Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Liebherr Crosley at Bonneville: VIDEO!

Fellow Crosley kook John McKnight found this cool in-car video of Dale and Rob Liebherr's 1947 Crosley coupe burning up the salt at Bonneville:


The Liebherr's Never Paid 4 racing team has been trying to capture the J Production class record for about two years. That record, 103 and some change, is currently in the hands of the Evil Tweety team. They hopped in their Honda 600 and took the record back from Crosley of Kentucky's Gerald Davenport about ten years ago, and have been inching it upwards ever since.

Liv and I spent a day on the salt with the Leibherrs a couple of summers ago during their first trip to Speed Week. We had a blast, and if you have any interest in this stuff, GO. It's an amazing event.

The Never Paid 4 team haven't quite cracked the century mark yet, but every trip is moving the needle. They just built a brand new motor and switched over to disc brakes, and last I heard, all was looking good for 2011. Can't wait!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what i read the Evil Tweety is retired. John

Ol' Man Foster said...

Wha??? I'll look into that- i never got to see them run at Bonneville. Does their record stand at just over 103?

Anonymous said...

Yep, Evil Tweety is retired . . . too much rust. But the Saab that has a production 2 stroke might make for a challenge in the J/Pro class.

As for "inching it up" . . . they took the record from around 92 to over 103 . . . that's not easy with only a 700cc engine. Maybe some day they'll return with the full 750.

Anonymous said...

Alex LaFortune driving a 66-Saab, Model 93 w/a 750cc 2-stroke raised the JPRO record to 110.133. Car is owned by Bertil Sollenscog of Lake Villa, IL

Ol' Man Foster said...

Uh-oh... can't believe two strokes are in the same class- harsh!

Anonymous said...

Yeah - apples and oranges, but it's the rules. (It doesn't affect the V8's so not enough people are affected.)

I would have thought a two-stroke could have done way more.

Alex LaFortune said...

Records are meant to be broken, best of luck next year!

Ol' Man Foster said...

Hey Alex- Nice to hear from you and congrats on the record!