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1967 Lola T-70 Mark III Chassis SL71/47 "Sunoco Special" This was an early Lola prototype Mark III with a chassis designation of a Mark II. The car was rushed to Roger Penske racing for the start of the 1967 USRRC season. It was meticulously prepared by Karl Kainhofer and his team at Roger Penske Racing in Newtown Square, PA. It used a 355 CID Traco prepared Chevy and a Hewland Transaxle. Another such prototype Mark III was rushed to John Surtees. Using this chassis in 1967 Mark Donohue won 5 of the 6 races US Road Racing Championship (USRRC) entered and the won the USRRC Championship. During this period the car wore Roger's favorite number -- #6 Las Vegas 1st Riverside 1st Laguna Seca 3rd Bridgehampton 1st Watkins Glen 1st Pacific Raceways 1st Road America (did not enter) Mid Ohio 1st in a new Mark IIIb chassis It was then used by Penske Racing for the first three 1967 CanAm races driven by George Follmer as #16 Road America 4th Bridgehampton 5th Mosport 7th During practice at Mosport Follmer had the rear body work detach at speed and the subsequent crash damaged the chassis just in front of the right rear wheel. The chassis was patched overnight and the car made the race and was competitive but Penske decided to retire the chassis at that point. They used a replacement chassis (SL73/126) for Follmer’s #16 in the final three races in the 1967 CanAm. Chassis SL71/47 car was used as a show car for the 1968 New York International Auto Show and then sold to John Marr of Long Island, NY who intended to use it as a street car. After several years sitting in his heated garage he sold the car to Rich DeJarrald, a dentist, who raced it two or three times. It passed through the hands of Nick Engles, Chuck Haines, Jim Oppenheimer, Clarence Catallo and Rick McLean, finally winding up in the Prisma Collection in 1994. It was displayed in very original 1968 condition until 2007 when a very exacting 2 year restoration restored it to its 1967 USRRC winning specifications and livery. Because of the minor damage to the right sponson of the tub, the car was not used again by Penske nor resold for racing. Since 1969 the chassis has been stored in climate controlled conditions and has been in only a few vintage races. It has not been wrecked or even driven hard, so it is still in extremely good but original condition. Almost every other original chassis is either too worn out to drive or has been replaced. Penske's shop had modified it somewhat to take the Mark IIIb front body work for the NY Auto Show in 1968 and those modifications have been reversed; the car now has the correct 1967 Mark III bodywork. The Mosport damage is one of several documented proofs of the provenance of this car and it was repaired during the restoration. Photos exist to show that particular damage at every period in its existence including a photo signed by Bill Scott, Sunoco/Penske machinist who made the repair at the track. Several hundred pages of documentation will accompany the car. Every owner has been contacted and has verified the unbroken ownership chain. Several other methods of verification of the provenance are available. The history is documented in John Starkey's Lola-T70 book and the car is in the Lola Heritage Registry. There were 5 of these Sunoco Special Roadster chassis raced by Penske. The first one (Mark I) was totally destroyed by fire at Watkins Glen in 1966. The second (Mark II) is now a street car with air conditioning. This is the third chassis (Mark III); it has by far the most wins; and there are no other claims to its history. The fourth chassis (Follmer's 1967 Can-Am final three races) is hanging on a wall too badly used up to restore (but a new chassis was recently commissioned by the owner and is now being vintage raced). The fifth and final roadster chassis is the Mark IIIb currently owned and raced by the Hogan family of Colorado. This freshly restored car made its debut at the 2008 Monterey Historic Races and again at the Lola 50th Anniversary Celebration at Watkins Glen in September 2008. After those two races the motor was removed, completely checked and rebalanced and any cosmetic evidence of those two races has been repainted. The car is in every respect true to the 1967 period and in flawless condition, ready to begin its vintage racing career with its new owner. |