1972 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix

Los Angeles Times Grand Prix

Riverside International Raceway

Riverside, California

Porsche 908/02 Spyder

Result: Did not start

Adamowicz collection – Luke Lundquist photo

I drove for Vasek Polak once, in this 908/02 Spyder. The big 3.2-liter engine blew in practice after only a few laps. It turned out to be a bad crank, but Vasek was rather unforgiving of anyone who lost an engine, so I never drove for him again.

Adamowicz collection – Luke Lundquist photo

Adamowicz collection

A note from the crew chief, Carl Thompson:

“Adamowicz drove the car in the Can Am race at Riverside and the crankshaft broke. It was not Tony’s fault. Polak had the crank cross-drilled – a big mistake. It is a 908/02 Spyder. Polak had that car when I first went to work for him, and he kept it until his death and then it was sold thru Kevin Jeanette and rebodied back to original. The car had a widened body for Can Am and had wider wheels. 10.5×15 front and 15×15 rear (normal for 908/02 was 9×15 front and 12×15 rear.) It also had a 3.2-liter engine instead of a 3.0 liter. There was some extra chassis stiffening done. In 1973 we rebodied the car with an early 917/10 body cut down. It looked more like a 908/3 with a wing. We raced the car in quite a few Vintage races, using Danny Ongias to drive. Also, a salesman for Polak named Gary Wright drove the car and now that I think about it so did Milt Minter and Bert Ohlander.”

– Carl Thompson (Mechanic on car)