Note: I want to preface the story with this reflection of why I want to restore this car and let young drivers use it:
My biggest concern about getting into racing was that the other drivers would be hyper-aggressive ‘type-a’ people, which I am not. I couldn’t have been more surprised to literally and figuratively be welcomed into the group with a big, warm hug, and untold amounts of help. We go out and competitively race wheel to wheel, and get back to the paddock as better friends. No yelling, screaming, fights, etc. Share the track, then share a beer and a meal and laughter. It’s the most fun, least dramatic group of men I’ve ever associated with, and we need more humans, especially men, interacting in this way.
We inherited this Austin Healey “Bugeye” Sprite race car from my Father-in-Law, Sam Hamilton. When going through the paperwork I found a 1974 California registration card the listed the owner and address. Because the history of our vintage race cars is part of the fun, I endeavored to track down Arnold or his family and was, much to my surprise, successful.
Arnold bought the car at a Bay-area used car lot in the late 60s. He started with autocross racing as he, over several years, fully race-prepared it. On May 3, 1970 Arnold raced the car for the first time. Hilariously, the car was written up for having a then-illegal center main bearing strap reinforcement. I asked Arnold how they found this and will make a video in the coming months that explains it.
After years of racing at famed tracks like Laguna-Seca and Sears Point, Arnold sold the car to a Richard Gilbert in June of 1979. Our attempts to find Mr. Gilbert or his family have not yet been successful. According to the log book, he attended driver’s school the weekends of March 1 and March 15, 1980. The log book does not indicate where, but here are those pages:
February 14, 2025: An observant person just noted that the signature on the left appears to be Bob Bondurant!
The log book shows Mr. Gilbert entered an event called “G.S.I.R.” on April 13, 1980, and that is the last entry. Where the car was or how it was used from 1980 until my Father-in-Law bought it in the mid-2000s remains a mystery. If you have any info, please use email address listed below to contact us.
Update: 60 year veteran racer Stephen Newby informs us that G.S.I.R. stands for Golden State International Raceway, a.k.a Sears Point a.k.a. Sonoma. So we know that Richard Gilbert at least initially kept the car in the Bay area.
We are, as of Fall of 2024, working to restore the car to track-ready condition for the 2025 season. While the body is in excellent shape, it needs a lot of other parts and work: Paint, running gear, suspension, interior, wiring, etc. Arnold is quite excited about his race car returning to the track and we’d like to find a way to get it to Sprite-Midget Challenge race at Laguna-Seca next June. The car will be painted to Arnold’s original yellow with black stripes and roundels.
As I have my Father-in-Law’s Bugeye racer, this car will be used to allow new, young racers to begin their race career without the expense of buying a car. To help with this goal, we have a GoFundMe page that is accepting financial donations and have posted a list of parts we need here.
Thank you:
Brian Volkert, generous cash donation
Lance Lambert, generous cash donation
Gunther Ruppel, generous pricing on used parts
Winner’s Circle (www.spridget.com), discounts on some parts
Brian and Laurie Gray, donated gauges
Jake and Kristi Angle, generous cash donation
ATL, Inc, discounted SP-108 fuel cell
Every bit helps; even $5 or $10 means a lot and helps. For those able to offer larger donations, we are offering the following perks:
$100: Your name on the dashboard of my car for one live-streamed race and the edited video of that race, in 2025.
$500: Your name on the dashboard of my car for one entire live-streamed race weekend and the edited video of those races, in 2025.
$1000: Your name in decal on Arnold’s car for all of 2025 and a personal thank-you on a race live-stream.
$2000: Everything from the $500 and $1000 level, plus a plane ticket (continental U.S.) to see the car race on a mutually agreeable weekend, with a special in-person paddock thank-you.
All donations of money and parts will be used exclusively to restore and maintain the car in race-ready condition. Any extra funds will be used to help the young drivers with entry fees and weekend running costs (fuel, transportation, etc.) We have already purchased an enclosed trailer for the car and have begun interior and engine bay painting.
To donate parts please contact us at this email address:
Some photos from the start of the restoration. We will update with more photos and video as the project progresses.
January 18-19 Update
Rod and Owen visited from Victoria, BC for the SOVREN Annual General Meeting (awards banquet). We happily headed into the garage on Saturday and Sunday morning and got some work done, primarily cutting out and replacing the footwell floors, long ago hastily and poorly repaired. We also cleaned and repainted the steering column, removed the old fuel tank (we’ll install a fuel cell), and inspected the rest of the underside of the car.
Short update, February 8, 2025
The engine back and front half of the underside of the car are as cleaned up as they can be with the steering rack and suspension in. Today I installed the refurbed steering column with the quick release steering wheel hub, put the doors back on, and took it off jack stands: It goes to Goodman Racing next Friday for an upgrade to the roll cage. My car, #12, will go on the lift and be the focus until it’s ready for our first race in May. That list got much easier for me thanks to some key help from Stephen Newby.
It’s going to be a push to get the Arnold car ready for the May race, but not impossible. Send us good vibes for low complication and plenty of energy to get it to grid on May 2nd.
February 17, 2025
The car came back from ace fabricator Dean on Saturday with door bars, a knee bar, and footwell bracing installed. It’s now a safer, stiffer race car.
