GLH

Thanks for the memories CSpray!
I love those old race cars GT40 WOW!!!
Plus Watkins Glenn has so much history. You had me reading my favorite story about Gilles Villeneuve at Watkins Glenn in the US East GP in 1979. The track was a little longer than also.

"A friend of mine in America sent me a cassette a while ago. On it is the sound of a lone racing car, unmistakably a Ferrari
flat-12, and its clearly audible all the way round the lap. There is a lot of wheelspin - you can hear the revs abruptly scream
out of every turn - and then the volume builds until the car swishes by in a welter of spray.
He taped it during the first afternoon of practice at Watkins Glen in 1979, when conditions were as bad as I have ever seen at a race circuit. In places the track was flooded, and only eight drivers ventured out.
One of those was Scheckter, who was fastest behind team mate Villeneuve. Eleven seconds behind ...The tape is of course Gilles, and it revived memories of a day when we forgot the wintry rain until he came in, the Ferrari breathless and steaming. In the pits the other drivers, aghast, had giggled nervously every time he skittered by at 160 mph. "Why do we bother? He's different from the rest of us," Jacques Laffite said. "On another level ..."
"I scared myself rigid that day", Jody remembered. "I thought I had to be quickest. Then I saw Gilles's time and - I still don't really understand how it was possible. Eleven seconds !"
"Motor racing was a romantic thing for him, you see." Scheckter went on. "We were close friends, doing the same job for the same team, but we had completely opposite attitudes to it. My preoccupation was keeping myself
alive, but Gilles had to be the fastest on every lap - even in testing. He was the fastest racing driver the world has ever seen. If he could come back and live his life again, I think he would do exactly the same - and with the same love."

rmbuilder

Chuck,
I was there all week-end with the Warren Agor crew and just got my slides back today and have some great photos of you taking that ride!!!I took 300 frames and got some great shots including you and Michael on pit lane,Roy, Earl, Karl,Woody... portrait of Michael,Sue, and David all the cars for the reunion...to much to list. When i first read your post I thought it might be you, but the slides just confirmed it! If your interested send me off an e-mail and Ill see you get the photos.
Bob Madara
[email protected]

C_Spray

iTrader: (2)

Proof (courtesy of rmbuilder) that I was in the car at speed. Still feels neat to this day....

dhlaw

Boy those pictures bring back memories of my grandfather. He was a race car nut and lived very close to Lime Rock. During his years of driving he acquired some pretty interesting cars for his collection including a Lola t-70 (which he made me nearly cry in), a Brabham bt-40, and the crown jewel which was a McClaren formula one car that he bought in England and had flown back to the states. The car was driven to the 1977 world driving championship by James Hunt, but then used for testing by another driver that was the same height as my grandfather. The fit resulted in the sale. I remember him doing Tuesday open practice at Lime Rock. He also filmed a commercial for Toyota at Watkins Glenn. When he died he donated all of the cars to a museum. He also had a perfect 1966 aluminul body Ferrari Daytona and another Ferrari.

R Addiction

Chuck you Lucky Dog!!! Now that you said it David looks alot like his Dad!!! My family was a huge fan of Mark Donohue. We used to stop by the shop in Newtown Square. Neat Stuff!!

Iggy

That was a fantastic era in motor racing. Competition was fierce. Not like today where the rules are strict, all in the name of "parity".

I belive it was the 67 or 68 Daytona 500 when Smokey Yunick entered a perfect 7/8ths scale Chevelle. The car was lowered to the point that the tires were tucked up inside the wheel wells almost rubbing the sheet metal. The other teams ran with large cut-outs to clear the tires. The teams all protested and NASCAR said there was nothing in the rule books saying the tires couldn't be tucked inside the fenders.
Smokeys car went out and easily won poll position. No other team could beat it during qualifying. Prior to start of the race Smokey took a sawzall and cut the wheel openings to clear all the tires. Again the other teams protested. NASCAR said there's nothing in the rules that say he can't do that.
It was because of Smokeys 7/8ths Chevelle that NASCAR now uses templates to check body size and shape and wheel openings.

open87

iTrader: (2)

that had to be a blast

TeamTaboo

brownie the cars that you are talking about belong to
Harry Hienl (not sure of the spelling) in Miami