POTPOURRI

Jan. 2006 -- Here's a great picture of a proposal Bradley made for his urban art. While it's a digital composition, he's done several urban murals and paintings using this theme in different applications.

The Bugeye Sprite Race car - 2001-2003 -- Back in 2001 a neat little 1959 Bugeye Sprite race car follow me home, so to speak. It was purchased because it was an extremely well prepared race car (built by Dennis Hall) and we thought Diane might like it better than the Miller. WRONG! We raced in several times in 2001 & 2002 but she decided she really preferred the Miller. So, while it was a fantastic car we decided to sell it. March of 2003 it was sold to a good friend of ours who already prepared and raced these kinds of cars (MG Bugeye, Sprit, & Midgets). He had a son-in-law who was looking to get into racing, so John added it to his fleet of "Spridget" race cars. But his son got busy with his life and the car became "surplus" in John's inventory. So it was sold in 2016 to a fellow back east. Here's some pictures of the car when we owned it.

Team Terrific - The Early Days - Many of our contemporary friends are aware of the Team Terrific moniker which Diane and I use. But the history of how it all came about is largely untold or unknown.

While rummaging about the other day, I came across quite a few photos that serve to tell the story of Team Terrific's Early Days as represented by the "teaser" photo at left. The team name has been around since the late '70s, now over 30 years ago! It all started as a lark with good friends. The complete photo coverage of The Early Days can be seen by CLICKING HERE. The pictures bring back very fond memories of good friends and good times.

Fall 2008 -- Team Terrific's Latest Addition To The Fleet - In early December 2008 another race car was acquired. We purchased a 1965 Bobsy SR-3 Sports Racer. This is a nice car! The Bobsy cars are well-respected and quite handsome. The aluminum tube frame/chassis is very sophisticated compared to the Miller. About 50 of the SR-3 cars were made.


August 2009 -- On left, the Bobsy nearly a year later after purchasing! Visit the SmugMug site for a complete pictorial history of its transformation..	May 2010 -- Finally the Bobsy gets its maiden voyage at RMVR's HPR event. All went pretty well, just a few things to attend to.	Sept. 2010 -- The Bobsy at Hastings

Since the Bobsy was be a bit of a project, a new SmugMug gallery has been be devoted to chronicling its restoration over the 2008/2009 winter. Check out the entire project on the Bobsy SmugMug.

With the Bobsy now part of the Team Terrific stable, I decided to become involved with rejuvenating the Bobsy Registry. So, please visit www.BobsyRegistry.com if you have an interest in the details and history of these great cars.

Sept. 2011 - Reunion Party - After fiddling for a long time with the idea of a reunion party for all the fine folks I worked with over the years, we decided to throw a big party.

Having been retired from Tempest since the end of 2002 (It doesn't seem possible!), it took some effort to assemble contact information for everyone. But that in itself was a fun task. There were folks from the old FNBD days ('69-'74), the CNB and CCA tenure ('75-'92), as well as compatriots from Tempest ('93-2002). The party was grand fun. Many folks attending hadn't seen each other in 20+ years. How very cool.

Many thanks to all who were able to attend. I can't tell you what a treat it was to see everyone. For compete pictorial coverage visit the Reunion's SmugMug Picture Gallery.

1978 Lola T-620 Formula Super Vee

Restoration Project

Winter/Spring of 2012

No, this isn't a car from the Team Terrific stable. Well, not exactly. Rather, it's a car that was restored by Bob for its owner, Robert Ames, during 2012. It turned out really nice! It was restored January to July of 2012 in a full ground-up restoration. The tub and all the suspension bits are perfect, it has a freshly built engine, new calipers, new paint, new fuel cell foam, new onboard fire extinguisher, a Hewland MK8 5-speed fully inspected and shift forks adjusted. I spent 400 hours (No kidding!) restoring the car. The car only has a tiny bit of track time to test the car, obtain tire temps and final brake bias adjustment. A complete extensive collection of the restoration photos, beginning to the ironic ending, is available by CLICKING HERE.

This car was purchased new from Hass back in the day and raced it out of Iowan and Denver for several years in the FSV Pro races. After being sold in the mid-80s, the car was subsequently owned and raced by just two other owners until parked in 1998. Then in 2012 Robert Ames purchased the car and had me bring it back to life with the intention of selling it after restoration. It was in pretty rough shape after being ridden hard and put away wet an stored from 1998-2012. The above link to the restoration photos will show how rough it was.

Feb. 2013 - The car is now sold. Now here's the real great part of the story and you ain't gonna believe this. After the restoration it was purchased by the original owner of the car, Charlie Miller now living in San Diego. Charlie just happened to see the car advertised in early 2013 and realized it was his actual original T-620, serial #HU-25. He even still had the original Hass bill of sale info, setup data, etc. from when he owned/raced it. In addition to confirming chassis number (HU-25) he was able to identify things on the car that he'd done when he owned it. Way cool to see the car return "home" after all these years. He's looking to get his now-grown kids in it and probably race it out in Calif. with VARA.

P.S. April 16th, 2013 - Just received my copy of the May issue of Vintage Racecar. In that issue Mark Brinker has devoted his monthly "Hidden Treasures" column to the full Lola story. Read his article on this great story here. This is the second time Mark Brinker has featured a car that I've restored. Back in 2005 he covered my Russell-Alexis "Barn Find" in his "Hidden Treasures" column. Thanks, Mark. It's fun to be famous.

May 2022 - Epilogue on the Lola T620 -

May 2022 -- This follow up report on Hu-25 Lola Formula Super Vee is so sad on many levels.   In April of 2022 I began to wonder what happened to the Lola T-620 after its restoration and amazing return to its original Owner, Charlie Miller, in 2013.

Sad news #1 -- It was learned from Charlie’s widow, Takae Sekido Miller, that Charlie passed away very unexpectedly in 2017. She said he so loved the Lola. Here’s link to a video of him at Willow Springs when Charlie’s took the first outing the Lola after buying it. But before he died, he had sold the car to Alex Penrith (CA) in 2014. Here’s a link to that Bring-A-Trailer transaction.

Charlie’s widow, Takae, was able to find contact info for Alex Penrith and I contacted him in May of 2022. He didn’t get around to racing the car after acquiring it, but added it to his major car collection.

Sadness #2 -- After reaching out to Alex he said the Lola FSV and 15 of his collector cars burned to the ground in one of California’s wildfires in 2017. Pictures of its last days are available here (the last picture in that photo gallery).

RIP Charlie and HU-25.   And well wishes to Alex in rebuilding his collection.