Walter Wolf is the fellow from Canada who aided a particular Italian car company in building on of the most classic cars of all time. He didn’t start out in the automotive industry. Like Daniel Plainview, Wolf was an oilman, decades ago.
He certainly knew a lot of people who used petroleum products in engines, though. Enzo Ferrari. James Hunt. Gilles Villeneuve. Then he bought his own racing team. South African Jody Scheckter, one of his drivers, piloted a Cosworth-V8-powered WR1 to victory in the first F1 competition of the 1977 season. The Canadian industrialist ended up being “instrumental in bringing Formula One to Canada, and bringing Canada to the world of Formula One.”
“Wolfman” also had his share of personal cars that were expensive and fast. He went through four Lamborghini Miuras and even owned an LM002.
It was the Countach that would take his relationship with Lambo to a professional level. The brand’s head of engineering, Gian Paolo Dallara, assisted Wolf in improving the car.
Their work resulted in three worked-over wedges. Number one “was one of the first Countachs to sport the massive adjustable rear wing that would become de rigeur, and its hulking wheel-arches housed enormous 335-series tires.” That size of rubber didn’t exist until Wolf had Pirelli custom-make it. The second car, a bright blue number decked out with Canadian flags, had a bigger, 4.8-liter V12 to overcome the drag generated by the park bench riding above the rear end. Wolf’s and Dallara’s third effort featured a 5-liter engine with almost 500 horsepower, quick steering, stronger brakes and a heavily modified suspension.
Lamborghini would go on to build its LP400S and LP500S Countachs using pointers from the Wolf/Dallara specimens.
Perhaps without Wolf’s “money and influence [which] helped keep Lamborghini solvent through difficult years,” the company would not have survived long enough to spawn bulls such as the Diablo – one of which Wolf still owns. According to him, it’s “still a car that you have to drive.”
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
