- 6 -  Notes roughly coordinated with Tam McPartland's Old Race Car site  - 6 -

Lotus: I was in the Navy ROTC at USC with Jack Nethercutt. The one thing I remember about him there is that he had just had the intake manifold of his car, an Olds, I think, gold-plated. He was very popular among the "Midshipmen," and I didn't know why. That's his Lotus 23 under the green flag/paddle in the Turn Seven photo.

Bob Challman: Another hero of mine. He had such humor. When I was on leave from Little Rock, 1958, my family lived just above Crenshaw Sports Cars, where he was doing sales. One Tuesday I went down there to see what they had. One of what they had was a car I wanted so bad I could taste it: a '56 Healey 100, white. It was perfect. Challman said he couldn't let me drive the Healey; insurance, you know.

He was happy to give me a demonstration drive, and did he ever! He had some special roads to show off the car's handling and acceleration, and then... Then he showed off himself: he got the car going about 25 mph and shifted into each gear, in order, then in random order, letting out the clutch while in gear, and matching engine speed with road speed and gear absolutely faultlessly, rattling on about what a smooth gearbox it was, and racing, and whatnot. The car continued its progress without hesitation or pause.

He had said earlier that I'd have to forgive his hearing and talk loud, since his ears were still ringing from racing his Lotus XI at Pomona the Sunday before. Challman then drove my MG TD, expecting to establish a trade-in value. When he let off the accelerator, it wanted to turn right (or was it left?), all on its own. "Hm," says he, “need to tighten up the U-bolts on the rear axle." First chance I got, I did, and it corrected the problem.

I was not able to get the money together to buy the Healey. Years—many years—later, when he and I were SCCA stewards together, I reminded him of the test-drive, and he very graciously said he remembered it. I did not remind him about his claim of race-engine-induced hearing problems, because I noticed he had them consistently, with or without recent racing.

   Class "G" Modified: I was a flagman at Turn Four, Riverside, when Art Snyder, another guy popular with turn personnel, debuted his new MK1+something. It might have been a McLaren. He practiced fast and qualified near the front. When the race started he and two or three others came around Turn Two close together and touched somewhere near the apex of Four. Snyder spun up the hill on the inside of the track, and rolled over rather gently, landing upside down at the edge of the track.

We two flagmen were at his side with an extinguisher in very short order. He was under the car saying, "Get me out of here. Get this thing off me!" It was "lightweight," but we weren't sure the two of us could get it up and hold it without danger of dropping it on him. Another pair came to the scene quickly, and we were able to let him crawl out.

Another vivid part of this incident was noticing how little the racers slowed for a waving yellow, a crowd of workers, and a wrecker, on the edge of the track. I shook my fist at Frank Monise, and he responded with a digital communique.

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