8 replies to this topic

[Buford]

I posted this in the Paddock Club after somebody mentioned Midland, Texas. After finishing it, I though it might find some interest here.
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Reminds me of the time in the early 1970s when my USAC Midget owner was running a Chevy II engine and he was burning valves. He tried several kinds but had the same problem. So my owner happens to see a photo of Jim Hall so he thinks, "That's the guy who would know." So he calls him up in Midland, Texas, completely out of the blue. Gets a secretary. Tells her he is some guy from nowhere who doesn't know Jim but wants to ask him a technical question about valves in a race car. So a few minutes go by and a voice comes on the phone, "Jim Hall." So my owner tells him what he is doing and what his problem is, and if anybody would know the solution, it would be Jim.

So Jim starts off on a long technical discussion and questioning process, and after that said, "I have just what you need. Some secret trick stuff I just got from GM. I'll send you a set but you can't tell anybody where you got them. This is "Unobtanium" stuff that doesn't really exist, understand?" So in a few days the valves come in the mail, no invoice or anything. Jim had given them to him for free! It solved the problem and the car honked after that. Oops, I digress. I guess this is a Nostolgia Forum post.

[Ray Bell]

It is...

It would be interesting to know just how much help Hall got from GM, and how much GM got from Hall, actually.

[Buford]

Total help. Penske and Donahe as well as Hall were the secret GM development teams at the time when GM was not officially involved in racing. But it was no secret. It was a non-secret, secret.

[Viss1]

Did you ever find out what the valves were made of? Titanium is my guess...

[Buford]

Probably. That would have been unheard of at the time I think. No I just recall my car owner telling me that. I was the driver, not the mechanic, so I didn't ever care why it worked. Just whether it did or not. He told me because I was a road racer and I would know who Jim Hall was. Nobody he was racing with would have even recognized the name.

[Viss1]

Cool story. Those were the days, when a respected race car designer would not only shoot the breeze with an unkown engine builder, but also send him state-of-the-art parts out of kindness.

[Buford]

Yeah - but I think even in those days it was rare!

[bobbo]

Buford:

Great story! Reminded me that the Little Guys were once important, too!

If you have any more stories about Jim Hall or anyone/anything else, pass them on! You are a great storyteller!

Bobbo

[Buford]

Thanks. Actually I have about a million stories but they only pop up when something reminds me. Like in this case, it was somebody saying they were from Midland, Texas.