Car Clips on YouTube

I recently sent some old 8mm home movie reels to a digitizing service. I haven't had an 8mm projector in years so I wasn't quite sure what was on these reels except that they contained family stuff plus some car & racing footage that I shot at Meadowdale, Lyndale Farms, and Elkhart Raceway in 1962 and 1963. My movie camera was a Kodak Brownie. This camera had an aperature adjustment but no zoom capability so the film results are limited by the camera as well as the very amateur photographer. Nevertheless, I found the films to be interesting. I especially enjoyed watching Corvettes race on skinny tires. I was also pleased to have footage of the Corvair Monza GT's introduction in 1962 at the Elkhart Lake June Sprints. Here are links to my YouTube postings plus short descriptions.

June 1962 Elkhart Lake GM Experimental Cars GM introduced the Corvair Monza GT at this race. It was a big hit. The Monza GT was accompanied by the 1959 Corvette Stingray, Corvette Mako Shark, Corvair Sebring Spyder and the Corvair Super Spyder. It was a great place to see Corvairs at the height of their popularity with a Corvair race pace car and the first production Corvair Spyder I ever saw.

August 1962 SCCA A Production Nationals Race at Meadowdale Raceway Meadowdale was an awesome race track near Chicago, IL. It featured a banked Monza Wall turn and a long downhill straight. Dr.. Dick Thompson won this race going away in a Grady Davis Corvette. This was the first year for the 327 cu in engine and Thompson used it to good effect all season. I was a Ferrari SWB Berlinetta fan going into this race but loved seeing the Corvettes dominate. Notice the great slides on skinny racing tires.

August 1962 SCCA Nationals CM Race. This race was the big event of the day. Harry Heuer of Meister Brauser Racing brought a Chaparral I in place of the beautiful Scarab he previously raced. Heuer had car issues that kept him second for most of the race until the leading Cooper-Monaco broke. For those of you who saw Harry Heuer accelerate his beautiful Meister Brausers off the banked turn down the long Meadowdale straight, you know you saw something very special. Today, the site of the Meadowdale Raceway is now a county open space and park where you can walk around the track site.

June 1963 Elkhart Lake June Sprints Pit Scenes I took this film in the pits. Drivers Augie Pabst, Dr. Dick Thompson, and Don Yenko are included. Pabst, of the Pabst beer family, often raced for Peter Hand Brewery's Meister Brauser team. Thompson and Yenko raced AP and BP Corvettes for Grady Davis (Gulf Oil) at the time. In 1966, Thompson was very successful racing Yenko's Corvair-based Yenko Stinger in SCCA D Production. The film has footage of the Corvair Monza SS and Monza GT which were on exhibit.

June 1963 Elkhart Lake June Sprints A Production Race In 1962, Dr. Dick Thompson dominated SCCA A Production racing in the Grady Davis (Gulf Oil) Corvette. In 1963, the Shelby Cobra arrived to change the game. The Cobra was signiicantly lighter than the new Corvette Stingray. In this race, the Cobras pull out a significant lead over the #11 Corvette. I was a big Corvette fan and was bummed.