Pete Stowe ........

some MotorSport History

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Ray Heppenstall

Ray Heppenstall was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1931. Although he was a great-grandson of Sam Heppenstall, founder of Heppenstall Steel, the largest family-owned steel company in the United States, Ray’s future lay not in the steel industry, but in auto racing.

His lifetime with automobiles, mostly while a resident of Philadelphia, PA, covered a wide spectrum of US road racing, both open-wheel and sports cars, sometimes building, preparing and racing his own cars, more often building, preparing, and driving the cars of others.

Ray (right) with Rene Dreyfus at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 1993

(Photo by kind permission of ©1993 Robert J. Salgado, New Hope, PA.)

The following is an - incomplete- outline of his 50 years of racing activities.

* * * * * * *

Tampa, FL.¹

Although brought up in Pittsburgh, Ray completed High School in Tampa, Florida, and initially went to work in a local Austin agency. By his own account, his first ever car race was in a 1931 Chrysler CM6 roadster in a sports car event at Municipal Stadium in Tampa.

1954 Nash Metropolitan.²

In 1954 Ray entered his first real sports car race, the 12-hour endurance race at Linden Airport, New Jersey, on 22^nd August. He had a new Nash Metropolitan, a compact 1250cc Austin A40-engined convertible, which he’d already used in several local endurance rallies. With a few modifications - a dual-throat Stromberg carburettor, and 12 inch front wheels - the little red car ran extremely well at Linden, although destroying its front tyres. However, after less than five hours, the left-front spindle broke and Ray and co-driver Howard Comly had to retire.

Mid-1950’s Crosley.³

In the mid- to late 1950’s Ray built up a lightweight rear-engined Crosley Special (it’s also possible that he had had a Crosley Hotshot around this time). Intended for SCCA Class H, the Heppenstall Crosley had fibreglass bodywork, independent suspension front and rear, a rigidly-mounted engine, transmission/differential from a Citroen 2CV, and also incorporated Renault, Fiat and Ford parts.

Link to Sportscar Quarterly feature and pictures of the Heppenstall Crosley

Ray also shared Charlie Brecht’s Crosley in 4-hour races at Sebring and Fort Pierce, Florida.

1955 Siata.²

In 1955 Ray raced a 1086cc Italian Siata 300BC sports car.

Known events:

Date	Race	Track	Driver	Entrant	Car	Result	Notes
1955	SCCA	Waterboro’, S. Carolina	Ray Heppenstall		Siata 300BC
16.19.55	The Pegasus, fairchild National	Hagerstown, Maryland	Ray Heppenstall		Siata	11^th o/a, 5^th class
11.12.55	Nassau Trophy	Windsor Airfield, Nassau	Ray Heppenstall		Siata 300BC	45^th o/a

1956.

On the SCCA Appalachian Mountain National Rally in November 1956 Ray navigated Richard Smith’s Corvette to 12^th overall out of 76 starters after two days and 726 miles of driving, mostly over twisty mountain roads.⁴

Also around this time Ray first met Tom Fleming, campaigning a series of Lotus’ (Mk.9, Mk.11, Mk.15). Fleming was a customer who was later to have a significant role in the Howmet turbine car programme.

Known events:

Date	Rally/Race	Track	Driver	Entrant	Car	Result	Notes
3/4.11.56	Appalachian Mountain National Rally	726 miles. Hershey, Pa – Staunton, Va	Richard Smith / Ray Heppenstall		Corvette	12^th o/a	2^nd Team.
9.12.56	Nassau Trophy consolation	Windsor Airfield, Nassau	Ray Heppenstall	Tom Fleming	Lotus XI	7th
7.12.56	Governors Trophy heat	Windsor Airfield, Nassau	Tom Fleming	Tom Fleming	Lotus XI

1957 Jomar.²

In 1956 Ray Saidel of Manchester, New Hampshire, imported one of the first TVR chassis from England, marketing this 1100cc Coventry Climax powered sports-racing roadster as the Jomar Mk. 2. When Saidel imported three new cars in 1957, he asked Heppenstall to drive the original car. Ray’s first race was at Lime Rock, CT, where he finished third, a broken chassis causing braking problems. His second, and final, outing was at Virginia International Raceway, where a front spindle breakage resulted in a suspension wrecking spin.

Date	Race	Track	Driver	Entrant	Car	Result	Notes
1957	SCCA E,F,G modified sports	Lime Rock, Connecticut	Ray Heppenstall		Jomar Mk.II	3rd
3.8.57	SCCA E,F,G modified sports	Virginia Int. Raceway, Danville	Ray Heppenstall		Jomar Mk.II	Retired
4.8.57	SCCA E,F,G modified sports	Virginia Int. Raceway, Danville	Ray Heppenstall		Jomar Mk.II	DNS

Link to TVR North America Jomar webpage – including Jomar photos

1958-59 D.B.-Panhard – SCCA Champion.^1,2

During 1958 and 1959 Ray raced a D.B. Panhard HBR5 Super Rally Coupe for Howard Hanna from Philadelphia, the US Eastern distributor for D.B. The car gained numerous class wins, with Ray winning the SCCA Class H production championship in 1959, following Hanna’s win the previous year. Acting as D.B. salesman throughout the eastern United States, Ray drove the car to and from all the race meetings, including Riverside in California.

Known events:

Date	Race	Track	Driver	Entrant	Car	Result	Notes
17.8.58	SCCA National, H Prod	Montgomery, New York	Ray Heppenstall		DB Panhard	2^nd	Hanna 1st
12.58	GT under 2000cc	Nassau	Ray Heppenstall		DB Panhard	11^th, 3^rd class	Heat
12.58	Tourist Trophy	Nassau	Ray Heppenstall		DB Panhard
7.12.58	Nassau Trophy	Oakes Course, Nassau	Ray Heppenstall		DB Panhard	21^st o/a, 4^th class
5.4.59	Fiesta of Five Flags SCCA National	Pensacola, Florida	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st	HProd
18-19.4.59	SCCA National	Marlboro, Maryland	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st class	HProd
3.5.59	SCCA National	Virginia International Raceway, Danville	Ray Heppenstall		DB	14^th o/a	Points for 1^st HP, but ran in GP as insufficient HP entries.
16-17.5.59	SCCA National	Cumberland, Maryland	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st o/a & 1^st class
31.5.59	SCCA National, HP	Bridgehampton, New York	Ray Heppenstall		DB Panhard	1^st class
7.6.59	SCCA	Vineland, New Jersey	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st class
20-21.6.59	SCCA National	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st class
4.7.59	SCCA, HP	Lime Rock, Connecticut	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1^st class
1959		Denver, Colorado	Ray Heppenstall		DB	2^nd class	Saturday race
1959		Denver, Colorado	Ray Heppenstall		DB	1st class	Sunday race
17.7.59