[DeTomaso] Some DeTomaso history

[Jerry Knotts]

This is a copy of an article I found from the Houston Chronicle on the 
first and last annual Houston Dome stadium road race.
October 10 and 11, 1964

I was in Jack Saunders pit working on the Grand Sport Corvette owned by 
Mecom Racing and driven by Jack.

Wasn't a stellar week end for us but was a lot of fun.  We were also 
helping John Henry Kirby with his DeTomaso Formula Libre.  He had an 
Alpha 1800cc webber carbed engine.  To make power we were jacking the 
timing way up and it was running really hot.  That's when I realized 
that the engine water was running to and from the radiator inside the 
chassis tubing.  The upper hose went under his right arm and entered the 
chassis behind the dash board.  The cockpit was so tight that we put the 
body upper on after he was in the car.

"

WASHBURN OVERTAKES OPPOSITION WITH WINS AT HOUSTON
By Stan Schaeffer

Houston, Tex - Harry Washburn of Shreveport made a processional out of 
both day's big bore events staged within the shadows of the new Harris 
county domed stadium. Using perimeter roads about the new stadium, the 
Houston JCs and the San Jacinto region of SCCA inscribed a 1.9 mile road 
course.

Political objections were overcome and the British consul-general 
obtained the backing of English car distributors and accessory firms to 
help make the meet a successful one. Large silver trophies were awaiting 
the winners of each race.

Washburn's Cooper Monaco-Chevy sported a single 4 barrel carb and was 
chased, at some distance, by the Mecom Racing Team Chevrolet Grand Sport 
Sting Ray. Mecom's lightweight 'Ray was lent to Jack Saunders of 
Houston, less the exotic engine which used four gigantic side draft Webers.

Saunders' crew installed a standard 327 Chev engine which, though not 
delivering the ponies Mecom's engine does, was as much as Saunders could 
handle. Mecom was on the West Coast looking after his team Riverside GP 
entries.

A distant third on Sunday was Bill Steele driving Gene Hamon's 
immaculate Cobra.

The first Southwestern competition model of a Lotus Elan appeared in the 
hands of Ed Tucker of Dallas. Tucker and Homer Rader are the Lotus 
distributors for the Southwest. Tucker's Elan hit a clocked 141 mph on 
the straight! Tucker, Southwest divisional points champ in C production, 
will drive the Elan in the divisional runoffs at Riverside in November.

Tucker had no brakes on Saturday but won by a mile anyway. On Sunday, he 
lapped the second placed car by the seventh lap. The car really flies.

Many competitors had arguments with the curbs on the course, which they 
lost in varying degrees. Bags filled with sand, hay bales and dump truck 
loads of sand marked the course boundaries for the unwary.

Several Lotus 7's had frontsuspensions wiped out during off-course 
excursions. John Henry Kirby, driving a De Tomaso Formula Libre with an 
Alfa engine, had a radiator hose connection blow just as he neared the 
end of the back straight. The hose, just above Kirby's knees, spewed 
hot, hot water all over his legs while he was travelling in excess of 
100 mph.

Kirby brought the vehicle under control nevertheless before ejecting 
himself from the steaming cockppit.

Conversation piece of the race weekend was the 450 lb. Brat Special, 
built and driven by Mark Bratton of Corpus Christi. It was a winner, too.

Bratton's car must not be over two feet high and six feet long but this 
H modified has a large 50 hp Mercury outboard engine which must hit 
15,000 rpm! The car is unsprung and has go-kart spot brakes inside the 
six-inch front wheels.

Acceleration is fantastic and when he shifts, most other car's tachs 
would have wound around twice! Bratton's sled makes the ex-Dan Odenburg 
H modified special from Oregon look like a Mack truck in comparison.

Houston, Texas SCCA Restricted Race, Oct. 10-11, 1964

C & H Production, H Modified & GT (20 laps, avg. 68.9 mph): 1. Mark 
Bratton (Brat Special)
C, D, E & F Production (20 laps, avg. 76.5 mph): Ed Tucker (Lotus Elan)
Formula V & IV (20 laps, avg. 66.4 mph): Guy McMurray (Berkeley)
Formula Libre & Junior (20 laps, avg. 84.2 mph): Mason O'Kieff (Lotus 27)
C-G Modified, A & B Production (20 laps, avg. 84.4 mph): Harry Washburn 
(Cooper Monaco)     "

The note about Kirby ejecting himself equalled that he got to a standing 
position at speed and guided the car off the track in a great cloud of 
steam.

The Bratton special was a 2 cycle and sounded like a June bug in a 
Prince Albert can when it was going down the straight.

Hard to believe it was over 50 years ago.
jerry knotts