RACER Magazine – Syndication Server

RACER Winter 2023-24: The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Preview Issue

If the build-up to last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was all about the new hybrid GTP prototypes, then 2024 is the year when the GT classes are cranking up the excitement and anticipation levels. That’s not to say that GTP isn’t …

That’s not to say that GTP isn’t providing its own share of fresh storylines — try record-breaking lap times in qualifying for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, or Lamborghini coming in as the fifth manufacturer, to name just two. But in the GTD Pro and GTD classes, exciting new cars, even bigger fields, and what’s set to be even closer competition make IMSA’s production-based classes just as compelling as the high-tech prototypes chasing overall wins.

Out now, the new issue of RACER sets the scene for a 2024 GT battle royal, with the latest installment of one of racing’s best and biggest rivalries, Ford vs. Chevrolet, taking center stage.

Sure, the official line from the Blue Oval and the Bowtie is that their all-new Ford Mustang GT3 and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R have to beat everybody to win a GTD Pro or GTD championship. But for fans of each marque, this classic Motor City matchup between two V8-powered heavyweights is going to be the biggest story of what’s set to be a classic season.

In 25 packed pages, our 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship preview runs the tape over all four classes in the big show and sets the scene on a bumper field of support championships, too. We’re not predicting who’ll win it all — it’s way too close to call for that — but we are setting you up to enjoy the excitement and unpredictability of a must-see season for North American sports car racing.

Elsewhere in a packed issue, we take a look at the fall and rise of Alex Albon, a driver dumped by Red Bull Racing who’s now dragging Williams Racing back to respectability and beyond in the Formula 1 pecking order.

Plus, heading into the first-ever F1 season with zero rookies on the grid for the opener, we ask why? For the teams, it’s all about stability, but for a new generation of talent forced to kick its heels, it’s more like stagnation.

One driver who is getting his big break in 2024 is David Malukas, NTT IndyCar Series heavyweight and Arrow McLaren’s new signing. He’s yet to win an IndyCar race, but Malukas’s performances with Dale Coyne Racing were enough to convince his new team of his potential. We sat down with the Chicagoan and got his take on a massive opportunity.

On a very sad note, we remember 2003 Indy 500 winner and good friend of RACER Gil de Ferran, who passed away suddenly in December. An incredibly intelligent racer, but one who could still push the limits when it was called for (check out his throttle-bending, 241mph-plus lap of Fontana in 2000 for vivid confirmation), Gil was always fascinating to talk to about racing — or anything, really — and his columns for RACER merely confirmed that.

We’re also saying goodbye to NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough, a driver as tough as he was successful, as you’ll read in our tribute to the three-time Cup Series champ.

Add in a scene-set for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, including an interview with rising star Ty Gibbs, plus insight from World Superbike G.O.A.T. Jonathan Rea on his switch to Yamaha and a look at Ferrari’s tragic 1957 season — the subject of Michael Mann’s new “Ferrari” movie — and we think there’s something for everybody in RACER No. 326.

CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HERE to find out more about print and digital subscriptions.

RACER June/July 2023: The Heroes Issue

There’s a theme running through the three drivers we’ve chosen to put in the spotlight for RACER magazine’s annual celebration of some of the heroes of racing. Fernando Alonso, Tony Kanaan and Bobby Rahal all tick the box on career longevity, but …

Kanaan led laps in his first Indianapolis 500 back in 2002. He led laps and finished third in his 21st start last year. And TK being TK — still driven, still focused, and loaded up with all the experience and smarts that so many Months of May bring — he’ll likely lead more laps, and maybe even provide racing’s feel-good story of the year, in what he definitely, absolutely promises will be his final Indy 500 start on May 28.

Alonso hasn’t hinted at any sort of end date for his Formula 1 career, and why should he? The soon-to-be-42-year-old Spaniard is having a standout season after moving to upwardly-mobile Aston Martin. While some regard it as a rebooting and re-energizing of the two-time world champion, he sees it differently. For Alonso, nothing’s changed within himself and what he brings; it’s just current circumstances allowing others to see that, too.

Speaking of feel-good stories of the year, what odds would you give on him winning a grand prix in 2023? It might take the perfect storm (literally), and a Red Bull Racing meltdown, but don’t rule it out.

Rahal made his CART debut in 1982 at the age of 29, winning two races and finishing second in points. Three championships and a 1986 Indy 500 win followed, and despite taking on the added responsibility and pressure of team ownership, the guy finished top 10 in points for 16 of his 17 seasons racing Indy cars. That’s staying power.

And speaking of staying power, it’s the centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 10-11, and RACER’s taking a look at the world’s most famous endurance race, past and present.

For the present, we run the rule over a manufacturer-stacked Hypercar class and assess the chances of Cadillac, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Porsche and Vanwall against serial winner Toyota and its tried-and-proven GR010 HYBRID package. Plus, we set the scene for some serious NASCAR rumble at La Sarthe when a lightly-modified Next Gen Chevy Camaro takes the Garage 56 slot.

And for the past, we count down the 24 Hours’ winningest marques (replete with some stunning illustrations by RACER’s in-house artist, Paul Laguette) and recall a few of the race’s greatest driver partnerships.

Add in a look back at NASCAR’s 1995 Cup Series season and a changing-of-the-guard duel between Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, a head-to-head assessment of the World Rally Championship’s title-hogging Sebastiens — as in, Loeb and Ogier — some fascinating insight on what elevates an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver pairing from good to great, and a lot more, and we hope you enjoy reading RACER No. 322 as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HERE to find out more about print and digital subscriptions.

The six times Ayrton Senna graced the cover of RACER magazine

On this day 29 years ago, Ayrton Senna succumbed to injuries sustained during the San Marino Grand Prix. In his memory, here’s a look at all of the times this racing legend appeared on the cover of RACER magazine.

On this day 29 years ago, Ayrton Senna succumbed to injuries sustained during the San Marino Grand Prix.

In his memory, here’s a look at all of the times this racing legend appeared on the cover of RACER magazine.

RACER Spring 2023: The Season Preview Issue

Two championships, but two very different storylines. In the Formula 1 World Championship, the big question is whether anyone can take the fight to Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, following another dominant performance by the reigning world …

Two championships, but two very different storylines.

In the Formula 1 World Championship, the big question is whether anyone can take the fight to Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, following another dominant performance by the reigning world champions in the 2023 Bahrain opener?

In a 2023 NTT IndyCar Series that looks too close to call, it’s who out of a loaded field of contenders can somehow rise above it and find a title-winning edge? Based on St. Petersburg’s season-opening sample of one, that could be any of a dozen drivers.

For both series, RACER’s Season Preview Issue has you covered. Our comprehensive F1 guide looks at every team, and includes interviews with McLaren newcomer Oscar Piastri, as well as a re-energized Lewis Hamilton (who, based on Mercedes’ early form, will need every bit of that energy).

Over in IndyCar, we’re looking at Alexander Rossi’s fresh start with Arrow McLaren, Scott McLaughlin’s rapid rise to championship contention with Team Penske, and a new attitude and impetus at Andretti Autosport. Add in a look at the prospects for all five former champions in the 2023 field, and you’re primed to go racing.

But that’s only the start of issue No. 321. We’re also taking a look at how Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura ARX-06 took the opening win of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s new GTP era (somewhat controversially, it turns out…) and how Heart of Racing’s GTD class Aston Martin outgunned every all-pro GT entry at the Rolex 24.

In NASCAR, we’re checking in with 23XI Racing new addition Tyler Reddick, a driver who team co-owner Denny Hamlin feels has multiple Cup Series championships in his future. And switching to two wheels, Yamaha’s 2021 MotoGP champ Fabio Quartararo gives us the lowdown on how he’s going to take on the Ducati hordes.

With all that, and more, we hope you enjoy the latest issue of RACER — and we hope we see someone going wheel to wheel with that man Verstappen, too…

CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HERE to find out more about print and digital subscriptions.

Forging Ahead, Chapter 9: A perfect storm in 1979 for IndyCar, F1 and NASCAR – the Finale

I humbly invite you to watch the final chapter of our “Forging Ahead” video series that shares the origin story of RACER. You’ll experience the turbulent year of 1979 and an era of great change for American racing. Expectations were high for America’s reigning Formula 1 world champion, Mario Andretti. He was racing for Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus in the wild new ground effect era that the duo created two years earlier. This was happening just as NASCAR was poised to go mainstream in American culture while the world of Indy car racing descending into an ugly war of words and lawsuits between upstart CART and old guard USAC.

Against this chaotic backdrop, I was the new Editor of SCCA’s SportsCar magazine and I was deepening my collaboration with talented photographer, Jeff Zwart. This would ultimately lay the foundation for the launch of RACER magazine. 1979 was also the year when my friend, Mike Hull and I put together a top-level SCCA Formula Ford effort that would leave me no room for excuses — although I would try to make them, regardless.

Production of this series began on March 28, 1971 at the long-gone Ontario Motor Speedway. The night before, I’d created hand-painted credentials that allowed me and a group of my 16-year-old miscreant pals to roam the paddock, the pits and trackside locations at the one-off Questor Grand Prix. We used a Super 8 movie camera to capture this unique two-heat match race between F1’s best and America’s greatest racers. My hero Mario Andretti won both heat races driving a Ferrari 312B, which cemented my lifelong commitment to sharing the excitement and emotion of the sport I love.

The start for me forging ahead to RACER is covered in Chapter 1 and now, 18,976 days after Mario won the Questor GP, this project is finally done.

But the race to the future continues for our RACER team…

Watch Forging Ahead, Chapter 9 below, or click here.