Nick Reynolds in the middle in driver suit Frank Werber in Lotus 23
Frank Werber was the manager of the Kingston Trio.

Nick Reynolds Born July 27, 1933 has past away in San Diego on October 1, 2008. Nick was a former member of the singing group known as the Kingston Trio. He also was a racer and great friend to motor racing.

Photo lent site Frank S collection

Hang down your head and cry...

Sad news, Jerry, but the advancing years are bringing more and more of these to our attention. 75 surely isn't long enough to be around.

Poor boy, you're gonna die!

They were precursors (of a very different sort) to The Beatles. The Trio was the Big Thing with young people in the late 1950s and early 1960s; I saw them in a sold out concert in 1960 or so. You could sing to their songs, the words were legible and occasionally very intelligent, the tunes were relatively simple, their harmony was excellent. One could impress girls by picking out chords on a guitar and singing their songs.

It was arguably a cleaner, more polite sort of musical entertainment that actually relied on some singing ability.

I don't remember if Nick sponsored or drove a race car later on.

I still have a couple of their vinyls....

This is sad indeed. Very depressing. When I was in college, the folk era was in full bloom...the Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Peter Paul and Mary (a/k/a two beards and a broad) and others. The groups made the college tour and I saw all of them. The Kingston Trio was my favorite, and I have ALL their recordings on CDs. But, first Dave Guard a number of years ago, John Stewart within the last year, and now Nick Reynolds. Yes, 75 IS too young. As we age, flashes of our own mortality cross our minds. Leaves only Nick Shane from the original Trio.

I do remember Reynolds driving formula cars on the west coast in the 1960s. I cannot say how good he was, but, if not a race winner, I trust that he had fun.

Not a good couple months for people whom I liked. Phil Hill, Paul Newman, now Nick of the Trio.

Too bad indeed.

Tom