Jim Hall, Chaparell, American Legend

[OC Mike]

Long, but fascinating, at least to this old guy who was a pimply faced teenager when all this was going down.
All the name dropping, how he started with Chevrolet, engineering background and of course the cars and more....

Put some time aside....

 

[WhatExit?]

Revolutionary racing tech at the time - great ingenuity

 

[Racer56]

Awesome video, he is true American innovator!

 

[rrrr]

The Chaparral road racing cars were innovative, and Jim Hall is a true genius. His development of the Chaparral 2K, along with British engineer John Bernard, resulted in a win at Indy in 1980 as well as a dominating season and CART championship with driver Johnny Rutherford.

It maximized the then untried realm of ground effects, which utilized the venturi effect of compressing air in a reduced area. The car's undertray tunnels provided a huge increase in downforce, without the drag penalties of a body mounted wing. The Yellow Submarine changed open wheel racing, and the shape and size of the tunnels is now a critical aspect of car design.

Rutherford, ‘Yellow Submarine’ Were Match Made in Horsepower Heaven

This continues a series of feature stories highlighting historic milestones and anniversaries honored in 2020 leading up to the Month of May and Legends Day presented by Firestone on Saturday, May 23 at IMS.

www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com

 

[OC Mike]

I'd forgotten about the Indy cars. JH borders on Genius with all his ground effects cars.
Yet he is so humble, crediting his success to his engineering degree. He makes engineering sound fun.
He was so far a head of everyone on Ground effects during the Can Am days, they kept changing the rules to penalize him.
That's why he quit on Can Am. He finally got his deserved rewards in Indy.
I actually had the Cox 1/24th scale slot car of the 2E, back in the day. Had to save up my paper route money.
Slot car cost $14.95 + tax.......

 

[Flatsix66]

Great story! I wish I had my own test track behind my shop.

 

[beaverretriever]

Very cool. Sent this to my father.


Cool story about my dad and his brother.

My dad and his brother drove from the San Fernando Valley in my dad's new 65 VW (lowered with Bursh exhaust I think that's what it was called) to Florida non stop trading off driving why the other slept so they could make the famous "wet" Sebring to watch Jim Hall race. They made it all the way there and said they felt like super stars when they showed up as people surrounded their car asking all about California and how the surf was. haha. It was quite the feat to drive from coast to coast in the 60s as many have never even been on a plane or left their home town since travel just wasn't as easy. I could only imagine how long of a drive that must have felt like in a VW bug. When the Florida teenagers and young people saw Cali plates it blew their minds they drove that far!

My father said they have never seen rain like that during the race and they were one of the few to sit through hours of it watching. My dad's most vivid memory of the race was seeing the disc brakes light up red through every turn on the Chaparral and that wing popping up to slow the car.

 

[WhatExit?]

So many cars he designed and raced - here are a number of them...

chaparral can am cars - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[OC Mike]

Very cool. Sent this to my father.


Cool story about my dad and his brother.

My dad and his brother drove from the San Fernando Valley in my dad's new 65 VW (lowered with Bursh exhaust I think that's what it was called) to Florida non stop trading off driving why the other slept so they could make the famous wet Sebring to watch Jim Hall race. They made it all the way there and said they felt like super stars when they showed up as people surrounded their car asking all about California and how the surf was. haha. It was quite the feat to drive from coast to coast in the 60s as many have never even been on a plane or left their home town since travel just wasn't as easy. I could only imagine how long of a drive that must have felt like in a VW bug. When the Florida teenagers and young people saw Cali plates it blew their minds they drove that far!

My fathers said they have never seen rain like that during the race and they were one of the few to sit through hours of it watching. My dad's most vivid memory of the race was seeing the disc brakes light up red through every turn on the Chaparral and that wing popping up to slow the car.

That's a cool story.
Thanks for sharing it.
And yes, Cali to Florida in the 60's was a BIG Deal....

 

[Dkahnjob]

Very cool video, thanks for sharing.
DK

 

[rrrr]

That's a cool story.
Thanks for sharing it.
And yes, Cali to Florida in the 60's was a BIG Deal....

In the early 80s, a buddy of mine rode a Honda 500 Four from Albuquerque to Panama City to hang out with one of our friends for the summer.

He later told me he thought he was gonna die of old age before he finally got there. He sold the bike and flew home.