RACER@25: Issue No. 145, May 2004 - Power & Influence

This is the 17th installment in RACER's ongoing 25th anniversary celebration during which we share the 25 most important issues from our first quarter century.

RACER Issue No. 145 was the 12th anniversary issue of RACER, aptly titled Power & Influence, as it was Laurence Foster's first as editor-in-chief after twice serving as editor-in-chief of U.K.-based Autosport.

The May 2004 cover featured an evolution of the magazine's design by the very talented Allan Muir, who had been with the company since Haymarket took a majority ownership position in early 2001. The pop-art cover featured Dale Earnhardt Jr. – who had achieved pop culture icon status by this time – to illustrate RACER's annual power and influence rankings.

David Phillips and Foster turned our series on its head by listing the 12 most influential figures in U.S.-based racing, examining their impact beyond the confines of the sport itself as well as the power they wielded within it. No. 11 on the list was a fiery Canadian who would (and continues) to play a key role in open-wheel racing ...

From the ashes of CART's bankruptcy emerged a new Champ Car Series, and a clever feature lead leveraged defending champion Paul Tracy's playful reputation to position David Phillips' insightful feature on the reborn series.

Maurice Hamilton's "Aces in the Pack," profiled a rash of young talent in Formula 1. Would the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello create a sea change amid years of Michael Schumacher domination?

Foster's feature on the 12 Shrines to Speed took RACER's readers on a tour of the world's greatest circuits, while Tim Scott looked at the long shot-to-success story of the 30th Long Beach Grand Prix, which also gave birth to RACER 12 years before.

In another 30-year leap, Scott also wrote an insightful profile on Indy Racing League sensation Tomas Scheckter, who was in the early stages of following his F1 World Championship-winning dad Jody from wild man to title contender.

By this time RACER's relationship with Speedvision had evolved into a new relationship with SPEED Channel, then owned by FOX. Steve Nickless profiled motorsports talk show icon Dave Despain and gave us a frantic behind-the-scenes look at "Wind Tunnel" as a team undertook a 12- to 14-hour day, ever day, to pull off the live 10 p.m. show.

RACER's NASCAR reporter, the late Ben Blake, looked at how NASCAR teams were becoming more like full-works efforts with deeper manufacture ties, as Ford had convinced Jack Roush, Robert Yates and the Wood Brothers to pool engine know-how. While NASCAR teams were forming alliances, Gary Watkins dove into the brave new world of the American Le Mans Series' GTS class, on the cusp of a new wave of racers that would include Maserati's MC12, a new Chevy C6-style Corvette and the possibility of an entry by Porsche.

And a year removed from a devastating crash at the NHRA K&N Filters Supernationals at Englishtown, New Jersey, Top Fuel's Brandon Bernstein and his legendary father Kenny recounted the harrowing events of that day and the talk that determined his son's future in racing.

The next eight years would be the most challenging in the company's history, but with Laurence Foster on board as editor-in-chief, the foundation for RACER's survival and its future was now in place.