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." |
