Profile of a Corvette racer, John Greenwood, Sebring Savior, 2nd of a series

Sebring has become synonymous with Corvette racing.  John Greenwood saved Sebring from oblivion.

The 1974 race was scratched because the FIA demanded long overdue safety improvements that called for a new pit wall.  Alec Ulmann, the original promotor, decided the cost was simply not worth it and walked away.

It’s easy to forget how the Watergate Scandal shocked our confidence, followed by the Arab Oil Embargo, gas lines, a recession and an economy on the brink.

Greenwood stepped up to promote the race in 1975 and guarantee a purse of $30,000.  

To be truthful, Greenwood cared less that the glitzy world-renowned Ferraris, Alfas, Maseratis and Jaguars were “no shows”.  

What Greenwood cared about most was protecting his nascent business that began with a fortuitous deal to race on BF Goodrich T/A Radial Street tires. (Shaved for racing).

John got into Corvettes via his dad, an executive at GM.  Drag racing on the streets of Detroit quickly gave way to club racing at the Waterford Hills 1.5-mile road course in Clarkston, MI.

The holy grail was beating the “unbeatable” Owens Corning Corvettes of Tony DeLorenzo and Jerry Thompson at the 1970 SCCA Runoffs.

Winning that championship paved the way to long distance racing at Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans plus the Trans Am series.

 John recruited drivers from a Who’s Who list: Don Yenko, Dick Smothers, Marietta Bob Johnson, Allan Barker, John Cordts, Ron Grable, John Greendyke, Mike Brockman, Dave Heinz, Jerry Thompson, Tony Adamowicz, Carl Shafer, Vince Muzzin, Gib Hufstader, Dick Lang, John Cargill and John’s younger brother Burt.

John ventured into supplying parts, authorizing dealerships and building cars for customers.  His wide-body fender kits were all the rage for racers, a product from hooking up with Randy Wittine (GM designer) and Zora Arkus Duntov (Corvette chief engineer).

Greenwood made his final appearance behind the wheel at Sebring in 1977 with Rick Mancuso and his brother Burt.

Author and historian Lou Galanos requested that we organize a tribute to John Greenwood when he passed away in July, 2015 after a long illness.  The event took place that November, fittingly at the HSR Classic 24-hour race at Daytona.

Photo credits: Greenwood Archives, SCD, Louis Galanos, Larry Van Scoy

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Profile of a Corvette racer, Ron Fellows, first of a series

Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Ron Fellows idolized Gilles Villeneuve, the fiery Canadian runner-up 1979 world champion.  But as Ron grew taller, he felt he was too tight a fit for a Formula 1 car, at least for the cars at that time. After working in the gas fields, Ron began racing sports cars.

Some years later in 1999, he caught the eye of Gary Pratt who GM hired to operate its new the new Corvette Racing Team. Ron won his share of races in the C5.R and C6.R models which led to serving as GM Ambassador for his easy demeanor and natural way with people.

With retirement in the cards, the Corvette Racing Team honored Ron with this C6.R # 33 Corvette trimmed in white. 

GM offered enthusiasts a Ron Fellows special edition 2009 C6 Corvette they could order from dealers.

Ron received an interest in Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, (formerly known as Mosport), granted by billionaire owners Carlo Fidani & Allan Boughton.

He holds naming rights for the Ron Fellows Racing School at the Spring Mountain resort in NV.

Meanwhile NASCAR team owners hired Ron to be their “ringer” in cars and trucks on road circuits.

Team owners doing the SCCA World Challenge series and the Trans Am series hired Ron to race their Corvettes.

Ongoing tribute comes from owners who put Ron in the driver’s seat of their vintage Corvette race cars.

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Ron teamed up with John Paul Jr. and Chris Kneifel to win the GT2 class in the ARRC at the Daytona 24-hour race in 1999.   This was the first outing for the C5.R chassis 001 shown here clad in black & silver that drew sponsorship monies from GM Goodwrench dealers.

Ron was behind the wheel in 2000 at Texas World Speedway for the Corvette’s first win in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) founded by the ebullient entrepreneur Don Panoz and his millions of dollars.

In one of the more memorable outcomes, Ron Fellows (CDN), Johnny O’Connell (USA), Chris Kneifel (USA) and Franck Freon (FR) in the GTS class # 2 C5.R Corvette outdistanced the faster prototype cars to become the OVERALL winner at the 2001 FIA Daytona 24-hour race. 

That win was bittersweet as Dale Earnhardt Sr, (teamed with Dale Junior and Andy Pilgrim in the # 3 C5.R Corvette), was killed a few weeks later in the last turn on the final lap of the NASCAR Daytona 500.  The crash remains a mystery to this day.

Dave Roberts, the savvy owner of the Carlyle Holding Company, hired Ron and Mike Skeen in 2008, to share a C6 Z06 Corvette in the SCCA Pro World Challenge Series that advertised Cragar wheels. 

Team owner and car builder Jim Derhaag snatched Ron to drive a C6 GT1 (Corvette-styled body on a tube frame chassis) in the 2016 Trans Am series at CTMP, Ron’s home track, where he won easily.  These “modern relics” are powered by 366 cubic-inch SB-2 styled NASCAR style engines that make 850+ hp.

Later that year, Ron was back in the C6 Z06 SCCA World Challenge Corvette of Dave Roberts, now in red and renumbered # 02 at the vintage HSR Classic 24 at Daytona.

Wallis Owens reached out to Ron to pilot his C4 1987 ex-Gregg Pickett Trans Am/IMSA GTO Protofab Corvette, celebrating the marque’s 70th anniversary at the 2023 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion where he won his class.

Photo credits: Ron Kielbiski, Remy Solnon, Richard Prince, Matthew Boyce, Rex McAfee, Larry VanScoy

We hope you liked this Profile of a Corvette Racer series and wish to see more: jhydercrc@gmail.com

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The Lure of Le Mans

Customer teams (vs the factory Corvette Racing team) will carry the flag for Corvettes at Le Mans for the second straight year and the foreseeable future.

The 24-hour race on June 14-15, 2025 is the fourth (and most important race) in the eight race World Endurance Championship Series. 

WEC rules require teams to enter all eight races. 12 cars are signed up for the LMGT3 Class.

The UK-based TF Sport team has two Z06 GT3.R Corvettes.  Ben Keating from Texas is the lead driver for the # 33 and Tom Van Rompuy from Belgium the is lead driver for the # 81.

The Canadian AWA Team of Andrew Wojteczko received a special invitation from the WEC for their Corvette that normally races in the IMSA GTD Class.  Orey Fidani is the lead driver for the # 13 Z06 GT3.R, decked out in red for the occasion.

 Back in the days

The Briggs Cunningham (3 cars) and the Camoradi team (1 car) were the first Corvettes at Le Mans in 1960.  John Fitch & Bob Grossman piloted the # 3 Corvette to a dramatic win while the 2 others dropped out; and the # 4 Camoradi Corvette fell short of the distance to be classified.

The Corvette team of Frenchman Henri Greder appeared in 1969 through 1975, assisted by Belgian-born Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus Duntov who also had raced at Le Mans.

John Greenwood entered Le Mans three times under Zora’s tutelage: in 1972 & 1973, shod with BFG tires and in 1976 with his eponymous widebody design.

Reeves Callaway and his Callaway Competition cohorts from Germany entered their slick fourth-generation Corvettes from 1994 through 1997.  At their first outing, Race Officials strongly advised Callaway to enlist a French driver.  Well after the sun went down, Michel Maisonneuve missed instructions to stop for fuel, ran out of gas on the Mulsanne straight and walked away into the night.  Of course those officious Race Officials disqualified the # 51 Corvette.

A shoestring effort by Doug Rippie entered “the mother of all” IMSA supercharged ZR1 Corvettes in 1995.  The car was sold off in Europe after it blew up just past halfway.

The GM-backed Corvette Racing Team followed with the revolutionary new C5, C6, C7 and C8 Corvettes that won the most races for GT Sports Cars in the history of Le Mans.

Nigel Dobbie catalogs C5 thru C7 in his book which you can order.

https://corvettestore.com/products/corvette-racing-the-first-20-years-by-nigel-s-dobbie?srsltid=AfmBOooUL5a-xI-lVNYj35NIjRqg7ls-dxPEjfE1bI99owBCbMt45kTO

Photo credits: WEC, AWA, Greenwood Archives, Richard Prince

 

 

 

 

The Market Outlook for Historic Corvette Race Cars

Whether a seller collects them or races them, today there are far fewer buyers than sellers. Some sellers have chosen Bring-A-Trailer online auctions.

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1968 at Daytona

2002 at Monterey Historic Races

2011 Dick Guldstrand at Corvette World Tribute

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These cars can also appeal to buyers who own a condo at a privately owned motorsports complex where they can store them and drive them. They are loud and they turn eyeballs.

1963 Corvette with period and vintage racing history

2012 at Watkins Glen & now with a party who has access to a track in a private motorsports park in FL

1972 Corvette being offered

2023 at HSR Sebring Classic 12

Suitable for a private motorsports park

Sellers of historic Corvette race cars are not getting any younger and expenses are going up which is why we welcome you to support our mission to preserve the heritage of Corvette race cars.

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