46 replies to this topic

[David M. Kane]

I would like to know more about Buck Fulp. I know he raced several Ferraris, i.e. 250LM, etc.; and that he also ran Lola T-70s. I believe he was from South Carolina.

[Sharman]

Was he christened that?

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Sharman
Was he christened that?

No, I think his surname was Bulp. Can't think what his christian name was though!

[David M. Kane]

Buck is a common "nickname" here in the States. Would you like me to get his Christian name for you?

[David M. Kane]

His Christian name is John...

[David Pozzi]

I own Buck Fulps first T-70, his second T-70 is owned by Paul Wilson. I'll try to get him to post some info here.

Buck is still alive and doing pretty well, he must be close to 70 by now. He was a consitent driver and drove Ferrari's and Bird Cage Maseratis before getting into the Lolas for the USRRC and some open races like the 1965 Double 500 at Bridghampton, and the Bahamas races. I believe he ran LeMans a time or two, and raced a lola Coupe in Europe with Roger McCluskey in 1967.

I have a fiew photos of him and my car on my web page.
David

[ReWind]

Originally posted by David Pozzi
Buck is still alive and doing pretty well, he must be close to 70 by now.

He has just been mentioned here.

At Le Mans he drove once - in 1962 together with Pete Ryan in a NART Ferrari.
Someone else has to look up which one of the two drivers had the accident.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by HDonaldCapps




I am not amused by half-wit humor.

Glad to hear it!

[David Pozzi]

The Racing Drivers club had this on Buck Fulp:

"JOHN 'BUCK' FULP Anderson, S.C.

Starting with a two liter Ferrari in 1959, he won the Governor’s Cup trophy in the fabled Nassau races, and in 1961 (with Skip Hudson) was the Under 2 Liter winners in the 12 Hours of Sebring, an event where he raced seven times …In his Lola T70-Chevrolet, he won the 1966 Riverside and Watkins Glen USRRC races … He also tried his hand at NASCAR and in 1961 finished seventh at Charlotte."

I'd read something on his Ferrari days but can't find it right now. It seems he was able to afford a brand new Ferrari to race so became very close to the NART team, - if I remember it correctly.

I was reciently told that Buck was one of the first if not THE first, to use a Semi-Truck/Trailer to transport his Lola in 1966.
David

[David Pozzi]

From Paul Wilson via Email.

Here is a short article written by Paul Wilson:

"The car I bought is the third T70 Mark II built, SL71/18. Driven by Buck Fulp of South Carolina, it would probably have won the 1966 USRRC Championship except for unusual bad luck. Fulp dropped out of the first race in the series when a stone broke his goggles and cut his eye, but he won the second, at Riverside. His eye then got infected, and he missed several races. When he returned, he came in third at Mid-Ohio, won at Watkins Glen, and was leading the last race–and the championship–when the shifter broke.

A few years earlier, Fulp had celebrated his 21st birthday–and a sizable inheritance that came with it–by ordering a new Ferrari from Chinetti. This predictably led him into racing, and he became a regular driver for Chinetti’s NART team at Sebring and elsewhere. His money helped, of course, but he was a steady, error-free driver who could be counted on never to break or crash a car. Not that he wasn’t fast, too: he was on the front row for the Watkins Glen race he won with my car, in a field that included (in comparable equipment) Jerry Grant, Mark Donohue, John Cannon, Chuck Parsons, and other leading drivers.

His full name is John R. Fulp, Jr., and he still lives in Anderson, SC. In retrospect it seems that by inheriting a textile business (Cannon Towels, I think) in the '60s, he was in the wrong business in the wrong time: that was about when textile manufacturing started migrating to the Third World. However, if I remember correctly, his current business address is for a foundation. If he's still giving money away after forty years, the family's interests must have been handled prudently.

Quite a few of the older vintage drivers out here knew him in the period, and everyone had good things to say about him. He was movie-star handsome, and genuinely helpful and self-effacing. I heard one story of how he asked his crew to help a major competitor do a major night-before rebuild of something. Another guy had stayed with him at his big house in S.C., which featured an elevator."

[HistoricMustang]

Buck is not going anywhere!

If someone has contact information please let me know via PM. AIRPS has been unable to reach him concerning his name in granite.

Henry

[HistoricMustang]

Pit lane and on track - Augusta.

Henry

[David Pozzi]

Paul Wilson spoke to Fulp last year, I spoke to him a couple of years ago. He didn't remember much about my car except for the steering rack coming loose at Bridgehampton in 65 which I now have a DVD of. He also remembered a fuel tank leak due to a cracked weld. He remembered it happening in Florida, but it was probably the Bahamas races. His car was maintained by "Raceway Engineering" which may have been located in Fla.

He sometimes co-drove with Charlie Kolb who I spoke to by phone a fiew years ago. He is getting very hard of hearing and it was a very difficult talk with me in California. If someone is in Fla and can speak to him directly, it would be a terriffic interview in my opinion. He was very entertaining to talk with. He is still vintage racing and a fellow came up to him saying "I used to watch your father race", he replied "That wasn't my father, that was ME".
David

[Jerry Entin]

This is Buck Fulp's Brand new Ferrari 250LM in the garage at the March 1, 1964. Augusta USRRC race. He finished 8th.
Photo lent site by Richard Macon

[HistoricMustang]

Jerry, what a wonderful photograph.

I have NEVER seen a color photograph from the one and only USRRC event at Augusta.

Do you believe perhaps there are others?

Also, sorry for diversion from the thread, but can anyone identify the verb-age on the trailer in the background?

Henry

[scags]

it looks like "angels aviation", and i would'nt mind having that car in my driveway....

[Jerry Entin]

This is a car called the Scorpion that Buck Fulp had Troutman and Barnes design for him.

The current owner of this car is Jim Gallucci of Danville, Ca.

It is a little know fact that Buck Fulp commissioned his own sports racer in 1963. Based on earlier Indy car design. Troutman and Barnes built him the rear engined Scorpion, powered by Chevy. Jim Gallucci has just restored this car and plans on vintage racing it next season. Jim Gallucci also owned the Lola T-70 of Buck Fulp and raced it for 17 years before selling it to Paul Wilson the current owner. Photos lent to site by Jim Gallucci

Edited by Jerry Entin, 16 August 2009 - 02:13.

[HistoricMustang]

Time to do some work.

Angels Aviation Racing Team here at #11 with Ferrari 250 GT driven by Grant Clark. Does this perhaps mean that Buck was involved with Angels Aviation?

There was another Ferrari in place at Augusta - driven by Bob Ward

Henry

http://www.racingspo...9-28-photo.html

[Pedro 917]

Jerry, I have a picture of Pedro's 250LM - chassis 5149 at Daytona 15 February 1964 (page 107 in Pro Sports Car Racing in America 1958 - 1974). I think it's the same car Fulp was driving at Augusta. When was the Augusta race? I know the car was in a fire at Sebring, 20 March 1964.
Pedro drove the Sebring 12H with Fulp that same year (NART Ferrari 330P - DNF).

[Jerry Entin]

Here is Buck Fulp in the Scorpion in action. photo lent site by Jim Gallucci. Jim Gallucci is the current owner.
The GTO that Grant Clark a Canadian was driving at Mosport was owned by Ed Cantrell, who raced it at numerous U.S. tracks. Clark only got the ride as a courtesy. Buck Fulp had nothing to do with Angels Aviation Racing Team. Ed Cantrell ran Angels Aviation Racing Team and was from Zephyrhills, Florida. Which is above Tampa and a few miles East.

Luc: That race was held March 1, 1964.
all research by Willem Oosthoek

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Pedro 917
Jerry, I have a picture of Pedro's 250LM - chassis 5149 at Daytona 15 February 1964 (page 107 in Pro Sports Car Racing in America 1958 - 1974). I think it's the same car Fulp was driving at Augusta. When was the Augusta race? I know the car was in a fire at Sebring, 20 March 1964.
Pedro drove the Sebring 12H with Fulp that same year (NART Ferrari 330P - DNF).

Are we saying the new Fulp car at Augusta (March 1, 1964) was involved in a fire just a few weeks later at Sebring (March 20, 1964)?

If so, for what reason and are there any photographs?

Henry

[Pedro 917]

This car, chassis 5149, was the very first 250LM built. You can find its history here.
French Sport-Auto from May 1964 says the car was destroyed in a fire after an accident on the track. It was a NART entry and the car was driven by Charlie Kolb - Tom O'Brien.

[HistoricMustang]

Am traveling out of town today to Savannah (US), but we really need to have some discussion on the Angels Aviation Racing Team and Fulp's Ferrari.

Both of these topics are still somewhat of a mystery to me and VERY important to what we are doing here to document activities at the track for future placement in the new library on site at the former circuit.

We need to discover who (whom) at the March 1, 1964 USRRC was involved with Angels Racing and my confusion still exists on whether the Fulp Ferrari was new at this event and then lost a few weeks later at Sebring.

Happy Trails as I begin a trip through very rural Georgia between Augusta and Savannah.

Henry

Henry

[Jerry Entin]

The Angels Aviation Racing Team had two cars at the Event. A Porsche RS#28 for Ed Cantrell and a Lotus 23#69 for Bob Bondurant. This was an ex Frank Harrison car. The Lotus 23 of Bob Bondurant dropped out after 26 laps and Ed Cantrell didn't start the race. May have had mechanical troubles.

[David M. Kane]

Apparently Bob Bondurant lives in my new neighborhood and I met him at the LBGP a few years ago when the HGP put him in a Todd Morici's Ferrari F1, Emmo in Steve Earle's M23, Derek Daly in Rick Knoop's Tyrrell and Mario in Duncan Dayton's Lotus 79 for a few demo laps. All the ex-GP guys got pissed off because slapped on a helmet and went within 2 seconds of his qualifying time in the day in street clothes! Actually it was James King and Phil Reilly who organized it.

Maybe I need to interview Bob...

[Arjan de Roos]

This 250 LM is a very special LM. It is indeed not only the first LM build as Pedro917 wrote, it is also the only LM that had the 3 litre engine mounted, so it really was a 3.000/12 = 250 LM. This as a part of the famous homologation saga of the LM. Other LM's received the 3.300 cc/12 = 275 LM engine (sorry for all the math).

5149 had a different roof (with a build in spoiler) to other LM's. The chassis is also different to other LM's. 5149 was shown on the Paris show of 1963 (as well as Turin, London and Bruxelles). Then it also had aerodynamic covers on the side petrol caps and the side air intakes are the smaller ones (5975 at the Mulhouse Schlumpf museum has somewhat similar small intakes still today). On the brilliant color picture of Jerry you can see that they bolted on some funnels on the side intakes!

Luigi Chinetti bought 5149 and entered it under NART banner for Pedro at the Daytona Challenge Cup (15/2/1964) and the Daytona Continental 2000 Km, a day later (where it was a DNS). Fulp drove it in her second race, but for the first time with a 3.3 litre engine (according to M. Massini "Ferrari 250 LM").

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin
The Angels Aviation Racing Team had two cars at the Event. A Porsche RS#28 for Ed Cantrell and a Lotus 23#69 for Bob Bondurant. This was an ex Frank Harrison car. The Lotus 23 of Bob Bondurant dropped out after 26 laps and Ed Cantrell didn't start the race. May have had mechanical troubles.

Again, sorry for the poor quality. This is the only photograph of Ed's car and none so far for Bob.

(And we thought little pit transporters were invented by modern day historic racers).

Can I assume the Angels Aviation Racing Team was based in Los Angeles?

Henry

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Arjan de Roos
This 250 LM is a very special LM. It is indeed not only the first LM build as Pedro917 wrote, it is also the only LM that had the 3 litre engine mounted, so it really was a 3.000/12 = 250 LM. This as a part of the famous homologation saga of the LM. Other LM's received the 3.300 cc/12 = 275 LM engine (sorry for all the math).

5149 had a different roof (with a build in spoiler) to other LM's. The chassis is also different to other LM's. 5149 was shown on the Paris show of 1963 (as well as Turin, London and Bruxelles). Then it also had aerodynamic covers on the side petrol caps and the side air intakes are the smaller ones (5975 at the Mulhouse Schlumpf museum has somewhat similar small intakes still today). On the brilliant color picture of Jerry you can see that they bolted on some funnels on the side intakes!

Luigi Chinetti bought 5149 and entered it under NART banner for Pedro at the Daytona Challenge Cup (15/2/1964) and the Daytona Continental 2000 Km, a day later (where it was a DNS). Fulp drove it in her second race, but for the first time with a 3.3 litre engine (according to M. Massini "Ferrari 250 LM").

Thanks for filling in the blanks!

A side note, if I may, on this Fulp thread.

Can you provide information on the Bob Ward Ferrari from this same event. Our notes indicate a Chevrolet engine was installed but no other accurate history on the car.

Henry

[Cynic]

Hi, Henry,

This car has remained a bit of a mystery. Several 750 Monzas had Chevy engines installed in the U.S., and Bob Ward does not seem to appear as an owner of any of them.

My own guess is that this is quite possibly 750 Monza chassis 0502M. This car was owned by Harry Washburn in Shreveport, Louisiana, who had installed a Chevy V8 about 1960. The Confederate flag on the side suggests that this is owned/driven by a Southerner. It seems to have been raced on at least one occasion by Bill Fuller, of Oakdale, Louisiana, and seems to have always remained in the South.

Another possibility is chassis 0552, which also may have been (loosely) in the area, and apparently had a Chevy engine during this period.

Dudley Cunningham raced Ferraris on occasion during the period, which might be a connection with what appears to be "Cunningham Racing" on the door.

But...Admiral Phillips, Michael Lynch, and David Seielstad cannot make a definitive identification of this car, so I suspect it will remain a mystery.

David

[Cynic]

And further:

Jerry Entin, with eyes better than mine, corrects me: The door reads "Birmingham Special."

As I recall from the period (dangerous at best), Tommy Charles, a radio personality from Birmingham, Alabama, had a Monza with a Chevy, but I don't know which one (and can't find him in the histories I have). Slightly later Charles also owned a BMW 507 with a supercharged Chevy V8 installed.

Beyond the two cars I originally mentioned, there are at least two other cars which are possibilities. For me, this car remains a mystery.

[Lotus23]

Post #7 mentions Buck driving at LeMans in 62. I was a volunteer gopher on that NART team, captained by Luigi Chinetti. Buck was teamed with Peter Ryan in a 3-liter TR. They lasted until hour #15, when they retired "sortie en route". I can't recall the particulars, but I believe a sandbank was involved. The other NART Ferrari, a GTO with Fireball Roberts and Bob Grossman driving, fared much better: 6th o/all.

After I returned to the States in Aug 63, I met Buck a few times over the next 3 years. In appearance, he looked a lot like James Dean. Although he was/is just 46 days my senior, he was light-years ahead in experience and financial resources. In my first race on American soil, an SCCA Divisional at the Spartanburg (SC) airport in Oct 63, Buck succeeded in lapping me...in a 5-lap race! Sure, he was in a Ferrari and I was driving my WSM Sebring Sprite, but it was nonetheless a very humbling experience.

I'm glad that he survived those days unscathed and is still a productive member of Anderson, SC society. I remember him as a genuine Southern gentleman who didn't let his successes go to his head.

I second the motion on Charlie Kolb: a terrific raconteur who needs to be interviewed while he's still around.

[David Pozzi]

Buck Fulp is the owner of Vanguard Industries Inc, they do Teflon coating of Textile rollers and a lot of powdercoating for Automakers.
Here's a link to an article from a Metal Finishing website about the company, no mention of his racing though: http://www.finishing...000f932a8c0____

[HistoricMustang]

Joel, it seems we have captured another.

I see a road trip in the making.

Henry

[Cynic]

Henry,

I started to make just that trip about a year ago, with Luigi Chinetti Jr. He hadn't seen Fulp in years (since he drove for NART), and we were in the area. Unfortunately we ran out of time to make that particular side trip.

Fulp's house -- or a house in his family -- is visible from I-85, and there is an exit in Anderson for that road. (It's a big white classic southern colonial, columns and all, just off the NW corner of the intersection.) It's easy to see if you look at the right time (and no, I don't remember exactly which exit, but there are only two or three in the Anderson area.)

It will make a good "exploring" trip for Joel and you.

David

[Cynic]

Henry,

David Seielstad, a noted Ferrari historian, has identified the Bob Ward car as a Ferrari 500 Mondial, chassis 0454 MD. This car was originally owned and raced in Europe by Bob Said.

As with so many of these cars, it later went to the U.S. and at some point the four cylinder engine was replaced with a Chevy V8, which produced a lot of reliable horsepower, and for which parts were easily available. The Ferrari would have been ten years old at the Augusta race, so hardly competitive. The 250 LM Buck Fulp raced at Augusta was current Ferrari technology at that point.

David

Edit: The Ferrari/Chevy, chassis 0454, pictured is or was owned by Tommy Charles, of Birmingham, Alabama, thus the "Birmingham Special." At this point I don't know if Charles had recently sold it to Bob Ward, or if Ward was driving the car while it was still owned by Charles.

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Cynic
Henry,

David Seielstad, a noted Ferrari historian, has identified the Bob Ward car as a Ferrari 500 Mondial, chassis 0454 MD. This car was originally owned and raced in Europe by Bob Said.

As with so many of these cars, it later went to the U.S. and at some point the four cylinder engine was replaced with a Chevy V8, which produced a lot of reliable horsepower, and for which parts were easily available. The Ferrari would have been ten years old at the Augusta race, so hardly competitive. The 250 LM Buck Fulp raced at Augusta was current Ferrari technology at that point.

David

Thanks David, we can fill in another blank!

Fulp's house -- or a house in his family -- is visible from I-85, and there is an exit in Anderson for that road. (It's a big white classic southern colonial, columns and all, just off the NW corner of the intersection.) It's easy to see if you look at the right time (and no, I don't remember exactly which exit, but there are only two or three in the Anderson area.)

I will be up that way in a couple of weeks to visit my daughter. This might just work out if I can get a phone number.

Henry

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by David Pozzi
[
I was reciently told that Buck was one of the first if not THE first, to use a Semi-Truck/Trailer to transport his Lola in 1966.
[/B]

Not the first. I recall seeing the Meister Brauser Team in 1960 with a big tractor-trailer rig. It was painted the same colors as the two M-B Scarabs. The cab was lettered, "Meister Brauser Diesel Duster". In addition, they had a small tractor, painted in M-B colors, to pull the cars around the paddock. No hand pushing for these guys!. Also had a VW Micro Bus painted the same way.

The Briggs Cunningham Team, in the '50s, used an open double deck trailer to haul some of thier cars around. They also had an enclosed truck, but I believe it was not an articulated unit.

I'm sure there were others.

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by scags
it looks like "angels aviation", and i would'nt mind having that car in my driveway....

I saw Angel's Aviation Team at the 1963 Meadowdale SCCA Nationa. Ed Cantrell was the driver of a Chaparral 1 (I believe chassis 001) which he had just purchased from Jerry Hansen. Didn't do much in the race. Never heard of him running the Chaparral after that. Cantrell also had a Ferrari GTO.

[RA Historian]

Oh, this was supposed to be about Buck Fulp, wasn't it. At any rate, Buck drove his Lola T-70 in the 1966 Road America 500. Had a mathematical chance to take the USRRC championship, but it wasn't to be. The Lola broke, and Chuck Parsons won the race and the title.

Fulp had been to RA before. He was the entrant, but not the driver, of a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in the July, 1960, USAC pro race. Skip Hudson drove it to fifth place. Fulp was in the 1961 RA 500 in a Ferrari Dino 206, but did not feature.

[David Pozzi]

Here is my Lola History page with some Buck Fulp Photos:
http://pozziracing.c...p_lola_t-70.htm

I was told Buck had a GT40, and took it to Holman and Moody to have a Small Block Chevy installed !!!
I'd guess they didn't like that idea...
David

[David M. Kane]

David:

Any idea who is driving the Ford GTX in the last photo. BTW, good job on your site!

[raceannouncer2003]

David M. Kane:

Chris Amon is driving the Ford GTX

Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

[Tim Murray]

John ‘Buck’ Fulp died on Monday 17th June at his home in Anderson, South Carolina. RIP.

https://www.legacy.c...ary?id=55408713

[E1pix]

Sad to hear and Thanks for letting us know.

I well remember his distinctive T70 at the ‘66 Road America 500, though I was 6 and it was 58 years ago. My dad was quite a fan of his.

RIP.

[WINO]

In the attachment of Post 40, Buck Fulp's Scorpion is described as a front-engined car "much like the Chaparral 1". Yes, it was designed and built by Troutman-Barnes as well, but it was a rear-engined car. One of two cars built [the second one was destroyed during testing], the Fulp Scorpion saw only limited action before Buck bought his Lola T70. His Scorpion was sold to Art Huttinger.

Edited by WINO, 24 June 2024 - 17:01.

[D28]

He was mentioned here recently as one of the dwindling number who raced against Stirling up to 1962. John was active in a Ferrari with NART, fall of 1961.

[Bob Riebe]

He won at Riverside and Watkins Glen in the USRRC in 1966.