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A tribute to Jerry Grant


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#1 Vettefinderjim

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Posted 25 October 2012 - 22:33




On August 12, 2012 we lost another Corvette Racing Driver from the 60's JERRY GRANT. JERRY ALSO RACED COBRA, CAN AM, AND INDY
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On Saturday October 13, 2012, I went to the RIVERSIDE RACEWAY MUSEUM in Riverside, California that had a TRIBUTE for Jerry and his family.

Jerry was one of the drivers of the new 1963 Z0-6 Sting Ray at its debut West Coast event October 21, 1962. Four Corvettes raced that weekend, and also the ''new'' COBRA. The Corvettes were driven by DOUG HOOPER, JERRY GRANT, BOB BONDURANT and DAVE MACDONALD. The COBRA by BILLY KRAUSE, who later also raced Corvettes for MICKEY THOMPSON at DAYTONA and SEBRING. JERRY, BOB AND DAVE PICKED THEIR CARS UP AT THE ST. LOUIS PLANT AND ''DROVE'' THEM HOME TO CALIFORNIA AND SEATTLE BEFORE THE RIVERSIDE TIMES GRAND PRIX RACE...... THAT'S ANOTHER STORY.

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DAVE MACDONALD, FAMOUS CORVETTE AND COBRA DRIVER. Unfortunately killed at INDY in MAY 1964.

I am fortunate to know many of the drivers of the era, so I organized a little CORVETTE DRIVERS REUNION at the hotel on Friday evening prior to the TRIBUTE event that was a great fun time. After dinner, we gathered around the large screen TV and watched my Arizona friend Howard Goehring's DVD of SCCA CAL CLUB racing films from 1957-60 that had two hours of races at POMONA, SANTA BARBARA, RIVERSIDE, TORRY PINES, DEL MAR, LAGUNA SECA, and PALM SPRINGS featuring all the players from ''back in the day''.

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Our group of 18 people included DICK GULDSTRAND, DOUG HOOPER, DAVEY JORDAN, FRED YEAKEL, BRYAN HILL, JOE RENO, HOWARD, MYSELF, DOUG MAGON, Museum owner, and four ''crew people''.

We also enjoyed HOOPER'S films of GRAND SPORT and 63 Z0-6 racing at DAYTONA AND SEBRING of he and Dick, and Jerry. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to see DAVEY JORDAN'S 1968 L-88 RACE AT DAYTONA in the JIM GARNER A.I.R CAR.

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Jerry raced the white 63 Z0-6 with Don Campbell as co-driver for ALLEN GREEN CHEVROLET in Seattle at the TIMES GP Riverside race, and later DAYTONA 2-17-63 and SEBRING 3-21-63. He continued racing that car is West Coast events thru October 1963. The car is in a Florida collection awaiting restoration.

We finished the evening with the movie THE QUEST, the documentary of the 1960 Cunningham Race team at LeMans.


On Saturday, the TRIBUTE at the RIVERSIDE RACEWAY MUSEUM was attended by over 250 people.

JERRY'S family and grandsons presented this 7 minute presentation that filled in the blanks of Jerry's racing career.


http://www.youtube.c...feature=related


I have know Jerry for over 10 years and knew he raced a lot of cars, but never knew the entire story and depth of his career. Everyone called Jerry the ''GENTLEMAN RACER''. Andrew Bornhop from ROAD & TRACK summed up Jerry's life on August 14, 2012 as follows. I was surprised he knew little of the CORVETTE DAYS.

''The summer of goodbyes continues. Our friend, co-driver and AAR racing teammate Jerry Grant, age 77, passed away over the weekend. Battling a variety of health issues over the last months, Jerry joined his friends Colonel Russ Schleeh, Carroll Shelby and Frank Arciero in the pit-lane in the sky. The ranks of the old guard who have put their stamp on American motor racing in the 60’s and 70’s are getting ever thinner.

Jerry Grant’s career was marked by many highs and lows and a few unforgettable “almosts.”

He co-drove a Cobra with Dan Gurney at Le Mans and the Targa Florio, where they achieved a class victory in 1964. He was Dan’s teammate driving a Ford MK-II at Le Mans and Sebring in 1966 leading both races for a long time. In Sebring they broke down a few hundred yards before the finish line after 12-hours with a sweet victory in sight. Jerry joined AAR on the Indy car circuit, he drove various Eagles in the Indy 500 as a teammate to Bobby Unser and almost tasted milk in 1972 when he was leading the race in lap 188 but then came into the pits for an unscheduled pit stop with the memorable lilac colored Mystery Eagle No 48. At Ontario Jerry had his star hour; he became the first driver ever to do a lap topping 200 mph. On the USRRC Sports car circuit in 1966 he drove AAR’s Cam Am type Lola garnering 4 pole positions in 7 races and winning the Bridgehampton road race.

Dan Gurney: “Jerry Grant was a natural; he was brave and playful and always could rise to the challenge. Apart from being an excellent racer, he was an accomplished story teller and after dinner speaker, an ability which served him well in his business career after his retirement from active driving. In the middle 60’s we shared many adventures on and off the track here in the US and in Europe. We stayed friends ever since and many Sundays went riding our motorcycles in the Southern California countryside. We extend our condolences to his wife Sandy and his family. Farewell Jerry, we will miss you.”

Dan made a presentation at the TRIBUTE CEREMONY

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DAN SHAKING HANDS WITH JERRY WALTON OF PHOENIX
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DAVEY JORDAN visiting with friends

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DICK GULDSTRAND AND FRIENDS

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RICK HAYDEN VISITING WITH AND ME AND DOUG HOOPER
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FRED YEAKEL BROUGHT HIS 64 BILL THOMAS #8 CHEETAH THAT JERRY HAD DRIVEN AT LEAST TWO TIMES FOR HIS SPONSOR ALLEN GREEN CHEVROLET.

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HEAD MECHANIC AND CREW CHIEF LARRY WEBB FLEW IN FROM SEATTLE. HERE ON THE FAR RIGHT WITH BRYAN HILL, and FRED YEAKEL

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JIM GESSNER with the ''back in the day'' historians Photographer BOB TRONOLONE, writer JOE SCALZO, and DOUG HOOPER.
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LUNCH WAS SERVED TO THE MANY GUESTS

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My thanks to the RIVERSIDE MUSEUM for hosting this gathering of old friends. The Riverside International Automotive Museum (RIAM) in Riverside, CA features over 100 cars, thousands of artifacts and a research library. Its mission is to preserve SoCalʼs rich racing history through exhibits and community involvement. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and is located at 815 Marlborough, Riverside, California. There phone is 951-369-6966 and it is a great place to host a motorsports event.

Edited by Vettefinderjim, 26 October 2012 - 21:11.


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#2 arttidesco

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Posted 26 October 2012 - 00:12

I TRIED TO POST THE STORY HERE BUT IMAGE SHACK IS A PIA,
SO SORRY, BUT HERE IS THE LINK THAT WILL TELL THE STORY

http://forums.corvet...erry-grant.html


Thanks for sharing this Jim :up:

#3 Vettefinderjim

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Posted 26 October 2012 - 21:15

Thanks for sharing this Jim :up:

I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THE PHOTS TO POST. MY PHOTO BUCKET WORKS FINE, SO IMAGE SHACK IS OK, BUT I RATHER USE WHAT I AM FAMILAR WITH.

#4 LittleChris

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Posted 26 October 2012 - 21:57

Lovely photo's. Thanks for posting Jim

#5 David M. Kane

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Posted 26 October 2012 - 22:27

Great stuff! :up:

#6 Jerry Entin

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Posted 27 October 2012 - 00:01

Jim: You did a very good job of bringing this event to the Forum.

I can't say enough about Jerry Grant. He was a truly great ambassador to motor racing and will be missed by all his admirers and friends and Family.

#7 Vettefinderjim

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Posted 27 October 2012 - 16:48

A good friend DUKE WILLIAMS from Seattle sent me this, so I added this update DUKE still owns his 63 SWC Corvette he bought new at Alan Green Chevrolet. Duke lives in So. Cal now.

Jerry graduated from Seattle's, Queen Anne High School nearly a decade before I did, so I wasn't aware of him until he started racing and followed his exploits closely when he drove Alan Green's, white #7 Z06 - one from the first batch built in September 1962.

Jerry's co-driver at Sebring in '63 was Don Campbell who was the Green salesman who handled my SWC purchase about a month before the race.

I remember seeing Jerry at the Kent Seafair races in August 1963, a few months after I took delivery of my SWC. From the standing start of the big bore production race he was the first guy into Turn 1, as usual, but was a DNF. The FI pump drive cable broke! Jerry was always fast, but he did have a reputation for being tough on cars. He also had a lot of plain, bad luck, but will, forever, hold the record of being the first driver to do a 200 MPH lap in an Indy car.

Unfortunately I never had the pleasure to meet Jerry, but I think he had a good life, and I envied him!

Duke

Here are a few other photos of JERRY and his 63 Z0-6.
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THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN AT THE TIMES GP RACE AT RIVERSIDE BY DAVE FRIEDMAN.
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THESE 2 PHOTOS WERE AT THE LAGUNA SECA SCCA PACIFIC GRAND PRIX IN OCTOBER 1963.

DICK GULDSTRAND TOLD A FUNNY STORY ON SATURDAY. IN 1963, DICK WAS RACING HIS FIRST 63 CORVETTE, A DAYTONA BLUE FI CONVERTIBLE SPONSORED BY BAHER CHEVROLET IN HERMOSA BEACH, CA. HE AND HIS CREW WENT TO SEAFAIR, ALSO CALLED KENT and TODAY KNOW AS PACIFIC RACEWAYS.

THE TRACK IS THE SEATTLE AREA SCCA COURSE AND HAS BEEN SINCE THE LATE 50'S.

QUALIFYING WAS ON SATURDAY MORNING, AND DICK WENT OUT ON THE ''NEW'' STRANGE TRACK TO HIM AS IT WAS HIS FIRST TIME TO RACE THE COURSE. HE DESCRIBED IT AS AS TRACK WITH ELEVATION CHANGES THRUOUT, AND ONE AREA IS LOWER THAN THE REST OF THE TRACK. Posted Image
SEE T-3A AND T3-B AND WHEN CARS ARE IN THIS AREA THEY CAN NOT BE SEEN UNTIL AFTER TURN T-4. WELL, DICK LOST IT TRYING TO EXIT T3-A AND SKIDDED ALL THE WAY TO T-4. RESULT, HIS TIME WAS A NEW B/P TRACK RECORD (HE SAVED 6 SECONDS) AND HE WAS ON THE POLE POSITION.

JERRY WAS LIVID AND WAS YELLING AND SCREAMING, WHICH WAS NOT HIS USUAL SELF. DICK DID REAL WELL THAT WEEKEND AND IT WASN'T UNTIL 1965 WHEN HE TOLD JERRY WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THAT 1963 RACE WEEKEND.

I am not familar with the track, so a SEATTLE expert can help with the layout, but the ''STORY'' is true.

#8 Vettefinderjim

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Posted 28 October 2012 - 15:28

UPDATE TODAY FROM AN OLD FRIEND OF MINE......AND NOW JERRY. I NEVER KNEW HOW SMALL THIS WORLD IS.

''I like your post on Jerry Grant. I knew Jerry well in the late '60's. We were building and racing cars for Tommy Friedkin out of CA. Jim Pascal, Curtis Turner, Bobby Allison to name a few drove the cars. Tommy wanted Jerry in the cars, he could drive a Vette or an Indy car, but he never mastered the NASCAR cars. At one race Jerry hit the wall every lap, ultimately wearing the RR bumper end completely off. He parked the car stating that it was handling so evil he could not drive it. Paul Goldsmith, who was driving for Ray Nichels at the time, got in the car, came from three laps down to almost getting back in the lead lap in the same car. Another time we built a brand new car for Riverside. Jerry decided he could pass Gurney going thru the esses. Car was wadded up so bad that we had to find a team with an open trailer to haul it back to NC. I did get to see Jerry at Indy in '71 when he should have finished second, but, due a a penalty did not do so.

Jerry came to Wilkesboro one time with a M-16. He had flown in from CA with the gun! We had a lot of fun with that gun for a few days.''

Dick Whittington, CAI, MPPA
Whittington Auction & Appraisal LLC
336.838.8243 fax 336.232.1478
www.whittingtonauction.com


#9 S A Dunbar

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Posted 29 October 2012 - 13:17

Also of note, Jerry Grant and Skip Hudson finished 16th overall and 1st in Grand Touring +5000 class in the 1964 12 hours of Sebring, driving the #9 Nickey Chevrolet entered 1963 Z06 Corvette Coupe. Finishing 18th overall and 2nd in class was Roger Penske/Jim Hall, finishing 23rd overall and 3rd in class was AJ Foyt/John Cannon, finishing 32nd overall and 4th in class was Delmo Johnson/Dave Morgan.