29 replies to this topic

[Jerry Entin]

Davey Jordan and George Keck and Tony Settember and Doug Hooper.

 

Tony Settember passed away on Sunday, May 4th at 6:53 p.m.  No date has been set for services yet.  He had not been ill long and true for a racer....he was in a hurry, had been on Hospice 3 days.

 

Patti Settember

Edited by Jerry Entin, 07 May 2014 - 00:51.

[Richard Jenkins]

Very sad news, Jerry, thanks for passing it on. RIP Tony. A life and career far more significant than his F1 experiences

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember's Ecurie Scirocco's Corvette that he ran at Le Mans in 1962 with John Turner

 

The car lasted 150 laps until it retired with gearbox trouble.

 

Tony was a great guy and I always looked forward to seeing him and Patti at the Legends of Riverside .

 

Photo: Willem Oosthoek Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 07 May 2014 - 00:07.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony in his Formula One Scirocco Powell in 1963

This car was sponsored by Hugh Powell, he took over Emeryson Cars at the end of 1961 and after a year running Tony Settember and John Campbell-Jones he decided to revamp the team in 1962. It was renamed Scirocco-Powell Racing and new versions of the Emeryson design were built under the Scirocco designation. These were fitted with BRM V8 engines. The first car did not appear until the 1963 Belgium Grand Prix.

Edited by Jerry Entin, 07 May 2014 - 01:11.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in his Lola T-330

Tony competed in F-5000 in the US. He was sponsored by Torvic Hone - O - Drive and had run a McLaren Mk 10 B before his Lola T-330.

[raceannouncer2003]

Some results at this link (two pages):

 

http://www.racingspo...tember-USA.html

 

And some photos here:

 

http://www.racingspo...tember-USA.html

 

Got to meet him at Legends of Riverside and at the Seattle Historics…seemed like a nice gentleman.  I believe he and Bill Krause were good friends.

 

Vince H.

[jj2728]

RIP

[Vettefinderjim]

 

Tony Settember's Ecurie Scirocco's Corvette that he ran at Le Mans in 1962 with John Turner

 

The car lasted 150 laps until it retired with gearbox trouble.

 

Tony was a great guy and I always looked forward to seeing him and Patti at the Legends of Riverside .

 

Photo: Willem Oosthoek Collection

 

I met TONY SETTEMBER at the first RIVERSIDE RACEWAY LEGENDS REUNION in 2008. The following year, on 2-25-09 interview he told me the following.

 

''I raced the 1955 300SL Gullwing at Pebble Beach and beat the 56 Corvette of Dr. Dick Thompson in April 1956. I owned a Mercedes dealership in Ontario, CA and bought my first Corvette, a 1957 silver fuel injection car from MK Smith Chevrolet, Ontario, CA for general driving pleasure. MK wanted me to repair the fuel injection systems that the dealership employees were having problems with. The car was one of the first 4 speed cars, the first fuel injection 283/283hp car M.K. received. It was a real fun car with plenty of power, and terrible brakes.  I raced Santa Barbara in October 1957 (#227 race number) then the first Riverside race on Labor Day Sept 1-3, 1957.

 

In 1958, I was sponsored by JACK YOUNG and raced his, 1958 SILVER #38 with great success. CHIEFTEN BODY SHOP was Jack Young’s business and BILL THOMAS built a wonderful engine. I received backdoor support from Chevrolet’s VINCE PICKENS, to Bondurant and me. I raced that car in 58 and 59 and 60 when it was painted yellow again with good results and then went to Europe. 

 

In England, I got hooked up with a 22 year old millionaire Hugh Powell from Connecticut and a special racer called the WRE, (World Racing Enterprise). The open wheel car was 80% complete when Powell hired me to go to England and find out if all his money was truly in the car. I flew over and found a beautiful racer without a driveline, so I asked friend Briggs Cunningham where we might purchase an engine for this beautiful car. He suggested Maserati and ‘LUCKY’ Casner who formed the CAMORADI RACE TEAM. I followed advice, and we created a beautiful race car with a front-engine powered Maserati  2L open wheel special. We tested at Modena and then went to Naples Grand Prix and I won in the rain. My racing career became big news in Europe with this win. The car was a dream to drive, but the new Maserati Birdcage was being pushed to the front of the pack and we received no additional help from the Maserati, so we sold the car in late 1961. I was approached by Ferrari and invited to the factory, but family pressures prevented what ''might have been'' a great driving experience with the Ferrari team.

 

Hugh Powell still wanted to race, so I suggested buying a Corvette from my old friend M.K. Smith in Southern California. I ordered a white / red no radio fuel injection hardtop only car with 4 speed, positraction and heavy duty RPO 687 brake and suspension. By now we had become Scuderia Scirocco of USA/GB from Modena Italy Race Team.

 

The car was shipped to us and we prepared the car for racing and added a 37 gallon gas tank that Maserati built for us from drawings supplied by Zora and Vince Piggens. We also added a SUN Electronic tack, running number lights, fog lamps and mud flaps. We tested at a hill climb race test in Verona, which we won easily.

 

Jack Turner and I entered the 1962 LeMans race on June 23, 1962. It was the only 1962 Corvette in the LeMans race, and the first Corvette to compete since the Briggs Cunningham effort in 1960. This car was also the first year for the large 327 cubic inch or 5.3 liter engine. It was very powerful. The car ran without a hitch for well over 11 hours, when Jack downshifted after the Mulsanne Straight and inadvertently, pulled up the reverse lock out lever, and the transmission lost two gears. I took over the controls with only first and fourth gear and held my own,  but after 14.5 hours and 150 laps the engine went away after a piston blew due to lean fuel mixture from a fuel injection drive cable slipping. Officially we finished 30^th overall and 12^th in GT, as a DNF. 

 

The car was shipped back to Southern California and I never saw it again. 

 

In 1980, long time Corvette sleuth Mike Pillsbury (now deceased) found Roland Gorman in Ohio who owned the car and needed a hardtop and decklid, as the originals were stolen off the car.  Roland sold it to good friend Dale Pearman from  Atwood, Tennessee. In 1983 when all the vin numbers were discovered in FIA LeMans files, Dale realized he had a car worth restoring. He and nephew Ken Hansen from Media, TN finished the restoration. Dale passed of kidney disease in the spring of 2005. The car is restored to perfection and received the NCRS Heritage Award at 2006 NCRS National Convention Park City, Utah. LARRY BOWMAN purchased the car at the Gooding Auction in Palm Beach, FL in spring of 2007. Sold again in 2011 to Steve Leistein in Long Island, NY where it is today. The car appeared at ROAD AMERICA at the CORVETTE WORLD TRIBUTE event in August 2011.

 

 

Meanwhile, Tony Settember came back to California in 1963 and drove the new Stingray 63 Corvette for Shelly Washburn Chevrolet and again in 64. The for Webster Racing. I drove a Lotus 23, then a  Lola T-70 in the 1965-66 time period. In 67 and 68 I raced the 67  Camaro Trans Am car for Washburn Chevrolet of Santa Barbara, California. There was a Ferrari ride in there also, I just don't remember the dates''

 

Tony will be missed. A very gentle man, who was a real pioneer in Road Racing around the world.

Edited by Vettefinderjim, 07 May 2014 - 14:38.

[Vettefinderjim]

Some results at this link (two pages):

 

http://www.racingspo...tember-USA.html

 

And some photos here:

 

http://www.racingspo...tember-USA.html

 

Got to meet him at Legends of Riverside and at the Seattle Historics…seemed like a nice gentleman.  I believe he and Bill Krause were good friends.

 

Vince H.

Yes Vince, Tony was good friends with BILL KRAUSE and many other racers of the day. BOB BONDURANT called me last night and DICK GULDSTRAND on Monday. RACINGSPORTSCAR has Tony as the winner at Pebble Beach. Dick Thompson actually beat Tony to the checker flag. The MB Gullwing may have been in a different class, but that win for Thompson and Corvette made history for the Corvette.

Edited by Vettefinderjim, 07 May 2014 - 14:18.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in the earlier Corvette he has just explained about.

 

 

photo: Patti Settember collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 20 April 2016 - 02:50.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember at home with some of his trophies.

[raceannouncer2003]

RACINGSPORTSCAR has Tony as the winner at Pebble Beach. Dick Thompson actually beat Tony to the checker flag. The MB Gullwing may have been in a different class, but that win for Thompson and Corvette made history for the Corvette.

 

Sorry, Jim, but I think Tony was right.  I think he did beat Thompson at Pebble Beach.  This is confirmed in Motoracing, and also by Thompson:

 

"...John Fitch, the manager of the team asked me to drive and our first race was at the Pebble Beach track in California. That was a pretty track but it ran through the woods and you had to be aware of all those trees. In the Corvette, I jumped into the lead on the first lap, but near the end of the race, I ran out of brakes—a common occurrence with those Corvettes—and I finished 2nd to a 300SL…"

 

I think that the Seafair at Bremerton later in the year was the first major win for Thompson's Corvette over the 300SLs.

 

Vince H.

[Roger Clark]

Tony in his Formula One Scirocco Powell in 1963
This car was sponsored by Hugh Powell, he took over [/size]Emeryson Cars at the end of 1961 and after a year running [/size]Tony Settember and [/size]John Campbell-Jones he decided to revamp the team in 1962. It was renamed Scirocco-Powell Racing and new versions of the Emeryson design were built under the Scirocco designation. These were fitted with [/size]BRM V8 engines. The first car did not appear until the 1963 Belgium Grand Prix.[/size]

Isn't that Andre Pilette in the 1964 Aintree 200, the Scirocco by this time having a Climax V8?

[ensign14]

The story was Settember was Powell's guardian.  If that's the case, isn't there a conflict of interest in advising your young ward to spend an inheritance on your own racing career?

[Jerry Entin]

Marv Webster's Lola T-70

Tony Settember drove this car for Marv Webster, that is Lil Marv in the middle of the picture and Big Marv in the white Jacket

 

 

Tony told me that Hugh Powell enjoyed the racing and it was more his idea then that of Tony's guiding him to enhance Tony's racing. If Hugh would have wanted someone else to run the car he could have done so. Tony would have then probably been the Team manager.

 

 

photo::  Culkin Racing collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 11 May 2014 - 15:19.

[Jerry Entin]

  Services for Tony Settember will be held at :

 

The Fernley, NV Military Cemetery on

 

Friday, June 6, 2014

at 10:30 am

 

and the Celebration of Life at his daughter's home at

 

604 Sugar Tree Ct,

Reno, Nevada

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in the D-Jag and that is Bob Drake in Ol Yellar behind him.

Edited by Jerry Entin, 11 May 2014 - 15:26.

[Adrian Beese]

Interesting to see the Scirocco coming 3rd in class at the Monaco GP Historique today

[Peter Morley]

As Adrian said it was good to see Tony's Scirocco SP1 coming third at Monaco and gaining a large portion of the Motors TV coverage of the race.

 

SP2, the Burgess (and somewhat later my) car came 2nd at Monaco in 2008.

[group7]

Just over a year has passed since we lost Tony Settember. he certainly drove a diverse array of cars ! Question, I have only come across one photo of Tony in the Matich SR3 that he raced in 1967 in America. It is in a brochure I have from Valvoline, showing the drivers who used the product in the "67 Can-Am series, it is posted on "Auto Diva" in the thread "canadian american challenge cup" does any know of any other pictures of him in that particular car ? I have gone through my files, and looked on the net, with no avail. this is the record I have of his appearances in the SR3 in '67.

 

june 11th. Rose Cup Portland # 76...DNA

 

oct. 15th. Laguna Seca (canam) # 77...DNS drove Lola T70 instead

 

oct. 29th. Riverside (canam) # 77...DNF

 

nov. 12th. Las Vegas/Stardust (canam) #77...DNF

 

any help welcome, if someone would like to post the photo I have pm me and I will send it. can't seem to post here  

 

Michael Scott (group7) in Canada

[raceannouncer2003]

According to Martin Rudow's "Weekends of Glory", Settember in the Matich finished second to Bill Amick in his McLaren in the Rose Cup.

 

Here is a link to a photo from the Laguna Seca Can Am...looks like the Matich?

 

https://revslib.stan...log/wf941wt5047

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 06 June 2015 - 06:20.

[group7]

Vince H.  thank you ! that is Tony in the Matich SR3 at Laguna Seca. those results in my post above, were from the "racing sportscars" site.

 

Michael Scott (group7)

Edited by group7, 06 June 2015 - 20:10.

[E1pix]

Tony Settember in his Lola T-330
Tony competed in F-5000 in the US. He was sponsored by Torvic Hone - O - Drive and had run a McLaren Mk 10 B before his Lola T-330.

This is the first I've heard of Tony's passing... Thanks, Jerry.

I remember the T-330 well, here into Turn 5 at Road America I believe (1974?).

RIP, Tony.

Edited by E1pix, 09 June 2015 - 15:10.

[Paul Parker]

As a matter of interest what became of Hugh Powell, I have looked online and elsewhere but have drawn a blank, can anyone help me please.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember's son Tony and Tony's grand daughter Aubrey Meehan and wife Patti Settember accepting the USRRC Hall of Fame Award

That is Rick Titus handing the award to Patti Settember, this was from the recent Pomona California USRRC event.

 

 

photo: Mary Pozzi

Edited by Jerry Entin, 17 April 2016 - 16:44.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in his Lola T 163 at Monterey

 

 

photo: John Boxhorn collection

[Jerry Entin]

Frank Monise in Lotus 23 and Jerry Entin in Ol Yellar 2 and Tony Settember in Stingray

 

This is from Santa Barbara and Tony Settember was running the Washburn Chevrolet Stingray.

 

 

photo: Ken Adams

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in his Mercedes 300 SL with a Corvette hot on his heals.

 

 

photo: Patti Settember collection

[raceannouncer2003]

Dick Thompson in the Corvette at Pebble Beach, 1956.  Tony beat him.  Thompson finally came through to beat a 300SL (Paul O'Shea) at the 1956 Seafair.  Classic stuff.

 

Vince H.

[Jerry Entin]

Tony Settember in F-5000 Lola

 

This car was prepared by Jerry Eisert and sponsored by Torvick Hone O Drive

 

 

photo: Dan Eisert collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 27 April 2016 - 22:20.