| Ron Hathaway's son Jeff & grandson
Kevin share their memories:
"It was a pleasant surprise to be cruising
the net and see these old pictures of my father, Ron Hathaway. I
remember when I took the day off from school and went with him to San Francisco
to pick up the Lola that had just arrived on a ship. When my father
wasn't racing, he was watching the races. I have vivid memories of
being with him at Riverside, Laguna Seca and Vacaville.
My dad was a hell of a driver and even
though he quit racing in the 60's, could never resist a mountain road up
until the day he died. I left many a 'wet spot' on the seats of his cars
as, the tighter the turns got, the faster he would go.
I spent some time yesterday looking at
your site and was fascinated by the current shots of Riverside and Vaca
Valley. I'm 51 now and was very young when we used to go to those tracks
but I still remember them very vividly.
My dad used to take me, my brother and
his Lola to Vaca Valley with him on weekends when the track was closed.
The gate was chained locked but could be lifted off its hinges allowing
us to sneak in. We would spend the day there, with us boys sitting in the
timer's box and my dad driving the course for hours and hours. Every now
and then he would take each one of us for a few laps with him.
In retrospect, I'm sure he toned it down
when we were in the car with him but, to this day, I don't recall ever
going that fast through turns at any other time in my life. It was a mixture
of exhilaration and fear. Thanks for the site. It was a wonderful
era."
Jeff Hathaway
"Ron Hathaway was my grandfather.
My uncle stumbled across your website, and passed it on to me. We have
some pic's of his 65 427 Cobra, which he sold in 66 for $10k (that hurt),
and a few of his Ferraris. He did better in construction than racing
(ha ha). He loved driving fast, and would take me on rides in his
Porsche 930 Turbo and Ferrari 275 GTB 2+2 all the time. That was
a real kick. He died in 1999."
Kevin Sidensol |
