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One of George Follmer's Nasty, Bad Arse Ford Boss
302 T/A Mustang's. (Image source: www.photobucket.com)
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As guessin' Y'all gotz' to be a seriously hard core
motor racing Aficionado to know who that moniker belongs to, eh?
Earlier this year, it was pointed out how we
should celebrate our Legends in Motorsports, be it Drivers, Team Owners or
Personalities, since many of the legendous' figures of what's known commonly as
the Golden Age of Motor racing, the 1960's sees these personalities entering
their Twilight years.
The story was about El Capitano', nee Roger
Penske celebrating his 80th birthday this past February 20th, whilst other such
luminaries as "Uncle bobby's" a spry 83, while his younger brother
B-I-G AL" (Unser) celebrated his 78th birthday on Memorial Day.
Legendary Jack of Trades Driver, Constructor
and Team Owner Daniel Sexton Gurney just celebrated his 86th birthday this
April. Rufus Parnelli Jones turns 84 in August with 'Ol SuperTex', nee A.J.
Foyt, Jr's being 82.
'Ol Hobbo or HobbsCap', aka David Hobbs Sheepishly
celebrated his 78th birthday this past weekend during the Canadian GP on June 9th
when fellow announcer Leigh Diffey gave him a B-Day shout-out during Friday's
FP2 broadcast. And SuperMario, aka Mario Andretti, thee youngster of this
veritable Rat Pack, having just turned 77 this February spends his weekends chauffeuring
the IndyCar two seater.
As Y'all get the idea, with that just being a
sampling of some of the countless names on offer, with no disrespect towards
others in this category...
This got me thinking about one such driver
presumably overlooked by many of us, including myself, before his name popped
up on Thy radar when teasing Y'all 'bout "Real Drivers" to have
contested Formula 1, the Indy 500 and the Rock-crusher 12 Hours of Sebring.
With the driver in Questione being none other than
George Follmer who was born on January 27, 1934 in Phoenix, Arizona, before his
family migrated to Southern California.
Follmer cut his motor racing teeth at age 25 in
a Porsche 550 Spyder, the model made eternally famous by James Dean...
VIDEO: James Dean song
Yet I know of Follmer's name since he was 'Ol
Rufus's team-mate in those Nasty School Bus yellow Bad Arse Bud Moore Trans Am
Mustang's! As George was Parnelli's team-mate between 1969-70, and drove the
Bud Moore Engineering Stangs' from 1969-71 overall.
Even funnier yet, I've got a Trans Am poster
autographed by George from one of my countless SOVREN Historics' outings at
Pacific Raceways tucked away in a poster tube somewheres' in Tomaso Manor.
thus it's easy to forget that Follmer's Trans
Am career started as a substitute for El Capitano's main Gunslinger Mark
Donohue in 1967, who was busy chauffeuring one of Ford's GT 40's at Le Mans.
With George finishing third aboard one of those mythical Penske Racing Sunoco
blue Camaro Zed-28's.
As this
"Cheater" Camaro's just one example of the legendary "Unfair
Advantage" Donohue & Roger Penske employed to beat the competition!
With Roger chirlously telling an SCCA Official he just really liked the look of
vinyl...
As this would start a seven year association
as Donohue's Back-up Driver for Penske Racing, leading to what I always
associate Follmer first 'N foremost with whenever I conjure up his name. That
Bad Arse, Nasty Porsche 917/10 Can Am Spyder in L&M livery, which he
captured the '72 Can Am title aboard as Donohue's substitute, after a testing
accident.
Yet Follmer, who first drove for the factory AMC
Javelin Trans Am team in 1968, would also win the Trans Am title for Roy Woods
Racing, who'd taken over Penske's Javelin's in '72, becoming the only driver to
ever win both Can Am & Trans Am championships simultaneously, hence earning
him the moniker "George Am!" While I wasn't aware that he notched a
second Trans Am title in '76 driving one of the Uber Bad Arse Porsche 934's for
legendary car owner and Porsche Specialist Vasek Polak.
As Follmer was honoured by the excellent Peterson
Automotive museum in 2012, as I especially enjoyed John Morton's quip 'bout
never being able to beat George, much to his Mama's disgust...
Yet George would drive anything with wheels
on it, including a vast array of Open Wheel Racing machinery, from Formula
5000, to Indy Cars and the pinnacle 'O motorsports, aka Formula 1. As George
reportedly still holds the record today for oldest F1 debut driver at the age
of 39-plus years upon making his Formula 1 debut for Shadow Racing at the '73
South African Grand Prix.
George finished in the points his first time
out with a sixth place finish, with his high water mark being standing on the
podium's final step much to Francois Cevert's astonishment over his third
place! As Follmer would cap thirteen starts in his single F1 season for Don
Nichols racing team.
Follmer made three starts in the Indianapolis
500 between 1969-71, with his best finish of 15th coming during his final race
for Grant King Racers aboard a Kingfish/Offy, (Offenhauser) with the dominant
four cylinder lumps seeing a resurgence with turbocharging.
Ironically Follmer's lone USAC Championship
Car victory, the forerunner to today's IndyCar, came at Phoenix International
Raceway during the 1969 Jimmy Bryan 150. As Bryan, the 1958 Indy 500 winner and
three times USAC National Champion also hailed from Phoenix. As George won that
day's race by three laps in a Cheetah Chevrolet, the only stock block victory
ever scored in Indy Cars.
After a nasty accident in 1978 at Laguna Seca
Raceway, where he flew off the famous Corkscrew! After a stuck throttle saw him
flying thru the air some hundred feet before auguring in nose first! Suffering
many injuries, including mangling his "Loud Pedal's" foot's ankle,
broken leg, etc. George fought thru constant pain over a dwindling racing
career, noting how he came back too soon but there were some young lions named
Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan after his seat...
Yet Follmer finished an excellent third
overall at the 1986 24 Heurs du Mans co-driving a Joest Racing Porsche 956 with
John Morton and Kemper Miller, bested only by two of Porsche's newer 962C's,
with Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbert winning.
Follmer also participated in the made for
television racing series Fast Masters, Y'all recall when legendary racers over
the age of 50 squared off in identically prepared TWR Jaguar XJ220's at Indianapolis
Raceway Park underneath the lights for ESPN, with "Uncle Bobby," aka
Robert William Unser winning the series and it's $100,000 prize in 1993.
Or Y'all can simply jump to the more colourful
rendition of George Follmer's biography, where it's noted he's got the eyes
that could have been used for Clint Eastwood's legendous High Plains Drifter!
Hmm? Wonder who'd come out on top between Uncle
Bobby, who once punched a police officer, or George Am' who didn't take kindly
to BS'ers! And all that coming from a mild mannered insurance salesman...