Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Walter Cronkite: Loss of a news anchor, sports car enthusiast, and microcar racer


Walter Cronkite, the person most of us invited into our living rooms every evening, died this weekend at the age of 92. While most memories center around his broadcasts, most notably his coverage of the death of JFK, Cronkite was an avid sportsman -- racing cars and sailboats.
Cronkite was a fan of traditional sportscars, and can be seen in an old clip, driving an Austin Healey, and talking about the pleasures of sportscar driving, and of the excitement of racing.

But he was interested in driving most anything -- leading to his entry into the 1958 Little LeMans race at Lime Rock Park, driving a Goggomobil Ts400 with co-driver, Frank Macauley. (Their Goggomobile was the first car to exit the race -- with a flat battery.)


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