Motorsport art by Steve Petrosky
Specializing in American motorsport
Take a trip through the totality of motorsport art by Steve Petrosky and you quickly realize he loves American racing. Sure, there’s a few deviations from that theme. But there is no doubt about where his heart is. IMSA seems to be a particular love of his. Mine too. However, there’s Indy, Can-Am, F1, LeMans and more as well.
At left is a great example. It’s pretty much the Can-Am history of Jim Hall and his amazing, innovative Chaparrals. While they always promised more than they actually delivered, they always threatened the domination of the McLaren team. It would take the force of the Penske/Porsche combination to dethrone McLaren. But American hearts were always rooting for Jim Hall to crush the Gulf-orange team.
There’s a similar theme in the Audi IMSA/ALMS art at right. Audi crushed the competition almost from the start. Their diesel-powered cars could pull the gas-powered rivals out of the turns and generally blow them off down the straights. Like the Chaparrals in their day, American teams could put up a great fight and occasionally defeat the might of Audi, but on the whole Audi reigned supreme.
A variety of styles
The majority of the motorsport art by Steve Petrosky is very realistic and accurate. Occasionally he deviates from that style to go all arty.
In the case of the Porsche 962s team cars at LeMans on the left, it’s a softer approach that wins you over. Here he shows the identical Shell and Dunlop sponsored works team cars, one of which (#19) featured Mario, Michael and Jeff Andretti. There’s that American theme again, even while racing for a German manufacturer in France.
More Americans in France
At top is the spectacular Wynn’s-sponsored Ford GT that competed at LeMans in 2019. While the French officials seemed to conspire against Ben Keating’s efforts, the American driver and car did the country proud. A minor technical infraction ultimately up-ended the effort and resulted in a disqualification after the race. I’m sure all American fans will remember this car for a long, long time.
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You can see the full variety of motorsport art by Steve Petrosky at his website.
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