Finding The Ratt - JOHN STARKEY CARS · chief et al, Kevin Jeannette of Gunnar Racing, here in...

FINDING THE RATT

Finding The Ratt

© John Starkey 2018 www.johnstarkeycars.com (727) 384 1179 USA

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FINDING THE RATT

When I’m not helping to sell the occasional old racecar, or visiting old racecar meetings, I’ve usually got my head down, researching various projects for people, usually to do with Porsches, although Lola T70s and such like often pass my way too. Probably the most interesting project that I’ve had in a long while recently came my way. It concerns a Porsche RSR built up by World renowned Porsche restorer, race mechanic, crew chief et al, Kevin Jeannette of Gunnar Racing, here in Florida, who named it “The Ratt”. The most interesting part of this car, to me, was the chassis that Kevin started with. It was a much used and abused, highly modified, much drilled for lightness, 1973 or older chassis from a street 911, that had such intriguing features as drilled plates welded in between the front roll bar to the A pillars, a built up gearshift of steel tubes, more holes along the rocker panels and the rear built to accommodate an upside down gearbox. There were no identifying numbers as the chassis tag had long gone and the number in the front bulkhead had long ago been cut out, so that a larger, long-range fuel tank could be fitted. Additionally, the production number on the bulkhead had been cut away when the rollcage had been fitted. The chassis had come Kevin’s way via a well-known crew chief in IMSA racing and he had bought it from someone who had raced an RSR and 935 in IMSA in the 1980s. But definitely, this wasn’t his old RSR’s chassis, as that car is in California and I had already traced its history some years ago.

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Finding The Ratt


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So I started off this investigation by sending photos of the chassis to various race preparation people who had been around in the “old days”, when these RSRs were racing in IMSA, that is 1973 to 1985. I also posted the photos on a Facebook page, “IMSA Pit Lane” and Decal, (Paul Kelly), who lives here in Tampa called me to say that he had worked in Miami in the 1970s/80s and that this chassis looked very much like the sort of chassis that Conrado Casado of T&R Racing had used to build up the two RSRs that he had supported for Tico Almeida and Rene Rodriguez for the 1981/82/83 seasons. Todd Ketchum had also worked for T&R Racing (formerly Botero Racing) and said that the chassis looked like a Conrado-modified chassis but that: “We never had one with so many holes in it!” So we, Franco Varani (my Scottish historian/racecar archeologist friend) and I started off by thinking that this chassis must have been the second car of T&R Racing, that run by Rene Rodriguez, sadly no longer with us. And then I got lucky, or so I thought. Speaking with Alberto Naon, who used to run “European Auto Racing” in Miami, he told me that he had bought a car from John Graves “at the end of 1974”. Alberto had fitted a 2.5-liter engine, in place of the 3-liter engine fitted and went racing in the IMSA GTU (GT under 2.5 liters) class. We traced the car right up until 1985, and learned enough to know that this had not been Rene Rodriguez’ car. In fact, that line of inquiry produced a very interesting story itself but that is beyond the scope of this article.


Finding The Ratt


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Jim Torres, a superb RSR/935 restorer and race preparer in California, looked at the photos and said: “That looks like John Mason’s work.” I knew of John Mason from his work with Lola T70s back in the late 1960s, so I called him to ask about this chassis. After looking at the photos, John declared, “Yes, that’s my work, although I didn’t drill the rocker panels like that, someone else must have done that later. But I recognize the drilled filler panels between the A Pillar and the roll cage and I also recognize the rear shock tower changes. I have a file on every car that I did, I’ll get my wife Marie, who does all the admin, to look for those files. We still have them.” I asked John how many cars he had modified. He thought for a moment. “Between twenty and thirty”, he reckoned. “I can probably get it down to between four and six cars I modified like that, once I take a look in the files.” And then Franco thought he’d found “our” car. He’s excellent at looking at details in photos and sent a photograph that he had discovered of what appeared to be a 935, taken at Sebring in 1978, from head on. Yes, there were those distinctive drilled flanges on the A pillars. Paul Newman was driving it, and his co-driver on this occasion was old friend Bill Freeman.


Finding The Ratt


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I called Bill. “Oh yes, that car,” Bill remembered. What happened to it? I asked him. “I remember that we rented it out to Bob Harmon,” said Bill. Can you remember who you sold it to? I asked him. “I can’t”, said Bill. “In those days, I had three or four 911 race cars in my shop that were all modified, mostly by John Mason.” Franco went to work to see what had happened to that car. Sold to Tom Marx in 1979, who raced it for many years, mainly on the west coast. John Mason remembered him well. “Oh yeah. I remember straightening that car out after a practice accident, so that they could take part in the L.A. Times GP at Riverside. Hell of an overnight job, that was!” In 1978, the car was used as an extra in “The Rockford Files”, with James Garner and then in 1979, this time in RSR bodywork, it featured in “King of the Mountain”, starring Dennis Hopper and Dan Haggerty. So it had quite an association with Hollywood stars at that time! But then we discovered that the car was still in existence in 2008, and so that ruled that one out too…


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So at this stage, we’re hoping that John Mason can come up with a further clue as to the identity of this chassis. I’m attaching the photos of the chassis as it was in 1999, before it was rebuilt as a true street rod RSR, “The Ratt”. If it rings any bells with anyone, please let me know.


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Finding The Ratt - JOHN STARKEY CARS · chief et al, Kevin Jeannette of Gunnar Racing, here in...

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