Pictures Pikes Peak Hill Climb race dune buggies and more

[colorado_aircooled]

Good luck to all the Salt Flat racers, the 36hp class has alot of folks talking VW again.
This photo is of Ken Lowry of Deano Dyno Soars fame. Working on the Mears motor for 1972. Not sure which car this went into for the hill climb. The motor was supercharged,fuel injected 2180

[bajamike560]

Nice photo, thanks for posting it.
New is old again and again. I have been thinking about a blower setup on a T-3 type of engine but not a T-3 car really, unsure right now. Just something fun to do and have people look in wonder.....
Known people to do some modern stuff but not really what I like.

Mike

[colorado_aircooled]

One of the early Newman Dreager cars, notcie the DDS logo on the back.This was the car with the supercharger.
One of the themes that I have seen with the history of Volkswagen motors on the Peak, has been team work and fielding multilpe cars .Like they do in Nascar today. 1966 Ted Trevor and Don Wilcox both drove Manx's /Corvair as a team. 1971 again Alex Dearborn, Ted Trevor and Reeves Callaway all drove Deserters as a team. In 1976 the Kanawyer famliy fielded 4 cars all N/D's.(?) plus massive support from the engine and chassic experts at the time in California . Today it seems most are single car teams racing Pike's Peak

[colorado_aircooled]

There is a Newman Dreager style "Pikes Peak Hill Climb" race car still alive. Looks like it's in GREAT hands for many years to come. Capena Design has a killer racing museum and much more. Tours are available ! It's in Scotts Valley Ca. check out this link on Bruce Capepa's Hill Climb car and more info on Capena Design and musuem.


http://www.canepa.com/collection/cars/Pikes%20Peak/index.html

Now that is my kind of Museum !!!

[colorado_aircooled]

Other then Bruce Canepa's car in his museum,and Don Wilcox's Manx, still have not found any other cars still in one piece. "Where have they gone?" The Meyers Manx of Ted Trevor was definitely scrapped and taken to Orange county rubbish dump in Los Angeles years ago. It is said thet Bruce Meyers himself has a chunk of that, metal flake lilac Manx in his office.
Paul Newman of Newman Racing that designed and helped build the Newman Dreager cars is still in to the chassic business just not the same kind of autos.

http://www.newmancarcreations.com/

[colorado_aircooled]

Another Hill Climb racer Alex Dearborn, who drove the Deserter GS in 1971 ,is still into vintage cars. At his web site he has info on the Deserter series of Dune Buggies and also the cars he restores and sells today.

http://www.dearbornauto.com/index.shtml

[bajamike560]

QUIT posting link's!!!!!! Trying to keep up with ya.
I am still going thru the canepa site... There is a bunch of nice stuff there. Thank's for sharing the research you are doing.
Is there a book or movie you plan on doing? That would be nice.
(Insert old school Hollywood light's) "history of the hill" or something like that...

Mike

[colorado_aircooled]

From the start in 1966 then the big years 1971 to the early 80's Volkswagen guys changed racing on Pikes Peak. But we are not done yet. John Wells another Dune Buggy guy ,had and idea He raced Pikes peak in 1972-73-74 with a Dune Buggy Corvair powered, but was watching how the Newman / Dreager cars were changing racing on Pikes Peak. Stay tuned.................


yeah I know not VW or Porsche Power But this story is almost coming to the end.

[bajamike560]

WHAT, why do this to us????
Hmm, Howard's pit bar-b-q. Wonder if we could sponser our self's with my car and the shack we want to open???
We would probably go broke before the door's open to the public and the first plate is served.

Mike

[colorado_aircooled]

Yes ,Howards Pit BBQ , John Wells drove his,red number 7 car in the 1976 race he built it himself. Prior years he was running a Corvair powered dune buggy. He went on to build over 25 of these race cars and they are the wildest rides on the Hill Climb,the "WELLS COYOTE". Many famous drivers ended up in these cars . Al Unser Jr ,Bill Brister, Gary Lee Kanawyer,Robby Unser, Dick Dodge Jr. , David Donner, Ted Foltz, even Nascar's Robby Gordon, Those race car built and designed by John Wells have won more Open Wheel titles then any other Hill Climb car. Get this he 1st raced the Wells Coyote in 1976 (34 years later), 2010's Pikes Peak Hill Climb had 6 of them racing and the winner Open Wheel Class, Spencer Stelle was driving a Wells Coyote. Below is one of the nicer looking Wells Coyotes racing, Just think from Dune Buggies into Sandrails, then on to Newman Dreager's ending with the Wells Coyote, just look at the Wells Coyote car and how close is it to a Mid engined dune buggy(Deserter GS ) with the body off. Not that far really. The mark Aircooled enthusists and Dune Buggy creators made, is still on the Pikes Peak today, don't you think ?

[bajamike560]

Heck yes I think...... Truly amazing what has been done in the past but still holds true to today... How much cash has "monster" got in his car over the year's for just a couple of seconds of time. Different type of cars but still the same race.

Off to the salt flat's in the morning, kinda the same but different, the surface and weather all play a roll, not the real HP number's.

Mike

[colorado_aircooled]

Just got a Crown Manufacturing catalog from the late 60's. The Pikes Peak Hill climb car is called " The Crown Meyers Manx". It had lots of info about the set up for Don Wilcox's car and also this picture. Must have been taken shortly after racing Pikes Peak in 1966. Still has all of the decals and 44 number from that race. Ted and Don raced this car in 46 slaloms up to March of 1967.



Notice the bar up front,below the tube bumper. The catalog stated it was 75lbs to help keep the front end planted to the ground. Wonder why they ran both the weighted bar and a bumper bar/Class rules maybe

[colorado_aircooled]

Found this not so good picture of the Mears Hill Climb car (1976 ) You at least get an idea about the bright orange color,and sponsors.



One trick many hill climb racer used on there tires was cutting grooves into the tire to their own liking. Rules stated stock tires had to be used. The REAL trick was using a compond on the outside that contained WALNUT shells, which was designed to come out of the rubber to constantly expose new rubber to the surface. I have heard about it and seen it in print,but never have seen it myself. Is there any one out there that can confirm that trick

Also note the circle cut out of the front edge of the wing. That's a good story by itself

I got a tip on the Walnut shells. Firstone put the shells into the rubber mix for the Hill Climb cars !!!!!! Wonder if Goodyear and Gates Tires did those type of things too back in the days. That would be a nice score to find Hill Climb tires with walnut sheels in the rubber!

[colorado_aircooled]

With many hits on this thread I was looking for some feedback. Many interesting leads have came up. Let me know what you folks think. Would you like some first hand accounts of the race in 1971 with more pictures? How about info on being able to WATCH the 1976 winning run by Rick Mears More pictures What about the chance of finding one of these Hill Climb cars still out there today and still racing There is a lot more please jump in !!!!!!!

The best part of all of this is now this info has a home and this lost history is not lost anymore

[bajamike560]

Just keep the info coming our way that you find, I will pitch in what I can dig up.

Wife and I were driving back from our Bonniville salt flat trip, talking about other places to see, she asked how far it was to Colorado (in hours compared to other trips we have been on and half way points of interest)
About 24 hrs for us and Salt lake is about half way. She says, well, we should do the trip. Can we breathe that high she asked kinda joking. I said NO, we are at 150+ sea level, 2 steps rest etc..... Long story short, we might see ya next July if you are going to be at the mountain.

Mike

[colorado_aircooled]

Recieved a detailed description of the 1971 race from Alex Dearborn ,

"The Deserters that ran are all the mid-engined GS Type, and all but mine were Corvair powered.
The idea for 71 was to have Crown Corvair guy,Ted Trevor, build 2 Corvair racing engines for us(at Autodynamics), and for us to send 2 Deserter GS kits to him as exchange.
We would run at least three cars at the Peak. The engines arrived 3 days before we had to ship out to Colorado,and the first blew on the dyno while we ran it in..........................

The rest of story is now ,at the Deserters Owners Group. Nice site lots of info,links and pictures

http://www.deserterownersgroup.org/

It is in there message forum, the folks there have been a big help with all the Deserter GS's that have ran in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

Now there is a rumor that Ted Trevor's yellow Deserter GS is still alive and in California, some one on this site HAS to have some clues

[James Arredondo]

Pretty cool thread you have going here. I work for Paul Newman @ Newman Car Creations. He tells stories of Pikes Peak and who he was with at the time, it's pretty amazing. Paul is such a humble guy, it's always fun to hear any of his race car stories. Sometimes he'll come off with one I had no idea he was involved with and I get blown away. Anyway, I think Paul and his son Kyle are getting some pics together to post.

[colorado_aircooled]

Great news, Paul Newman was a major leader on the Hill Climb Pictures, pictures ,pictures, would be super. You can let him know,I may have found one of his old Newman / Dreager race cars, that was racing as recently as 2009 !! Between the Hill Climb and Ascot dirt track cars,I wonder how many Volkswagen powered cars came out of Newman Racing? Glad you liked the thread.

There is more info coming

[colorado_aircooled]

Just in pictures of Ted Trevors Hill Climb car

A Deserter that was Corvair turbo charged. The car was listed for sale many years ago in SoCal. additional pictures are now at the Deserters Owners Group site.



Notice the rollbar cross brace it was a requirement of the USAC for Pikes Peak . With the brace no passenger head room was available. Helps spotting Hill Climb Deserters.





While hunting for these cars. Another special Deserter has surfaced. Roll bar cross brace is the same, but modified. Notice the snap in drivers seat and the cut outs for the carbs on the rear hood for the corvair carbs. Any one know the history of the "X- Gary Sunshine" car.

[GS guy]

Don't think my GS is in the same esteemed field as the other cars in your thread, but I would be interested in any additional history of the car. The Orange GS above is my car. I guess it was fairly unique in having the roll bar cross-brace. Seems like not too many GS cars were fitted with one.
Mine seems to have been originally built as a race car, not a street buggy. The cross brace makes it extremely dangerous for a passenger, as their head would basically be just barely in front of it - possibly deadly in a rear end tag. Also no indication a passenger seat cover was ever installed.
I have records going back to three previous owners, back to 1975.

I purchased it as a basket case, all there but everything pretty much worn out. The car has been undergoing re-building and some modernization changes for several years now. Here are a couple of early pics:
With ill fitting Bounty Hunter windshield posts that came with the car (possibly it was originally purchased/built without a windshield?)



A PO pic of the Corvair engine it came with:


_________________
70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!