WHEN THE BIG CAT LICKED THE NASCAR DOGS

The circuit comprising the runways and taxiways of Linden Airport, a few miles southwest of Manhattan and just off the New Jersey Turnpike, was flat. But – in NASCAR terms at least – it was far from featureless: one of its turns was right-handed. Its International 100 of 13 June 1954 – midpoint of the 37-round Grand National Series – broke new ground, therefore, and so provided a slew of firsts, as well as lasts. And not just for Jaguar.

‘Big Bill’ France’s racing empire was in its seventh year and threatened on its borders by the seaboards’ thriving sportscar scenes. Not yet sure of defeating them, he invited them instead.

This wasn’t the first time that‘foreign jobs’ had gone wing-to-fender with NASCAR’s Detroit heavy iron. The grid for the International 200 of June 1953 had been dotted with Jags – Toronto’s Lloyd Shaw put his XK120 on pole (a NASCAR premier division first and so far last for a Canadian