Out of Their Element, Jaguars Showed the Pace in Stock Car Races
William Jeanes has an interesting article in Autoweek in which he recalls that Toyota will not be the first offshore automaker to "run with the good ol' boys." There have been at least eight interlopers, with Jaguar leading the pack. (Al Keller, an East Coast Indy and road race driver, won a NASCAR Grand National event on June 13, 1954 driving a Jaguar XK120.) Jeanne's tale took me back to my first time as a spectator; a stock car race in Toronto's CNE Stadium. Among the Chevys, Plymouths, and Fords was a Jaguar Mk VII (similar to the one shown here) driven by local hero Norm Brioux. It wasn't quick in the straights but knifed its way past everyone through the turns. An XK120 later appeared at a USAC race on the Langhorne, PA, half-miler and again trounced the stockers in roadholding. Jaguars were the kings of long-distance racing then, but they could also show those "good ol' boys" a touch of class when the corners came up.
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