Driver Injured

Driver Injured

Frisco man scorches to track mark

By Lorne Parton, The Vancouver Province, Monday, May 25, 1964

The Westwood track record, only a year old, was broken three times Sunday as Dave Ridenour of San Francisco won the Western Canada road racing championship before more than 9,000 fans.

Ridenour, who won both 30-lap heats of the Player’s Pacific, also took the new record away with him: 87.5 miles-per-hour, more than two mph above the mark set last year by winner Jerry Grant.

The festive spirit of the day, engendered by the number of highly-competitive machines, palled in morning practice when Eppie Weitzes of Toronto was injured.

Driving one of the highly-touted King Cobras, Weitzes left the track at an estimated 150 mph, sailed 50 yards into the trees. He is in fair condition in Royal Columbian hospital with a broken leg.

It could have been much more serious. He was pinned under the car and soaked with gasoline. However, rescuers pulled him out, and there was no fire.

The same part of the track – Deer Leap, a hump in the middle of the straightaway – figured in another accident during the race proper.

Dave Tatom of Tacoma, driving a Lotus 19, became airborne and crashed. He was only shaken up, but out of the race for good.

High, near-record speeds were expected in the race after the practice times were posted. Ridenour, Chuck Parsons of Monterey, Calif., Allan Grant of Seattle, Tatom and Vancouver’s Bob McLean all unofficially broke the track mark.

Ridenour got the number one position on the starting grid for the first heat, followed by Parsons, Grant, Tatom, McLean and Ludwig Heimrath of Toronto, team-mate of Weitzes. It appeared that the washout of the other King Cobra had slowed Heimrath more than a little.

Parsons and McLean were driving Lotus 23Bs and Grant was piloting an all-American called the Cheetah, His blood-red car was an awesome sight as the big Chevrolet engine poured its 465 horsepower to the stock-car tires.

Ridenour was driving another U.S. car – Comet Genie. The motor, with quite a bit of modification, comes from Ford, the chassis and body from California. As the flag dropped for the first heat, it was Ridenour, Grant and Parsons who made it first to the Carousel turn. Within four laps, Parsons had Grant, and things stayed like this for another six laps.

Cheetah spins out of contention

In lap 10, a 75 cent part betrayed the $10,000 Cheetah. A water pump bracket gave way and a couple of gallons of water cascaded over one of the front brakes. The car, and Grant, spun dizzily several times, and that was the end of the race for them.

McLean moved to third, Tatom to fourth, Heimrath fifth.

Then it was McLean’s turn. In lap 26, his clutch blew up and he coasted to the pits, his status changed from competitor to spectator.

Halftime, and as the Port Moody Pipe Band (honest) and the skydivers performed, it was Ridenour, Parsons, Tatom, Heimrath.

The best time in the first heat was turned in by Parsons, in a vain attempt to catch Ridenour. He moved the record up to 86 mph.

Someone must have gotten word to Ridenour. Second lap of the second heat, he turned 1:14.1, good for the new record. Another word must have been spoken to Heimrath, who took off in second place and stayed there through the rest of the way, despite Parsons who stayed in third.

Ridenour, 30, impressed the railbirds even more after the race when he confessed he had only one gear, third, for half of the second heat. Unofficial timing had him running four consecutive laps at the old record – all on that one gear.

Overall results – 1. Ridenour; 2. Parsons; 3 Heimrath; 4. Garry Wright, Porsche 904, Portland; 5. Gerry Bruihl, Lotus 23B, Portland; 6. Jim Rattenbury, Porsche Special, Vancouver; 7. Tom Veness, Special, Renton, Wash., 8. Spence Stoddard, Lotus 11, Seattle.

Transcribed by Michael Gee, West Coast Motor Sport Historian, CMHF