Jim Hall at Cal-Tech

Website contributor Bob Norton attended the California Institute of Technology in the late 1950's.  At the same time, famed racer Jim Hall was also a student.
 

Bob recalls those days:  "We both attended Caltech, although he was three years ahead of me.  The Ferrari Monza is shown shortly after the Santa Barbara races in May, 1957.

Jim pointed out the slight flaw in the Ferrari's nose that he got by hitting a rubber cone at speed."
 
"The first time I met Jim I had been talking with a friend in the Mechanical Engineering library at Caltech.  We were discussing the Palm Springs races in early 1957.  In the large displacement production class a Corvette had been leading early, and then slowed down, allowing Jack Bates to win with his Mercedes-Benz 300SL.  As we were discussing possible reasons for the Corvette slowing down, a Texas drawl comes from the next room: "Because my brakes faded."  As you can imagine, you could have knocked my friend and I over with a feather.  We had no idea that a racer actually attended Caltech with us!

In his senior year at Caltech, Jim raced the Corvette and Ferrari Monza, drove a Corvette on the street, had a Plymouth Fury (hot car at the time) for a tow car.  Oh, and he was married too.  Not bad for a full time student at Caltech!  Of course having oil money didn't hurt, I'm sure."
 
"Check out the classic 1950s nerds admiring the Ferrari!"
 
 
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