Photos: The Ken Hyndman Collection

[khyndart in CA]

[khyndart in CA]

Oct 29th 1975.
Jackie Oliver exiting his F 5000 Shadow DN 6 during practice for the 1975 F 5000 race at Riverside, California.
Note the smoggy air conditions which was common back then !
Jackie was an excellent driver wherever he competed. From Formula 1, F 5000, Can Am, Lemans etc.
He was the mainstay of the Shadow and Arrows race teams.


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

[khyndart in CA]

[khyndart in CA]

October 26th 1975
Tony Brise on the grid for the F 5000 race at Riverside, about to start his final race.
Julian and Graham look on while Teddy Yip checks his watch.
One month later Tony was aboard that fateful flight with Graham Hill.
note; Brian Redman in the background with his new Lola T- 400 (# 1 ) as he had crashed his T- 332 in practice.
Tony drove well but was in fourth place late in the race when he came into the pits for more fuel.
We were not prepared and had to rush around and finally used some fuel borrowed from another team !
Tony went back out and finally finished in sixth.
The difference in the loss of two places meant Tony did not get enough points to win the BRDC driver's award that year as it went instead to Alan Jones.
We were all a bit bummed about that but little did we realize of the tragedy that lay ahead.

(Ken Hyndman )

This is the last of my photos from this series. Thanks to all those who encouraged me along the way including Steve and Graham, Grant etc to get them out of the shoe box and share them with you.

[khyndart in CA]

October 26th 1975
Tony Brise on the grid for the F 5000 race at Riverside, about to start his final race.
Julian and Graham look on while TeddyYip checks his watch.
One month later Tony was aboard that fateful flight with Graham Hill.
note; Brian Redman in the background with his new Lola T 400 as he had crashed his T 332 in practice.
Tony drove well but was in fourth place late in the race when he came into the pits for more fuel. We were not
prepared and had to rush around and finally used some fuel borrowed from another team !
Tony went back out and finally finished in sixth.
The difference in the loss of two places meant Tony did not get enough points to win the BRDC driver's award that year
as it went instead to Alan Jones. We were all a bit bummed about that but little did we realize of the tragedy that lay ahead.

(Ken Hyndman )

This is the last of my photos from this series. Thanks to all those who encouraged me along the way including Steve and Graham etc
to get them out of the shoe box and share them with you.

[Jeff]

Ken , we thank you so much for sharing your superb photo's.
They offer a very rare "behind the scenes" view of life during a superb , possibly the best era of motorsport

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks Jeff,
If you look closely you can see "cheesecloth" taped to the air intake scoop to keep any of the local sand out and on the enlarged nose above the Theodore emblem, you can see the red duct tape over where we attempted to make an opening with a deflector to allow air in around the pedals !
It was very basic stuff and # 64 was not the prettiest car out there but with Graham & Julian's preparation, Tony could make it fly !

(Ken Hyndman )

[Grant Sprague]

Mate great piks I thank you once again , strangley enough I was in LA last week [RE RIVERSIDE] I was to visit Riverside as there was a Harley agent there called house of Harley , I was to puchase some Harley aparrel...... but ended up finding a shop closer in Anaheim a place called Garden City....Long Story short when I got back home ,,,,a couple of mates mentioned River Side Race track I had heard of it from years gone past ..Thanks Mate

[khyndart in CA]

Grant, Thanks to your comment I remembered my first visit to Riverside in October 1974.
It was to see the IROC race that was now consisting of (Identical) 1974 Camaros powered by 350 Chev engines prepared by Traco Engineering that produced 440 horsepower and also had to be identical.
(The engines were painted gray so as to show any oil leaks. )

The Race of Champions was for champion race drivers from Nascar to Formula One.

(See the attached entry list for 1974 )

(Ken Hyndman)

[khyndart in CA]

[khyndart in CA]

In the garage area is Roger Penske in discussion in front of # 7 Camaro that was to be driven by Emerson Fittipaldi that day.
As usual Roger is impeccably dressed even to the black shiny shoes as the rest of us had the dusty versions !

(Note special spare IROC motor in the background, painted gray )

This car went on to be one of the best as noted in this article.

"The black number seven 1974 Chevrolet Camaro IROC Race Car was offered for sale at the 2006 RM Auction in Monterey California where it was expected to sell between $100,000-$150,000. It was offered without reserve. Driven by Bobby Allison, Bobby Unser plus Emerson Fittipaldi who drove this vehicle and never lost a race while behind the wheel. This vehicle was never defeated. It is thought that the vehicle was a Penske/Donohue prototype car. It was dubbed 'lucky number seven' due to its very prestigious accomplishments on the racing circuit. "

(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

I walked around the Riverside track to the back straight and it was such a casual atmosphere where James Hunt was with Dan Gurney and spectators would wander up and have a chat.
( James was there to drive the Jorgensen Steel Eagle for Dan in the F5000 race )
Hunt said he would like to try driving a IROC Camaro one day and he did a year later in Oct 1975.

( Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

Riverside, Oct. 26 1974
Second lap of IROC race on the back straight heading down to turn 9.
Four time Indy 500 winner, A J Foyt in Camaro # 2, in the lead, Jody Scheckter, in Camaro # 16,trying to get close enough to draft Foyt, as this was a whole new learning experience for Jody.

Note the dry landscape and the smoggy atmosphere. The air is cleaner today but the track is gone due to residential development.

( Ken Hyndman )

( Note the lack of safety standards for spectators compared to today !)

[Steve Holmes]

In the garage area is Roger Penske in discussion in front of # 7 Camaro that was to be driven by Emerson Fittipaldi that day.
As usual Roger is impeccably dressed even to the black shiny shoes as the rest of us had the dusty versions !

(Note special spare IROC motor in the background, painted gray )

This car went on to be one of the best as noted in this article.

"The black number seven 1974 Chevrolet Camaro IROC Race Car was offered for sale at the 2006 RM Auction in Monterey California where it was expected to sell between $100,000-$150,000. It was offered without reserve. Driven by Bobby Allison, Bobby Unser plus Emerson Fittipaldi who drove this vehicle and never lost a race while behind the wheel. This vehicle was never defeated. It is thought that the vehicle was a Penske/Donohue prototype car. It was dubbed 'lucky number seven' due to its very prestigious accomplishments on the racing circuit. "

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25151[/ATTACH]


(Ken Hyndman )

Outstanding images Ken! Thanks for sharing. The 1974/75 IROC season was the second year for the series. It was also the first year in which Camaros were used. The first season the cars were Porsche RSR's. My guess is that the car pictured was no more special than the other cars, or at least, that was not the intention. As you know, you can build two cars identical, but its always possible one is just a little bit better than the other.

Mark Donohue raced in IROC the first year, with the Porsches, and I think his successes here did a great deal for his reputation, and even in his own mind. Traditionally, Donohue hated having a team mate, as he was convinced he wasn't a great driver, and that he was able to better set up his car, which helped him to win. But he beat some of the very best drivers in the world in the first year of IROC, winning two of the three races, and I think this really cemented his reputation as one of the greats.

Thanks again for the photos Ken. Its rare to see such great early IROC images.

[Grant Sprague]

Outstanding images Ken! Thanks for sharing. The 1974/75 IROC season was the second year for the series. It was also the first year in which Camaros were used. The first season the cars were Porsche RSR's. My guess is that the car pictured was no more special than the other cars, or at least, that was not the intention. As you know, you can build two cars identical, but its always possible one is just a little bit better than the other.

Mark Donohue raced in IROC the first year, with the Porsches, and I think his successes here did a great deal for his reputation, and even in his own mind. Traditionally, Donohue hated having a team mate, as he was convinced he wasn't a great driver, and that he was able to better set up his car, which helped him to win. But he beat some of the very best drivers in the world in the first year of IROC, winning two of the three races, and I think this really cemented his reputation as one of the greats.

Thanks again for the photos Ken. Its rare to see such great early IROC images.

Really interesting Ken, yes remember when IROC was running ,I guess inversion wud mean reverse grid race , & G Hill was last in a particular race . Often we had reverse grid races when I was doing pre 65 racing I found it fun , except for the odd newbies not using mirrors or not looking at flags , I would clip a few on the way through & some times got a telling off, none of us being perfect thats what makes life interesting ...Thanks Ken

[khyndart in CA]

Yes Steve, Mark Donohue did a marvelous job preparing these cars and keeping them all equal.The Camaros arrived at Penske Racing with just 2 months to get them prepared. Mark chose 14 mechanics with no race car building experience to help keep it equal. He worked with them completely removing the entire power train, all the wiring,interior,suspension, fuel system etc and reassembling with heavy duty racing equipment. Many companies contributed which helped keep within the budget of $15000 each car. (which was half of what each RSR Porsche cost to run the previous season !) These companies also benefited from the advertizing stickers and television exposure which was huge for their future growth also.
These Mark Donohue prepared Camaros were so good that they were used for at least 3 seasons of IROC racing.
Sadly Mark died of injuries during practice for the 1975 Austrian GP while driving a Penske F 1 car.

Note all the contributing companies on this display.

( You may have to have your glasses on to read this image !)

Ken Hyndman

[khyndart in CA]

Yes Steve, Mark Donohue did a marvelous job preparing these cars and keeping them all equal.The Camaros arrived at Penske Racing with just 2 months to get them prepared. Mark chose 14 mechanics with no race car building experience to help keep it equal. He worked with them completely removing the entire power train, all the wiring,interior,suspension, fuel system etc and reassembling with heavy duty racing equipment. Many companies contributed which helped keep within the budget of $15000 each car. They also benefited from the advertizing stickers and television exposure which was huge for their future growth also.
These Mark Donohue prepared Camaros were so good that they were used for at least 3 seasons of IROC racing.
Sadly Mark died of injuries during practice for the 1975 Austrian GP while driving a Penske F 1 car.

Note all the contributing companies on this display.

( you might have to have your glasses on to read this image ! )

Ken Hyndman

[Steve Holmes]

Thats some great info Ken! Many thanks.

[Bryan]

1984 IROC from Talladega - Derek Bell versus the wall at 175mph.

Youtube clip