Attack of the Clones

As I sit down to write this month’s column, Halloween quickly approaches. The stores are jammed to the gunnels with such traditional Halloween fare as inflatable, motorized lawn ghouls, 300 metric tons of extra-hyperactivity-inducing candy, and of course costumes. Yes, the streets are starting to look a bit scary with all manner of demons and ghosts roaming about. All this scary fare has got me to thinking about some of the ghosts and demons that frighten us in the vintage racing community.

Of all the historic bogeymen, that we as historic racers have collectively buried our heads under the covers and refused to acknowledge, perhaps none is more intimidating as the dreaded Doppelganger. For those less familiar with the supernatural lexicon, Webster’s dictionary defines the Doppelganger as “the ghostly double or wraith of a living person”—in essence, an entity that looks exactly like someone, but isn’t.