I had never followed the gentlemen, but a life cut short while racing nonetheless - James Crown.
Not sure what happened on the track besides that I read he was driving a high-performance Toyota Crown.
I had never followed the gentlemen, but a life cut short while racing nonetheless - James Crown.
Not sure what happened on the track besides that I read he was driving a high-performance Toyota Crown.
It's highly unlikely it was a Toyota Crown, it's far more likely it was one of the Toyota-powered Spec Racer cars owned by the club and being driven by Crown - that piece of information then went through the reblog information muncher. 100 hp and 1500 lbs from what I recall, which is perky.
I hope I'm doing the same thing on my 70th birthday. Well, the driving at the track part.
BTW, this track used to be known as Woody Creek Raceway, it's shoehorned in beside a gravel pit near Woody Creek/Snowmass. Near where Hunter S. Thompson lived. It's a hard one to get track time on because it's a country club track with a VERY high buy-in. I've been on it once, and I remember lots of jokes about "safety boulders". It wasn't known for its runoff and it was about as wide as a kart track. When I was there, we were running clockwise with a chicane on the straight - you can see why they might want to keep top speeds down if you look at the turn at the end of the straight. For scale, that's a 1.1 mile lap. This may be the end of the track, although only the club members would ever notice.
That makes more sense Keith - Thanks!
"Sure, the track is narrow and dangerous, but what's important is that we've kept the peasants out, very exclusive you see" 
In reply to GameboyRMH :
You've been to Colorado ski towns, I see.
When I was an RMVR Corner Worker there many years ago we had problems with rattlesnakes at the corner stations. They let corner workers drive the track for free during the lunch hour and I had plenty of fun with my Honda CRX Si there. Hunter S was still alive back then and was known for shooting at nothing and driving around with sticks of dynamite in his trunk. Yeah. Colorado has gone way upscale since then.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
My wife went on a school trip up that way once that involved the teacher parking outside Hunter's house and laying on the horn to see if he could get something to happen. I've never heard anything else about the school trip :)
Parts of Colorado have gone way upscale. Parts are still inhabited by real people.
Keith Tanner said:I hope I'm doing the same thing on my 70th birthday. Well, the driving at the track part.
Me too, but not at that track unless it's wheelchair racing. I guess the rich guys didn't spring for runoff area when they bought the place.
It's been a private track for a long time. I drove it in 2006 (I think?) in my 944 Turbo with the PCA. Very tight, very technical, basically nowhere you'd want to put a wheel off. As a private track I was very unimpressed with the state of the track itself and the total lack of any facilities there.
In reply to paddygarcia :
It's built into a hillside, I'm not sure how much room there is to expand. Depends on who owns the land immediately north and south of the track.
Keith Tanner said:In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
My wife went on a school trip up that way once that involved the teacher parking outside Hunter's house and laying on the horn to see if he could get something to happen. I've never heard anything else about the school trip :)
Parts of Colorado have gone way upscale. Parts are still inhabited by real people.
And then there was Hunter S. Thompson. I heard him speak at CU Boulder once. He was one crazy dude.
I used to live in Edwards, Colorado. In a single wide mobile home. It got very cold in the winter. I don't think I could afford to buy cheap beer in that town now.
James Crown? Didn't Steve McQueen make a movie about him back in the 70s?
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:James Crown? Didn't Steve McQueen make a movie about him back in the 70s?
That would be "The Thomas Crown Affair"
In reply to L5wolvesf :
Who was she? He was a multi billionaire, so I figure she has to be worthwhile to potentially have his wife ending up with half.
who?
Keith Tanner said:I've been on it once, and I remember lots of jokes about "safety boulders". It wasn't known for its runoff and it was about as wide as a kart track. When I was there, we were running clockwise with a chicane on the straight - you can see why they might want to keep top speeds down if you look at the turn at the end of the straight.
I attended the national Lotus meet at Snowmass, and one of the featured events was at that track, where Emerson Fittipaldi drove the Lotus F1 car that he won the World Drivers' Championship with. Though I didn't drive, I remember that track as "uncomfortable looking", meaning that it narrow, short, and as pointed out, has a straight just long enough that someone could get in a lot of trouble if they didn't brake on-time.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:who?
Probably Faye Dunaway. She was in the movie.
If they are using old Sports Renault / Spec Racer chassis that must have been a nasty off because those cars are built like tanks.
Sad to here of someones passing; regardless of what they were doing. Condolences to his family.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:who?
Probably Faye Dunaway. She was in the movie.
No, I meant who is the dude who got killed? Is he a household name and I have an ill-informed household?
I was at that same Lotus event! Amazing to see Emerson Fittipaldi drive, and super cool to meet him and Alain De Cadenet.
Of course, if I met kb58, that was the real highlight!
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:who?
Probably Faye Dunaway. She was in the movie.
No, I meant who is the dude who got killed? Is he a household name and I have an ill-informed household?
If you live in Aspen, he is. His family basically built the resort from what I understand. This is a regional news story that is important to GRM because of what it might imply for the racetrack, not because of who the driver was - although billionaires dying do tend to make for a little more news coverage.
BoulderG said:I was at that same Lotus event! Amazing to see Emerson Fittipaldi drive, and super cool to meet him and Alain De Cadenet.
Of course, if I met kb58, that was the real highlight!
I was at that event too, but I spent my time hanging with Peter Egan and didn't go to the track :)
Sounds like the investigation is finished. The various information has been filtered through the press so it's been a little mangled. He was indeed driving a Spec Racer with Toyota power (a "165 hp MR2 engine") and was chasing time while out on the track by himself and under the eye of an instructor. He locked up the brakes on the straight, went through the gravel trap and hit the tires hard enough to dislodge the concrete barrier behind - I suspect they may have been K barriers.
The car had received new brakes that day, and Crown's son-in-law said they were working fine but were "stiff" and needed to be pressed firmly. Maybe not bedded? It sounds like insufficient runoff, someone pushing as hard as they could and bad luck overall, though.
I taught one of his grandchildren at the ski resort a few years back. The Crown family has a big house in Olympic Valley. Didn't knw about this racetrack though.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Sounds like he was driving a Toyota World Sports Racer. Those are also fairly stout cars and I'll assume he had a HANS of some sort, so the impact must have been huge.
Still very sad to hear.
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