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The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (AKA The Monterey Historics) runs this weekend at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. (My "home track" here in Nor-Cal. )
Rob Fuller, Owner of Z Car Garage here in San Jose, CA owns one of the historic S30 based race cars running this weekend. I've posted this car previously so it may look familiar to you.
However, it's more than familiar to me. As an admission of my "advanced age", I watched this car (and supported many of the competitors of this car) run when it was "contemporary, state of the art."
Back in the day... before fender rolling/pulling and whacko offsets & spacers were used to get fat gumballs to fit "underneath". Hahahaha...
This car, while an omnipresent competitor in the IMSA GTU (Grand Touring under 2.5L) class, has more pedigree to it than just "ex-race car". The car was originally presented to Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern California by our own "Mister K" (Yutaka Katayama, then President of Nissan USA and better known as the "Father of the Z Car") to serve as the pace car for the "California 500", a USAC championship race, progenitor to today's IndyCar.
The car was originally campaigned in IMSA by Joel Anderson who then later sold the car and it changed ownership many times before Rob picked it up, becoming the showcase of his shop.
But this is no garage queen! It will run in Group 4A this weekend (2 races on Saturday at 9:55am and again at 3:00pm) going wheel-to-wheel against other stalwart GT-U cars of the day...Porsche 914-4s and 6s, 911s, Alfas, etc.
Now, originally, the car was going to be driven by Joel Anderson, the original owner, but due to last minute scheduling conflicts, he had to relinquish the driver's seat.
However, Datsun fans, the good news is that Rob called up a friend of his to drive the car. And not just any friend... He called none other than - wait for it - Mr. John Morton!!
Yes, THE John Morton of Datsun racing fame! SCCA National Championship winner 1970 and 1971 driving the famed BRE 240Z and Champion in the SCCA Trans-Am series (2.5L class) driving a BRE prepared Dime (510)! These were the first MAJOR competition wins for Datsun so his presence at this race is significant!!
I will say this... I've met a lot of the "legendary" Datsun/Nissan racers from my stint at Comp but NEVER got a chance to meet John Morton. I mean, I met this guy, uhh, "P.L. Newman", whoever he was and some other guys named Sharp, Leary, and Devendorf, but not Morton. My lifelong dream will come true this weekend!
If I can get out of previous engagements.... sniff sniff....
So, if you get a chance to go to the Historics, watch for this car and several others holding up the Datsun/Nissan competition history flag! Hopefully it will have a checker pattern on it!!
Cheers,
Mic
Edit: note that this was the original full post but Rob wanted to keep John Morton's appearance on the DL so I redacted that portion until after the event.
Awesome pics! Wish I could see her run at Laguna Seca. I bet Adam Carolla's going to be drooling over that when he races it against his BREs. Cool stuff.
I have known John Morton for many years and watched him race the original BRE Datsun 510 years ago and the Monterey Vintage races. I even sat in the car! He is a very nice down-to-earth guy.
Thanks for sharing Mic! I must say I thoroughly enjoy reading your incredibly detailed and wordy posts on this forum, no matter what the topic is. Cheers
Awesome pics! Wish I could see her run at Laguna Seca. I bet Adam Carolla's going to be drooling over that when he races it against his BREs. Cool stuff.
I think Carolla is taking that Paul Newman Olds Cutlass...
Wow- that link had a TON of cool pics! Those vintage IMSA Datsuns brought me back to a time when those cars were state-of-the-art! Thanks for this great thread.
08-11-2015, 01:09 PM
Z-Cars At The Monterey Historics
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and some other guys named Sharp, Leary, and Devendorf, but not Morton. My lifelong dream will come true this weekend!
