Time and Place:
Saturday
28 May, 2001
The
Claim Jumper
restaurant, Fountain
Valley, California
Phil
Remington at
the microphone
Bob
Evans (magnificently-prepared
Master-of-Ceremonies) at your left
Bob
Shaw (CEO of
Cobra outfitter Operations Plus) at lower left
In the b&w
photo in the background:
Dan Gurney on the left
Phil Remington, center (with the PURE OIL arrow aimed at his
forehead)
A.J. Foyt on the right
photo was taken at Daytona in 1967
A commentary by Master-of-Ceremonies
Bob Evans:
A full house of approximately
70 Cobra enthusiasts gathered for a dinner at The Claim Jumper
Restaurant on Brookhurst Street in Fountain Valley (±15
miles south of The Knott's Berry Farm Show) on Saturday,
April 28th, to honor the guest speaker, Phil Remington. Phil
is a racing-industry personality who is arguably the most influential
and motivating force behind the racing successes of the Shelby
American Racing teams.
The dinner guests included
Cobra enthusiasts from Club Cobra, Cobra Forum, various SAAC members as well as participants from
the AHA's "Fun-in-the-Sun" Kit Car (and Cobra
replicas) show held annually at Knott's Berry Farm. Some folks
hailed from as far away as Texas, Michigan, Washington, and even
Australia. Randy Klein and I, both owners of Cobra replicas,
organized this 2nd annual (and better than ever!) dinner.
Phil spoke for over an hour
about his exploits and experiences, from his overseas duty in
the U.S. Army Air Corps in WWII (and getting himself in hot water
for souping up... if you'll pardon the unintended pun...
one or two of the air fleet's tow vehicles), to the time he spent
with Lance Reventlow building the successful Scarab sports cars
of the 1950s.
In the spring of 1957 Ford
Motor Company commissioned Phil and a team of drivers to take
several (disguised) 1958-model Fords on a world tour, starting
in Antwerp, Belgium, through all of western Europe and Turkey
and Afganistan, all the way to India and Thailand and Vietnam,
a narrative as charged with drama and suspense and threats to
life-and-limb as any of his racing-industry exploits. He concluded
with his association with Carroll Shelby and their electrifying
seasons with the Shelby American Racing teams.
Phil was often assigned with
the task of creating winning & reliable race cars
out of projects that were nothing more than mediocre. Phil's
insight and abilities as a fabricator, designer, draftsman, engineer
and all-around problem-solving genius inspired many winning endeavours,
including everything from the early Cobra prototypes to capturing
the FIA and USRRC Championships, to multiple wins at Daytona,
Sebring and LeMans. If there was a Shelby American car in the
winners' circle, Phil Remington could be credited with most of
that success. Drivers such as Dan Gurney, A.J. Foyt, Ken Miles,
Dave MacDonald, Phil Hill, Bob Bondurant, Bruce McLaren, Dennis
Hulme, Bobby Unser, and many, many others, entered The Winner's
Circle in racing machines designed and/or prepared by Phil Remington.
Phil now works for Dan Gurney's
All-American Racers in Santa Ana, California, and has so for
the past 34 years, as Vice President and Chief Engineer. Most
all of AAR's racing successes also lead directly back to Phil.
At the conclusion of the night's
activities and after Phil's generously sharing the highlights
of his eventful career, I presented him with a die-cast collector
model of a 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. The Coupe was contributed
by CobraCountry.com in appreciation and recognition for Phil's
immeasurable contributions to the Shelby racing legend.
Bob Evans
San Diego
.
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