We begin our series below with a biography of Glen Glendenning and a selection of his photographs.

Glen Glendenning, left, with D Jag racer Don Skogmo. Photographer unknown.

By Pete Vack

In 2012, Dennis Shoff and Dave Rex found a 1952 road race special named the “Comet” in the back of a race shop at Virginia International Raceway, and purchased it from fellow vintage racer Larry Narcus, who had restored the car and gathered some of the car’s history including contact information for the car’s ex-owner and driver, Glen Glendenning.

Dennis and Dave made contact with Glendenning, who at the time was living in Florida. This began a long relationship with Glendenning, who was able to not only share information on the Comet but many interesting stories of sportscar racing in the 50s. In addition, it was learned that Glenn had been an excellent photographer and owned a PR firm with a film lab, and produced 26 films for the Schlitz brewery.

Just prior to his passing in 2014, Glendenning called Dave and said he had a large box of pictures from races and other car events that he had taken in the 1950s. Glendenning said “I’m not even going to open the box, I’ll just tape it up and send it to you because I know you will take proper care of them.”
The box consisted of dozens of loose scrapbook pages. Most of the photos, as might be expected, were of above snapshot quality, well framed, in focus and taken with a 35 mm SLR with a good lens. That in itself was unusual in an era of brownie cameras and furthermore, Glen Glendenning knew most everyone in the budding sport, and had access to pits, corners and people. The box of photos teemed with promise.

Glen was known by many people, but few knew him well and many have departed the scene. The following is what we’ve learned about Glen from a few of his friends and acquaintances.

He was born on August 20, 1926 in Evanston Illinois, where his father ran a Cadillac dealership. He once told Dave Rex that his uncle Raymond was a sports commentator for the BBC. In a recorded interview with Dennis Shoff in 2013, Glendenning said that he got into sports cars when he bought a Healey Silverstone, then bought an MGTC, perhaps with the help of his friend Larry Whiting, also a prominent Wisconsin enthusiast who was very much involved in early Road America as a racer and also track Public Address Announcer. According to Bob Birmingham, Glen was “a promoter, an interesting sort who could regale listeners with tales of his world travels, and experiences that were almost beyond belief.”

In traveling to events, he used a Ford (or Chevy) Woody station wagon that served many purposes, as a tow car, and filled with spare race tires and tools. It was reported that inside the Woody he carried a parachute and water skis, an empty holster and a ham radio he loudly used to converse with others on a variety of topics while waiting at lights.

Although he ventured to Indianapolis, Sebring, and Bridgehampton NY, he stayed close to home most of the time, attending, photographing and sometimes racing at the many venues close to Milwaukee, including Road America and the Milwaukee State Fairground. His last set of photos as found in his album were taken at Meadowdale, Illinois, September 14, 1958. It is said that at the end of the decade he went to the Bahamas and operated a marine shipping company.

Glen told Rex that he had the 4th Austin Healy that came into the U.S. and met Donald Healy at Sebring. He sold an Allard when the Healey arrived. “Glen also said he drove at Sebring in Larry Whiting’s Morris Minor and Rod Carveth’s Aston Martin (car didn’t do well).” Larry Whiting and Karl Brocken, both from the Milwaukee area, did race a Morris Minor at Sebring in 1950, placing 14th overall, and while Glen may have helped along the way, he is not listed in the official results.

Augie Pabst in the Comet which he shared with Glen Glendenning at the Road America 500 in 1957.

In 1954 Glendenning purchased the Comet, a homebuilt special with a MGTD chassis with a Glaspar body and a Ford Flathead engine. The body was shortened 7 inches by cutting a section from the cockpit. Glen bought the car and began entering it in SCCA races, hill climbs and other Milwaukee area events. Says Rex, “In 1957 Augie Pabst co—drove the car with Glen in a 500-mile race at Road America. Augie told Rex that the car’s brakes were the worst he had ever experienced! In 1956 after blowing up a few flatheads, Glenn was given a Chevrolet 283 engine and transmission by a well-connected friend at Chevrolet. Instructions were included that if any problems occurred, to refer them to Chevrolet engineering. Glen took the car to Granatelli in Chicago and had 3 carbs installed.”

Road America historian Tom Schultz has Glendenning’s race record as:
8-15-54 Milwaukee Regional, 9 OA
9-11-55 Road America National, 18 OA
5-20-56 Milwaukee Regional, 11 OA
7-01-56 Milwaukee MG Car Club race, 2 OA
9-08-57 Road America 500, 32 OA
Writes Shultz: “Glen was far more involved in the social aspects of sports cars than the racing. He did have the Comet special, but did not race it much at all.”

Read more about the Comet:

Connections: Augie Pabst

Putting the Sport in Sports Cars

Along with two other pioneers, the late Robert F. Pauley and Frank Shaffer, Glendenning left us a unique vision of the sports car movement that changed America. We have selected only a few of his many photos to present here as a gallery, for what Glen Glendenning saw was how the sport was in fact a sport; once the invasion of foreign sports cars had begun, the new owners used them in many different ways; rallies, trials, ice races, hillclimbs and sanctioned road racing on both public and private roads. Women were a part of this new exciting hobby as never before; still banned from the pits at Indianapolis, women were active in the pits as timers and assistants, in rallies as navigators. Some, like Betty Skelton, became famous, and others, like Ruth Levy were excellent race drivers in their own right. The epitome of the movement was road racing, and the Maseratis and Ferraris that competed at those Midwest racetracks were and remain cultural objects of high value today. Through the viewfinder, Glen Glendenning saw this and much more. Below, we present just a few of the many photos Glen Glendenning took that reflected the Sports Car Craze that Changed America.

Glen Glendenning Gallery Number One

John Kilborn, June 16, 1957

A great driver portrait by Glendenning. The subject was John Kilborn, a car dealer from Decatur, Illinois, whose family started a Nash dealership in 1925 and by 1953 was selling Dodge cars and trucks under the banner of Kilborn Motors Inc. After serving in the Marines during World War II, John returned home but his interest tended to be more toward MGs and Jaguars rather than Detroit products. He owned and raced several Ferraris until he retired from racing in 1964. Kilborn died in 1980 at age 65. Kilborn is photographed on June 16, 1957 at a little known hillclimb called Rib Mountain located near Wausau, Wisconsin. The event was sponsored by the Milwaukee region of the SCCA; Kilborn set the fastest time of day. The car is a Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti, s/n 0518M. Originally went to Jacques Swaters in Belgium, and driven in a number of European events until being sold to Kilborn in early 1957. He raced it all year with modest success before selling it to Dean Knight of Oklahoma in 1958.

Lee Petty, August 12, 1956

And, what have we here? A stock car race? Glen Glendenning was at Road America on August 12, 1956 to witness what was perhaps the first time NASCAR stock cars raced on anything beside an oval. Of course, Road & Track was not impressed. “Cornering techniques (if you’ll pardon the phrase) for the stocks appalling – they half slam, half throw them thru, then appear to pray like mad.” The driver above is the redoubtable Lee Petty, father of Richard, grandfather of Kyle, who was running a Dodge, probably with the Dodge version of the Chrysler hemi. He could only muster up a 13th place as Tim Flock won the race in a Mercury.

MG TC and Model

Let’s say she’s a model, though we have no idea of when or where the photo was taken or the identities of the couple. Let’s say it is probably a SAC event as it is on an airport so that makes it post 1952 and before 1958 when Glen Glendenning gave up race photography. And let’s say that this is a ‘cheesecake’ shot…that’s a term for a sexy woman, or scantily clad which dates back to the 1660’s but was still in popular usage in the 1950s. The model’s svelte lines contrast nicely with the traditional British Upright design of the MGTC. A classy cheesecake though, wouldn’t you say?

Bridgehampton, May 23, 1953

Bridgehampton was a mess, a tragic event that led very quickly to the complete ban of all racing on public roads in the state of New York. Road and Track was brief, one column, no photos. “Robert Wilder of Palmer, Mass. was killed when his car went out of control.” In the second event, “Tom Luck of Philadelphia flipped his Siata and sustained a fractured collar bone and minor cuts.” Glen Glendening was on the scene shortly after the accident and took this photo of the rolled Siata. In the last event, Harry Gray lost control of his Jaguar and overturned, hurting three spectators sitting in an area marked ‘No Spectators Allowed.’ The race was not completed.

Ted Baumgartner, Road America, September 6, 1958

The glitter of black is reflected in this photo by Glen Glendenning of the Alfa Veloce of Ted Baumgartner, who put his Alfa into fourth overall behind three Porsche Carreras in the first race for Production cars during the September, 1958 event at Road America. One might think Ted was a lone Alfa stalwart holding off the German hordes for the glory of Italy. But according to Bob Birmingham, Ted Baumgartner, who was working at Schwarztburg Oldsmobile after WWII, established Concours Motors in the mid-1950s with Bill Wuesthoff selling VWs. A few years later Baumgartner sold his interest in Concours Motors to open his own shop, Baumgartner Motors, selling Porsches, Alfas and Triumphs in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee. Baumgartner was probably chasing Porsches he sold.

Dr. Dick Thompson, SR2 Corvette, June 24, 1956

To counter the increasingly obvious sports car craze, Harley Earl came up with the Corvette in 1953, but with a straight six, performance was lame. Enter Zora Arkus Duntov who in 1956 took a stock Vette off the line and fitted it with a special body designed by Bob Cumberford. The new 265 V8 had a special Duntov cam and with heavy duty suspension, Cerametalix Bendix brake linings and Houdaille shocks, the Vette was ready to face the opposition. Glen Glendenning captured the first appearance of the SR2 Corvette as driven by the Flying Dentist Dick Thompson at Road America in June of 1956. The car failed to place well, finishing in 16th in the B, C, and D modified class. Jerome Earl, Harley’s son, co-drove with Thompson.

If you subscribe now, before it’s too late, we will send you a copy of Barn Find Alfa, a 32 page booklet, free including shipping anywhere in the world. As they say on TV, supplies are limited. We sold most of the print run out at $20 each, but we’ll give out the remaining copies to those who want to become a Premium Susbcriber. When you subscribe, all those pesky black boxes that say “this content is for subscribers only” magically disappear and you’ll have full access to the thousands of archived articles. Plus there are three ways to joing up…PayPal, Credit Card, or by check.

Click here to join up and get your free copy!.

Ok it’s free, but what is it about?

We think you will enjoy Barn Find Alfa, (not only because it will be shipped to you free of charge when you subscribe), but because it speaks of what we all have in common: a search for a rare classic, sharing the find with knowledgeable and helpful friends, the risks and decision one makes when embarking upon vintage car racing, the manner in which a classic should be prepared for road use, to what degree should it be restored, and, a story of long term relationships and enthusiasm, bound by a shared experience of one remarkable Alfa Romeo.

In the annals of classic car discoveries and ownership, The Barn Find Alfa is not unique; many rarer cars in the Vintage Sports Car Club have long histories of ownership passed on from generation to generation, or to fellow club members keeping the car within the same tight group of dedicated individuals. Barn finds alone are not worth a hay, some real, some faked, but all having the aura of a magical discovery.* Still, there are lot of barns along the Eastern Seaboard in which lot of classic cars were found over the years.

To be sure, Barn Find Alfa was a bona fide Barn Find if there ever was one, a race car and rare Veloce model to boot. But what makes ‘our’ Barn Find Alfa interesting is that its known 35 year history was related to us by all the owners save the first (and we are still working on that), and that we were able to put together a photographic account of the rescue, race history, rally years and finally, restoration (in two senses of the word as we will see) into a slight but charming book. VeloceToday Editor Pete Vack, Keith Goring, Sue Dixon, Matt Jones, Dr. Peter Fodor and Frank Allocca, all of whom had a hand in preserving the car since it was a barn find all contributed their experiences owning, selling, racing, repairing and rallying the Barn Find Alfa for the book.

Pages from the booklet.

The continuing saga of the Barn Find Alfa and trick of the memory

Since it was first published in 2013, there have been some new developments that shed a bit more light on its history.Barn Find Alfa was originally written and published five years ago after a chance email sent to us by VeloceToday subscriber and then owner Frank Allocca, who wanted to know if I remembered anything about an Alfa Sprint that we sold to Keith Goring and Sue Dixon a zillion years ago. I dimly recalled that we had some pictures around, and after the normal procrastination and searching, the circa 1977 photos were found, and we found that an interesting article, or short book under our VeloceToday Select imprint was possible.

Here is how the photos were found, ready to be copied and printed in a local magazine. But where was the article in which they appeared?

But at the time I didn’t have the full story. When we found the original photos for Frank, I saw they had been cropped and sized for magazine publication, which meant that I had probably written a story about the find. However, could not recall or find the article (35 years and a lot of words later, it is hard to remember everything). And not surprisingly, what Frank wanted to know was who the original owner, and who had raced the car and then left it in a barn, something I could not remember. Perhaps I had left some clues in the original article, if only I could find it. Running out of time, we put together the story, and the book, assuming there was no trace of the original article.

Recently that article about finding the Sprint Veloce in a barn came to light. It wasn’t definitive but provided some leads and added more information to the story. Here is an edited version. This does not appear in the book:

From The C.A.R. volume 1 number 2, May 1984.
By Pete Vack

A few years ago I was approached by a young neighbor of mine about a car he had seen on a farm in Pungo, VA. He said he knew the car was an Alfa Romeo but had no idea how old or what type it was. Although he owned an Alfa himself, he could only describe it as ‘weird’.

We sat down with all the Alfa books to see if he could identify it by the pictures. No luck – the car was covered with hay and farm equipment far in the dark corner of a barn. Not only was I puzzled, but the knowledge of the car, or lack of it, was eating my insides like a broken piston ring. For months I tried to get him to show the farm, or give me an address, a phone number, name, anything. But he was always too busy or couldn’t remember.

The fabled farmhouse about to be invaded by insane Alfisti.

Finally, we got it all together and I convinced him we should try to find the farm. We found it and had a good look. It indeed was an old Alfa, hardly recognizable but apparently complete. Horse manure had made it messy to reach, but I knew the car was enough of a find to try to get the car of the barn and into protective customer…preferably mine.

The car was more of a find than my friend and I had realized. Although I had many visions ot what it might turn out to be, I really didn’t expect it to be a race car. It even had big white circles on the doors. Specifically, it was a 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce, in very nice shape, but without the engine. Still, it was a rare find that was eligible for the current vintage race car events, a fact which made its value well beyond what it might normally be.

After I returned home, I eventually got it touch with the owner. It seems he had once raced the car in the SCCA events and he said the car had been stored in the barn for a number of years. We arranged a deal (yes, it was a good one) I borrowed a trailer and asked some friend if they would come along to help extricate the car (without telling them about the horse manure). Realizing that this could be an experience worth remembering, I brought a camera along. After all, old cars in barns were getting very hard to find.
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In the next few weeks we’ll pursue the leads found in the missing article, (we found that the neighbor who led us to the barn is still in the area) and see if we can eventually uncover the still unknown SCCA racer, and keep you posted. In the meantime, Barn Find Alfa also has a new owner, and you won’t believe who it is.

*We often thought that Ken Purdy’s story about a discovery of a Mercer Raceabout in his Kings of the Road established both the magic and a barn find phenomenon that is still with us today. However, Purdy did not find the Mercer in a barn, or find it at all. After being hauled out of a grove of poplar trees in Canada, it was shipped to him by rail.