117 replies to this topic

[humphries]

Jerry Entin hinted that there was a good story to be told about Charlie Kolb. In the early days of Formula Junior Kolb won race after race in his Elva and when he later acquired a Gemini he repeated the feat. Kolb was a real beanpole and race cars of his era were not really designed for such tall men. The pathetic excuse of a rollover bar on most cars afforded no protection for even the smallest drivers and those like Charlie must have been very exposed. Mike Parkes raced a Gemini in the UK and like Kolb he was tall for a top driver. The Gemini looked very small with Mike in it, a bit like a kart. Mike and Charlie were very quick nonetheless.

Over to Jerry and Willem.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is Charlie Kolb in his youth. I know that Charlie finished a fine 2nd in the 1963 USRRC race held at Pensacola, Florida. He was driving a Porsche RS61. The car above is a Elva Mk3 with a 1.1 Liter Climax engine.This picture was taken in January of 1958.
above photo lent site Roy Schechter collection.

[Jerry Entin]

John Humphries : As you have said about Charlie Kolb's height. Yes, he was tall. Charlie is 6'2" tall. Before he went racing, Kolb was a professional baseball player. He was on the New York Giants farm team.

Here Charlie is featured on the program cover for the 1964 SCCA Divisionals at Daytona, having won the feature for the Paul Whiteman Trophy the year before. On that occasion -- September 1, 1963 -- Kolb took Ed Cantrell's Lotus 23 to first place, beating the car owner [second in a Chaparral 1], his son [Billy Cantrell in a Ferrari GTO] and Buck Fulp [Ferrari Dino 196SP].

The 53-car field was a mix of modifieds, production cars and Formula Juniors. Among the big iron were the Listers of Ross McCain, Graham Shaw and Art Habersin, plus Wick Williams in the ultimate beast, the former Temple Buell 570S Maserati. Best of the Juniors was Don Johnson in one of J. Frank Harrison's Lolas, finishing 9th overall.

Paul Whiteman was a friend of Bill France and served as the director of sportscar competition for the Speedway. It was just a hobby for him. He was better known as America's King of Jazz in the 20s. He introduced "Rhapsody in Blue" for his friend George Gerhwin, the composer.
all research Willem Oosthoek. Program cover lent site Willem Oosthoek

[Jerry Entin]

Roy Schechter was also entered in the 1963 Paul Whiteman Trophy, winning HM in his Beach during an earlier race for small-capacity cars. Roy remembers Charlie Kolb as a talented driver who could race any car. At one time Charlie Kolb was the manager of Overkeys Motors, a VW agency based in Homestead near Miami. Later on Schechter bought the dealership.

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb in his Maserati 200SI at Watkins Glen in 1959
photo Dave Nicholas- www.barcboys.com
copyright 2007 Dave Nicholas

[Lotus11Register]

The name KOLB was familiar to anyone looking through the automobile advertisements in Miami newspapers in the 1960s and 70s. Charlie Kolb's Auto City was one of his sales lots, and the ad was always entertaining for the oddball car assortment listed there. So Charlie was another case of a racer who fed his habit with car sales or, as others thought of him, as a wheeler-dealer who would escape to the race track as soon as he was done shaking your hand.

Some of the people who dealt with Kolb profited greatly from the experience. Take the example of one current auto-dealer family in South Florida. In the early 1960s this family ran what was basically a thrift store, renting old garden tools, thrown-away cars & equipment and other road treasures. One day Charlie Kolb came in their door with an interesting offer. He would provide them with a half-dozen small Japanese cars -- new -- that they could rent to customers. Charlie would come back in a month to collect a very small , very fair payment. The family began renting Datsuns at discount rates, and invariably the customers came back impressed with some even asking about buying one. This arrangement went on for months until the family -- amazed that the little cars never seemed to break -- became a dealer. Their name is still on a few franchise dealerships today.

The dealer principal would tell this story and ask his listener: "Do you know what that Charlie Kolb did in his spare time? He raced cars!"

Thanks for starting this thread on one of the steadiest and yet most neglected drivers of his day.

[Jerry Entin]

Prematurely grey already in April 1963, when this shot was taken at Geneva , Florida, Charlie is 39 in this picture. Charlie Kolb won the 3rd Osceola Grand Prix there with his red Porsche RSK. In March he had won at Fernandina Beach, Florida, later in April he won at Walterboro, SC, both with the RSK. In May Kolb won the Reuter memorial at Savannah, GA, with a front-engined Ferrari Dino.
Early in his career hardly anybody could beat Charlie in Formula Junior. In 1960 he won 18 out of 19 races entered, all with his Elva/BMC.
Jay: You are right about Charlie Kolb and I and Willem are also glad for this site to show the members of the forum the great cars Charlie Kolb drove and the fine job he did of driving them.
all research Willem Oosthoek-photo Willem Oosthoek collection.

[Lotus23]

Great photo, Jerry!

Charlie Kolb was a legend by the time I started racing in the southeastern U.S. in '63. He was fast and smooth, and ISTR ending up in the same race as he once or twice. I'm not sure his true age has ever been established; his gray hair made him look older than he really was.

Does anyone recall his oddball way of holding the steering wheel? Rather than the normal 10-and-2 position, he favored a 5-and-7 variation, generally keeping his hands at the bottom of the wheel. I even tried it myself a couple of times, but it didn't work nearly so well for me as it did for him!

There are lots of stories about Charlie, but I'll let others relate them.

[Jerry Entin]

This is a picture of Charlie Kolb taken in I believe 2002. Charlie was born September 16, 1923, he is 83 years young now. We are ready for any stories anyone has on Charlie.

[David Pozzi]

I called him a few years ago when researching the history of my Lola T-70.
My driver's door had a small forward facing scoop and I saw a magazine photo of a similar scoop on a car driven by Charlie long ago. He also co-drove at times with Buck Fulp, the original owner of my Lola. I thought he'd "borrowed" my car for some races or parts of it. Charlie's hearing was terrible and I had a tough time getting across to him, but his mind was very sharp with a good sense of humor.

He was still vintage racing and said someone looked at him standing by his car in his driver's suit and told him "I used to watch your father race". Charlie told him "it wasn't my father you saw, it was ME!"
David

[Haine Kane]

Hello,

Is it possible to have Charlie's birth date and birthplace please ?

Thanks a lot.

[David Birchall]

I talked to Charlie Kolb on the phone years ago when I was racing an Elva/BMC Junior. I was looking for any tricks in setting the car up and Charlie surprised me by telling me that he had removed the drop gears from the nose of the diff and run the driveshaft straight from the gearbox to the diff. He said they moved the seat foreward and laid it back to lower him. I didn't realise how tall he was--he must have been very uncomfortable in that Elva!

[thomaskomm]

Charlie Kolb won first time the Nassau Speed weeks 1963 with one of the first of the Formcars Formula Vee!

Thomas

[HistoricMustang]

If anyone develops a contact please PM or e-mail.

As most are aware Mr. Kolb is on the granite monument here in Augusta and he is one that has not been informed.

Henry

[Lotus23]

Charlie's real age was always a great mystery, even back then. He was always circumspect on the subject, and I can't recall anyone ever pinning down an accurate date/place of birth for him.

The terrific photo of him in Jerry's post #7 was taken in '63. If CK were indeed born in '31, he'd be only 31 or 32 in that photo. Even allowing for his prematurely-gray hair, I'd guess from the rest of his visage that he was well into his forties by then.

But it's apparently still a mystery today. Can some of our resident sleuths can solve the puzzle?

[HistoricMustang]

Happy sailing Joel!

It is simply fantastic!

Henry

[Jerry Entin]

Sebring 1965. Tall Charlie Kolb finally in a car without being exposed to the elements. He co-drove Buck Fulp's Ferrari 330P with Appendix J high windshield. Charlie took the start and ran at par with the Ford GT-40 of Miles/McLaren. Unfortunately, after 6 hours of racing while in 4th overall, the Ferrari's gearbox packed up.
Lotus 23: Charlie has told me he will be 84 on September the 16th. You are right about his age. I have corrected it above. He was 39 in the picture in post #7.
all research Willem Oosthoek-photo Willem Oosthoek collection,

[Lotus23]

Jerry, thanks for solving a 44-year-old mystery!

[Jack-the-Lad]

I seem to recall seeing Charlie driving a Maserati Birdcage at Sebastian or Fernandina Beach. Does that sound right to anyone else? Racing in Florida back in those days was great...relaxed and familiar yet very competitive.

Jack

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb did not race a Birdcage, but he ran earlier model Maseratis, the 200SI and 300S. At Fernandina Beach on March 4, 1962, he and the 300S had a race-long battle with Chuck Cassel's Porsche RS-61 and had to settle for second by inches. Kolb ran his 300S all season and he won the final overall win for this wonderful design, the November 18, 1962 Geechee Prix at Savannah, Georgia.
all research Willem Oosthoek.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Chuck Cassel....His chief mechanic, Bill Murrah, was my neighbor when I was a kid in Ft. Lauderdale. I remember going over to his house many a late Sunday evening or early Monday morning to see what was on the trailer....Abarth Carrera, RS-61, Carrera GT. Chuck owned Continental Motors, the VW-Porsche dealer here. The dealership was sold to Brumos, I think. He passed away a few years ago.

Jack

[Jerry Entin]

Jack-the-Lad: This one is for you. Charlie Kolb and Chuck Cassel on the right, congratulating each other after their battle for first overall at Fernandina Beach on March 4, 1962.
photo lent site Willem Oosthoek collection.

[RA Historian]

This is great! Mention a name or two and Jerry and Willem pull photos and info from their files and post them here. I saw both Kolb and Cassell run on many occasions, have photos of both in their cars, but while I knew what Kolb looked like, I do not recall ever seeing a picture of Chuck Cassell. Now I have. Thanks fellas!

[Jack-the-Lad]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin

Jack-the-Lad: This one is for you. Charlie Kolb and Chuck Cassel on the right, congratulating each other after their battle for first overall at Fernandina Beach on March 4, 1962.
photo lent site Willem Oosthoek collection.

Thanks, Jerry! Who's the dashing guy between them in the Tyrolean?

Jack.

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb briskly walking through the pits at Watkins Glen after a race in 1960. Harry Heuer and Roger Penske standing by the Scarab. There are 3 other race car drivers in this photo.
photo Dave Nicholas- copyright Dave Nicholas 2007. www.barcboys.com

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb in his beautiful Maserati 200SI at Vineland, New Jersey in 1958.
This is from Dave Nicholas: This is Charlie Kolb in that gorgeous Maserati at Vineland NJ in 1958. For those of you unfamiliar, you came off the road course and bounced across the oval into the infield, turned left and connected back onto the oval, around it to the right past the grandstands and down one long drag strip straight.
photo Dave Nicholas -copyright Dave Nicholas 2007. www.barcboys.com

[Jack-the-Lad]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin
[IMG]There are 3 other race car drivers in this photo.
photo Dave Nicholas- copyright Dave Nicholas 2007. www.barcboys.com

Looks like Augie Pabst in the yellow driver's suit, on the right. Maybe Bob Holbert in the pale blue suit, back to camera?

Jack

[Miracle Man]

Aloha readers:

I think I have you. Kolb walking, Harry Heuer with Penske. But look right and you have Denise McCluggage in the gray suit talking with Augie Pabst (who won) and on the right with his back to you is Bob Johnson. Those are the 6 drivers in the shot.

I can send more photos if you'd like to ID others from history.

Cannot believe I got past WGT commonly known as Willem the Great.
DN

[Jerry Entin]

Miracle man: Willem and Don Devine knew the answer. They think the guy with his back turned is Walt Hansgen and not Bob Johnson. You could have them,however.

[Jerry Entin]

Miracle man should know. He is the one who took the picture. And now one even Miracle man didn't see!

Gents,

Please sit down. WTG [not WGT] has just discovered the SEVENTH race driver in the photo. Conversing with Johnson is the one-and-only Red Byron, Alabama-born NASCAR Champ in 1948 and 1949, and in 1960 the Meister Brau team manager and chief mechanic.
Yours: Willem Oosthoek.

[Miracle Man]

I did write Willem's prefix incorrectly, it is WTG for Willem The Great and he did scoop me once again with Red. I did recognize the darn face but could not put a name with it.

DN

[Lotus23]

Miracle Man, you mentioned more photos like this terrific one. Cast my vote for more! I'd bet this is one of the very few shots to capture those 7 particular personalities.

I watched Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow run 1-2 in the Scarabs at Lime Rock a year or two before this photo. First sportscar race I'd ever seen, after more than a decade of ovals. To this day, I think the Scarab is an absolutely gorgeous piece of machinery.

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by Lotus23
I watched Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow run 1-2 in the Scarabs at Lime Rock a year or two before this photo. First sportscar race I'd ever seen, after more than a decade of ovals. To this day, I think the Scarab is an absolutely gorgeous piece of machinery.

Might that have been Thompson? They never were at Lime Rock with the Scarabs.

[Lotus23]

RAH, you're right, of course -- Thompson it was!

I can only blame too many subsequent Lost Weekends at each venue...

[gerard BARATHIEU]

Jerry,

beautiful pictures as usual.

have some of the FERRARI DINO at LE MANS and other tracks with the NART ?

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb along side his 275 GTB Ferrari, chassis#6885. Getting ready for the start of the 1965 Nassau Tourist Trophy Race. Charlie Kolb won this race.
The GTO in the photo was run by Bob Grossman. There were also two Cobras in the race: Tom Payne and Dan Gerber. I believe the other driver in the picture is Peter Gregg who was from Florida also, so it is likely he knew Kolb well. He ran a Porsche 904 in this race.
Result: Kolb-Gregg-Payne
photo Terry O'Neil collection- research Terry O'Neil.
further research Willem Oosthoek.

[Lotus23]

Yes, Peter Gregg and Charlie certainly knew each other well. I saw them battle each other on several occasions, often at the Savannah-Effingham (Georgia) road course (now Roebling Road).

[Jerry Entin]

In the early sixties Charlie Kolb was definitely one of the dominant drivers at Roebling Road near Savannah. In November 1960 he won the Formula Junior race with Dr. Tom Waring's Cooper FJ. In November 1962 he won two prelimimaties with his Merlyn Mk 4, then the feature with his Maserati 300S. In May 1963 he scored on Saturday with his Porsche RSK, then switched to his Ferrari Dino on Sunday for another victory.
Kolb's winning streak ended in November 1963, when he arrived only to find that his tow vehicle [with the 300S] was starnded somewhere between Miami and Savannah with trouble.
Peter Gregg is mostly remembered as a Porsche guy, but in May 1963 he drove a Corvette to 6th overall at Savannah.
all research Willem Oosthoek.

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb in the 1965 Governor's Trophy race at Nassau. In his Porsche 904/6. Charlie finished 3rd overall.
photo Terry O'Neil collection-research Terry O'Neil.

[Jerry Entin]

Charlie Kolb in 1966 at Nassau in the Fred Baker Racing Team from Miami entered LolaT70. Kolb drove the car in the Nassau Classic race and finished in 3rd place. He drove the same car in the Nassau Trophy race but was a dnf.
photo Terry O'Neil collection-research Terry O'Neil.

[David Pozzi]

Jerry,
Any idea what color that Baker Lola was in that race? I know later it was Green for the Quaker State sponsor.
David

[Jerry Entin]

Here's Charlie Kolb taking a drink after winning the 1961 Sebring F Jr race in a Gemini. Walt Hansgen 2nd, Ronnie Hissom, Jim Hall 3rd and 4th.
all research Dave Nicholas- photo Dave Nicholas- copyright 2007 Dave Nicholas
www.barcboys.com

[Miracle Man]

While Lance and Daigh didn't drive at Lime Rock, Harry Heuer was there in 1960. I was at Thompson in 58 when the original cars were there - this was soon after an epic battle at Montgomery with the Cunningham Lister-Jags. If you want, I can post shots from 58 of those cars... but it seems that should start another thread and leave this one to good old Charlie Kolb (we used to call him Klob - but then again Olivier Gendebien was Olivier Jellybean.

Here's Harry on the grid at Lime Rock in 1960 (or at least I will try to put it in)

DN

[ianselva]

Originally posted by David Birchall
I talked to Charlie Kolb on the phone years ago when I was racing an Elva/BMC Junior. I was looking for any tricks in setting the car up and Charlie surprised me by telling me that he had removed the drop gears from the nose of the diff and run the driveshaft straight from the gearbox to the diff. He said they moved the seat foreward and laid it back to lower him. I didn't realise how tall he was--he must have been very uncomfortable in that Elva!

I've heard this story before and I really can't give it much credibility as the driver sits quite high in a standard Elva and there is no way you could adopt a Lotus 25 like driving position without lowering the diff and fitting top suspension links. The car (reputedly, as there are at least 2 with the same chassis no) is currently raced very successfully in the UK by Crispian Beasley .

[David Birchall]

Well, since Charlie Kolb told me personally I think you have to give it credibility--although as I said, it must have been very uncomfortable.

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by Miracle Man
While Lance and Daigh didn't drive at Lime Rock, Harry Heuer was there in 1960. I was at Thompson in 58 when the original cars were there - this was soon after an epic battle at Montgomery with the Cunningham Lister-Jags. If you want, I can post shots from 58 of those cars... but it seems that should start another thread and leave this one to good old Charlie Kolb (we used to call him Klob - but then again Olivier Gendebien was Olivier Jellybean.

Here's Harry on the grid at Lime Rock in 1960 (or at least I will try to put it in)

DN

Without wanting to appear rude, please check your memory cells re Lime Rock. Back in the day, the Scarabs never were there, according to the Preston Lerner book, "Scarab". Further, if Harry Heuer was there in 1960 he had to be moonlighting in something other than a Scarab, because Harry's Meister Brauser team did not run there.

[Miracle Man]

Well, without sounding rude; you did. Please keep the old adage of don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see (Barnum).. because now that I have figured out how to post the photo, you will see that in 1960 Harry Heuer is sitting on the grid at Lime Rock in what appears to be a non-moonlighting Scarab.

See, the half I saw, I believed and took a photo to prove it.

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by Miracle Man
Well, without sounding rude; you did. Please keep the old adage of don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see (Barnum).. because now that I have figured out how to post the photo, you will see that in 1960 Harry Heuer is sitting on the grid at Lime Rock in what appears to be a non-moonlighting Scarab.

Well I'll be doggoned. Please forward the date of this photo, as all contemporary accounts never reported Heuer at Lime Rock, not Competition Press, et al, and Lime Rock is never mentioned in Preston Lerner's great book, Scarab, The Racing Log . But your photo does show the Scarab, chassis 003, which the Meister Brauser team ran only in the last half of 1959 and in 1960. The driver certainly appears to be Heuer. Further, the background does appear to be the hill on the outside of the front straight. My friend, it appears that you have unearthed something that has escaped reporting before, and even escaped mention in the aforementioned Lerner book which gave a race by race accounting of all Scarab racing activity, and on which I was relying for my info. I admit, this is a new one on me, and I would be most interested in the race date and details. Lerner reports that the Scarabs ran at Continental Divide in a USAC race the end of June, 1960, and then went to Meadowdale in mid-July for an SCCA National. Perchance this event that you picture was the July 4 weekend SCCA National at Lime Rock (won by George Constantine in a Lister-Chev), which I believe was the only major event run at LIme Rock that year. Perhaps Heuer was a DNS and did not actually run? Please fill in the details, and thank you.

I was sure that you had confused the 58 Thompson event with LIme Rock, but I certainly must defer to your camera on this one! You got me (not the first time that has happened.) As I said above, please reply with more info, because you seem to be filling it a gap in history.
Regards,
Tom

[Jerry Entin]

Lime Rock National on July 2, 1960. No Scarabs in Race 5, the feature won by Constantine's Lister/Chevy, according to the complete results in the SCCA magazine. So the photo was taken during practice and Heuer did not take the start, or it is another Lime Rock race. No reference in the text of a DNS because of problems either.
Charlie Kolb won race 6 for FJ, aboard his Elva, beating Harry Carter, Newt Davis and Jerry Titus [still on the East Coast].
Dave: That Scarab pictures is a very good one. Thank you for posting it.
all research Willem Oosthoek.

[Angel Nieto]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin

Charlie Kolb in the 1965 Governor's Trophy race at Nassau. In his Porsche 904/6. Charlie finished 3rd overall.
photo Terry O'Neil collection-research Terry O'Neil.

Hi Fans,

is this car Porsche 904/6 chassis # 906-004, ex car of Gerhard Mitter (?)