13 replies to this topic

[William Edgar]

Hello All,

I am very interested in locating still photographs shot on August 9, 1970, at the Ontario Motor Speedway (California) “Dedication Day” event that featured a Pro-Celebrity race using Porsche 914/6 sports cars. Team drivers, among others, included Al Unser, Parnelli Jones, Hugh Downs, Paul Newman, Pete Conrad, Pancho Gonzales, and Dick Smothers/Bobby Unser who “won” the Pro-Celeb race. Officials included Kirk Douglas and James Garner. I am NOT interested in photos shot at any other OMS event, just the “Dedication Day.” THANKS!


Regards, with many thanks,

Will Edgar

[JB Miltonian]

I see that there is a full-page article on the August 9 Dedication Event, with 4 b/w pictures, in Autoweek of August 29, 1970.

[Ralliart]

There are some photos in the program for the '71 Questor GP. One, at least, was of Kirk Douglas, with some of the cars (at the start?) in the background.

[JB Miltonian]

The only photo credit reads "Autoweek photos". The article was written by Ron Hickman.

The four pictures show:
1) Kirk Douglas squatting on the pit wall
2) Paul Newman getting advice from Parnelli Jones as Newman climbs into his car
3) Al Unser and Mario Andretti playing with a toy dragster
4) Bobby Unser spinning his car

[Ralliart]

I believe actor Ceasar Romero is also seen in one of the photos. I'd have to find my program from Questor GP '71 to confirm.

[David Pozzi]

I have seen a video on Speed Channel showing a cleb race with lots of stars. I don't recall the track, might have been OMS though. It was a film with Paul Newman in a straw hat sitting in the spectator stands narrating???
David

[ecat]

William,

My company, Artemis Images, may have some of these photos but they are not scanned yet. Let me check tomorrow to see what we might have that matches your request. If we do have some mathcing images I can certainly get them scanned and up on the site by the end of the week.

ecat.

[William Edgar]

Thanks, Ralliart. Your note on the program helps.

[ecat]

William...we for sure have one slide box of photos. The focus is on Paul Newman with Parnelli Jones and some Mario A with Dan G shots. I am getting them scanned today and will post them as soon as they go live to the Artemis Images site.

Hope that helps.

ecat

[ecat]

William...here are a few pics. There are more to go up, but this should help you some.



Mario Andretti straps into the seat of a Porsche 914/6 prior the start of the August 9th, 1970 Celebrity race to commemorate the opening of the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario California. This photo is part of the Raymond Golub Memorial Collection.



Parnelli Jones and Paul Newman strap into the seat of a Porsche 914/6 prior the start of the August 9th, 1970 Celebrity race to commemorate the opening of the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario California. This photo is part of the Raymond Golub Memorial Collection.



Parnelli Jones and Paul Newman strap into the seat of a Porsche 914/6 prior the start of the August 9th, 1970 Celebrity race to commemorate the opening of the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario California. This photo is part of the Raymond Golub Memorial Collection.

[ecat]

William...we just found more images of the Celebrity race. I will post more images here as we get them live to the site and send you an email as they go up to site.

The other great news is that also found two reels of 8mm footage of the Celebrity race. We will be digitizing the film footage starting next week and by mid November will have a very complex library of film footage to compliment our still image library.

Thanks for the email and great info....I will be in touch with you personally regarding some of the other details.

Hope the rest of you enjoy the pics.

ecat.

[ecat]

William....I sent you a private email. You will be very pleased to know that not only do we have images...but we just digitized our film library and now have INCREDIBLE footage (and lots of it) of the Celebrity Race held at Ontario.

I thought I would post here just in case you didn't receive my email. Talk to you soon.

ecat.

[jal43]

Hi

any have the entry list and results for this celebrity race?

and pic?

 

b reg

[teegeefla]

This info is from the April 2006 Excellence magazine article entitled “Little Cars, Big Stars.”

Entries: (all cars were Porsche 914/6 owned by Porsche+Audi North America and prepped by Richie Ginther Racing)

#1 red Al Unser/Ken Venturi (pro golfer)

#2 dark yellow Rodger Ward/Dino Martin Jr (son of Dean Martin)

#3 blue Bobby Unser/Dick Smothers

#4 green Dan Gurney/Pancho Gonzales (tennis pro)

#5 white Mark Donohue/Hugh Downs (tv host)

#6 red Parnelli Jones/Paul Newman

#7 yellow Mario Andretti/Pete Conrad (astronaut)

Driver pairings were made with a random drawing at the drivers’ meeting. It was a 12 lap/40 mile race with a LeMans start where the pros sat in their cars with the engines running. The celebrities would then run over to slap the hand of their teammates who would take off for a 3 lap stint. After 3 laps the amateurs would take over and do 3 laps, then another driver swap/3 laps for the pros followed by the amateurs finishing the final 3 laps. At least that was the plan…

The article documents a lot of shenanigans by almost everyone involved (PM me if you want a scan of the 4 page article). The results were somewhat confused with the only certainty that the Unser/Smothers car was first by less than a car length over the Andretti/Conrad entry.

Film footage is also available on the DVD “Once Upon A Wheel.”