SPEED SPORT has been reporting on and covering motorsports happenings from all over the world for 85 years, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back in the archives to see what happened 10, 25 and 50 years ago each week.
Check out the first edition of SPEED SPORT Looking Back and be sure to check back next week for another look back through the historical pages of SPEED SPORT and National Speed Sport News.
10 Years Ago (May 6, 2009): Kyle Busch celebrated his birthday in grand fashion by winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. The victory, his third of the year, made him just the second driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series point’s race on his birthday. He also won the companion NASCAR Nationwide Series race to sweep the weekend at the Virginia oval.
Other Happenings: Legendary sprint car driver Fred Rahmer notched the 500th victory of his career and 401st in a sprint car during an All Star Circuit of Champions event at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylvania; McLaren was banned from three Formula One events for deceiving race stewards in Australia and Malaysia, but the sentence was suspended; Ricardo Zonta and Nic Jonsson piloted the Krohn Racing Ford Lola to a Grand-Am triumph at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
25 Years Ago (May 4, 1994): Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna was killed in an early crash during the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna was the second driver to die that weekend after Roland Ratzenberger died following a crash in practice earlier in the weekend. Michael Schumacher went on to win the race. Fans and mechanics were also injured in separate incidents during the race unrelated to Senna’s death.
Other Happenings: Dale Earnhardt slipped by Jimmy Spencer in turn two with five laps left and led the rest of the way to win the Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway; Mike Eddy bested Butch Miller to win the ASA Buckeye 300 at Ohio’s Columbus Motor Speedway; Cary Fass drove to victory in the USAC Tony Hulman Classic sprint car event at the Terre Haute Action Track; Steve Kinser shocked a field full of stock car stars when he won the IROC event at Talladega Superspeedway.
50 Years Ago (May 7, 1969): The United States Auto Club and Sports Car Club of America announced a planned program of cooperation that could possibly lead to a merger of the two organizations. Had the merger taken place, it would have formed a racing giant that could have possibly been larger than NASCAR.
Other Happenings: Bobby Isaac took a Sunday afternoon ride to victory in the NASCAR Grand National Series Fireball 300 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway; Parnelli Jones started from the pole and won the USAC Stock Car Series Yankee 250 at Indianapolis Raceway Park’s 2.5-mile road course; Troy Ruttman Jr., the son of 1952 Indianapolis 500 winner Troy Ruttman, was killed at Pocono Int’l Raceway during the track’s grand opening weekend.