90 replies to this topic

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Two more photos from my collection, the first one by Bob Bellows, the second one from Benita Lane, David Lane's wife at the time.

The first one shows Lucky Casner [in between the combination] unhooking the trailer carrying his #33 AC and his #32 Alfa Romeo. Note the similar racing stripes on the AC that it carries again today. The location is Fort Pierce, either in September 1957 [where he raced the AC under #133] or November 1957 [where it carried #33]. If it was September, he may have had to add the 1 if a fellow competitor used #33 already.

The second one is of the AC and Alfa as raced by David Lane. It shows Benita Lane and her friend Mary Ann Cassel sitting on the AC #88. The location is unknown, but it is tempting to conclude those were the former Casner cars. Based on the difference in roll bars, curved here, I think that Lane acquired these two cars from a different source.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Tampaguy; the following words are his)

Lucky in middle, Jack Sheppard Sr on left, Joe Sheppard on right. Photo was taken in the Bahamas.

[Jack-the-Lad]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Two more photos from my collection, the first one by Bob Bellows, the second one from Benita Lane, David Lane's wife at the time.

The first one shows Lucky Casner [in between the combination] unhooking the trailer carrying his #33 AC and his #32 Alfa Romeo. Note the similar racing stripes on the AC that it carries again today. The location is Fort Pierce, either in September 1957 [where he raced the AC under #133] or November 1957 [where it carried #33]. If it was September, he may have had to add the 1 if a fellow competitor used #33 already.

The second one is of the AC and Alfa as raced by David Lane. It shows Benita Lane and her friend Mary Ann Cassel sitting on the AC #88. The location is unknown, but it is tempting to conclude those were the former Casner cars. Based on the difference in roll bars, curved here, I think that Lane acquired these two cars from a different source.

The Lanes and the Cassels were both from Fort Lauderdale. David Lane was a highly respected physician (neurosurgeon, as I recall)  and Chuck Cassel was the owner of Continental Motors, the town’s  VW-Porsche dealership. Both were  competent gentleman drivers and piloted any number of delectable four cam Porsches….Carrera GT, 904 GTS, 356 Abarth-Carrera, etc.  Cassel’s service manager, Bill Murrah, was our neighbor, so many Sunday evenings or Monday mornings one or two of those cars would be on a trailer outside his house. Murrah became one of the few experts on the Porsche 4 cam motors in America. 

[tampaguy]

Thank you Tim for your assistance…Jack 

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Two more photos taken by Benita Lane, showing that Jim Hunt and Lucky Casner actually raced two different 2-liter 500TRs.

The first photo shows part of the field at Cocoa-Titusville in July 1958, with the Hunt/Casner #34 chassis 0642, a Touring-bodied Testa Rossa, next to Lucky's repainted AC #38. Note the roll bar on the AC, similar to the one shown when it was still painted white. That weekend chassis 0642 had just been sold to Bill Kimberly, who raced it there in Casner colors, but had the car repainted immediately after that. No information has surfaced about who raced the AC #38 at Cocoa-Titusville. Casner had raced 0642 earlier at New Smyrna Beach [February 1958] and Boca Raton [March 1958], where it carried the same livery as in the photo.

The second photo was taken during practice at Sebring in March 1959. It shows Jim Hunt in his white #19 500TR, chassis 0600, which he shared with Casner to finish 13th overall. Lee Lilley is seen next to the car, while Casner has his back to the camera. The car was entered under the NART umbrella.

Apart from those two 500TRs, Hunt/Casner also raced their red 250TR [chassis 0722], which eventually would end up with David Lane. This shot is by Bob Bellows, showing Casner at Cocoa-Titusville in February 1959.

Another piece of information. In the summary of Casner's earlier racing career, a VW Special is mentioned. This was most likely the Special built by Lee Lilley, named the Tamsco/VW Special and raced on a regular basis by Lilley.

[bradbury west]

Willem, many thanks for having these shots, and others, posted. The colour resolution, plus the sunny weather, make for some wonderful images, Ektachrome perhaps.  They bring to mind the quality of the images in Tony Adriensen’s Weekend Heroes and, of course DCN’s glorious Phil Hill volumes. As one who has enjoyed  the usual black and white photo fare in motor sport history books and magazines for a couple of years short of 70 years, period colour images being made available these days are an utter joy. It is also for the clarity of the images that I have become a sucker for shots taken with the old glass plate negatives, qv the Branger images, plus non motoring stuff showing detailed social history, civil engineering  and geographical shots for distant periods and faraway places.

Roger Lund

[timisles]

Tampaguy,

 

Thank you for the photograph, showing Lucky together with Jack and Joe Sheppard in the Bahamas.

 

Do you have a date for the photo please?

 

Thank you,

 

Tim 

[tampaguy]

I believe that the photo was taken in 56. I will confirm and post back.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

While Tampaguy is trying to figure out when that Nassau picture of Casner with the Sheppards was taken, a few more Florida images by Bob Bellows.

In the first one, Lucky Casner and the Hunt/Casner 3-liter Testa Rossa are seen in action at Dunnellon in November 1958. Casner won the feature. Since Jim Hunt, a real estate developer, was the money man behind Casner's cars at the time, the car must have been owned by Hunt.

The second one shows the start of the feature at Cocoa-Titusville in February 1959, with Jim Hunt in the red 250TR this time. Next to him are Joe Sheppard in his Porsche 550RS and Bill Sadler in his Chevy-powered Sadler Mk 3. Sheppard won the race. Casner ran the white 500TR that day and finished 3rd overall, behind David Lane's Maserati 200SI.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Courtland, Alabama, in August 1958. In a slightly unfocused Bob Bellows photo, Jim Hunt and his Lotus 11 are on their way to victory [and GM1] in Race 1. Note the team's fancy emblem on the side of the Lotus, also seen on his 500TR and the David Lane Maserati 200SI.

[Rupertlt1]

Is anything known re the chassis number of the #36 Lotus?

On my recent visit to IMRRC at Watkins Glen, New York, I saw on display the #4 Camoradi Corvette from Le Mans 1960.

The car "was demolished by an accident in Sweden and given up as lost. The late Loren Lundberg,

a dogged restorer, chased it down."

I was told a yarn that Chevrolet gave two cars each to Briggs Cunningham and Lucky Casner.

Casner lost one to a fire and it became three Cunningham and one Casner?

Can anybody add to this story?

RGDS RLT 

[WINO]

At Sebring in 1960 Cunningham and Casner entered two Corvettes each. One of the Casner Corvettes caught fire after the race and was never replaced. At Le Mans that year Cunningham entered three of them, with Casner entering his remaining car [as he did at the Nürburgring].

 

As for the chassis number of Hunt's Lotus 11, I have no idea.

Edited by WINO, 30 July 2024 - 12:01.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Thanks to Benita Lane, we are able to show this photo of Lucky Casner in the first appearance of his AC; Fort Pierce in September 1957. The field is led by the 2-liter Maseratis of George Koehne and Joe Sheppard, with E.D. Martin on the right in his Ferrari 857 Monza. At the finish it was Eddie Crawford [Porsche 550RS on the far left] followed by Sheppard, Koehne and Martin.

Casner can be seen behind Koehne in his #133 AC. He finished EP1, although his overall finish was not reported.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Thanks to Benita Lane, an interesting shot of the starting grid at Cocoa-Titusville in July 1958. Lucky Casner can be seen standing between the Maserati 200SI of David Lane [an ex- Lance Reventlow car] and a third Casner team car, the #35 Ferrari 500TRC with Leonard "Chick" Butscher aboard.

We saw the other two team cars at Cocoa-Titusville [the #34 500TR and the #38 AC] previously in post 55, top image, and all were painted the same livery. Perhaps it was Butscher's favorite color combination. At that point he was still Casner's main money man, not Jim Hunt. Since Casner had sold his Touring-bodied 500TR #34 to Bill Kimberly earlier that weekend [Kimberly was part of the same grid], it look as though Casner went without a ride. Unless he ran the #38 AC in the production races.

Note how the fancy ICDC logo shows up on both the Butscher Ferrari 500 TRC [door] and the Lane Maserati 200SI [windshield], as it did on Hunt's Lotus 11 [at Courtland later in August 1958, post 60] and then, on Hunt's Ferrari 500TRC. When Butcher pulled out of racing, he probably sold his 500TRC to Hunt, who repainted it white.

[timisles]

Connected with discussions on the rather fine ICDC 'Coat of Arms' badge, the link below shows Lee Lilley in a Maserati with the badge on both the side of the car as well as the headrest.

 

https://forums.autos...duncan forlong

 

I mentioned in my earlier post that the FL News understood the abreviation to be 'International Competition Drivers Club', but it seems this may not be correct?

 

Tim

[WINO]

Tim,

 

Until that claim came up in a Florida newspaper, I never knew what ICDC stood for. Butscher, Casner, Hunt, Packo, Lane, Lilley and Koehne [from Texas, but based at the Miami Air Base] all used that Coat of Arms badge on their cars and used Lilley for mechanical work. Since Hunt operated a company called Intra Coastal Dredging Company out of Ft Lauderdale, I originally thought the company name had something to do with it. Casner worked for Hunt's company for about a year in 1958, but none of the other drivers had anything to do with the business. Next try. Since all drivers lived around the East Coast waterways of Florida, how about Intra Coastal Drivers Club, which seemed logical.

 

Then the newspaper article came out, claiming it stood for International Competition Drivers Club. But at the time none of the drivers raced internationally [apart from Nassau], and some hardly even left Florida to do their racing. If this is what ICDC actually stood for, it seems rather over the top.

 

At this point, I don't know and since all participants are long gone, I wonder if we will ever find out.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Benita Lane took these two photos at Cocoa-Titusville in February 1959.

The first one shows Jim Hunt [white shirt], David Lane [hat] and Lane crew member Chuck Packard behind two of the ICDC decal embellished entries, the 500TRC of Hunt and the 200SI of Lane. On the Ferrari it is on the cockpit side of the headrest. The second photo shows the decal has been applied to the Maserati's windshield. Behind the 200SI, Lee Lilley is the crew member in the yellow shirt. He ran his Tamsco/VW Special in yellow as well.

After the Ferrari's color change to white with an expanding [toward the front] red stripe, Casner must have liked that color scheme, copying it for his CAMORADI entries later on, although with a blue stripe instead.

Tim was interested in the car next to the 200SI in the first photo, which he says carried #48. Hard to read the number but it seems to have the "leaning" roll bar of the Casner AC. Looking at the entry list, #49 was entered for Jay Hunt [nickname?] and #48 for Lucky Casner, both in Ferraris.

However, Casner actually ran his 250TR under #8, so if it is indeed a #48 AC, it was probably Casner's.

[timisles]

At risk of diluting the subject matter, would I be way off the mark to suggest the white Ace-Bristol, hiding behind the three cars, belongs to Ed Rahal?

 

I think Willem has another photograph in his first book, taken at the same time, showing a little more of this car. Ed, together with Duncan Forlong, appeared to be the guys to beat in EP. And then DP.

 

Tim

[WINO]

Tim,

 

If you are referring to post 67, the top photo, that is probably Edmund Rahal's white AC in the background. But I found no evidence he raced it that weekend and it did not carry a race number. In addition, no mention of the Rahal AC in the entry list. Perhaps he brought it to show and sell. He did race his Chevy-powered Arnolt that weekend.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

St. Lucie Airport at Ft. Pierce, Florida, in November 1957., for the 4-hour Sam Collier Memorial Trophy. Two images of Lucky Casner spinning out his AC, which previously appeared in a different thread some years ago. But since Tim Isles probably used them as the inspiration for the stripes applied in his AC restoration, worth seeing again. In the first image Casner narrowly avoids hitting the Porsche 550RS of Johnnie Cochran, while Edmund Rahal is in trouble with his Arnolt/Chevy as well. Photos by Bob Bellows again.

[timisles]

No news so far of Lucky's MGA, Alfa or Lotus 11s, but some great additional information on his other cars.

 

RLT mentioned the Casner and Cunningham Corvettes. I had not heard the tale of how the second Casner Corvette survived (the first having been totally destroyed in a fire).

 

This article explains all, and it makes for a fascinating read. I appreciate the story may be well known to those that subscribe to this thread, but for those who are not familiar, it's a super tale.

 

https://www.corvette...story-ever-told

 

Tim

Edited by timisles, 03 August 2024 - 14:22.

[Sterzo]

That article is indeed fascinating, and also gives a clue about a familiar story. I had read that when Maserati closed its workshop, various owners collected their cars, but Ross Jensen arrived from New Zealand for his to find they had no cars left. Also that Hans Tanner had, shall we say, left Maserati under some sort of a cloud.

 

Now, in the Corvette article linked to by timisies, is the paragraph:

 

"When Gamble and Wallace got back to Camoradi’s shop in Modena, they sold the Corvette’s engine and transmission to a man named Hans Tanner. Tanner, partnered with Valerio Colotti in a company they called Tec Mec, acted as an agent for overseas Maserati and Ferrari owners who sent their cars back to the respective factories in Italy for repairs. A New Zealand racer named Ross Jensen had sent his Maserati 250F to Tec Mec for a factory rebuild, and Tanner paid Gamble and Wallace to install the crashed Corvette’s powertrain in it. Though he didn’t own the Corvette-powered Maserati and thus had no right to sell it, Tanner did exactly that, selling it to another New Zealander, Johnny Mansell, who had previously employed Wallace as his race mechanic."

 

Apologies if this is old hat to other TNF members, but for me it completes a story I had wondered about for fifty years.

[timisles]

PS Willem, Thank you, more great photos of Lucky and his Ace. A propos of nothing, these days a front anti sway bar is pretty much de rigueur on an Ace to prevent it leaning so hard on corners, but I would imagine SCCA regulations back in the 1950s prevented any such additions - I don't believe the factory offered this improvement as an option among its various racing accesories anyway. 

 

Plus, I believe we can confirm your belief that the red Ace in your post # 67 is indeed race number 48. I've just looked it up in your second book (1959 - 1961) and on the same page as the photo showing the # 49 Ferrari and # 38 Maserati, you have a super picture of the white Rahal Ace, which Wino correctly informs was not racing that w/e. Behind Ed Rahal's Ace is a clear shot of the Casner Ace, now painted red with a blue center stripe, displaying # 48.

 

A very small point of note it that, along with the car's new red livery for 1959, it appears to have been given a white tonneau cover, although the interior remains black. This is visible in all three of your photographs. When raced by Lucky in his very early days (and clearly learning the ropes when an Ace finally lets go!) the car was white, and he would have had a black hood and tonneau from the factory. But this is probably too much detail.

Tim

Edited by timisles, 03 August 2024 - 16:36.

[WINO]

Tim,

 

FYI, WINO and Willem are the same person, just my initials. As for that photo of Casner with the Sheppards in post 52, I discovered I used it previously in my front-engined Birdcage Maserati book and it came from Joe Sheppard himself. He said it was taken at New Smyrna Beach in February 1958, in Casner's first Ferrari ride. Twice he was beaten by Joe Sheppard in Gay Jackson's Maserati 200SI. So, it isn't Nassau.

 

In the same book I found a photo taken at Boca Raton in March 1957, courtesy of Perry Casner, Lucky's son. It was the third race for Casner's MGA team, and shows Casner and co-driver Frank Wright [his salesman in the Cadillac agency] in white MGAs, with the same stripe as used early on the AC. Will ask my wife to scan the image later today.

Edited by WINO, 03 August 2024 - 16:14.

[Rupertlt1]

The Camoradi Corvette, as displayed at IMRRC in Watkins Glen, New York, had steel wheels and not the mags as shown in the Corvette Magazine article. The fronts were painted black and the backs were white.

RGDS RLT 

[WINO]

And at Le Mans in 1960, where it raced under #4, all four steel wheels were painted black. Then at Kalskoga, where it raced under #5, only the front steel wheels were white all of a sudden. 

Edited by WINO, 03 August 2024 - 18:06.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

About 15 years ago Fred Gamble and Lucky's son Perry Casner came over for dinner here near Charlotte. Fred gave me a copy of this photo, showing how he led at the start of Sebring 1960 with the #3 CAMORADI Corvette. Barely moving is Jim Jeffords in the #4 sister car. Within a couple of laps, Gamble was called in and Jeffords [and later Bill Wuesthoff] took over the number 3 car. The Corvette that burned after the race was number 4, the Corvette taken over by Gamble. The race number 4 currently on the restored car is the number it carried at Le Mans 1960, while it carried #3 at Sebring.

Photo Fred Gamble Collection.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Two photos taken by Bob Bellows of two cars that Lucky Casner had raced or would race.

It is Courtland, Alabama, in August 1958. The first image shows Jim Hunt and his Lotus 11/Climax pursuing E.D. Martin's Ferrari 857 Monza [chassis 0498]. In the second one Martin is seen chasing his good friend Bill Kimberly, who raced the repainted Touring-bodied 500TR [chassis 0642] he bought from the Casner stable. Note the roo-bar on Matin's car, hoping to avoid rear-end damage.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

According to Lee Lilley, Miami-based crack mechanic, Lucky Casner's very first race came at Nassau in December 1956, with an MGA. He blew its engine, bought a second MGA and put Lilley in charge of engine preparations. Casner entered the white MGAs in the February 1957 races at New Smyrna Beach, south of Daytona, for himself and Frank Wright, one of his salesmen at Casner's Motors. Wright retired after five laps, but Casner finishes an excellent 13th overall [FP3] in a strong field that included big modifieds.

Both cars reappeared at Boca Raton in March, where Casner won the special MG class in race 1. In race 2 Lilley himself took his Tamsco /VW Special to FM1. In race 4 the MG class became a 1-2 for Casner and Wright. This event was the first time that the Casner crew members carried the words Casner Motors Inc. Racing Division on the back on their overalls. a close version of the later CAMORADI name. Lucky was thinking big already.

The underpowered MGAs were soon replaced by an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce, which Casner co-owned with Lilley. Lucky did well with the car: he won his race [GP1] at Gainesville, Georgia, in May 1957, placed second overall [GP1] at Fort Pierce in June, with another second place [GP1] at St. Simons Island, South Carolina, two weeks later. By September 1957 Casner had moved up to a new AC, which he raced at Fort Pierce, as shown previously.

Unfortunately, apart from the trailer image posted previously, no shot of Lucky's Alfa Romeo in action have surfaced. But Perry Casner supplied the attached image taken at Boca Raton, showing his dad in MGA #32 and Frank Wright in #31. Both were entered under Casner Motors. It looks as though they featured the same racing stripes as seen on the later AC.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

Lee Lilley ran a speed shop out of Miami's 71st Avenue. He named it Tamiami Sales Company [Tamsco] and he was one of the best known wrenchers in Florida, involved with the maintenance of most of South Florida's sportsracers. He personally repaired Temple Buell's Maserati 470S after Masten Gregory overturned it while briefly leading at Caracas in 1957.

Lee supplied this photo of himself among a number of cars in his shop, probably taken in 1959. From the left, J.J. Packo's Maserati 200SI [chassis 2427, later raced as a loaner by Dan Gurney in Cuba in 1960], then ???, then what looks like [based on the center stripe] Jim Hunt's Lotus 11, likely also raced by Lucky Casner and J.J. Packo, while Lilley is leaning against his homebuilt special, the VW-powered Tamsco Special, which raced in FM class.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

From Perry Casner's collection, some shots of his mom, Shirley Casner. She was a former National Airlines stewardess and model, originating from Pennsylvania. The couple got married in 1955.

[B Squared]

Again, thanks to Tim and Willem for taking time to post these photos and narrative.

[WINO]

Unfortunately, Shirley's marriage to Lucky Casner did not last beyond the early 60s. That is when Casner moved his CAMORADI USA team headquarters to London to become CAMORADI International, effectively abandoning wife and two children in Florida. Along the way he picked up a German girlfriend, whom he may or may not have married. Shirley filed for divorce and Lee Lilley became her prime witness, testifying that the family had been abandoned and that a divorce was merited.

Edited by WINO, 08 August 2024 - 16:23.

[Sterzo]

Does anyone know where in London Camoradi was based?

[WINO]

A mews off Upper Harley Street. Anthony Hawe replaced Fred Gamble as commercial manager, and Casner promptly ordered a F1 Cooper and Lotus.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

I have come to the end of the line where it concerns images of the cars that Lucky Casner raced early in his career. But I would like to share two final ones that exemplify the glory days of sports car racing in Florida and the rest of the Southeast. Both were taken by Bob Bellows again.

The first one is an action shot of Jesse Coleman, the Chief Starter for many of the SCCA events in that part of the U.S., including the Sebring 12 Hours hosted by the ARCF. Jesse was a very popular official among the racing crowd.

The second image shows a female spectator, one of the many that Bellows snapped as well. Yes, she is definitely valid in my book!

[Jack-the-Lad]

Perhaps you could share a few more of “the many.”

 

 

[WINO]

Now I know why you post as Jack-the-Lad! But I'll see what I can find.

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

I found this image on my Bellows DVD, showing Lucky leading this group with his #33 AC Bristol. Location: FT. Pierce again, in November 1957.

Willem

[Tim Murray]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

At Jack-the-Lad's special request, some more Pit Candy taken around the tracks of the Southeast. All taken by Bob Bellows.

[Jack-the-Lad]

(posted on behalf of Willem Oosthoek; the following words are his)

At Jack-the-Lad's special request, some more Pit Candy taken around the tracks of the Southeast. All taken by Bob Bellows.







 

Thank you, Tim and Willem!

 

Nostalgia isn’t only about the cars!

 

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 12 August 2024 - 23:53.