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The late Al Hulbert's IMSA GT championship winning
DeKon Monza at Road Atlanta, circa 1976. (Image source: scharch.org)
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Could a "lowly" Chevrolet Monza defeat
the mighty Porsche 930/934/935 turbo Panzerwagon's for the IMSA GT Championship
crown?
As the proverbial Hour-glass has been continuously
turned over, cannot really recall exactly when I sat 'N listened to the
soothing tones 'O Bob Varsha calling the action on that long defunct Cable TV channel devoted to motor racing
simply called SPEED! At what was then the Monterey Historics 'Wayback in
2006-07 Me Thinks; YIKES!
Coming full circle was the news, albiet a
year later via Zed Internetz that Kenny Epsman and his bright red '76 DeKon
Monza were still going strong. Having taken the win for Group 5A's 1973-1981 FIA, IMSA GT, GTX, AAGT, GTU
Cars category. Winning last year's Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion's outing from
Pole ahead of John Hildebrand in his 1978 Chevrolet Camaro. with Bruce Canapé
finishing third aboard his 1979 Porsche 935.
As apparently I've
not scribbled 'bout the Monterey Historics' in earnest since the '08 Recession;
CRIKEYS!
As the SoCal' racer's been known to Mwah for
over two decades now, having seen him piloting his NASTY ex-Sam Posey #77 AAR
T/A Cuda' and ex-Mark Donohue AMC Javelin in Good 'Ol 'Warshington, Oregon and
California, i.e.; Pacific Raceways, Portland International Raceway, Laguna Seca
Raceway and Sears Point Raceway.
Thus I'm not surprised that Messer Epsman -
who likes to carve out his own niche in Vintage Racing went the less
established route, nee Porsche 935, etc and sagely obtained one of the 'Uber
Rare DeKon Monza's instead.
So what does DeKon stand for and who created
it? As in the finest tradition of such legendous' company names as Cosworth and
later Ilmor, DeKon stood for Design and Construction and was a clever
combination of its two founders Lee Dykstra and Horst Kwech.
As I know the name Lee Dykstra from thee
Championship Auto Racing Teams era, as a longtime Race Engineer, as I'm
recalling he was Robby Gourdouns' (Gordon) engineer amongst many others...
Having recently worked with the likes of thee "Mayor 'O Hinchtown,"
(James Hinchcliffe) 'Rafa (Rafael Matos) and the reborn 'GRAMINATOR, nee Graham
Rahal to name a few.
Having seemingly worked for everybody in the
IndyCar and Indy Lights Paddock over the years, the last I could find upon him
was his joining Juncos Racing in 2013, yet the Juncos current Team Member
webpage doesn't sport his name.
Horst Kwech is somewhat known to Mwah solely
to his past Shelby American Trans Am association, as the Austrian born Australian
racer is the only driver to have won races in both the over and under 2.0-liter
Trans Am categories, along with two Under 2.0-liter titles for Alfa Romeo.
Reputedly, only a handful of the overly
potent DeKon Monza racecars were built, estimates ranging between eleven and
fourteen cars, as reputedly DeKon Engineering Ltd built 17-cars - yet not all
were Monza's, which would later see them Pop-up "Down Under" en route
to a few more Australian championship titles, most notably under the guidance
of Alan Moffat, whilst perennial V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup also drove
one variant.
Obviously the most famous DeKon Monza's were
driven by Al Holbert en route to the 1976-77 IMSA GT Championships, while Horst
Kwech briefly drove one, along with another prolific racing name, simply known
as B-I-G' AL, aka four time Indy 500 winner Al Unser!
As the 2,400lb tube frame racers, aided by General
Motors first utilization of Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) featured exceptional
performance due to its 50/50 weight balance and 6.0-liter normally aspirated small
block fuel injected V-8 lumps producing 600bhp!
Mr. Epsman seems to have a keen knack for Provenance
regarding his Vintage Racecar's. As according to the website page below, his
No. 1012 DeKon Monza chassis was driven NO less by the "Flying Hawaiian," aka Danny Ongais!
While it's a ways Away', Y'all can watch the 1hr
recap upon Fox Sports One this coming October. As ALWAYS! Check your local
listings...