Hall of Fame

Michael Dale is the retired President of Jaguar North America where he was responsible for the company’s activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Prior to being named President, he had been responsible for all U.S. Jaguar sales and marketing activities, including advertising and sales promotion. Michael Dale will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Jimmy Cox is a former engine guru and works mechanic at the MG Development Department responsible for many of the company’s racing and record-breaking successes. He was with the successful MG record breaking team at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1959 and was also part of the MG team who went to Le Mans in 1955. Jimmy Cox will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. In 1945, at the young age of just 14, Jimmy Cox started work at MG’s Abingdon factory as a mere messenger boy. That eventually led to work on the MG TC production line, but in 1949 Cox entered the military for his two-year duties. Upon returning to MG in 1951 he again was working on standard production cars but soon had the opportunity to take over responsibility […]

In many ways, Michael Cook is responsible for the vision that most Americans have of the sporting, carefree lifestyle of the British sports car owner. He, along with 22 other remarkable individuals, will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. For more than 30 years, Mike Cook’s job was to publicize and promote British cars in America. From the height of the sports car craze in the late ’50s to the end of the era when Jaguar ownership passed to Ford, Cook helped create the image of the marques, generate media buzz, launch new models, and publicize racing successes.

Gerry Coker was a designer for the Donald Healey Motor Company, he was responsible for the design of the Austin-Healey 100 and Sprite, later joining Chrysler and the Ford Motor Company, where he invented the 3-postion tailgate. Gerry will be inducted into the Britsh Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Sir John Black was Chairman of Standard-Triumph, helped support Morgan, Swallow and Jaguar production, and responsible for the creation of the TR range. Sir John Black will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in June. Black was born in Kingston upon Thames in 1895. He studied law at the University of London before joining the military during the First World War. He eventually achieved the rank of Captain the  Royal Tank Regiment. After the war, he left both the military and law when he joined the barely 10 years old Hillman Motor Company as sales manager in 1918. He was appointed a director in 1919.

Tony Adamowicz was born in New York on May 2, 1941. Although he won enduring fame for winning championships in Trans Am and Formula 5000, he also competed at Le Mans and Daytona. What brings him to the British Sports Car Hall of Fame, however, is his start as one of the first racers employed by Group 44. During his career racing, in what many deem to be the golden age of sports car racing, Tony drove with the likes of John Morton, Sam Posey, Chuck Parsons, and of course, Group 44 head and fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Tullius. His illustrious professional career spanned more than two decades, from 1966 through 1989.

There are lots of great British car shows throughout the season and lots of fine car museums. But, every so often people and events and places come together to create a not-to-be-missed opportunity. This is the case with the upcoming Induction Ceremony to the new British Sports Car Hall of Fame that will be held the evening before Moss Motorfest in Petersburg, Virginia. The event is filling up fast, and the ticket-required ceremony and party are going to sell out soon. Make your plans now, get your tickets, and you won’t regret it. Registration for the Friday activities officially closes on May 19, but will likely end earlier if they reach their maximum capacity. And I believe they will. The new Hall of Fame is being constructed to not only showcase the cars we all know and love, but to highlight and thank the folks […]