Hot Rods Hot Rod Sports Cars

From England

 

one more for the pile

 

Does anyone recognize this car? It ran in the early '60's in SoCal. It had several drivers, including Bob Harris & Bill Krause. It also had a Bonanza connection.

 

I think it was called the Vinagaroon and was owned by Dan Blocker, better known as Hoss on Bonanza. There was a Bill Thomas Race Cars connection too.

 

What kind of car is this? It is a beautiful looking body.


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I Hanson...thanks for posting that info. Bill Thomas Race Cars was the west coast affiliate of Nicky Chevrolet and built the Nickey 427 Camaro’s

 

This is a friend's well built MG. Has a 350 SBC with tunnel ram, and enough power to get interesting in a tiny sports car.

 

Did someone say "J. Hansen"? (Jerry Hansen - The Professional Amateur)


Also, dug the photos of Dan Blocker and his car. I'm assuming he was the team principal

 

Really funny

 

As you can see in j hansen's top picture, it was called the Campbell Special.
I had a brief connect to this car, in late 1962-1963. From the age of 15, I had a love for sports cars and road racing. Because of that, I went on to race Formula Atlantic, starting in 1973 and it's still my love.

I was at the Santa Barbara race, held at the Goleta air port, in 1962. I was 18 at the time and went there in my Austin Healey, 100-6 that I bought a few months before. I took my parents 8mm movie camera and as luck would have it, I got The Campbell Special, when it lost control and went threw a ditch, fliping in the air.

The next race after it was repaired, was a Pamona, in the same parking lot, that they ran the Winter Nationals. I told Bill Campell that I had the film and asked if he'd like to see it. He said no but, that the other guy's would probably like to. So I left it with him. He owned Campbell Boats, in I believe Long Beach. He invited me to stop by his shop but, I never did.

I got to talk with him and some of the team, a few more times at races but, they always forgot to bring the film with them. The car kinda disappeared by '64.

It was a VERY interesting car, for it's time. Believe it or, not, it started out as a F3 car, about 1100cc, 2 cylinder motorcycle engine. That is why the front is so short. I think it originally had a 283 shoe horned, behind the driver but, when I was involved, it was a 327 (stock Corvette, I think). Behind the engine, was a Chev, close ratio 3 speed, mated directly, to a quick change and they used a De Dion, tube axle, to connect the rear wheels. The whole thing, weighed just North of 1300 lb and it was extremely fast for it's day!

It also raced at Riverside and the Del Mar, horse track (near SD) but, like Pomona, in the parking lot area. They may have also have raced at Willow Spring and Laguna Seca but, I don't know that.

 

Of note, if you look at the rear wheel of j hansen's picture, you'll see that the outer, U-joint, extends, threw the wheel center. That was done to increase the length of the half shaft since the track is pretty narrow on that car.

 

@frnkeore
I found some more pics.

 

I remember watching Ponderosa in German in the 60's "Vas ist los mit du Haus"

 

Thank you for the additional pictures. The second one is at Riverside, the third is at Pomona.

In the Riverside picture, Bill Campbell is leaning on his car and the guy in the checked, gray shirt, is Dave McDonald. He was one of my favorite drivers. He was very, very fast but, was killed in the firey crash, at Indy, in MT's car.

Here's a picture of my '57 Austin Healey, 100-6.

 

v8 Lister

 

one more

 

Another early "Hot Rod" road racer, was the Penske Zerex Special. I was in attendance, when it won, the '62 Times Grand Prix. 2 of the pictures are my personal pictures, from that race. I was in the stands at turn 6, my favorite turn at Riverside.

This car was a Cooper F1 car, 2.7 liter and re-bodied. Penske took advantage of the rules, saying the passengers seat had to be a curtain dimension but, not saying where it had to be. He put it on the outside of the frame rail and under the body work, as seen in the picture. USRRC changed the rules for '63 and he had to widen the top rails, to accommodate the seat. All pictures with a full width roll bar, are the modified, '63 or '64 car.

 

This is another early "Sports Racer", driven by Dave McDonald. I saw it race in a "SCCA National Race", also in '62 and it has always, stood out, in my mind.

I never new Dave but, from the time I saw him, in that race, I admired him and followed him, until his death in the '64 Indy crash. I think he would have gone on to be in the Gurney & Parnelli class of racers.

This car is also tied into the Old Yeller story, as follows:

Car owner Jim Simpson remembers Dave coming to him with an idea to build a new smaller and lighter custom Corvette that they could run in the modified division. Thy collaborated with legendary car designer Max Balchowsky (of OL' Yeller fame) and started by making a mold of Jim’s 1961 Corvette. Using the mold they poured a razor thin 1/16" fiberglass shell that they cut in half and then shaved and shaped down to a finished product that was 17" shorter, 5" narrower and 4" smaller in height than a stock Corvette. They painted the car Dave’s favorite color orange (despite Max’s gentile nudging of yellow) and crammed in a new nearly impossible to get '62 Chevy 327 fuelie. At 1,750lbs the custom one-off Corvette weighed 1,000lbs less that a stock Vette; it was dubbed the “Corvette Special”. The Special's debut was in the modified main event at Laguna Seca in October 1961 and it unfortunately lasted only one lap. As Dave came around for lap two, he was one of seven lead cars to go through an oil spill that was a result of a crash between Augie Pabst and Bob Bondurant on the previous lap. Dave's Corvette spun wildly into the infield dirt and broke the car's suspension. Not much was learned at Laguna Seca but Dave powered the Corvette Special to victories in 4 of the next 5 races, including back-to-back wins at Riverside against a fields of Maseratis, Corvettes, Porsches and Ferraris. The Corvette Special is thought by many to have been the inspiration for Zora Duntov's Corvette Grand Sport.

A excerpt from the following:
http://www.davemacdonald.net/story/story.htm

 

I found some pics of Dave McDonald,,,,,,

 

LB, that is some piece of work, I believe that is a Willys front axle under it also. They really stretched the rules. I wonder what it weighed? I think that the weight break for AM/SP was 5.0 to 7.49 Lbs/Cu.In.
I know it was 7.5 for BM/SP

Pat