Most of the best bound for Westwood
The Vancouver Province, Saturday, May 23, 1964
It should be the finest display of driving ever seen in Western Canada.
From Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Toronto and Winnipeg they come, 25 of the top international racing drivers and their cars to compete in the third annual Western Canada Sports Car Championship Sunday at Westwood Circuit.
First of the two heats (30 laps) begins at 1:30 p.m. Second heat gets underway at 3:30. When it is all over, cars and drivers will have traveled 108 miles.
Back to try once more for the coveted prize is Ludwig Heimrath, Canada’s top racing driver in 1961 and the runner-up in this event last year to Jerry Grant of Kent, Was. Heimrath, from Toronto, will chase the title in a swift Ford King Cobra.
Others bent on beating Heimrath across the line are:
Allen Grant (Los Angeles) in a powerful 465-horsepowered Chev Cheetah; Chuck Parsons (Monterey, Calif.) in a twin-cam Lotus 23B; Nat Adams (Weston, Ont.) in another Lotus 23B; Eppie Wietzes (Toronto) in a Ford King Cobra; Dave Ridenour (San Francisco) in a Genie; Dr. P.W. Smythe (Winnipeg) in a Lotus 23B.
In all, over a quarter of a million dollars are represented in the cars that will line up at the starting grid for this grueling test of driver and car.
Sentimental favorite in the big race, which counts points towards the national championship could well be Bob McLean of Vancouver, the transplanted Australian who is taking his first crack at the championship race. McLean will drive a Lotus 23B.
First prize in this one is worth shooting for. The eventual winner will receive $500 plus a guaranteed grid position for the Canadian Championship June 6 at Toronto’s Mosport Circuit. An additional $500 goes to the winner for starting in that race.
Grid positions for the feature will be determined from time trials held today and Sunday. They begin each day at 11 a.m. Speed is the important factor: Fastest times get the front line assignments.
Similarly, grid positions for the second heat of the race will be determined on the order of finish of the first heat.
Definitely threatened is the Westwood track record of 85.3 mph, set April 4, 1963, by Jerry Grant in a Lotus-Buick and equaled last April 5 by McLean in the same car he’ll pilot Sunday.
Allen Grant will introduce his newly designed $15,000 Cheetah to Canadian car racing. Powered by a Chevrolet V-8 engine, the Cheetah, with Grant behind the wheel, competed earlier this month in the U.S. road racing championship at Kent, Wash.
Parsons, 39, is also making his Canadian debut. He Lotus, capable of hitting 145 mph, has chalked up steady wins south of the border, including first overall in a number of races at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park and first over-ll at a recent Laguna Seca competition.
Weitzes could be one driver to keep your eye on. Last year he was named Canad’a most promising driver by the Canadian Race Drivers’ Association.
The race, sanctioned by the Canadian Automobile Sports Car, is sponsored by the Imperial Tobacco Co. and organizes by the Sports Car Club of B.C.
Transcribed by Michael Gee, West Coast Motor Sport Historian, CMHF