Clair Schwendeman shines at SVRA Sebring Spring Vintage Classic opener
Clair Schwendeman in his # 37 1969 Corvette topped the Group 6 charts all weekend. He did so against the hot # 98 Mustang GT 350 of Gary Moore prepped by Curt Voght Cobra Automotive and the state-of-the-art # 61 RHD Jag XKE of Larry Ligas prepped by his own Predator Racing shop. Clair is going a lot faster thanks to expert car prep by Duntov Motors and progress that has made him a better driver under the wing of Alan Sevadjian.
Veteran racers Paul and John Reisman are the new owners of the # 31 2010 Corvette Daytona Prototype Cuyote Chassis that Eric Curran drove for the Whelen team in the Grand Am Series. John was first in Group 11 GTP1 class Sprint and Enduro races, sharing the drive with Eric who was on hand at the debut. John finished ahead of Travis Engen in his long dominant # 2 2005 Audi R8 LMP in a showdown of American “spec car” grunt vs the iconic German exotic.
Robert Blain starting near the back of the field in his C6 # 64 2004/2005 ex Pratt & Miller GT1 was first in Group 11 GT4 class beating out Jeff Bernatovich by a whisker in his C4 # 90 1990 Group 10 GT1/TA GT1 class in a combined race.
Bill Treffert C1 # 24 1960 is the fastest straight axle in Group 4 AP, non-medallion prep, shown here about to pass # 56 of SVRA honcho Tony Parella.
George Haddad (Fabulous Restorations Inc.) replicated this beautiful C2 # 88 1967 L88 Corvette. It is patterned after the C2 # 89 1967 L88 Corvette that Cliff Gottlob raced on a shoestring budget at Daytona back in 1970. Trans Am racer Kerry Hitt took it out for exhibition laps on Thursday test day; while collector David Burroughs and co-owner Dana Mecum strive to preserve the ex Gottlob car as original as possible down to every last part, receiving an invite to Pebble Beach for the effort.
Paul Read is a recent owner of this C4 1988 original Corvette Challenge car. It could be the only one actually racing today. Owners of Corvette Challenge cars are typically collectors. We Corvette racing fans owe leading experts Curtis Smith and Ralph Kramer for documenting and preserving these cars from a very special era. Evenly matched, they captured a lot of attention in the hands of some big name drivers going at each other with abandon running full schedules in 1988 & 1989.
# 59 Bernie Chodosh fresh off the boat from the UK was a late entry in his tricked out C1 1959 solid axle Corvette that raced in Group 6.
The Registry of Corvette Race Cars was out in full force. (Check out banner on trailer)
Thanks Larry Van Scoy for the great photos.
