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Steve Jobs is dead. The Apple chairman and former CEO who made personal computers, smartphones, tablets, and digital animation mass-market products passed away today. We're going to miss him. Deeply, and personally. More »
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English director Peter Yates, known to enthusiasts as the director of Bullitt and therefore cinema's most famous car chase, passed away today at age 82. Here's the 11 minutes we'll always remember him for. More »
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Hiromu Naruse, the chief test driver for Toyota who had a hand in every great sports car built by the Japanese giant since the 1960s, died in June while testing his masterpiece, the Lexus LF-A. Now Toyota is paying tribute. More »
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Jerry Flint, the official curmudgeon of the auto journalism world whose career dated to the Eisenhower administration, died Saturday. We fly our ascots at half-staff in his honor today. More »
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Comic writer and infamous curmudgeon Harvey Pekar touched on a lot of subjects — mostly to complain about them. As we mourn his passing, we remember his gift of putting our displeasure into words. Here's Pekar on speed traps. [WKSU] More »
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Seven decades after its birth, Mercury is dead. We don't mourn the loss, but we don't rejoice, either. To be honest, we don't feel a thing. Do you care? Does Ford? Does anyone? More »
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Donald N. Frey, the engineer who led the team that gave us the first Ford Mustang, passed away today March 5th. He was 86 years old. More »
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Jan Gabriel, the Chicago-area motorsport announcer who popularized the phrase "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!", died last week at 69. He got his start as a sock-hop disc jockey and eventually moved into automotive television. Fittingly, he passed on a Sunday. More »
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Robert Novak, who achieved notoriety in the 1960s as a political columnist and in 2008 as the driver of a Corvette involved in a hit-and-run accident, died of a brain tumor today at his Washington home. More »
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Peter Wheeler will be remembered as the man responsible for epic TVR supercars like the Griffith, Cerbera, Tuscan and Sagaris. He passed away yesterday after a short illness at age 64. Autocar's Colin Goodwin has written a touching obituary. [Autocar] More »
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Actor Dom DeLuise, star of Smokey and the Bandit II Cannonball Run I and II, three films every auto-lover needs in their DVD collection, died yesterday at age 75. More »
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We are saddened to learn that novelist JG Ballard died today. Ballard's work focused on the effects of technology on our heads, hearts, and gonads, and cars figured prominently in much of it. More »
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Much of the Country knew Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino as "Khan" or "the guy from Fantasy Island," but car freaks the world over knew him as the man who gave us Soft Corinthian Leather. More »
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Jerry Reed, best known around these parts as the actor who played the truck driver "Snowman" in the Smokey And The Bandit films, passed away yesterday at the age of 71. A successful songwriter and musician, Reed was one of the earliest country music stars to break into Hollywood, paving the way for other crooners to go mainstream like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Although many know "East Bound and Down" as the theme from Smokey And The Bandit, fewer know it's a song sung by Reed himself. Here's hoping you don't find any county mounties and there's a cute city kitty waiting for you on the other side, Jerry. [CNN/AP , Photo Credit:FranklinMintBlog] More »
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After receiving a report earlier today, we've just confirmed the sad news that Phil Hill, the first American to win a Formula One World Drivers Championship, passed away at 10:30 this morning at the age of 81 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. Hill will be remembered as one of the greatest race car drivers in American history, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Italian Grand Prix, among others. He will also be remembered as a great writer, known to many for his years of work writing about cars and automotive history for Road & Track. Phil Hill is survived by his wife Alma, one son and two daughters. Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends, family and colleagues. More information as it becomes available. Photo Credit: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images Sport More »
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Those of us at the 24 Hours of LeMons race on Saturday afternoon were beyond heartbroken when Court Summerfield died at the wheel of the Team Cant Am Volvo 242 Turbo. Not only was Court's death a major loss for the LeMons racing community, it was also a tough blow for the city of Alameda; he lived on the island and worked at Ole's Waffle Shop, which is as much a part of the city's soul as are old cars parked on the street. I hung out with Court before the race on Saturday morning and I'm still unable to believe that this could happen to such a nice guy and great driver. The words of his wife made us feel a little better, however: "It was really just something that he was happy doing. I'm sure the way he went, he was happy." Check out the Cant Am Volvo in action during happier times, at Altamont and at Thunderhill Photo credit, above: Gianna Babb [San Francisco Chronicle] More »
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As we sadly reported first earlier today, Boyd Coddington died early this morning at the age of 63.
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Art Arfons, the three-time land speed record holder from 1964-1965 with his "Green Monster" series of jet-cars, passed away yesterday at the age of 81. In addition, Arfons was also known for trying to make drag racing as safe as possible with the development of two important safety devices that have since been made mandatory for drag racers: the overhead roll cage and the parachute. Here's more from his obit in the Akron Beacon Journal: More »
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Yesterday, we lost a giant of American history. It's hard to overstate how massive Evel Knievel was in the media sphere of the late 1960s and early 1970s without some premium-grade hyperbole. Imagine the most identifiable figure of the past few years — Oprah, say, or that geek Star Wars kid from YouTube — and raise them by a Rachel Ray or a Sting. That'll get you in the ballpark with a guy who literally broke every bone in his body — on television — in the name of daredevil motorcycling. Evel Knievel owned the 70s. And he pwned himself in the process. More »
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Bill France Jr, former Nascar boss and scion to stock-car racing's pappy in chief, died at 74 after a long battle with cancer, officials said today. France, once a motorcycle racer who competed in the Baja 1000, started his Nascar career pulling trees out of the Florida swampland that would become the Daytona International Speedway. He ended it nearly five decades later by negotiating a multibillion-dollar TV deal with FOX, NBC and Turner Sports. Say what you will about Nascar's left-turning tedium, ol' Bill was as well versed in media as he was in racin'. – Mike Spinelli More »
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