27 March: Today in Racing

Formula 1 witnessed one of the most remarkable drives of the modern era when McLaren teammates John Watson and Niki Lauda stormed from the back of the grid to score a fairytale 1-2 at the 1983 US Long Beach Grand Prix. Watson started in 22nd place and Lauda 23rd. 

Moving on to 1994 Michael Schumacher won the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix after Ayrton Senna's Williams went off in vain pursuit to promote Damon Hill to second. Eddie Irvine meanwhile earned a race ban for his part in a spectacular four-car pile-up.

It was a simpler affair at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix where Sebastian Vettel commenced his title defence with a win for Red Bull ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren and Vitaly Petrov in a Renault on Pirelli's return as the sole tyre supplier to F1. In other Grand Prix action over the years Louis Chiron won the 1927 Provence GP in a Bugatti T35B at Miramas, France, Luigi Villoresi drove a Maserati 4CLT/48 to win in Rio de Janeiro in 1949 and Alberto Ascari won the ’55 Turin Grand Prix driving a Lancia D50.

Elsewhere, Tony Trimmer won the Evening News Trophy at Brands Hatch in a McLaren M23, while premier US single-seater action saw Al Unser and Johnny Rutherford taking respective 1971 and ’77 Jimmy Bryan 150 USAC Champ Car Series wins and Dario Franchitti took the 2011 IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg victory.

The two World Championship Rallies over the years have proven all-French affairs as Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Jean-Claude Lefèbvre steered their Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé to 1974 East African Safari victory and Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia took 2011 Portugal WRC honours aboard their Citroën DS3.

Moving back across the pond, Davey Allison won in the 1993 International Race of Champions, while in stock car racing, Fonty Flock won his fourth 1949 race in a row at Wilkes­boro, North Carolina. After it became NASCAR, Jim Paschal took ’55 and Lee Petty 1960 Grand National honours, but Petty was pelted with debris in ­victory lane for bumping past Junior Johnson. Jim Hurtubise, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough twice on his birthday today, Dale Earnhardt and Kevin Harvick all won Cup races on this day, while Allan Moffat won in Australian Touring Cars.

David Coulthard (1971) shares his birthday with Cale Yarborough (1939) on this day that also marked by the passing of Ferdinand Porsche Jr. at age 88 in 1998. Porsche, who helped his father develop the Volkswagen Beetle before World War II and later founded the sports car firm that bears his name, was involved in cars from his early childhood.