Please note: I have used the title (Above) since 1985 when I wrote a column for a local newspaper in Fairfield (CA). It didn't last long but, it fit what I was doing. In England and the backwoods of New England, you will hear of someone being, "Over The Edge," or "A Bit Round The Bend," usually meaning obsessed or fixated. I became fixated about anything involving motor racing in the mid fifties. Not the circle track stuff at Agawam or Stafford Springs in Connecticut, but road racing at Watkins Glen and Lime Rock Park. I acknowledge (not blame) my late Uncle, Road & Track Magazine, the late Bernard Cahier and Motorsport, an English motor racing magazine for my being a bit round the bend about auto racing. So there you have it. And here Goes!
Manteca, California, 16 March 2009 : Last March I wrote about John Fitch, Automotive Safety Pioneer and The Sports Car Club of America's First Champion and the problem with the State of Connecticut! I had been misinformed by a colleague that the problem had been resolved and so I took the article from the site.
Why did I say that I was misinformed? Because Monday evening 16 March, I had a phone conversation with John Fitch who told me that the state of Connecticut is placing a lien on his house!
John Fitch, automobile safety advocate, 1950's auto racing star, World War II Aviator and POW Camp survivor is being hounded to bankruptcy by the state of Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection for having had a pair of 1000 Gallon Heating Oil tanks which had unbeknownst to him, developed leaks into the surrounding ground at his historic 242-year old Lime Rock home.
The Ninety-Two year old Fitch, after determining that the tanks leaked, duly dug them up and had them replaced. Upon performing this task, he notified the Connecticut bureaucracy who in turn, have thrown the book at him, saddling John with a nearly $350,000 debt for alleged hazmat mitigation! This on top of John's burden of having to pay approximately $10,000 a month nursing home care for his dear and devoted late wife Elizabeth who died on Feb. 16th at the age of 91.
Personally, I recognize that "hazardous materials," are bad! But I have to wonder about a state that is one of the original 13 colonies applying what have to be draconian modern requirements against property that predates the Constitution of the United States!
I was born and raised in Wethersfield, Connecticut and as a youngster watched John Fitch race at Thompson Speedway and Watkins Glen (NY). I also attended some of the first races at Lime Rock Park, in Northwestern Connecticut in 1957. I was a resident of the Connecticut Junior Republic for Boys and I can attest to the harsh winters in that corner of Connecticut!
I hitchhiked from Litchfield to Lime Rock for those races. (Not something I'd recommend today). Besides watching John, Walt Hansgen and Briggs Cunningham, I saw Carroll Shelby win a pair of SCCA National races. First with a John Edgar entered Maserati 300S and later a big roaring Maserati 450S V-8 Maserati, again entered by John Edgar. I saw Denise McCluggage race a Maserati A6GCS and Walter Cronkite (Yep! CBS News venerable newsman!) raced a Lotus during an SCCA driving school event.
Leaving aside the historic significance of the Fitch home and the Fitch family name, (cited below) there are the contributions and sacrifices made by John Fitch personally. As a World War II aviator, John Fitch successfully flew numerous combat missions over enemy territory. He is credited with being one of the first Americans to shoot down a Messerschmitt ME 262 Jet Fighter before being shot down and interred in a German Prisoner Of War camp. Upon his return to freedom, Fitch raced sports cars successfully for 18 years, starting with the iconic MG TC in 1948.
In 1951, John Fitch became the SCCA's first Road Racing Champion. He also became a part of the racing team fielded by Connecticut's Briggs S. Cunningham in his (Cunningham's) attempts to field an American built Sports Car to race in in international competition including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1955, Fitch was the only American racing with the famed Mercedes Benz Sports Car racing team. John Fitch later went on to set a string of records in the early Chevrolet Corvettes.
John Fitch also invented those sand filled yellow protection devices called Fitch Inertial Safety Barriers, that you find along the highways to soften the blows from crashing into bridge abutments and highway off ramps.
To learn more about John Fitch and his accomplishments visit his web site: http://www.racesafety.com/
To learn more about the Fitch Family name and its significance to American History, of which the current John Fitch has contributed greatly, I recommend "The Life of John Fitch The Inventor of the Steamboat" by Thompson Westcott (1875) at: http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/westcott/
Visit SpeedStyle Magazine at http://www.speedstylemagazine.com for even more information affecting a true hero and patriot!
This is a link that provides more details of the row between John Fitch and the State of Connecticut: http://www.docrebuild.com/curr-evnt/currentevents-116.html
Outraged by what appears to be Connecticut's, bureaucratic heavy-handedness, John Fitch's friends have banded together to provide some financial relief for John. Notably, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, has graciously offered to help with legal expenses. Additionally, a fund was established to help pay for the excavation and soil cleaning costs. Checks payable to "The Friends of Fitch Homestead Fund" may be sent to the Salisbury Bank and Trust Company, P.O. Box 1868, Lakeville, CT 06039.
You may like to join the mailing program by writing M. Jodi Rell, Governor, State of Connecticut, State Capitol, 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106. Those of you wishing to email Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell her emali address is: Governor.Rell@ct.gov
If It's August In Monterey, It Must Be Time For The Historic Automobile Races! Monterey Historic Photographs Provided By: Paul Zimerman Manteca, California. 17 June 2009: The thirty-sixth ROLEX Monterey Historic Automobile Races will be held over the weekend of 14 16 August at the equally historic, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca located just outside Monterey, California.
The chosen marque for this year's event is Porsche. A two sided aside: (1) Marque, pronounced, "mark," not "marquee." Is a snooty word-meaning brand, like a Chevrolet or Honda or Jaguar. (2) Porsche is pronounced, "Portia," not "porsh," or "porch."
The Monterey Historic Automobile Races feature both "veteran," and "vintage," racing cars. Veteran cars are pre World War II vehicles
and vintage racecars are post World War II era racers.
An example of a veteran car would be the white (Left) Mercedes SSK, a "between the wars," racer.. The pair of Porsches (Silver 104 and Red 17 featuring aerodynamic wheel covers) (Right) and the BRUMOS Porsche 935, number 59 (Below) are vintage racers.
Whilst Porsche is the featured marque at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, spectators will also be
able to see and smell some of the finest racing machines in the world such as vintage Trans Am Mustangs and Camaros or Maseratis and Ferraris or D-Type
Jaguars and Shelby Cobras!
Oh, by the way. The number 59 Brumos liveried Porsche is a factory car.
The Porsche Kremer 935K cars were not recognized by the Porsche factory as they were built by Erwin and Manfred Kremer's shop in Cologne, Germany to Group 5 specifications rather than the Porsche Factory in Weissach, Germany! The Kremer Porsche's raced in both the IMSA GTP and the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM). They featured a more aerodynamic body style than the factory Porsches. A Kremer Porsche 935K3 won the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans!
Strolling through the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca paddock, you might meet Indy Car Champion Bobby Rahal, TV personality Jay Leno, or IMSA GT Champion Hurley Haywood. You may also run into fifties racing legend John Fitch or Carroll Shelby or Bob Bondurant, or even Hans Stuck or Klaus Ludwig, you never know.
One thing for certain is that Porsche stalwarts Brian Redman and Vic Elford will be in attendance along with George Follmer. That's the fun of the Monterey Historic Automobile Races.
As a veteran of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) or in American, the German Racing Championship of the seventies and
eighties, and having been intimately involved with 1978 German Racing Champion and Zakspeed Turbo Capri racer, Harald Ertl's Racing Car Show in Mannheim, I'd love to see the fire
belching Zakspeed Ford Turbo Capris and Schnitzer Turbo BMW 320i's over here amongst the plethora of Porsche Kremer 935Ks!
A couple of year's ago, I was talking with European Le Mans Series racer Stefan Mücke who told me that his historic racer father, Peter, owned at least two of the iconic Zakspeed Turbo Capri's.
For some reason I have not heard the distinctive Turbocharger squeak during my visits to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. It can best be described as similar to the sound made by sneakers on a gymnasium floor!
Please note: The cars pictured here are Harald Ertl's SACHS Turbo Capri, Hans J. Stuck's Schnitzer BMW, The Liqui Moly twin Turbo Capri raced by Manfred Winkelhock and Klaus Niedzwiedz's D&W Turbo Capri.
Tickets for the Monterey Historic Automobile Races may be ordered online. Just click on the link.
See you there!
Peter Bryant, Ti22 and Shadow Can-Am race car designer died on 31 March at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, after participating in the Inaugural Legends of Riverside event at the Riverside International Automotive Museum at Riverside, California, on the weekend of 27-29 March. Born in London on 4 April 1938, Peter was one of those special characters of the fifties and sixties, starting with his introduction to motor racing at Goodwood in 1953.
His resume is a list of privateer and top name racing teams ranging from Lotus, Lola, Reg Parnell's Bowmaker Credit Grand Prix Team, Mickey Thompson' Indy Car Team to Carroll Shelby's Cobras and the Carl Haas Racing Team before setting off on his own to design the Chevy powered Titanium Ti22, American built, Can-Am racing challenger to the McLaren steamrollers.
Peter Bryant (Far Left) and Dan Gurney enjoy a joke at the Riverside International Automotive Museum during the 27-29 March "Legends of Riverside," Celebration. Photo: Al Wong
I was acquainted with Peter's work on his Titanium Can-Am racer and a fan of the Can-Am Shadows driven by Jackie Oliver. They were neat looking racers and I am one of those who suffer from "racing disease."
I met Peter and his wife Lois, at the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) All-America Team Banquet in January and was "sweet talked," into buying "Can-Am Challenger," which he graciously signed to me, especially after I had "correctly," identified a picture of the white and blue Can-Am racer as the Ti22 (rather than the Autocoast Ti22).
Paging through the book and finding the Jesse Alexander photograph of Giorgio Scarlatti's pit fire at the Nurburgring in 1960, I realized that Peter and I had been in the same place at the same time (sort of). He was in the pits as a mechanic on Jackie Lewis' Lotus and I was standing directly across from the pits outside the Sporthotel with a friend I had coerced into coming to the races.
I then learned that he had been a mechanic for Reg Parnell's Bowmaker Credit Team and had been at the Grand Prix of France at Reims in 1961. In this case I had the better view of the race as I had walked to the circuit and stationed myself in the grandstands at Thillios.
We met up again at the Legends of Riverside event at the Riverside International Automotive Museum. He was full of himself and in his element sharing the stage with the likes of Tony Adamowicz, Bob Bondurant, George Follmer, Jerry Grant, Dan Gurney, Oscar Koveleski, Bill Krause, Pete Lovely, Lothar Motschenbacher and the many Legends of the famed Riverside International Raceway.
Imagine my surprise when I received the April Issue of MOTORSPORT and discovered an article about Peter.
When we parted, Peter said. "See You in August." (meaning the Monterey Historic Automobile Races.) I'll be there and I know Peter will be there in spirit.
I wish Peter Bryant, "Fair Winds and Following Seas."
Gil Bouffard
