Has anyone come across this Racing ***ociation? Seems they were active in the 1950's, and hosted races at Willow Springs outside LA. The SCCA seems to have put a social hit out on them and if you got caught racing at a RRR event, you could be banished. From what I have found, they were rather progressive and actively promoted women's racing. One of their more progressive stances was the requirement of roll bars well before the SCCA. Does anyone have any more history they can share? Or other forums that would be useful for hunting? I have been perusing the Rev's archives online, but to limited success.
There were "sporty car" racing groups in America, before and after WWII, that preceded the SCCA. I don't have any reference material handy now to look stuff up, so I can't help you there. In those days, teams raced Foreign, American and even "special" barn job prototypes that included a lot of hot rodders. Stock or modified. Amateur, and especially the well funded / rich Amateur alike. I think one group in California was the CRA around LA, but I'm not sure. And whether sporty car or oval racing, there were outlaw groups that got banned from rival groups aiming for regional or national **********. I don't think that kind of thing happens now, you can participate in as many groups as you like without penalty of being an outlaw. Hopefully someone else can pipe in and help. My interest here is mostly about Sports Rods and road racing Specials built by hot rodders post WWII.
I think CRA was originally oval track roadsters that morphed into the sprint cars in the '50s & '60s. Now it is THE primary sprint car ***ociation in So Cal. For more info google California Racing ***ociation...
Triple "R" Road Racing ***ociation 1956-58 newspaper references: October 23, 1956 - Los Angeles Evening Citizen News: May 30, 1957 - The Fresno Bee: May 30, 1957 - The Los Angeles Times: December 12, 1957 - The Southwest Wave: March 6, 1958 - Los Angeles Evening Citizen News: May 22, 1958 - Los Angeles Evening Citizen News:
Thank you! Looks like they hosted a number of races over SoCal. Thoughts on when the roll bar requirement might have been implemented? and most exciting of all...any pictures of specials that raced there?
From this article in December 17, 1956 issue of The San Bernardino County Sun it looks like SCCA required roll bars starting 1957.
Good morning, As mentioned, the Triple-R sanctioning body competed with Cal Club and the SCCA for dominance in the SoCal sports car racing world in the Fifties. As a professional organization, they were in direct opposition to the amateur philosophy of the other groups. There are records of them competing from about 1956 – 1959. Because the others held sway over a number of SoCal tracks in the period, the Triple-R ran where they could, including on dirt ovals. My interest comes from efforts to determine more about the cars of Walter Gussenbauer and to help in the restoration of one of the last known examples. Gussenbauer was from Long Beach and built a series of Specials that ran with a variety of engines and drivers, mostly with the Triple-R. Appearances began in 1953 and ran to about 1961, all in SoCal. A story is told that Gussenbauer often made deals wherein the driver supplied the engine, and he supplied the car. A**** the drivers that appeared in races for him were Bob Murphy, Don Driscoll, Janet Anderson, Dean Green, Bill Hitch**** and George Murphy. Attached are two photos of Gussenbauer cars at Triple-R races. The newspaper clipping is from the New Years Day 1959 event at Ascot. In addition to the two cars identified in the caption, the outside pole car is thought to be Bob Murphy in Gussenbauer’s Lincoln-Special. On the outside of the second row, barely visible, is Parnelli Jones in a Thunderbird Special sponsored by Vels Ford. The entry list has three of Gussenbauer’s cars sponsored by “Ken’s Mufflers” of Long Beach. The second photo is thought to be from Willow Springs on an unknown date. The four cars behind the MGA with the custom nose are all Gussenbauer cars. His Grandson said that is Walter Gussenbauer in the white jacket with a cap next to car #81. Does any of this sound familiar? Does anyone have anything to add? Take care & stay safe, Mike
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