Race Legends - The Blog

Remembering Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby was both a long-time client and a good friend. He and I had opportunities to do a variety of events together over the years and each one was a unique experience.

While he was a giant in the automotive business, he was also a warm human being and I was fortunate to be present on numerous occasions when he comforted very sick children and their parents - all without publicity.

He was tough to make a deal with and I'm sure God is going to have his hands full with the 'old chicken farmer.'

Others will pick up the Cobra torch but no one will replace Carroll Shelby the person.

Drive fast, my friend.

Donn Gurney, Race Legends president

Driver Frank Gardner Dead at 78

News comes from Australia that driver Frank Gardner, a Race Legends client for many years, has died. He was 78.

He was a lovely, funny, fast man -- who will be missed. - -Sir Stirling Moss

Wonderful character and a great driver. Probably the toughest - and fairest - I ever raced against! -- Vic Elford

Frank was my contemporary, and those were the best racing days of all time.  The motorsports world has lost another great one, but his accomplishments will always be remembered. Wherever you are Frank, I'm sure you're standing on the gas... -- Bob Bondurant

A biography of Frank follows below:

Gardner, one-time Manager of the Diet Coke Racing BMW motor racing team, had more than 50 years in the sport, with 22 years spent in building up an international reputation in driving and developing race cars on the tough European and American circuits.

He was work's driver for Porsche, Lola, General Motors, Ford, Brabham and Lotus, and drove as well for a number of private racing teams. The first driver in the world to chalk up 100 wins in international racing, he also carried off major titles against some of the world's best drivers.

Twice British Champion Racing Driver, he was also three times British Saloon Car Champion and European Formula 5000 Champion. He also won the European formula 2 Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and the European Saloon Car title.

As Development Engineer for the Lola Car Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of racing cars, he was responsible for developing and testing some 200 racing cars each year. He returned to Australia in 1975 and after successfully racing sports sedans and touring cars, developed a Chevrolet Corvair sports sedan in which he won the 1977 Australian Sports Sedan Championship. In his hands the Corvair started 49 times for 41 wins, four second placings, one third, one fourth, and failed to finish in only two races. He broke lap records in 18 races.

Following his retirement from race driving at the end of the 1977 Australian season Frank Gardner remained in motor racing on the team management side and was largely responsible for the success of such drivers as Alan Grice, Jim Richards, Tony Longhurst and Paul Morris. He also conducted courses in motor racing and advanced driving. He quickly established a national reputation as an outspoken advocate of road safety. Frank Gardner was also managing director of the Performance Driving Centre at Norwell on the Gold Coast.

Career Highlights
Champion British Touring Car 1967, 1968 & 1973
Champion European F5000 1971
F1 1964-1968

Frank Gardner, 1930-2009. 

1/43 Brabham BT 19 - Jack Brabham - 1966 World Champion

It's a Jack Brabham week here at Race Legends!

Our friends at the Motorsport Collector have just sent us a note that a news 1/43 model of Sir Jack's 1966 BT 19 is available. The price is $165 plus shipping and it looks like a real beauty. Be sure to tell them that Race Legends sent you when you order yours. Here is the link to the Motorsport Collector store.

Sir Jack Brabham Profiled on Australian TV

Word comes from down under that Race Legends client Sir Jack Brabham has been the subject of a program on his life and accomplishments by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Here is the description from  Australian Story section of the ABC website:

When We Were Racers

This program is about one of the all time legends of world motor sport.

It's fifty years since Sir Jack Brabham became the first Australian to win a Formula One world championship.

Not only did he drive cars, but he built them as well. He remains the only driver to win a world title in a car of his own construction.

Now 83, Sir Jack remains a modest hero with surprisingly little recognition in his own country.

He tells his stirring story with the help of other motor racing icons Sir Stirling Moss, Alan Jones and Murray Walker...

The program may we viewed in its entirety on the ABC TV web site at www.abc.net.au/austory/default.htm

John Fitch Creation Sold by Bonhams

Race Legends client John Fitch was present at Bpnhams' Greenwich Concours d'Elegance, Collectors' Motorcars and Automobilia auction on June 7 when the 1952 Fitch-Whitmore Le Mans Special was sold. Fitch and Coby Whitmore collaborated to modify Whitmore's new Jaguar XK-120 for racing. While the full history is to long to repeat here (The full history can be found on the Bonhams web site) suffice to say that the result didn't resemble the XK in body nor performance.

The car sold for $403,000 (including buyers premium). More about John Fitch can be found at his web site, Race Safety. (Photo courtesy Bonhams)

Sir Jack Says Webber Can Be Champion

3-time F1 champion (and the only one to be champion driving a car of his own construction mind you) and Race Legends client Sir Jack Brabham is quoted in an AP story saying:

"I certainly believe that Mark Webber can go all the way and win the world championship - providing the car holds up."

More details can be found at autosport.com.

Henry Surtees, Son of F1 Champ John Surtees Dies of Injuries

It is with the deepest regret that we report that Henry Surtees has died as a result of injuries sustained during a Formula 2 race this weekend at Brands Hatch, England. The Race Legends team offers its to John and his family.

Kodachrome: Phil Hill and Photos of a Classic Era

Many people have had the privilege of seeing Phil Hill's famous slideshow. Hill took thousands of photos in the early part of his career and a careful selection of those and Hill's encyclopedic memory mixed with an ironic sense of humor, made for an enthralling 2-3 hours. He was very modest and always wondered why people would sit for hours to listen to him, as he put it "drone on and on about something that happened in the distant past."

It was history come alive and the vibrant colors of the images were made possible by Hill's sense of composition and Kodak's Kodachrome 64 slide film. Now Kodachrome has had its day and is no more. It will be missed and so will our dear friend Phil Hill.

We're Back

As many of you know, Phil Hill was a client and good friend of the three authors of this bog. Donn Gurney in particular enjoyed a very close friendship with Phil until Phil's illness made it all but impossible to communicate. So when Phil passed away on August 28, 2008 a lot of things changed for us. Knowing for some time that Phil was destined to leave us didn't make his passing any easier to bear.

Today we move on. There will be time for tributes from us to Phil and they will come soon enough. For now, Godspeed Phil Hill - American Champion and friend.

Phil Hill's 80th Birthday

In 1951 I journeyed to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for my first road race. Among the numerous and illustrious drivers of that era was "Young Californian Phil Hill." I had picked up that title from Road & Track magazine and was fortunate to see my first racing hero drive the alloy bodied XK120 to a class victory. The following year he drove to victory again in a C Type but was already beginning to make his name known in Ferrari.

On April 20, 2007, the "Young California Phil Hill" will turn eighty and the entire motoring community is gearing up for a gala birthday party cocktail party. The setting is perfect, just down the road from Phil's lifetime home in Santa Monica. Phil will be surrounded by all the friends, companions, competitors, writers, etc., all there to help Phil celebrate and a grand time will be had by all.

I saw Phil in 1951 and then didn't meet up with him again until 1991, some forty years later. That second meeting commenced a many-year association as Phil's agent and as his friend. It was a wonderful period during which I was able to see a bit further inside the man and begin to more fully understand those qualities that not only made him a World Formula One Champion but also resulted in Phil being, "the Carrier of the Flame" for road racing and automobile collecting.

Phil is suffering through some difficult times with the onset of Parkinson's Disease and the related deterioration in his health. Typically Phil, he is using his personal prestige to bring awareness of the disease by participating in a number of organizations dedicated to finding a cure. That cure will come, unfortunately, too late to help Phil but that makes any effort no less important. If you are thinking of Phil on his birthday on April 20, also think about your local organizations dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's and send them Phil's birthday present.

Happy birthday, Phil - you're still that Young Californian and always will be in my mind. Thanks for being just who you are.

Donn Gurney