During the Rolex 24 at Daytona weekend I had the opportunity to drive a very special car that was on display in the Heritage Exhibition in the Fan Zone during the “24 Minutes of Daytona” - a 1987 Protofab Chevrolet Corvette, Chassis #001 - owned by my good friend Wally Owens, and immaculately restored by Dan Binks.
Chassis #001 was the first of several Bob Riley designed Chevrolet Corvettes built for Protofab for their factory supported effort in IMSA for the 1987 season. While the other cars ran the traditional V8, #001 was a lesser known, unique project. It borrowed the Falconer V6 Turbo engine from the Corvette GTP program, transforming it into one of the most powerful GT cars ever built. Greg Pickett raced the car in 1987 and 1988, achieving Several poles, fastest laps and DNF's. In the 1988 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Greg Pickett, John Jones and Tommy Riggins drove the car. They qualified 9th, but dropped out after 398 laps due to an engine issue.
The car felt incredible and I was excited to show how it would do on the high banks of Daytona, but several other cars had issues right away and we ran under yellow for just about all of the run.
Many thanks to Wally and Dan for entrusting me with this historic machine! Perhaps another time we could let it rip!
#Chevrolet #Corvette #GT #IMSA #GTP#Protofab #GM #Binks #BinksMotorsports #Restoration #Vintage #Heritage #Racing
