Chaparral Racing....A tribute
Some things don't change. Like a newly licensed teenaged boy's interest in cars. Fast Cars. For me and my friends, when we starting driving at age 14, those cars were Chaparrals. For two reasons. First, they had just burst upon the racing scene and they were winning. Secondly, they were built right here in our smallish hometown by a young, good looking bon vivant named Jim Hall. Frankly, some of our friends were more interested in hot rods, suped up jalopies and drag racing. This group would later become fans of "The Dukes of Hazzard" and NASCAR. We were interested in sports car racing. We would later become international sophisticates. In the then newly released 007 films, James Bond drove sports cars. That's where we wanted to be.
In those pre-media madness days we followed Chaparrals around the world the best we could by reading Road and Track, Sports Illustrated or by the mention in our local newspaper. We had Chaparral models, Chaparral slot cars, Chaparral posters and pasted Chaparral logos, when we could find them, on our car bumpers. On the occasions that we saw Jim Hall around town he was considered more of a luminary than any Hollywood movie star. We wanted to be like him.
And so this weekend I have been in heaven. It has been a weekend long occasion to honor Jim Hall, his cars and his place in racing and automotive history. Jim's engineering of the Chaparrals was revolutionary at the time, but so effective that it is common place today. Among these are his use of aerodynamics and his development of composite fiber bodies. The model "2J" was so effective it was banned from racing due to complaints from the competition.
Jims vision and achievements are finally getting the honor they are due from his hometown. The newly built Chaparral Gallery at our Petroleum Museum will tell the story of Chaparrals engineering marvels, racing achievements and house all of Jim Halls cars. A wise man, Jim kept all his machines together, housed in the shops where they were built south of town, functional and sparse. The new Gallery is anything but that. It is a magnificent place where frankly I had expected less. And the weekend celebration has been as equally stirring. And as noted by a fellow local Blog correspondent, the cars will be maintained in running order so these great machines will not be allowed to become just static pieces of art.
On Friday I had the good fortune to be seated in the front row, directly in front of Jim, at an afternoon forum discussing the Chaparral's history and significance. The panel consisted of almost every driver who piloted a Chaparral including luminaries like former world driving champion Phil Hill and the current Indy 500 champion, Gil de Ferren. Vic Elford was a star on the Porsche factory team when he accepted an offer to drive the Chaparral 2J, where he blew the competition away until the car was banned. Franz Weiz built engines for Chaparral from almost the very start and on through the Indy car team. He is still in Midland building Indy Series and Formula I engines to this day. He's a genius. The surprise of the day was the appearance of an unannounced panelist, the racing super legend and Jim's old competitor and good friend, Dan Gurney.
Saturday was a day aimed at acquainting the general public with the Chaparral story, and so I took Julie to see the cars and look around. And look around she did, getting excited about a Shelby Cobra that my friends at Panoz Racing had for sale, and with that in mind signing up for the Panoz Racing School at the Texas Motor Speedway. We're thinking September. We also had the opportunity to have a final chat with Vic Elford, a jovial Brit who has lived in the U.S. for the last three decades.
The whole weekend was special for me, but two occasions stand out. One was being able to walk through the exhibit after the forum concluded and chat with Gil de Ferren, his wife and two children. I had followed Gil's career from the time he signed on with the Chaparral Indy car team until he retired last year after winning at Indy. I was able to ask him questions about several races and to make the comment that I thought that he was the best road course driver on the Indy circuit and one of the most unlucky. He agreed. A nice, smart, likeable guy and a devoted family man.
My second, and the most memorable, event occured this morning at the old Chaparral garage complex south of town. I, along with about 20 others, was able to stand not 10 feet away from Jim Hall as he climbed into a Chaparral racer for the last time and drove it out to it's permanent place of retirement. I hope you might take the time to look at a few photos from this memorable experience, and watch a short video clip I shot of Jim driving out of the garage. It's a piece of history. View the photos at: Chaparral Gallery Opening
