Generally speaking, catalytic cracking is an old process. However, it is impressive to observe how many improvements have been made over the years, and continue to be made. Advances in the catalyst and the process have been numerous, and every prediction pointing to the demise of the process has proven to be wrong. This paper will relate some personal involvement and contributions to the improvement of the catalyst and process, both as they relate to gas oils and metal laden reduced crude and residuum. Among others these include the incorporation of kaolin into synthetic silica-alumina microspheres so as to reduce cost, and more importantly create a ＇house of cards＇ pore structure for large pore formation; 40 years later kaolin is still the predominant additive (25-75% by weight). A later contribution included the widely used XZ-36 Davison catalyst of the late 60s. In the late 70s, through the 80s, and continuing into the 90s for reduced crude, there has been the introduction and incorporation of the acidic matrix, vanadia immobilizers, vanadia traps, sacrificial sieves, nickel sinks, highly ground sieves, further enhanced large pores for the catalyst and vanadia valence control and hydrogen recycle for the process. More recent developments include the Magnacat(TM) process for selectively retaining higher activity catalyst and process additive chemicals for enhancing catalyst performance. Future process developments include the ＇Magnetic Hook＇ concept and still more recently, the patented ＇triangular process＇ and use of ＇Magnetic Hooks＇ to retain high cost specialty additives. Speculation is also offered as to the future use of CO2 for catalyst regeneration and the use of manganese for cracking catalyst activity.