I've posted him an invite here but in doing so it dawned on me that THIS MONTH I celebrate 35 years of rallying! Yup, thirty-five years ago this month I embarked on my first rally contest, a benefit gimmick rally ("Who is the tree surgeon?" Answer was a rusty Dr. Pepper sign nailed to a dead oak tree.) in San Angelo, Texas! Talk about afflictions ...
Dan and I exchanged several emails after my first post to him and I've come to find he was pretty busy working Ohio stage rallys back when I first started this sport. I offered him some RealAutoSport disk space to host any pics he cared to scan and here are some of the coolest so far. The ret can be found here - http://www.realautosport.com/OldPics/Hirschfeld
He promises more, "from the 1978 Sunriser 400 ... the 1979 Ohio Rally Championship Tulip 200." and the 20 Stages rally in MI. like this one:
Wow, I was in the top-20 overall stage times at the end of Leg 1 from 68 entries in a crappy old Chevy Vega. Wish I could remember why we DNFed on Leg 2. Time heals, I guess ... ;-)
Well looky thar. Halley is featuring my 911 in message #2. No wait...he dumped it. He thought it was Bruno's car..."OldPics/Hirschfeld/Bruno_s_Porche_Sunriser.jpg", but now that he knows it was mine it is no longer featured.
Well looky thar. Halley is featuring my 911. Nope, wait.... he thought it was Bruno's car..."OldPics/Hirschfeld/Bruno_s_Porche_Sunriser.jpg". Oh well I guess the photo will be burned from Mikey's server
Hey... BTW.. I took that picture... well at least I think I did. That was quite a while ago. Either way: give me credit, or mail me a check.
There are now 39 pics on - http://www.realautosport.com/OldPics/Hirschfeld - ALL taken by Dan and his "little Kodak Instamatic camera" and recently scanned from prints he's had laying around for, ohhhhhh, thirty years now.
- What a cool pics! Thanks guys.
- I love American V8 rally cars. That Z28 is $ 20 000+ today, so is Mustang FastBack...
- The other wild ones I saw: '65 Pontiac GTO (Reno International), Rolls Royce body on Chevy 4x4 V8 chassis (East of Indio) and Hollywood's own Crazy-Mike in Indy AMC V8 powered Gremlin (Tostidos Rally).
This Mike:
Michael Noval, Santa Monica, CA - AMC Gremlin V8
- Mike was one of the most colourful guys I ever saw. Real NUTS! Always flatout, ending deeeeeeeeeep in the bushes - every time! (sounds like you, Mad Mike, doesn't it?)
- He had connections to AMC and got a killer Indy AMC proto V8 engine with millions of hp but no handling
- Yes, I still have the "Plank"
This Mike:
Michael Noval, Santa Monica, CA - AMC Gremlin V8
- Mike was one of the most colourful guys I ever saw. Real NUTS! Always flatout, ending deeeeeeeeeep in the bushes - every time! (sounds like you, Mad Mike, doesn't it?)
- He had connections to AMC and got a killer Indy AMC proto V8 engine with millions of hp but no handling
- Yes, I still have the "Plank"
Don't honestly remember a Gremlin being there. Really don't remember much about that weekend at all other than an Australian Rules Football game (first time I'd seen such) that was on TV at the bar where registration was, the VLA radio telescopes spread across New Mexico and how upset Jimmy Leonard was with me (when he finally caught up) for saving the brake pads on the downhill tow toward Socorro when his fiancee was in the truck with me!
- BTW, I have managed to calm down a little in the intervening 25 years!
OK. The apparent final count from my new friend Dan Hirschfeld stands at 28 pics from the 1978 Sunriser 400 in Ohio, 18 Pics from 20 Stages in MI, and 24 pics from Tulip 200 in Ohio. http://www.realautosport.com/OldPics/Hirschfeld
There are now 39 pics on - http://www.realautosport.com/OldPics/Hirschfeld - ALL taken by Dan and his "little Kodak Instamatic camera" and recently scanned from prints he's had laying around for, ohhhhhh, thirty years now.
The Gremlin in the bottom right of the Tulip series is Dick Paddock's. He was the long-time chairman of the Sunriser. It was held together mostly with bondo and rubber bands.
The Gremlin in the bottom right of the Tulip series is Dick Paddock's. He was the long-time chairman of the Sunriser. It was held together mostly with bondo and rubber bands.
Except for that solitary shot of the Gremlin (which may be dead or just resting ) there seems to be a trend in the pics Dan took regarding machines owned by Dick - they have the hoods up and folks are messing with them!
Kind of reminds me of my Doo *** weekend with Forespring last month where he picked me up at the airport in one Subrau, traded it for another before going to Aberdeen (after getting a jump start) but then had to borrow McQuaid's WRX to get me back to SeaTac Monday! There's probably just so many rally issues to deal with there's no time to fiddle with cars - which seems kinda odd if you think about it too long.
I'm assuming that's a rhetorical question, but I'm reminded of an old tsd rallyist from Detroit who drove a Honda 600. Made Bob look positively svelte. Can't remember the name.
I thought my memory was shot. Turns out I can't remember last week, that's all. Looking at Hirschfeld's photos of the Sunriser brings back all sorts of memories. The #19 Datsun is John Doviak from Rochester. (A mutual friend described John as "an unmade bed.") The #12 Opel GT is almost certainly Jim Scorse, again from Rochester. (I rode in the Opel at STPR '80; probably the smallest rally car I've ever been in. Wait, I take that back...I sat in Walt Kammer's Alpine.)
Here are scans of the December 1975 article "Emerson Fitappalling" (the late, great T. D. Grimshaw) wrote about a Sunriser back in the day. Like everything he wrote (including the epic, timeless piece he did about codriving titled "Suicide By Proxy") it is both informative and entertaining. He and brother John realized they were inhabiting the wrong seats, switched and found a good deal more success from that point forward (although I'm not sure how often, if ever, they teamed up after that).
FWIW, I am and have been in touch with Rally Magazine Publisher John Power who lives int he Dallas area and has little to do with things rally any more. He did give me tjhe okie-dokie to scan and share pages of the Rallye Magazines I have ... http://www.realautosport.com/Grimo/
"I'd set up a perfect power slie through this corner when the rear wheels fell off the road. A forest monster bit off a two foot piece of the road and I fell into it. I needed that two foot piece!" (Jim Walker: Copperhead Stage)
Does anyone know if the #3 BLOK Fire Arrow in the picture is the same car that later was run by Clint Heuring and now, I believe, is owned by Lon Peterson?
Pat McMahon has one of the Arrows ...we are restoring.....also has his old dashboard in it that Pat fabricated long time ago...what goes around comes around.....it is amazing....it came from Lon Perterson's backyard....
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