Feb 27 2025 59 mins 1
Part 1: Luke Chennel - John Bond (1912-1989) and his wife Elaine bought the faltering magazine Road & Track in 1949. Over the course of his ownership and editorship, Bond built the magazine into a major cultural force. This presentation examines the dimensions that Bond engaged with his editorial viewpoint from a wholistic cultural lens. Bond built a durable version of car culture, the practices and values of which remain in many forms today, though under challenge from old and new trends in the automotive industry.
Bond’s version of car enthusiasm stemmed directly from two sources: his education at the General Motors Institute and his enthusiasm for European racing. Road & Track’s coverage of the foreign motorsports scene for some time was the only widely available source material for an American audience.
Luke argues that Bond’s two decade editorship (1951-1972) of Road & Track created the foundational dimensions of traditional “car guy” culture, with its familiar and clubby atmosphere familiar to those “in the know,” but also acted in an exclusionary way to women, casual automobile and racing enthusiasts, and those who might have appreciated automobiles from other dimensions than their mechanical design or performance on certain tests.
Finally, the presentation examines Bond’s version of car culture in a contemporary light, considering the roles of the changing nature of racing and its relationship to road vehicles, the renaissance in electric vehicles, and debates about mobility in the contemporary climate.
Part 2: Kristie Sojka - will explore the progression of gender representation within the time that John Bond owned and edited Road & Track magazine. It will examine all aspects of the publication between the years of 1951-1972, including cover art, article content, photographs, and advertising. The presentation will compare and contrast the first ten years of Bond’s editorship with the last ten years to identify any potential changes in female representation. With the historical perspective of developing gender politics of the time period, the presentation will consider whether these societal shifts had any impact on women’s representation within the pages of the publication.
Part 3: Ken Yohn - will explore car culture from an anthropological perspective, as a complex whole combining both behavior and the material objects integral to the behavior. This formulation of culture thus includes material artifacts, rituals, customs, language, beliefs, institutions, and techniques, among other elements. This presentation will address two main questions. As presented in Road & Track, what are the essential elements (behavior and artifacts) of car culture? Second, can we learn anything, or draw non-obvious conclusions about car culture by adopting this type of anthropological perspective?
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00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:26 John Bond and the Rise of Road & Track
02:24 Luke Chennel's Personal Journey
03:51 John Bond's Influence on Car Culture
07:13 Bond's Vision for American Sports Cars
10:19 The Role of Racing in Car Development
15:07 Kristie Sojka on Gender Representation
23:56 Advertising and Gender in Road & Track
31:56 Disappointment in Female Representation
32:41 Dedication to John and Elaine
33:01 Ken Yon's Anthropological Perspective on Car Culture
34:12 Exploring Car Culture Through Different Lenses
37:01 Defining and Undefining Car Culture
43:11 Intergenerational Transfer in Car Culture
50:58 Q&A Session and Final Thoughts
57:34 Sponsors and Closing Remarks
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This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.
