vintage auto-x pictures

[kyle.bowker]

A friend of mine named Jimmy Dean once told me a great story about how he and a few friends started an autocross club at the University of Tennessee? back in the early 1970s. It's funny but many of the issues he dealt with back then we're still dealing with today. He had some great stories about the campus security officer taking his cop car through the course and about the VW microbus with a Porsche motor swap in it.

Anyways, I got to thinking about the early days of auto-x and I thought this could be a great place for people to post their vintage auto-x pictures. Anything from the 1950s - the last decade are welcome. I'll get the ball rolling here with a few random pics I found on the internet.

[jmac]

Awsome site. I have a ton of old slides from the sixties. I'll try to get them on. Don Riggs MG might be on a few.

[Gonz]

I don't have a scanner, so these are photographs of prints. It actually makes them look a lot more "vintage" than they are.

My brother and I back when we drove 2002's.










- Gonzalo.

[Tedzilla]

Is that Richard Lipsky's van and trailer in the background of the picture of the 'Le Car' #78 that's about to flip?

Ted

[FredK]

Ted,
I'm going to assume that the clock is wrong on this site.

[Gonz]

when i was in grade school, our neighbors had a "Le Car."
I know it was "Le Car" because it said "Le Car" right on the side.

Looking at that one photo, it's no wonder they went out of business. Or at least retreated back across the ocean.

[Claff]

Someone sent me a pic of my dad autocrossing in the early '60s when he was quite active in the Albany NY area. Guess they didn't require helmets back then.

[DaveL20]

But with a Fedora like that who needs a helmet.

That is an awsome picture.

[echan]

Here's a hillclimb video that was posted from FOT (Friends of Triumph) Robert MacKenzie (I just cut and pasted his e-mail). Note the TR-6 spinning out, and the camera man also seems more interested in the girl than the green TR-8.

http://sth2.com/video/1980-hillclimb.wmv

This is video of a hillclimb run in 1980 by Spokes Sports Car Club in
Austin, TX

Some good Triumph action about 1/2 way in.

Robert MacKenzie
'62 Mk1 Spitfire - (SCCA GP Solo)

[Jim Harris]

Interesting video. Observations:

--Some great cars. A very cool Vette about 80 percent of the way in. The TR4 outshines the TR8, seems to me.

--Some "interesting" cars. Like the SAAB.

--Looks dangerous. I have a hard time imagining putting one of my cars at risk. The sport has changed alot since then, of course.

Jim

[DaveL20]

The hill climbs are still similar to that video. A little safer but not much. Hillclimbs are much more dangerous than our AutoX's.

[Jim Harris]

Sure.

Most of these cars don't have roll bars, though. Even some of the convertibles. Crazy.

[Gonz]

Today we need to sign a waiver, wear a 3 point belt & a safety helmet just to drive 30 MPH in a roped off parking lot in our multiple airbag equipped cars.

I guess they didn't have Ralph Nader or trial lawyers back then to get in everyone's business.
That's why you could wear a fedora while racing your '62 Corvette and hey, if you mess up and die, it's your fault, not GM's.