America's Best Automotive Artist

American artist Peter Helck (1893–1988) became world-famous for his paintings of early American road races (such as the Vanderbilt Cup) and his commercial work for magazines such as Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post. During his exceptionally long and productive career, Helck created more than 600 major works of art, wrote two acclaimed books on early motor racing (The Checkered Flag and Great Auto Races), and remained active well into old age. To this day, America's annual award for the best automotive artist is still named after him: The Peter Helck Award.

In his memoir, ‘Peter Helck, 75 Years with Palette, Paintbrush and Wheels,’ he describes in detail how, as a young boy in New York City, he and his friend Arthur Gilhooly were invited by a Simplex test driver to sit on the wooden "soapbox" (the bare chassis) for a "thundering test drive through Central Park." At the time, the automobile was still in its infancy, but Helck’s passion had already been ignited.