LEGENDARY 427 L88

Photo by Hal Crocker - The DeLorenzo Collection

Here’s a cool depiction of the racing action, a unforgettable day, delivered by CorvetteLegends.com - February 13, 2017. The battered No. 6 Owens/Corning Fiberglas Corvette 427 L88 driven by Tony and Dick Lang heads for the finish at Daytona in 1970. With Dick driving, the driveshaft failed around 1:00 a.m. and Tony dragged the jack and tools out to the inside of the infield “Horseshoe” (Turn 2) to fix it. Tony recalls: “It was dark and scary! I don’t remember which crewman supervised the operation. When I got back to the pits the crew put another driveshaft in ‘just in case!’ Wait… what? ” But that wasn’t all. Around 10:00 a.m. the next morning, again with Dick at the wheel, the studs on the RR wheel sheared in Turn 1 and away went the wheel, taking the fender with it. Once again Tony dragged the jack and tools out to the car for the repair (he was getting good at this by now). This time the OCF team axle expert, “Spike” Ollilla, accompanied Tony to supervise. The repair required that the wheel studs, what was left of them, be removed using a punch and hammer. Here’s Tony again: “I was not good at this as it required brute force, but Spike was very patient. When I managed to get two of them out, Spike said: ‘Two lug nuts is enough, don’t go real fast on the way back to the pits!’ I watched Spike remove the other three with one hammer blow each!” After those multiple thrashes it still turned out to be a Good Day for the team as Jerry and John Mahler (No. 7 OCF Corvette 427 L88) won the GT +2.5L class, finishing 6th overall. The Owens/Corning Fiberglas Corvette Racing Team was getting its long-distance racing act together.