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Race Man, Jim Travers and the TRACO Dynasty


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#1 motorsporthistoryaddict

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 23:15

Since I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else on this forum; for interested TRACO/ Travers & Coon fans, a new self-published book by Gordon Chance entitled "Race Man, Jim Travers and the TRACO Dynasty" is available in hardcover for $60.00 U.S. directly from the author at www.tunerpublications.com and his site is set up for Paypal payments. The book is 189 pages long with 197 photos and covers Jim Travers' entire career, including the TRACO story with Keck/ Vukovich, the Reventlow Scarabs, Penske/ Donohue, et al. The book's price of $60.00 includes shipping within the U.S., although Washington state residents will have to add tax. There is also a signed and numbered edition available for $80.00. The website has more details including the contents page.

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#2 David M. Kane

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 15:22

Since I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else on this forum; for interested TRACO/ Travers & Coon fans, a new self-published book by Gordon Chance entitled "Race Man, Jim Travers and the TRACO Dynasty" is available in hardcover for $60.00 U.S. directly from the author at www.tunerpublications.com and his site is set up for Paypal payments. The book is 189 pages long with 197 photos and covers Jim Travers' entire career, including the TRACO story with Keck/ Vukovich, the Reventlow Scarabs, Penske/ Donohue, et al. The book's price of $60.00 includes shipping within the U.S., although Washington state residents will have to add tax. There is also a signed and numbered edition available for $80.00. The website has more details including the contents page.


Gordon and Phil Henny will be at the SAAC Convention at Watkins Glen in June. It is being held in conjunction with the SVRA Race Weekend at the track. They will have a booth at the Swap Meet.

#3 B Squared

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 16:19

motorsporthistoryaddict - Do you mind if this is posted in the Donohue thread too? Thanks, B²

#4 motorsporthistoryaddict

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 16:46

motorsporthistoryaddict - Do you mind if this is posted in the Donohue thread too? Thanks, B²

No , I don't mind at all, so go ahead! I posted to get the word out to anybody interested in the book. Because TRACO was involved in so many projects, I couldn't find just one appropriate topic to tag onto, which is why I created a new one. I found out about the book almost accidentally myself and figured it should have a wide level of interest, especially on this forum, so the more postings it gets the better...

Thanks,

Craig

#5 D-Type

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 17:44

Ahem!
Surely this should be on The book thread - it is meant for snippets like this.

#6 oldtransamdriver

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Posted 20 February 2012 - 04:52

Gordon Chance, the author, was also the operator of a well-known race engine shop in the Toronto area for many years (early seventies), called "CRM" Engines (Canadian Racing Motors).

I met him "by chance" at the Monterey Historics a few years ago and had an interesting chat. Had never visited his shop and don't know if he is a Canadian.

Robert Barg

#7 ReWind

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Posted 13 February 2016 - 16:03

Jim Travers died last Wednesday (10 February 2016).

Obituary by Donald Davidson (who apparently has the day wrong):

Jim Travers, the colorful co-chief mechanic on Bill Vukovich’s Indianapolis 500-winning Fuel Injection Special of 1953 and 1954, passed away in Kanab, Utah on Monday, Feb. 10, four days after being injured in a fall. He was 95.

Known variously as “The Keck Kids” and “The Rich Kids,” Travers and his partner, the late Frank Coon, jointly ran the ultra-successful racing team for the reclusive and rather eccentric oil millionaire Howard Keck.

Already a powerhouse in West Coast midget car racing, Travers and Coon arrived at Indianapolis in 1948 with an Emil Diedt-built front-drive car which utilized several revolutionary innovations such as Halibrand magnesium wheels and fuel injection developed by another friend and fellow crew member, Stu Hilborn. After top-10 finishes (10th and sixth) with Jimmy Jackson in 1948 and 1949, three-time “500” winner Mauri Rose came on board to finish third in the rain-shortened race of 1950. Ever the innovators, Travers and Coon then collaborated with car builder Frank Kurtis on the building of the first of the so-called “roadster” design, that nickname given the new car by its driver Bill Vukovich, who said the car strongly resembled the hot rod he had driven as a teenager.

After dropping out of the 1952 “500” with a steering failure while leading with nine laps to go, Vukovich bounced back to win the race in 1953 and 1954.

In 1957, two years after the untimely passing of Vukovich in a multi-car accident in the 1955 “500,” Travers and Coon formed Traco Engineering which “hopped up” Chevrolet engines for sprint cars and sports car racing. Traco sponsored A.J. Foyt’s USAC sprint car in 1963 and 1964, and also was heavily involved with Roger Penske’s early Chevrolet-powered Can-Am sports cars.

Travers and Coon were jointly inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.



#8 Jack-the-Lad

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Posted 13 February 2016 - 21:52

I'm very sorry to hear of the passing of another legendary figure.

Coincidentally, Bentley enthusiast Stanley Mann also recently passed away as the result of a fall.

#9 B Squared

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Posted 14 February 2016 - 14:04

Sunoco/Penske team member and friend, Jerry Kroninger, has always spoken highly of Mr. Travers and sent me this note last September when he stopped by to see him on a hiking trip. Neat that he was still following the sport.

"I am currently hiking the Arizona Trail for two weeks with my hiking buddy from Ohio. We are doing the 88 mile section from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the Utah border, and we shuttle cars each day from the trailhead where we will end our hike, to the trailhead where we begin our hike. The trail heads often are only accessible on gravel roads requiring high clearance vehicles, so shuttling cars may require two hour drives. Yesterday we had an 85 mile drive at the end of our hike that took us through Kanab, Utah.

I decided to stop and see Crabby, who I haven't seen in about five years, and Bill Preston and I spent some time with him a few years before that. When we got to his house, I could hear the TV playing loudly inside, and knowing that Crabby is hard of hearing, I banged loudly on his front door several times. I know that he doesn't use that door, so I went to the other side of the house, went into his garage and into his enclosed porch and banged on the door that he always uses, but he didn't answer. I was convinced that he was home, so I went to his front windows and rapped on them loudly, but no response. Finally I went back to his porch door, and opened it slightly and yelled: "Jim, are you there." Then he responded, "Who is it." I told him it was Sunoco Jerry, and he asked if any ladies were there. When I said no, he opened the door with only a towel wrapped around him. He obviously had just come from taking a shower, and he said that he was in a hurry to get dressed, so he could watch the race. I could tell that he didn't recognize me, and that he was not interested in chatting, so I told him that it was good to see him, and we left.

I don't know what race he intended to watch, but it was about 4 p.m. on Sunday. My main purpose for stopping was to see how he is, and I accomplished that. He appears to be doing fine. There was a car and a truck in his garage, so he is undoubtedly still driving to the Kanab Senior Center every day for his main meal."


I liked the story Michael Argetsinger conveyed about Mr. Travers reaction to Mark Donohue's death on page 304 of Mark Donohue; Technical Excellence At Speed:

"Jim Travers took up cigarettes when he became involved in racing. "I made it all through school and the Army and being wounded on Iwo Jima, without ever touching the things," he remembers. "But when I became chief mechanic on a midget race car the responsibility of it was terrific, and I began smoking." The Hall of Fame mechanic was instrumental in Bill Vukovich's Indianapolis 500 victories, and later, as half of the Traco partnership that built most of the Penske Racing engines. As a close friend, Mark Donohue worried about smoking being harmful to Jim's health, and was continually after him to give it up. Jim never could, saying he was hooked.

Jim was sitting on the veranda of his home on Lake Mojave smoking a cigarette when word came to him that Mark had died. "I sat there and thought about Mark and said, 'Mark, there isn't a damn thing I can do for you now, but one.' I snuffed out the cigarette and wrote the day date of Mark's death on it. I never smoked again. That cigarette is still on the mantle of my home."


Rest in peace, sir.



#10 JacnGille

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Posted 14 February 2016 - 16:28

Sad news



#11 B Squared

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Posted 15 February 2016 - 16:11

Robin Miller remembers Jim Travers at Racer:

http://www.racer.com...vers-dies-at-95