By Robert Birmingham
Poet Laureate and Wisconsin’s 1960 Top Borgward Salesman
Photos by Glen Glendenning
Bob Birmingham
Road America Circa 1958, Modifieds
John Mull, DB Panhard
Text by Robert Birmingham
Photos by Glen Glendenning
Read Road America 1958, Production classes
In 1958 crowds for both June and September proved to be highly profitable for both SCCA and Road America and the future looked bright. With four years of racing at Road America in the books, profits soared for the corporation led by Tufte and for area merchants as well whose revenues surpassed their wildest dreams.
Road America, Circa 1958
A free year’s subscription to the first who can correctly identify this lovely lady.
Text by Robert Birmingham
Photos by Glen Glendenning
The 1957 NASCAR race weekend attracted a less than hoped for crowd and rightfully so. To put it bluntly, the two-race program was too short, and the large American cars were not interesting. Therefore in 1958 Road America returned to what by now had become known as the June Sprints and three months later, the Road America 500.
Road America, Circa 1957
Jerome C. Earl from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in the Corvette SR2. Earl would later sell the SR2 to Jim Jeffords.
Words by Bob Birmingham
Photos by Glen Glendenning
A return to two SCCA race weekends made up Road America’s calendar for 1957, the first in June followed by early September. June offered four events, three on Saturday and a 38-lap feature on Sunday. All told the weekend was best described as fun-to-watch club racing.
1957 June Sprints, June 23
1957 SCCA Nationals September 7 (Saturday)
1957 Road America 500, September 8 (Sunday)
Jim Jeffords Biography Reviewed
Click to order…only $45.
Review by Pete Vack
Photos by Glen Glendenning courtesy Dave Rex
For years, the name Jim Jeffords was just that, a name on a car, a program, a result. Like many of the low key but successful SCCA race drivers, and unlike the international racing stars, Jeffords did not get much publicity on a personal level. After his death in 2014, however, there appeared much more information about this hard driving, multitalented Milwaukee resident whose brief career, according to the SCCA bio, may not have been the longest but almost certainly unmatched. [Read more…] about Jim Jeffords Biography Reviewed
Cooper-Fiat Part 2: Resurrection
The fabled car’s first glimpse of daylight in 25 years. Note the color and also, to the left of the front wheel, and below the side view mirror, a Pabst Motors sticker.
Story by Bob Birmingham
After his impressive drive at Marlboro, finishing a close second to the Alfa engined Cooper, there occurred a major renovation to Dick Eisenmann’s Cooper.
From time to time, he frequented a foreign car repair shop just down the road from his office. In anticipation of a lengthy business trip, he took his Cooper there for a little “mechanical sweetening and anything else that was needed.” Upon returning, he found the car painted — a tomato orange had replaced the historic Team Cunningham blue over white. [Read more…] about Cooper-Fiat Part 2: Resurrection
Dick Eisenmann and the Cooper Fiat
Driving fast, having fun….
Story by Bob Birmingham
Photos courtesy Bob Birmingham
Augie Pabst biographer Bob Birmingham is a long-time friend of Dick Eisenmann, who has raced and cared for a very special Cooper Fiat since 1963. This is Dick’s story as told to Bob.
It was during a Christmas party in December of 1962 at Augie Pabst’s home in suburban River Hills, Wisconsin, that raucous guests were enjoying fine food, libation and good conversation, mostly related to sports car racing. Late in the evening, one young man named Richard Eisenmann slurred to our host, “Augie, I’m gonna race some day and when I do, I’ll whip your ass.”