Col. Joe Hauser, of Maryland, passed away Friday, May 23, 2014, according to a friend from his days as an SCCA National Champion in G Production Class.
He was in his 90s, and started racing 50 years ago.
I wonder how many of our cars have some or all of his modifications to squeeze out a little more speed and handling....
Road & Track magazine, ca. 1976, in an article on that year's runoffs at Road Atlanta, describes what he was up against on the track:
It all came to pass after one of the competitors, 1974 class champion Joe Hauser Sr, jumped the British Leyland ship to take over the helm of an old Datsun 1600 for this year's runoffs. Hauser reckoned that the Datsun was faster on the straights, and at Road Atlanta "the race ends in a chute." Smart move because ol' Joe was able to fend off the horde of Triumph Spitfires, MG Midgets, and Austin-Healey Sprites that has dominated the class for nine out of the last ten years. But who did Joe Sr. hold off for those 18 heart-stopping laps? Why Joe Jr. in (you guessed it) a Sprite. Father and son played tag for the entire race and finished just 0.3 sec apart, a more than respectable showing for the 57-year -old retired U.S. Air Force pilot."
I had heard of him before I was eventually fortunate to meet him a couple of times.
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Photo courtesy datsun.org
