4 replies to this topic

[rbm]

I'm sad to report the passing of Dick Irish on the 19th March 2015 at the age of 85.

 

Dick raced sports cars in the 50's, was keen Keift 500cc F3 peddler and was involved very early on in the SCCA.

 

 

 

 

[Jerry Entin]

Ray Jones in the Logan Ferrari 410S at Mansfield in August 1958

 

This is from Willem Oosthoek:

 

It is sad that Dick Irish isn't better remembered as a driver from the early days of SCCA competition. But he was a crack story teller as well.

 

In 1958 he worked as a mechanic for A.D. Logan, the Oklahoma fruit and vegetable distributor. Irish told me the circumstances of how Logan bought a 4.9-liter Ferrari 410S, chassis 0596, from Luigi Chinetti in New York.

 

Logan and Irish flew to New York to inspect the car, and Logan fell in love with the brute. Chinetti offered the 1956 former works car for $10,000, plus the promise that NART could use it at Nassau at the end of 1958. Logan agreed, but Chinetti refused to accept his out-of-state banker's check. It was up to Irish to exchange the check for $10,000 in cash at the closest bank.

 

Carrying so much money on him around New York City, a much less safe place then, made Irish very uncomfortable, but he returned to Chinetti's place without getting robbed. He remembered the 410S as beastly fast, its back-end frequently breaking loose because of the tremendous torque.

 

Logan entered the 410S at Mansfield in August 1958, where not Irish raced it, but Logan's produce truck driver Ray Jones. Jones took it to victory in the feature. According to Irish, Logan knocked out third gear during a private test session before Galveston, where the car did not show. Rather then repair chassis 0596, Logan sold it to Bruce Danielson in California, reneging on his Nassau commitment to Chinetti.

 

Photo: from Sports Car Racing in the South, Volume 1

Edited by Jerry Entin, 28 March 2015 - 00:56.

[terry mcgrath]

is this the same dick Irish that raced an XK120 in the early 1950's and probably brought the car new?

I would love to get some photos

[rbm]

is this the same dick Irish that raced an XK120 in the early 1950's and probably brought the car new?

I would love to get some photos

there is a story that Dick Irish swopped his XK120 for his Keift 500 F3 in 1951.

 

[Jerry Entin]

Another ride for which Dick Irish is remembered was the 1953 Sebring 12 Hours. He shared Brooks Stevens' Excalibur with Hal Ullrich, to cross the finish line on its starter motor. Before that he had pushed the car for 3.5 miles back to the pits. It earned him the Shell Sportsmanship Trophy.

 

All research: Willem Oosthoek