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Post by Chris K. Hale on Sept 3, 2015 14:14:59 GMT -8
I just read some sad news, my friend Dick Gulstrand has passed away this morning, known as Mr Corvette, he was a Hell of a Road Racer , Good Guy and Friend.. R.I.P. Chris
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Post by afx on Sept 3, 2015 15:26:34 GMT -8
He was a legend to Corvette fans. My condolences to you and his family Chris.
Dick Thompson and Dick Guldstrand drove this Penske Corvette Grand Sport at Sebring in 1966.
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Post by Art on Sept 3, 2015 16:24:53 GMT -8
Sad news. He was a part of my Vette story, having employed the driver Lynn Butler during and after the time my dad maintained that car. He also attempted to qualify a NASCAR Cup car my dad entered at Ontario Motor Speedway in the early 70's. Unfortunately they missed the race. My dad called him up when I was researching the Vette to find out if he knew what happened to Lynn. He was interested in my project and told my dad to have me call him. Unfortunately I was never able to reach him. RIP Dick. Here he is talking to Lynn Butler at Riverside.  |
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Sept 4, 2015 13:51:48 GMT -8
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Sept 4, 2015 13:54:47 GMT -8
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Post by Art on Sept 4, 2015 14:36:59 GMT -8
Bitchen cars, Chris!
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Post by Patrick on Sept 4, 2015 16:35:14 GMT -8
Ya! That's the Pam Pro Plastics car I saw him drive at Laguna!
Patrick
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Post by dustymojave on Sept 21, 2015 1:53:03 GMT -8
An old friend. I last talked to Dick at Willow Springs during a NASA Vintage race (not the space organization). He was with the crew running the old Chafee college Trans Am Camaro while someone else was running a replica of Dick's 63 Stingray roadster. We talked about my dad for a bit then when we were parting he asked me to give my mom a hug for him. Hell of a good guy.
I'll always remember the roller skate on top of the roll bar of that 63 Vette. He had rolled the car and damaged it quite a bit. He and his crew thrashed to get it repaired and back on the track. When the car was done just in time to head out for a Cal Club race at Riverside, the crew sent Dick off to take a shower, get his driving suit and helmet and they would load the car up and meet him at the track. When Dick arrived at Tech Inspection the car was already done being inspected and we had them push the car off to the side waiting for his helmet and suit to arrive with Dick. He didn't notice it right away, but the crew had added something to the car after he left. They had bolted an adjustable clamp on the shoe type roller skate to the top center of the roll bar upside down so it would continue rolling if the car got upside down again. Everybody including Dick got a big laugh out of the joke and the skate wound up staying on the roll bar for quite a long time.
The PAM Group 7 car was 1st tested at a regional at Willow. The Tech crew consisted of just my dad and me. Nobody else showed up. I was 10 years old. I found several fuel leaks in the plumbing for the 4 Weber carbs. For that, I rejected the car from Tech. I told the crew they would have to fix them all before I would put a sticker on the roll bar and let them race it. One of the partners (I don't recall who it was) was literally jumping up and down angry that a 10 year old kid was preventing them from racing their brand spanking new race car which cost more than my home in the San Fernando Valley. He protested to my dad (Chief of Tech), then getting nowhere with that, he went to the Chief Steward of the Meet. Still got turned down. They supported my call. He was turning red and purple in the face furious. But a while later, Dick came back to Tech and took me aside to thank me for saving his life as he put it. He was glad I had found the leaks which would have been right behind his neck on what would have been a hot engine and most likely would have caught fire. He said the crew was working on finding some fittings to replace the leaking ones (not so easy to find AN fittings out in the middle of the Mojave Desert on a Saturday (or any other day). They found an aircraft parts house at a nearby airport and brought the car back a couple of hours later and even though Tech was officially closed, I got permission from the Chief Steward to re-check the car and let them test it. Dick then came by to thank me again at the end of the day. Most racers never would have said anything to me other than griping about having been rejected.
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