Meeting Anatoly Arutunoff

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Anatoly Arutunoff. "Who," you ask? Here, read this before you go on. No, really, I'll wait.

Toly Arutunoff is a member of what Bert Levy would call the "lucky sperm club". He was born into a Russian family who emigrated to America when he was quite young. His father invented a specialized pump that made the family millions and he sold many of them to the oil field. Toly lived a very privileged life in both Los Angeles and later in Oklahoma.

Toly developed a love for interesting cars - the faster the better - and went on to own a number of them. He spent a lot of time in Europe where he drove with Bob Bondurant, Phil Hill, Richie Ginther and Carroll Shelby in events like the Targa Florio.

I noticed an unusual car at the Legends of Motorsports event in Birmingham - it turns out that it was a 1954 Cooper Mk IV - and it was a great contrast to the polished and pampered cars that made up the rest of the field of competitors. The old Cooper was dented and scratched and wore all manner of competition inspection stickers. The painted alloy wheels were shod with wide white wall tires and the competition number was made from gaffer tape. The old car sat outside in the rain with no tent or crew to tend to it. I loved it.

On Saturday of the three day event, the old Cooper lined up in preparation for its class to take the track. The driver was behind the wheel getting himself belted in with no crew or other assistants to help. I went down to the grid to express my admiration of the car to the owner.

"It's a Cooper Mk IV," said the driver from under his helmet, "And I asked John Cooper what year it was. He told me that he may have built it any time between 1954 and 1956. He wasn't sure exactly." I was stunned. This guy knew John Cooper. He said that the car was Ford powered and had a gearbox from a Ford milk truck. "First and second gear are really close and then there is a long gap to third and fourth which are also close together. " He said it was all wrong for the car, but that's what it was built with.

He went on to tell me that he and his wife drove the car in Europe for three weeks recently. "We held the top up with the five suitcases we were carrying. It seemed like it was good idea at the time." I looked closer at the event stickers and noticed that the majority of them were in Italian. I asked him where he was based and he replied "Tulsa, Oklahoma."

My God. It's Anatoly Arutunoff. I read several articles about this gent and was in awe that someone of his stature would bring what looked like a ratty car with no team support to this event. He was there because he thought it would be fun.

I noticed that he was stuffing paper napkins under the straps of his goggles. I must have looked puzzled because he volunteered that his racing goggles were prescription, but needed adjustment so he could see clearly on the track. He put on his 'racing' gloves and they were nothing more than suede work gloves. When asked about them he said simply, "Why would I pay $150.00 for a pair of gloves when these meet the rules?" Can't argue with logic like that.

He told me that he was in a bit of a dilemma since he had a Duke University baseball cap in the cockpit of the old two-seater and the marshals wouldn't let him out with it loose in the car. He asked me if I would hold on to it for him until his wife came up. "She's really attached to this hat," he said. I told him I would take care of it.

He started the old Cooper and was off for his run. Not seeing anyone that fit his description of his wife, I decided to hang on to the hat and meet him when he came off the track in 20 minutes. Starting to walk away, I was waved back by one of the security workers who pointed out an Elizabeth Taylor-like lady who was under one of the gate tents. It was his wife Karen, who was nursing an injured foot and was very pleased to have the cap back in her possession. She was just as friendly as her husband.

Toly came back in having been lapped at least twice by the entire field. And he had a new fan club of one member.

A Spitfire Joins the Family

The Cunningham-McDonald collection of fine British sports cars was increased by one Triumph Spitfire. This '72 model was purchased from a gentleman that I got to know when he worked at a business next door to my place of employment. He is more of a Detroit iron kind of guy, so he really didn't know what to do with the tatty little Brit.

We were in discussions about the car for the last six months while he got it running and tried to find a buyer. We finally agreed on a price and the clock was ticking to get it hauled off. The ever-helpful Ronnie Wolverton agreed to bring his trailer over and get the car to Richard Cunningham's place. Thanks, Ronnie!

At this point we aren't sure what we are going to do with the old girl. The data plate on the door jamb indicates that it is a '72 but it appears that it has a later bonnet assembly. It can be made drivable with a little effort and we might sell it on as a project for someone with too much time on their hands.

Get in touch if you have any ideas.

Legends of Motorsports Weekend in Birmingham

While I was watching the IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park the network cut away to do an interview with Bobby Rahal. Expecting another filler piece, I half listened until I heard him mention a new historic race series that was going to debut there in Birmingham. I paid attention then.

Called Legends of Motorsports, the series begins this year with four dates - two of them here in the South. Richard Cunningham and I ordered our tickets for the May event.

We arrived at the track on the Friday of the event with rain coming down - at times in buckets - but the forecast was for clearing skies in the afternoon. We picked up our passes for the weekend and used our paddock parking credential to snag a prime spot near the tower building. The paddock was very busy with the teams using the rain delay to prepare the cars for shortened practice session in the afternoon.

The paddock area was a wonderland for anyone who followed road racing in the sixties and seventies. All the famous names were represented from powerhouses like Lotus and Lola to the numerous cottage industries that may have turned out a handful of cars before passing into oblivion. The sounds of engines being run up stirred the blood in a way that non-gearheads could not understand.

We met and chatted with the track and museum founder, George Barber, who spent more conversation time making sure we were happy with the facility and arrangements for the event. This attitude was evident in everyone we dealt with at track. There were smiles everywhere and people seemed to want to go out of their way to be hospitable.

The track began to dry off and several practice sessions began with the cars being driven in a very tentative manner. The session gave Richard and I an opportunity to move about the beautiful Barber site and take in the stunning beauty of it all. Since our 'first class' tickets didn't kick in until Saturday, we found a shady spot along the straight between turns 11 and 12 to watch the action. As the track dried further, the laps got more aggressive until we started to see some interesting action in front of us - especially in the 2-liter class.

We ended the day at the track and headed off to our lodging in Chelsea, courtesy of a good friend and co-worker. We found the seclusion of Pumpkin Swamp Road well secluded.

We arrived at the track early on Saturday and watched the teams come to life. They were all busy setting up cars for the days events - especially the open wheel teams who had the prime spot of the paddock. We enjoyed breakfast in the tower and watched the different classes qualify. The air conditioned comfort of the tower building on this hot, humid day was well worth the extra cost of the tickets.

We spent the day chatting with team mechanics and owners who could not have been more friendly and open to questions about the cars. The team pride was evident at every garage large or small. The atmosphere was certainly more relaxed than that of a real money-paying race. As the day (and the action) heated up we retired again to the tower to watch the racing on the track below. The Barber track is designed so that the four major straights are visible from the tower and the tiered paddock behind it. The qualifying was slightly out of sync with the schedule due to the rain the day before, but it was still big fun.

While I wandered the paddock parking lot, I came across a British racing green Lotus Elan with Wisconsin plates and a media pass. I wondered out loud if it could possibly be Peter Egan, columnist for Cycle World and Road & Track magazines.

We ended the day with dinner and a return to the Pumpkin Swamp cabin.

Sunday was packing day. We gathered all our gear and loaded the SUV for the evening's return home and set out for the last day of our adventure at Barbers. We arrived early enough to grab another great parking spot and made our way around the paddock. We once again found the teams working furiously to prepare cars for the races scheduled for the day - it was for all the marbles, today. We managed to snap some more great shots and headed back to the tower for breakfast.

Sunday was celebrity day at Barbers. While we had breakfast in the tower, we saw or chatted with America's last Formula 1 World Champion Mario Andretti, racing legend Bobby Rahal, SPEED TV racing host Bob Varsha and, sure enough, writer Peter Egan. Richard and I went into full geek mode and got our photos made with Andretti and Rahal.

The racing action got underway and it was very obvious that the Legends of Motorsports group expected more cars to participate. Some of the classes consisted of only five cars with a number of classes a mix of various performance potentials which made for very little true racing. Some races were slightly more than a handful of cars touring at high speed. The exceptions were the Historic Grand Prix and 2-liter classes. They put on a pretty good show.

The last race was the USRRC event that started with five cars and ended with only two. It underscored the Legends of Motorsports event in that it was not a disappointment, but certainly didn't come across quite as promised. I truly wish the Legends group all the best in the future. It is not an easy task to launch a new historic racing series and I expect that they will have a few more bumps in the road before they find their place in the racing world.

I wish them all success and I hope to attend again next year. In the meantime, check this Birmingham News article.

An MG in Old Mobile

Way back when, this photo appeared in an issue of the SABCC NEWSLETTER with an appeal for information about the event noted on the banner. The car is a 1952 MG TD and it is promoting the "Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo Championship Stock Car Race".

The photo was taken by the Thigpen studio on August 4, 1952 on the United Fruit Company's banana dock on the Mobile River. Do you know anything about this event? How about who was behind the wheel of the MG? Where was Lakeview Speedway?

For more historic photos of the Mobile area, visit the University of South Alabama Photo Archives. I promise that it won't be a short visit.

By the way, there's a photo of the GM&O terminal from the mid-sixties with a Triumph TR4 in the parking lot. See if you can find it!

This is Where Your Morris Minor, Classic Mini and MINI Were Born

OK, the latest installment in our tour of British auto manufacturing sites is the former Morris Cowley works in Oxford. This plant churned out Morris models of all types including Minors, Oxfords, Minis and several more. It was the original site for production of the Rover 75 until it was moved to the former Austin plant in Longbridge, Birmingham.

The site is the home of all modern MINI production for now. There are models soon to be introduced that will be built in Austria and Germany.


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SABCC Family Picnic in Silverhill Again

SABCC selected the Oscar Johnson Memorial Park in Silverhill to be the site for the annual family picnic last year. Everyone enjoyed the spacious pavilion and rural location. At our last club meeting it was decided by a show of hands that the members would like to return for this year's event. I am pleased to let everyone know that the nice people at Silverhill's city hall put our name on the calendar for the June 12 event.

Don't forget that this is the meeting where we select the charity to receive a donation from the proceeds of British Car Festival.

As usual, the club will provide the hamburgers and hot dogs and we ask that you bring a dish to share with everyone.

See you there!

This is Where Your Classic Jaguar was Born

This is the historic Browns Lane assembly plant where Jaguars were built until very recently. While the factory is closed, the museum is in operation and from what I've heard is very much worth seeing. Jaguars are now built in a couple of other places in the UK alongside Land Rovers.


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