Wednesday, March 8, 2017
I became friends with Bruce not that many years ago and I will always remember the friendship although I felt I had known him since the mid 50's. Below I share the short story I did after my visit with Bruce back in 2012. What a true person and gentleman he was along with being a great race car driver during his time here on the earth.
During my visit north for the Cuba Lake Raceway(CLR) reunion in 2012 I formed a bucket list of people from 50's racing that I had to visit with as they were very important to the racing sport we all love(d) plus they range from 83-86 years old. I spent 2 hrs. with each of the three that I had planned on seeing. I felt very honored to have been in the company of each of them as they surely are icons in the racing fraternity that we are all part of. Below I am sharing some excerpts of the conversation with the first visit above the border.
Bruce Van Dyke - What a true gentleman Bruce is and made me feel most welcome in his home near Hamilton, Ont. His racing career lasted from the early 50's to 1973. I first saw him race at Cuba Lake Raceway in 1954 along with Jerry Winger and both were from St Catherine's at the time. In 1956, and I can remember it like it was yesterday when Bruce broke the CLR one lap record of 68 mph. This record was never broken again at CLR. As we know from past e-mails on Bruce's goal when he went to a track it wasn't to socialize. He was very task oriented. Bruce won my championships during his racing career and was a Ford power driver/owner that whole time. He did all of his own engine work and his main power plant after the flatheads was the Ford 427. The only thing he did special with these engines was a purchased cam. Sounds familiar doesn't it as Jackie Soper told me he ran stock Vette engines and the cams that came with them did a great job during his career. Bruce was also very interested in chassis design including engine placement etc. I think he said in 1959 he put a 430 cu. inch Lincoln engine in a Studie body/frame to run at Daytona with. The only mod. he made was a high rise intake manifold and 6 carbs. He said it was probably the most powerful car on the track but he was afraid of the speed and let it slow down in the corners. He finished 10th as a drive line failure side lined him.
Into the 70's Bruce said racing as he had known it in earlier years wasn't that much fun anymore and was getting very expensive. Engine parts he was getting from Ford were NASCAR rejects and engine failures became more of a problem. One night at a race near Toronto in 1973 a connecting rod let loose and he said I could tell it totally wind milled the whole engine. That night when he returned home he said I told my wife I have three words for you! OUT OF RACING. Within a month all of his racing equipment had been sold. He said to me, Ford it was a great ride but the time had come to end it.
