Wanting to try a "real race car", I bought this dragon scale Formula Vee. Found out later that, under its custom body, it was one of the very first FormCars (the first FV) ever built.
It was just old and slow for me.
While in high school, brother John and I stuffed a Chrysler hemi in my '41 Ford coupe. I drove it to college and drag raced it at Union Grove in B/Gas.
1971- Partnered in this pretty purple G/P Alfa spider. We won some races and had a lot of fun with this car until my partner totalled it at Blackhawk Farms.
During the mid-'70s, this Alfa Guilia Sprint GT was a fast and bullet-proof toy. It raced with the 240Zs and while they could outpower us, our brakes lasted longer.
So I bought a better Formula Vee.
This Zink C4 was a fast and good looking racer, but was plagued with engine problems.
My street Alfa GTV1750 was pressed into temporary service after I dumped the FV. It was to be a stopgap until I got another real race car. I raced it for 15 years! Most of the time it was my daily driver as well.
My last harrah as a wheel-to-wheel racer was in this Caldwell D-13 FV. My jinx with VW engines persisted and I sold it, burned out by the garage time to track time ratio of wheel-to-wheel racing.
However I'm seeing the guys in Spec Miata seeming to have a good time
at moderate costs in $$$ and
maintenance time. Hmmmm....
This twin turbo Supra was bought as methadone to wean me off my wheel-to-wheel racing habit. We won the 2000 X/Stock championship in the Midwestern Council open track autocross series. It was a wonderful race car 6 days a year, but its cramped cockpit and gross overqualification for everyday driving made
it less than a perfect street car for me.
'Tis much more fun to
drive a slow car fast
than a fast car slow.
This is a race car?
Laugh at my luxo-barge if you will,
but this lightly modified Toyota Cressida won the open track autocross series championship in its class for 2001. It is a comfy daily driver and beats sports cars such as Alfas and MG-Bs by 5 seconds a lap on the 2 mile Blackhawk Farms road course. That's a measure of the development in suspension and
tires over the past 30 years.
My first road racer, a G/P (showroom stock) Triumph TR3. I have no idea why I was on the track with Pat Manning's C/Mod Chevette. Would you believe I had just passed him? ...didn't think you would.
This was at Lynndale Farms Raceway.
For 1966 I bought this race-prepared Alfa Romeo Super Spider from Bill Knauz. I sold the TR3 and a channeled deuce roadster to buy this, the first of 17 Alfa Romeos I've had (so far).
I raced the TR3 and this Alfa
at Meadowdale in 1965-67.
This was a keeper, but I didn't. A '57 Corvette originally prepared by Dick Doane of Doane Chevrolet in Dundee, IL, it had all the factory race options: 283CID, 283HP fuel injected engine, 4-speed, LSD, big tank and brakes, delete option radio and heater.
This car probably raced at
Meadowdale often before I got it.
My bumper snicker
This is a race car? Pt 2. For the 2003 season this 1992 Toyota Cressida luxo-barge, motivated by a turbo-charged Supra engine, won 3 out of 5 races and the class championship. It embarassed many sporty and pony cars, turning 1:31 laps from a standing start on Blackhawk Farms Raceway. For information on our racing, visit www.racecressida.homestead.com or www.mcscc.org.
