Wow, Jerry, I'm loving your recollections! Just fantastic. Keep 'em coming. I watched the first section of the Balchowsky doco. Looks great. I'll watch it in full over the next couple of days. Actually, from memory, doesn't Viva Las Vegas also have a Corvette Grand Sport in it? Its a wonderful thing you did, not selling the car to the studio to be wrecked. Many others would have taken the money and run. That car is so full of character.

Re the Cheetah, many of the reports about the car suggest it didn't really have all the bugs ironed out before examples were sold. Your experiences of having your toe cooked are a good example. The cabin heat and cabin pressure are another. But the potential was there.

When you say you struggled to get the Cheetah to handle, what handling characteristics did it have? My understanding of it was that were was some chassis flex, which in hindsight could have been partially cured by it having a more rigid roll cage, but of course nobody understood the benefits in the early '60s from building a rigid cage.

Out of interest, did you ever race a Cobra, Jerry? Given the Cheetah was created to take on the Cobra, I'd love to know how the two cars compared.

Max Balchowskys suggestions for driving your Cheetah like a sprint car probably could well have worked well had you been able to get your hands on a more powerful motor.