Interested in Palm Springs Concours

[John Straub]

Anyone interested in a new Concours starting up in Palm Springs, check this out.

www.desertconcours.com

Could be a fun drive!

[lrayner]

It looks like it would be fun. Too bad they aren't holding it in conjunction with a vintage race like they did some years back. The races were on Thanksgiving weekend and first held at the airfield which, like Coronado, was perfect from a spectators vantage. Then for several years they were on a street course. As I recall, there was a concours held during the weekend as well. Did you ever race any of them John?

[John Straub]

Yes I did, three times, twice at the airport and once on the street course in the mid 80's...not in the GT though, I ran the 911. Your right, it was a great place to race and watch, I wish they still did it.

You were there?

[lrayner]

Yes, I went to four of them I think. One of my favorite memories is of a Porsche dueling it out with a 12 cylinder Ferrari, passing it in the corners and then getting repassed on the straight-- that is until, right at the end, the Porsche ended up on it's roof and the rear window popped out. (That wasn't you was it?)

They really flogged those cars then... not worth quite as much money as they are today...

[Steve Grosekemper]

Those days were nuts!
We were running a Can-Am car in the late 80's
(Hamill SR-3)
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/Marti ... yst61B.jpg

We were running the road course in Palm Springs and in a race with Danny Ongais driving a Vasak Polak BMW Chevron (Like this B-19 I think)
http://www.ritzsite.demon.nl/Sportscars ... 0_no22.jpg

Well Danny "On the Gas" had not mellowed much with age and the 20 minute "Parade race" turned into a sprint for the championship! We got forced into a barrier and never finished the race but the car lived to race another day.

(If you are interested in really colorful stories of old racers look up Danny Ongias... They don't get much more colorful than the "Flyin'-Hawaiian").

Those were really exciting days because you got to see the drivers in the actual cars they made famous instead of some rich guy playing racer boy (Yes I am jealous of the rich guys playing racer-who isn't?)

I still have an old VHS tape of our initial testing of that car at WSIR after a 10 plus year restoration...
Unfortunately, at 20-something years old I was never allowed to do any "testing" at the track. Something about 500HP and no skill... Bla...Bla...Bla...

[cam]

Danny Ongais is not an easy guy to look up! Fairly reclusive even in the old days. Always one of the best set up guys in the industry. His son Brian was also a very talented driver, very intelligent & smooth.

[Steve Grosekemper]

Danny Ongais is not an easy guy to look up! Fairly reclusive even in the old days. Always one of the best set up guys in the industry. His son Brian was also a very talented driver, very intelligent & smooth.

No one can hide from Google
http://www.google.com/search?q=Danny+On ... art=0&sa=N

69 pages of hits enough? Then there are the images...
Yep, he was very quiet and reclusive back in the day...
He let his actions speak for him.

[John Straub]

No, it wasn't me on my roof. The 911 sits in the garage now, mostly concours...but I do miss driving it. The reason I stopped driving it in races was, it was getting a little crazy back then(too much attachment to the car since I drove and raced it from the early 70's).

I remember one of the starts out there when one of the cars in the first row hit a tire barrier at the green flag...tire were rolling and flying everywhere...not sure how I made it through along with others without hitting any. I also remember Vic Edelbrock stuff a beauiful Corvette into a K-rail out there.

Like Steve said, they did have a lot of great drivers show up and drive out there, even some F1 guys. Do you remember that Steve?

That's why I like running Steve Earle's events now, if you make contact with someone or something, your out for 13 months...it keeps people a little toned down. No one wants to get a bad rep and everyone wants to try to make it to the big game in Monterey everyear.

[cam]

69 pages of hits enough? Then there are the images...
Yep, he was very quiet and reclusive back in the day...
He let his actions speak for him.[/quote]

69 pages doesn't even begin to cover it.
Just shows what humble(but verrry competitive) people they are.