11
OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN RACE CARS OF ALL TIME
~ roadandtrack
Chaparral
2E
While
the 2D was a successful chassis, and the 2J earned immortality with a couple of
snowmobile-engine-driven suction fans, the 2E was the product of Texan
ingenuity. It ushered in the aero-downforce age with a driver-adjustable rear
wing (via a pedal in the cockpit), and introduced side-pod mounted water
cooling. It wasn't merely an icon, it was the vanguard of modern racecar
construction.
1967
Gurney Eagle-Weslake Mk. I
An
American, Dan Gurney, built this car. An American, Gurney, also won a Formula 1
race in this car. That's as good as it gets. The 3-liter, 11,000 RPM, 410 hp,
60-degree V12 and evil shark-torpedo looks are icing on the cake.
Lotus
56
The
Lotus 56 isn't just a turbine-powered IndyCar, a development of the Granatelli
team's STP-Paxton car of 1967. It was a car that solidified the shape and form
of most high-level racecars from there on out, consigning the cigar-body shape
to history adopting an aerodynamic wedge profile. Also, it had a one-speed
transmission and AWD. Turbines and AWD would be banned from Indy, but the shape
remained, evolved, and influenced pretty much all race cars after it. And
remember, despite the Lotus name and Colin Chapman modifications, it's still
essentially an all-American STP-Paxon.
2016
Ford GT GTE
From
the moment it stole the spotlight at the Detroit Auto Show, there was very
little mystery about what Ford was going to do with it. Racing? Only natural.
The 3.5-liter EcoBoost has already been proven in TUDOR racing, Chip Ganassi is
onboard and hungry for a new challenge, and it has enough rear diffuser to
julienne a field of potatoes. The fact that it debuted in an ultra-patriotic
livery is just that much better.
Dodge
Viper GTS-R Mk. I
The
original Viper GTS-R didn't take long to prove that an immense V10 is an asset
when endurance racing. On only its third outing at Le Mans, the SRT Motorsports
team took a class win in 1998. And again in 1999, and 2000. Don't forget the
overall wins at the Nürburgring, Daytona, and Spa, and the five FIA GT and two
ALMS championships. Most of all, don't forget how intimidating the big snake
was.
Corvette
Racing's C5-R, C6.R, and C7.R
For
17 seasons, the Corvette racing team has put three generations of the
".R" (the first was a "-R", to be accurate) on the track,
and its proven itself again and again. 1999 marked the debut of the C5-R, which
took three class victories at Le Mans (among many other wins). The C6.R took 7
liters of American muscle abroad and won many times, and the latest C7.R just
took a class victory in GTE Pro at Le Mans.
Panoz
LMP-1 and LMP07
Well
before Nissan's GT-R LM was causing folks unfamiliar with front-engined LMP
cars to scratch their heads, the LMP-1 Roadster-S and its less-successful LMP07
proved definitively that prototypes need not carry their engines aft of the
driver. Neither car had the sort of success Panoz wanted at Le Mans, but the
LMP-1 in particular diced it up with the BMW V12 LMRs and Ferrari 333 SPs to
take the 1999 ALMS team championship.
Ford
999
Henry
Ford deserves credit personally as a decided badass when he took the remarkably
crude, inarguably dangerous 18.9-liter Ford 999 racer to 92 mph—a world
record—over a frozen lake. It made 80 hp and a hell of a racket, and had just
killed a man the year before. It was a brash, outrageous car that put Ford on
the map, even though his fame would be built on utilitarian and economical
Model Ts.
DeltaWing
No
American creation has so upended the conventions of what a racecar should look
like as much as the Ben Bowlby-designed, Panoz-managed, Gurney's All American
Racers-built DeltaWing. The DeltaWing massively reduced frontal area to reduce
drag and fuel consumption. It worked, even if it didn't achieve any incredible
successes—and the concept was solid enough to inspire a copycat, the Nissan
ZEOD RC, and a lawsuit.
Cadillac
ATS-V.R
Cadillac
terrorized the Pirelli World Challenge Series competition for 10 years with the
monstrous CTS-V.R, and now it's the ATS-V.R's turn. A twin-turbocharged 3.6
liter V6 making somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 hp dwells somewhere under
the massive box flares and giant induction hood. Between this and the Ford GT
GTE, it looks like the future of American racing will be forced-induction.
Swift
007.i
In
1997, the team owned by Paul Newman and Carl Haas stopped running a Lola
chassis and switched to a chassis from American constructor Swift. They had a
Ford Cosworth engine, Goodyear tires, and an all-American driver in Michael
Andretti. Oh, and it won on its first ever race appearance. That's how you make
a debut in style
