8 replies to this topic

[WINO]

Burney Russell was one of the most prominent racing mechanics that Texas produced. He ran his shop from Fort Worth and wrenched for Gary Laughlin, Alan Connell, Roy Cherryhomes and other Texas racers. On July 1, 1976, Texas Monthly, in its column The Best of Texas, nominated him Best Auto Mechanic. Russell died in 1994, at age 88.

 

But on March 3, 1965, he put an interesting ad in the Fort Worth-Star Telegram, under the title SALE OF RARE FAST CARS, playing word games with the various names involved.

 

"Bernelio Rosselini, known clean to Jacksboro as a connoisseur of exotic cars, announces his dispersal of his rare collection. Here's your chance to turn on those tigers. All of the following models are guaranteed [to have five wheels].

 

1958 FERRARI - Sleek Farina body, V12, original throughout and looks like a 1965. Condition attests to Rosselini's loving care. Luigi Laughlin rates it a rare buy at $4,000.

 

FERRARI-MASERATI - A winner at Daytona, Mansfield, Green Valley, etc. etc.: extraordinary Ferrari-engined Maserati engineered by the famed Juan Miller. Lotuses and Cobras don't scare it none. Not licensed for street use but you might try and be the sensation of your block. $4,000.

 

AMERICANIZED FERRARI - Mean-looking Vignale-bodied aluminum coupe.  Completely restored with wild 301-inch Chev stock block conversion. Isky roller cam, reinforced mains, custom exhausts, three two-throat California Tom hand-made Webchester carbs, 4-speed, stout rear end, thoroughly tested, everything works. New wheels, Bob Schroeder racing tires. Personally tested by Juan Manuel Cherryhomes himself. $4,500.

 

1952 JAG XK 120 ROADSTER - Overhauled, like new, hardly out of town except to test Blue Mound speed trap.  $750. "

 

Heck, why didn't I have any money in 1965. I would definitely have been in the market for these.

Edited by WINO, 21 December 2024 - 21:25.

[WINO]

When Burney Russell offered the former Gary Laughlin 250TR, I always took his description with a pinch of salt. It sounded as though Russell owned or brokered [on behalf of Laughlin] a pristine or at least well-preserved sports racer. But there happened to be multiple subsequent owners from the moment that Laughlin originally sold it.

 

The 250TR was a 1958 model, chassis 0748, last raced by Laughlin at San Marcos in April 1960. Although entered at Longview three weeks later, a blown engine prevented it from participating. Then Laughlin retired from racing and chassis 0748 sat forlorn under a tarp in Russell's backyard until Big Jim Hall of Houston bought it, without engine, in 1962. Big Jim was well connected and had managed to acquire a new Testa Rossa engine in Modena. Hall sold the repaired car to LeRoy Melcher of Galveston, who encountered a frozen rear axle when taking it first time out. Not impressed, Melcher asked Big Jim to broker it for him and Gary Wilson became the next owner. Wilson ran chassis 0748 in 1962 and 1963, and then -clearly obsolete- it ended up in Russell's backyard again.

 

So, by the time that Russell offered the car in 1965, it was a well-worn racer, hardly up to the standards that Gary Laughlin was used to seven years earlier.

[ReWind]

Burney Clinton Russell

b. 14 September 1906 in Batesville, Arkansas (Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas)

d. 01 April 1994 (87 years old) in Fort Worth, Texas

[WINO]

Burney came closer to the truth with the history of the Maserati-Ferrari he offered. It was the long-tailed Birdcage Tipo 61, chassis 2461, bought by Alan Connell from Lucky Casner in 1960. After a number of races with its original 4-cylinder Maserati engine, Connell's mechanic John Miller inserted a 3-liter V12 Testa Rossa engine, bought from Buck Fulp. It was the engine out of the 250TR chassis 0724.

 

Connell did score four overall victories with the combination: Mansfield and Muskogee in 1961, Daytona and Green Valley in 1962, before buying a Climax-engined Cooper Monaco. Burney ended up with the car, next seen in the UK with Patrick Lindsay. After various restorations over time, its long tail was discarded and today it looks like a standard Tipo 61, again with a Maserati engine.

Edited by WINO, 23 December 2024 - 21:31.

[Tim Murray]

(Posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek)

Fort Worth, February 1958. Burney Russell on the right, with three of the cars in his care. A Lotus 11, Roy Cherryhomes' Maserati A6GCS and Dick McGuire's Ferrari 750 Monza. Visiting are Jim Hall and Bob Schroeder.

[Tim Murray]

(more from Willem)

Some shots of the Ferrari offered by Burney Russell in his 1965 advertisement. They were taken during a cold and windy SCCA Regional at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds in November 1959. The first image shows owner/driver Gary Laughlin talking to Burney. In the second photo Laughlin is seen taking chassis 0748 to second overall in the feature race.

[Tim Murray]

(more from Willem)

A few images of the second car offered in Burney Russell's advertisement, the Maserati-Ferrari. They show Alan Connell on his way to victory at Mansfield, Louisiana, in September 1961, aboard the long-tail Birdcage chassis 2461. He hoped to combine the best of two worlds, the handling of a Birdcage and the power of a V12 Testa Rossa, chassis 0724. It worked very well that weekend, and at the end of the day Connell can be seen savoring the bubbly.

[Sterzo]

^ I have always thought this is the "right" combination - a Maserati chassis and Ferrari engine. Whereas Arciero's opposite idea of a Ferrari-Maserati made me scratch my head; it needed Dan Gurney to make it look good.

[WINO]

Frank Arciero owned two 4.9-liter Ferraris, both ex Parravano: a 375MM [chassis 0362] and a 375Plus [chassis 0478]. Both received new bodies after they crashed, the 375MM a body by British Mistral, the 375Plus one by Jack Sutton. It was the 375MM that received a Maserati 4.2-liter V8 engine and to the best of my knowledge, Dan Gurney never raced that combination.

Edited by WINO, Today, 18:26.