I'm still waiting for your autobiography Murray..... 
Beauty
- Thread starter Black 03 Z06
- Start date
I must prioritize a trip to Ontario.I'm still waiting for your autobiography Murray.....
Some would never believe it that at one time I was terribly shy.I have told this story before and it is one of the great regrets in my life. I was at Mosport in 1973 for the Can Am practice. I was sitting on the pit wall literally right beside my lifelong hero Mark Donohue and within arms length of the 917 30 and could not muster a word.
Donohue was killed in the Austrian Grand Prix in 1975 so the opportunity was forever lost. That car was just brutal. I can still hear it popping and banging the turbos all the way around the track.
Donohue was a master driver who just happened to have a mechanical engineering degree. He succeeded at so many forms of racing. Can Am, Trans Am, F5000, Indy 500 Winner, Champ car, NASCAR, endurance racing and even a stint in a sprint car.
View attachment 24945View attachment 24946
I think anyone of us would be awestruck and speechless at that opportunity Murray. You were that close to Motorsport lore. History ! What more can you say? What do you stare at ? The driver,your hero ? Or the car? I was like that the first time I saw Mario Andretti as well as PT,Greg and Jacques Villeneuve.
Max Balchowsky's junkyard dog, Old Yeller leads a Corvette and another racer around the hay bails.
Speaking of beauties...welding porn...incredible skill (and this was after me taking just one lesson 
)
)Speaking of beauties...welding porn...incredible skill (and this was after me taking just one lesson
View attachment 25032
Ya it’s almost mesmerizing isn’t it Murray.
“Welding porn”.
Speaking of beauties...welding porn...incredible skill (and this was after me taking just one lesson
View attachment 25032
Actually Murray, for only one lesson, that's not bad. Just a tip though. I've been welding for a long time and finally mastered building the welds up better. Come on out and I'll give you lesson 2 and show youhow to do this.
From "Those were the days"
Don Kirby found out that it was much more profitable to paint funny cars than to own and race one. Kirby's Beach City Chevrolet Corvette was a fan favorite in the late 1960s and early 1970s Southern California racing scene. With drivers like Pat Foster and Gary Gabelich the red 'Vette received many a booking on the left coast. Things were lookin' good when Gabelich took over the driving chores from Foster but soon everything turned sour at a race one evening long ago at Irwindale, California. Gabelich and the roadster style Corvette were on a banzai run when the 'Vette exploded into a ball of flames. Gabelich bailed out quickly as the fire grew hotter and hotter. There at the end of the Irwindale Raceway, the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette burned to the ground.
The burned out funny car was returned to Kirby's shop to salvage any usable parts. Soon a new Beach City Chevrolet Corvette returned to SoCal funny car wars. Gabelich gave up the driving chores for a chance to drive the Blue Flame at Bonneville. This opened the seat to veteran top fuel pilot Ronnie Goodsell. Goodsell did okay in Kirby's Corvette but the end was near for BCC #2. At OCIR, while on a single run late on a Saturday night, Goodsell left hard in the right lane (looking down the track); in the finish line lights, the 'Vette erupted into a massive fireball. I was on the top of the OCIR tower watching the Corvette's fiery plight as it crossed over into the left lane and missed the end of the guardrail on that side of the track. The car was ablaze and racing backwards through a group of trees at the far end of the pit area. The car was still on fire when it went through an eight foot chain link fence, up a hill, and on to the Santa Ana Freeway. The car stopped in the slow lane and yes it was still on fire. Goodsell wasted no time getting out as a truck driver stopped his rig and was trying to put the wayward funny car's fire out.
Fire trucks and CHP were quick to arrive on the scene and the still smoldering wreckage was loaded on its trailer. The CHP officer handed Kirby and Goodsell a ticket for littering on the freeway. That was the end of the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette.
Don Kirby found out that it was much more profitable to paint funny cars than to own and race one. Kirby's Beach City Chevrolet Corvette was a fan favorite in the late 1960s and early 1970s Southern California racing scene. With drivers like Pat Foster and Gary Gabelich the red 'Vette received many a booking on the left coast. Things were lookin' good when Gabelich took over the driving chores from Foster but soon everything turned sour at a race one evening long ago at Irwindale, California. Gabelich and the roadster style Corvette were on a banzai run when the 'Vette exploded into a ball of flames. Gabelich bailed out quickly as the fire grew hotter and hotter. There at the end of the Irwindale Raceway, the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette burned to the ground.
The burned out funny car was returned to Kirby's shop to salvage any usable parts. Soon a new Beach City Chevrolet Corvette returned to SoCal funny car wars. Gabelich gave up the driving chores for a chance to drive the Blue Flame at Bonneville. This opened the seat to veteran top fuel pilot Ronnie Goodsell. Goodsell did okay in Kirby's Corvette but the end was near for BCC #2. At OCIR, while on a single run late on a Saturday night, Goodsell left hard in the right lane (looking down the track); in the finish line lights, the 'Vette erupted into a massive fireball. I was on the top of the OCIR tower watching the Corvette's fiery plight as it crossed over into the left lane and missed the end of the guardrail on that side of the track. The car was ablaze and racing backwards through a group of trees at the far end of the pit area. The car was still on fire when it went through an eight foot chain link fence, up a hill, and on to the Santa Ana Freeway. The car stopped in the slow lane and yes it was still on fire. Goodsell wasted no time getting out as a truck driver stopped his rig and was trying to put the wayward funny car's fire out.
Fire trucks and CHP were quick to arrive on the scene and the still smoldering wreckage was loaded on its trailer. The CHP officer handed Kirby and Goodsell a ticket for littering on the freeway. That was the end of the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette.
In for a make over this beauty soon to return...
"Yes we know the clock doesn't work, the battery was disconnected, but how do you like the car other than that?"
C3's still some of the best looking Corvette race cars IMO...
Do you suppose this guy listens to Stevie Ray Vaughan while driving his Corvette?...
Jimi was a big Beatles fan I know. Not sure about SRV.
Similar threads
-
CORVETTE TODAY #192 - Pete Callaway and the Future of Callaway Cars- Started by Steve Garrett
- Replies: 0
-
-
-
-
