I was at a graduation party today, where alot of my family members who I don't know so well were. I overheard my two uncles talking about F1 steering wheels, and I butted in.

Turns out one of my uncles is a huge racing guy. He asked me what F1 team I like, and I told him BAR. He then started telling me how he used to know Jacque Villeneuve(sp?), in the 80's before he made it big, when he was racing in Canada. He was telling me how he crewed for alot of race teams. He crewed for Bob Thomas who drove a SCCA Fiat x19 to a national GP championship in 1987.


Those are some photos of the Fiat.

He said he crewed for an IMSA team in the early 90's that ran oldsmobile Achievas. I didn't think to ask him more about this, but I looked it up on Google, and the only team that campaigned the Achieva was Oldsmobile Motorsports, drivers Steve Hoerr (hrpraceworld?) and Amos Johnson. Here's one of the cars at Mid-Ohio in '92:


He said he crewed for some Sports 2000 fords, but that series isnt around anymore. Was that an early Formula Ford class? I think the last job he had was with a formula atlantic team.

It also turns out one of my cousins worked for Mclaren F1 and got to know DC and others, and went to a bunch of races.

My uncle also mentioned knowing Michele Alboreto, RIP.

This probably doesn't fascinate anyone, but I was amazed to know that someone in my family was so involved with racing.

 

wow, sounds cool
id chit my pants if i had a experience like that at a family GTG.
must have been cool for you

 

Big fun! This is an S2000 car:



They are great cars even if they have a Pinto engine. They are now vintage eligible which takes us back to comments elsewhere about me being old.

K

 

Did he know Jacques V. the recently ex-F1 driver or was it his uncle Jacques (Gilles' brother) who was very successful in the early '80s including being multi-time Formula Atlantic national champion? Many people heaqr the name Jagues Villeneuve and thing only of the BAR driver and forget about his very capable uncle. If this was early '80s, BAR-Jacques may have only been 10+ years old.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did he know Jacques V. the recently ex-F1 driver or was it his uncle Jacques (Gilles' brother) who was very successful in the early '80s including being multi-time Formula Atlantic national champion? Many people heaqr the name Jagues Villeneuve and thing only of the BAR driver and forget about his very capable uncle. If this was early '80s, BAR-Jacques may have only been 10+ years old.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Could have been his uncle. When I said BAR, he seemed to immediately recall being at the track with Jacques. It would have had to have been after 1987 though. When was his uncle racing?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 666 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> but I looked it up on Google, and the only team that campaigned the Achieva was Oldsmobile Motorsports, drivers Steve Hoerr (hrpraceworld?) </TD></TR></TABLE>
sorry to go OT but do you have the URL for hrpraceworld?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89civicdx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
sorry to go OT but do you have the URL for hrpraceworld?</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.hrpworld.com/


Thanks for the S2000 photo, K.

 

S2000 is still an SCCA class right? We have a few where I work.

 

Wow, thanks for the pic Kirk. That was the S2000 that I crewed for back in the days of Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls. I am pretty sure I was there the day that picture was taken, maybe not all there.

That is the same part of the track as the pic in my avatar.