racing car colors

[Loren L.]

Re: racing car colors

Don Gist's '60 - which he first tried to sports car race; ie Nassau Dec 60 - was the Cunningham LeMans car now owned by the Miller family. The '62s whereabouts is, to my knowledge, unknown. I asked Don about his "parts source"; his response, "My neighbor.". Fellow named H. Earl.

[Chris S.]

Re: racing car colors

that would be nice to have as a neighbor.

[Peter G.]

Re: racing car colors

Back in the days of international racing colors there were no major commercial sponsors like today. Racing teams were usually run by wealthy amateurs, like Briggs Cunningham with "works" (factory) support or direct factory involvement, like Ferrari.

Some drivers were paid a modest amount by the teams, but some just raced for the glory, including various European royalty.

"Commercialization" of racing began in the mid to late sixties, and cars began being painted in the colors of their major commercial sponsors. Early examples were the Gulf Oil Team run by John Wyer (GT-40s and later Porsche 917s painted light blue with orange strips), Bruce McLaren's Orange Can-Am cars (also sponsored by Gulf), and Roger Penske's Sunoco Blue race cars which began with their big block GT Corvette in 1966. In fact, Penske may have been the first guy to get a major coporate sponsorship with his "Zerex Special" racing in SCCA in the early sixties.

Probably the reason for this was the increasing cost of racing as technology advanced and race cars diverged farther and farther from road cars. Racing was also becoming more popular with increasing gate receipts and TV coverage. Corporations saw this as an additional marketing avenue, which meant the factories could concentrate on development and not have to support the team on the road. It was a win-win situation, but I miss the days when teams raced in their international colors for the glory of country and marque.

In the US, the SCCA was formed after WW II by some northeast bluebloods with the intent of it being strictly amateur. No prize money could be paid, but I think team/car owners could pay drivers. A good example was Bill Mitchell's campaigning of the original Stingray, which won the C-modified national Championship in 1961. Mitchell bought the Corvette SS "mule" chassis from GM for one dollar and had Larry Shinoda design and build a body after hours at GM, but my understanding is that Mitchell paid the team's expenses out of his own pocket.

The first "professional" SCCA series that paid prize money was the US Road Racing Championship beginning in the mid sixties. This series then evolved into the Can-Am.

Duke

Well said Duke!

Racing was becoming extremely expensive and sponsorships were the only way the sport was going to continue past the late 60s. Besides the Sunoco sponsorship that Roger Penske acquired for his Corvette/Grand Sport team in 1966, the other big sponsor to Corvette racing back then, was Owens Corning. Tony DeLorenzo and Jerry Thompson drove these Owens Corning L-88 Corvettes to a record number of victories. They were both recently inducted into the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame in September 2009.