Max Balchowsky's ol Yeller 7, 1961. (chassis tag on the next to last photo)

From left, Old Yeller IX, Old Yeller VIII, Old Yeller VII, and Old Yeller II. (Photo from Reagan Rulau) / information and photo from http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/MaxBalchowsky4.html


from Ron Cummings: "Old Yeller VII was sold as a bare rolling chassis to Don Kirby, a driver in northern New York state. He installed some sort of a body and a Chevrolet motor. The car was raced in east coast events as "Old Yeller VII". Max, at the time, claimed no knowledge of the car because it was sold only as a chassis.

 According to Reagan Rulau, Brock Yates and some friends later installed an Ambro plastic body that looks like a Birdcage Maserati. The car now races in that configuration."

 Ron Cummings located this ad for "Old Yaller VII". It appeared in Competition Press Oct. 27, 1962 Vol. 9 No. 8: "OLD YALLER Mk 7. Latest car built by Max Balchowsky. Corvette 327 fuel-injected engine completely rebuilt. New paint, concours con- dition, over $8000 invested. Don Kirby, Dreamland Park, Rochester 22, N. Y."

If you aren't familiar with why I'm a big fan of Max Balchowski, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/max-balchowsky-creator-of-old-yaller.html

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the Riverside International Automotive Museum, not easy to find, but worth the time to tour

 the museum owns, and restores as well as repairs race cars.  This is the famous Gurney Eagle

 I'll go back and get better photos of the race cars one day, but the lesson you can get from looking at them is how fast design changed after the 70's. Not much is different pre 1960's from decade to decade, but as soon as wings and downforce came into play, a lot changed quick

 Above is a Vector. There were a couple of movies that had them featured... they were made in So Cal, but it wasn't a good business plan, they made them of expensive materials in some ways, liek carbon fiber, but the windows can't open, the interior is really cheap GM stuff like switches etc... and half way through building them, they could no longer get the engines they'd been using and switched to Lamborghini engines

 Tamerlane Thoughts blogspot toured here a year or two ago, and did a much better post about this collection of Maserati, the largest in So Cal I have no doubt

 Ol Yeller 3 ahead of the Cobras and european cars

 Great photos sometimes have great stories... like the above... that is a fridge or bbq grill... in place of the window netting you might be used to seeing. McCluskey arrived at the racetrack to learn that he'd be required to have some form of restraining material in the window... so he went and found what you see above, and put in it in time for the race. I love racing stories.

 Here is what driving to it looks like, that dead end above, well don't go that far. Take the left turn

 Past this building labeled 833

 Past this one labeled 815... it and the previous 833 will be on your right, as well as the museum below, and it blends into the surrounding builds really well. Why the camoflage? Don't know.

http://www.riversideinternational.org/

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