Folks Of Interest RIP ... Bob Joehnck

I think I've probably heard or read the name. But as usual, was mostly clueless until after reading all that's posted here.
I'm filled with respect and awe. And I truly share everyone's grief... as well as the benefit of all his endeavors.

 

Thanks so much for posting the history behind the man. Sorry to hear of, but a life fully lived. I'd seen his name numerous times through the years.

 

Bob was one of my dad's best friends in Santa Barbra.He built the engines for his and Lee Hamock's jalopies that ran at the Thunder bowl in Carpenteria, Ca. where they were track champions.

He built the V-6Buick that was in the belly tank Iran at Bonneville in 1980 that went 200 on gas. It was the first v-6 powered car in thw world to exceed 200.

Here another shot of the Bantum roadster at the salt. He let me drive it back to the pits after the runs but I did't fit under the cage and that made me build my roadster so it would fit me.

 

!!! !!!

 

Thanks Hemi 32 for a fine tribute to a legend.

 

A couple of pic of Bob showing me what to do on the car before a run, he is in the white shirt. This was 1979 at Bonniville on a short course.

 

Legend gone, RIP

 

In the Summer of 1962, the Washburn Chevrolet dealership (in Santa Barbara) obtained one of the early production 1963 Z06 optioned Corvettes to race in an "Endurance Exposition" event held Saturday, October 13th (in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix) in Riverside.

Since the '63 models weren't scheduled to debut until September 28th, Zora Arkus-Duntov personally oversaw the assembly of a handful of these (Z06 optioned) 'Vettes on the floor of the St. Louis plant ... and Washburn sent his hot-shoe driver, an "up-and-comer" named Bob Bondurant, to drive his '63 Z06 Corvette back to California.

Taking delivery of the car so close to the event gave Washburn's preparer, Bob Joehnck only a week to prep the car.

“There wasn’t much that we could do,” Joehnck admitted in Tom Madigan’s book, Edelbrock: Made in the USA ... he built a ’cage, mounted belts, tuned the engine and made headers.

Here's Bob Bondurant behind the wheel of the #614 Washburn Chevrolet '63 Corvette during the 3-hour "Endurance Exposition" event held at Riverside Raceway on October 13th:

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Unfortunately, the racecar experienced poor braking, impaired acceleration (due to the heavy steel wheels), encountered engine troubles, and was unable to finish the 3-hour race.

Joehnck later worked the car over to a greater extent and fitted it with American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels.

It’s unknown how #614 finished at the February 3rd 1963 Riverside race ... but on March 3rd, Bondurant placed Third at the SCCA Regional event at Dodger Stadium:

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The car got better as the season progressed. At Pomona on April 21st, Bondurant placed Second behind Dick Guldstrand in another Sting Ray.

On the April 26th, he won the SCCA Regional event at Santa Barbara.

On June 23rd, Bondurant beat Dick Guldstrand, Bill Sherwood and Danny Stephens in Sting Rays:

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On July 14th, a fuel leak denied Bondurant a finish at the SCCA Regional Pomona meet.

As the season progressed, Joehnck employed increasingly drastic methods to make #614 more competitive. At one point he took a hole saw to the chassis, a modification that lopped off another 17 pounds.

Sting Ray #614 remained competitive among other production cars, but purpose-built race cars chipped away at its success. At the September 1st meet in Santa Barbara, Bondurant came Fourth. At Santa Barbara again on the 15th, Bondurant placed Second.

#614 returned to Santa Barbara on May 31, 1964, with longtime Corvette racer Tony Settember at the helm. He placed Third. On September 6, he returned and placed Second:

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In 1965, attorney, historian and land-speed racer Mark Dees bought out Washburn and campaigned #614 with Bill Davis.

On May 30, Settember placed Second in C-Modified and Third overall at Santa Barbara. Presumably this was Settember’s last time in the car as race records indicate Bill Davis as driver of record at Pomona on June 20.

However, the lack of results there and Laguna Seca in May 1966, suggest interest in the car as a road racer had petered out.

But the #614 Vette wasn’t finished. Dees reconfigured the car to pursue his dream of entry into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club.

He had Joehnck prepare the car and went to Bonneville in 1967 ... They came close to joining (i.e., went over 200mph, but didn't set a record):

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You should smile Mark Dees. You are probably the only man to drive more than 200 mph in a single-carbureted car running gasoline. Bob Joehnck built the 370-inch engine using a Racer Brown cam. The 200 plus runs came after all that tape and aluminum front end was removed! Joehnck tried out more headers than most speed shops have in stock. It ran 2.92 gear. Joehnck arrived at the unusual displacement with a 3 5/8-inch stroke and a 4-inch bore plus .030. The car runs a stock fuel pump and radiator. Not exactly the machine to drive to work, but cap it up, hang some plates on it, and you can drop "Little Stroker" off at school on the way to 200 mph!
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According to Joehnck in Edelbrock: Made in the USA, when Dees asked the factory engineers what he could do to improve his chances, they told him the car had no business at the speeds he was pursuing. So he cut off the top.

With further streamlining, Dees set the record at 205.89 mph at the 1968 Bonneville National Speed Trials, thereby achieving his dream.

 

I didn’t know that Mark Dees had bought and ran the Z-06 at Bonneville, he had quite the life too. There is a typo in the HRM article though, that engine was 370 cubes.

 

Fixed!

 

The word ICON is often used to freely for people that aren't quite of that caliber. Bob was PURE ICON through and through and was able to back up evertigo he built. Hot rodding in general is poorer for his loss! R I P.