| Corvette
Stingray Prototype
While GM was technically out of racing, Vice-President of Styling William Mitchell created (with help from Pete Brock, Larry Shinoda, and Tony Lapine) the striking "Stingray" prototype and campaigned it in SCCA Nationals and pro events in 1959-60. The chassis of the car came from the Corvette SS "Mule" used for testing at Sebring in March, 1957. (Read John Lamm's excellent
"Salon" article on this car in the July,
2001 issue of "Road & Track".)
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| Dr. Dick Thompson raced
the "Stingray" at Laguna Seca in the first Pacific Grand Prix, held in
October, 1960.
He DNF'd after ramming the back of Walt Hansgen's Cunningham-entered Maserati Type 60 in Turn 9. General Motors brought the "Stingray" to the Monterey Historics in 1987. |
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This photo shows the
beautifully sculpted form of the car. The aerodynamics, though, were
questionable and the car tended to "lift".
The chassis was the "test
mule" used during development of the Corvette SS.
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The body design of the production "Stingrays" of 1963-67 owed much to this car. Not a pampered showcar, Dr. Dick Thompson drove the "Stingray" hard against top competition. His evenly-matched battles with Augie Pabst in the "Meister Brauser" Scarab are legendary. The two faced off at SCCA Nationals in the midwest and on the east coast in 1960.
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| Corvette was featured
again at the "2002
Monterey Historics". The original Stingray ran demonstration
laps at Laguna Seca!
Next: Auto Union at Laguna Seca Back to: Corvette SS Back to: More Historic Racing All photographs and text are the property of Tam McPartland and are protected under United States and international copyright laws. All rights are reserved and the images and/or text may not be digitized, reproduced, stored, manipulated, and/or incorporated into other works without the written permission of the photographer, Tam McPartland. |