[Foghorn]

Actually Doug, I'm pretty sure it was Karl Goering, not Smiskol, that drove one of the Pacesetter Z's with Wayne Zitkus co-driving in that three car team. Smiskol had a 510 (that I later bought) during the 72 POR but he did ultimately buy one of the Pacesetters and rallied it before he prepped a 260.

Kent Gardam

 

[Doug Woods]

>Actually Doug, I'm pretty sure it was Karl Goering, not
>Smiskol, that drove one of the Pacesetter Z's with Wayne
>Zitkus co-driving in that three car team. Smiskol had a 510
>(that I later bought) during the 72 POR but he did
>ultimately buy one of the Pacesetters and rallied it before
>he prepped a 260.

Kent:

I think you are correct.

One nice thing about being an old rally fart is that, when we make a mistake, we have a built in excuse .

Doug Woods

 

[rallydave]

>>Actually Doug, I'm pretty sure it was Karl Goering, not
>>Smiskol, that drove one of the Pacesetter Z's with Wayne
>>Zitkus co-driving in that three car team. Smiskol had a 510
>>(that I later bought) during the 72 POR but he did
>>ultimately buy one of the Pacesetters and rallied it before
>>he prepped a 260.
>
>Kent:
>
>I think you are correct.
>
>One nice thing about being an old rally fart is that, when
>we make a mistake, we have a built in excuse .
>
>Doug Woods

Doug/Kent,

Smiskol never had a Pacesetter Z. The only one to come to the Chicago area was bought by Larry Johnson who totaled it while running lead car on a local TSD and lost his life in the accident.

It is correct that John had a 510, I believe a 71 2-door and as best as I can remember, he and Carol, after they were married bought a brand new 260Z and immediately stripped it, acid dipped it, etc as he turned it into a rally car. The first event for the car was the 1974 Rideau Lakes where I crewed for him and then POR. Don't know what became of the car but, I am relatevely sure John never owned one of Bob Henderson's Pacesetter Z's. After the Z Car, John bought one of JB's TR's and rallied it for awhile until he stopped Performance Rallies.
>

David Weiman
[email protected]

 

[Shenan]

I believe that Mike Gibeault might still own his rally Z. You could probably find contact info for him at the Rim of The World or California Rally Series websites as he is a central person in both.

 

[Mad Mike]

>Here's an interesting item that I happened across that might
>be of interest for you:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3671008384
>
>
>Ryan Lord

Is it just me or is the left rear tire flat on that Z-Car pictured in the b&w ad about Sears tires running Acropolis?

http://romeocollectibles.com/images6/475-sea.jpg

Halley ...
ProRally #86
http://www.realautosport.com

Edit to add link to pic ...

 

[Kim 100AW]

Up 'til a couple of years ago, Art Kaser lived in the Indianapolis area and was a Golf Course Architect.

Kim DeMotte
Official Old Fart, etc.

 

[Topi]

- Early / mid '80s Gregg and Jay (sorry - don't remember last names) from Ridgecrest, CA, won the CRS "Stock" championshim driving 240Z

- I drove for them once at Hollister Hills Hill Climp. Gregg was 1st, I was 2nd, and Gregg went to win the championshim by couple of points over Tom Sullivan ( Danny "The Spin 'n Win" Sullivan's brother)

 

[Foghorn]

My mistake, I was thinking he had another before the white 260. I guess Doug had it absolutely correct when he said: "One nice thing about being an old rally fart is that, when we make a mistake, we have a built in excuse."

Kent Gardam

 

[Eric_Anderson]

Here are some links from my site (rallyalmanac.com). I discovered in the process of looking these up that paging doesn't work right in the vehicle/event/driver list. I'll get it fixed. However, it is working OK for the main list which shows everything, but you just have to go through all of the pages to get there.

http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=por14&pagestyle=default

This is Wayne Zitkus's Datsun 240 Z with a crumpled roof. co-drove for Karl Goering of Northville, MI in one of the Pacesetter Z's. The other two were crewed by Tom Jones/Ralph Beckman (who were the only finisher of the three in 2nd place IIRC) and Guy and Gilles Vanier of Quebec. This is the 1972 POR.


http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=smiskol&pagestyle=default

John and Carol Smiskol power their Datsun 260Z (?) through the woods at the 1975 Marathon 400 rally.


http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=unknown15&pagestyle=default

Paul Jaeger offers: I believe the Red 240Z was Daryl Holder out of Huntsville, Alabama. They ran a MGB about 1972 in the POR and other events and then moved up to the Z. They deliberately had the Coopers mounted that way. The Z's last rally was on one of the Happiness is Sunrise rallies (maybe '75 or '76) They rolled the car badly somewhere north of Renova. They didn't have a service crew and I volunteered to drive them out to try to retrieve the car. When I left them they were getting a tow truck to get it out of the woods and arranging to fly home. This is also from the Marathon 400. (Photo by Mike Creech)

http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=brooks&pagestyle=default

Ralph Brooks and Dick Messel slide their "Z" through the early morning spectator stage at the 1974 Marathon 400 rally. (Phot credit: Eric Anderson)


http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=brook&pagestyle=default
Ralph Brooks and Dick Messel give flying lessons during the 1975 Tulip 200 rally. This stage is located in Southeastern Ohio, and Tulip this year was a part of the Ohio Forest Rally series. (Those are my parents in the background...) Photo credit: Richard Christensen


http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=unknown55&pagestyle=default
One of the Pacesetter Zs on the 1972 POR

http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=smiskol1&pagestyle=default
The Smiskols pilot their Datsun Z through the 1974 POR ruts.

http://www.rallyalmanac.com/item.asp?recordid=por11&pagestyle=default
See the ruts? See the ruts go the wrong way. See the car follow the ruts? Oops. This is a Datsun 240 on the 1972 POR.

 

[DatsunZguy]

RE: heartbreaker

>Awww Man!!!!
>
>I thought I had the Z out of my system. This is like trying
>to be someone you aren't and finally realizing it. That pic
>of a rally prepped Z car is too much for my heart to bear.

"Awww Man!!!!" ---- DOUBLED!!!!!!!! Reading this is like reading my own thoughts... A 1974 Datsun 260Z was my second drive, but the first car that I actually owned. I picked her up in 1979 with 104k on her, I still can't believe that my Dad let me buy her. Yes, she had all of the Hitachi anit-smog gear problems, but that forced me to learn to how to work on her - and how to repeatedly search the local junk yards for pre-smog induction systems. I finally scored a '71 setup after a teenage son sent his dad's recently rebuilt 240 into a tree while "spiritidly" ferrying home the proverbial gallon of milk and load of bread (still have that system in my basement)... Fortunately, I was so endeared with my "Z", and was so poor (going to college on my own dime), that I was very careful and never hit anything more than a squirrel with her.

...ORIGINAL SNIPPED for brevity...

>I wanted to rally a Z. That was the whole plan. I still do
>I just pretend I don't. I thought I had kicked the habit.
>

Unfortunately, if I am honest, this was never really a dream or hope, though maybe a prayer. Not much chance of rallying on a rural high school teacher's salary, though I had hopes of rebuilding my "baby" for the second time some day. Wellsboro is a great town to live in, but being the home of STPR also amplifies the sense of discouragement about not being able to participate (driving). Oh well, I set my priorities and made career choices, and there's no use in whinin'...

>Kevin you just rebroke my heart. I hope this thread goes
>away fast because this old wound hurts man.
>
>Sniff.

The worst for me was finally conceding the obvious, my "baby" had detiorated so far over the years of storage, that she was not salvageable. So I found a gentleman from the southern part of central PA who was looking for parts cars for his SCCA racing hobby. At least I know that some parts of my "baby" are still toolin' around, and at pretty fast clip to boot!

Dave Moore -- Wellsboro resident (STPR), rally worker, sports car ('74 260Z) and rally fanatic, too poor to participate, boo hoo... Blessings to all!;-)

 

[jgp1843]

Ron Jones' car was Chevy powered, back in the days when that was legal. These days Ron is a writer living in Carlsbad, New Mexico. His website is at www.carlsbadnm.com/ronjones.

Someone who definitely should be on your list is Hendrik Blok, who ran a Z before building the infamous all-singing, all-dancing 510 and subsequent Mitsubishis. There a bunch of us old farts who could tell you Hendrik stories for hours - talk to Mike Gibeault, Ray Hocker, etc.

Last I heard, Hendrik had returned to Europe, had done some historic rallying in a 911, and I think that I heard that he had passed away a couple of years ago. Anyone know for sure?

I believe that John Smiskol's only national Pro Rally overall win was at Big Bend Bash in '78 or so, driving the Z. I have a photo somewhere.

Jim Pettengill

 

[Mad Mike]

>Ron Jones' car was Chevy powered, back in the days when that
>was legal.
>Jim Pettengill

Jim! Does the name Jerry Koenders (sp?) ring a bell for you? He had something to do with a Chevy powered Z in AZ. We ran into each other when he was service manager for the Honda dealership in Stillwater, OK. and I was service manager for an independent car center there.

Halley ...
ProRally #86
http://www.realautosport.com

 

[wahl]

For Greg Usavage, I would get in touch with either Keith Kreisler (sp?) or Greg Healey for contact info.

PM me if you need emails or phone #s. Both, I think, are members here.

Ed

 

[awesome_rogergibson]

awesome_rogergibson

The 280ZX of John Witt of Dallas, Hazzie Quick of NM, and Roger Gibson of Dallas and now Terlingua are the same car. Witt built from a "white body" with help from Datsun comp in CA. It was awesome, Witt even had painted a sign, "We're Awesome"

Have pictures of all 3 drivers static and in competition.

I also have the 280Z from Hazzie Quick/Steve Torrence and now Roger Gibson. It won the 88 or 89 Cherokee Challenge in Grove OK.

Also have a 280ZX T top

Kinda have a thing for Z's

Will find some pictures and let you know.

Roger Gibson
Terlingua, TX [email protected]

 

[Rick Hintz]

I'll e-mail you. Sounds like a cool project on such a cool classic car series.

The Jim Culp pic above is of me in my 1970 240Z. He has a lot of really good pictures. I've got a bunch more pictures electronically, but they're mostly just copied from the websites of Jim, Jamie Thomas, and Tim Winker. One I actually bought from Tim Winker, and he also sold to Nissan who used it in the 350Z launch advertising campaign, and now in the books commemorating the successful launch. Tim's got more info on his historic rally car site (I can't seem to find it right now).

I bought the car from Bob and Scott Trinder. Bob's name should be added to your list - I think he rallied other Zs in Britain before this one, which they took from Panama to Alaska, in addition to some stage rallies.

Also, I believe the Gibeaults still do have a beautiful Z body on a Safari suspension, for sale. If this fires everybody up maybe that will change.