Firestone made drag slicks for the Ford Thunderbolt, specifically, back in the 60s

Firestone Lightning Slicks. They’re unique to the Thunderbolt as they have a lightning-bolt tread pattern. Few remain still intact and on a Thunderbolt.

Vermont's Governor, Phil Scot, is the first sitting governor to ever win a stock car race, it was his 30th career win.

The sixty-year-old head of state scored his 30th career victory at Vermont's Thunder Road earlier this month in dramatic fashion, holding off several challengers in the Late Model Series to take the checkered flag and become the track's all time wins leader - and the first sitting governor to ever win a stock car race of any kind Before Scott began stock car racing, he raced motorcycles and snowmobiles, turning to stock cars in his early 30s. He’s now in his 27th year of racing at Thunder Road, his 26th in the top late-model division. Over that time he has won three track championships, most recently in 2002. Going into this season, Scott had won 29 feature races at Thunder Road, the most ever. On July 6, he won his 30th. http://www.thedrive.com/news/12666/vermont-governor-is-one-heck-of-a-stock-car-racer-on-the-side http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/sports/2017/07/07/vermont-governor-scott-claims-late-model-win-thunder-road/457993001/ http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/vermont-s-governor-is-also-one-of-its-top-stock-car-racers-071917 http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/meet-gov-phil-scott-stock-car-racer-a-pretty-good-one/

Lagonda. Sounds quite British...

The Lagonda car company was founded in 1906 by Wilber Gunn, an American, who named the company after a river near his home in Springfield Ohio. So... it's in that same strange territory as the Hispano Suiza, made in France with a name that is decidedly not French.

coincidence that these competitors were lined up in similar photos?

http://www.aonclassiccar.fr/2017/04/et-pour-vous-une-ferrari-512s-ou-une-porsche-917/

Buick Lucerne... named for a city in Switzerland. Why? I can't find an answer online

The Lucerne (from 2006 through 2011) replaced both the upscale LeSabre, and top of the line, Park Avenue. Well, if you're naming a car for a place, and you are replacing Park Avenue... why go with a Swiss city? There is also a large dairy by the name of Lucerne

 And then the Lucerne was replaced with the LaCrosse... a hockey stick game, (the city in Wisconsin has a space after the La and before Crosse, but was preceded by the LaSabre. Maybe someone in the naming process was stuck on the words beginning with L that have no meaning? That sound French?

Braking was not one of the Lucerne's strong points, as testing revealed stopping distances that were the longest in the full-size sedan class, as it's bigger than a Chrysler 300

A LaSabre is a sword, a LaCrosse is a stick for the purpose of catching a ball (the crosse)

https://www.edmunds.com/buick/lucerne/
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/rides-for-the-retirement-set-buick-lucerne-page-3

I even sent an email to Buick.com, but I doubt they are going to reply, even if they knew. They are only interested in selling cars, not discussing history