(7-22-09) From Rick Blackmarr:
"Another thing suggesting the photo is not from Laguna besides the
Laguna USRRC entry list for 1966 is that Laguna Seca doesn't support that
much grass on the verge as is present in the photo.
Looking further for clues at racingsportscars.com listings shows
that:
Steve Diulo raced his Lotus 19-G at the USRRC Laguna Seca event on
May 8, 1966 using #29. Racingsportscars.com
has no listing (yet) for the 1965 Las Vegas GP.
Doug Revson ran his #23 Porsche 906 at the Mt. Tremblant race on
7-10-66 and at the Mid-Ohio USRRC event on 8-28-66. Prior to the
Kent USRRC, he raced his tri-color Lotus 23-Climax at the 5-19-66 Bridgehampton
USRRC using #23. However, racingsportscars.com has no listing for
the Kent USRRC, so while it is better than the USRRC website for identifying
race car numbers, it is no help here. However, scanning the 1966
USRRC race entries shown on racingsportscars confirms that other Porsche
906 entrants like Scooter Patrick and others did not use #2. I can
find no other race reference to the Mike Fisher Porsched 906, which remains
my guess for the car behind Wester in the photo."
(7-21-09) From Rick Blackmarr:
"Browsing the great new Don Wester archive stuff you posted, I was
intrigued by your caption for the last racing photo of Don in his #60 Porsche
906 trailing a ??? Genie and leading another Porsche 906 (#2). Since
I never saw Don drive his 906 (but did see him in RSK and 904), my hunch
was to look at the USRRC archive at "classicscars.com".
Searching the 1966 and 1967 seasons, there was only one event that lists
Don Wester among the finishers and DNFs. That event was Round 6 of
the 1966 campaign on July 6th at Kent (USRRC Pacific Raceways). The
top ten finishers are shown as follows:
1. - Mark Donohue / USA
Lola T70 Mk.2 Chevrolet
68 1:35:21,400
2. - John Cannon / CDN
McLaren - Chevrolet
68
3. - Chuck Parsons / USA
McLaren - Chevrolet
67
4. - Bill Eve / USA
Genie - Ford
66
5. - Lew Florence
Lotus 19 Chevrolet
65
6. - Don Wester / USA
Porsche 906
65
7. - Doug Revson / USA
Porsche 906
65
8. - Mike Fisher / CDN
Porsche 906
64
9. - Steve Diulo
Lotus 19 Ford
61
10. - Ken Legg
Lotus 23 Ford
60
The #29 car doesn’t have a Genie appearance to me (Bill Eve finished
4th in one). It looks more like a modified Lotus 19, but Lew Florence
used a dark multi-color scheme on his in 1965. My thinking on the
#29 “Genie” is that it is Steve Diulo’s Lotus 19B-Ford (nee Gurney) which
was white in the photos I’ve seen from other events, and I think he used
#29 in Las Vegas in 1965. Note the Bardahl (Lotus?) lettering on
the door. I don’t know what livery Doug Revson was running on his
906, but I seem to recall him running it in the 1966 Laguna Can-Am with
the stem to stern red-white-blue pattern he used earlier on his Lotus 23.
So my guess is the number 2 Porsche is Mike Fisher’s that placed eighth
per the results above."
(8-30-11) From John Skuja
I can say without hesitation that is Pacific International
Raceway in
Kent Washington.. It was my first chance to see and hear a
Carrera 6
perform. I was just a kid and I remember attending the USRRC
race at
Kent. There were a ton of big bore cars there, including Mark
Donahue in
the Penske Lola T70. But when the green flag fell and all
of those big
bore machines were making the ground shake, I could hear Don's C6
howling
it's beautiful sound above all the ground pounding... I went
on to get
trained at the VW factory in 1970 and worked as a Porsche/Audi tech
for
the next 40 years.
The car was purchased by Lew Florence and was campaigned for several
years
with a painting of two apples on the rear end of the car and "Apple
Knocker" under the graphic, all else was the same. That car
held the
under two liter track record at PIR till they changed the track
configuration, the time was set by Don at 1:25.00 and equaled by
Lew, but
never bested..
Don's car is now in the Portland, OR, area, painted red with the
same
scallops in the front fenders. I have attached a picture of
the car in
present day livery. The car was restored by Gary Emory, of Porsche
Parts
Obsolete in McMinville, OR. I almost went to work for them,
but the
commute would have been too long. Here is the page from their
site about
the car...
(8-30-11) From John Skuja:
"I can say without hesitation that the venue is Pacific International
Raceway in Kent Washington.. It was my first chance to see and hear
a Carrera 6 perform. I was just a kid and I remember attending the
USRRC race at Kent. There were a ton of big bore cars there, including
Mark Donahue in the Penske Lola T70. But when the green flag fell
and all of those big bore machines were making the ground shake, I could
hear Don's C6 howling it's beautiful sound above all the ground pounding...
I went on to get trained at the VW factory in 1970 and worked as a Porsche/Audi
tech for the next 40 years.
The car was purchased by Lew Florence and was campaigned for several
years with a painting of two apples on the rear end of the car and "Apple
Knocker" under the graphic, all else was the same. That car
held the
under two liter track record at PIR till they changed the track
config- uration, the time was set by Don at 1:25.00 and equaled by Lew,
but
never bested..
Don's car is now in the Portland, OR, area, painted red with the
same
scallops in the front fenders. I have attached a picture of
the car in
present day livery. The car was restored by Gary Emory, of Porsche
Parts
Obsolete in McMinville, OR. I almost went to work for them,
but the
commute would have been too long. Here is the
page from their site about
the car." |