Category: Corvette Racers

The Briggs “Swift” Cunningham 1960 Fuel Injected Corvette is Now a Movie Star! “The Quest” DVD – Available Now

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 9.7.11
After years in the making, “The Quest” DVD can be yours for just $20 Bucks!
The 1960 Fuel Injected Corvette famously known as the “Cunningham Le Mans Assault” car is now a movie star! It seems that for most of us, there’s a Time/Date stamp on our affection for Corvettes that coincides with that first moment we laid eyes upon the machine. For me, it was ‘66 to ‘69 big block Corvettes. For Chip Miller, it may well have been this car, the 1960 Briggs “Swift” Cunningham 1960 Fuel Injected Corvette. it’s not hard to “get” the passion. When you look at the machine, it screams “RACE CAR!” And while that is definitely correct, a closer examination of the car reveals how astonishingly close the car is to a stock ‘60 Fuelie Corvette.

For an excellent look under the pretty fiberglass, check out THIS PAGE from the Corvette restoration masters at Corvette Repair. Kevin MacKay and his team are arguably the masters at vintage Corvette racer resto work. Thanks to Corvette Repair’s work, this car has won the NCRS American Heritage Award.

Here was the deal for this Le Mans-winning Corvette. The car started life as a new Fuel Injection optioned 1960 Corvette. Cunningham’s team was well seasoned at preparing a car for endurance racing and took maximum advantage of Duntov’s “racer kit” options. RPO-579D got you the then top-of-the-line 283/290-HP Fuelie engine. RPO-685 mated the 4-speed manual transmission to the Fuelie. RPO-687 added the heavy duty brakes and special steering. And RPO 1625A added the oversized 24-gallon fuel tank. That’s essentially all that was needed from the factory to build a race car upon. This configuration was the 1960 equal to a 2012 Z06. From there, the Cunningham team removed items that race cars don’t need, such as front bumpers, and fancy interior door panels, and added safety and go-fast parts, including racing lights, louvers on the hood for additional cooling, headlight covers, side-mounted exhausts, Halibrand lightweight racing wheels, a quick-fill gas cap, and miscellaneous other touches. The car was AMAZINGLY stock. This will be obvious when you check out Corvette Repair’s Portfolio Page.

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The rest is history. With John Fitch and Bob Grossman doing the driving, the Cunningham Corvette took first place in the GT 5000 class and finished in 8th place overall. Pretty damn impressive for a machine so close to a production car from St. Louis! Continue reading “The Briggs “Swift” Cunningham 1960 Fuel Injected Corvette is Now a Movie Star! “The Quest” DVD – Available Now” →

Say, what’s the easiest way to keep up with what’s happening at CorvetteReport.com?

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.31.11
We’ve made it “easy as pie” for ya!

Ever since we dropped a ZR1 LS9 engine into our blog site, we’ve been posting at least once a day, sometimes more. At first, I thought, “How in the world am I going to find interesting Corvette material to post every day?” HA! Silly me! With nearly 60 years of Corvettes to talk about, I’ve concluded that I could do this for another 100 years and not run out of material to cover! The topic is so broad and deep, there’s ALWAYS something fun and interesting to talk and write about in the world of Corvettes!

Enter your email address:

So, to make it fall-off-a-log easy for you to keep up with us, we’ve created the above handy-dandy, sign up form. It’s not a “newsletter,” just a brief email announcement letting you know that there’s a new post at CorvetteReport.com. The email you will receive will look like this… Continue reading “Say, what’s the easiest way to keep up with what’s happening at CorvetteReport.com?” →

Vette Videos: Zora Speaks! Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Last Public Interview

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.21.11
Former Hot Rod Magazine editor and publisher, Jim McFarland interviews Zora Arkus-Duntov in 1991
So, if you happened to have an extra $580,000, one of Zora Arkus-Duntov’s most famous “racer kit” cars could have been yours! The 1969 John Greenwood 427 ZL-1 BF Goodrich Corvette racer WOWed the crowd, but the bidders were tight with their bids. Very few people know how much the seller paid for the car in ‘06 when it was purchased from the Chip Miller Estate, or how much the restoration work by Corvette Repair cost. Suffice to say that the car was “well bought.” That’s auction-speak for “someone get a GREAT deal!”

Restored old Corvette race cars have become quite the prized possession for Corvette collectors. In early ‘09 the ‘63 Gulf One Z06 Corvette sold for an astonishing $1.113 Million. With the depressed economy as it is, it’s hard to say if the same car would fetch the same price today. No one knows for sure, but, ah, it’s not likely. What IS likely is that restored old “racer kit” Corvettes will continue to be high-profile machines at the auction, regardless of their sale price. From 1957 to the end of his working career, Mr. Duntov always made sure his beloved racers had “the good stuff” readily available from any Chevrolet Parts Department catalog. No one worked the corporate manufacturing system like Zora did and Continue reading “Vette Videos: Zora Speaks! Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Last Public Interview” →

Vettes at Monterey Auction Results… SOLD!

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.20.11
Buyers “Bought Well” at the RM Auctions Monterey Event

Well this was the first car auction I ever watched “live” online. I have to say that the interface on the RMAuctions.com was fall-off-a-log simple and played all the way through without a burp. The auctioneers were quite different from the local farm auctions where I’ve spend many a Wednesday evening. You could actually understand what the RM auctioneers are saying and they were so polite. Not that I was expecting an R-rated show, but it all was quite “proper.”

But a lot of fun just the same. And I appreciated how you got to see the cars rolled up on the turntable, so you got to see them from all angles. Plus they showed close-up interior, engine, and suspension photos. Most of the cars had been meticulously well maintained and restored. One 289 Cobra that had obviously been raced, had it’s original paint, minus a few scrapes here and there.  The auctioneer humorously quipped, “I just LOVE the patina on the original paint!”

The Greenwood #49 1969 427 ZL-1 B.F. Goodrich Corvette was the 44th car to go on the block. Most of cars 100 to 143 were “pushed” up and on to the turntable and those that were driven were so quiet you couldn’t tell if the engines were running. But as the Greenwood car was being introduced, there was THUNDER in the wings! They DROVE the open headered Corvette on to the turntable! When the ZL-1 was shut off, the auctioneer said, “It doesn’t get any cooler than that! 750-horsepower, ladies and gentlemen!” Corvette race cars SO ROCK!

Here are the five Corvettes that sold… Continue reading “Vettes at Monterey Auction Results… SOLD!” →

Greenwood Stars and Stripes ‘69 Corvette Racer & Four Other Corvettes Go On the Block at RM Auctions Monterey Event 8.19.2011

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.18.11
Hot Vette Race Car Auction Action in Monterey!

In the tradition of the Grand Sport Corvettes, C3 "Shark" Vette race cars look TOUGH!

It’s the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance week in Monterey, California. On Friday, August 19, 2011 five Corvettes will be going on the block at the RM Auctions Monterey event.. Of the five cars, four are race cars, with the most prominent being the John Greenwood 1969 427 ZL-1 BF Goodrich “Stars and Stripes” race car. The other race cars include a ‘59 Fuelie, a ‘61 Fuelie, and a ‘73 SCCA/IMSA Coupe. The lone stocker is a black ‘60 Corvette.

If it happens that you will not be attending the event, fret not! You can watch the auction action LIVE! If you go to the RM Auctions homepage, HERE. Look for the “VIEW LIVE AUCTION” link with the green button with the triangle in the middle. The auctioning fun begins at 6:30 Pacific time and will run for four to five hours. Of the five Corvettes that will be going on the block, the Greenwood car will probably get the highest bids. Pre-auction expectations are that the car will go off for between $750,000 to $950,000!  With the current economy, it will be interesting to see how high the numbers go.

Here’s a review of the five Corvettes…

The Greenwood car is Lot #144. For full details, CLICK HERE.

The black ‘59 racer is Lot #176. For full details, CLICK HERE. Continue reading “Greenwood Stars and Stripes ‘69 Corvette Racer & Four Other Corvettes Go On the Block at RM Auctions Monterey Event 8.19.2011” →

CorvetteRaceCars.com – Registry – Feast Yourself on Corvette Race Cars!

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.15.11
Three guys with gasoline in their veins build a website that’s FOR CORVETTE RACE CAR LOVERS!
I’ll start this out with a bold statement. Had it not been for the effort of Zora Arkus-Duntov and his team of Corvette engineers making sure that Corvette racers had plenty of go-fast parts to race with, the Corvette probably never would have made it through the ‘60s. Look at what happened to the Ford Thunderbird. It takes took about three years to design and develop a new car back then, so simple arithmetic tells you that when the ‘55 T-Bird came out, Ford was already planning and working on the ‘58 4-seater Thunderbird. That’s how committed Ford was to their sports car – NOT.

Fortunately over at Chevrolet, passion, sex drive, and “gasoline in the veins” had the upper hand and today, beautifully restored Corvette race cars command tremendous amounts of cash when they go on the block. “PASSION” is what the website, “Registry of Corvette Race Cars is all about. If you love open headers and the smell of rubber being laid down thanks to horsepower and torque, you’ll be like a “pig-in-poo” at this website.

www.RegistryOfCorvetteRaceCars.com is the place to go if you enjoy looking over Corvette race cars from the earliest days to today’s C6 Corvette racers. ROCR will be 10 years old next year. The enterprise began with two friends sharing information about Corvette race cars. Jim Gessner sent Jan Hyde a survey of C1 straight-axle Corvette racers. While info is great, how do you share it and keep it updated? A website! No one is born knowing how to make a website, so Jim and Jan had to start from scratch. Nearly 10 years later, Continue reading “CorvetteRaceCars.com – Registry – Feast Yourself on Corvette Race Cars!” →

Vette Videos: Track to Street – Corvette Racing Series – The FULL Series

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.9.11
Here’s the latest episode of “Track to Street: Corvette Racing Series.” PLUS!!! All 11 previous episodes. Time to catch up!

According to Chronology of Chevrolet Corvette website, it was sometime in 1997 that the Corvette Racing Team began developing the C5-R race car, based on a production C5 Corvette. C5-R chassis testing began in November ‘97 with the first completed C5-R race car ready in early ‘98. After nearly a year of testing and development, the C5-R’s first competition was at Daytona International Speedway on January 10, 1999. After 24 hours of competition, the C5-Rs came in 2nd and 12th in the GT2 class. Not too shabby for an all-new race car and team.

1999 was a tough year with the C5-R always contenders but not taking a first place win. The best finishes were 2nd place at the Daytona 24 hours race in January and the Laguna Seca 2 hour and 45-minute race in October. The team scooped up their first 1st place win on September 2, 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway in the ALMS series GTS class. Later that month, the team scored their second 1st place win at the 10 hours at Road Atlanta.

In the world of sports car racing, if you win at Daytona, a lot of people will notice. But if you win at Le Mans, EVERYONE sees and remembers! 2001 was the C5-R team’s break out year. Not only did they take 1st place in 8 out of 10 races, but they won 1st AND second place at Le Mans. Since 2001 the C5-R and C6.R Corvette teams have won 1st place in their class at Le Mans seven times and 2nd place at Le Mans seven times.

While that’s not “domination” (something you really DON’T want, because the sanctioning body will put heavy restrictions on your car) it does mean that Corvettes are ALWAYS a force to be reckoned with. The old days of Corvettes being considered as just unsophisticated “fast trucks” are OVER! But how did we get here? It’s the result of a factory-backed, long range R&D group team effort. This is what Chevrolet and GM should have done from the beginning, instead of cow tailing to the 1957 AMA ban on American auto manufacturer’s participation in auto racing.

So, what’s it like inside the C6.R Corvette Racing team? The series “Track to Street: Corvette Racing Series” regularly serves up short, tasty video dishes of behind the scenes action in the C6.R Corvette camp. The latest, “Episode 12” is at the top of this post. If you missed the previous 11 episodes, we’ve included 1 through 11 below for your enjoyment. Continue reading “Vette Videos: Track to Street – Corvette Racing Series – The FULL Series” →

Tough Break For Corvette Racing Team at ALMS Mid-Ohio Race

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.8.11
Excellent Car, Excellent Drivers, Excellent Team, BAD WEATHER!

Photo credit - MotorSport.com

 

Summertime weather in America is predictably unpredictable. The August 6, 2011 ALMS Mid-Ohio race started out under sunny summer weather. But 2-1/2 hours later, the heavens opened up and drenched the track snatching a victory from the Corvette Racing team after leading the GT class for the first two hours of the two-hour and 45-minute race with the No. 4 C6.R Corvette. When the wet checkered flag came down, the No. 4 Corvette came in 2nd place, with the No. 3 Corvette coming is 6th place. A very tough break for the seasoned C6.R team, but “that’s racing.”

Two hours into the race, as the storm clouds were gathering, the No. 4 Corvette pitted for rain tires. After an excellent pit Gavin was in striking distance of first place – then the rain arrived. Here’s how Oliver Gaven described his rain experiences on the Ohio track, which is notoriously bad in the rain.

C6.R Corvette Racing team driver, Oliver Gavin

“Those last four or five laps were absolutely insane,” Gavin said. “I was driving down the straight with the steering wheel at full opposite lock, with the car just gliding and aquaplaning. Somehow my car straightened up and Pat Long’s car went off into a gravel trap. When Wolf Henzler drove by me, I had no answer for him; he certainly had a good rain setup. I was relieved when they brought out the red flag because it was really tough. “

Racing “rain tires” are only marginally better that the dry slicks that are normally used. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be driving a lightweight, high-powered, race car in the wet. DEFINITELY not for the faint of heart. For full details of the race, CLICK HERE.

http://www.corvetteracing.com/history/2011releases/midohio/midohio3.shtml

On the up side, for the second race in a row, the Corvette Racing Team won the Michelin Green X Challenge as the fastest, cleanest, and most efficient entry in the GT class. This speaks volumes for the Corvette Racing Team. WAY TO GO, guys! Continue reading “Tough Break For Corvette Racing Team at ALMS Mid-Ohio Race” →

Vette Polls: Was There a 6th 1963 Grand Sport Corvette? Cast Your Vote!

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.5.11
Corvette Odd-Ball: A Juicy Story, Indeed, But Some Documentation Would Sure Help!

Special thanks to Dave Friedman for the basic photo of the above art. if you love Grand Sport Corvettes, you should get a copy of "Corvette Grand Sport" by Lowell C. Paddock, with photos by Dave Friedman.

Read the below post and let us know what you think in our informal poll. Do you think there was a 6th 1963 grand Sport Corvette?

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The Corvette hobby has grown so wide and deep you could spend all day, day-after-day, and probably not be able to keep up with everything. So I didn’t beat myself up for not discovering this sooner. While poking about for some background on another project, I stumbled upon a post talking about a story from Autoweek writer, William Jeanes that addressed the notion that there was a SIXTH Grand Sport Corvette. If you’ve been into the Corvette hobby for a while, you’re familiar with the GS Corvette story: Five lightweight Grand Sport Corvette race cars were secretly built by Zora Arkus-Duntov as a counter punch against the Shelby Cobras. The cars showed potential, but GM’s president, Frederick Donner, order that Chevrolet MUST comply with the official GM policy that “we DO NOT race cars.”

Duntov and Chevrolet’s general manager, Simon “Bunkie” Knudsen, were ordered to stop what they were doing. The cars were not ordered to be destroyed, so Duntov loaned the cars out and eventually, they were sold. From there, the GS Corvettes were raced, hammered on, became outdated, sold, resold, and at one point in the early ‘70s were nearly lost. Eventually, all five cars were found and have been lovingly restored. Today, they are very valuable pieces of Corvette history.

While the prospect of a 6th GS is an intriguing story, it’s got “modern urban legend” smell all over it. Unfortunately, it’s all based on anecdotal stories. Here are the key points:

1. Texas oil man John Mecom claims that he bought 6 GS Corvettes.

2. Road & Track artist and Mecom pal, Bill Neale claims that his friend, John Mecom, had a photo in his trophy room showing 6 GS Corvettes in his shop.

3. Retired GM employee, Jim Champlin worked at the GM Milford proving Grounds claims that he was personally charged with destroying the 6th GS in late ‘64 or early ‘65. He says that after the car was returned from the Bahamas, he was told to “make it disappear.” So, he put two tires in the car, doused it with gasoline and BURNED IT. Champlin also says that his supervisor, Bob Cameron witnessed the destruction. Continue reading “Vette Polls: Was There a 6th 1963 Grand Sport Corvette? Cast Your Vote!” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 94th Birthday, John Fitch!

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 8.4.11
A Birthday Salute to One of the First Corvette Hot Shoe Drivers, John Fitch

Fitch behind the wheel of one of the three specially prepared Corvettes built for speed runs on the sands of Daytona Beach in January 1956.

Racing and Corvettes are completely inseparable. John Fitch was already a hot shoe when Zora Arkus-Duntov hired him to drive one of the three specially prepared ‘56 265-CID Corvettes for a speed record run on the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida in January 1956. Were it not for those exciting early racing experiences, the tone and attitude of the Corvette would have been closer to a passenger car rather than a scrapper race car. And John Fitch was part of the first wave of Corvette drivers.

After serving in WW II as a fighter pilot, Fitch got his degree in engineering and went to postwar Europe to race sports cars. Fitch was one of the first American engineer/drivers that set the template for future engineer/drivers, such as Mark Donohue and others. A thorough understanding of how things mechanically function has proven to be an incalculable asset to a successful racing enterprise.

The SS Corvette was a beauty, but the light weight magnesium body transfered enormous amounts of heat into the cockpit, making driving conditions near unbearable!

Before driving for Chevrolet, Fitch won the very first SCCA national championship and was the only American to drive for the Mercedes-Benz factory team. In 1957 Fitch was hired by Chevrolet to prepare and manage a team of stock and semi-modified Corvettes for competition. That same year, Duntov literally put Fitch’s feet to the fire driving the obscenely hot (temperature wise) SS Corvette.

Besides racing Corvettes, John won the 1951 Argentine Grand Prix, the 1955 Mille Miglia production class, and John competed at Le Mans six times, finishing as high as 3rd place. He was the first general manager at Lime Rock Park race track, developed the yellow “Fitch Barriers” crash barrels, and started the first advanced driving school. Being an innovator must have been in Fitch’s DNA, as his ancestor, also named John Fitch, was a clock maker, silversmith, and built the first functioning steamboat in 1787. Continue reading “Corvette Timeline Tales: Happy 94th Birthday, John Fitch!” →

Is This The Future of Car Magazines?

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 7.27.11
Could digital magazines, like the RM Auctions Monterey’s 562-page event catalog, be the salvation of the magazine business?


This is a screen shot of the online version of the RM Auction Monterey event catalog.

If car magazines were digital, viewable on a PC, laptop, Kindle, iPad, etc, and cost just $12.00 for a one-year subscription, how would you feel about it?

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I got a really neat email from Kevin Mackay of Corvette  Repair this morning with an interesting link. I’m sure that most of you have heard that the John Greenwood 1969 ZL-1 Corvette race car is going on the block at the RM Auctions Monterey event, August 13 and 14. It’ll be interesting to watch this one because they are expecting between $750,000 and $950,000 for the car. So, we’ll see how hungry the market is for a beautifully restored piece of Corvette racing history. Kevin is also closely following this because he did the restoration work on the car.

So, if you go HERE, you can see what Kevin sent me. (The link to the left will open a new window) Kevin knows I’m a big fan of the early Corvette race cars and especially the Greenwood cars. So, enjoy the images, they’re beautifully photographed, But that’s not what this post is about.

When you go to the page, look in the middle of the page towards the bottom. See the gray forward and backwards arrows? In the middle it says, “110-11/562.” That means you’re looking at pages 110 and 111, of a 562-page document. What you have is the entire 562-page catalog of the cars that are up for auction August 19 and 20. Continue reading “Is This The Future of Car Magazines?” →

Corvette Timeline Tales: July 23, 1936 – Happy Birthday to Corvette Racer, Dave MacDonald

Published on by Scott

Dateline: 7.23.11
Dave MacDonald – “The Master of Oversteer”

“I think Dave had more raw talent probably than any race driver I ever saw.” – Carroll Shelby

The original Grand Sport Corvette is considered by many to be the ultimate “could have been” Corvette. Well, when it comes to drivers that raced and loved Corvettes, El Monte, California race car driver, Dave MacDonald is arguably the greatest “could have been” Corvette race car driver. That’s not just my opinion – that’s what I learned from researching Dave MacDonald’s racing career, from his contemporaries. Many drivers and team owners from Dave’s day are on record stating that had Dave’s life not been cut short at the ‘64 Indy 500, he would have likely been one of the greats. MacDonald’s shining star was about to go super nova!


Here’s the signature-style MacDonald rear-wheel-drift.

While I was familiar with Dave MacDonald from books in my Corvette library, it wasn’t until I started researching Dave’s background while working on a story for VETTE Magazine that I learned what a terrific guy he was. If you look in your Corvette books that have chapters covering the early ‘60s road racing scene, look for the “00” Corvette with the tail hanging out. That’s Dave “The Master of Oversteer” MacDonald. Continue reading “Corvette Timeline Tales: July 23, 1936 – Happy Birthday to Corvette Racer, Dave MacDonald” →