2011 - Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing

ROCKY MOUNTAIN
VINTAGE RACING
Pueblo Trans-Am
Invitational
Pueblo Motorsports Park, CO
June 10-12, 2011
Thanks to the following major sponsors:
Obialero Concrete Inc. • 3R Automotive • Industrial Chemicals Corp.
Mile High Crankshafts, Inc. • Rallye Coach Works
Mike's Frame & Alignment • Café Colore • Olive'a and Duo Restaurants
The 1969 Penske Z/28 gets fuel on the way to the TransAm Championship. Kroninger photo.
Joe Pizzi of Littleton, CO in his BRE liveried Datsun 510
and Gary Sokol of Longmont, CO in his RKE liveried Javelin
tail to nose at RMVR's 2010 Trans-Am Invitational. David
Philip photo.
The Penske racing Ferrari 512M build by John Woodard,
Lujie Lesovsky, Harry Tidmarsh and driven by Mark
Donohue and David Hobbs was considered one of the most
exquisite and beautifully turned-out race cars ever seen.
Pete Biro photo.
Penske created the International Race of Champions (IROC)
where the best drivers drove identically prepared cars. Mark
Donohue won three of the four races in 1973. Hal Crockier
photo.
Cover: The Penske-Hilton Sunoco Camaro gets fuel during the 250-mile Trans-American sedan race at Continential
Divide Raceways August 25, 1968. Pete Luongo photo.
Pueblo Motorsports Park and the Trans-Am Invitational
presented by Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing, Ltd (RMVR)
Welcome to Pueblo Motorsports Park and the Trans-Am Invitational presented by Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing, Ltd.
(RMVR). This event celebrates the Trans-American Sedan Racing series that was held at numerous tracks in the US and
Canada, including a former 2.6-mile road course in Castle Rock, Colorado called Continental Divide Raceways (CDR). The
Trans-Am was organized by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and was (in the early years) a manufacturer’s competition
for production sedans.
This weekend we are featuring Penske Racing’s Mark Donohue years that included an incredible list of racing achievements
with podium finishes or championship wins in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup for unrestricted Group 7 cars, USAC
and the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR, FIA Le Mans competition, Formula One world competition, Formula 5000 series,
IROC, USRRC, and of course the Trans-Am sedan racing series to name a few.
Our Grand Marshall this weekend is Penske Chief Mechanic John “Woody” Woodard who worked with Mark Donohue in
preparing, developing, and competing the team race cars like the Sonoco Z/28 Camaro which won the Trans-Am championship in 1969, the 1970 Javelin Trans-Am car, the Ferrari 512M in FIA endurance racing, Penske’s early McLaren Formula One
program, and the development and delivery of the awesome Porsche 917-10 and 917-30 turbo which blew the Can-Am series
apart.
We are also thrilled to have Judy Stropus, Team Penske’s timing and scoring engineer, who is known for her "savant" ability to
accurately time and score endurance sports-car races before the introduction of computers. SCCA’s timing officials invariably
turned to Judy to determine the outcome of a race when official scoring failed to produce the correct outcome or any outcome
at all. She was an integral and important part of the team and often went for victory laps with Mark at typical Mark Donohue
race speed, sans passenger seat.
Jerry Kroninger, Penske’s Sonoco fuel engineer tops the cake and was often high on a ladder tending to the Sonoco fueling rigs.
Jerry worked to keep Team Penske competitive through the development of the fueling system used. His mission was to reduce
pit stop time and where possible, reduce the number of pits stops. Jerry “innovated” the famous sky-high Sunoco fueling rig
that was ultimately banned, introduced fuel cooling with dry ice, and other tricks that gave Team Penske the well-known
unfair advantage. Woody, Judy, and Jerry will be sharing stories from the Penske-Donohue years with us at dinner trackside
Saturday evening June 11. Please join us for an evening of Team Penske racing stories.
In this program you will find historical information from Colorado’s former Continental Divide Raceways (CDR), information
on how to drive the Pueblo racing circuit, pictures from previous year’s events, and RMVR club information.
We wish to thank the many sponsors of this event with a special thanks to John Obialero, Inc., 3R Automotive, Rallye Coach
Works, Industrial Chemicals Corporation, Mile High Crankshafts and a host of other long time supporters of vintage TransAm racing in Colorado. We ask that you support all of the advertisers at this event who share our enthusiasm for the Trans-Am,
Colorado’s racing history, and vintage motor racing.
Keith Davidson,
Chairman, RMVR Trans-Am Invitational
Mark Donohue and Peter Revson at Bryar in 1970 with the Sunoco Javelins.
Penske took over the AMC racing program from RKE that year and struggled
with engines, handling, you name it. They overcame these challenges and
took the Trans-Am championship in 1971 and 1972 with the Javelin.
Barry Tenin photo.
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
Watkins Glen 1969, Donohue in the Sunoco Camaro, Jones Bud Moore
Mustang, Leslie Sunoco Camaro, Revson Shelby Mustang, Titus Pontiac
Firebird, Follmer Bud Moore Mustang, Jowett Camaro, Fisher Camaro, Grable
Javelin, Rutherford Firebird. Dave Friedman photo.
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN VINTAGE RACING LTD.
RMVR is a non-profit club of more than 400 members who are vintage racing enthusiasts. Our club’s primary focus is the organization, production, and
sanctioning of vintage car races in the Rocky Mountain region. We have over
350 eligible cars that are a minimum of 20 years old. Names such as Lotus,
Corvette, McLaren, and Lola, along with lesser-known marques such as Abath,
Morgan, Siata, and Zink participate in our events. The range of engines includes
less than 1000 cc to more than seven liters of “ground-pounding” force. As
Charter Members of the national group, Vintage Motorsports Council, we are
pledged to promote the preservation of these cars in a racing format which
emphasizes driver safety and “etiquette”. To achieve this goal, we have developed our own team of race officials including Event Chairs, Race Stewards,
Registrars, Pit and Grid, Corner Marshalls, Starters, Tech Inspectors, and Timing
and Scoring.
The Benefits Of RMVR Membership:
•The Apex
•Free Admission To All Track Events
•Invitation to All Speed Events and More
•Free Classified Ads in the Monthly Newsletter
You need not own a vintage car to become a member and
participant in Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing.
RMVR • 32034 Snowshoe Rd. Evergreen, CO 80439 • Phone: 303-319-3062
John Morton speaking at last year's Trans-Am dinner. John
has a long list of championships to his credit including SCCA
C-Production and Trans-Am plus IMSA and FIA wins over
three decades. As always with Morton, his audience was rolling
in the aisles. David Philip photo
2011 Schedule of Events
DATE
April 16-17
EVENT
Fire and Rescue School
LOCATION
N. Washington Fire Dept, Denver
April 30
Spring Fling/Test and Technical
Pikes Peak Intnl Raceway, CO
May 13-15
Driver’s School & Spring Race
High Plains Raceway, CO
June 10-12
Trans-Am Invitational
Pueblo Motorsports Park, CO
June 21-26
Pikes Peak Intnl Hill Climb
Pikes Peak-Colo Springs, CO
August 6-7
Charity Race Weekend
High Plains Raceway, CO
Sept. 2-4
Showboat Grand Prix
Motorsport Park Hastings, NE
October 1-2
Endurance Race
High Plains Raceway, CO
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2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
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Mark Donohue in the Lola T-70 leads Penske teammate George Follmer at the 1967 Riverside Can-Am race. After a string of engine failures, Mark finished the
season tied for third place with John Surtes. Mark's car is currently owned by RMVR President Pat Hogan. Bob Tronolone photo.
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2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
Roger holds a stop sign as the crew prepares to service one of the two Sunoco Camaros
at Kent. Crew Chief Woody Woodard holds the air gun while Team Manager Chuck
Cantwell holds a tire. Dave Friedman photo.
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
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Driver Line-up for the
Mark Donohue, Media, PA, Age 30, Chevrolet Camaro #6
Mark is a veteran of road racing having driven formula cars, sedans, production cars, prototypes and sports racing cars, and recently began competing in USAC Championship events.
His first race was a hill climb that he won in a Corvette. He drove an Elva Courier to a
National Championship in 1961 and in 1965 won two national championships driving a
Mustang and a Lotus 20B winning SCCA’s “Driver of the Year” award. He joined Roger
Penske in 1966 driving a Group 7 racer to second place in the Can-Am series and won the
USRRC and finished third in the Can –Am the following year. Mark has already clinched
the 1968 Trans-am manufacturers title for Chevrolet in the Penske Camaro.
Frank & Julia Slejko, Littleton & Longmont, CO, Ages 63 & 32, Alfa
Romeo GTV #199
Publishing executive & doctoral student - father and daughter racing team. They are racing
the Alfa they found in a barn in 1993 and restored. The differential is original from Horst
Kweck's 1965 TransAm winning GTA. Best lap time at PMI was a 1:54 in 2007. Their
first race was in 1995. Biggest thrill has been finishing without mechanical problems.
Mike Ries, Colorado Springs, CO, Age 48, Porsche 911 #129
Director of software development and software architect. Mike started racing with RMVR in
2000 and has run almost every club race since. He has many podium finishes over the years
and is a front runner at the Trans-Am. His greatest thrill in racing was running between the
concrete barriers and in front of the crowds at the 2006 Denver Grand Prix.
Mark Robinson, Seattle, WA, Age 57, Datsun 510 #78
Assistant Manager of wholesale upholstery fabric sales. His first race car was a '63 Triumph
Spitfire which he raced from 1994-2008. He ran a Legends car in Pikes Peak International
Hill Climb in 1997 finishing 12th. He has raced at Seattle International Raceway, Laguna
Seca, Sears Point, Phoenix International, and the Colorado tracks, including Colorado
National Speedway, Mead, and Beacon Hill. The Datsun 510 he races presently is his
favorite. His biggest thrill was competing in the Vintage Group at the 2006 Grand Prix
of Denver.
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2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
Tr a n s - A m I n v i t a t i o n a l
Patrick Hogan, Littleton, CO, Age 54, Rusty Jowett Camaro #92
President of Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing. Pat has raced Shelby Mustangs, Cobras, Lola
T-70 Can Am car, and Camaros since 1993. Finished first at the Trans-Am Invitational
in 2005 and second in 2008 and 2010. Has raced at Watkins Glen, Road America,
Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway. Biggest thrill was attending the 2008
Kohler International Challenge at Road America and winning the Best Race Car Trophy
from Road and Track Magazine for the Lola presented by Sam Posey and Peter Egan and
the Denny Hulme Award from Victory Lane Magazine on the same weekend.
Joe Pizzi, Littleton, CO, Age 65, 1968 Datsun 510 #57
Real Estate Appraiser. His first race was at Second Creek, CO in 1998. He has four TransAm feature races to his credit driving the beautifully presented BRE red, white and blue
Datsun 510. His biggest thrill was getting to race at the Steamboat Springs Vintage Races
in 1998, after many years of watching from the hillside as a spectator.
Robert Jimenez, Colorado Springs, CO, Age 60, Blue Ford Mustang #128
Driver for assisted living community. At age five he watched his Dad race a jalopy at the
Thunderdome in Carpentaria, CA and listened to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio. He
started racing motorcross in high school and won the superbowl of amateur motorcross in San
Diego in 1982. He built sprint cars and midgets in 1974 and was the chief mechanic for
MJB Racing in Rialto, CA. In pursuit of ski racing, he moved to Colorado and bought the
Mustang in 1974, but got bored, and began vintage racing. He finished first in the Historic
Class at the Trans-Am Invitational in 2010. His biggest thrill was racing in the Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb.
Peter Revson, New York, NY, Age 29, Javelin #3
Driving a Morgan, he placed second in his first race he entered in Hawaii. He solicited a ride
on the Lotus Formula III and II teams and graduated to an independent Lotus Formula I
team and competed in five world championship races. In 1966, he drove a Ford GT-40 that
helped win the world title for GT cars. Pete’s individual recognition for this was placement
on the exclusive graded list of top race drivers. He competed in a factory sponsored Cougar in
the Trans-Am series and was instrumental in Cougar’s down-to-the-wire duel with Mustang
for the Championship.
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
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IF YOU NEED CONCRETE,
Residential & Commercial Foundations
RACE TO JOHN & RICK OBIALERO’S
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11130 West 44th Avenue • Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033 303-423-8960
To join
RMVR
http://rmvr.com/forms/membership.pdf
AUTO WIZARDS
IMPORT & DOMESTIC SERVICE & REPAIR
RACE CAR PREPARATION & SERVICE
Fred Hodgson
5890 Washington St.
Unit 8
Denver, Colorado 80216
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(303) 296-0979
Penske's fuel engineer Jerry Kroninger was able to eliminate a pit stop by cooling
the fuel with dry ice making it more dense, effectively increasing fuel loads by a gallon or two. Jerry now lives in Morrison, Colorado and is regular at the Trans-Am
Invitational. Kroninger photo.
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
The opposition was strong from Porsche who
were loaded with 917s from John Wyer’s Gulf
team and Hans-Dieter Dechente’s Martini & Rossi
teams. They were supported by a number of 908s
and there were nine or more 512 Ferraris from
various privateers.
The night before the race Roger informed
Mark and Woody that the engine would have to be
changed. He had made arrangements with Ferrari
for the loan of their latest engine, and believed it
was the way to go. Mark and Woody were opposed
to changing the engine without a chance to try
it before the race, but Roger was adamant saying
“They convinced me it’s the right thing to do”.
Le Mans 1971
Penske brought a small team to Le Mans
including Mark Donohue, John “Woody” Woodard,
Blain Furguson, Judy Stropus, Bob Harrison, Peter
Reinhart and a couple of principal sponsors. The
car and spares were flown into Orly Airport in
Paris, passed through customs and trucked to Le
Mans. The Ferrari was brought in as a streetcar
complete with Pennsylvania tags to avoid posting a
large temporary import bond.
It was the first major American team to come
to Le Mans since the factory Ford GT effort and
team Penske was well received. “When we brought
the car out on the grid, they played the star spangled banner.” Kirk White remembers, “It was the
single most emotional moment I experienced in
motor sports. The emotion caught all of us. None
could say a word.”
They were running a strong third when the
motor failed at the end of the Mulsanne straight.
They worked on it for 40 minutes before officially
retiring. Woody and Blaine had worked straight
through the night before to install the engine.
After retiring, Woody remembers Mark telling the
pair ”Look, I’m going to finish getting this stuff
packed up. You guys go back to the Hotel”. The
next morning, two first class Air-France ticketswhich Mark had paid for from his own pocket,
were waiting for them.
Porsche 917s achieved a 1-2 finish. Americans
Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz were third in a
NART Ferrari 512M that ran the Penske engine
removed the night before. After the race, Mark
and Judy and Sam Posey were among a group
The Penske Ferrari was housed in a Shell of Americans who repaired to the German Beer
Station with minimal facilities and no engine lift Garden on the Le Mans circuit grounds. “We had
of any sort. Mark told Woody, “get it ready to take been conscious of representing America in a forout - I’ll be back”. About an hour later, Mark with eign country,” Mark said, “now we cut loose and
a huge grin on his face, came down the road driv- got drunk”.
ing an enormous crane. Woody recalls, “I heard
this diesel noise and in the driveway comes Mark
A Le Mans Roger was invited to lunch with Mrs.
Donohue driving an absolutely huge four axel Louis Porsche Piech, a principal in the Porsche
crane that could lift the Empire State Building. It firm and a key decision maker in the company.
had a huge telescoping boom that goes out 50 feet, Over lunch at the Moderne Hotel in Le Mans she
big cables and steel ball. The hook underneath the expressed interest in Penske running the Can-Am
ball weighted more than the entire racecar. That’s for them. Mark thought it was too good to be true,
what we changed the engine with“. Mark had gone that a major company like Porsche would seek
out and found some contractor and got them to them out. Roger followed up on the offer, and the
let him use it. He personally drove it back and he rest is history.
operated it.
Adapted from “Mark Donohue Technical
It was the quintessential Mark. Co-driver Excellence at Speed” by Michael Argetsinger, David
David Hobbs saw the operation and said “Crikey! Bull Publishing, a truly great book about the life
Probably have the least damage if you just let them of Mark Donohue.
pick the car up and bang it against the wall a few
times till the engine falls out.”
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
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Judy Stropus in the Penske Jacket was an essential part of the Penske racing team, unmatched in her ability to time and score a race. She says "I cannot believe that I
was actually part of the Trans-am glory days. What a heady time for young girl who found she was able to use a stopwatch in a way that was so useful to one of the
premier teams." Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, she brought an ever-optimistic worldview to the team that set a positive tone. Stropus photo.
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2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
303-526-2807
2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
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1971 Daytona 24-hour. Driver change with David Hobbs getting
out to let Mark finish the race. Mark was involved in an incident
with a lapped car in the middle of the night and the car was taped
back together. Roger is spotting and Woody is changing tires. Chuck
Cantwell photo.
(Right) Evolution of the Penske fueling rig. Starting with a basic
gas drum in 1968, it progressed to large diameter fill hose for quicker
pit stops. In its most advance form, the rig stood 20-feet tall and
was jacketed with dry ice and acetone to condense the fuel and speed
delivery resulting in a refill of the Camaro's 22-gallon fuel tank is
as little as 3.3 seconds. Bill Preston.
Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing, LTD.
Application for Membership:
To join RMVR go to http://rmvr.com/forms/membership.pdf
to down-load an application for membership.
For additional information call us at
303-319-3062 and lets go racing!
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2011 RMVR Pueblo Trans-Am Invitiational
Mark Donohue in the Sunoco Porsche 917-30 lapping Warren Agor
enroute to a Can-Am victory at Watkins Glen in 1973. Adrian
Ketchuim photo.
Mark Donohue in the McLaren M16B won the Indy 500
in 1972. After a dismal practice involving six engine failures,
Penske purchased a weak engine remaining in the garage that
was down 100Hp. That engine took the team to victory. Barry
Tenin photo.
Big bore action 2010 TA Invitational: Jack Ondrack 1987
Huffaker Pontiac Fiero being chased by Alan Benjamin in a 2001
GT3 Speed World Challenge Cup Car on Pueblo's 2.2 mile road
course. David Philp photo.
The AMC Matador at speed. Mark Donohue drove six
NASCAR events in 1972 and 1973 with David Marcis driving the rest. "You just put your foot to floor all the way around
the track for as long as it lasted. The driver meant nothing. You
could put a robot in there to do the steering". Pete Luongo photo.