By Seth Emerson
There is an upcoming vintage racing event at Sears Point (Sonoma Raceway) on April 17th. In a promo pitch on Facebook they used a picture from the Candlestick Park Road Race event in 1964. I attended that event, as a spectator, and again in 1965. The Candlestick parking lot, all land fill from the San Francisco Bay, was rough and wavy. In the main and last race of the 1965 event, a Cooper-Ford bounced through a corner, left the track and hit a light pole, killing the driver. Jim Hall had been leading in the Chaparral 2. Racing was called for the day, never to return to Candlestick. But many years later, in the 90s, portions of the lot were used for Autocrosses. Even the street cars, including my Corvair, had a tough time with the asphalt, and many drivers would pass on those events.
The first Photo is a picture from that 1964 event, the blue car is the Genie-Corvair, driven at that event by Ed LaMantia Sr. This is the same car that Joe Huffaker Jr restored/rebuilt in his shops and was then raced at Laguna Seca by Ed LaMantia Jr – 50 years later. (second photo)
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