Through the Years
by Jim Liska
Published January 1973
My first exposure to Sports Car Racing was in July of 1953 when I attended the first Sports Car Race at Offutt Air Force Base. I returned the following year. Although I was only in High School then, from that day on I wanted to own a sports car and if possible, to race one.
I did not have much to do with sports cars or racing from 1954 til the spring of 1960, when I found myself in Germany on a two year tour with the U.S. Army; after finishing my education in June of 1959. While in Germany I attended many hillclimbs for the German Hillclimb Championship. During these years I also saw the 1000 K races at Nurburgring and many Gran Prix races on the Continent, watching the fight for the Championship between Phil Hill, von Trips and Sterling Moss in 1961.
Upon returning to the States I started to save my money for a race car and in the summer of 1963, I went to San Francisco to see about buying a BMC Formula Jr., built by Jack Huffacker. The same year, the SCCA revised the Formula Car Classifications and they quit building Formula Jr.'s. So, I gave up the idea for awhile.
During the years from 1966 to 1967, I thought about racing on and off and was always in the market for an inexpensive Formula B car. I never managed to save enough money for a Formula B car; so in October of 1968, I purchased a new Lotus 51 from Lotus Southwest in Dallas, Texas. I ran a Driver's School at Green Valley the same weekend and two weeks later, I finished my second school at Blackhawk.
In 1969 I finished 2nd in Regional Standings for Formula Ford and got my license in August of that year. During 1970 I ran six National Races and had one DNF.
During the winter of 1970, I converted my Formula Ford to a Formula C and during 1971, I ran seven National Races and finished 4th in National Points and was invited to the ARRC as an alternate.
In the year 1972, I raced eight times, one DNF (Hutchinson -- ran out of gas -- tank too small) and finished 3rd in the Midwest National Points behind Dr. Chuck Grauel and Guy McHand. This year I had a firm entry to the ARRC and Judy and I went to Atlanta.
The big story at Atlanta this year was the weather -- Rotten! We had three main objectives this year at the run-offs: 1. Qualify within the 120%; 2. Finish the race; 3. Beat Guy McHand. If they had not had the 120% rule in effect last year something like 54 cars would not have started their races.
After two or three snow storms and one rain storm we arrived at Gainesville late Monday and got through tech okay. We practiced Tuesday and had an electrical malfunction and spent the rest of the day finding and fixing that. Wednesday we qualified very easy with all the Formula A, B, and C cars on the track at the same time.
We practiced again Thursday and our race was on Friday, the only halfway nice day of the week. The race was not very eventful, I got ahead of Guy McHand and several other cars on the first lap and that was it. Harry Reynolds of Pottstown, PA won for the second year in a row and Chuck Grauel was fourth, I was 10th and Guy McHand was 11th.
Along the way, I met Judy and we were married in October of 1969 and on January 5th of 1972 the other member of my two-man pit crew arrived, Jessica. Going to the ARRC was a happy return for four years of hard work and suffering for my wife (she says).
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