Herman, Clairvoyance and the Plasma Cutter

Herman Knauer and his family have a long history in Beltsville.  He was a great friend to me at High Point High School and still is 50 years later.  He is a master craftsman at anything he builds.  In retirement Herman decided to build his own monster garage and to fill it with cars and tools.  During the quiet Beltsville winters Herman constructed his own plasma cutter and has been making parts for a hand-made truck -- frame and body!

Besides all of Herman’s many skills I did not realize that Clairvoyance was one of them!  On my last visit to Herman’s garage he gave me an amazing present.  Using his plasma cutter he crafted a sign for my garage out of a big steel plate.  The sign says “Cary’s Corvettes” and there is a replica of a Stingray in the center.  There are two amazing things about the sign:  (1) He chose the name before he knew that I had used “Carys Corvettes” for my Blog; and (2) He used the image of a Stingray before he knew I had just received a Corvette Stingray for Father’s day!

 I painted the sign to match the colors of my 1967 Stingray Coupe and have hung it in the garage next to the car is symbolizes! 

 Thanks, Herman!  This is the coolest sign in my garage!  I can't wait to see the progress on the truck!  When you are done I want to talk to you about my life-long dream of owning a 34 Ford!

Corvette Paces the INDY 500 for the 12th time, more than any other automobile

The new 7th Generation Corvette will pace the Indy 500 tomorrow.  It will be the 12th appearance of Corvette to pace the race since the first Corvette appearance in 1978.  No car has paced the Indy 500 more than Corvette.  Second place is Camaro (7) followed by a four-way tie for third place with 3 appearances each (Stoddard-Dayton, Packard, Lasalle, and Ford Mustang). 

A Sad Day: The Passing of Ron Leahey Pierce

I learned from my neighbor and good friend Bill Pierce today that his son, Ron died of a pulmonary embolism on May 9th in Arizona.

Ron was an avid Corvette fan and racer.  He purchased a new 1967 Corvette Stingray Coupe from a dealer in the Los Angeles area.  Ron's Stingray was manufactured on May 12, 1967 and came equipped with the L71 Special High Performance 427 cu in engine putting out 435 horsepower.  The car was for serious racing as it was also equipped with the M21 Heavy Duty Transmission, F41 Special Performance front and rear suspension, G81 Posi-traction rear end, and J56 Heavy Duty Brakes.  He enjoyed racing the car both at drag racing and in SCCA race events.

Later Ron acquired a second SCCA race car, a 1965 Corvette Roadster.

The photos below show Ron with his son on Father's Day, 1978 out for a drive in the Stingray Coupe.

Ron's cars will continue to serve as a testimonial to his love of Corvettes.  The 1965 Roadster is being restored by Joe Hoffman of San Diego while the 1967 Coupe is patiently waiting in my garage for me to bring it back to the streets of Southern California.

A memorial service will be held in Ron's memory at the Carlsbad Community Church in Carlsbad, California at noon on May 30th.

Corvette Starts 2013 Racing Season with 1st Place at Sebring

Corvette Racing started the 2013 ALMS season the way they finished the 2012 season with a 1st place victory at Sebring Florida.  It was a thrilling victory as the #4 Corvette came from second place in the final 25 minutes to pass the #62 Ferrari and win the 12 hour race going away.  The driving team of Gavin, Milner and Westbrook pitted three more times than the Ferrari but were able to bring home the victory.  The 12 hour race covered 333 laps.

The finishers in succession were Corvette (of course!), Ferrari, Porsche, BMW (this year running the Z4 GTE), Viper, BMW and then two Aston Martins.  The #3 Corvette only completed 213 laps.  The Viper led the race for many laps in the middle of the race -- look to them to be more competitive this year than last year.

The next race is April 20th right here in Long Beach.  Who wants to go?!

Story from Corvette Racing Website

Here are some excerpts from the Autoweek Article

In GT, Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Westbrook won in the No. 4 Corvette C6 ZR1 by 2.7 seconds. Matteo Malucelli, Olivier Beretta and Gianmaria Bruni led much of the race in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia. Milner took the lead with 14 minutes remaining when Malucelli had an off-course venture in turn 10, highlighting a charge back into contention after the team lost a lap due to electrical problems four hours into the race.
Indeed, the GT class provided the best action of the 61st running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. The winning Corvette C6.R was the fastest car in the class, but it twice had to fight back from a lap down to secure the victory.
A short circuit knocked out the dashboard and the rear lights -- and cost the car nearly two laps in the middle of the race before it returned to the front, only for Westbrook to receive that dubious penalty after contact with the Ferrari. Westbrook claimed the Ferrari was being shown blue flags to move over, and that its driver, Bill Sweedler, waved him by -- only to turn-in on him when he tried to dive down the inside. The collision sent the Ferrari into a spin, and Sweedler not long after suffered what appeared to be a mechanical failure in its right-rear suspension or tire area that resulted in a heavy crash that eliminated it from the race.
Milner took over the car for the run to the flag with what looked like an irretrievable deficit to Risi's Ferrari shared by Beretta, Malucelli and Bruni.
Bruni looked as though he would be able to maintain a gap to the Chevrolet, but a back problem meant Risi was forced to replace him with Sebring debutant Malucelli for the final stint. The Italian lost time in traffic early on and finally relinquished the lead when he went off in the closing stages.