----- Original Message -----
From: R. KASTNER <kaskas@earthlink.net>
To: <Gt6steve@AOL.COM>; <FOT@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 1999 3:22 PM
Subject: Racing in the Fifties and early 60's.
> I raced from 1952 thru 1960, then ran the driver school at Riverside for
three
> years and was on theBoard of Governers at the Calif. Sports Car Club, so
I've
> seen a lot of production car racing and been in a lot too. I was also on
the
> Constest Board and the Nat'l Licensing Chairman for the SCCA.
(credentials)
> In the Fifties almost everyone drove their car to the race track and
on the
> street. We had Riverside, Pomona, Willow Springs, Paramount Ranch, Del
Mar, Hour
> Glass Field and others too. The Porsche drivers usually had a VW engine
that
> they put in their cars after the event for their street driving. I would
change
> heads, camshafts and tires and then drive the same car to work on Monday.
We
> raced generally about 10-12 atimes a year. In my class of E production,
there
> were the MGA Twin cam cars, Morgans (not supersports) TR-3's, Healey 100,
Arnolt
> Bristol, Porsche Super and an occasional funny kind of car or maybe a
Jowett
> Jupiter. Anyway there would be an average of 35 to 40 cars in the class,
all
> production cars of which all but maybe two or three were either flat towed
or
> driven to the track and hopefully home again. !959 was the first year
that I
> was sponsored by Triumph and won the Championship and had a trailer and
pickup.
> What a difference. Most people had retread tires and they had to be
treaded. No
> slicks allowed, no re- grooves allowed. As everyone was driving their own
car it
> was a matter of survival with your wallet so you didn't crash. You take
it
> right out to the 'nth of your ability at every brake marker and corner but
you
> looked around and wern't as brave as some I see today risking cars ( not
their
> own) for not a good reason. You had to be careful with the revs and be
accurate
> as this car also had to take you to work. You want to get funny with the
engine
> or chassis? There were people as part of the tech inspection that were
looking
> for locked rear ends, alternate springs, oil coolers and goofy setting on
> suspension. You had to be very cool. No options were allowed. The Tr's of
> course had the overdrive but most guys didn't use it as they hadn't
figured out
> how to make it work very many laps. It was really fun when I worked that
out and
> be racing with a Porsche side by side down a chute and have him waiting
for me
> to shift, flick the switch and he was history. The Porsche had a lot of
the best
> of it as they had adjustable suspension and many transmissiion ratios that
were
> all listed as standard. If you couldn't buy the option or feature off the
> showroom floor you were not allowed to use it in any of the racing. Now
that was
> Cal Club where the rules were pretty darn good as the SCCA later copied
them
> almost exactly. I was part of the team that wrote the rules and a feature
that
> was great about then o options was that you could not then go to Germany
or
> England and buy a spoecial car that had been homologated by the FIA for
factory
> racing and run it as a production car. At the same time in the EAST the
SCCA did
> allow options and that created a class of cars well beyond the reach of
most
> people. One of the major regulations that was picked up by the SCCA from
the Cal
> Club was " You may take away maaterial but you may not add". So this
allowed you
> to mill the head, grind a cam, lighten a piston or cam follower or
pushrod, but
> you can;'t weld up the combustion chamber or the manifold or other parts
of the
> car like the spider gears becuase you were adding material . Some guys
tried to
> pull off the deal that they cut off part of the inlet manifold, melted
down into
> a stick or rod then used this to weld up another part of the manifold. ( I
> didn't get away with that one either) Heavy suspension springs were not
allowed
> unless delivered off the showroom floor on that model. But you can get
around
> that by cutting a coil off then heating the spring partialy, pulling the
coils
> further apart to get the right length and you wound up with a stiffer
spring. A
> lot of work but absoultly workable and LEGAL. There were a few folks
unhappy
> about this little deal but it certainly didn't cost much to do and was
available
> for anyone that had the right frame of mind that there was very little
that made
> a car go fast that
> was too much trouble. ( They did change that rule and allow springs the
next
> year) No anti-roll bars either. These were for the most part true
production
> cars that were raced very very hard but a pain in the neck to get thru
tech
> inspection if you had your heater hooked up to the oil pump and you tried
to
> have a cooler under a fender or something of the that nature. At tech you
were
> refused entry if caught, fix it and come back, okay. BUT if you raced with
it
> and were caught in the after race inspection (top 3-5 cars plus one car at
> random from the field) you would probably lose your license for at least 6
> months and maybe a year. So if you were getting loose with the regulations
you
> had to be prepared to defend your position in a court called the "Contest
> Board". Bring your proof or argument and lay it out. It worked amazingly
well.
> There was also the opprotunity to protest any vehicle in your class that
you
> wanted by putting up a $50 dollar bond. After the race the car was sealed
in the
> portion protested and anything from a full scale engine tear down to
whatever
> else was protested was done later in the following week in the evening and
> presided over by the Contest Board members. If you refused the sealing or
the
> protest you were OUT right then no maybe about it. This makes you think
really
> hard and be very very determined to improve your car in a extremely clever
> fashion. The part about not being able to just buy options and put them on
and
> the restriction of "add not material" keep the costs down and created a
class of
> hard driving and very careful preparation. The cars used the stock cranks,
rods,
> pistons or replacment type with .040" oversie the max. No oversize valves
etc
> etc. From my experience in this business it was found that the majority of
the
> BIG cheaters were in the field about midway or fast of the slow guys. This
> position in the field generally just could not believe that the people who
were
> in the front could possible be legal but it was very seldon indeed that
anyone
> in the front was put down for an illegal car. Crazy driving ,yes, but not
for
> cheater cars. Now that was the Fifties and very early Sixties racing in
> Southern California. The SCCA also was putting on races both in So Cal and
in
> the San Francisco area under the Nat'l SCCA ruiles (with the options and
stuff)
> I had a complete different set of stuff for my car so that I could go play
with
> those people also. All the options that Triumph listed and there other
> preparation rules also. Silly stuff but that was ironed out when the Cal
Club
> merged with the SCCA. I was a part of the negotions on that deal and
looked
> after the regulations for production car racing. It was then that the
National
> organization took up the Cal Club rules and went on to be a really good
> organization. To this day the Cal club is the only region of the SCCA that
has
> its full name involved as the name of thier region. The California Sports
Car
> Club region of the SCCA. There were no fender flairs or even enlarging or
> "bumping out" of the fender lips at that time. When the slick race tires
came
> into being and were allowed in production classes that was the start of
the
> allowed body modifications ( bad deal too). Just a little stretching to
begine
> with then roll the lip a little then bump it out a bit then finally flairs
> (ugly). But it did take over twelve years for that course of events to
happen.
> Another time maybe some more on the 60's. Anybody care?
>
>
>
>
>
> Gt6steve@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 9/24/99 7:37:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> > kaskas@earthlink.net writes:
> >
> > << I think it really amusing on how people think the cars were raced in
the
> > late
> > 50's and 60's. Most of the production cars I have seen aren't even on
the
> > same page.
> > >>
> > Kas, can you expand on that thought for us? I assume you mean the cars
were
> > run harder then? All the FOT would welcome your observations. Steve
>
>
>
>
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