Automobile USA – September 2019

LETTERS

20

TO START WITH, I really enjoy

your magazine; your articles and

photography are second to none.

I do, however, take exception to

your exclusion of the Corvette

ZR-1 from your All-Stars list (May).

Your “qualifying rules” state these

vehicles are “meant to represent the

most aspirational, attainable, and

otherwise exceptional offerings of the

past calendar year.” The complaint

by the reviewers of lack of traction

is confusing; it would be like Mark

Donohue complaining to Roger

Penske that the Porsche 917-30 had too

much horsepower as he proceeded to

dominate the Can-Am Series. What

about appropriate throttle input and

driver skills? To rank the Mercedes G

550 SUV and the Nissan Altima SR 2.0

above the ZR-1 is mind-boggling. This

is not to say that these are not great

vehicles. But “aspirational, attainable,

exceptional,” and dollars-to-fun value?

The ZR-1 is the hands-down winner,

in my opinion, or should at least be

a standout. As Andy Pilgrim says in

his review of the Porsche 911 GT2

RS in the same issue, “Can’t please

everyone.”

NOBLE HELLER

Ridgway, Colorado

Every vehicle we invite to our All-

Stars competition is by definition

exceptional and a standout. Make no

mistake, we remain big fans of the

ZR-1.—Ed.

XCELLENT TALE

Regarding your story about the Nissan

Xterra in the May issue, I loved seeing

Automobile publish an article about

something other than new cars. A

lot of us either cannot or, in my case,

refuse to buy new, technology-laden

vehicles. You skillfully and eloquently

wrote on the charms of older vehicles.

I hope you publish more articles in

this vein, as these vehicles represent

another world. I volunteer to write

one about living with four Mercedes-

Benzes with an average age of 42.

CHARLES T. CLEAVER II

Dallas, Texas

BLAZED FOR ETERNITY

Your review of the 2019 Chevrolet

Blazer (June) was of interest, as

we pondered it as a potential

replacement for our 175,000-mile 2013

Nissan Murano. The story was well

received—right up to the part about

“a non-defeatable stop/start system.”

I suppose the goal is to stop Earth’s

climate from changing. Surely SoCal

drivers stuck in stop-and-go traffic

will accept this passively as good

citizens of the state.

E. HENRI TROTTIER

Aiken, South Carolina

Maddening, isn’t it?—Ed.

TAKE A FLIER

I read your “Flying Cars” article in the

June issue, and it did a good job of

covering the vehicles, the technology,

and the issues. Then I had to take

an hour’s drive to see my next client.

Flying cars for the masses? Sorry, just

not gonna happen. Asking people

already having trouble with two-

dimensional travel to now handle a

third axis of movement is a recipe

for disaster—but the daily collision

compilations going viral on the web

would finally give cat videos a rest.

KEVIN SPATZ

Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey

PRAISE MARIO

I enjoyed Mac Morrison’s feature on

Mario Andretti (July), which was

full of background and facts I had

forgotten or had never read before. I

really liked Mario’s “we are blessed”

answer about the Andretti “curse.”

What a great perspective. This year

my son and I made our first-ever

trip to the Indy 500. At the end of

ABOUT

ALL-

STARS

Write: Automobile magazine, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, California, 90245

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Legends Day, after seeing Andretti

history featured in the museum and

all over the track, we were walking

past the garages and out steps

Mario himself. After a quick grip-

n-grin with whomever was there to

see him, he turned to my son, who

was standing there literally hat in

hand. After signing my son’s hat, he

graciously let us get a quick picture

with him. Mario was and is a class

act, and getting to meet the man

on the 50th anniversary of his Indy

win was a highlight of the weekend.

Congrats on a life well lived.

ANDREW ROBINSON

Atlanta, Georgia

Decades ago I witnessed Mario

Andretti do a very compassionate

thing at an International Race

of Champions event. The IROC

competitors drove identically

prepared cars, and which car they

got was determined by picking the

car number from a hat. At Riverside

International Raceway, I was at the

roped-off area, about 20 yards from

the selection process along with

others, including a young boy in a

wheelchair. When it was Mario’s

turn to pick, he brought the whole

process—the other drivers and

officials—over to the boy and asked

him to select his car number. This

happened almost a half century ago,

and I have never forgotten it.

BILL SAMOLE

Sparks, Nevada

Loved your article on Mario. One of

the very best, an absolute champion!

ROBERT HENNINGER

Anaheim, California

STAR GAZING

I just read the wonderful words

Arthur St. Antoine wrote entitled

“A Walk Among The Stars” (May).

What an incredible piece on Pierce

Brothers Westwood Village Memorial

Park—the dearly departed Stars of

Hollywood and their cars live on. I

am a lifelong car enthusiast thanks

to my father; he always said the only

thing you leave in this world is “a

good name,” and for the stars maybe