Is the 1970's "Formula Magazine" website gone?

[John Barthelmass]

I tried to open the webpage for Formula magazine, which was a great little hardcore racer magazine that was around in the mid-70's. It appears that the website is dead and gone, which is a shame for those of us old enough to remember the golden age of small-bore formula racing back then. The magazine was published out of southern California, and focused on FF, FSV, FB, FV, and the larger formula classes up through F5000 and even F1. They were slowly posting full copies of each magazine published, and I recall that they were up into early 1976 the last time I checked. It was great to read through the online magazines and see the early days of the likes of Bobby Rahal, Dennis Firestone, Bruce MacInness, Dave Weitzenhof, and a lot of others.

What a shame if they had to close down the site.

[mmi16]

I tried to open the webpage for Formula magazine, which was a great little hardcore racer magazine that was around in the mid-70's. It appears that the website is dead and gone, which is a shame for those of us old enough to remember the golden age of small-bore formula racing back then. The magazine was published out of southern California, and focused on FF, FSV, FB, FV, and the larger formula classes up through F5000 and even F1. They were slowly posting full copies of each magazine published, and I recall that they were up into early 1976 the last time I checked. It was great to read through the online magazines and see the early days of the likes of Bobby Rahal, Dennis Firestone, Bruce MacInness, Dave Weitzenhof, and a lot of others.

What a shame if they had to close down the site.

The only 'Formula Magazine' I can recall is the one that Rob Howden published as Howden Communications. Great while it lasted, I was a subscriber. That being said Rob stopped publishing it somewhere around 2009 or 2010.

[DanW]

Formula Magazine was founded in the early 1970s by Paul Pfanner and some of his nefarious confederates from Orange County, CA. For some reason the web page is gone, but there is a fair amount of nostalgia on a couple of pages from the Book of Faces...

Paul is now publisher of Racer magazine.
https://racer.com/

https://www.facebook.com/999999Formu...=page_internal
https://www.facebook.com/groups/245224383135760/

[dalz]

Formula became Racecar magazine sometime in the late '70s, possibly trying to expand its appeal. I saw an ad for it in a Road & Track issue, so I had my Dad send away for it. I got exactly 2 issues in late 1980 before it went under. A deal was made with Autoweek to finish all subscriptions. That was okay but I didn't care about the latest sedans from Buick and Sterling. But I just know that that's how I got on the mailing list to get a postcard to become a charter subscriber to On Track, of which I now own the complete library through 2000.

I got an issue of Howden's magazine (featuring the reigning Daytona 500 winner on the cover) which primarily focused on the ladder open-wheel series and highlights from club racing. Very good but I thought, this is a very niche market being catered to....

[Lynn]

I had just renewed my subscription when it went under. I didn't get a single issue.

[bill gillespie]

Slight hijack: Whatever happened to ‘On Track’ in the mid to late ‘80’s.... great coverage even down to the SV and FA level ???

[dalz]

Whatever happened to ‘On Track’ in the mid to late ‘80’s.... great coverage even down to the SV and FA level ???

Don't get me started...

On Track was published by Paul Oxmann, who also published an outstanding line of full-color calendars and holiday cards featuring various motorsports and classic motorcycles. In the mid-'90s his wife's health was failing and he wanted to care for her, so he sold OT to Street & Smith's, the publishers of, ahem, NASCAR Scene. Things went downhill as NASCAR influence and corner-cutting became evident. The low point was when NS boss/hack Steve Waid offered a column where he implied, "Aww y'all don't have enough frammin' 'n jammin' in yer little sporty-car racin'." OT ended in Dec. 2000 with exaltation that "We'll still be online!" but that ended a few months later. Mr. Oxmann was reportedly very angry at what happened to his superb magazine.

I'm still bitter about it. I spit when I see a Street & Smith's publication.

[bill gillespie]

Don't get me started...

On Track was published by Paul Oxmann, who also published an outstanding line of full-color calendars and holiday cards featuring various motorsports and classic motorcycles. In the mid-'90s his wife's health was failing and he wanted to care for her, so he sold OT to Street & Smith's, the publishers of, ahem, NASCAR Scene. Things went downhill as NASCAR influence and corner-cutting became evident. The low point was when NS boss/hack Steve Waid offered a column where he implied, "Aww y'all don't have enough frammin' 'n jammin' in yer little sporty-car racin'." OT ended in Dec. 2000 with exaltation that "We'll still be online!" but that ended a few months later. Mr. Oxmann was reportedly very angry at what happened to his superb magazine.

I'm still bitter about it. I spit when I see a Street & Smith's publication.

more’s the pity ....????

[John Barthelmass]

I had the honor of living next door to Paul and his family during the '90's. They were great neighbors, and all-around good people who I was proud to have called friends. And there were a couple of good stories that came out of those days:

Back in January 1989, we were moving from one house to another in Huntington Beach. The day before the move, I called On Track Magazine's office to subscribe (wanted to wait until we were in the new address. That evening, I stopped by the new house and, seeing a car parked on the street out front, stopped by the next-door neighbors to ask if they could move it before the moving van would arrive the next morning. The lady that answered the door nicely assured me that the car would be gone before the movers arrived and, just as she was closing the door, said "oh, and thanks for subscribing to On Track". It turned out that Pat & Paul Oxman were our new next-door neighbors. In the ensuing years, Pat would use me as a test-specimen to see how long it was from the time their issue was mailed until it arrived in my mailbox. We would always compare notes on whatever major race had occurred the past weekend, as it was a lot harder to keep up back when cable TV didn't always cover three practices, qualifying, and the race in real-time. Pat had a great passion for all racing, and I was absolutely gutted when I heard she had passed away.


Paul turned fifty (as we all do sooner or later) and, being his friend and neighbor, he invited my wife and I to his party. As we were walking next door for the party, I noticed a car parked out front of our place - some kind of Toyota Supra or something like that. Anyway, mingling around the living room at the party, my wife (a dedicated motorhead in her own right) and I noticed a tall, typical Californian who seemed to tower over the rest of the guests. It took just a second for the both of us to realize that tall surfer-dude was Dan Gurney. Oh, and the Toyota parked on the street had a CA license plate "INDY 48".


One advantage of being a magazine publisher was that Paul would occasionally get a car to road-test for a day or two. It was always fun to see the latest from various manufacturers - I recall seeing one of the first Mazda Miatas, an early Ford Taurus SVO, Nissan NSX,and a Ferrari (I can't remember the model) parked in his driveway.