Edgar Motorsport

During my 30-year documentary career I made a number of motor racing films, including one on Mario Andretti. I called it “Mario at Indy” in 1971 and use that title again here as “Mario @ Indy” for my 7-page article in the current May/June 2017 issue of Vintage Motorsport magazine. It’s about Mario Andretti then and now as the racing legend he is, while also looking at his 29 Indy 500 races through the decades, the Andretti racing family, and speaking with Mario again today from his home in Pennsylvania. The above image and article’s 15 photographs by William Edgar.

While celebrating Dan Gurney’s 86th Birthday today, let’s include his 27th Birthday on April 13, 1958 when Dan won the Palm Springs sports car racing main event driving Frank Arciero’s Ferrari 375 Plus, and in so doing put Carroll Shelby driving the John Edgar-entered Ferrari 410 Sport and the rest of the over-1500 cc modified field in Gurney’s mirrors at the checkered! This picture taken minutes after Dan’s win is a real prize, too. Dan’s on the right, the guy in a big hat is Sam Hanks, winner of 1957’s Indy 500. Next to Sam, with the buzz cut, is Dan’s lifelong friend and fellow racer Skip Hudson. The hatted man far left is Frank Arciero, and the young boy is Frank’s son. There’s another guy in the shot, seen between Dan and Sam, but his name has remained unknown, though his enthusiasm for Dan’s win is obvious. What a day that was! And there were many great racing days for Dan before that one and so many, many ever since! What a guy! … Photograph by Lester Nehamkin, Edgar Motorsport Archive since 1958.

The former documentary writer-director, William Edgar, chose to make a number of motorsport films during his television production years. One of them—“The Wildest Road”—took him in May 1971 to South Carolina NASCAR country at Darlington Raceway to meet legendary stock car drivers Bobby Allison and Bobby Isaac at the Rebel 400 Grand National. The two Bobbys’ stories, and this filming experience, are now featured in Edgar’s 5-page article for the March/April 2017 issue of Vintage Motorsport magazine. Isaac is the reigning series champion struggling to remain on top; Allison has spent his racing budget’s last five thousand dollars on a new engine to run this grueling Darlington 400-miler and stay in the show. 46,500 fans are there to witness the outcome. Photograph above of Bobby Allison’s Dodge at speed during qualifying time trials by William Edgar.

BIMMER magazine’s February 2017 Issue #144, currently in circulation, offers my feature article about Sam and Robin Moultrie’s 1976 BMW 2002 Schnitzer-bodied/equipped competition car’s European history, recent restoration, and comeback for vintage racing. It’s our story of The Baby Bat(mobile) and the enthusiasts involved in this rare car’s life, past, present and future. Check it out. Photography by William Edgar and Klaus Schnitzer

One of the very first Big Race Car Transporters on the racing scene, parked here at the Palm Springs Airport in November 1956. The hot-rodded GMC tractor hauled this Fruehauf trailer designed to carry three race cars and fitted with stove, refrigerator, sink, well-stocked liquor and Champagne bar, and four pull-down sleep bunks. The two John Edgar-owned Ferraris are (left) the former factory 1954 Le Mans-winning 375 Plus s/n 0396AM (rebodied by Scaglietti) and the 1955 Carroll Shelby-driven Palm Springs-race winning 410 Sport s/n 0598CM. An Edgar 550 Porsche Spyder rests snugly inside the famous, gleaming rig topped with observation deck from which Gary Cooper, among others, watched the Palm Springs sports car road races. Edgar Motorsport Archive Photo by Lester Nehamkin.

The other day we were at Sonoma Raceway (Sears Points for those who remember it as such) while doing a photo shoot on a vintage BMW racing car when Roger Penske’s TEAM PENSKE multi-wheeled armada of six transporters rolled in from the east coast for this weekend’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Stopping everything to grab this shot was irresistible. Photo by William Edgar