You may know Denise McCluggage passed last night. A great person, always open to talk and share car stories, a great lady driver and journalist. Once talking with her at Laguna Seca she said "Wait a minute, I want you to meet someone". She called Stirling Moss over (before he wiped out the Aston) and visited. What a great lady. She and her stories will be missed. Steve
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Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
I posted this first thing this morning on the Shelby American Auto Club TDB when we got word from the hospital and friends here in Santa Fe.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life...gage-1927-2015
I never thought any Corvette people would know her. She was a good friend of mine,and very active in our Santa Fe Concorso and Cars and Coffee and Road Rallies in the area for years. I brought my 50th Anniversary '64 FIA Cobra to our Cars and Coffee last month and she was there as usual. She had to sit in the car, get a ride, and we talked for a long time about Shelby and what a "hoot" (her words) he was, so many stories, and the first time she saw these cars race in the FIA races in '64 and beyond. I will always remember that last time I was with her. Hers was a life well lived, as some friends have said, she was a lovely lady, a racer, a writer, and a genuine car fanatic that enriched our city and state for years, a truly unique lady in a world of boy racers, as she put it. RIP Denise, you will be missed.Big Tanks In the High Mountains of New Mexico -
Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
A wish for everyone you know would be that when you reach your 80s you retain the love of life of now and the past and seek the adventure of the future as well as this Lady Grand Marshall did. I had the pleasure of meeting her again in 2010 at Amelia, when only Bill Warner remembered the 50th Anniversary of the last Cuban Grand Prix. She, Sam Posey, and Eduardo, the curator of the Habana National Museum, "judged" the class. A marvelous lady!Comment
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Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
Michael,
thanks for the stories. She was a fascinating person.
GeorgeComment
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Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
I recall how much I enjoyed her writing in Autoweek back in the eighties and had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with her in the early nineties at the Palm Springs vintage races. She knew everyone who was anyone in the racing community and had a story about them all. She was a great lady and had a great life.
DukeComment
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Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
Michael,
Great story. Now, no more letting Porsches pass you in a ZR1!
GeorgeComment
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Re: Denise McCluggage Passed
Like Duke I read Denise's published pieces in Autoweek and elsewhere. She had a unique perspective and her prose flowed beautifully and articulately, often drawing from her direct participation at the dawn of sports car racing. One of her pieces talked about her adoption of a pink helmet w/polka dots as a personal identifier in a "mens" race. I looked for her at Laguna Seca from year to year at the Monterey Historics/Reunion w/o success. She seemed a very graceful lady w/a wicked wit - one of the best ambassadors we had for motorsports and automotive enthusiasm.Comment
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