Kettle Moraine Preservation & Restoration
  • Home
  • News from JD
  • About
    • Rick Dresang
    • Alison Dresang
    • Jacques Dresang
    • Paul Jay
    • Alumni/Supported
    • In Memory
  • Partners
  • Garage
  • Results
  • Historical
  • Contact

We have another visitor...

8/31/2020

 
Picture
Cars that have rolled into our shop have varied from McLaren to Stanguellini.

Today: Aston Martin.

DGF #005 - The 1982-1986 Years

8/28/2020

 
A few weeks ago, Ted Wittcoff, who owned our 1977 All American Racers Eagle DGF #005 from 1982-1986, sent me the following photos from his time owning the car.

Ted purchased the car from Dirk Piz, and sold the car after a shunt in 'The Kink' at Road America in 1986 to a fellow in California who thought it would be a good car to convert to a sports racer. Luckily, it never went that route.
Although, two of the 13 DGF's were convered to DSR/CSR cars during their lifetime, and one has been converted back.

DGF #005: Original Logbook Photos

8/21/2020

 
Picture
Picture
What appears to be 1977 All American Racers Eagle DGF #005's original logbook photos, courtesy of third owner Ted Wittcoff, who owned #005 from 1982-1986.

Too cool.

If you look closely, 'Tank' is still on the side of the cockpit from Bob Tankersley's first years with the car, and 'Dan Gurney Eagle Racing Cars U.S.A.' is on the side panel behind the front wheel in blue.
We dig yellow, this car never had a bad livery in its life. All the more of an honor to keep it right, and flying.

Monterey: Sending the Hardware Home

8/18/2020

 
365 days ago, Eagle DGF #005 went for a drive in California, close to where it was hatched. It came back with the Rolex Award of Excellence for the Formula Ford class at the Monterey Reunion, held at Monterey’s renowned Laguna Seca circuit.

In our five years racing the Eagle in vintage competition, earning the prestigious award was perhaps the highlight of what we have done with the car- as it not only coupled what we did on track, but how many view the car, its restoration and its place in history.
And about that history- we never forget to mention who built DGF #005: All American Racers. Dan Gurney’s shop in Santa Ana. The same Dan Gurney who is tattooed on my right arm, and the same man who in my sole meeting with him told me to keep the car flying.
In 2017, Eagle DGF #005 won the Monoposto Cup for Club Ford cars. Dan passed away before I could fly out and present the award to him. But, I knew that the award belonged in Santa Ana, so I met up with Justin and Danny Gurney the following April at AAR, and a handshake deal was made that any major award #005 took home, I’d make sure a copy was made for AAR- as the reward of their efforts from 43 years ago are still echoing with every time the car hits the racing surface.
After Monterey, I kept my word and worked with first SCRAMP, and later the new managers at Laguna Seca to get a duplicate award made for Class 3B from the Monterey Reunion. It turned out Rolex has their own private engravers modify the silver cups, so I had to make some more calls. Around New Years’ Day, I got connected to the right person, they said it wouldn’t be a problem, but did I perhaps want to have something engraved on the back? Sure- AAR Eagle DGF #005, let the future know what car took home Formula Ford’s first Rolex Award at Monterey.

I was going to fly out to Santa Ana to present the award to AAR this March, but COVID nixed that. Then I asked FF lover and all-around swell guy Paul Pfanner if he’d personally drop it off at AAR if I shipped it to him and COVID tapered off, but again, that was also thwarted by 2020.
Then a phone call occurred around April 15th- and it wasn’t my tax man. It was Kathy Weida, VP of All American Racers, and an employee of AAR going back to 1974. We discussed a historical footnote, but we then got on the topic of the Eagle DGFs. She shared with me the fact that at that time, one of her duties was to market and sell the DGFs, and she recalled the day Bob Tankersley came by to pick up his chassis, #005, which was produced in a vivid yellow.
Kathy shared with me her memories of the DGF project, and how attached she was to the car’s success. An email followed with some amazing photos of David Loring on-edge, pitching his Eaglet around Riverside. As we talked, she made it really simple for me to figure out who to ship the trophy to when it went out to AAR last month to entrust it went to the right place- the woman who made sure the Eaglets found their homes.
Thank you Kathy.
I’ll keep it flying.
Special thanks to Andrew Wait, Rolex, Barry Toepke, Boardman Silversmiths, Paul Pfanner, Justin Gurney, Kathy Weida and all the rest of the All American Racers.

- Jacques


An Autodynamics Cortina!

8/17/2020

 
Found a relic last week, a rather intact Cortina motor that was once the heart of Caldwell D9 #70030059. The motor supposedly was found in a junkyard in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and still has some of Doug Fraser's unique ID marks on it.

History is everywhere, even Formula Ford history.

Picture

Elden: Rebuild Update #10

8/11/2020

 
Picture
For reasons of safety, Paul fashioned a steel 'ass tray' for the Elden, similar to what is in the Eagle. I'll most likely only run a fiberglass strip of a seat in the car, as I do in the Eagle to fit properly.

Lots of thinking has gone into the car to remedy many of the sins that came about in the past 40 years of shortcuts and low dollar fixes


DGF #005, 1982-1986 Info!

8/5/2020

 
Picture
Picture
Yesterday, via the Formula Ford Vintage Facebook page, we found out Ted Wittcoff owned our Eagle DGF between 1982-1986. He purchased it in 1982 from second owner Dirk Piz, and sold it after an accident in the Kink at RA in 1986. And here we thought it never raced East of the Mississippi!

Ted ran in the CenDiv and also ran the car as #46, and as #48, something we never thought it did.
You never stop learning, especially when it comes in the form of uncovering the past.
More soon...

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    RSS Feed

Picture
Kettle Moraine Preservation & Restoration

KettleMorainePR@gmail.com

Hubertus, Wisconsin

'Where History and Integrity Meet'


  • Home
  • News from JD
  • About
    • Rick Dresang
    • Alison Dresang
    • Jacques Dresang
    • Paul Jay
    • Alumni/Supported
    • In Memory
  • Partners
  • Garage
  • Results
  • Historical
  • Contact