Bob
Engberg sent me this photo & info on the #62
Veritas:
"The car trailing the Kurtis at Palm
Springs is a Veritas owned and driven by Walter "Watsie" Roach.
The car had been purchased by San
Diegan John Biehl around 1950 when John and his wife were in Europe. John
drove it around over there and then shipped it home to San Diego. Sometime
in the mid-50's he sold the car to Walter.
I recall watching Watsie, John and my
then brother-in-law spend the Thursday night before the Palm Springs race
stuffing a Fiat V8 into the car. The Veritas overheated during the race
and I believe, DNF'd.
Watsie parked the car in his La Jolla
garage and the last time I saw it (around 1980) it sat with cardboard boxes
draped over it. The original BMW engine sat next to it.
After Walter died his wife sold the Veritas
and I think it was restored and now races in Germany.
I knew John Biehl pretty well.
He was racing in the 1950s when I was a kid.
He had a story that, when in Europe,
the Veritas was cutting out during a rain storm because the distributor
of the BMW engine sat high and was shorting out on the car's aluminum hood.
He used one of his wife's "feminine products" to wedge between the distributor
and hood and voila, the car ran fine.
John raced a Moretti at Torrey Pines
and lost it at turn 9 in the 6-hour race, hit the power station's fence
and crumpled the car into a little ball. Later he ran it as a "Moretti
Special."
I interviewed him around 1980 when he
was bed-ridden with emphysema. He passed away shortly thereafter. Walter
Roach died about five years ago." |
