NW Corner writers, racers recall Walter Cronkite

LIME ROCK — The death last week of news icon Walter Cronkite stirred memories of the CBS newsman among Northwest Corner residents — including fans of auto racing.

Cronkite loved to race, and was good at it, according to John Fitch, 92, a retired racing great and the former manager of the track at Lime Rock Park.

“Walt was a wonderful driver and a good friend of mine,� said Fitch. They knew each other from New York City, where they were both early members of the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society, which still meets at Sardi’s restaurant in the Theater District.

And they met on the track at Lime Rock Park. Cronkite drove in the 1950s and 1960s, in a Volvo PV444 (on a team with Art Riley and Bill Rutan) and he was part owner with three other drivers of a Lotus 11 and a Lotus 7 in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

“The Lotus 7 was one of [company founder] Colin Chapman’s first cars,�
 recalled Ed Reagan, a Salisbury resident and former Lotus dealer and executive with the Lotus distributors and importers. “It was a very lightweight car that was very successful, and is still being made today by other companies. It is something of a legendary car.â€�

Reagan remembers driving a Lotus 7 at a track in Milwaukee back in his own racing days.

“The fenders were so light, and they were flapping so hard in the wind as I came down the straightaway that I thought they were going to come off,� he said. In other words, it was a car that took some courage to pilot?

“Oh yes!� Reagan agreed.

Fitch also knew Cronkite’s family when they were young.

“He had a place in Carmel and my family had a farm in Brewster, so we met socially, as well as for racing occasions,� he said.

There aren’t many records from the early days at the track but track historian Craig Robertson said he believes Cronkite was there mostly in the 1950s with his Volvo.

“The Volvo team ended up winning in 1957, 1958, 1961 and 1962,â€� Robertson said in an e-mail.  “He was [driving] the first Volvo to finish in 1959 when the Fiat Abarths finished 1-2, with Roger Penske and Skip Callanan winning.â€�

And he drove in the Little LeMans at Lime Rock in the Volvo in the 1950s.

Cronkite also owned an Austin Healey that he raced and “street drove.�

Fitch doesn’t remember when Cronkite stopped driving, or why, but he said he suspects it’s because the network’s executives didn’t want him endangering his life. But even as a journalist, Cronkite managed to inject some speed into his days.

Salisbury’s Tom Shachtman worked with Cronkite as a researcher and writer on the “21st Century� program for three years in the late 1960s, prior to the moon landing in July 1969.

On one occasion the crew went out to a mock lunar landscape on Long Island, where a lunar rover was being tested.

“Walter drove it faster than anybody else, and had a wonderful time,� Shachtman recalled. “Scared the pants off the engineers.�

Shachtman recalled the peculiar challenges of working for Cronkite. “Because he had such a robust voice, he spoke fewer words per minute� than most contemporary broadcasters.

“So we had charts with how many Cronkite words per minute� to plan for when writing the broadcast copy.

His wife, Harriet Shachtman, was a young researcher working for Cronkite on the space program and political conventions.

“He was always very gracious and encouraging to people on the editorial side of the fence,� she said. “Because he came from print journalism, he was always concerned about the story.�

Cronkite had a particular interest in the space program, and took pains to be sure he understood exactly what was happening before going on the air, she said.

“He held us to a high standard. He wanted to be first, but he wanted to be right.

“He was very definitely the real thing.�