DSC Retro: Chaparral Images From The 1960s

Here’s a look again at two sets of pictures, first posted on DSC in 2004 to celebrate the opening of the Chaparral Gallery at the Petroleum Museum in Midland Texas, commemorating the cars and racing of Jim Hall’s iconic sports racers.

The current DSC Ed visited the museum much more recently, trust me its worth a look!

The first croup of pictures came from DSC reader Clay Sims. The group at the bottom from Dave Friedman.

The best result from this group of cars at these races was a sixth-place for Vic Elford in the 2J, the race won by Tony Dean (father of United Autosports boss Richard) in his Porsche 908. Mike Spence did set the fastest lap in #6 at Sebring in 1967.

At a time when LMP designs could become spec. chassis with different bodywork (as suggested by Lola) and when the standard design in the Rolex Series is a tube-frame, readers should enjoy this look back to a time of innovation. The Chaparral name was synonymous with that word, whether it was a glass fibre tub, or high mounted wings or the 2J sucker car. Dave Friedman saw the whole range of Chaparrals, and here he provides the images and the captions.