The Corvette began it's racing success in the 1950's and by the mid 1960's had earned a reputation as the car to beat in production based road racing across North America and in Europe as well, particularly at the LeMans 24hr race. This 1969 example, chassis #194379S706193, is a historic FIA and TransAm racecar and internationally recognized 3-time LeMans Classic invitee. It comes with extensive documentation, including a copy of original build sheet, many articles, invoices, period photos, log-books and more and has a huge spares package available as well.
Al Mason was a well-known racer from the 60’s and 70’s. he built his reputation in the Canadian sedan series. While he may not have achieved as much recognition in the US, he certainly made his mark in Canada. Al was quite a businessman, too. He owned two Sunoco gas stations and a parts/restoration business, and started a fuel oil business at the same time he was racing.
Al’s reputation as an engine builder was also considerable. One of his trademarks was that he always painted his engines gold. In 1970, Al decided to switch from racing Camaro’s to Corvettes. In 1970, he bought this used Corvette coupe and by 1971 had turned it into a L88-powered racecar. He raced to club races in late 1971 in his Sunoco blue livery, and in 1972 things got really interesting.
Over the winter of ’71-70 he acquired sponsorship from BF Goodrich of Canada to run a car in the Canadian series for three years. Based on his reputation of Camaros and the fact that he sold BF Goodrich product in this garage, they approach him with the deal similar to the Greenwood deal in the USA. He would run eastern Canadian endurance series and selected regional races as well as attending promotional events. For 1972 the car ran its big block L88 and was painted in the sponsors color scheme - white with red Maple leaf. Jacques Duvol was co-driver for the endurance events in the 1972 season. Jacques was a particularly well known and well loved personality in Quebec motorsports. His prior experience driving Porsches had earned him reputation as a hard charger. He was accustomed to their German durability and high revving performance and his frequent excursions into the upper of band would tax even the LA 88 engines and it certainly found the limit of the BFG street tires.
Over the winter of ’72-73, the rules changed. The Canadian series now allowed wider wheels and other changes more in keeping with IMSA and FIA rules. As a result, Al made a trip to Greenwood shop in Michigan to buy parts that weren’t available elsewhere. He purchased the LeMans headlight assemblies, flared fenders and various suspension bushings and pieces. Wheels were changed from 8” to 10” Minilites and the tires were changed to the 50 series. The biggest change was in the engine bay. The big block was replaced with a well-prepared small block LT1. It was hoped that this change would improve the liability and tractability there by helping Duvol finish a few more races. This may have been a faint hope as Duvol again blew up the engine in the Nova Scotia event, causing teammate Harry Bice to spin his BFG sponsored Porsche on the oil.
The 1974 season was not spectacular in the BFG Support came to an end. In 1975, Al Mason raced the car in one more regional before retiring as a driver. The famous Canadian, Bill Adam was then asked to drive the car for the 1976 Mosport Trans Am event. The car was back in the dark blue Sunoco colors. Reflecting the cars immaculate set up and his own driving skill, Adam set a track record for B production cars at 1:32.
Bill Adam was again asked to drive the car at the SCCA Canadian runoffs at St. Jovite in Quebec. Bill will gladly recall that he took pole position during qualifying but what he doesn't mention is that he crashed the car during practice trying to out brake a smaller sedan. Either way it all came to nothing when politics got the better of them and they were disqualified and St. Jovite was the last pro race for the car.
In 1978 Sunoco approach Al about doing a “CAM 2” promotional campaign involving Bill Adam and maybe two or three Trans Am races. They painted the car and prepared it for press photos, but when the crunch came, the funding to operate the team just wasn't there. At that point, Al stepped away from the racing scene to concentrate on his business and enjoy the restoration hobby.
The car then sat idle for five years. When Al’s son, Perry, bought the car from his dad in 1983, he restored it to concourse condition as an example in the 1970’s endurance racer. Perry had also wanted to use the car for historic racing but found that it was too new, so he satisfied himself with occasional street driving and club racing. The car was displayed at the Canadian NCRS meeting in Toronto in 1985 and received 99.5 points on the NCRS judging scale. One fault was the windshield, which was sandblasted from use. Interestingly, the guest speaker at the NCRS meet was John Powell. He was speaking about the upcoming release of the ZR1 Corvette. But for Perry, John was more interesting because he had also driven the car in one race late in 1974 at a regional event…one more famous name to add to the list.
In 1988, the car was sold to successful businessman Eugene Pettipas of Aarmdale, Nova Scotia. Eugene was remarkable in many ways, most notably for being the first Canadian to earn a CASC license as a paraplegic. He had the car fitted with hand controls and an automatic transmission. In this configuration, he enjoyed the car for several years and in 2002, he offered it for sale.
The car was then purchased by a Seattle racer and now competes in historic races. It won several class events in 2003; Portland, Las Vegas and one SCCA race at Seattle international Raceway. The owner reinforced many of the original parts to better handle today's higher speeds and horsepower. He continued to win his class and set a new track record. The car is race-ready and fitted with the big-block engine again. This car is a remarkable piece of Canadian racing history and is extremely-well documented. Asking $395,000. Spares package also available.