by Mike –
A Comment from Bill Clark on the Fiat Abarth Team Roosevelt Post said his father, Tom Clark, is standing next to the No. 84 car in the photo below. His father raced this car for years and Bill says he lost track of the car in Toledo, Ohio.
Fiat Abarth Team Roosevelt
Bill Clark sent in two old photos below, one with him standing next to the No. 84 car in 1960 at Lake Lure in North Carolina.
Fiat Abarth Team Roosevelt
Bill Clark and Fiat Abarth No. 84 in 1960 – Getting ready to take it around the track?
UPDATE – March 21, 2018
This photo was sent in by Bill Clark.
Found a picture of Tom Clark in his Abarth. Dad was 6ft tall but still fit into the car! Also the grill badge from running Sebring 12hr shortly after buying the car.
Fascinating stuff – send in your cool old photos and let us know what you think in the Comments.
Summary
Article Name
More Photos Of A Team Roosevelt Fiat Abarth
Description
Photos of a Team Roosevelt Fiat Abarth race car from 1960.
Author
Mike Gulett
Hi, all–I just found this post by chance.
My name is Scott Clark, and Tom Clark was my stepfather. I remember Bill, who’s my step-brother (if I have that right), but haven’t seen him since I was really young.
As for the car — an Abarth, which I guess must have been that one, was in our garage in Toledo, OH, in the early 70s. We moved to Florida when I was in first grade, and I honestly have no idea what happened to the car. Tom worked for the Rubini family’s Honda dealership at the time, so maybe somebody there bought the car.
Not sure if this post is any help, but I just thought I’d say hello and add a few details.
–scott
Hey Scott
Glad to hear from you. Hope life has been good to you, Dad loved you an awful lot and was very proud of you. I’m a teacher at central nine career center and living in the Indy area for now. I’ve bought a home in the villages in Florida and will be there in a year or so.
Bill Clark
william1851@att.net
have now car no 84 and happy with it . after usa he was winning Liege Rome Liege in 1995 and coup des Sources in 1992 . Now in Abarth Works Museum
UPDATE – March 21, 2018:
A new photo was sent in by Bill Clark and is posted at the end of this article.
Hi, Mike.
I wanted to touch base as I believe the pictures that Bill Clark sent in of the #84 car from 1960 are the same car my fiance, David Lawrence, Sr.’s, father drove for Team Roosevelt through-out 1960. His fathers name was Chandler Lawrence. I’m sure once we find some pictures, if he has any, I will come back and post them.
Hello,
I am looking for information on Team Roosevelt for a research paper. I saw your fiancee’s father’s name pop up in an NYT archive post. Does your family have any additional racing records? My grandfather, Skip Callanan, raced on the team as well, ’59-’61, but we don’t have many records left from him so I’m looking to put the pieces together.
Thanks!
I have the car were he was did races . See on forum http://www.abarth-gmr.be
Hello!
I am absolutely fascinated with the history of my father in laws racing days. He raced both Fiat-Abarth and Porsche cars. The more I look at the history in the United States, the more I am curious as to the cars he actually drove. Thank you for the link and maybe, with some luck, I can get my fiance and maybe his brothers over to see the museum and the actual car their father drove.
I just found your reply. My fiance remembers your grandfathers name. Granted, my fiance was just a child, but I am sure he would love to converse with you. I know it has been years, but if you would like to contact me, please email me at johanna.r.carden@aol.com
Also, I found a website that has races and stats that you can look up racers by name.
https://www.racingsportscars.com/drivers.html
does anyone know if this abarth 750 Monza Zagato record belonged to the roosevelt team car serial number # 531848
Zagato body number # 228
thanks
greeting from Abarth Works Museum Belguim
Fiat Abarth Record Monza still in racing/ rally
Thanks for the picture! Is this yellow car my dad‘s old number 84 Abarth? I found out some information on how the car left his possession in Toledo Ohio. He lost it in a divorce settlement to his third wife Susan Clark. I don’t have the exact date but this should be sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. The word from my dad‘s Old Friends was that one of Susan‘s boyfriends crashed the car and it was parked in the garage and somewhat abandoned for years.
My brother in Law Kevin Major is rebuilding a 1960 Abarth serial number 620895. The owner in central Pa. told Kevin he believed the car was a Roosevelt Racing car. I’m trying to ascertain the provenance of this vehicle. Any help would be appreciated.
It is very interesting to read these postings and comments! Thanks to all for sharing.
I have been tracking Abarth build and use histories for more than 40 years and have seen many claims for cars that have supposedly made histories with the Roosevelt Racing Team. Not all claims have proven to be correct. In this instance, we can think that there may be some sense of truth to some of the suppositions even if we cannot always be certain of precise car identities. We do know that Roosevelt (as a team and as a dealer) received eight (or perhaps a few more?) cars with “Record Monza” bodies and push-rod engines.
Darryl Kenes, please check the chassis/VIN number of the car that your brother-in-law is rebuilding. This is the first reporting of the number “620895” as an Abarth of any kind. Perhaps it is an engine number that serves as a VIN? That would not be unusual. The chassis number should appear on the firewall (left of the engine, below the voltage regulator, as “Fiat 100*xxxxxx*” unless it is a later example that might appear as “100D*xxxxxx* … or seven digits?
For chassis 542723, now with Guy M, we know that it was one of the RM cars that went to Roosevelt and that it was painterd white when consigned. The earliest documented owner was someone named “Myers” before it was sold to Scott Emsley in California prior to going to Belgium, I am hoping that some of the Tom Clark info presented here can be connected in some certain way to the car. At the moment, the only affirmed race result I have recorded for Tom was a class win at the Chimney Rock Hillclimb of late 1959. It is not unusual to find less successful results reported only sporadically for local races in many locales. There is a lot to unpack here in this thread already.
More to follow …
John de Boer – The Italian Car Registry … since 1980