I’m Bill Wagenblatt and I live in Portland, Oregon, USA. I’ve been a motor racing enthusiast since mid 1960, a photographer since the early ‘70s. I spent three years in Germany—courtesy of the US Air Force—giving me the opportunity to witness racing at the great tracks of Europe.

My passion for motor sport began at age ten in North Branford, Connecticut, when our neighbor Freddy set about converting his 1934 Ford pickup into a hot rod. I spent hours in Freddy’s garage—watching him work, sitting in his car asking question, reading his collection of Hot Rod magazines. From there, my rural Connecticut world began to expand.

In the early sixties, hot rods, drag racing, and the Indianapolis 500 comprised motor racing. And then Ford Motor Company got involved in racing in a big way, partnering with Lotus and invading the Indianapolis Speedway. Hot Road magazine was a reliable source of Ford’s activities, and as Ford expanded to sports prototype racing, regular newspaper coverage grew. I learned of places like Sebring, the Nurbürgring, and Le Mans.

Slot car racing was big in those days—at least in my little town—and one Friday evening while waiting my turn at the local hobby shop, I discovered a copy of Cars at Speed, by Robert Daley. It was a portal to the world of motor racing—Spa Francorchamps, the Mille Miglia, Monza and Zandvoort. I was hooked on the world of “foreign” racing.

My sister’s boyfriend was also interested in motor racing. He and a friend decided to drive from Connecticut to Sebring, Florida, for the 1967 twelve-hour race. Incredibly, my parents allowed me go along. The two-day trip in an ancient Volkswagen Beetle was an adventure in itself, and after surviving the drive, I witnessed my first international sports car race: the Ford GT 40 Mk IV race debut against the Chaparral 2F. Ferrari didn’t enter the Daytona winning 330 P4s, and I was disappointed, but the 206 Dinos were there, the Porsche 910s, and the race debut of the Alfa Romeo T33. Heady stuff for a teenage kid.

In 1970, I made another road trip to the Indianapolis 500. Subsequently, I took my first trip to Watkins Glen to see the Porsche 917s and 512s in the six-hour race. In 1971, I enlisted in the Air Force and in 1972, was sent to Wiesbaden, Germany for a three-year assignment. I was a twenty year-old mad enthusiast stationed two hours south of the Nurbürgring, two hours north of the Hockenheimring. My European racing education began with Formula 2 and I attended my first Formula 1, the German Grand Prix at the Nurbürgring.

In 1973, I went to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium for the 1000km sports car race. After seeing racing on the contained tracks of Lime Rock and Watkins Glen, Spa was breath taking—the same breakneck raceway speeds, but on the public roadways! Nothing I’d seen before compared to the thrill of Spa.

1975 Donnington Collection

I returned to the states in the mid-seventies, and was a regular at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Mosport and others. At that time, Historic cars were raced primarily for short support prior to a Formula 1 race or IMSA race.

In 1979, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and I attended the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1980. After the Nurbürgring and Spa-Francorchamps—even compared to Watkins Glen—Long Beach, girded by cement barriers and cyclone fences, was a huge disappointment.

Lucky for me, as my interest in contemporary racing waned, historic racing grew. It soon satisfied my interest in racing, history, and photography—giving me the opportunity, not only to see cars from an earlier era, but to revisit many I saw on the European circuit.

And it goes without say, collecting many books and magazines are essential for research.

On a trip back to Connecticut in the summer of 2008, I visited my old neighborhood and took a picture of Freddy’s former garage. This is the place where it all started some forty-five years ago.