The Fox Kart

Chapter 2 of Beltsville Shell: You Are What You Drive lays the foundation that go karts played in the formative years for me and all my buddies in Beltsville.  

Over the years I owned a few nice karts, but the ultimate was a 1962 Fox MAK Kart that I purchased from Dan Holbrook.  It had the McCulloch MAC 8 100cc engine.  It had a "Candy" blue paint job, satellite seat, the "swing" engine mount with the engine centered for good balance, Le Mans magnesium wheels, Bendix drum brakes and a Max-Torque clutch.

I loved that kart so much!  As I said in the book, karting was the season of my life that afforded me my greatest (childhood) joys!  (I suppose you can tell that from from my smile!)

I didn't realize at the time, but the Fox Kart was an international success.  In 1961, at the International Kart Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, the Fox brand won 1st place in three different classes.  Manufactured in Janesville, Wisconsin, Fox Karts won more International Champion titles than almost all other brands combined!

For years I have searched high and low to try to find a kart like the one pictured above with no success.

Nan had more success.  She was working hard to surprise me with a Fox Kart this Father's day and she struck gold.  Through perseverance she located a few people in the vintage karting circles, and in particular Randy Gryczkowski, also of Wisconsin.  Randy has a hobby of finding and restoring vintage karts.  When Nan approached Randy to explore building a replica of my old Fox Kart  she was unsure of which options Randy offered.  So she encouraged me to reach out to Randy directly.  After phone calls and email exchanges I discovered that Randy had recently sold the exact kart I wanted to a collector in Hilton Head South Carolina.  I had missed out!

But then a few weeks later I noticed a kart for sale on the internet by a guy named Tracy Schooler that looked exactly like the kart Randy had restored.  

Here is the video describing the kart that was for sale:
      1962 Fox Kart

You guessed it, Tracy had purchased Randy's restoration and it was now for sale.  Tracy and I quickly sealed a deal and Tracy threw in a treasure trove of karting memorabilia.  

The Fox Kart arrived in Carlsbad today.  But I'm not allowed to play with it until my birthday!

I love that go kart!

Passing of two Corvette Legends

Within the span of less than a week we learned of the passing of two Corvette Legends.

Dick Guldstrand

No one deserves the title of Corvette Racing Legend more than Dick Guldstrand.  In the early days of racing, before the engineers had come up with race-worthy designs, Dick was enthusiastically using Chevy’s finest marque to compete with cars from the best racing heritages.  With guts and bravado, Dick used his mechanical skills to squeeze every ounce of performance out of a Corvette and his driving skills to beat the competition.  Dick was one of the first inductees into the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame.

In recent years Dick was a leading Corvette celebrity attending racing events everywhere Corvettes were found, autographing anything people brought him.  I met him a few times at Long Beach and Road America races, and Dick was one of the most interesting stops on the National Corvette Museum’s “Jay Leno Tour” in 2004.   When the NCM guests visited Dick’s shop in Burbank, California we each received autographed copies of “Corvette Thunder”, the autobiography of Dick’s escapades.  The photo below is Dick with my buddy, Don Kingery, at the IMSA race in Laguna Seca.  Don tells many stories of Dick’s enthusiasm and friendliness, including the time Dick tossed him the keys to a rare and wild Corvette and said, “take it for a spin”!

Motor Trend Article 

Martin Milner

Perhaps no actor has done more to convey the mystique of the Corvette in its early years than Martin Milner, co-star of the TV show, “Route 66”.   With George Maharis, who played Buz Murdock, Milner, who played Tod Stiles,  brought the joy of cruising across America in a Corvette to our living rooms for four seasons (116 episodes) beginning in 1960.  Each year Chevrolet would offer up a new model Corvette.  In the first episode we learn that Tod’s father died and left him the Corvette.  Later in that episode, Tod is asked why he is dedicated to “. . . just a car”.  Tod’s reply is my motto about Corvettes, “It’s more than a car to me!”  Buz was an employee of Tod’s dad.  The two of them decide to set out across America to find themselves and adventure.

 

Route 66 -- Wikipedia Article 

Like many Corvette fans, Milner lived in Carlsbad, California!

White Stingray Coupes keep appearing in my garage!

By now word has leaked out that I sold the White 1967 427 Coupe.  Hopefully the next time we see it will be in its fully-restored splendor!

But wait -- what's that in my garage?  Another white Stingray Coupe!?

It is the 1965 Corvette Coupe belonging to Ric Fogel of Cincinnati Ohio!  It has the 327 365 HP high performance engine.

I was introduced to Ric in 2014 by my neighbor Carl Streicher the day after Ric purchased the Stingray in San Diego.  Now a year later Ric needed a place to store the car for a while.  We are happy to have a visitor in Cary's Garage!

Independence Day 2015: Corvette Party

What better, more American, way can you celebrate Independence Day than with a Corvette Party?

13 Corvettes and 50 friends and neighbors helped us celebrate Independence Day # 239 and Corvette Anniversary # 62 on July 5, 2015.

Three of our four Corvettes set the stage before the guests arrived

Then we set out the food and the anniversary cake

Then we lined up all the Corvettes

Everyone was happy

Then someone noticed that there were two guys named Bill, each of whom owned a black 1957 Corvette (Bill Connelly and Bill Hatch [who is the original owner of his 57 Corvette])

While we were eating, Kevin Anderson cranked up his drone for some aerial shots

Which revealed that two young women dressed in white were trying to steal the Blue 1956 Corvette

But Herod's new 2015 Stingray blocked their escape, and then we talked them into joining the party and everything ended happily ever-after!

Final count:  We had at least one copy of each of the seven generations of Corvette, with the exception of a C3 car (and next time Mark Yamanaka will bring his 1968 coupe and we will have a "full house")!