Zora Arkus-Duntov was a tremendous influence in my life, both personally and professionally. We shared so much, and he was such an influence early on, in the late ’50s, that he’s really the main reason that I got so involved with Corvettes. He led me into things that I never would have done. He personally got me the ride with Roger Penske and he personally got me into the Dana Chevrolet L-88 for Le Mans. He really opened doors for me.
In my early days, I was racing on the West Coast – I was doing some sprint cars and stuff, but I ended up going to more funerals than parties, so I finally got into sports car racing because I didn’t have a death wish! I bought a Corvette after I got out of the service in ’53…I just fell in love with that car. But it was just awful – what I mean by this is that I’m a Californian hot rodder, which is the epitome of go fast and tinkering and innovation, and here’s this slug with an automatic 6-cylinder – and I’m thinking “are they serious?” But then, in about ’56, they came out with the V8. I got so excited about that one that I bought it and immediately had to race it. In the course of racing it, I wanted to get a hold of some parts and that was when I was first introduced to Duntov, by some Chevrolet dealers here on the West Coast. Once I got to know him a little, he told me in his thick accent, “Deek, vie don’t you just vait a bit and vee get you some stuff.” God love him! And sure as heck, he got me a 4-speed, fuel injection, metallic brakes, finned drums…I mean it was just unbelievable.
