Grand Opening Chaparral Museum

[jwoodard]

This past week-end we were fortunate to be invited to participate in the Grand Opening of the Chaparral Museum in Midland, Texas. We displayed one of our Panoz race cars and our Superformance demo car.

Our participation was secondary to the thrill and excitement of experiencing the Jim Hall legend in person, seeing all his cars on display and to meet the man himself and other racing legends.
Included in the event was a tour of the Chaparral shops and a trip around Rattlesnake Raceway!

Here are some photos of the cars and people:
This is what you see when you first enter the museum, car 2K - the "ground effects" design that won 1980 Indy with Johnny Rutherford:

This is a replica of car 2E - the first Chaparral race car with the high movable wing. Museum attendees are allowed in this car for photos. We took advantage of that opportunity.:

This is car 2H - advanced, integrated, composite design:

This is car 2 - the first car designed by Jim Hall which won 22 of its 39 races:

A shot of the real 2E:

This is 2J - first ever ground effects car, nicknamed "sucker car":

The famous fans on the sucker car:

Another shot of 2E:

This is car 2D - built for 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring:
:

Another shot of 2D:

This gives you a feel of the beautiful work done on the displays and the museum its self. First class!:

This is Don trying to figure out if he should run 22" wheels on his Cobra:

Here's a shot of the forum moderated by Pete Lyons. From right to left are: Dan Gurney, Franz Weiz, Brian Redman, Ronny Hissom, Phil Hill, Vic Elford, Robert Donner and Gil de Ferran. The stories they told were terrific.

Here I am with Dan Gurney:

And here's the "Gang" with Vic Elford:

And lastly, here I am with the man himself - Jim Hall.

Needless to say, it was an unbelievable experience. The museum is well worth a visit and the cars and display are just fantastic!