The Roaring Season

Stub axle showing snap ring
This is a stock 1965 Corvette part. It is also a very weak link in the Cheetah drive train. If this snap ring ever is knocked loose the wheel would go under the car in the stock setup. Robert Boyce had this happen to him twice.

Note in the middle of picture is Top Link
Robert added this top link to the Cheetah setup. This holds the rear wheel up if the half shaft snap ring ever pops off.

Chevy 3/4 ton truck slip joint
Robert Boyce found running stock Corvette half shafts with his 680 hp engine didn't work. He converted these truck heavy duty slip joints to take the place of the weak stock half shafts.

New rear trailing arm made by Robert Boyce.
On the Cheetah I had this part failed causing the rear tire to go under the car. Robert has made his new trailing arm assembly out of thicker material and more in the sprint car type of trailing arm than the original Cheetahs had.

I asked Robert when you first starting driving the Cheetah in 2004, what was wrong with it. His answer was "Everything". Over the 8 years Robert Boyce has run this Cheetah, he has made improvements in nearly every area of the drive train and chassis. Note he has mounted the battery on the side of the frame. Robert also is using 1965 Corvette disk brakes. The cars came with drum type brakes.

Carbon fiber Cheetah rear body section
This is a lightweight body that Robert has for his Cheetah.

Front hub assembly
When Robert Boyce went to the disk brake setup he had to use a 1967 Corvette front spindle. These have larger bearings in them, they are required for the disk brake switch. The steering arm is off a Chevy Impala and not stock Corvette.

Steering rack assembly
Robert didn't feel comfortable with the stock 16x1 steering. He felt it was way to slow. He has a 8x1 rack installed. To achieve proper bump steer the rack was moved several inches from the original mounting place. Robert also didn't like the angle the steering wheel sat at. He has put on a quick release wheel and instead of reaching up for the wheel, he has it angled more straight at the driver.

Robert also lowered the chassis to sit at 3 1/2 inches above the ground. This required moving suspension pickup points and also lenghtening A arms.

Side view of Cheetah
Robert Boyce has lowered the engine in the chassis by quite a bit. He has also added disk brakes and quick release steering wheel. He has strengthend the chassis and changed the suspension gemoetry. He has modified the shocks and springs. All this in a effort to make the car easier to handle and safer to run. This is an on going effort of Robert Boyce and his mechanic George Heyder.

Now that is a Cheater!

Dry sumped motor lowered in chassis, new mounts made by Robert Boyce

Wally: Lets put it this way. A Lotus 23 with a legal twin cam 200 hp engine is not going to run with this baby on the straights.

I was going to say right at the beginning of this thread that this machine looked lethal!!!! And it appears as though I was right. Modifications and more modifications to get the thing to stay on the tarmac. So what are you calling it. Surely not THE Cheetah......maybe Cheetah II? And no the legal Lotus 23 probably wont stay with it on the straight, but I'll bet it will run rings round it in the corners.........'straights are for fast cars......corners are for fast drivers'.

Jerry, thanks for the photos and detail on this car. I actually really like Roberts updates. They're sympathetic to the period, using mostly period parts, and are improvements made on what was a model that probably left the factory a little too early, with a number of bugs that still needed ironing out. Roberts upgrades are in many ways what may have been done by Bill Thomas if history had been different, and GM had given their support, and his factory not caught fire.

With this being a continuation Cheetah, Robert doesn't need to keep it 100% correct. Looks like he has some other interesting cars in his collection.

Cheetah interior, note dry sump tank on passangers side.

Steve: To say Robert Boyce has interesting cars is an understatement. He has 5 Indy cars all running in like new condition, a Superformance GT 40 a NASCAR ex Michael Waltrip car and Vintage Sprint car and street rods and classic cars. It would be a whole thread on his workshop and collection.

I will stick to the Cheetah here. I am sure Robert feels the same as you, this is a continuation car and it is legal to take any of the bugs or unsafe features and correct them. This has taken years to accomplish.

Heat exchanger for the engine oil
I have never seen this one. Usually you would use an oil cooler. Robert says it works fine.

Here is a very nice story on Don Edmunds, he was the builder of the Cheetah. He also was the Indy Rookie of the year in 1957.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfb3fgXH4jc&feature=player_embeddeda

Hello everyone. My name is Fred Yeakel and I live in Southern California USA. I am new to your site. I know two of your members, John B and Jerry Entin. Jerry and I both drove the Cheetah in the 1964-65 time period. From 1963 to 1966 I raced first a 1959 then a 1957 Corvette in "B" production in the Cal Club region of the SCCA. Jerry and I raced on many of the same race weekends. I knew Jack Goodman who owned Dixon Cadillac in Hollywood. I would help Jack at the track with his Cheetah. As a reward he offered me the opportunity to drive the Dixon Cheetah at the February 1965 Cal Club races at Willow Springs. Jack's Cheetah was originally a street car. Then he and Rolf Picard decided it would be fun to go road racing. Jack had Bill Thomas fit a dual air meter FI to the car and off they went to drivers school. In July 1965 Jack had Bill Thomas put a 396 big block motor and a Munci Rock Crusher transmission and off we went to the San Louis Obispo regional races for a shake down with Rolf driving. What a disaster. It would stick in gear and overheat. Then Jack had Rolf run the car in the 1965 Times GP at Riverside. Jack made Rolf run 1 lap to collect the starting money then come in. I was told to drive it from the pit lane back to the trailer while Jerry was out there running his Cheetah. The car was slower with the big block than with the original motor. You might be interested in checking out my web site http://www.cheetahcars.com
Question for Jerry, did your car ever have disk brakes?

Harvey Lasiter with Denny Doherty owned Cheetah in the day
Harvey Lasiter put disk brakes on the car for Denny Doherty of the Mamas and Papas, after I sold the car to Denny. I also had this Cheetah in an Elvis movie called Spinout. Hope you are enjoying seeing what Robert Boyce has done to his car.

Fred: Glad your a member of The Roaring Season

photo: Harvey Lasiter collection

Fred, WOW, its great to have you here! Welcome aboard. You must have owned the Alan Green Chevrolet Cheetah for some time? Alan Green Chevrolet must have had quite an interest in motorsport in the '60s, as they ran a Camaro in the Trans-Am also: http://www.historictransam.com/Drivers/TonyHart.html

How have you got around some of the issues related to the Cheetah, such as the cabin heat and chassis flex?

Interesting that Jack Goodman wanted to fit a big block motor to the car you were involved with in the '60s. I'd have thought straight line speed would have been the one area the Cheetah didn't need any help with?

Jerry Entin wrote:Fred: Glad to see you here on the Roaring Season. I didn't having disk brakes on the Cheetah when I had it.

Harvey Lasiter put them on the car for Denny Doherty of the Mamas and Papas, after I sold the car to Denny. I also had this Cheetah in an Elvis movie called Spinout. Hope you are enjoying seeing what Robert Boyce has done to his car.

Jerry, did you sell your Cheetah to buy your first McLaren?

I do recall seeing your Cheetah in the Elivis movie. Were you driving it Jerry? What is the blue front engined race car Elvis drives in the movie? Looks like one of the Ol Yallers.

My McLaren Mk 1 with camera mounted on it during filming of Spinout

Steve: I bought my McLaren after the 1965 Riverside Grand Prix. I still owned my Cheetah. It was Ol Yeller IX in the movie that Elvis was driving. They painted it Blue.

A friend of mine named Bruce Kessler was the second unit director on that movie. He got my McLaren in it for me and it was called the Fox 5 in the movie and they painted it Gold. He also got my Cheetah in the movie for me and they painted it red for the movie. I made more on the movie than the cars cost me. So things were pretty good then.

You had to be a movie stunt man to drive in the movies. That is a good story in it's own. Most of these guys were from the cowboy days and would try any stunt no matter how dangerous it was. They didn't want any young guy getting in their union, unless you were related to one of them.

Wow, Jerry, I'm really enjoying your stories. So your McLaren was the car that played the main starring role as the car Elvis drove? Did the film crew treat your cars well, or did they beat on them? Did you get to meet Elvis?