Leo Levine died Saturday, April 3rd, at the age of 90 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Best known for his 20 years running the U.S. Mercedes-Benz PR department in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he was a newspaperman at heart, having been a reporter in Europe for Stars & Stripes as well as a sports reporter for, amongst others, The New York Herald Tribune (he broke the story of Joe Namath being signed by the AFL New York Jets).
Upon leaving the newspaper world he wrote the book The Dust and the Glory, A Racing History, the definitive history of The Ford Motor Company’s motorsports history, publishing volume one in 1968 and volume two (covering 1968-2000 in 2001).
His knowledge of racing went beyond the press box having been a factory driver in Europe for Porsche, BMW, Abarth and NSU. The story of his retirement from competitive driving was best told by Levine who hung up his helmet after competing in the 1960 1000km race at the Nürburgring: “I thought I had it really hung out in this particular corner and the next thing I knew Dan Gurney went around me on the outside, going about 20 miles per hour faster than me. It didn’t take a genius to get the message.”
A long-time IMPA member, Levine retired from Mercedes-Benz to continue writing (for newspapers and magazines) and playing golf.