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Generation: C3 Year: 1969 VIN: NA Race Numbers: 1, 8, 68 Ownership: 1969 to 1970 - Herb Caplan 1970 to 1971 - Gary Bergman 1971 to 1978 - Phyllis Stiles 1978 to 1988 - Larry Zane 1988 to present - Mike Yager Sponsors: Dave Herlinger, Herlinger Corvette Drivers: 1969 to 1970 - Herb Caplan 1971 to 1974 - Jim Barber 1978 - Elliott Forbes-Robinson Status: The car was rre-introduced to the public at "The Mitty, at Road Atlanata, in May 2007 Original Color: blue Tires/Wheels: Engine: RPO L88 Driveline: Muncie M22 transmission J56 HD brakes F41 suspension 4.56 positraction rear gear set As per early "lightweight" cars, this car came with the trunk package. This included headlight bubbles, OK headers, rear-end oil colers. Fender flares were over-the-counter Top: NA Interior: black Condition: currently restored for historic racing URL: Unique Characteristics: Modifications: Notes/Race History: This 1969 Corvette had a very successful career in SCCA regional and national racing. It is the car which won the SCCA’s last A-Production National Championship in 1978, driven by Elliot Forbes-Robinson. The car was first purchased by Herb Caplan, in 1968. It was one of the first four L88 second generation open-chamber-heads cars to be released to selected racers through the “buyers key pass” program (see supplementary notes on L88 below). Herb Caplan raced his car over the next two years, adding to a string of prior victories with his 1963 and 1965 Corvettes. Caplan was 37 years old when he started racing with his 1963 Z06. Over the intervening years he won six SCCA San Francisco Region A-Production championships as well as six West Coast A-Production championships. In his last 46 races he scored 44 victories. In 1970, and for a variety of reasons, Herb began to change roles from driver to team owner and, using a series of McLaren cars, he entered the Can-Am series. The 1969 was sold to another west coast racer, Gary Bergman. Bergman took the 427 and had it over-bored to 464 cubic inches, producing 585 HP. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this was far too much power for the tires of the day and Bergman crashed the car. He couldn’t afford to repair it so he parked the ex-Caplan car and purchased one of the Owens-Corning cars from back east. In 1972 Phyllis Stiles bought the wreck from Gary Bergman for the Barber-Senn Racing Team. They set about a complete rebuild of the Caplan Corvette. At this point, the Barber-Senn team found out how stock the car really had been. They started the rebuild by stripping out everything and replacing or rebuilding just about everything. The engine was sent back to TRACO for freshening. The front clip was replaced and the frame was straightened. The stock wiring harness, which weighs about 40 pounds was replaced with only those items necessary to racing. The roll hoop was upgraded, using one of Jerry Thompson’s (TROY PRODUCTIONS) products…the first one on the west coast. The old fuel cell was replaced with a proper ATL unit and they added a halon fire suppression system. Finally the car received a proper Simpson racing seat and harness. The car first hit the track in 1973. But the old Bergman engine must have had a cracked water jacket. The car dropped the engine in the middle of turn #3 at Laguna Seca, only a few laps into the race. When the engine was returned to the team, the dyno sheet indicated a very handsome 565 HP, using only the L88 parts. Now that they were back on track, Jim would regularly win either (or both) class and overall. He set many absolute track records, also for his class and some overall. At the end of the 1973 season, and thanks to Jim Barber’s excellent driving, the team could look back on a difficult time but one in which they had shot to the front in the SCCA’s west coast regional racing series. Jim took four firsts and two seconds in the first six races. As well, they won the A-Production class in a western championship called the Gold Rush Series, a series designed to give amateur racers top level exposure. Barber also took the 1973 Bondurant Challenge Cup at Laguna Seca, an invitational race featuring the best of the west coast racers. It was this latter race, reported in CORVETTE NEWS that was perhaps one of Barber’s best races ever. CN reported that, “After a tough five-lap battle for the lead with Walt Maas’ infamous ‘Giant Killer’ Datsun 240Z, Barber and Maas made body contact, which knocked them both back into the pack. With the Corvette’s nose now hanging in the breeze, Barber still managed to dice his way back through the field to take the $1,000 first prize money and the Bondurant Cup…”. In 1974, Jim competed in only one race, the FAR Performance race at Laguna Seca. He finished second, four seconds behind Frank Fayhe and twenty-five seconds ahead of Dave Mock. At the end of the year, the car was parked in Phyllis' garage and sat there for several years. Jjust before the 1978 season, Phyllis decided she would re-activate the #8 car and take one final shot at the SCCA National Championship. Jim Barber was asked to drive but he was working on a new real estate development. Phyllis went to Elliott Forbes-Robinson. By the time the team got to Atlanta, the car was mostly sorted-out. The results will tell you that EFR qualified the car on the pole and lead the race all the way to the finish. But maybe it wasn’t as easy as that. Apparently, during the pace lap someone had an engine blow-up. The officials put out the oil dry but the first few laps were run under caution. When the green flag was displayed several competitors went off into the grass… even now it took some strategy to stay off the oiled line. The fact that EFR drove the car to victory at Atlanta for the A-Production national championship is a matter of record. In 1988 Stiles sold the car to Larry Zane, out of New Jersey, reportedly for $125,000. For some reason, he never moved the car from the west coast. It was stored in Reggie Jackson’s garage for over ten years until it was purchased at auction by Mike Yager, for $130,680 (plus fees) in 2002. As purchased, the car was a virtual time machine. It had never worked its way down the ladder through the normal succession of regional and club racers, like so many other cars. Most recently, Mike Yager brought the car “The Mitty” historic races at Road Atlanta, in April, 2007. The car was again driven by EFR in the celebrity laps. NOTES ON THE 2ND GEN L88 HEADS Between December 1968 to January 1969, GM released a number of early production versions of the new (second generation) L88s with open-chamber heads to selected racers. Because the new heads for the L88 weren't available to the public until June of 1969, they could only be accessed through the “buyers key pass” program. This program allowed GM to secretly test new components under competition conditions, but also in secret. These very special cars came with an M-22 heavy duty transmission, J-56 heavy duty brakes, F-41 heavy duty suspension, and 4.56 positraction axle. While the traditional heater/radio delete was no longer available as a factory option for cars being sold to the public, it is thought that since some of these cars were sold for off-road use only, it was possible that the heater and radio would have been deleted at the factory for these cars. In previous magazine articles these cars have been referred to as “lightweight” cars, but they are not to be confused with the Grand Sport cars which carried very thin fibreglass. For these 1969 Corvettes, it was the lighter L88 engine combined with the deletion of convertible top (hardtop only), carpet and spare tire, and the “trunk package” that contributed to an overall weight-reduction. For those who don’t know the "trunk package”, it should be noted that this would include the headlight bubbles for those wishing to replace the retractable units, a rear-end cooler, an oil cooler, and OK Custom headers. Depending on who you knew, you might also get a set of four fender flares but you could also buy these over-the-counter if you had the parts numbers. The first batch of four cars (including Herb’s car) preceded the James Garner AIR cars by about one month, although the AIR cars also reached the track before general public availability. Three of the these cars debuted at Sebring in 1969. These were the Or Costanzo car (#4) later famous as the # 57 “Rebel” car, the Owens-Corning car (#1) and the burgundy Bob Esseks/Frank Dominianni car (#69), later driven by John Paul (Sr). You'll find them on the covers of CORVETTE NEWS around that time. The blue car purchased and raced by Herb Caplan was less well-advertised due to the fact that it was limited to west coast (regional) racing. Registry ID Number: 99 View Original Size  |