One Lap of the Web: No school like old school

-- You don't see a Packard-powered hot rod very often, and we have to wonder why. Stuff your Ford flatheads, ditch your boring V8s! Few things in the world are cooler than eight cylinders lined up in unwavering authority, to the tune of 327ci, with a McCullough supercharger feeding four Stromberg 97 carburetors above aluminum heads. Even cooler if the rest of the car is hand-built, like Brian Thomas's Packard rat rod that's so dizzyingly low it eats small marsupials and salamanders for breakfast. If a Packard engine could win a World War, it should certainly be able to do battle on the salt flats against its bellytank brethren. ("Like building fine watches by the pound!" Packard quoted.) That exposed transmission looks dangerous. Luckily, there's a leather helmet above it, you know, for safety's sake.

-- Dave Roper was the first American ever to win at the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race. In 1974, he went to Scotland to build submarines. He bought a Norton Commando, rode it down to the island, did a lap and thought, "nah, too dangerous." Ten years later, he won the Senior Historic TT class on a 1959 Matchless G50, the first TT victory for the legendary bike. It took 77 years, but an American had finally cinched a victory: "They had to scramble to find the national anthem to play on the podium!" he said in a 2012 interview. This brief documentary serves as a reminder why, and how, Dave Roper is a badass American motorcycle hero, still keepin' it real in Hicksville, N.Y.

-- Lloyd and Harry go for a rally drive. The resulting in-car footage, a true motorsports classic, is what it's like to drive with my girlfriend -- am I right, fellas?! Poor Sammy. Poor, incompetent Sammy. Poor nagging sitcom mother-in-law of a co-driver. Truly there are no winners here. Take my wife, please!

-- The Indy 500 can count among its illustrious history two distinct periods: the time before 1964 and the time after the 48th running, which saw the deaths of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald in a fiery explosion on Turn 4, just after the first lap. That 1964 Indy is important even without the specter of death surrounding it: It was the last race with front-engined race cars. It was also the first race to be broadcast live, but not on TV -- audiences crowded into movie theaters to watch the race, not knowing that they would witness a haunting life-and-death drama that changed the sport forever. Now there's a new book out, "Black Noon," which delves into the events of May 30, 1964. It focuses on the technological competition between the Offys and the European imports, as well as Nance Sachs and Sherry MacDonald, the widows left behind. "Black Noon has a 'Right Stuff' vibe and a 'space race' sensibility," says Paul Pfanner, "born of risking everything to prove that something very dangerous but very important can indeed be accomplished."

-- On the cover of our July 21, 1983, issue, we starred Toonces, The Cat Who Could Drive A Car. Good ol' Toonces, that constantly exploding little rat-faced fellow. When autonomous driving finally makes its inevitable invasion to the automotive realm, we'll finally live our dream of having an ugly cat drive our cars.

Image via The Old Car Manual Project.

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