Rolling History...
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 4:06 pm
Some of you may or may not have noticed the little car I brought out to Weatherly this past weekend…
It is actually a little bit of rolling history…a car that was last run at Weatherly in 1988…but was first run at Giant's Despair in 1973!
This particular car was first owned by Mike Oleyar, owner of the Little Foreign Car Shop in Freeland, PA. He became one of the earliest Subaru dealers in PA. Mike was a PHA driver for many years…about 1963 - 1970 going from an MGA to an A Production Corvette (that he also ran in the Trans-AM series). Upon reception of his first batch of Subaru's, he immediately started work on preparing one to race. Mike began his "development-through-racing" plan with Subaru…a plan to make the first competitive Subaru in America.
The car ran at Giant's Despair in 1973, driven by Tom Donald...and did much more road racing. Subaru pulled out of the project and left Mike to continue the development on his own. The car was featured in Small Cars magazine in 1975.
The car was sold to another PHA veteran, Jerry Coffee who then sold it to Horace Franco who redid the car with Ken Lewis in 1987 as the Superoo. The car ran in GT-4 class against the Alvey & Wayne Ford in their Toy Twister. In the hopes of making the car even faster…it was fitted with a Judson supercharger and a Weber side draft carb arrangement that ultimately led to the demise of the engine. The car was then sent to the barn, where it sat for almost 20 years until I purchased the car.
It took a few years to get it running…but now it is back! This past weekend's first run was a little marred by a fuel pump failure…but thanks to the wonderful support of the PHA family, especially Rich Rock and Kurt Eikenberg…the Superoo did manage to make one successful trip up and back Weatherly mountain!! It was the longest distance the car had moved under its own power in over 20 years! I was pleased at this accomplishment! But…what was even more important was looking over at the car and seeing Mike Oleyar, hand on fender…peering into the engine bay! A reunion long overdue!
It is actually a little bit of rolling history…a car that was last run at Weatherly in 1988…but was first run at Giant's Despair in 1973!
This particular car was first owned by Mike Oleyar, owner of the Little Foreign Car Shop in Freeland, PA. He became one of the earliest Subaru dealers in PA. Mike was a PHA driver for many years…about 1963 - 1970 going from an MGA to an A Production Corvette (that he also ran in the Trans-AM series). Upon reception of his first batch of Subaru's, he immediately started work on preparing one to race. Mike began his "development-through-racing" plan with Subaru…a plan to make the first competitive Subaru in America.
The car ran at Giant's Despair in 1973, driven by Tom Donald...and did much more road racing. Subaru pulled out of the project and left Mike to continue the development on his own. The car was featured in Small Cars magazine in 1975.
The car was sold to another PHA veteran, Jerry Coffee who then sold it to Horace Franco who redid the car with Ken Lewis in 1987 as the Superoo. The car ran in GT-4 class against the Alvey & Wayne Ford in their Toy Twister. In the hopes of making the car even faster…it was fitted with a Judson supercharger and a Weber side draft carb arrangement that ultimately led to the demise of the engine. The car was then sent to the barn, where it sat for almost 20 years until I purchased the car.
It took a few years to get it running…but now it is back! This past weekend's first run was a little marred by a fuel pump failure…but thanks to the wonderful support of the PHA family, especially Rich Rock and Kurt Eikenberg…the Superoo did manage to make one successful trip up and back Weatherly mountain!! It was the longest distance the car had moved under its own power in over 20 years! I was pleased at this accomplishment! But…what was even more important was looking over at the car and seeing Mike Oleyar, hand on fender…peering into the engine bay! A reunion long overdue!
