scca racing

Build it, Sell it, Forget it. Then, 30 Years Later…

May 23, 2017 By pete

Eno DePasquale with The Bomb at Lime Rock in 2014. He built the car in the eary 1960s, raced it, sold it, forgot about it. In 1990, The Bomb staged a comeback, having been rescued by its original creator. Photo by Sean Smith.

Story by Sean Smith
Historical photos courtesy the Eno DePasquale collection.

Eno DePasquale was a car guy from the word go. His father, a doctor, had a 1953 Jaguar XK120M that would occasionally see some late-night street racing at the hands of his son. Eno didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps; he wanted to work on cars, not people. His father would tell friends, “I think my son has gears going around in his head!”

In his high school years, with no formal training, Eno started to build cars for himself. He began by customizing a ‘36 Ford coupe, then moved on to a ‘32 three-window that he chopped, channeled, and built from the ground up. His final high school ride was a ‘40 Ford that he massaged into a custom machine.

Eno DePasquale in 1953 at age 16 with his 1936 Ford coupe that he customized.

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Put-in-Bay 1957-58 in Color

October 7, 2014 By pete

Alfa #78 exits Cemetery Turn with Al Allin at the wheel. Note the fabricated headrest. Collection of Robert Pauley

Color slides courtesy Robert Pauley: Click to enlarge
Text and captions by Carl Goodwin

Chrysler engineer Robert Pauley, who attended the 1957 Cuban Grand Prix, (see review) also made a habit of going to local sports car shows and events. Only 80 miles from his home base in Detroit, Pauley went to Put-in-Bay in 1957 and 1958. The following are his photos taken on Kodachrome slides.

Carl Goodwin was also there, albeit bit younger, and this year finished his book about the event (see review). Pauley’s photos arrived too late to be included in the book, so we present them here, along with informative captions from Goodwin.

Put-in-Bay, June 8th, 1957

The feature race in ‘57 included a couple of Porsche Spyders along with the Lester MG of Ted Jayne and the fast MGTC of Detroit’s Bill Bradley plus several 2-liter production sports cars: ACs, Morgans, Triumphs and then Siatas powered by Porsche and Offenhauser engines. The winner was Tom Payne’s Spyder followed closely by Ted Jayne in the Lester MG. [Read more…] about Put-in-Bay 1957-58 in Color

The Saga of the Caswell BNC Part 2

November 21, 2012 By pete

At left, Tony Lymber with John Gianella, who had so carefully and thankfully preserved the Caswell BNC. George Lymber photo.

A Franco-American Hybrid

By Eric Davison

No one knows how George Lymber’s BNC reached America. We do know that a legendary figure of the early days of sports car racing, Otto Linton, (who was of great help in writing these articles) was a close friend and business associate of George Caswell, who purchased the car from motorcycle dealer George Taylor sometime in the early 1940s. Since both Taylor and George Caswell have both passed along to the great racetrack in the sky, there are no details to be had about the arrival of the BNC to these shores.
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Frank Bott: OSCA Driver

February 29, 2012 By pete

Frank Bott sails over the start/finish line as Nil Mickelson waves the checkered flag. Frank has just won the Queen Catharine Cup at the 1954 Watkins Glen race. Photo by Alix Lafontant.

There was a driver from Chicago, not as well known as he should have been. But long before Kimi Räikkönen, they called him the “Ice Man” – for he was as cool as could be out on the track. Racing driver Frank Bott died November 25th, 2011 and we followed the rumors until we confirmed it recently. He was born on August 25th 1921. He was one of the sport’s more under-rated drivers.

During World War II, Frank was an air transport pilot. Afterward he worked as a service mechanic at the Mercedes-Benz distributorship of importer Max Hoffman.

Bott at Bridgehampton in 1952, where he won the Mecos Trophy with his OSCA S/N 1112. Photo credit Bill Harkins.

In the immediate postwar years, Frank became interested in circle track racing and then moved on to sports cars. He knew TV personality Dave Garroway through the Chicago Region of Sports Car Club of America. Garroway had an early Jaguar, an SS 100, and he wanted a little more performance for it. So Frank installed a twin-cam XK 120 engine. Garroway was going to race it at Elkhart Lake in 1951 but was called back to New York for contract renewals. Frank said “I’ll put it back in storage then.” And Dave replied “Oh no, Frank, you race it.” Frank placed second ahead of all the XK-120s except that of Roger Wing. [Read more…] about Frank Bott: OSCA Driver

Watkins Glen Memoirs Part 3: A Car for the Glen

October 19, 2011 By pete

Finding an SS100 for sale wasn’t an easy task. They surely weren’t listed in the classified sections of the local newspapers and, unlike today there was not much of a market for old sports cars. But, in the classified section of Motor Dad found one listed; a 3 1/2 liter, gunmetal gray, red carpets and red bucket seats. The price was just about what an MG TC cost at that time, about $1800. Because the car was in England that opened up a possibility for paying for it.

In 1949 the Garroway Jaguar SS100 appeared at the Glen. After seeing it, Charlie Davison decided that he had to have one but an SS100 was not easy to find. This is the Garroway (in passenger seat) SS100 at the Glen in 1950. Photo by Frank Shaffer.

My paternal grandfather had died in 1946. He had lived in London and had been widowed about three years earlier. He had survived the Battle of Britain and all the horrors and privations of the war. He was scheduled to come to America and to live with us. The struggle to obtain the permissions necessary to leave England became more and more protracted and he eventually just gave up and expired.

His estate wasn’t much, about 700 £ (something less than $3000) all went to Dad. He was an only child. The money sat in the Bank of England. Cash was not to leave the country. For England every farthing counted.

But, by working through the Royal Automobile Club Dad was able to find a way to use some of the money. Dad sent cash to the RAC from the US. He was able to transfer money from his Bank of England account to the RAC who then purchased the car and resold it to Dad and exported it to America. Complicated but it worked and the SS100 was on the way.

It came by boat to New York and was shipped by truck to Detroit. It was a rare warm February day when Dad arrived home with his prize. After dinner he pointed me to my coat and the garage with the statement “Let’s see what it will do!”

Charlie sitting in his pride and joy on the grid at Edenvale, Ontario, Canada in 1950. There, however, the pre-war Jag met up with two new XK120s, and he had to settle for third in his first race with the SS100. Harold Lance photo.

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Lynch at Lockbourne, 1953

May 25, 2011 By Lynch

With the help of Doug Chadwick’s photo collection, Michael T. Lynch recalls the event and put captions to the photos below.

Not many single seaters were seen in early SCCA racing. This is Woodie Garber’s Alfa 308 at Lockbourne. Even then, it was well traveled, having participated in European Grands Prix, U.S. ARCA racing, the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. It did not finish.

Lockbourne AFB, 1953. Here’s one of the great Italians of the 50s in U.S. racing. This is Fritz Koster’s Maserati A6GCS. It won its class in the main event that day and was later owned by historian/auto executive Karl Ludvigsen. It now is back in the Koster family and is still racing.

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