When the entry for the greatest vintage race of 'em all was accept-ed, Dr. Mark Van Buskirk could have been knocked over with a feather. Understand that his little '32 channeled Ford (Khougaz) roadster would be rubbing elbows (tires) with some of the sport's greatest road racing cars ever built. Starting with the 2005 Honored Marque, Chaparral, with the legendary Jim Hall at the wheel, and including the such magnificent machines as C&D-type Jags, 300SL Mercs, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Troutman-Barnes, and Ol' Yellars, guided by such luminaries as Sir Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, Chuck Daigh, Bobby Rahal, to name a few, it is clear that the hot rod was to be in some very fast company.
The occasion of this year's Historics includes 1947-55 sports cars, homebuilts, and specials that raced the circuits of the U.S. during that period to be recognized. Class designation 3A included C-type Jags, '54 Lancia, two 300SL Mercedes, a Cad-powered Kurtis, Ed Ingalls' Flathead-powered '30 Model A special, the Baldwin Merc Special, and Toly Artunoff's Glaspar Ascot roadster. The historical provenance of the Van Buskirk roadster included a match race of hot rods versus sports cars held on the grounds of the old Davis Automobile Factory in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. The time was 1949 and the subsequent story in Hot Rod magazine by Walt Woron documented the activity. This was sufficient to qualify for competition in the special section of this year's Historic races.
Once accepted, Mark, a California Roadster member, contacted me to get advice as to what to do to prepare for the event.
"First, you will need a driver," I told him, and suggested fellow California Roadster member Max Jamiesson. Max currently races a 356 Porsche in vintages races and he has all of the medical clearances and licenses necessary to compete. Mark agreed. I then called Max and asked if he would like to drive and he jumped at the chance. Since the roadster has been in Torrance, California, since the L.A. Roadsters' Father's Day event in Pomona, I asked Max to come down from his home in Carmel Valley to have a fitting. We had replaced the bench seat with two P-40 vintage aircraft aluminum bucket seats, and added seatbelts and a roll bar. The required fire extinguisher and electrical switch were added per the rules. When we fit Max to the car and let him drive it for a spell, it was clear that the steering was much too hard for sufficient handling. The car was originally built to go in a straight line at the dry lakes and had 12 degrees of caster-way too much for good handling. We adjusted as best we could, pumped up the tires to 40 lbs, and hoped for the best. We detailed 'er out and loaded it in the trailer.
On Wednesday before the event, Mark and his crewman/lawyer Alex Woloshansky flew into LAX and I picked them up and headed for Laguna Seca. The air was filled with anticipatory electricity-the same kind that was present when Mark entered this same little car in the Hot Rod class at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance two years ago. We arrived in time to pick up our credentials and sign in. We were told the tech inspection was scheduled for 9:15 a.m. the next morning-we arrived at 7 a.m. (We weren't anxious or anything!) It turned out that Max had everything in hand. We sailed through tech. With the sticker affixed to the roll bar, we were officially part of the weekend's activity and we were all 2 feet off the ground. With nothing to do but wait for the first practice session, which was scheduled for 1:30 pm., we fired up the 286-inch Flathead and warmed her up. We then polished a little bit here and there, until our class was called. Max, dressed in his fire suit gear, and Mark, in a similar getup, climbed in. I tightened the belts and Alex cleaned the goggles and faceshield, checked the oil and the tire pressure. We fired it up and went to staging.