To all of you on the Vintage Net, I'm in the process of "inspiring" one of
my life-long friends into writing memoirs of his Dads professional racing
career back in the 50's. Some of you "REAL" old timers may remember Bob
OKer. This will be his son, Bill, writing. This exchange is between Bill and
Mike Savin. Mike's Dad, Ed Savin, was one of Bob's sponsors back in the
50's. Bob first raced a Morgan for Ed, then attained phenomenal success in
an AC Bristol (21 starts----- 21 first's!!).
This exchange involves the 1956 and '57 Sebring race where Bob drove for the
Triumph factory, and also a reference to Bob's driving the Bristol, which
may have been a large influence on Shelby's choice of that chassis for the
Cobra. If you enjoy this bit of history let me hear from you, that I/we
might encourage Bill to keep writing!!!!!
Carl
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oker, William"
To: "Carl McLelland (E-mail)"
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 8:39 AM
Subject: FW: astons, cobras
>
> Hi Bill!
> Thanks for keeping me in touch. I checked the sites you
> sent Carl to. Interesting stuff. I notice that Ruth Levy drove the car
at
> Nassau -- I remember her, she spent some time with our crew at Sacramento
> (1957) -- a boyish-looking girl -- she was fast... for a girl... (that
> should get me in trouble..) I think Mary, Bob Drake's wife was quicker.
>
> I enjoyed reading about your dad driving the Aston to
> Lime Rock. What do you know of the connection between the AC and the
Cobra?
> I know Carroll Shelby was Texas distributor for "Steen C" under my dad's
> distributorship -- anyway, I've always felt Shelby must have been
influenced
> by your dad's performance with the car.
>
> One of my favorite stories about your dad was when he
> competed on the Triumph factory team at Sebring, 1957. MotoRacing news
> called him "Ironman Oker" -- I believe he drove 11hrs20min of the race
and
> I think he got 9th overall, first 2 liter GT -- I think his co-driver was
so
> slow compared to him, that they pulled him out of the car after 40
minutes.
> What do you know, or can remember about this race?
>
> Mike
>>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oker, William
> Subject: RE: astons, cobras
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> Buy that Morgan yet? You bet I remember that Sebring race! Dad went there
> twice for the Triumph factory team. I still have the telegram from England
> asking him to drive. I think the race you're referring to was the '56 race
> and he did drive about 11 and a half hours which I think is still the
> record. What happened was Dad started the race and built-up a good lead in
> class. Shortly after they changed drivers (I think the co-driver's name
was
> Pennybacker, something like that) the clutch slave cylinder went south.
> Pennybacker was loosing time like mad because he wasn't good at shifting
> without a clutch. Dad never used the clutch after getting going. Remember
he
> raced motorcycles for years and was quite comfortable with shifting
without
> the clutch. So, they put Dad back in the car. He drove the rest of the
race
> with no clutch, won the class and was 17 th overall. They did DNF in '57
but
> I can't remember why.
>
> I went to Sebring about 4 years ago. I had a trade show in Orlando and got
> there on Saturday just so I could drive down to Sebring and check out the
> track. It's not easy to find! I found the town of Sebring and the lake but
> there was no race track. I stopped at a gas station and they had no idea
> what I was talking about. I just started going down country roads until I
> ran across a country store where a bunch of old black folks were sitting
> around. I stopped, rolled down the window and asked this old guy, and I
mean
> old, if he knew where the race track was. He said, "keep going 'till ya
can
> go no mo". I did and he was right! There was a drivers school going on
with
> Formula Fords. I watched for awhile then drove around 'till I found the
gift
> shop. On the wall in the shop is a large photograph, about 2' X 3', of the
> La Mans start of the '56 race. Right dab in the middle of the field is the
> Triumph almost completely pulled out onto the straight ahead of everyone.
> Remember, Dad held the Whittier High School record in the 100 yard dash
(and
> the high jump)!
>
> About the Cobra story, I'm really not sure of the relationship between Dad
> and Shelby. I'm positive they knew each other and Shelby certainly knew of
> the success of the Bristol. And, of course, Dad did work for Steen in some
> capacity about the same time which you may know more about. And I also
> remember being in Shelby's shop one time and seeing the prototype Daytona
> coupe on jack stands but this would be a little later. It seems quite
> logical that Shelby was influenced by all this and it would be timely. I
> just can't say for sure. I'll check with Mom on this.
>
> Oh yes, I don't recall Ruth Levy, but I clearly remember Mary Drake, she
> drove the DB3S a couple of times and won the ladies race, at lease once,
at
> Riverside.
>
> (P.S., Dad was not happy about this, he was sure she was going to break
the
> car!)
>
> Talk later...
>
> Bill
|