John Greenwood Passes

[ancrdave]

Corvette innovator and racing legend John Greenwood passed away on July 7, 2015. He was a resident of Altamonte Springs, FL at the time of his passing.

Greenwood, well known for his innovative racing designs, with his wild wedged shaped bodies, highly developed suspensions, work with the fuel injected big block motors and lightweight materials won an SCCA Trans Am Championship, SCCA Production championships, and had wins at Sebring and Daytona in IMSA Camel GT.

He was also well know for his racing at Le Mans where he blasted down the Mulsanne Straight at 230 plus MPH.

If you know your Sebring history you know that when Sebring race founder Alec Ulmann decided not to put on the 1973 race, due to the demands of FIA, it seemed that the Sebring 12 Hours was dead. To the rescue came IMSA and several Sebring locals but they needed money for track improvements and prize money. John Greenwood provided that money for the '73 race as well as the '75 & '76 races. He literally saved Sebring from oblivion and was referred to as "The Sebring Angel."

[OldSchool+]

And another one bites the dust.

I watched Greenwood race those cars at Daytona, including the year he won the pole--1975.

Also watched them break, but hey, as a member of the Corvette faithful, was glad he was in there swinging. It simply took a lot of energy to get all that mass to change direction, and tire wear and fuel consumption were always issues, but the cars broke from the stress. Ironically, I believe that his best finish was in '71, in the 50 car pictured above (or a similar car), a relatively mild car compared to what he later fielded.

They all looked cool, though, and Greenwood body kits for the street were pretty awesome, too. They started out as race car flares, and later became more refined, like Callaway or Saleen pieces.

Also was a member of a 'Vette Club for a short time (turns out, Clubs ain't my thing...) and during that time attended a classroom clinic that he taught.

Very studious, collegiate type guy during a time when things were pretty "loose" shall we say.

His contributions will be remembered.

[OldSchool+]

ps--these days the cars have numbers lit by, I dunno, magic. LEDs? Neon? Plasma?

At any rate, they are two dimensional and lit up, along with the class and position the car is running in another area, also lighted.

Dig the lights on the doors of the #50! Semi-tractor issue, perhaps.