As we prepare to usher in the new year, we take a moment to salute some of the key figures from the world of motorsport that we farewelled in 2024.
RAMIN ABDOLVAHABI
Ramin Abdolvahabi (1966-2024) was a nationally-recognized neurosurgeon whose extracurricular passion was competing in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge. He and Rob Ecklin Jr had just achieved their goal of a Bronze class win in the 12 Hours of Sebring when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
BOBBY ALLISON
Bobby Allison (1937 – 2024) was one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. Part of the select group with more than three Daytona 500 wins, Allison amassed 85 career wins in stock cars, although the 85th – at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1971 – wasn’t formally recognized until this year when a decades-long scoring dispute was finally settled in his favor. Outside of NASCAR, he also demonstrated his versatility with appearances in sports cars and IndyCar.
Allison heads to victory lane after winning the Southern 500 at Darlington in 1983. NASCAR/Getty Images
WALLY DALLENBACH SR
Wally Dallenbach (1936-2024) overcame second-tier equipment and fields that included some of American open-wheel racing’s all-time greats to carve out a distinguished IndyCar career in the 1960s and 1970s, including a victory in the 1973 California 500 at Ontario with Patrick Racing and leading 100 laps at the 1975 Indy 500. But he made an even bigger mark after he retired and became competition director and chief steward at CART. He was immensely respected by the drivers in his capacity as the sport’s top official, and many of his ideas and innovations – including the formation of a dedicated safety team that travels to each event – remain in place to this day.
WILSON FITTIPALDI
Wilson Fittpaldi (1943-2024) made 38 Formula 1 starts, and paired up with younger brother Emerson to found Brazil’s only F1 team and constructor, Copersucar Fittipaldi, in the 1970s. The team closed at the end of 1982, by which point Wilson had already been out of the cockpit full-time for several years, although he continued to make occasional returns to the track as recently as 2008, when he shared a GT3 car with Emerson in Brazil.
Wilson Fittipaldi puts the Fittipaldi FD01 Ford through its paces at the German GP in 1975. Motorsport Images
FRANK GAMBLE
Frank Gamble (1932-2024) got his start in a car he built himself – an aluminum body and stock 750cc engine on a Crosley Hot Shot frame that he called the ‘Gambini MK1’. Later, he used the network he’d built as a journalist for the likes of National Speed Sport News, the SCCA’s Sports Car magazine and Road & Track to connect with ‘Lucky’ Casner to help launch Camoradi, which made its mark in Europe primarily racing Maserati Birdcage sportscars. In addition to his sportscar starts, he also made one F1 start at the 1960 Italian GP in a Behra-Porsche. Later, he worked with Carroll Shelby to help launch Goodyear’s international racing tire division – which Gamble ultimately led – and oversaw Goodyear’s earliest successes in F1 and at Le Mans.
PAUL GOLDSMITH
Paul Goldsmith (1933 – 2024) was the oldest living Indy 500 competitor at the time of his death at the age of 98. He made six consecutive starts a Indy between 1958 and 1963, earning a best finish of third in 1960. Incredibly, those six appearances were among just eight open-wheel starts he made in his entire career. He also found success on bikes and in NASCAR, and was the final NASCAR Grand National winner on the old beach course at Daytona in 1958. Following his retirement in from driving in 1969 he became a prominent entrepreneur and aviator.
EDDIE GOSSAGE
Eddie Gossage (1958-2024) was an old-school promotor best known for his long and colorful tenure as President of Texas Motor Speedway. A protégé of Charlotte Motor Speedway promotor ‘Humpy’ Wheeler, Gossage led TMS from when construction commenced in 1995 through to his retirement in 2022.
PARNELLI JONES
Rufus Parnell ‘Parnelli’ Jones (1933 – 2024) was one of the fastest, most versatile drivers in American racing history. Winner of the 1963 Indy 500 (main image) and a two-time winner at the Baja 1000 (1971 and 1972), he was also a multiple race winner in NASCAR, sprint cars, midgets and Trans Am (where he was also national champion in 1970). He also achieved immense success as a team owner, winning the Indy 500 twice with Al Unser along with three USAC National Championships, overseeing wins on off-road and sprint car racing, and founding an eponymous team that competed in F1 between 1974 and 1976.
Parnelli Jones wheeling his Lola T70-Chevrolet at the 1967 Can-Am Challenge Cup at Riverside. Motorsport Images.
RUPERT KEEGAN
Rupert Keegan (1955 – 2024) was a gifted driver with a playboy reputation to rival that of James Hunt, although his stop-start F1 career with middling teams never afforded him the opportunity to reach the same heights. He found more success in sports cars, and also made a handful of IndyCar appearances with Machinists Union Racing in 1986.
BRUCE KESSLER
Bruce Kessler (1936-2024) failed to qualify for the one F1 world championship race he entered – the 1958 Monaco GP – but he had more success in sports cars, including a class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1958. Outside of the cockpit, he was reportedly the last person to speak to James Dean before the actor’s death in a car crash – they’d met by a roadside ahead of the upcoming Salinas Road Race and made arrangements to have dinner together, however Dean was killed in a two-car accident en route to the restaurant. Following a serious crash at Pomona in 1959, Kessler retired from racing and embarked upon a successful career as a TV and film director.
FRED LORENZEN
Nicknamed ‘The Golden Boy’, Fred Lorenzen (1934-2024) was one of NASCAR’s most prominent drivers during its rise during the 1960s despite never running a full season. As a member of the Holman-Moody Ford factory team, he became the first driver to earn more than $100,000 in a single season (1963), and counted wins at the Daytona 500 (1965) and two victories in the Coca Cola 600 among his 26 career wins at the stock car racing’s top level. Lorenzen was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.
Before STP signed on with Petty Enterprises to sponsor Richard Petty in 1972, Fred Lorenzen carried the STP colors on his NASCAR Cup Plymouth. NASCAR/Getty Images
CHUCK ‘THE WOLFMAN’ LYNN
Chuck Lynn (1952-2024) never drove a racecar, but for years he was as well-known a fixture at IMS as many of the drivers. Overcoming cerebral palsy – a journey he described in a 2012 autobiography – Lynn spent decades selling the Indianapolis Star inside the track, becoming close friends with teams, drivers and the broader IMS community along the way.
DICK MARCONI
Dick Marconi (1934-2024) founded the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin, California. Home to more than 100 historic race and road vehicles with a combined value over $60 million, the museum pays back into the community by donating admission fees to organizations that help underprivileged children.
MARY McGEE
Mary McGee (1936 – 2024) was a true trailblazer in off-road motorcycle racing. After getting her start racing sports cars in SCCA events, her switch to off-road events – on two wheels and four – triggered an avalanche of ‘first-evers’ that earned her places in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.
ROCKY MORAN
Rocky Moran (1950 -2024) raced in multiple series through the 1970s before getting the chance to drive for his idol Dan Gurney in 1981 in the No. 48 Pepsi Challenger Eagle-Chevrolet in the Watkins Glen CART race. A second shot in open-wheelers followed in 1985 with Leader Card Racing, but the real breakthrough came when AAR moved into IMSA’s GTO class with Toyota in 1986 and Moran was hired as a factory driver. He split his time between IMSA and sporadic IndyCar appearances for the next few years, achieving his greatest success in 1993 as part of the Rolex 24-winning line-up for AAR.
Moran was part of AAR’s mighty Toyota program. William Murenbeeld/Motorsport Images
RYAN PEMBERTON
Ryan Pemberton racked up more than 600 starts as a crew chief in NASCAR’s national championships, earning five wins. Two of those wins came at the Cup level – the first with Joe Nemechek (Kansas, 2004) and later with Brian Vickers (Michigan, 2009). At the time of his death at the age of 54, he was Director of Competition at JR Motorsports.
ALAN REES
Alan Rees (1938-2024) made three F1 starts in the early 1960s, two of which were in Formula 2 cars. Indeed, it was in F2 that the Brit arguably found his greatest success as a driver, frequently taking on – and beating – the likes of Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt as part of the Roy Winkelmann Racing team between 1963 and 1968. In 1969 he was a co-founder of March, moving on to become Shadow team principal in 1971 and then co-founding Arrows in 1977.
BOB RILEY
Bob Riley (1931 – 2024) was an engineer and designer whose cars left an indelible mark across the entire American motorsports landscape. His Coyote IndyCar carried A.J. Foyt to his fourth Indy 500 win, but he made an even greater mark in sports cars with several race-winning designs, including the fearsome Riley & Scott Mk III. A 2024 inductee into IMSA’s Hall of Fame, his legacy lives on through Riley Motorsports under the watch of his son Bill.
The Riley & Scott Mk III was originally designed for IMSA’s World Sportscar Category ahead of the 1995 season, and evolved into powerhouse. William Murenbeeld/Motorsport Images
MALCOLM SMITH
Malcolm Smith (1941 – 2024) was widely recognized as one of the greatest motorcycle racers in desert off-road racing history. In addition to his many accomplishments on two wheels, he also found success on four, winning the Baja 1000 twice with Bud Feldkamp. Outside of his achievements in competition, he helped inspire generations of motorcycle riders as Steve McQueen’s co-star in ‘On any Sunday’ in 1971.
TED TOLEMAN
Ted Toleman (1938-2024) entered F1 as an owner with his eponymous team in 1981 off the back of a successful F2 season, and made his mark by giving Ayrton Senna his Formula 1 debut in 1984. The Toleman name disappeared from the grid at the end of 1985, but the team itself evolved through a succession of name and ownership changes over the decades to become the current Alpine team.
BILL YORK
Bill York (1933-2024) oversaw the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media center for more than five decades. Among his many contributions were the handwritten, color-coded Indy 500 qualifying cards that he created along with colleague Bob Laycock that became iconic fixtures on the media center wall – and sought-after keepsakes by drivers. In addition to his work at IMS, York also led media services for the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, and an array of other Indianapolis-area sports teams.
