Motor Racing / Shav Glick : In Vintage Races, Cars--Not Drivers--Showcased
One of the hottest developments in motor racing in the last several years has been the proliferation of antique, or historic, car races. Clubs organized to showcase and race older cars are mushrooming as fast as new sets of initials can be put together.
Among them are VARA (Vintage Automotive Racing Assn.), WRA (Western Racing Assn.), Vintage Racing and the HMSA (Historical Motor Sports Assn.), the first on the Pacific Coast.
Unlike most racing events, at which the main attractions are the drivers, such as Danny Sullivan, Richard Petty, A. J. Foyt or Don Garlits, the stars at vintage races are the cars.
One of the stars at this weekend’s Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix will be a 1963 split window Corvette Stingray, No. 614, that ran and won with driver Bob Bondurant in races up and down the West Coast more than 2 decades ago. When Bondurant went to Europe to race in 1964, No. 614 was driven by Tony Settember.
The silver-blue car, restored to as nearly its original character as possible, will be driven through the streets of Palm Springs by Vic Edelbrock Jr. of Torrance--not one of the car’s original drivers. Edelbrock, in fact, is a late starter as a race driver despite the fact his company is one of the original manufacturers of high-performance racing equipment.
The ’63 ‘Vette was first raced late in 1962. Bondurant picked it up in St. Louis and drove 2,500 miles to Santa Barbara, where Bob Joehnck did a hasty 1-day prep to make it race ready.
Bondurant discovered it was fast when he got a speeding ticket in Hollywood en route from Joehnck’s shop to Riverside International Raceway.
He found the car difficult to handle, with its factory steel wheels and heavy-duty brakes, but he was a terror on the long back straightaway where the car was clocked at 160 m.p.h.
In 1963, after extensive overhaul by Joehnck, Bondurant finished third, behind two factory A.C.-Ford Cobras in a race around Dodger Stadium, and then won its class at the Santa Barbara airport and Riverside.
“The 614 was the fastest Corvette I’ve raced anywhere,” lauded Carroll Shelby, who conceived the Cobra and lured Bondurant from the Corvette to drive for his Ford team in the world manufacturers’ championship.
Early in 1963, electronic instrumentation was installed on the 614--the first time aerospace telemetry techniques were used on a sports car. The system was designed by Jack Ring, now a vice president at Edelbrock Corp.
One major difference in the car from 1962 to today is in horsepower. The 327-cubic inch engine, with factory fuel injection, generated about 350 h.p. when new. In the Palm Springs race, with modern technology, the same displacement engine will develop 480 h.p.
“It shows what has happened with the development over the years of our manifolds and carburetors,” Edelbrock said.
Edelbrock’s other cars, trucks and ocean-racing powerboat--even the rest rooms at his Torrance plant--are red, but he retained the silver-blue color of No. 614 as a concession to antique car buffs.
“Wouldn’t a car like that look great in red?” he said, then quickly added, “But I’ll never change this one.”
Edelbrock’s father owned a Ford V8-60 powered midget race car that Indianapolis 500 winner Rodger Ward drove on Southern California tracks in the ‘50s. Young Vic, a high school football star at Dorsey, longed to drive the Kurtis-built No. 27 midget, but his father disapproved.
“I think one of the happiest days of my dad’s life was when he found that I’d grown so big that I couldn’t fit in the midget,” Vic Jr. recalled. “He was violently opposed to my racing. In 1951, I had an old ’46 Ford and took it out to the strip at Saugus. My dad had told me not to race, but I couldn’t resist.
“When I got home, all he said was, ‘How fast did you go?’
“I said I’d gone 82, and he said, ‘Give me your keys.’ I didn’t get them back for a month.”
The senior Edelbrock, who founded the family business 50 years ago, died of cancer at 49 in 1962.
“Even after my dad died, I didn’t get into racing cars,” Vic Jr. said. “I got interested in racing boats and did pretty well. We won the first 500-mile race on the Salton Sea, and in 1968 I won on Lake Elsinore.
“Last year, I pulled Mason Thompson to a record win in the Catalina ski race. We went from Long Beach to Avalon and back in 54 minutes 55 seconds.”
Two years ago, Joehnck located the old No. 614 Corvette, restored it and sold it to Edelbrock for $20,000.
“I’d gone to the Porsche factory driving school at Hockenheim and got the itch to drive,” Edelbrock said. “After I got the Corvette, I went to a couple more schools and drove my first race last year at Monterey. I finished the Jim Russell School at Riverside and drove in what was advertised as the Last Race at Riverside that weekend.
“I’ve played football at USC, raced ocean boats and ski boats, but I’ve never felt anything like the adrenaline rush I get in a race car.”
SPRINT CARS--Ron Shuman, champion of Southern California, and Brent Kaeding, champion of Northern California, will meet Saturday night in the $35,000 Don Peabody Classic at Ascot Park in one of the strongest non-winged fields of the year. Also entered are Lealand McSpadden of Tempe, Ariz., winner of 15 races this season, including last week’s Fan Appreciation Night; Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio, a 2-time United States Auto Club Silver Crown dirt track series champion, and Chuck Gurney of Livermore, one of the sport’s leading dirt track drivers. The 50-lap feature will pay $6,000 to the winner.
MIDGET CARS--Seven-time USAC champion Mel Kenyon will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first Turkey Night victory in this year’s Thanksgiving night feature at Ascot Park. Rich Vogler, who is expected to clinch his fifth championship this week, either Friday night at Hanford or Saturday night at Baylands Raceway near San Jose, is also entered.
MOTORCYCLES--Speedway rider Jan Pedersen, a member of Denmark’s championship World Cup Team, will challenge defending champion Sam Ermolenko of Cypress in the United States long-track championship race Friday night at Ascot Park. Ermolenko, who rode in the British League last summer, finished second and Pedersen was third in the World Cup, but in the World Individual Finals, Pedersen was third and Ermolenko fourth. Also returning from British League competition will be Shawn Moran of Glendora, winner of the world long-track title in 1983 and the national champion in 1986; his brother Kelly Moran, Ronnie Correy, Rick Miller and Randy Green. Bobby Schwartz of Costa Mesa, the national champion in 1982 and 1984, is also entered.
Scott Parker of Swartz Creek, Mich., winner of the American Motorcyclist Assn. Grand National dirt track championship, was named AMA professional of the year over motocross champion Rick Johnson of El Cajon, world road racing champion Eddie Lawson of Upland, world superbike champion Fred Merkel of Fountain Valley and Camel Pro champion Bubba Shobert of Carmel Valley. As usual, Sunday will be a busy day for motocross riders. The third round of the Western USA series will be at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, Continental Motosports Club riders will be at Carlsbad Raceway and CRC competition will be held at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino.
STOCK CARS--Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace will race for the NASCAR Winston Cup championship and a $400,000 bonus--the loser will get $225,000--in Sunday’s season finale, the Atlanta Journal 500. Elliott will start with a 79-point lead and needs only to finish 18th or better to win, even if Wallace finishes first Sunday. .
JET BOATS--Jeff Jacobs, 17, of El Cajon, dominated the world jet ski championships at Lake Havasu by winning all three pro finals--slalom, superstock closed course and modified closed course. This gave the El Cajon youngster his second consecutive world points championship.
ROAD RACING--Juan Manuel Fangio II will join Willy T. Ribbs as the driver of Dan Gurney’s new Toyota GTP in next year’s International Motor Sports Assn. series. In the second car will be the GTO veteran duo of Chris Cord and Dennis Aase. . . . Jeff Krosnoff of La Canada Flintridge, runner-up in the Coors Racetruck series, is headed for Japan to drive in the final Formula 3000 race of the season at the Suzuka course Nov. 27.
OFF-ROAD--The sixth and final race of the Miller High Life series will be held Sunday at San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Park featuring stadium trucks driven by David Ashley, in a Ford, and Jeff Huber, in a Mazda. . . . The Baja 1,000 debut of two Russian drivers last week in a pair of Bob Utgard-prepared Nissan trucks ended well short of the finish line. One pickup went only 100 miles and the other made about 500 before dropping out.