A young Pedro Rodriguez sits nervously in the Kjell Qvale #166 Genie MK VIII wondering what the chica joven voluptuosa de pelo grande quiere.*?
Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn
October 13, 1963, Riverside Races. When I first met Lori Campbell I thought, now here is someone I would like to photograph. With the upcoming Riverside races that would be a great place to showcase Lori, who was a budding actress and model with a small uncredited, role in the John Wayne classic, McClintock. I would have her pose as, “Miss California Sports Car Magazines,” with some of our American and a few European drivers. It made a great story then, as it does now. And there was a kicker which occurred when a few of these photos were shown at Goodwood some 43 years later. Do read on.
I met Lori after a photo shoot that publisher Bob Topaz set up at Hornburg Jaguar on Sunset Blvd for his ‘Hottie of the Month.’ I couldn’t make the shoot so he asked me to take some pictures at the rental and Lori got in the way. He invited me to stay for one of his wild Hollywood parties there. The house, seen here in the background, was located in the Hollywood hills off Sunset Blvd and was reportedly once owned by singer Eddie Fisher. Someone tossed one of the really well developed young ladies into pool after the party really got swinging. Booze, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. Unfortunately that was not my style, darn it. Bet you can’t id the car behind the body. A spoiler: It was a Facel Vega Facellia, driven by Topaz.
Topaz brought Lori to the track where I took over escorting her around to get pictures with the drivers. It was very easy to ask a driver if I could take a couple of pictures of him with Lori for our monthly magazine topic “Miss California Sports Car.” I found a group of drivers deep in conversation, and with little effort Miss Lori latched onto A.J. Foyt with her winning smile and her ability to stand out in any crowd. In the background soon to be attracted by her are, left to right, Augie Pabst, Roger Penske, and unknown.
I had to give equal time to A.J. as the photo before did not show A.J.’s movie star quality white teeth. He was driving the Mecom Racing Team’s rear-engine Scarab MK IV Oldsmobile.
Miss Lori seems to be two-timing these fellows. Yes, that’s all her own hair and everything else. Augie Pabst, left, drove #7 Lotus 19 while Roger Penske was in The F1 Zerex Very Special. Both are driving for the Mecom Racing Team.
Lori followed Roger to his car. I’m surprised he didn’t try to take her for a ride. Oh yeah, that’s right, he only had one real seat in the Zerex.
Right now, Jim Hall is hoping his eyeballs will not start wandering south of the border as he explains the inner workings of his Chaparral II to the still ever-lovely Miss Lori.
It seems Mr. Hall not only drives racing cars but also plays the field. This young lass is a friend of mine, a Miss Natalie, who is also a sports car advocate. She attended many races and parties. Her full name was Natalie Rice may she rest in peace. I had seen her at many of the races and thought she was very attractive and worthy of my lens. I remember pointing it at her in the pits one day. She was looking away from me, but just as I took the picture she looked over at me and smiled. There was a green light if I ever saw one. We had several photo shoots together which led to a spread as “Miss California Sports Car” for June, 1963 which I still have. This led to several dates, to get better acquainted. But, at the same time while ice skating in Culver City, CA I met Carole, the Love of my Life.
Being in show business, Miss Lori has found someone she would like to look up to. None other than “Big Hoss” Dan Blocker, of the TV show Bonanza. No doubt she is talking shop or trying to hustle a part on his TV show. They are standing beside his Elva MK VI called the Vinegaroon Special, with Bob Harris behind the wheel. “Hoss” owned a 1965 Huffaker Genie MK X also called the Vinegaroon Special that was campaigned in 1965-66.
John Surtees may be at a loss for words here trying to find the correct ones for his first meeting. He was just waiting to get into Enzo’s 275P and put the pedal to the metal, or something like that. And look, here comes another shutterbug trying to horn in on my photo shoot.
One of the drivers wanted to apply a more hands-on approach to this session and Miss Lori did not seem to mind. It was Graham Hill, Hollywood’s idea of what a Grand Prix driver should look like. They are standing beside his Lotus 23 B brought over by Ian Walker Racing, Ltd.
Well, one thing led to another, and they carried on with their conversation. No one really knows what happened after their first meeting but we can assure you there was nothing improper at least as far as the photographer noted.
However, another photo revealed a hint of impropriety, though it was probably just the Santa Ana wind. But when the series of photos were placed together, it seemed to tell a more complex story.
But here is the kicker. We had planned a trip to Europe in 2006 and it happened to coincide with the Goodwood “Festival of Speed.” I took a notebook full of prints to show the archivists at Ferrari, who I had previously contacted. With this was the Lori/Hill grouping. As luck would have it, I saw Damon Hill, Graham’s son, walking through the pits with a great number of people around him. I wanted to show him the pictures of his father but was unable crack the barrier of women and instead decided to show his pit crew. I was showing a gentleman the Lori/Graham images when a woman came up to me, grabbed it out of hands and said, “I wonder what chippie that was?” As I started to say something she handed the book back to me and walked away. A little stunned I asked the gentleman if he knew who she was. He said of course, “She is Bette Hill, Graham’s widow.”
And that’s the truth.
*Here is the translation you are looking for from the Pedro R. caption:
A young Pedro Rodriguez sits nervously in the cockpit of the Kjell Qvale #166 Genie MK VIII wondering what the voluptuous young girl with big hair wants. Another footnote, I never saw Lori again after that weekend.
For more on the race:
Nice spread of photos and a good story.
Notice the pic with Roger in the Zerex and where his eyeballs are pointed! Also note that by now the Zerex had 2 seats.
my sister opened the first women’s only art gallery–as far as we know– at 707 la cienega, around ’68. she also is in the kunstlerlexikon as an artist: she was an early laser artist, with a couple of her holodeons in the dali museum. she also did the bust of patton for vmi and the bust of zubin mehta for the montreal philharmonic and much more. anyway she had a–too long to describe–large color/light variation of her own design set up in her gallery. i said i thought it would be a good thing for me to do a series of nudes in it. she agreed as she’d seen various examples of my work. natalie and i were in the studio/gallery and my sister asked her if she was my model. natalie said why not! for one reason or another, probably because i was always going back and forth to oklahoma for my dealerships and racecar plans, it never happened. well doggone it anyway! if you wanna see the only photo of a tasteful nude sitting on a serenissima which was the original lola gt chassis under refurbishment by alf francis, buy my book ‘one off’ on amazon.
Wonderful images! I think the unidentified person in the third photo, with Augie and Roger, is Les Richter of Riverside Raceway. As for the Scarab Mk IV mentioned, there never was such a designation, not in the Reventlow days, the Mecom days or the Pabst days. Incidentally, neither was there ever a Scarab Mk III. Just an invention by some journalist long after the era came to a close.
Wonderful photos Allen ! Today that beautiful lady would not get noticed at all, to much clothing on.
Thanks, Mike and Anamera for your comments. I wasn’t sure how the subject matter would be received. I once got the editor of a car club magazine fired because of a series of my Pin-Ups of the ’50s. Fortunately it was his idea to show them.
Willem, so glad you liked them. Without a lot of car images I was a little off center with this one. What great fun, your comment was about Richter. I should have identified the guy. He was the publisher of California Sports Car magazine that I shot for.
That’s what you get for using google for references. I should have know that one. Augie invited us to his Farm on Lake Oochgusock, or something like that, for lunch at his club and a tour of his garage/museum where his rear engine Scarab reclined along with his original Scarab, or retirement fund as he called it.
I see you are a connoisseur of the finer gender, John. Too much cloths and also about 87 years old. Although I know a girl in her early 80’s that would still get noticed. My Carole and someone else.