The Garage: Your daily dose of automotive news, reviews and motorsports coverage
At some point on the evening of October 3, some dirtbag stole a grey 20′ Haulmark trailer from Woodstock, Ontario. Having a trailer stolen is bad enough, but inside that trailer was Dino Micacchi’s red Bugeye Sprite. Seen above at the 2010 VARAC Festival, #02 is a vintage race prepared Sprite.
The license plate on the trailer is D26 44W. If you see this trailer or car, contact Dino directly, by email at dino@vmswca.com or by phone at 519-788-2227.
Friend of The Garage, Mike Adams, recently became the recipient of a collection of vintage racing photos that had been taken by Clint Laurie. Among the shots was this pic of my Dad, Bud Tucker’s MKII Sprite. This is the car in which Bud raced in 1967, when he won the Alitalia trophy for sports cars in Ontario. At the right of the picture is Bud, his greasy jeans showing the reality that most racers did it all themselves back in those days. Bent down polishing something or other is my Mom, Gloria. I’m guessing this shot was taken in the paddock at Harewood Acres.
As a side note, there were two Alitalia Trophies that year, one for sports cars and the other for sedans. The sedan winner was non other than Bill Brack.
Mike Adams races the recently restored supercharged MGB that Al Pease raced back in those days, a car that is a star in its own right.
Editor’s note: thanks to Tom Johnston who informed me that the track is the Macdonald Airport which was Winnipeg Sports Car Club’s racing circuit in the 1960s.
Long time readers will recall the video we posted years ago of a 3 rotor Bugeye Sprite attacking an autocross course. I still go back and visit that clip often, as I just love to hear the wail of the wankel!
Today we have Jeff Kiesel in his Bugeye that has a turbo rotary that puts out a whopping 370 horsepower at the rear wheels! For those who don’t know, curb weight on a stock Bugeye was around 1,800 lbs. Factor in the light weight rotary and I’ll guess that this car has a floppy bonnet, Jeff’s ride might weigh somewhere around 1,500 lbs. That is a pretty wicked power to weight ratio!
Sit back, crank the volume and hold on to the chair.
Another series of gems from Dad’s collection of old racing stuff. In this sequence of newspaper clippings, Bud and his MKII Sprite get caught up with Wilf Becker in a Bugeye at Harewood Acres. During the melee, Bud’s hood took flight. I’m not sure what the outcome of this was, whether either car continued on.
These photos were shot by Bob White, who seems to have been the prominent racing photographer in Ontario back in the Sixties.
The rest of the shots are after the break
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One of the pioneering women of racing, Donna Mae Mims has passed away as 82 years of age following a series of strokes. Mims became known as the Pink Lady, thanks to her penchant for driving pink race cars. No novelty act, the Pink Lady was one of the top amateur racers in America through the Sixties, winning an SCCA National Championship in 1963 behind the wheel of her bugeye Sprite. Over the years, Mims raced a Triumph TR3, MGB, Corvair and Corvette, all pink with the words Think Pink across the back.
To those who might note the Corvair name as being a bit unusual would be interested to know that Donna Mae’s day job was at Yenko Chevrolet, home of the much sought after Yenko Camaro’s and Corvairs.
Not only was Donna Mae Mims a racer, but she was a hard core adventurer, taking part in Brock Yates’ original Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea memorial Run in 1972. Driving a borrowed limo, Mims and partners Judy Stropus and Peggy Niemcek failed to finish thanks to a high speed roll in Texas. They secured their place in pop culture when the 1981 movie The Cannonball Run featured Adrienne Barbeau as Mims in the comedy recreation.
Mims favorite car was her pink Corvette and she was very active with the Corvette owner’s clubs. She loved the Corvette so much that she had asked that her viewing take place with her in the driver’s seat. Visitors to the funeral home will parade their own Vettes to a reception.
To read the full obituary and get details on this weekend’s visitations and Corvette parade visit the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Photo above courtesy of Steeltown Vette
The past week has seen some pretty cool action here in The Garage. Thanks to an old post about my Dad’s early racing days, I was able to reunite him with one of his employees from way back in 1967. Terry Fitzgerald was also one of Bud’s strongest competitors that year. As racers do, they have already begun to swap stories.
In 1966, Bud had stopped racing the Bugeye in that previous post and had graduated to this MKII Sprite you see above. This car carried Bud Tucker to the 1967 Ontario Sports Car championship, known as the Alitalia Trophy. The following (mostly unedited) story from Bud tells where he found the speed. Oh yeah, it also gives a bit of an insight into my old man’s attitude!
As Sophia on Golden Girls Says….”Picture this”…..Harewood 1966.
A nice sunny sunday aftenoon, the BMC race I’m sure you’ll remember that was an event only for British Motor Corporation cars, Spites, MG Midgets, MGA’s, MGB’s.
Part way into the race I found myself dicing with some clown in either an MGA or B, Somehow in my dim memory I picture a “B”.
I know I beat this guy in the previous BMC race earlier in the year and I quickly begin to realize he wasn’t too pleased with the previous results, since every time I tried to pass him in the corners he would block me. He was faster on the straights, I was faster in the corners. I think we both knew that if I ever got by that would be the end of it. I’d get right up beside him in Gunnery Corner and he’d cut right in on me. Well, after he’d done this seven times, I’d had enough! Finally coming out of corner 2 I got right up beside him but on the outside…There we were tearing along (If you really could say that Spite actually tore) side by side. Picture it..The straight between 2 and 3 at Harewood had a dogleg in it, defined by hay bales on the left, I’m on the MG’s left and he’s aiming right at the point of the dogleg, leaving me nowhere to go. by that time I was rather pissed anyway, so I moved left about 3 feet away from the side of the MG…yanked my steering wheel hard right and braoadsided the F…ker! Kinda sounded like hitting a 45 gallon drum with a sledge hammer (Is sledgehammer one word or two?) End of part one of the story is he beat me into corner 3 and won the race! Later in he pits Gordie Green comes up to me and says ” YOU HIT THE GUY”.
I responded by saying “You’re right and if anybody else pulls a trick like that on me, I’ll hit them too”.
Sometime later, enter Terry Fitzgerald.
It turns out that Gordie Green and a couple of other drivers take the new guy aside and tell him “Stay away from Bud Tucker “cause he’ll hit you”.
Now comes the part that Terry doesn’t know about. Mosport is Terry’s first non novice race and he has pole position….What the hell’s that all about??? I kinda felt like Tiger Woods not making the cut in Scotland.
Green flag drops, Terry’s gone….Never to be seen again, at least not in that race.
I figure he’s got something like a corvette engine or something under the hood.
Later that day I go over to Terry and say how the H did you get off the line so fast? And to this day I thank you Terry, for telling me that you had some unheard of gearing from a Morris delivery van or something. Monday morning I’m standing at the local BMC dealership parts department to order one of those sets of gearing. The parts were flown in from England, I got them installed and the rest is history as they say. THANK YOU TERRY!
I apologize for the honesty if you were the clown in the MG! Somehow I suspect Bud & Terry have a few more racing stories just waiting to be told, so we can be sure to hear more over the coming months.
There has been much discussion about this Sprite lately, but that is another discussion for another day.
If there are two cars that define the spirit of the sports car racing in the Sixties more than any others, they must be the Austin Healey Sprite and the Triumph Spitfire. It might even be safe to say that more racers got their starts in these fun and affordable cars than all of the others combined.
Friend of The Garage, Paul Chenard, was recently commissioned to create this wonderful piece by Mike Gee from British Columbia. That’s Mike leading the way in his Spitfire at Western Speedway on Vancouver Island in 1964. Chasing him, with the inside line, is Dan Sherwood in his brand new Mk II Sprite.
Absolutely the essence of North American racing in the early Sixties!
If you’ve got a favorite photo of your car in action or you’d like to pick up one of Paul’s existing works be sure to visit Automobiliart.com
Lakeland Raceway was a drag strip and oval track in Florida that resourceful road racing enthusiasts turned into a road course with the help of access roads. The Garage regular Lou Galanos took this shot in the mid Seventies. It looks like the sports racer has just outbraked the Spridget. That era was known for the ingenuity and inventiveness of racers, so I would be curious to know what the idea was behind the two upright posts and cross bar behind the windshield.
For racing enthusiasts who live in Ontario, Mosport is an almost mythical place. It has seen the birth and heyday of series like the Trans Am and Can Am. It has played host to the Canadian Grand Prix. All of the great drivers from every decade from the Sixties onwards have driven at Mosport and called it one of the best tracks in the world. Corner 2 has often been called one of the most difficult corners on any track in the world. There are stories of victory and tragedy. There is even a long standing rumor that an old open wheeler (I can’t recall, if it was a Grand Prix or Formula Junior car) is buried somewhere near the turn 2 tunnel.
“we headed north into the country like Knights Templar in search of the Holy Grail.”
The Holy Grail indeed.
How many young men have hopped into a sports car and gone in search of their own Holy Grail. In this case, a young Christopher Ennis and his pal were in search of a race track that was rumored to be under construction. The year was 1960 and their steed…a Bugeye Sprite. How fitting then that they eventually found their Grail and managed a somewhat soggy lap.
Fitting also that this weekend, when the Can Am cars return to our Avalon, that the Toronto Star should publish Mr. Ennis’ tale of sports car enlightenment. While many may disagree, I think Mr. Ennis’ story may be the most historically significant story that The Star’s Wheels section has ever published!
Truly, this tale exemplifies the freedom and excitement that characterized the sports car revolution of the late Fifties and early Sixties. Well done Chris and congratulations on accomplishing your mission 48 years ago.
While we’ve lost the Toronto Grand Prix for 2008, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t some great racing to be had in Ontario this year. Just up the road from downtown Toronto, at Canada’s home of motorsport, is the annual VARAC Vintage Racing Festival. The focus for 2008 is on the thundering Can Am cars and what better place to experience these beasts than at Mosport.
Owners of these incredible cars are well aware that some of the most historic Can Am battles took place at Mosport and are always happy to bring their monsters back to the track. We’re still 4 months away and the entry list is already impressive.
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