#00 1961 MacDonald Corvette Special

“Dave was the ‘chosen one’ in American motorsport, winning championships with ease at all levels. He was on a ‘mercurial’ rise as fans everywhere watched his journey. Dave was the ultimate American hero, being a crew cut handsome as a movie star Hot Rodder, family man, racing American sports cars.”

We have completed the two-year build of the Dave MacDonald Corvette Special. It is also known as the Old Yeller V, and was commissioned by Dave MacDonald and sponsor Jim Simpson.

Dave MacDonald had incredible achievements racing Corvettes, but wanted to have a lighter weight Corvette race-car. Carroll Shelby advised Dave to have Max and Ina Balchowsky, builders and racer of Old Yeller race cars, create that special race-car. Dave had good Chevrolet sponsorship with Don Steves, and he and Jim Simpson went to Max and Ina Balchowsky at their Hollywood Motors. Max built the Old Yeller V using the unique Old Yeller design with a light-weight chrome moly chassis. The special had a 1961 Corvette ultra-thin body and a 327 fuelie motor and used Pontiac front drums, contrary to the usual Old Yeller race cars with Buick drums and Buick Nailhead motors. The finished Old Yeller V became known and raced as the successful #00 “Corvette Special,” racing in the Main Event Open Modified class.

The Balchowski Archives

I was a good friend of Max Balchowsky, and he entrusted me with the entire Balchowsky Archives of the Old Yeller race records/lap charts, invoices, trophies, race dash plaques, and Old Yeller parts. The huge archives included an incredible collection of large format B&W photographs, taken by Lester Nehamkin, a Hollywood photographer, who was a team member. I was given the Balchowsky Archives all prior to my purchasing the iconic Old Yeller II Buick Special, which we race internationally.

It was fortuitous that I had rare large photographs of Max working with Dave at Hollywood Motors on the Corvette Special as well as all the special torsion bar suspension images of the #00. For many years, I also had the Max Balchowsky-built chassis for the Old Yeller X stored, for a project that which was never completed. The payment to Max for the Old Yeller X project included the entire custom and unique “Balchowsky” design suspension which included front upper Jag A arms that were drilled (for crushability upon any impact), special drilled backing plates, and lower Pontiac A arms shortened. In the archives included a collection of torsion bars for the Old Yellers and a large collection of parts. In the Balchowsky Archive were the #00 Pontiac front drum brakes with a drilled backing plate showing some damage. There was only one Old Yeller race car that had Pontiac front drum brakes and that was the #00 Corvette Special, as Dave wanted slightly larger front brakes.

Recreation

A fabrication shop effectively built the Old Yeller V/‘Corvette Special’ guided by large format B&W photographs from the Archives. Special effort was made to utilize exact period parts including securing manufacture dates as close to the build date of the #00. The 1961 327 fuel injected Corvette motor was built by an expert in early Corvette Performance engines and made 350 horse power for a 5:1 power-to-weight ratio. A special modified Chevy II rear-end, exact to original build, was assembled by “Cook’s Machine Works.” The two “Cooks” machinists recall when they were very young, working with Max building all of the custom ‘rear-ends’ for his Old Yeller race cars. The metal seat autographed by Max was utilized, was from the archives. The Corvette body was made by an “old school” Corvette body fabricator to the exact specifications of the #00. The ‘razor thin’1/16th inch fiberglass body for the #00 was 17” shorter in length, 4” shorter in height, and 5” narrower that an original Corvette body. The Corvette Special weighed a mere 1,750 lbs. and was a rocket of a race-car. The Corvette motor was set back in the chassis, as that was a hot rod trick Max used with the Old Yeller race cars.

The Record

Max Balchowsky completed #00 in October of 1961. Dave MacDonald was a master of the ‘slip angle’ or ‘drifting’ in road racing and fans loved watching Dave slide his racecar around turns at major races. Initially, the Corvette Special was ‘not to the liking’ for Dave and he was quoted to say at that time, “…it was un-nerving.”

The original suspension set up was contrary to Dave’s masterful drifting of the race-car. Jim Simpson, manager at Paramount Chevrolet, and Dave took the Corvette Special to Indy chassis builder Frank Kurtis in Glendale to modify the suspension to allow more drifting of the Corvette Special. It was apparently to his liking, for in the beginning of the 1962 race season Dave won the first two modified races in the Corvette Special. At the same time, having their solid Don Steves’ Chevrolet sponsorship with a 1962 production Corvette, they felt Dave should race for the B Production Championship in the Production Corvette. Dave would often run the Corvette Special in the modified classes and jump into the production Vette for the production class event.

We have obtained the below list of results for the Corvette Special from the excellent website, https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Dave-MacDonald-USA.html

1961

• October 15 1961 200 mile Riverside 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Bob Sorenson Chevrolet DNA

• October 22 1961 USAC Laguna Seca 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Jim Simpson-Bob Sorenson Chev. DNF

• November 12 1961 SCCA Regional Cotati [Modified] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Dave MacDonald 1st

• December 3 1961 SCCA Divisional Tucson [BM+CM+DM+EM+FM] Chevrolet Corvette Special MacDonald DNF

• December 10 .1961 Del Mar [BM+CM+DM+EM+FM+AP+BP+CP] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald raced

1962

• March 4 1962 SCCA Divisional Riverside [CM+DM+EM+FM] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald 1st

• April 29 1962 SCCA Divisional Del Mar [CM+DM+EM+FM] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Paramount Racing Team DNS

• May 27 1962 SCCA Regional Santa Barbara [CM+DM+EM+FM] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald raced

• September 23 1962 SCCA Divisional Reno [CM+DM+EM+FM+GM] 149 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Pat Mathis DNF

• September 30 1962 USAC Kent 49 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald Pat Mathis DNF

• 1962 Del Mar [CM+DM+EM+FM] 00 Chevrolet Corvette Special Dave MacDonald DNF Date in question

In June of 1962, the Corvette Special was sold to Honolulu, Hawaii Auto Dealer Pat Mathis. In Hawaii, the #00 ran in some drag races. In September of 1962, the Corvette Special was sent back to the “mainland” for key races at Reno, Nevada and Kent, Washington. In September 30, 1962, the important ‘big purse’ race in the Northwest was the Kent Northwest Grand Prix Races. Dave raced the #00 and faced mechanical problems after leading the race at one point. After the race, the #00 Corvette Special was shipped back to Honolulu. The Corvette Special was thought to have raced in drag races and whereabouts became unknown.

The Launch

The Official Launch and first viewing of the 1961 #00 MacDonald Corvette, after a two- year build, was at Kent, Washington, Pacific Northwest Historic Races, held June 30- July 2, 2023. There were key people linked to the Corvette Special that attended the Launch: Rich MacDonald, son of Dave MacDonald, with his sister Vicki; Joe Freitas, iconic early Corvette Racer was present during the build of the Corvette Special, attended. Wally Peat, Dave’s Chief Mechanic and builder of the #00 with Max Balchowsky made it as well.

It was a non-stop emotional weekend, as Rich MacDonald, who is suffering from cancer, told me, “Ernie, I don’t know how many days I have left, but this is the best day of my life and Dad is watching.”

In support of our great Launch of the#00 they gathered up the Early Corvette Race cars for a Parade Lap and the #00 led the way with Rich and Wally Peat as passenger while Joe Freitas brought his Corvette Racer and had Vicki as passenger. Much tears and hugging but the cars brought them all together.