15 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

A local SCCA autocross club held their annual slot car event at my raceway yesterday. It's put together by ex-commercial racer and current club racer, Dave Vaccaro.

He brought a few of his cars he raced in the late '60s, in some top events in the Chicago area.

Shown is a Lancer Chaparral 2G (corrected from 2E) he said he won concours with at the famous Hinsdale Raceway's 1968 Arco race, beating Dave Bloom.

Dave V. mentioned Bloom was running a more conventional, serious race car, but it was still an impressive accomplishment for a high schooler.

He added, the car was a surprisingly good runner. But about three-quarters of the way through his Consi it let out a trail of smoke going down the straightaway and the Super NASCAR motor's endbell melted into a pool of plastic.








 
Shot of chassis with replacement motor and a newer era guide. He mentioned friend and fellow high schooler Chuck Gambo helped him hang the pans.


 
I'll posts pics later of another car he built approximately a year later - a serious race car with a square wire chassis.

[Pete L.]

Mike,

 

Thanks for posting this survivor. It's a real beauty!

 

Pete L.

[Half Fast]

It's nice to see a concours winner survive this long in such good shape. 

 

Cheers,

[dc-65x]

Great car, Mike. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[Tex]

Very cool! Is that a 26D?

 

And not being critical, but for the sake of accuracy that is a Chaparral 2G... just because I'm cool and know stuff like that.

[Pablo]

Awesome. 

[MSwiss]

Very cool! Is that a 26D?

 

And not being critical, but for the sake of accuracy that is a Chaparral 2G... just because I'm cool and know stuff like that.

 

No, an unidentified 16D with Arco's in it, Dave put in, after his Super Nascar melted.

 

As I was taking pics, and later posting, I was wondering about the "busy" wind screen and injector scoop.

 

I should of known it wasn't a 2E, especially since my wife has sat in one, albeit a "display model", of sorts.

 

[Tex]

Yup, that's the one I couldn't get my fat you-know-what down into. LOL.

 

Two telltale clues as to the difference are the air intakes and the rear wheel flares. The 2E has those somewhat rounded "pods" for intakes whereas on the 2G the intakes more square/rectangular and are integrated into the bodywork with side dams of a sort.

 

And the 2E didn't have the rear fender flares to accommodate the wider tires.

[Tom Eatherly]

That is one nice looking car. Thanks for sharing that. Question: At that race, who won the Main event[Can-Am?] My friend Mike Kondor went there to race, but, I don't recall who won. Thanks.

[MSwiss]

Howie probably knows.

He was there and I'm pretty sure he raced along with doing some "sight-seeing" at the riots in Grant Park, during the 68 Democratic Convention. Lol

Another Dave Vaccaro, Hinsdale Raceway car, is now posted below;

http://slotblog.net/...-pro-style-car/

[MSwiss]

That is one nice looking car. Thanks for sharing that. Question: At that race, who won the Main event[Can-Am?] My friend Mike Kondor went there to race, but, I don't recall who won. Thanks.

Ray Gardner.

Looks like you asked that question before.

http://slotblog.net/...ale#entry379867

PDL's post also contradict's Dave V's claim he beat Dave Bloom.

Oh, well.

[Tom Eatherly]

Yeah, I probably did, just forgot. Thanks.

[dvaccaro]

I through this car back together the night before our annual SCCA mid winter, no cones slot car race held at Chicagoland Raceway. I built this car sometime in early 1968. I thought it would be neat to build a scratch built 2G version of a Cox Chaparral, hence I installed a Cox Super Nascar motor to motivate it. In March of that year I ran in the Hinsdale Invitational and later in the year at the Arco race, both at Hinsdale Raceway. I remember Dave Bloom informing me that this car was not legal ( the wing was 1/8" too wide per NCC regs). Still it passed tech and was in the race without a problem. I believe it was in the Arco race, but that was over 45 years ago so it may have been the Invitational. At the Arco I helped at the impound after tech, and my new Parma/Ruskit control turned up missing later that night (didn't I have my Sq. wire plumber car built by then?). My Chaparral did not qualify all that bad considering it was built for show rather than go (home track advantage did not hurt either). In my consy it ran about 2/3 of the heats when it started to leave a faint trail of smoke that ended in a melted endbell.

     After this car I built a square wire plumber chassis car as also seen elsewhere on this suite. For now I have included a few photos to show some of the Chaparrals interesting details. Please enjoy.

   The first photo shows the flaps in the air exits in front of the windshield that worked in conjunction with the wing on the real car. The second photos show fuel lines plumbed to the carburetors. Also the rear exhaust were made from painted brass tubing. Sorry the car is a little tattered now and the mirror is missing.

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[dvaccaro]

All persons that entered the Hinsdale Invitational in 1968 was given a dash plaque as shown here.

 The last photo shows my next years project. A good friend of mine Chuck Gambo spotted a article in a magazine about cool dirt track modified and brought it to my attention. So I built a 1/25 scale model  replica of it complete with wired engine, scratch built headers, plumbed brake lines, cooling system, shortened chassis, roll cage, etc. etc.  It won Best of Show at Scotsdale hobby shop in Chicago, Best of Show at a large model contest at the Tinley Park Fair and Best Detail and Third place overall at the MPC contest held at the International Rod and Custom Show in Chicago. 

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[Detroit Dave]

Fantastic Cars Dave!  

[Mark Johnson]

KILLER