Author Archives: Wheel2Wheelreports

By Selin Soyer Racing in Texas began long before anyone built a track. It began with a bet between two people who each thought theirhorse was quicker. Spanish and Mexican ranchers worked this land first, andearly Texans inherited their horse culture. The distances were huge, the cattle were stubborn, and a good horse could makeor break a year. So people raced, usually a quarter mile downa road or across a pasture on a Saturday afternoon. Those sprints are the roots of the American Quarter Horse. Nobody needed a grandstand. A crowd gathered on its own, and money changed hands. Organised horse racing grew with the towns, along with the gambling fights that came with it. Texas legalized pari-mutuel betting in the early 1930s, repealed it a few years later, andspent decades in a gray zone of informal match races. Votersfinally brought legal racing back in the late 1980s, and the1990s brought Sam Houston Race Park, Retama Park, and lone  Star Park. Lone Star hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2004. That is the horse story in brief, and it matters mostly becauseit taught Texans to love speed and to gather around it. Then the engines showed up, and Texas found its true calling. The state turned out two of the great names in American motorsport. Carroll Shelby, a chicken farmer from Leesburg with a bad heart and a lot of nerve, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959. After his driving days ended, he built theShelby Cobra, one of the most famous cars ever made. A.J. Foyt of Houston won the Indianapolis 500 four times, took Le Mans in 1967, and added a Daytona 500 in 1972. He raced theway he lived, with a short temper and no apologies. Plenty of Texans still measure every other driver against him. The inventors came from Texas too. Jim Hall, an oil-family kid from Midland, built the Chaparral sports cars in the 1960s, and they were wildly ahead of their time. His cars experimented with big wings and aerodynamic downforce years before the rest of racing caught on, and you can see theirinfluence on race cars today. Meanwhile Terry Labonte, fromCorpus Christi, quietly became aContinue reading “Fast Horses and Faster Cars: How Texas Learned to Race”

By Ciara Casey Colton Herta is set to drive in FP1 Today. The American F2 driver will be stepping in to car of Sergio Perez to complete the free practice session on Friday 23rd October 2026 for Cadillac F1 team. Herta is currently in his rookie season of formula two and is a test driver forContinue reading “American Driver takes to the track in Friday Session…”

By Holly Wright. British Teenager Freddie Slater To Make F1 Practice Debut With Audi In Mexico City And São Paulo. British teenager Freddie Slater will make his Formula 1 practice debut with Audi at the Mexico City Grand Prix before returning to the cockpit a week later in Sao Paulo. The 18-year-old will take part in first practice at both events, withContinue reading “Another new driver in F1…”