"This car got off into the sand at Turn 1 at Palm Springs and flipped over on its back.  As the dust settled, the door slid open and the driver exited in good condition.  As you may recall, the K-D had doors that slid forward into the front fender instead of opening outward.  This made for a great emergency exit when the car was in this position."

(8-11-09)  From historian Ron Cummings:

"Sinatra's nephew?"

(8-11-09)   From Pete Vanlaw

"Ah yes!  My old friend Ray Sinatra.  Actually he was a cousin to Frank. He and I worked together for a few years when he had a production company in Mexico City.  But I must say that Ray, behind the wheel of any car, was a menace on the road.   I only rode with him once in Mexico City, then said "Never again!" after he caused another car to sideswipe a parked car and flip in the middle of downtown traffic.  Otherwise, we had some very memorable times working together.  Sadly and ironically, he died in a one car accident in Mexico when he ran into a bridge abutment. He left a lovely wife and a couple of kids behind.  But whether or not they ever moved back to the States, I have no idea."

(8-23-09)   More from Pete Vanlaw:

"An addendum to the Ray Sinatra story and sort of another "six degrees of separation":  I worked with Haskell Wexler for five years during the late 60's and early 70's. Haskell and Max Balchowsky were good friends, with Haskell having underwritten a couple of Old Yallers, among other racing ventures. 

Haskell was also one of the early aficionados of the then revolutionary French Eclair camera. The distributor for the Americas was a fellow by the name of J.P. Carson, who was also close friends with both Ray Sinatra and Haskell. I then met Ray as a result of putting together a production for Haskell in Mexico through Ray's company, Foro Setenta.

Haskell was also George Lucas's (Star Wars, American Graffitti, etc.) mentor, but that's a whole series of other stories and connections, and a digression from this discussion of vintage cars and drivers, with one exception -- there was a Lola T-70 involved, when George, a sports car racing buff, was still a student, and Haskell owned it, with it somehow ending up in George's student film version of the futuristic "THX 1138"."