Skip Hudson: Porsche 550 -- Start: Santa Barbara Airport, May 19, 1957

It took some unraveling to straighten this one out.  Richie Ginther drove the #88 Porsche to victory in the Under 1500cc. race.  He then moved up to an Aston Martin DB3S for the over 1500cc. main event and finished 6th and 2nd in Class "D" Modified.  Hudson stepped into #88 when the car was allowed to run the larger-engined event.

Hudson DNF'd when "the engine stopped".

Car #11 is John von Neumann in Ferrari 625TRC #0672 MDTR.  Von Neumann won the "Semi-Main" over Bob Drake's in Joe Lubin's 1500cc. "Bobtail Cooper" and finished 2nd in the "Main Event" to Eric Hauser in Old Yeller I.   (Here's a look at von Neumann's "0672" TODAY.)

This looks like the "tail end" of the field, with the leaders long gone.  Von Neumann was a DNF on Saturday so he was gridded at the rear.  Hudson in #88 and J.P. Kunstle in #118 were "Under 1500cc. Cars" bumped up into the main event, and would also have been added to the rear of the starting grid. 

#59 is Bob Oker in his white-looking (but actually turquoise) Morgan (see NEXT PAGE);  #38 is Jack Bates in his Mercedes-Benz 300SL "Gullwing Coupe" and #124 is Jim Firestone in his Frazer-Nash.  None of these three drivers/cars were contenders for an overall win.

(Info from "MotoRacing" Volume 2 #16)
 

(9-23-09)   From Mike Savin:

"The Morgan being driven by Oker -- it isn't "our" #59.   The white colored car is a cream colored Morgan;  it was loaned to Bob for that  weekend by it's owner, Bob Bondurant.  Dad's Morgan was laid up for that weekend."

 
Next:   Bob Oker: A.C. Bristol --  Santa Barbara, September 1-2, 1956

Back to:   Pete Lovely: Cooper-Porsche -- Pebble Beach, April 22, 1956

Back to:   Bill Tibbetts -- Homepage