(The Henry Ford)
Dave Friedman has died. He was 87. The son of a movie producer and silent film actress, Dave Friedman spent most of his professional career as a still photographer on many well-known film productions. After service in the U.S. Navy, Friedman began attending and photographing local amateur sports car races around his native Los Angeles, continuing a lifelong passion for photography. At these races, Friedman met young drivers such as Carroll Shelby who, while hurtling small, powerful sports cars around hay bales on airstrips and parking lots, were in the process of defining a new professional racing sport and industry. In 1963, Carroll Shelby hired Friedman to document the design and development of what would become one of racing's most dominant stables of cars: the Shelby Cobra, King Cobra and Cobra Daytona coupe.
In 1965, Friedman started at 20th Century Fox as an assistant cameraman. While at the studio, he continued to document the growing popularity of auto racing at legendary tracks such as Laguna Seca and Riverside International Raceway. Friedman also continued his relationship with Shelby's racing teams, attending three of the biggest endurance races in sports car racing: the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Friedman captured the final development of the first American-designed and built racecars that dominated the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans race between 1966 and 1969. In 1969, Dave Friedman changed his focus again and became a still photographer for film productions, where he continued to capture iconic images of American cinema and television.
Dave Friedman has written over 30 books on automobile racing, covering a variety of classes including sports car road racing, Formula 1, Can-Am, Trans-Am, drag racing and stock cars. In recognition of his professional accomplishments, Friedman is the only still photographer elected to the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. Friedman continued to pursue his passion for motor sports into the 1990s, when he refocused his lens on a different art form – classical ballet.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Thank you to The Henry Ford for this summary of Dave's brilliant and influential career. -PMD
(Photo by Dave Friedman)
Dan Gurney in the factory Shelby American Cobra during the 12 Hours of Sebring, March 21, 1964.
(Photo by Chris Owens for Penske Entertainment)
Alex Palou picked up right where he left off in 2025, opening the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season with a dominant victory in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Palou won his third consecutive and fourth overall series championship last season by a whopping 196 points, an advantage of more than three races, and he and Chip Ganassi Racing showed the same swagger on a sun-splashed Sunday in Florida. Reigning event winner Palou, from Spain, cruised to his 20th career victory in just his 99th start, driving his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda to a 12.4948-second victory over the No. 3 Team Penske DEX Chevrolet of NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin. “This team keeps on improving, keeps on making new changes, and they just keep on raising the bar,” Palou said. “It’s pretty impressive. It’s a long season in front of us, but what a great way to start the season.” Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
(Photo by James Black for Penske Entertainment)
NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Team Penske DEX Chevrolet) finished second, 12.4948-seconds behind Palou.
(Photo by James Black for Penske Entertainment)
Christian Lundgaard, who started 12th, rallied to complete the podium finishers in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
(Photo by James Black for Penske Entertainment)
Nikita Johnson earned his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory Sunday, winning his hometown Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after prevailing in a duel of talented teenagers. Johnson, from St. Petersburg, delivered his first victory in just his fourth career start in the INDYCAR development series. It also was the first INDY NXT victory for Cape Motorsports, which Johnson joined this offseason after a part-time foray last season in the series with HMD Motorsports. Series rookie Johnson, 17, drove his No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry to victory by .6990 of a second over pole sitter Max Taylor, 18, in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car of Andretti Global. Rookie Tymek Kucharczyk rounded out the podium finishers in his first INDY NXT start by placing third in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry, 5.055 seconds behind Johnson.
(MotoGP.com)
Marco Bezzecchi (No. 72 Aprilia Racing) dominated a dramatic PT Grand Prix of Thailand with a Buriram beauty at the beginning of the 2026 season. Tissot Sprint winner Pedro Acosta (No. 37 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) finished P2 to make sure he leaves Thailand as the MotoGP World Championship leader, as Raul Fernandez (No. 25 Trackhouse MotoGP Team) begins the year with a P3 in a Grand Prix that saw reigning World Champion Marc Marquez (No. 93 Ducati) suffer a race-ending puncture while in the podium fight. And that means Ducati's unbelievable record-breaking podium streak of 88 in a row is over - for the first time since the 2021 British GP, no Ducati rider stood on the Sunday rostrum. Watch the race highlights
here.
(Thank you to MotoGP.com)
(Trans Am)
The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli kicked off its 60th-Anniversary season at the home of its inaugural event in 1966, Sebring International Raceway. Matthew Brabham controlled the season opener from green to checkers in his No. 16 Gym Weed Ford Mustang, holding off relentless pressure from two-time champion Paul Menard to earn his ninth-career TA victory and second at Sebring.
(INDYCAR)
Shell and INDYCAR announced on Feb. 27 that the Shell Starship will return to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES transportation fleet for the 2026 season. Continuing its role as a visible demonstration of advanced, lower-emissions freight technology operating in a motorsports series, Shell Starship is powered by a Cummins X15NTM natural gas engine and lubricated with Shell Rotella® natural gas engine oil. It will operate as the transport vehicle for the INDYCAR Administrative Trailer, traveling to nearly every race on the 2026 calendar.
Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG
Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 08:05AM 
