Everyone who follows racing knows of the Scarab sports cars. Let me tell you a story about the day they came from being an experiment by a hot-rodding rich kid to beating the best competition Europe and America had to offer while at the same time forever changing the complexion of racing in the United States.
The creator of the Scarab, Lance Reventlow, was born to money. The son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton and Count Kurt Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow. Lance Reventlow could buy anything he wanted. From 12 years old he loved car racing having been introduced to it from another of his mother’s husbands. Reventlow became close friends with James Dean and together they began racing club events. Lance started in a Mercedes 300SL, then bought a Cooper T-39 sports racing car. Eventually he went racing in Europe. But Lance’s quest for speed could not be quenched and he bought a Maserati 200SI and entered bigger races like Sebring and the Nassau Speedweeks. He even found a Cooper formula lI car in France, raced it there, and brought it back to California. Lance figured out that regardless of money, he would never get the very best racing equipment as the factories saved their latest designs for themselves. He knew what Briggs Cunningham had done building his own cars and, with his friend and mechanic Warren Olson, decided they could beat the best creating a car from Warren’s sports car shop in Los Angeles. At 22 years old, Lance was ready to take on the world. That idea spawned some of the most famous careers in motorsport. Olson knew Troutman & Barnes, who were looking for work after Frank Kurtis had folded his shop, built the chassis. Ken Miles drafted the front end and a couple young guys, Jim Travers & Frank Coon (to become TRACO) built the small block Chevy engines.
Chuck Daigh was brought on by Troutman and Phil Remington and Daigh were the fabricators. Emil Died, the legendary body genius, sculpted the cars. Today – every one of those men are hall-of-fame legends in motor racing.
The first car was a work of art with beautiful lines, glossy blue paint with California white accents plus a Scarab logo on each door. But beauty went only so far, and the cars had yet to prove themselves. The only way to show their work was to race and win. The first few local outings showed potential but no results. Reventlow wanted to prove the Scarab could beat the best. He took the team east in early 1958 to compete against the Cunningham Lister-Jaguars at Virginia International Raceway. The vaunted Cunningham team was the effort of Briggs Cunningham, the first American to make his own cars to challenge the Europeans. After Briggs stopped building his own cars, he became a Jaguar importer and brought the D Types and Listers to the US and put the best drivers in their seats.
While the results at VIR were not what Reventlow wanted. he did lead the feature for a few laps using the Scarabs Chevy V8 power to out drag the Jaguars overhead cam 6 cylinder engines. But results were a 3rd and a 5th, definitely not what he wanted. While this was happening, Olson had moved to a bigger shop to finish the next two cars. Lance won at the Santa Barbara Airport races, but nf’d as much as he finished. By now the Mk Is were finished with left hand drive and the team headed east to the Montgomery, New York SCCA Nationals with two cars. The right hand drive Mk Il for Chuck Daigh and the left hand drive Mk I for Reventlow. The Scarabs were ready to battle the Cunningham team again.
My friends and I were sports car crazy teens. A buddy, Joe Tierno and I heard the Scarabs were coming to Montgomery and left our homes in Binghamton, NY by train because neither of us owned a car. In the 50’s there were few permanent road courses and because of spectator safety, racing on public highways was a thing of the past. Army airports were plentiful after the war and became the easiest places to stage a race. Montgomery’s airport was built in 1942 to train pilots for WWII, had no scheduled airline traffic and was located just 75 miles from New York City with easy access to the heartbeat of east coast SCCA racing. It was also a perfect setup for the Scarabs as the track was basically a big triangle of connected runways where their power should rule.
As Joe and I were hitchhiking our way from the train station to the airport we went by a lovely old country Inn and who was on the front porch drinking milk but Lance Reventlow. We quickly went over and started talking. Reventlow got a kick out of a couple kids from New York who knew who he was and all about his cars. What never dawned on us was Lance was just 5 years older than we were. Astonishingly, he told us the cars weren’t in New York yet. We were floored, he seemed quite calm. What we found out from Lance was his truck driver went to Montgomery, Alabama by mistake. Reports later said the truck broke down. No doubt it was probably the best spin to put on a big mixup, but we knew the real story.
At the airport entrance, we waited for the Cunningham cars to show. One of Mom’s mechanics was Phil Forno and we knew him from our hometown. Phil saw us, laughed and opened the cars door. We buried ourselves under whatever he had in the back of his station wagon because we couldn’t afford admission. Plus, in those days you couldn’t get in the pits until you were 21, and we weren’t. Soon, Phil stopped the car and we were in! Sleeping bags, Pepsis, peanut butter, race cars; what more could a 16-year-old want. We were prepared as we knew we couldn’t leave the track, or we’d never get back in.
Somebody let us sleep in their car and when we woke Sunday morning, we were greeted with the growling roar of a Chevy V8. The Scarabs were no more than 100′ from us and their sculpted lines were beyond what we could imagine. They had come in during the night and the SCCA stewards had made an exception to their strict rules and would let them practice early Sunday before the first race. The new right #6 instead of #16 and out they went. Practice seemed to go well and Cunningham’s chief, Alfred Momo, was more than interested in the new Mk II. The field for the feature race was exceptional.
Two Cunningham Lister-Jaguars for Walt Hansen and Ed Crawford; the Sadler Special that had just won the Watkins Glen Classic for its creator Bill Sadler, Fast Freddy Windridge in the sinister flat black Kelso-Chev Lister plus George Constantine in an older but quick D Type Jag were there to face the two Scarabs.
Because Phil Forno was one of Cunningham’s drivers and mechanic, Joe and I were allowed to stand near the Cunningham pit spot. We stayed for the start then walked to the first chicane taking photos everywhere we stopped and watched in amazement as the “SCCA Gentlemen’s Agreement” of no contact went flying out the door. Hansgen led into the first turn but the west coast boys were having none of the follow-the-leader stuff and Daigh banged by him to lead. And it never stopped. Crawford and Daigh were literally side by side banging and bumping and both had to stop to pull out sheet metal that was scrubbing tires.
It was fabulous. The Windridge Lister was gone early but the sweet little red special of Bill Sadler was harassing Hansgen and Reventlow up front and when Lance went wide, Hansgen had to back off a hair and Sadler roared into the lead for a couple laps. Then suddenly he was gone with a broken U joint. Daigh was on fire coming from behind and was catching Hansgen.
Reventlow lost brakes (so he said) and ended up with his car hanging on some hay bales. Then Eddy Crawford dropped out. It was down to both team’s number 1 drivers. Cool as always, Hansen watched his pit signals and despite Daigh knocking seconds off his lead, stayed steady. By now Joe and I were back with Phil in the Cunningham pits.
In my youth I was blessed with 20-13 eyesight and could see a white line on Hansgen’s left rear tire as he went by but didn’t know what to do or say. I finally got Phil Forno’s attention and told him Hansgen’s tire was about to blow. Tierno shrugged, looked at Phil, and said, “he can see better than anybody”. Forno pulled a wheel and jack out from the transporter and BAM the left rear blew.
Without hesitation, Hansgen dived through the cones and into the pits. Mom’s boys were ready and they got Westfield Walt Hansgen out quickly (for 1958) but Daigh and the Scarab were half a minute up the road. Walt became the tiger and was charging hard, dropping the lap record every circuit. Drifting and locking brakes it was wonderful to see the master at work. Once we thought we heard the Scarab’s motor sputter but Daigh drove a fabulous race to finish 10 seconds ahead of Hansgen.
WOW what a race. And the drivers knew it. On the cool off lap Daigh and Hansgen stopped on track to salute each other while the west coast boys went mad. That was never reported but my camera caught it – a bit out of focus – but what a moment. The Scarabs had come and they had conquered.
From that point on the California cars never looked back, dominating for several years. Later, in September, the Scarabs went on to defeat the Cunningham team again at Thompson speedway but the big win that gave them the confidence, was Montgomery.
That day in a little upstate NY town on an abandoned airport, sports car racing changed. Road racing began to acknowledge a professional look and drivers started racing each other, not following. Both the Cunningham and Scarab teams were completely professional with paid drivers and mechanics and transporters full of spares. Monied enthusiasts had bought the best cars and hired pro drivers like Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Richie Ginther, Billy Krause and others to drive for them. The amateur, gentleman driver would rarely win again. USAC had started its pro road racing series in 1958 and despite the SCCA saying it would ban its drivers if they raced professionally, it was too late. In November1958 Riverside held its first Times Grand Prix with major prize money.
With a stellar field of drivers and cars, it was won by Chuck Daigh in the Scarab and the two Reventlow cars qualified 1st and 3rd. In December Reventlow went on to dominate the Nassau races. The fastest sports racing cars on earth were made in California.
Lance changed his focus and wanted to win in formula one and started to build America’s challenger for the World Championship. He sold the two Mk II Scarabs to Harry Heuer who named them Meister Brausers to promote one of his beer brands. From 1959 to 1962, those same Scarabs that were built and won in 1958, continued to dominate with Augie Pabst winning the USAC championship in 1959, Harry Heuer winning the B modified national championship in 1961 and Pabst winning the Scarabs last race at Continental Divide in 1963.
By 1959 Sebring was a major international endurance race, Formula Libre events like Lime Rock, Meadowdale and the LA Times GP paid money. The first US formula 1 Grand Prix was held at Sebring, and that truly brought road racing in the US into the big leagues.
But the spark that ignited the fire was the day the creation of California’s best and brightest showed the world in the summer of 1958.
Photos and story by barcboys.com
