Reviving this Area - Long

[vairmech]

There are many of us out there still actively racing our Corvairs and Stingers. Some are autocross but mostly road racing.
I started racing back in 1976 with a Corvair doing dirt circle track, did very well! I am the #22.





Later on I got what was originally known as the Flying Dutchman but I renamed it the "Toy". I did Nostalgia drag racing with that car and ended up doing 14.4's with the car. Yeah, that's me in the little car.



BTW, I painted that car according to the late Stu Shuster's drawings he did for me!


I have done some autocrossing and have done OK when I don't get lost in the cones. I got lost more times than not though. I always told everyone give me a road and I can drive!



After doing the track day at VIR many years ago with NECC with the above Yellow car that proved to me and others that "give me a road and I can drive". The Yellow car is a 110 PG. I put that car in the middle of all the cars running. There was only one other PG car out there but just to get track time. All other cars were prepared in some way for racing, the Yellow car was almost our daily driver!
So I got bit by the bug of road racing and built a Corvair road racer. The Car I built was a former GRM contender. I raced that car for 7 years and then things happened and I thought my racing days were over so I sold the car, it then got a Stinger badge put on it. For some reason I found and took the log books for that car to the performance workshop, WHY????? I got to talking about the car to Dave Clemens and he said he knows who owns that car! I think that Mike Stillwell owns it now, he now has the log books for the car.
Here is that car when I was racing it.



As I mentioned, life got in the way of racing. What is the second best seat in racing? The passenger side? Nope! Being a corner worker! When you have cars going by at near 100 mph about 5 ft away with just a concrete barrier between you, now you get to see the action up close and ALL of it. If you have the desire to race but can't afford it go flag at tracks. I have been a corner worker/flagger for SCCA majors races including the Detroit Grand Prix. You get lots of perks doing that.
Yes, I enjoyed the flagging.
Again, life has a way of surprising you and I had the chance and now the funds again to purchase YS-318. I have the logs going all the way back to 1988 along with the envelope and the tag receipt from Yenko Chevrolet.
When I got the car it had sat for almost 20 years in a not so enclosed space. It took me 3 weeks full time to get the car ready to race, including having to repair the roll cage where it had been cut.
So between the Blue car, flagging and the Stinger I have been doing road racing for 20 years now. With the Blue car I also raced with Midwest Council. Did pretty well there too.





Then more recently I entered the car in the Detroit Autorama with the Waterford Hills Club.



I am very proud to say that the car got a 3rd place in the race car category! I don't feel bad about that because while the other cars were road racers they were retired and now show cars, mine is actively racing with a couple of class championships in it.





And last but not least my youngest son bought the yellow Monzter from Mike Leveque and is out racing with me now.
As far as I can tell we are the ONLY father/son Corvair race team out there. This picture is last years Indy race.



And then to say that I am a proud Papa and Grandpa here is 3 generations at last years Indy race! My grandson can't afford racing yet but he does help at the track and other times.



And now I am currently getting ready for another year of racing.

[Scott H]

Quite the history Ken! Thanks for sharing that. Love it!
Very cool that you and your son are racing.

My dad bought a '62 Corvair that I am currently trying to get back on the road for him. We aren't racing them but at least hoping to attend car shows together.