138 replies to this topic

[Jerry Entin]

Volume 3 will offer an in-depth account of the 1961 [31 events] and 1962 [32 events] seasons in the Southern U.S. The epilogue covers the major developments during 1963.

Edited by Jerry Entin, 25 October 2014 - 20:45.

[Tuboscocca]

 

 

Volume 3 will offer an in-depth account of the 1961 [31 events] and 1962 [32 events] seasons in the Southern U.S. The epilogue covers the major developments during 1963.

 

Jerry --thank you!!

 

Do you know a rough publication date??2015??

 

Michael

[Jerry Entin]

The book contains 392 pages and 611 images, most of which come from the archives of Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Jackson. It will go to print in Europe in December and be available by early February.

 

The price will be the same as Volume 2: US $155 [postpaid U.S. and U.K.]

[Tuboscocca]

 

The book contains 392 pages and 611 images, most of which come from the archives of Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Jackson. It will go to print in Europe in December and be available by early February.

 

The price will be the same as Volume 2: US $155 [postpaid U.S. and U.K.]

 

Jerry thanks I'll start saving!!

 

Regards Michael

[Jerry Entin]

Cocoa, Florida, February 15, 1959. In this event virtually ignored by the national press, Lucky Casner took Jim Hunt's Ferrari 250TR [chassis 0722] into the lead during the preliminary, only to spin out.

 

 

Thanks to recently discovered color slides taken by Florida Porsche racer Bob Bellows, it was decided to start Volume 3 with a chapter "1959/1960 Revisited". The images are too rare not to share.

 

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 27 October 2014 - 00:04.

[Jerry Entin]

Dothan, Alabama, Oct 25, 1959. Roy Schechter's Porsche RSK [chassis 023] does battle with George Robertson's Corvette. Schechter finished 3rd overall in the feature, Robertson 8th overall.

 

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 27 October 2014 - 00:24.

[bradbury west]

Wonderful colour definition, Jerry.

Roger Lund

[Jerry Entin]

Auburn, Alabama, May 1959. Start of the small production race, showing Leonard Metz [#96 Porsche], Bruce Dougherty [#85 Porsche] and two Triumphs.

 

The Alabama Region used Sharpe's Field, the former Tuskegee AFB near Auburn, only four times, twice in 1959, twice in 1960. After that the Region used the more popular Courtland track.

 

Roger : Glad your enjoying the photos, as they say " You have seen nothing Yet."

 

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 27 October 2014 - 20:00.

[Jerry Entin]

Sierra "Smokey" Drolet, also known as The Orchid Lady, and her Triumph TR3 during the 1959 Pensacola National.

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 28 October 2014 - 22:50.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Congratulations, Jerry.    I'm really looking forward to it, but somewhat disappointed that the 1963 season is not covered, at least Sebring.

 

Jack

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 29 October 2014 - 15:21.

[Jerry Entin]

Courtland, Alabama, October 11, 1959. The final appearance of E.D. Martin in his Ferrari Monza [chassis 0498], for a 2nd overall finish behind Roy Schechter's RSK. The cream-colored Monza had been repainted red and was for sale. In 1960 Chuck Nervine became its new owner.

 

Jack the Lad:  The 1963 season [including Sebring] is mainly covered by a number of photos and elaborate captions. They appear in the epilogue. The reason is that by 1963 reporting of the smaller Regionals and Divisionals suffered as a result of the new professional USRRC, which received all the media attention. It became impossible to continue the format used from 1957-1962, allocating the same in-depth coverage to the smaller events.

 

The epilogue does include a great photo of the Sebring start, with Delmo Johnson [as usual] having the fastest getaway with his Sting Ray

 

 

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 29 October 2014 - 20:56.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Thank you for the insight, Jerry.....totally understandable.

 

Jack

[Jerry Entin]

Mansfield, Louisiana, March 11-12, 1961. Roger Penske's first appearance in his Birdcage Maserati, chassis 2471. Still getting used to the car, he finished a conservative 4th overall, both in the prelim and the feature.

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson

Edited by Jerry Entin, 01 November 2014 - 17:18.

[D-Type]

The Maserati has no race numbers - Is that photo during a 'shakedown'?

[Jerry Entin]

D Type: The race numbers are hard to read in this image. In the book there are a number of color shots of the car, which is red with a blue number 161. 

 

This particular photo does seem to have been taken in practice: Penske used a bubble shield in the race.

[Jerry Entin]

Galveston Divisional, September 15-16, 1962. Houston's "Big" Jim Hall takes a cameraman around Scholes Field in his favorite Ferrari, the 4.9-liter 410S, chassis 0596. Dale Duncan was invited to race it that weekend, finishing 4th overall in the feature.

 

Note the front bumper installed by Big Jim.

 

Photo: Jimmy Hall Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 04 November 2014 - 02:13.

[Jerry Entin]

With the exception of two Sebring appearances, the Pensacola Divisional on October 28-29, 1961, was the first race in the South for South Carolina's John "Buck" Fulp.. His car was a Ferrari Dino 246S [chassis 0778]. Fulp finished second overall behind Art Huttinger's Lister/Chevy. By 1962 the Dino ended up, via Don Fong, with Atlanta restaurateur Joe Dale, raced on his behalf by Ross McCain.

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 06 November 2014 - 17:26.

[Jerry Entin]

Stuttgart, Arkansas, November 23-24, 1963. Occupying the front row in Saturday's late-afternoon prelim are Enus Wilson in the ex-Roger Penske Birdcage, now with Buick engine [chassis 2471], Phillip Cohn of Memphis in the ex-Wilson 300S with Chevy power [chassis 3068] and Harry Washburn in the ex-Alan Connell Cooper Monaco [chassis CM/3/62], soon to be upgraded with V8 power as well. Behind them Bob Hayes lines up his new Shelby Cobra.

 

 

Photo: Steve England Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 08 November 2014 - 19:43.

[Jerry Entin]

Green Valley Raceway, June 9-10, 1962. James "Hap" Sharp in a for him unusual car, a Porsche RSK.

 

Having sold his Maserati-engined Cooper Monaco to Harry Washburn, Sharp ran a Porsche RSK in the Sunburn Races, finishing 2nd overall in the feature. Based on its features, the RSK was not Jim Hall's RSK, but likely the former Homer Rader Porsche.

 

Photo: Bob Jackson

Edited by Jerry Entin, 11 November 2014 - 20:49.

[jj2728]

Absolutely wonderful photos Jerry. Thanks for sharing them.

[RA Historian]

The Hall/Sharp tandem also had an RS-60 c1960, didn't they?

[TIPO61]

Youbetcha!

[Jerry Entin]

Tom:  Yes, Jim Hall did have a Porsche RS-60, bought new from Buddy Berlin in Albuquerque. He raced it sporadically, taking it to victory in the first race held at Green Valley Raceway in August 1960.

 

Then Roger Penske came knocking, wanting to buy the RS-60. Hall had a better idea and suggested trading his RS-60  [minus engine] for Penske's RSK [minus engine]. Hall preferred the shorter wheelbase of the RSK. A deal was struck and Hall took the former Penske RSK [with the RS-60 engine] to victory in the February 1961 Polar prix at Green Valley.

 

There is no evidence that Sharp ever ran the RS-60 or the former Penske RSK, though.

 

all research: Willem Oosthoek

[Jerry Entin]

Daytona Continental, February 11, 1962. Lister/Chevy drivers Joe Weatherly, Art Huttinger and Anson Johnson are waiting for the start signal. At first the cars ran well but at the three-hour mark Weatherly [in Bill Frick's Costin model] and Johnson [in David Lane's knobbly] were delayed, the latter after losing a wheel. Huttinger's knobbly suffered from a broken exhaust header and retired.

 

 

Anson "Johnnie" Johnson was a 41-year old Captain with National Airlines. Born in Johnson City, Tennessee, he was better known in airline circles for winning the 20-lap Thompson Trophy in the 1948 Cleveland National Air Show. On that occasion his mount was a 12-cylinder Mustang P-51.

 

 

Photo: Art Huttinger Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 13 November 2014 - 20:00.

[NigelSmuckatelli1945]

Thanks Jerry.  Looks like another classic in the making.

 

[Jerry Entin]

Houston, December 1962. Bob Schroeder and Australian Mecom mechanic Neil Robson with two of John Mecom's new acquisitions: a deTomaso Formula Junior and the Paris 1000 KM-winning Ferrari GTO.

 

Louis: Glad you are enjoying the photos.

 

 

Photo: Bob Schroeder Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 15 November 2014 - 03:36.

[Jerry Entin]

Green Valley, February 18-19, 1961: Tommy Sibson of San Antonio in the Devin-bodied, Chevy-engined Ferrari 340A, chassis 0202. He is chased by Harry Martin of Austin in a Porsche RSK and David Morgan in Delmo Johnson's Corvette.

 

 

Since the Devin-bodied Ferrari/Chevy turned up as a barn find in Illinois in 2006, the various Ferrari historians have been rather mute about the car's U.S. history.

 

Chassis 0202 started life as a 4.1-liter Vignale Coupe taken to 5th overall at Le Mans in 1952. In 1953 Bill Devin became its first U.S. owner [although he was not responsible for installing the Devin body]. Masten Gregory paid him $11,500 for the car the same year but disliked it so much that he sold it on to Big Jim Hall of Houston for $4,500 in 1954.

 

Big Jim found an interested party for the tired car, and went on to show its acceleration on Westheimer Road in Houston. At 110 mph the worm gear in the steering box fractured, sending the car end-over-end backward an estimated seven time. Big Jim was thrown clear of the Coupe, but his passenger was not so fortunate: he died on the spot with a broken neck.

 

Big Jim sold the wrecked chassis 0202 to Bill Owens, a fellow Houstonian who had raced OSCAs up till then. Owens sold the Ferrari engine and installed a Chevy V8. At one point he also installed a Devin body. His only appearance in the car appears to have been at Hondo in April 1959 although, while reports mention the Chevy engine, none mention a Devin body yet. It is possible that at Hondo the car featured its original Vignale body, likely with the damaged top removed.

 

By 1960 the Devin body was definitely in place. Owens sold the car to Tommy Sibson, who scored first overall in the Austin Hill Climb in October. Green Valley in 1961 was Sibson's first road race, followed by appearances at Mansfield and Hondo, and Corpus Christi in 1962.

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson

Edited by Jerry Entin, 17 November 2014 - 21:45.

[Ray Bell]

Where is Green Valley, Jerry?

I hadn't logged into this thread previously, but I will certainly be doing so from now on! Fantastic photos of the 'good old days' and bringing many aspects of the racing of the day to life.

In this last pic, I gather this is taken with the 'British Car Park' for spectator vehicles in the background. I certainly would never have expected to see one of those Morris Messengers in the US.

And isn't it about time the ban on Willem Oosthoek was lifted?

[Jerry Entin]

Ray:

 

Green Valley Raceway was located just north of Fort Worth, Texas, near the small town of Smithfield. After Eagle Mountain became unavailable, Green Valley served as the primary road course for SCCA drivers in the Fort Worth/Dallas area.

[BobGreen]

I worked the first race held at Green Valley in the control tower and many more over the years as staff and crewed for Bill Parham's team on occasion.  The track was set up

using the drag strip, return roads and staging area, all located I the middle of a large commercial dairy.  Some cleaning of the surfaces was required prior to each event as you might imagine.  The track was run in both directions over the years and hosted several major events of the time.  All of the later to be big names  in the sport raced there and the first race of the GT350 prototype was at the Valley.  In some configurations it was dangerous with a bridge over a creek with no guard rails and a few trees close to the track.  Many fond memories and I still have friends from there that are still involved in vintage racing.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin

Stuttgart, Arkansas, November 23-24, 1963. Occupying the front row in Saturday's late-afternoon prelim are Enus Wilson in the ex-Roger Penske Birdcage, now with Buick engine [chassis 2471], Phillip Cohn of Memphis in the ex-Wilson 300S with Chevy power [chassis 3068] and Harry Washburn in the ex-Alan Connell Cooper Monaco [chassis CM/3/62], soon to be upgraded with V8 power as well. Behind them Bob Hayes lines up his new Shelby Cobra.
 
 
Photo: Steve England Collection

This picture I find just so atmospheric...

That the cars are from the 'let's slip in a V8' era, that they are actually about to slip into obscurity, the surface conditions, the sun and the drivers' concentration, just a great photo.

I checked to see where Stuttgart is and it's not far from this beauty (sorry to go off-topic, Jerry):



No doubt this railway bridge was still in use when the race pic was taken, but some time in the last fifty years they've cranked the centre span up to allow boats to go under and simply abandoned it to rust away.

When I saw the grass growing through the gaps in the track I thought how appropriate the two were together... and they're just 25 miles apart.

[Jerry Entin]

Ray: That bridge looks like a good place to run a Bungee cord business from.

 

 Stuttgart, is also known as the Rice and Duck Capital of the World

Edited by Jerry Entin, 19 November 2014 - 21:50.

[bradbury west]

A brilliant shot, Ray.

Jerry are they steel strips between the concrete sections? What were they from originally?

In what guise has 0202 been restored after the barn find?

Roger Lund

[fbarrett]

Bob Jackson, an amazingly good photographer at a time when the gear was a real challenge. There should be a book of his work...

[Ray Bell]

Roger, those strips look like very weathered tar-soaked fibreboard of some kind, as used as expansion strips in concrete...

It's amazing what you see when you get off the Interstate.

[Jerry Entin]

Halls, Tennessee, March 3, 1963. C.P. "Chuck" Hamill and his Maserati 250S/Chevy [the former Bobby Aylward chassis 2431] during the Drivers School hosted by the Mid-South Region based in Memphis.

 

 

Enus Wilson was not the only one racing purple Maseratis. Chuck Hamill, brother of Ed Hamill of Can-Am fame, did so as well. Bought from Bobby Aylward and repainted purple, chassis 2451 was maintained for Hamill by Roy Kumnick of Tero Chevrolet. Sponsorship came from Hamill's own Pace Real Estate enterprise. Later in the year he won the feature at Lawrenceville, but in the May 1963 Pensacola USRRC the entry proved too slow to make the field of 26 cars.

 

Photo: Chuck Hamill Collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 20 November 2014 - 16:58.

[marlondylan]

 

Green Valley, February 18-19, 1961: Tommy Sibson of San Antonio in the Devin-bodied, Chevy-engined Ferrari 340A, chassis 0202. He is chased by Harry Martin of Austin in a Porsche RSK and David Morgan in Delmo Johnson's Corvette.

 

 

Since the Devin-bodied Ferrari/Chevy turned up as a barn find in Illinois in 2006, the various Ferrari historians have been rather mute about the car's U.S. history.

 

Chassis 0202 started life as a 4.1-liter Vignale Coupe taken to 5th overall at Le Mans in 1952. In 1953 Bill Devin became its first U.S. owner [although he was not responsible for installing the Devin body]. Masten Gregory paid him $11,500 for the car the same year but disliked it so much that he sold it on to Big Jim Hall of Houston for $4,500 in 1954.

 

Big Jim found an interested party for the tired car, and went on to show its acceleration on Westheimer Road in Houston. At 110 mph the worm gear in the steering box fractured, sending the car end-over-end backward an estimated seven time. Big Jim was thrown clear of the Coupe, but his passenger was not so fortunate: he died on the spot with a broken neck.

 

Big Jim sold the wrecked chassis 0202 to Bill Owens, a fellow Houstonian who had raced OSCAs up till then. Owens sold the Ferrari engine and installed a Chevy V8. At one point he also installed a Devin body. His only appearance in the car appears to have been at Hondo in April 1959 although, while reports mention the Chevy engine, none mention a Devin body yet. It is possible that at Hondo the car featured its original Vignale body, likely with the damaged top removed.

 

By 1960 the Devin body was definitely in place. Owens sold the car to Tommy Sibson, who scored first overall in the Austin Hill Climb in October. Green Valley in 1961 was Sibson's first road race, followed by appearances at Mansfield and Hondo, and Corpus Christi in 1962.

 

 

Photo: Bob Jackson

 

I have seen 3 colour photographs of the already Devin bodied (painted blue, racing# 15) Ferrari driven at Mansfield-LA on March 18, 1959 with Andy Herron at the wheel.

Best regards

Boudewijn

[Jerry Entin]

The plot thickens, Boudewijn! Looking at the March 7-8 1959 Mansfield entry list there is a

#15 Ferrari 4.1 entered by one Andrew Wilson Herron III of Delray Beach in Florida.

 

Old notes [and I have no idea where I got them] on the side mention: ex-Ernie Miller, 4.1 Mexico engine, new frame, new body. The car was entered in CM, so it could have been a 4.1 Ferrari unit or a Chevy V8 unit. No mention of the car in the various race reports.

 

By April 4-5 Bill Owens ran his Ferrari/Chevy [Devin bodied or not] under #24.

 

all research: Willem Oosthoek

[Jerry Entin]

Program cover for the October 1961 Pensacola Divisional at Corry Field, Florida.

 

The one-hour feature race went to Art Huttinger's Lister/Chevy [CM1], over Buck Fulp's Ferrari 246S [DM1] and Richard Macon's Cooper Monaco/Climax [FM1]

 

 

Photo: Bob Bellows

Edited by Jerry Entin, 23 November 2014 - 17:25.

[Peter Morley]

Any chance of letting us know which events it will cover?

[RA Historian]

If this book follows the pattern of numbers one and two, it will cover every race in the areas and years covered. A mammoth undertaking, limited only by the lack of any contemporary coverage of some small regional and club events. That is, lack of coverage back in the day by newspapers and periodicals, I am doing similar research of racing in the midwest US. While I know an event occurred, sometimes there simply is no trace of it in print anywhere. But I digress. Let's just say that if an event happened in those years in the south, Willem will mention it.

 

Tom

[Jerry Entin]

Peter here is a sample of the coming books contents.

 

New Tab

 Here are some sample pages put together by Dalton Watson, including the events covered in Volume 3

 The caption of Phil Hill at Daytona in 1962 contains a typo and that his Ferrari is really a Dino 246SP, not a Dino 240SP/

[Ray Bell]

What a bunch of work has gone into that!

Tremendous stuff, Willem, I hope you are well-rewarded with interest and sales.

[Peter Morley]

Peter here is a sample of the coming books contents.
 
New Tab
 Here are some sample pages put together by Dalton Watson, including the events covered in Volume 3[/size]

 The caption of Phil Hill at Daytona in 1962 contains a typo and that his Ferrari is really a Dino 246SP, not a Dino 240SP/

That's great, after posting the query I realised that Dalton Watson had published the same for the previous two volumes so was hoping they would do the same.

The books are great and well worth all the time and effort that must have gone into them.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Lovely stuff.  Right up to and including the Studebaker Lark tow car. 

 

Many thanks, Jerry & Willem!

[Jerry Entin]

Thanks for all the favorable feedback, guys. Further to Tom's comments, yes, an author is at the mercy of period reporting in the magazines and local newspapers.

 

Two cases in point: chapters are dedicated to the October 13-14, 1962, Corpus Christi Divisional in Texas and the October 20-21, 1962 Donalsonville Regional in Georgia. I found the event programs and various pre-race write-ups in the local papers, but after the weekends, not a single report with results in morning or evening papers during the entire week.

 

The fact that Corpus Christi was held on the same weekend as the Times GP at Riverside meant that most Texas name drivers were to be found in California. But it is still very frustrating not being able to find anything on the smaller events.

[kalbfellp]

Australian Mecom mechanic Neil Robson

 

Does any one know any more about this guy?

 

My mother was a Robson and had a cousin Neil, who she always said was a car nut working around the world.

[Jerry Entin]

New Tab

 

See Men and Machines for Australian mechanic Neil Robson. Same guy?

[Jerry Entin]

Still in his Cooper Monaco, Hap Sharp accept the trophy for winning the March 1962 Mansfield, Louisiana, feature.

 

In addition to newspaper and magazine articles, in the case of Mansfield its programs were always a good source of information. This image of Sharp was published in the race program for the next event, held on Labor Day in September. All race winners of the previous race weekend were mentioned, with brief descriptions of the action and photos taken in the winner's circle.

 

 

Article: John Matlack Collection

photo: Fred C McPhearson

Edited by Jerry Entin, 29 November 2014 - 00:39.

[RA Historian]

Could this have been Sharp's first outing in is new Cooper T-57? I seem to recall that very early in his ownership he clipped the fins of the tail section. Either he had been frightened by a 1959 Cadillac or he simply found them unappealing. It also appears to me that the radiator opening in the nose is narrower and taller than those on other T-57s.