Photos: The Ken Hyndman Collection

[khyndart in CA]

One thing leads to another. After reading about Dan Gurney and Riverside and that he also raced at the Santa Barbara Airport when races were held there from 1953 to 1967. As I work at Moss Motors, less than a mile from the airport I decided to check it out as I thought all the racing was done on the tarmac but found out they also raced among the hangers and out onto the road and back around. I have taken some photos of what it looks like today and also some photos of the race action from the 1967 races thanks to John Lacko and some of his collection. Some of the best drivers in the country raced here, some such as Phil Hill would drive his Ferrari up from Los Angeles, race and party at the "Biltmore Hotel" then drive home! Among the drivers included were of course; Phil Hill, Dan Gurney,Bob Bondurant, Ken Miles, Jim Hall, Richie Ginther, Lance Reventlow, Carroll Shelby, Jerry Entin, Jim Adams. Etc.. (Even James Dean raced here a few months before he died )
I was amazed I had driven by this spot for years and not realized this where it all took place.
So here is my attempt at what it looked like then and how it looks today at Santa Barbara and Goleta, California.


In early 1967, the SCCA held races at the Santa Barbara Airport with a 2.5 mile course laid out on runways and between buildings.

.

Santa Barbara Airport races. 1967
Jim Adams, 1967 Big Bore Race Winner, McLaren M1B (Chassis 20-09 )
(John Lacko photo ) ( john@lackophoto.com )

Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

This is how that same corner looks today !
(Note the power poles that were not there in 1967 ! )
A lot of famous drivers came round this very unexciting looking corner as it is today )




Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

Same corner in 1967.
An Austin Mini Cooper S, a BMW 1600 and a Volvo having fun

(John Lacko photo )

Much has changed but the trench line that shows just in front of the Mini wheels is still showing
in the present day photo.

Ken Hyndman (photo)

[khyndart in CA]

1967
A Corvette leads a Mustang 350 and a Porsche 911 past the hangar area.



( John Lacko photo )

As the hangar area looks today.(June 2014)



(Ken Hyndman photo )

[Grant Sprague]

Gee Ken what a time warp.... beaut piks ... Poor old mustang hung out to dry mind you by the attitude of it we can see why ... Ken hope you & wife all good there .. we are mid winter shortest day now behind us, kind regards Grant

[khyndart in CA]

Grant,
I always appreciate your input and concerns.
I did not have great camera skills back in my NZ days but here is a time warp photo for you.
Where were you when I took this of Gary at the 1969 Benson & Hedges at Pukekohe ?
Cheers,
Ken



Gary Sprague at Pukekohe, 1969

Ken Hyndman photo

[khyndart in CA]

Back to Santa Barbara Airport. 1955
The actor James Dean made an appearance and raced his car. This was just a few months before he died in a car crash about 150 miles north of Santa Barbara at Cholame.
Here is a brief video of James Dean at the 1955 Santa Barbara Airport races.




(Ken Hyndman )

[Grant Sprague]

Hi Ken, Thank You for this interesting [2nd attempt at replying to you computer or mondayitice lol] Pik [Gary & Leo ... Any way this pik would be when either of these two won B&H on this day ,Leo would be teamed with Brent Hawes , Gary with Ernie...... The year after Gary went to UK to work with March Engineering F1 , this pik shows the tow car Gary used to tow his T/Cam Escort around but did not have a support race for him that weekend I dont think ..then again might not be his tow car EH wagon ., I cant work out the back drop of pik the land scape must have changed a bit ........ Ok I would have been in the pits helping organise bits & peices making the area tidy [the boys job] I also helped with time keeping not much fun for 6 hrs lol, Gary here would be about 21 I would be 13 or 14 yrs old .
Thanks Ken for taking me down memory lane , love the vids etc .psssss... I could see the hills by River Side a few months ago & visualised where the track would have been on google ...very cool thanks mate , Kind Regards Grant

[khyndart in CA]

Another photo from the shoe box. I went to the first Formula One race at Long beach in March 1976. The program included a gathering of some of the great drivers from the past to participate in a Historic F-1 race / demonstration run in some of the race cars that they had actually driven in their day. After the race they gathered on the podium and I managed to get a photo before the TV crew threw me back.
What a great line-up of drivers and I doubt that they would all gather like this again and it was a great privilege to see them in action.
The photo shows from L to R.
Carroll Shelby, Rene Dreyfus, Stirling Moss, Maurice Trintignant, Juan Manuel Fangio, Dan Gurney (who signed it for me ) Jack Brabham, Denis Hulme and Innes Ireland in front.

I also attached a copy of a page from the program which gives more detail. Note the F 1 entries are from the season that the movie "Rush" was based on.





Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

If you look closely you will see that Phil Hill drove a 1960 V6 Ferrari in this Long Beach race that was the type that he drove at the 1960
Italian Grand Prix at Monza (and won mainly due to the small field with no Cooper, BRM, Lotus etc participation due to safety concerns )
That winning Ferrari was sold to Pat Hoare in NZ who raced it for a few seasons.
I wrote away for this "Shell " card many years ago and I wanted to share the information and especially note that it had a V12 when bravely driven by Pat.
Could someone please explain why a Monza winning V6 engine would be replaced by a heavier, more complicated and unreliable V12 to be driven on NZ circuits at that time ?
What a beautiful race car.








Ken Hyndman

[stubuchanan]

My recollection from the time( as an 18/19 year old enthusiast) was that Hoare requested the V12 in place of the V6 formula One engine as the maintenance of it would be easier. These 3-litre engines had been used in various Ferrari sports and GT cars from about 1957 onward and seem to have been fairly reliable, enough to win the World Sports Car Champ in 1958 and 1960. I don't recall Hoare having many mechanical problems.

Stu

[khyndart in CA]

V12 3-litre engine in Pat Hoare's Ferrari
_________________________________________________
Thanks Stu.
That must have been a very "hot" V12 engine.

I found this article about the car which was originally a Ferrari 246 F1 Dino, written in 2006 from the "Ultimatecarpage.com " site.

" With the cars obsolete and having no economic value at the end of the 1960 season, Ferrari's racing department set about disassembling the surviving cars of the circa nine raced in the previous three years. The useful parts like the engines were retained, but the rest was scrapped. Fortunately at least one car escaped this treatment as it was modified for the Tasman Series and sold to Pat Hoare from New Zeeland. For this application the Dino engine was removed and replaced with a very 'hot' 3-litre V12 engine similar to the ones fitted in the dominant 250 TRs. The chassis was used by Phil Hill for his Italian Grand Prix win, but renumbered from its original '0007' to '0788'; the number on the engine. Hoare raced his Ferrari Special with considerable success until 1963 when rule changes left it obsolete. He modified the chassis for road use and fitted a 250 GTO replica body. Fortunately all the removed tubes and body panels were retained and in the late seventies it was brought back to its former glory by British historic racer Neil Corner. Powered by the very potent V12 engine, the car was successfully campaigned for many seasons by his son Nigel Corner, until a very heavy accident nearly killed him. Thankfully both survived and while Nigel retired from active duty, the Tasman Special is still frequently raced by its current owner.
The current owner of 0007/0788 had his master mechanic fit his car with a correct V6 engine. This combination debuted at Monaco in 2006 and the lighter engine made the car a lot nicer to drive. Currently the car can be equipped with either engine, but the owner liked the V6 so much that left it in for the remainder of the season. " ( 2006 Information )

I hope the car is still being raced today. It has such a wonderful history.

(Ken Hyndman )
p.s. I saw it race in the rain at Ardmore during the 1962 NZGP.

[Kwaussie]

I loved watching this car although I don't think it was ever really pushed in New Zealand until Jackie Stewart drove it at a Wigram Friday practice many years ago.

Here is a great thread on this site. http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...errari-250-GTO

[khyndart in CA]

Pat Hoare was the first local NZ driver home that day at Ardmore in 6 th place five laps behind Stirling Moss who drove one of the best races of his career which ended a few months later when he crashed at Goodwood in April 1962.

I have put together some of my scrap book from that WET day at Ardmore and wanted to share it as best possible.



Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

The 2 shilling and six pence programme has some interesting pages.

[khyndart in CA]

I showed my old programme to Stirling Moss a few years ago at the Monterey Historic Meet and he was impressed that I had kept a lap chart of the race in the rain and noted the water stains on the pages. He signed it twice and looked through it and kept others waiting as he was not expecting to see this old memory while in California !
It truly was one of the best drives of his career as he had lapped everyone except John Surtees on the 2 mile track at Ardmore and did it all in 50 laps against a world class field.
I am glad I was there as a "young fella" and can share the memory.



( I wish I could make this image clearer. If you look closely you can see Stirling signed it twice )

Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

Before the rains came at Ardmore there had been exciting racing.
Note the entry list from this small size engine saloon car race.
Little cars with big time drivers !
( Note the amount of the prize money ! )

Kerry Grant takes the lead in his Austin Farina.





(Photos from the 8 0 Clock Sports paper )

(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

I notice that the Mini Coopers for Bruce McLaren, Ron Flockhart and Roy Salvadori had 998 cc engines and customer Mini Coopers at that time had 997 cc engines until early 1964 when the 998 engines were put in. Looks like they had fun.
Can you imagine drivers today competing like this a few hours before the main event !



Image from NZ Herald 24-12-61
provided by Jan McLaren


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

The NZ Grand Prix was due to start at 2 pm and it began pouring with rain and the race went ahead anyway.
There were no rain tyres back then and it is amazing how brave these drivers were.






These images are from the 8 o Clock sport paper which we couldn't wait to read when it came out on a Saturday evening.

( Signed by Stirling Moss )


Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

Ardmore, NZ. January 6. 1962.

This gives a view of how it was that day ! (Thanks to You Tube )

( Ken Hyndman )