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You guys are no fun!

That is a photograph of American race car builder and driver Lance Reventlow. His mother was Barbra Hutton one of the wealthiest women in the world as heiress to the Woolworth Stores fortune, his father was Count Kurt von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow a wealthy man who was also a race car driver. The Count had won the Targa Florio road race in the late 1940's. Lance lived in Canada at one point in his life but head back to his native California where he got deeply involved in the world of automobile racing.

He was a good friend of fellow sports car racer and actor James Dean, having shared a coffee with him just 30 minutes before his death. Reventlow was married to actress Jill St. John.

At one point Reventlow thought of buying and racing British built Listers, The Briggs Cunningham team raced them with great success. However he believed he could build something better and started the race car company Scarab. These original sports cars were Chevrolet powered racers developed along with chief engineer, Phil Remington. Remington would go on to work with Shelby on the Cobra Team and Dan Gurney's All American Racers.

Scarab, later in its existence went Formula One racing. Front engine cars were powered with motors designed by Indy Engine designer and builder Leo Gossen. They also tried Buick and Offenhauser motors. It was 1960, the team was a long way from the F1 scene and they were working on front engine cars while the trend was firmly rear engine. They tried but were not successful.

Reventlow was killed in an airplane crash at Aspen Colorado in 1972.

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Just a general note that this thread has just been made a "Sticky". Since August, It has become one of the more popular threads to visit with over 3200 views....Many thanks to @Black 03 Z06 as the author and main contributor, and also to the many respondents and viewers. Just another example of the quality and popularity of this forum and it's members, both old and new. :thumbs:
 

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