s and also the 1966 Italian Grand Prix from Monza sticks out for some reason!

Full coverage of most GPs really started to take off in 1967 and got into full gear in '68 surprisingly enough just as advertising started to appear on the cars. The BBC had studiously covered the British GP but there were rumblings about free advertising on the Beeb.

In those days nothing got near to actually being there, it still doesn't! However I attend virtually now race meetings preferring the more rustic charms of Hillclimbing and Sprinting.

[fester82]

I started following F1 back in '65 when my father was assigned to a base just outside of London (South Ruislip) and I can remember a BBC TV show that would attempt to reinact the racing with slot cars. As my Dad and I were slot racers, I thought that was pretty neat for an 8 yr old. I can remember the news bulletin over BBC to this day that came over when Jimmy Clark died. I ran to tell my Dad as soon as I heard it. When we went back stateside, I paid for my own subscription to Competition Press (Autoweek) and R&T with my own hard earned allowance just to find out race results. I also have a few Automobile Years during that timeframe to fill in the gaps. I loved reading F1 articles by Walker, with help from Innes Ireland when he couldn't make it, and the annual driver ratings/summary. I still get both to this day. Both mags have evolved considerably over the years as the world and information flow has changed so much. I miss the writing and racing articles in R&T from back then, but I get so much more info on the internet sites like Atlas and a lot quicker. I do like Mitch McCains articles with the tongue in cheek writing on Atlas that reminds me of the Manny/Walker days.

[ian senior]

There wasn't much on UK telly in the late 60s - yes, you'd get to see the occasional race, but nothing on a regular basis. If you were lucky, the first 3 finishers might rate a mention on the evening news; similarly it might be covered in the newspapers on the following day. But not in much detail. We had to wait until Motor came out on Wednesday, and MN the day after.

But there was Tom Tom. What? A children's programme on TV, which recreated highlights of Grands Prix by means of superb model cars (courtesy of Rex Hays?) on a slot car track. Great stuff- almost as good as the real thing.

[fester82]

Ian posted:

But there was Tom Tom. What? A children's programme on TV, which recreated highlights of Grands Prix by means of superb model cars (courtesy of Rex Hays?) on a slot car track. Great stuff- almost as good as the real thing.

That's the name of the show I was refering to! I couldn't remember the name.

[Barry Boor]

I would sit, on a Sunday afternoon, with my ear glued tightly to my transistor radio while twiddling the dial to pick up Grand Prix racing on a French long wave radio channel. My French wasn't, and isn't, that strong, but names are names and 'en tete' and 'deuxieme' etc were easy enough to comprehend.

I did this for years - even stopping by the side of the A.5 road on my way back to College in June 1967 to sit on a grass bank and learn that Dan Gurney was leading at Spa. I sat there 'til I was sure he had won.

Happy days....

[jpm2]

Chief

My interest in Formula 1 strated in 1959, after attending tje Portuguese Grand Prix in Monsanto. But it only became steady in 1962 (I was 13 years old then) when I got enough money to buy some Motor Racing magazines. Motor Racing was one of them; but I also bought Auto Italiana, Sport Auto, L'Automobile, the very good but short lived Speed World International, etc. And some newspapers like Motoring News and an American one whose name I forgot. In short, I bought everything available in Portugal (and the only thing worth while were foreign publications).

That was the foundation of my passion. The TV coverage was erratic. If I remember correctly, the Portuguese TV covered the Grand Prix of Monaco in 1962 (but the viewers only saw some 5 minutes of the race due to irritating techical problems). From 1966 on the coverecone or two races each year but it was necessary to was in 1969 that the coverage became more regular. As a matter of fact in 1969 I saw the Spanish, Monaco, British, German and Italian Grand Prix on TV.

Apart from that I was able to see two or three races in loco (the neares track being Jarama, of course).

So, for me, in the 60s Formula 1 was followed mainly through the images and the written word of French, Italian, British and North-American journalists.

In Portugal the whole matter had little following.

Regards

[murph27]

When I first got the F1 “bug” in 1972…..it was hard work being a fan of F1 living in the USA. Now, going to the races was not a problem. Both the Canadian and United States Grand Prix’s were held fairly close to my home in Western Pennsylvania. Watkins Glen was only about a 6-hour drive. Ticket prices ran about $20 for the 3-day pass. With the elevation changes, the track offered a lot of good spectating areas and if ya had a decent camera with a 200mm lens…..you could take the race “home with you”. Lodging was also simple and cheap….join the 100,000 other fans and camp. Plus as an added attraction in the evening, one could go down to the “BOG” to beat the chill of an October night……………… The Canadian GP was held at Mosport Park. Mosport was located about an hour east of Toronto, which made it about an 8-hour drive. Of course, I never realized that the posted speed limit signs along the Queen E were in kph…not mph. So when I saw 100, I assumed it meant 100 mph….. Mosport was a bargain with excellent camping facilities and great spectator areas at a price of $25 Canadian.

No…..attending F1 races was the easy job….getting information through out the season, NOW that was the hard part.

1: TV: Forget it….. oh, ABC would carry a 2-week old tape of the Monaco GP. Not the whole race, mind you. The Monaco race would be about 30 minutes of a 2-hour show that would include the likes of the Lumberjack Olympics, the Synchronized Swimming Championships from Pyongyang, and other such fare.

2: The Print Media: Jeeeezz…..even today the newspapers carry zero F1, barring a driver fatality, of course.

3: The “Enthusiast” Press: American motor racing magazines consisted of AUTOWEEK (which was in a newspaper format back then), ROAD & TRACK which had Rob Walker cover the GP’s, and a very good monthly magazine called FORMULA. FORMULA was blessed with two outstanding writers…..Pete Lyons and Jeff Hutchinson. But as good as the American magazines were, I always felt that I was missing out on something. The solution was easy….subscribe to foreign/British racing magazines. Now cost had to be considered…..I am cheap and the wife and kids were always nagging me about food and a roof over their heads…..I realized that I had to practice cost benefit analyses…..example of that would be that if got the MOTORING NEWS instead of AUTOSPORT, that with the savings I could get a couple of other magazines as well. Some of the “highlights/lowlights” of my foreign/British magazine quest…..
MOTOR SPORT was THE magazine to get for two reasons….#1 was the all color center spread….nobody else had color photos of the F1 cars…..hmmm “so that’s what they look like”. While other guys would be checking the centerfolds of Playboy….it was the MOTOR SPORT center “fold” that got my attention.
#2 throw in the finest F1 correspondent of the era…Dennis Jenkinson. He made the races and the people involved in F1 “real” to me. I always eagerly awaited the arrival of my new Green One, even if it meant reading “Jenks” report on the French GP (August Issue) while I was in my tent at the Glen in October.

The there was a years subscription to SPORT AUTO, another great magazine….I think…I just didn’t read French!! And I don’t even want to talk about the subscription from hell…..Motor und Sport, or something like that….my English/German dictionary proved to be of no value at all…… I was blessed in the very early 80’s when I found GRAND PRIX INTERNATIONAL. Loved it, which of course meant it would go out of business……..

OK, the magazines were a godsend…..but what about up to date information…..Race weekends? How did I get information then?

Short-wave radio: Yep, I bought a short-wave radio. The BBC always gave the pole-sitter on a Saturday evening (my time) program…if I could ever remember the correct time to turn on the radio. Same thing on Sunday…..try to listen to “Sports Roundup” or something like that. Even had my son Sean work on those all-important “tree climbing” skills….. My wife forbade me from having the little tyke climbing up the large maple tree in the back yard (something about him only being 4-years old) ….but I truly believe he liked carrying the antenna wire in his teeth as he scurried up to the top of the tree, especially during those sever thunder and lightning storms we seem to get in late July and early August…….even then the broadcasts would fade in and out. I must admit that I developed an unhealthy attitude toward solar flares and those damn cricket scores, I mean….what the hell is a “test match”???


What a difference today….from Speed TV carrying races and qualifying, live timing on the f1 web site, f1 news sites on the web, and TNF (which I just found about two weeks ago). You know….I haven’t been thrilled with many of the changes that have occurred to F1 since I began following it in the early ‘70’s…..from grooved tires, pit stops, lost venues, and too many stupid chicanes, to name just a few…..but in this instance…Change is Good!! Sean thinks so as well, since he is now 36 years old and is just a little big to be climbing trees. Come to think of it, he now lives in Kansas, which isn’t really well known for its “forests”……hmmmmmm………


murph

[bobbo]

Originally posted by Keir
Autoweek & Competition Press was my bible in the early days!!

"Wide World of Sports" would offer bits and pieces of coverage, with the occasional same day broacast!!

.....but nothing compares to today!

Jeez, Keir!

I remember now, going down to the news stand to get _Competion Press_ which was right next to the "Adult" section . . . this 160year old got watched REALLY CLOSE!

Thanks for stirring that memory.

Love TNF!!

bobbo

[philippe charuest]

murph you told my "story" .im from montreal and i remember the good old days of the glen and mosport . small difference is i speak french and yes SPORT-AUTO was a great magazine then with gerard Crombac as editor and guys like josé Rosinski and johnny rives in the staff

[Cappo]

Apart from the UK magazines already mentioned - I had a novel way of viewing the odd Grand prix and sports car race. In Dublin’s Grafton Street, there was a cinema that showed endless cartoons and newsreels such as Pathe news and Movietone news. As a kid and teenager I would get the cinema doorman to tell me when a motorsport item was on and pop in for a look!

[D-Type]

In my teens I had to rely on the BBC World service - they had something like sports round upona Sunday that gve a 3 minute summary of the race and the placings. sometimes the two Nairobi newspapers the East African Standard and the Nation would have a report, but only if there wasn't much cricket and horse racing to report. If not, my dad got the (English) Daily Telegraph about four days late and they would have a short report. After that it was wait until Motor Sport arrived a month late so i could then read DSJ's report of what really happened six or seven weeks after the event.

Moving to Britain to University with some TV coverage and British papers was a revelation. Admittedly it was 'Britain's Jim Clark' or 'Jim Clark the Scottish sheep farmer' depending on whether he had won or lost. And then there was Motor, Autocar, Autosport and Motoring news at affordable prices (well not all in any one week) and Motor Sport a month earlier than I was used to.

I must admit with the immediacy of it all, I do wonder where will TNF-type enthusiasts in fifty years' time go to find what really happened.

[Lotus23]

Nice post, Murph -- pretty well sums up that place/time for the Early Enthusiast.

I can remember trying to glean some sense of What Was Happening Out There by the early '50s. Road & Track was about our only source of information back then. (My best buddy was not an enthusiast; he used to disparagingly call it "Smoke & Tires".)

I can recall reading predictions in Sports Illustrated around '55 that Fangio was beating long odds by staying alive and he would inevitably die at the wheel "any day now". Given the terrible fatality rate of those times, I knew of no one who disagreed with that prediction.

The only "real-time" coverage available was on Memorial Day, when my dad and I would be glued to the radio for the Indy 500. In '55, I rushed home from reciting Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (at a Memorial Day ceremony) just in time to hear the start of the race. And experienced the depths of despair when Sid Collins sadly announced that Vukie had died.

I refuse to believe that will soon be 50 years ago...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by D-Type
.....I do wonder where will TNF-type enthusiasts in fifty years' time go to find what really happened.

From Jenks... of course...

That was where we went... our collections will be passed on. I hope.


Lotus 23...

Your issue with the years, just remember that they are Other People's years!

[sandy]

As an Australian, Ray Bell said it all for those of us, out here, in the 50's. But how wonderful it was to read Jenks, albeit 3 months after the event. Sure, Henry Manney also, his visit to the beach resort in the Med sticks in my mind, but Jenks conjured up a picture that was pure magic to a teenager 10.000 + miles away. Every word was read and re-read and it was marvellous to see Jack Brabham's name appear more and more, with obscure references to a 1500 event in a Bobtail Cooper etc., to progressing onto a GP. Jenks brought the sport to life and all he used were written words. (And I still reckon the finest photograph of a racing car is that of Phil Hill in a Lago Talbot as a double spread in R&T).

[Ray Bell]

Nahh... an aging Herman Lang in a W154...

"...on the 28th lap Ickx's car weaved violently as its wheels spun on the painted grid lines..."

...uh, yeah, 50s? I never read a race report until the middle of 1962! All I'd ever seen or heard before that was the several pages that Pix had of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. My experiences started in 1962, I read Jenks from the German GP onwards... Mike Kable recommended that.

[ian senior]

I've been thinking about this a bit more. I started watching motor racing in 1968 and I can't remember even the British GP being on television here in the UK. It definitely was in 1970, I remember that well, but the two previous years - not sure at all.

If it wasn't televised, it was probably due to the fact that the race was held on Saturday in those days, and having to show an entire Grand Prix would have interfered with the beloved horse racing.

[D-Type]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


From Jenks... of course...

That was where we went... our collections will be passed on. I hope.

~

Ray,

I meant: In 2055 where will people go to find out what happened in 2005?

[Ray Bell]

Oh, not what happened in 1965?

Well, I think they have problems... and they aren't even born yet!

[Al.]

I started following F1 in mid 1981 (aged 8), and more seriously in 1982. During that time I would wake up early on the Monday morning and sit with my Dad during breakfast (6.30am to 7am) before he went to work. He would verbally recap the race from the 40 minutes highlights on the BBC late Sunday night. Mum then would pick up Dad's copy of Motoring News (along with Radio Times) from the news agent on Wednesday and I had from the end of school until Dad got in from work to read the race report.

In 1982 my Dad took me to Brands Hatch to watch my first GP. I only remember that as Keke Rosberg had qualified on pole but had his car refuse to start on the grid. I remember nothing else about that race.

The 1983 European GP from Brands Hatch, was videoed by a neighbour for us and we aquired our first VCR over that Christmas. Thus the first GP I watched on the video was the 1983 European GP and everything from 1984 onwards was videoed and watched on the Monday, unless it was on during Sunday afternoon. This all continued until a switch from Motoring News to Autosport in about 1988, and that process of watching either live or videoed races and reading Dads Autosport (If I see him over the following weekend and he as brought it as 'reading material') continues today.

[Martyj]

Growing up in Indianapolis in the late 60's, early 70's, we benefited from better GP news than probably any other place in the US, thanks to the local interest in Clark, Stewart, Hulme, Hill, etc. and their assocaition as Indy 500 competitors.

The sports segment of evening newscasts almost always gave the top 5, sometimes with a sentance or two more elaboration on the race. It was popular enough it even merited the occasional teaser at the top of the broadcast, i.e... "In France today, Stewart wins another one. Details coming up in sports..." However, I don't remember film clips at all. Usually just the sportscasters reading into the camera, with a graphic in the background of a generic race car and crossed checkered flags.

Newpaper coverage was as soon as possible. Depending on where the race took place, it would make it into the late afternoon edition. Otherwise, it appeared the next morning. Normally the top 6 to 10 paragraphs of the wire story. Half the time they'd have a photograph. Race statistics generally in a seperate section of the sports page. They even ran stories about qualifying results. Monaco and British GP always got big write ups. Sometimes up to three columns. (strangely, the U.S. GP was never played up bigger.) It continued like this up until the age of ESPN, mostly because of Andretti's involvement, and the huge local rooting interest in his career.

The most incredible thing I remember is that at the height of the European invasion of Indy, the paper even used to print news of Formula TWO races.

[rl1856]

I started following GP and Sports Car Racing in 1976. Luckily, I could find the New York Times which always printed the GP results the day after the race. Occassionaly there would be an ariticle in the sports section on the race in addition to the results. I vividly remember reading the account of Lauda's horriffic crash at the Nurburgring in 1976 for example. For the 1976 and 77 GP seasons, CBS-TV showed each GP on the Saturday afternoon following the race. The races were hosted by Stirling Moss. By 1977, some of the races were shown live- I recall the race long battle between Andretti and Scheckter at Long Beach. By 1978, CBS was only providing sporatic coverage and it was back to the NYT for results, ABC for their annual coverage of the Monaco GP and then waiting ~3mos for Road and Track to publish Rob Walker's articles. By the late 70's, I would aquire a copy of MotorSport whenever I went to New York City. Flash forward to today and my wife gives me grief for waking up at 5am on a Sunday to catch a live GP on Speed Vision !

Starting in 1976, I began to collect back issues of Road and Track, Car and Driver and Sports Car Graphic. I know have a 98% complete collection from the early 1950's through the early 1980's. Through the back issues, I learned a great deal about the history of the sport. I also have a great appreciation for the writings of Henry N. Maney III, Bernard Cahier. Jesse Alexander and Girffith Borgeson; and the photographs of Geoff Goddard, Pete Coltrin and Jesse Alexander. For the record, we know where Mr. Maney is famous from, but he succeeded Mr. Cahier at Road and Track. Cahier than moved to Sports Car Graphic, where he was their European coorespondant fron 1961 until 1965. In addition to being a photographer of great reputation, Jesse Alexander was the GP and European correspondant for Sports Cars Illustrated for several years, before being succeded by Griffith Borgeson and John Bludsen respectively.

Best,

Ross

[DN5]

I've liked motor racing virtually as long as I can remember.

But it was in the 70's as a teenager that I started to follow motor racing via the newspaper. The real eureka moment for me was my first trip to Brands for the Race of Champions. After that I couldn't get enough of the sport.

Weekends were spent listening to the radio for that odd 30 second report on Radio 2. It used to be about 5:45 on Saturday before I first heard the grid for the GP.

It was only after that I found Motoring News but it was another few months before I found Autosport!


Geoff

[David Lawson]

Originally posted by ian senior
But there was Tom Tom. What? A children's programme on TV, which recreated highlights of Grands Prix by means of superb model cars (courtesy of Rex Hays?) on a slot car track. Great stuff- almost as good as the real thing.

These recreations were superb and the high standard of model-making breathaking.



David

[Ray Bell]

Where was Barry Boor while all this was going on?

Superb!

[eldougo]

:

Sydney A.B.C. radio station 2BL would give a report at 6-00am on the Monday morning if Jack Brabham had won ,or some driver got killed .

[dolomite]

Originally posted by David Lawson


These recreations were superb and the high standard of model-making breathaking.



David

Monaco pits on a sloping track?

[Maldwyn]

I got the bug for F1 in the mid-70's largely through my Dad's MotorSport magazines. I don't remember seeing races on tv before 1978, although I did listen to James Hunt winning the championship on the radio.

I think it was 'World of Sport' that showed some of the 1978 Swedish GP, and then the BBC took over with more regular coverage. By then I was an avid reader of 'Grand Prix International' and Autosport.

[dolomite]

Might be an idea to merge this thread with the previous one where we discussed all the same stuff.

F1 on TV history

[GerardF1]

Born and raised in Newfoundland, (On the east coast of Canada for those who don't know ) we had minimal coverage of any racing. In the 70's I had to rely on Road and Track and the occassional tidbit in the Monday papers. I loved Rob Walkers reports every month in Road and Track and would later exchange letters with him. CBC, the public broadcaster here in Canada, started carrying the races in the early 80's on a same day tape delay basis at 12:00 on Sunday nights.

In 1981 I was living in Goose Bay Labrador. In an earlier post someone mentioned REFORGER and a lot of REFORGER cycled through Goose Bay so it brings back one memory in particular of F1 coverage.

For some unfathomable reason CBC decided not to carry the tape of the Las Vegas GP... I remember calling the CBC and it had been pre-empted for some reason and they said it should be on the following weekend.

I couldn't wait that long I had to know if my driver, Piquet, had won the title.

I was so anxious to get the result that I called the front desk of Ceasars Palace hotel and asked the clerk if he knew who won the race and or the championship. The person who answered the phone didn't have the slightest idea what I was talking about. SHe passed me over to some sort of "Manager". I explained that I was calling from northern Canada and that I had no way to know who had won and could he give me the results...I will never forget his reply..." I have no idea but there is a bunch of Brazilians going nuts here if that helps"

I knew that Piquet had won the title.


Gerard

[BlackCat]

Behind "iron curtain", following F1 was a bit more tricky. I got hooked after seeing "Grand Prix" movie (hmm, about six times) in '68. (It had age restriction "not under 16" in our cinemas, but I was a tall boy for my age...) In '69 I went to high school and found some classmates also interested in F1, that made gathering those bits and pieces a little easier.

The first source was BBC. (I had english as the second foreign language - after russian - at school, on a "I have a red pencil-box" level...) Sometimes local sporting newspaper gave, say, three first places. So, on mondays (and tuesdays etc) we were raiding newspaper-kiosks trying to find foreign newspapers. The only ones getting behind iron curtain were, of course, mouthpieces of communist parties. "Morning Star" had regrettable little interest in F1, other than British GP. "l'Humanite" was a bit better. Italian ones were the best, "l'Unita" and especially "Paese Sera" that had not just results but sometimes starting grids also. The problem was - italian commies were not always of the same mind with soviet ones. And unfortunately those heretic articles not suitable to the eyes of soviet citizens were published in weekend issues. So some important (for us!) issues were missing even from libraries.

Next source were motoring/motor sports magazines from East Germany and Czechoslovac, as those from Poland and Bulgaria had very little to add. (Hmm, IIRC the first time I saw a pic of high-winged CanAm Chaparral it was in a Bulgarian magazine called something like "Heavy industry, Cars and Transportation". I ordered it for two years after that but no such luck any more...)

So, in the end of year and after some additional work in libraries we had points table, (most of) participants and some idea about who'll drive what next year. Knowing next to nothing did not stop us having fierce arguments about "my favourite racer is better than yours". And - getting data about F1 was easy compared to F2, CanAm, long-distance races, rallies etc.

On the other hand, as years go by, I've lost contact with friends from university and former colleagues but we still get together with that high-school gang. Traditionally the first toast is for the reigning F1 champ. Then for reigning WRC champ. After that, for birthday-boy and all other less important things...

[Mike Lawrence]

Brooklands Books has reprinted some of Henry Manney's Road and Track articles. The UK branch of Amazon has it in stock at £10.95. No library is complete without it.

Sponsorship on race cars gave Auntie Beeb quite a turn. The BBC did not mind advertising hoardings at football matches, even when it was clear that special deal had been done for one televised game. I wrote the the BBC in 1968 pointing out that a game between a British and German club featured a lot of German companies advertising on hoardings. I was told that they were part of the background and a direct comparison would have to be a sponsor's logo on a player's shirt. Not only has this happened, but the new stadium of the Royal Academy of Soccer Art and Science (aka Arsenal FC) is to be named after Emirates, the airline.

There was the time when Richard Scott was going to run a Formula 5000 Lola with sponsorship from Durex which, in Britain, is the leading brand of condom. In Australia Durex is a brand of sticky tape and in Portugal it is the name of the top-selling brand of paint Be sure to read the instructions on the label. If your Durex looks like Brilliant White Gloss, do not apply to the family jewels.

The BBC was due to televise the race and kicked up a fuss. The result was massive publicity for Durex in the press. Scott removed all signwriting and won from pole, but everyone who watched the race knew that Durex was behind the all-white car. The BBC started to cave in at that point.

The Beeb had shown quite a lot of motor racing, but you could never tell what they were going to show. We often got Monza but, out of the blue, in 1973, we had the German GP. Live coverage from a proper circuit!

When I was on pocket money, Motoring News was sixpence and Autosport was three times that. No contest! I used to bunk off from education on a Thursday to read Motoring News, which is one reason why I was asked to leave education.

[DREW]

"Following" is probably the wrong word, but it's "Competition Press and Autoweek" that I thank (blame?) for my passion for the sport. And once a year, on "Wide World of Sports" I'd get to hear Jackie Stewart squeek out those immortal words from Monaco..."Ooooooo, and it's a great day for a motorcar race..." (Make sure you roll the "R" in "great"). The percentage of race to "atmosphere" was horrible, but the cars were MOVING for gawds-sake...

Thank you Autoweek. Thank you ABC (I forgive you the weightlifting, ski-jumping, skating and all the rest). And thank you JYS.

DREW

[nmansellfan]

Originally posted by Mike Lawrence
The Beeb had shown quite a lot of motor racing, but you could never tell what they were going to show. We often got Monza but, out of the blue, in 1973, we had the German GP. Live coverage from a proper circuit!

Highlights of the TV coverage for the '73 German GP (complete with original wobbly track section captions at the bottom of the screen!) was re-shown during the 2001 or 02 USGP weekend on the Speed channel, with Jackie Stewart and David Hobbs commentating (it was up for download some time ago, i cant remember where i got it from). The coverage may have been from the BBC or the local German channel.

I was surprised how good the coverage was, the full circuit was covered by cameras, with an excellent shot looking into the cockpit of Stewart from the inside of the Karusell. Because of the 'live' feel of videotape compared to film which comprises most Grand Prix footage from 30 years ago, it definately brought home to me just how dangerous and exciting the racing was back then. Facinating.

I picked up a video from Ebay a few months ago that was shown on the BBC around Christmas 1990, called Grand Prix 500 (or "The History of Grand Prix" on video). It has about the last minute of the 1969 Italian GP, with commentary by Murray Walker. Fantastic to watch. Mr. Walker was making gaffes back then, he calls out Stewart drifitng wide at the Parabolica when it is in fact Beltiose; you can hear someone else in the commentary box correcting him!

[Ruairidh]

Originally posted by Mike Lawrence
Be sure to read the instructions on the label. If your Durex looks like Brilliant White Gloss, do not apply to the family jewels.

[arttidesco]

Monaco pits on a sloping track?

Yes the map on the board in the back ground confirms it (doesn't it ?), I thought this was from the Blue Peter studio's have zero memory of anything called Tom Tom, was that an ITV or BBC channel ?

Edited by arttidesco, 01 October 2010 - 00:46.