| CCU Biography |
| The CORVETTE CLUB OF UTAH was organized in February, 1964 by its first President,
Sergay Liston, along with Gene Grimm, Bill Wong, John Dolar, & Vonnette Rousey,
(who all worked at HERCULES, Inc.), and John Kennedy. It was Incorporated with the State of Utah, in April, 1964. Members added were: Bert & Barbara Gowans, who designed the Clubs Decal, (Based upon EIMCO’S Logo, where Barbara worked at Bert’s artistic talents). Membership grew from about 30 members initially, to about 150 in the 1968-1969 timeframe. *Meetings were held the third Wednesday of each month at the GM Training Center on Foothill Drive in Salt Lake, from the beginning until the mid Seventies, when the meeting venue was re-located to John Kennedy’s House Of Customs, in Bountiful. Meeting activities included technical seminars, one such subject that was very popular was the occasional presentation by Sergay Liston on the complexity’s of the Rochester Fuel Injection Unit, which was considered ‘Voodoo’ by many mechanics. Other activities were technical, as well as cosmetic quizzes on particular differences for each year model. Frequent activities were having films on recent racing from venues such as Sebring, Indianapolis, Riverside, etc., provided by Fleming Distributing , and Herb Nenow, who were suppliers of automotive chemicals, and additives. *Members participated in Parades, Gymkhana’s, Slaloms, including a few out of area events, including Tri-City Slaloms in Price, Moab, and Pocatello, ID; and several served as Corner Workers at KSL’s Great Salt Lake Regional, and National Road Races held at the old Airport #2, providing communication and flagging functions, which continued when the races were moved to the new Bonneville Raceway, in Magna, when the old airport was re-activated by the FAA. All races were sanctioned by the Utah Region of the SCCA. *An opportunity developed for a special and unique event the club members participated in, was the creation of a TV Commercial for the Champion Spark Plug Company, on November 20, 1966, featuring fifty brand new identical 1967 Chevrolet Impala Coupe’s. Each car was equipped with a special calibrated glass container with equal amounts of gasoline as the only source of fuel. The first test featured 25 cars equipped with the new Champion Spark Plugs with Turbo-Action Booster Gap. The other 25 cars were equipped with the standard OEM AC plugs. All fifty cars were driven down a designated course at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats, in Utah at 30 mph, at about 1 foot apart until each car ran out of gas. Each car’s stopping point was marked, and documented. After temporary refueling, all fifty returned to the starting area (again at about 1 foot apart). For the second test, all fifty were then equipped with the new Turbo-Action Booster Gap Plugs, and the measured amount of fuel, and the test was repeated. The entire production was sanctioned and certified by USAC officials. The result was ‘Forty-Nine out of Fifty new 1967 Chevrolet’s got better mileage with Champion Spark Plugs, than with the original AC Plugs’! As an interesting side-note, the ‘AC’ brand was named for the man who invented the modern spark plug as we know, a fellow named Art Champion!! This event has been recorded in a YouTube Video. ‘ (m.youtube.com - (use previously underlined title) - Osborn Tremain, or simply use the IRL, ‘m.youtube.com’ *In the early Spring of 1967, a group of about 40 of us drove up to the Hardware Ranch, near Hyrum, UT, to see where a very large herd of Elk wintered each year. On the return trip we had decided to stop at the very popular Maddox restaurant, in Brigham City, for an early dinner. After being seated, which was not an easy task for such a large group, we collectively gasped at the price of even the lighter items on the menu, so one by one, we excused ourselves to hit the restrooms, and subsequently headed for the parking lot, for a mass escape! It became a repeatedly humorous subject for the next few meetings. *In 1975, President John Kennedy made a bid for the annual ‘Western States Corvette Council’s Convention’. Approval was given for the 1976 event to be held July 4th to 9th, 1976. With very limited time, the planning and coordination efforts were paramount, and took most of the Winter and Spring to finalize. The Salt Lake Hilton Hotel was selected as Convention Headquarters. Events ranged from Pool Parties, Trike Races, Turtle Races, Body Painting, Technical Discussions, and a Beer Drinking contest! These activities were followed by a Show ‘n Shine. The only two events not held at the hotel, were a Poker Rally, around the Salt Lake area, and an Autocross event, held at the Bonneville Raceway 5600 W 2100So. (Not the Bonneville Salt Flats). The concluding event was a Victory Banquet where awards and prizes were handed out. The events were well attended, and all seemed to have a great time. Fortunately there were no serious incidents of vandalism, personal injuries, or property injury damage, other than when someone put green coloring and soap in one of the pools! The hotel folks did try to charge us for carpet damage from the Turtle Races, without success I might add! These events, all began with people centered around the Corvette Club of Utah, resulting in many treasured friendships that continue to this day, and how those friendships, and associations have expanded to lifelong, and varied circumstances that began from the CCU!! *In September, 1965, Five people from the CCU formed a racing team called: ‘the in team’. Lynn Butler (Driver - 1966 A/P 427 Roadster); Paul Maxwell (Chief Mechanic); Bob Neilson (Mechanic); Bob Nichols - (Driver - 1966 A/P 427 Coupe); Phil Weider (Driver - 1964 B/P 327 Roadster). As a side note, the 1964 B/P Corvette was a well known race car called ‘Mongoose’, (A Mongoose will destroy a Cobra), previously owned and driven by Dick Guldstrand, who had a Roller-Skate mounted upside down on the roll-bar of his #56, sponsored by Baher Chevrolet, which had been upside down more than once)! After Weider purchased the ‘64, and the two new ‘66 cars were delivered, we obtained a limited sponsorship from Schefski’s Inc., a local performance auto parts company. In June of 1966, a more lucrative sponsorship was acquired with a new dealership, Gordon Wilson Chevrolet. Our team then added additional CCU members: Bill Aiman; Rick Carruthers; Rikk Davis; Gene Grimm; Bob Ilg; and a second Chief Mechanic: Monty Bullock, who replaced Bob Neilson. We participated in Driver Schools, Regional Races, as well as National Races, held not only in Salt Lake City, UT, but in Aspen, CO, Santa Barbara, CA, Riverside, CA, Cotati, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Tucson, AZ, Phoenix, AZ, Continental Divide Raceway (CDR), in CO; and Daytona, FL, at the USRRC, all sanctioned by SCCA. • • • Beginning at Riverside, CA, followed by Sears Point Raceway, CA, then at the beautiful and challenging Laguna Seca Raceway; followed by the Continental Divide Raceway In Colorado (CDR), where Simon won his only race as a professional driver! • The 1970 Season found us advancing into the Champ Division of USAC - The incredible world of INDY CAR RACING, with a used Vollstedt/Ford powered race car built in Portland, OR. Thus began the livelihood occupation for two, Gene Grimm, and Phil Weider, and a multiple year ‘week-end warrior’ status for Paul Maxwell, in the professional ranks of Motor Sports, for the three of us that began as friends that were linked together by the love of Corvettes, with the catalyst being the Corvette Club of Utah! |
