Avanti R3 Hawk!

[mfg]

I the 1964 USAC "Yankee 300" stock car race, held at the Indianapolis Raceway Park, an Avanti R3 powered '64 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk finished tenth, although during the race it achieved as high as  .....?.....

1) First.......2) Second......3) Fourth....or.....4) Sixth

[r1lark]

I'm not sure how high Dick Passwater's Hawk ran during the race, but he finished 31st in that race, not 10th. Finishing results here: https://www.thethirdturn.com/wiki/1964_Yankee_300

Here are some pics of Dick's car:

 

[mfg]

14 hours ago, r1lark said:

I'm not sure how high Dick Passwater's Hawk ran during the race, but he finished 31st in that race, not 10th. Finishing results here: https://www.thethirdturn.com/wiki/1964_Yankee_300

Here are some pics of Dick's car:

 

Notwithstanding the posted results, Dick Passwater himself said he finished 10th in this '64 GT Hawk in an interview that was published in the July, 2019 'Turning Wheels'!

Would this be a memory lapse or incorrect posted results?

[r1lark]

48 minutes ago, mfg said:

Notwithstanding the posted results, Dick Passwater himself said he finished 10th in this '64 GT Hawk in an interview that was published in the July, 2019 'Turning Wheels'!

Would this be a memory lapse or incorrect posted results?

The results for the 1965 Yankee 300 do show Dick finishing in 10th place:

https://www.thethirdturn.com/wiki/1965_Yankee_300

[studegary]

The confusion is in the results for the 1964 race vs. the 1965 race.

[mfg]

53 minutes ago, studegary said:

The confusion is in the results for the 1964 race vs. the 1965 race.

You're probably correct Gary....although it's difficult to question posted statistics, it's even harder to question the guy who actually participated in that race, behind the wheel of that gorgeous GT Hawk!

[regnalbob]

Some interesting comments from an interview Dennis LeRoy had with Dick Passwater in 1998 about the #5 Bonneville Hawk.

 The #4 and #5 Hawks were painted Avanti Maroon with painted white sport tops. Dick purchased the car to race in the USAC season.  Dick contacted Studebaker that he had the car still painted with the Bonneville logos, except for having to change the number, and asked for some sponsorship. Being a native Hoosier, they could not turn him down. Studebaker sent him some cash and also some adapters for a dual caliper setup for the disc brakes. The car had an R2 in it when purchased and Dick’s shop made other race preparations to the car for the season. 

The rest of the ’64 season he raced the car on other NASCAR and dirt tracks. The ’65 season saw the R2, which was a little tired now, replaced by a Pontiac engine. He said,” we painted the Pontiac engine black and put the Stude valve covers over the Pontiac valve covers and the opposition never knew the difference. We cheated back then and sometimes we got caught, but most of the time we didn’t.

At the end of the ’65 season, Dick sold the car to a racer in Texas and he heard that the man was killed in the car.

[mfg]

I've seen that valve cover trick more recently......the owner of a '32 Ford hotrod fitted early Olds V8 covers on what was actually a small block Chevy....and another guy with a rod put early Chrysler "Firepower" covers on a V8 Chevy engine.....neither my cup of tea!