| From Dick: "This might
have been the last race for me and the Testa Rossa. I know that the next
year I raced a Lotus XI and also bought the Devin-Panhard from Van. It
was interesting about that. After I bought it I took it to an injector
specialist in Pasadena and we got it tuned up to perfection. I raced it
at Santa Barbara and won. It was a bit deflating for Van since we couldn't
get better than thirds while he owned it.
A man from Beverly Hills
came up to me afterwards and wanted the car. I sold it and then raced it
for him at Willow Springs. That was my last race. After that my only activity
was with my Mini Cooper at practice sessions at Riverside.
Of course I stayed in the
action on another level working for Car & Driver magazine, after that
working for BMW and after that with OC Ritch and Jim Gilbert as Technical
Editor for Road Test Magazine. After the TR I owned two more Ferraris.
While with Car & Driver I bought a Zagato bodied 250 GT. Later I owned
a 250 2+2. They are very unique cars in ways that I find difficult to describe.
I certainly enjoyed owning them and competing with the Monza and the Testa
Rossa.
I wasn't doing it for the
same reasons that others had, I think. I've always loved cars (still do)
and the racing activity was an expression of that love. Winning was almost
beside the point for me. Whatever success I had ( and it was very little)
was just frosting on the cake. I believe a
person's passion need not
have to have any rational reason. After my racing period I bought a 40'
yawl. I lived aboard it in Newport Beach while writing for Road Test. I
developed a passion for the sea and sailed as far north as Glacier Bay
Alaska and as far south as Panama.
I've cruised parts of the
Gulf and up the Mississippi and through the TVA. I believe people should
follow their passions. I did some prospecting for gold (no luck) and for
four years my wife and I traveled the back roads (I'm an artist) and I
painted signs. We loved it. Today (I'm now 73) I design homes, do oil paintings
and have a great passion for following the Formula One racing events, so
perfectly presented by Speedvision." |
