Bob's Photos
Bob With Friend - BBQ - Circa 1968 - Unknown Racetrack
A Glimpse of Weekend Racer's Life - 1967 to 1969
Bob gave Wilson Swilley many of the personal pics that Bob had related to Bob's racing years. These pics show what it was like to be a weekend sports car racer in California during 1967 to 1969.
Bob worked for the Oakland Tribune as a typesetter in the mid to late 1960s (I wonder if anybody referred to Bob as "The Flying Typesetter"). Bob claimed to have raced in about 50 races. Most of the materials he forwarded to Wilson Swilley are from 1967 to 1968. But these materials show that Bob was racing on many weekends during the year. Based on the photo history, Bob, family and friends enjoyed themselves greatly during Bob's racing years.
Getting The Car To The Race
Bob towed his 57 Corvette race car to track events. The tow vehicle was painted the same color as the 57 Corvette (Matador Red), and carried the same emblem pacman type emblem as the pic below shows. The tow vehicle served to carry all of Bob's supplies, including tires. Looks like the tow vehicle was also used for the tailgaters that happened at the track. Not much has changed in 40 years apparently.
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Racing
Bob only has a handful of pics of the car racing. Most of the racing pics were taken by professions. Here are Bob's personal racing pics:
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Tweaking The Car
Racing requires careful attention to car performance. Like all racer's, Bob and his crew were spending large amounts of time under the hood. These shots provide some evidence of Bob's engine setup. Unfortunately, there is no direct pic of the setup. But these pics do offer a glimpse of the FI setup Bob used:
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Just Hanging Out With Friends
Racing involves a lot of downtime as well. Hanging out with friends, or just trying to rest, are time-honored traditions at a race track:
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The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), San Francisco Region, required new drivers to attend two driver's training sessions and two regional races before gaining SCCA certification. Bob did his two training sessions in Vacaville and Cotati. Note that Bob's car wears #66 during his training sessions. I think Bob always raced with #43, however.
Other Fun Pics
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| Bob's Den - Many of the Items Are Still with #43 | Bob Celebrating After Finishing 3rd at Laguna in 1969 | Bob's Race Cards from 1969 |
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| Shot of Bob's head and dash | Bob's mascot - car logo Wilson Swilley thinks it was off a cereal logo, but I cannot verify that | Bob didn't receive any sponsor money, but he did carry have some fun with logos every now and then |
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| The Dye's had a cat - named "Vette" of course. | Vulcan Engineering did Bob's machining work at reduced prices. Bob put the Vulcan decals on his car. | Sign on Bob's car after some difficulty. |
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| Good dash photo | Bob hitting the hay bale at Cotati | I wonder how many racers looked at the hotel bible the night before a race. |
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Russ Uzes
Mill Valley CA
Russ Email
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