"Eric Pohl and I were in the Air Force together, stationed in the Hollywood hills and I was part of Eric's pit crew.   Eric and Doug were friends and we hung out at Doug's Corvette shop. 

I took the movies during each race there at Santa Barbara.  You may be right about the 1965 date.  The film has been sitting in my closet for all these years.  Just got around to digitizing it this month.    Does anyone know who owns the Alligator now? 
Always thought it was a great looking machine."

(11-29-12)  From Jim Gessner:

"Hello DAVE. I AM JIM GESSNER. My website ww.vettefinderjim.com explains who I am. Our REGISTRY OF CORVETTE RACE CARS is my passion. www.registryofcorvetteracecars.com

I just talked to DOUG HOOPER. He lives in OAKHURST. He is NOT computer literate, but we are working on him to get there with help from Grandkids etc. I would love to get a copy of the DVD.

The ''ALLIGATOR'' is still alive. It showed up at  FABULOUS 50'S CONCOUR show in 2010.

I would love to talk to you. I have appointments this morning, but can be reached this afternoon or anytime later as I am retired."

(11-29-12)  From Fred Yeakel:

"May 29 & 30, 1965 was the first race weekend for my 1957 Corvette. We finished the car early Saturday morning and trailered it up to the SB races. 

The biggest problem was that the rear intake manifold seal kept failing after two laps and I would be black flagged for smoking. We finally gave up and watched the Sunday race. 

I watched Ozzie (Eric Pohl) go over the embankment. I went to see him in the hospital and loaned him my trailer to bring his/Doug's car back to North Hollywood. If you look closely at the video, there are two Cheetahs in the background. Jerry Entin's #78 and very briefly the silver #33 Dixon Cadillac car."

(11-29-12)   From Ron Cummings:

"Tom Shaughnessy now owns the Alligator-Kurtis 500sx. The car has the Campbell Alligator body on it but Tom has a Mistral body like the body that was on the car when Campbell bought it. Tom also found the original Aluminum Deits/Sutton/Kurtis body that apparently was never mounted on the chassis.
 
It looks like a well known Northern California racer bought the chassis and body through Kurtis and died before completing the project. 

I beat Pohl at Del Mar when he spun out right in front of me at turn one at the start of the race. I was driving Dale Hersh's Porsche Speedster. My friends told me that Pohl spun the Corvette out several times trying to catch me.

At Santa Barbara, I was standing on top of a motor home watching Pohl lock up the rear wheels every lap,  leaving black tire marks, when he down shifted. Every time he did this the Corvette's engine screamed to very high rpm. Finally the flywheel came up through the car taking out the brakes.
 
Pohl went off the end of the straight crossed the track right in front of Jim Adams' Sunbeam Tiger hit the berm leaped at least twenty feet in the air and leaped across the canal. Every fiberglass seam was broken on the Corvette's body. Doug Hooper told me, last year, that the Corvette is being restored with a new frame."