10 replies to this topic

[HistoricMustang]

Help me and a friend discover information on this former driver.

Ralph ran the USRRC event at Augusta and have found very little information.

Other information very much appreciated as we continue to document some of the forgotten ones.

Henry

[UMCrew]

Not sure if this will get to anyone considering this is a very old post, but if you are still interested I may have some info. on this driver.
Maybe we can fill each other in. You can email me at umcrew@aol.com.

[raceannouncer2003]

I presume you have this photo from the Augusta USRRC?

http://www.racingspo...-03-01g-003.jpg

More info on Ralph Noseda at:

http://www.oldracing.../...oseda (USA)

More info on his Cobra and its history at:

http://www.shelbyame...on/csx2137.html

It appears to have been a factory team car in '63, and he bought it in '64...sounds like it is now in the Shelby American Collection in factory team livery...

Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

[UMCrew]

Unfortunately, I don't know this car. I knew Ralph well after his racing years.
Thanks so much for the picture, links and shedding a little history on him for me.
I would love to learn more.

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by UMCrew
Not sure if this will get to anyone considering this is a very old post, but if you are still interested I may have some info. on this driver.
Maybe we can fill each other in. You can email me at umcrew@aol.com.

e-mail in route for possible family contact before September 9th event.

Were you aware that Ralph is one of the drivers on the AIRPS memorial?

Henry

[HistoricMustang]

After my contact with the updated poster (and new member) via e-mail, I would encourage any and all TNF members to put up ANY information they have on Mr. Noseda!

Make someone very happy!

Dig deep on this one!

Henry

[grimeheel]

Ralph dnf'd from the 1963 Pensacola drivers race after 3 laps, in a Corvette. In 1964 he finished 3rd in a Cobra with Jef Stevens at the Augusta manufacturers race and again 3rd in the Cobra at the Pensacola manufacturers race. As far as I know that's the total of his USRRC appearances. Also, he and Jef Stevens dnf'd the Cobra at Sebring in '64.

[fbarrett]

Friends:

From the book Shelby Cars in Detail:

"...in February 1964, [289 Cobra Le Mans roadster] CSX2137 was sold to independent racer Ralph Noseda, who had just co-driven it with Jeff Stevens at Daytona, settling for a DNF after 202 laps, due to a fuel leak. The Miami-based caterer painted the car red and campaigned it with [Shelby American] factory assistance under his "Hot Shoppes" banner throughout 1964 and 1965, mainly in USRRC events but also at Daytona, Sebring, and Nassau. Noseda kept the car busy, but since he often faced the Shelby American team, he was usually relegated to the "best of the rest" category. His best wins were in SCCA National events at Daytona and West Palm Beach in late 1965. The Floridian went on to race Camaros and was an almost perennial Daytona and Sebring entrant until the erly 1980s."

One of only six Cobra Le Mans roadsters, CSX2137 scored the first FIA win for a Cobra and the first FIA win for an American driver (Dan Gurney) in an American car (Bridgehampton 9/14/63). Described in detail and pictured in the above book, it is currently displayed in the Shelby American Collection in Boulder, Colorado. Its windshield still carries a 1964 Sebring tech inspection sticker.

Frank

Edited by fbarrett, 12 April 2011 - 17:16.

[Sunbeam74]

I keep hoping to come across information on a Sunbeam Alpine Ralph raced prior to owning the Cobra.    It was a factory built Alpine for the 1961 Sebring event.

Ralph ran an ad to sell the Alpine in a 1962 Competition press.  

 

I have never found pictures of Ralph racing but I assume he must have since he also states in his ad that it was the 1961 Regional Champion.

 

Steve

[Jerry Entin]

The following comes from Willem Oosthoek:

I did a search in my manuscript for Sports Car Racing in the South, Volume 3, which covers 1961 and 1962. I could not find any appearance of Ralph Noseda in a Sunbeam Alpine in either year. If he did, he must have been very uncompetitive not to get any mention in period race reports.

 

Edwin Wilson was a consistent class winner with an Alpine in the SE. Other SE Alpine drivers in 1961 were George Lacey and Bill Buchman and Vince Tamburo, and Joe Sheppard in 1962. Ed Lamb also did well in the Texas Region in those years.

 

The only appearance of Noseda that I could find was at the Daytona Divisional in September 1961, where he raced a new Jaguar E-type, the first such car in the SE. It was forced to run in CM class as the SCCA had not determined its production class yet.

 

Could the Alpine he offered in 1962 have been the Wilson car?

[Sunbeam74]

Yes, it is possible Ralph Noseda was selling the former Ed Wilson Alpine.   Ed was one of the factory drivers for Rootes at the 12 hour event in 1961.  Perhaps in the advertisement Ralph was referencing Ed Wilson's success. It would make sense Ed ended up with the factory Alpine after the race.

 

I know a good bit about the other drivers you mention:

 

- Bill Buchman came very close to winning a division championship a couple of years.  Supposedly, he raced a Series I he fished out of Tampa Bay.

- George Lacey's Series II Alpine was one of the first in the country.  It was found not too far from my house in Mansfield, MA. (his daughter brought it with her when she moved from Florida)

- Ed Lamb won a Division Championship in 1963 - in E-production.

- Vince Tamboro, of course, was the 1960 G-production national champion in an Alpine.

 

I will have to keep looking for information.   

 

steve