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willem oosthoek

Inspired by Uncle Jim: The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly

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Pensacola, Florida, April 1959. Bill Kimberly, Executive of the SCCA’s Gulf Region, in his 2-liter Ferrari 500TR, chassis 0642. (Willem Oosthoek Collection)


By Willem Oosthoek Part 1

It all started way back in 1872, when four men partnered up to establish a paper mill in Neenah, Wisconsin. By 1880 the fast-growing business was incorporated under the name Kimberly-Clark, with one of the partners, John Kimberly, serving as its CEO. One of John’s grandsons, James “Jim” Kimberly eventually ran the business until 1950, when he retired to concentrate on a new full-time hobby: sports car racing. Jim’s job as Chairman and CEO was taken over by his brother Jack Kimberly, who happened to have a young son, soon to be fascinated with Uncle Jimmy’s new hobby. That son was Bill Kimberly, and in spite of their age difference, Jim and Bill are often confused when it comes to motor racing history.

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Chuck Daigh Part 4

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Story By Willem Oosthoek

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During the 1961 season Chuck was mostly involved with development work on Scarab’s new aluminum Buick V8 engine, although he raced one of the old Scarab sportsracers twice for new owner George Lehmann in the West Coast series. He retired both at Riverside and Laguna Seca.

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Chuck Daigh Part 3

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Story by Willem Oosthoek

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Maserati 250F, chassis 2529

Chuck’s next event was also USAC sanctioned, a 3-heat Formula Libre race at Lime Rock in July 1959. Lucky Casner’s CAMORADI team had entered a 1957 Maserati 250F, acquired by Casner from Joakim Bonnier that summer. It was the very car in which Juan Manuel Fangio had won the 1957 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, while Bonnier had captured the 1958 Watkins Glen Formula Libre race with it.

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Chuck Daigh Part 2

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Chuck Daigh, voted ‘Fastest U.S. race driver of 1960” by Road & Track, always considered himself a mechanic first and foremost, but invitations to race were welcome. (Bob D’Olivo)

Story by Willem Oosthoek

In Part 1, Daigh had gone from racing for Ford, then to GM, then back to Ford in those days before the major manufacturers pulled out of racing. Then along came Lance…

The second Ford spell did not last long. By September 1957 Daigh was hired away by Lance Reventlow’s organization for the Scarab project. Chuck was a perfect choice; he understood the blueprinting process needed for mechanical work and had experience with the new 327 ci Chevy engines in Atlanta.

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Chuck Daigh, West Coast Whiz Kid

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Chuck Daigh, voted ‘Fastest U.S. race driver of 1960” by Road & Track, always considered himself a mechanic first and foremost, but invitations to race were welcome. (Bob D’Olivo)

Story by Willem Oosthoek

In the annals of motor racing history, the name Chuck Daigh will always be linked to that of the Scarab, the first U.S. built sportsracer to beat the best that Europe had to offer. Multi-talented, Daigh excelled as a race driver, an engine builder and all-round chief mechanic. In fact, he saw himself more as a race mechanic than a driver. In a 2000 interview Chuck mentioned: “I always got a lot more thrill out of working on a car, putting it together and seeing it work. I used to get bored sometimes during a race. I’d much rather chase somebody, but I would get in front and just fiddle around.”

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The Long Life of Birdcage S/N 2452 Part 2

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Riverside, October 1961. After a year’s reprieve, having just been bought by Harry Finer, chassis 2452 featured Bill Krause at the wheel in the Times Grand Prix. Its de Dion axle broke due to metal fatigue. Two Cunningham Birdcages pass in the background. (photo: Bob Tronolone)

Story by Willem Oosthoek

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During chassis 2452’s year of inactivity, tremendous changes had taken place in sportscar racing. The rear-engined revolution was in full swing and even Maserati had come out with a rear-engined model, the Tipo 63. The front-engined Tipo 61 Birdcage had been out of production for a year, so how would Bill Krause perform in this three-year old car. Well, not bad at all! At Riverside’s 1961 Times Grand Prix he qualified the Tipo 61 on the fourth row with a time of 2’06”6, despite dropping a valve during his run. He did feel bad about Connor losing his ride and offered him his own D-type/Chevy. It did not work out, since the tall Arizona driver would not fit the Jaguar cockpit.

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The Long Life of Birdcage S/N 2452 Part 1

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Vaca Valley, May 1960. Bob Drake in the Lubin Birdcage battling Sammy Weiss in the former Jack Brabham Cooper Monaco. They finished 1-2 in this Cal Club event. (photo: Willem Oosthoek Collection)

Story by Willem Oosthoek

In a previous three-part article, we focused on

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The Hobby of Beverly Hills’ Joe Lubin Part 3

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Carroll Shelby takes the Lubin 250F out for a couple of laps at Riverside before the 1960 Times Grand Prix for sports cars. [photo; Willem Oosthoek Collection]

Story by Willem Oosthoek

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The Birdcage sale left Lubin with one other competition car, the “piccolo” Maserati 250F. He had acquired the car at the factory in late 1959 with his friend Bruno Ferrari, 12 years older and the owner of Latrobe Construction in Pennsylvania. They bought it with the November 1960 U.S. Grand Prix at Riverside in mind, the season-ending Formula One event. It was chassis 2533, previously owned by U.S. privateer Temple Buell.

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The Harrison Birdcages

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By Willem Oosthoek

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The Harrison team brought all three Maseratis to the next event, the Road America 500 miler in September. Each car was practiced and the 450S was fast but considered too much of a handful in a long-distance race. With the new red Birdcage offering even better handling than the Streamliner, it became Jeffords’ preferred car.

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The Harrison Maseratis

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By Willem Oosthoek

As we have seen in Part 1 of “A Coke and a smile”, Frank Harrison loved his three Maserati 450Ss, but the new Birdcage was faster. So what does one do? Find out in Part 2 and 3.*

After the Dothan, Alabama, event in October 1959 both Frank Harrison and his driver, Jim Hall, realized that the era of the Maserati 450S as a top feature contender had come to an end.

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The Books of Willem Oosthoek

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Interview by Pete Vack
Portions of this interview were originally published here in 2004.

Most of us are avid readers, particularly of good, solid historical books which feature our favorite cars; the more detailed the better, with decent contemporary photos, chassis numbers, hardcore information that you can count on, preferably on nice stock and hardbound.

But few readers realize what goes into the making of such a book, and how difficult it is to find publishers. We decided to ask Maserati expert Willem Oosthoek how he did it and what kind of problems he encountered in writing his last three major works; in 2004, Birdcage to Supercage, in 2009, The Magnificent Front Engined Birdcages, and the three volume set, Sports Car Racing in the South,Texas to Florida, 1957-1962. [Read more…] about The Books of Willem Oosthoek

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