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[h=2]SVRA: Ribbs family values at Sonoma[/h] Saturday, 04 June 2016


Mark Dill (words & images)





You don't have to attend many SVRA event weekends before you realize how welcoming the paddock is and that it is literally a family. The connections people find are significant and frequently you never know whom you might bump into but the stories are invariably interesting. On hand this weekend is Formula Junior racer Phil Ribbs who has some great stories to tell about both his car and about a top-level champion professional racer who also happens to be his younger brother: Willy T. Ribbs.
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The Ribbs are a racing family, beginning with William Theodore "Bunny" Ribbs, Phil and Willy's father. The elder Ribbs took up racing in the mid-1950s in the San Francisco SCCA Region. At first he owned and drove an MG TD and then moved to an MG A and finally a pair of Elvas. The memories of dad at the wheel in the heat of competition are more vivid for Phil than brother Willy because he is seven years older.
Still, both brothers became smitten with the sport. By 1972 Phil, then 25, bought a March Formula B and set out for driving school. Successful there he followed his father's footsteps and became an SCCA member with the San Francisco region. He raced in both regional and national competition but the adventure did not last long. By 1975 the pressures of paying the bills put racing on hold.
"I had to go work, and that wasn't racing," Phil says with the smile of a man at least satisfied to know he took a shot at something very special. "The reality of paying the bills and just taking responsibility forces those decisions. I don't regret a thing."
By the time Phil was putting his driving passions on hold, younger brother Willy was launching a career that would deliver several breakthroughs. Not the least of which was becoming the first black driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1991. Phil was there every step of the way.
"I had a full-time job with the city of San Jose, but I was with Willy as much as I could. I really felt a part of the team," Phil reports. "When he qualified at Indianapolis in 1991 that was an amazing moment. Everyone there knew they had witnessed something extraordinary. It wasn't easy but Willy overcame a lot of challenges to reach his goal."
Phil attended all Willy's races in the Indy car series in the 1990s. Before that he traveled with the team during Willy's wildly successful years with Trans Am in the mid-1980s when he was the winningest driver in the series, scoring 19 victories. Most of those were with Jack Roush's Ford team. He then continued his success into IMSA winning 10 races with Dan Gurney's Toyota-backed team.
Meanwhile, Phil's non-racing career had progressed and he eventually became the city of San Jose's chief inspector. He purchased a very special 1963 Lotus 27 in 2003 and set out for the Jim Russell Driving School to knock the rust off. He has competed several times a year in various vintage racing organizations, but this is his first go with the SVRA.
In step with the historic and authentic theme of this weekend's Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, Phil's car is truly a significant racer. Driven by future Formula 1 driver Peter Arundell to the British Formula Junior championship (which a year later morphed into Formula 3) the car today is all-original with the exception of the monocoque frame that affixed to the engine. Phil still owns that and keeps it so he has 100 percent of the original pieces. Otherwise – allowing for maintenance – the suspension, gears and Ford engine are as they were in 1963.
Despite the fact that Phil's car was the Lotus factory entry, it did not carry British racing green livery. Instead, it sported the deep blue colors with distinct yellow rims of the Ron Harris racing team. Lotus Boss Colin Chapman had his hands full winning the Formula 1 World Championship that year with driver Jim Clark as well as tackling a new challenge with the Indianapolis 500. He effectively subcontracted operations for the Formula Junior effort to Harris, who was a widely respected team manager in the era. Committed to the authenticity of his racer, Phil restored the car using Harris' team colors. The Lotus also sports Harris' name along with the standard Team Lotus script.
Obviously, Lotus had a great year in 1963 with the world championship, a runner-up finish at Indy in their first try and Arundell's British Formula Junior crown. Arundell won his championship by a single point over then-rising star Denny Hulme who went on to win the Formula One championship in 1967.
Arundell's future proved to be less fortunate. After Chapman promoted him to Formula 1 in 1964 he performed well with two podium finishes but a devastating accident with American Richie Ginther sidelined him for months with severe injuries. He returned briefly but it was the beginning of the end for his career.
Coming from a racing family, Phil Ribbs appreciates such history. One of his goals with his ex-Arundell Lotus is to have it certified for authenticity of preparation with the SVRA's Gold Medallion program.
Phil understands the value of history, heritage and authenticity – he lives it. In addition to the Lotus he is driving this weekend he also owns a 1970 Bonneville and a 1966 Lotus 23C, one of only six built. He also owns a 1967 Triumph motorcycle with all original parts he is putting to good use this weekend as he tools around the paddock in true Ribbs family fashion socializing and striking up conversations to catch up with friends old and new.

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INDY 500: Willy T Ribbs, 25 years on
Saturday, 28 May 2016

Marshall Pruett / Images by IMS Photo
Twenty-five years after Willy T. Ribbs broke the color barrier at the Indy 500, RACER spoke with the retired open-wheel and sports car ace about the 1991 race, his views on its impact, Ribbs' life today, and whether the recent scandal involving former sponsor Bill Cosby has altered their relationship.
"I thought I was going to stop traveling when I quit racing," Ribbs said of supporting his son Theo, a top marksman and competitive skeet shooter. "I'm traveling more now than ever. Theo's top five in the world. He is incredible. Tony Parella of SVRA, he is one of Theo's sponsors. And it is a good deal. And I will do anything for Tony. That [vintage] race he has at Indy every year, I told Tony 'I'll be in there when you want as long as you want.'"
As a byproduct of being the first African-American to race in the Indy 500, Ribbs hoped to see more drivers of a darker hue follow in his footsteps, just as he credited his hero and stock car driver Joie Ray for inspiring him to pursue his dreams. A quarter century later, Ribbs says Indy has succeeded in becoming more gender neutral, but that's all.
"The biggest difference is that there have been nine women that have competed in the Indianapolis 500," he continued. "That's history. There's been two African-Americans. And [George Mack] only did it once and I was there twice. It really shows that the sport has really gone nowhere in terms of its ... not 'diversity', that's a broad term ... it's gone nowhere in this country as a series for all Americans to enjoy."
Ribbs points to three-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton as the beacon for what is possible in IndyCar.
"You look at Lewis Hamilton today, for example. When I tested Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 car in Estoril, Portugal in 1985, that was the year that Lewis Hamilton was born. That puts it all into perspective," he said.
"You look at Lewis, what he has done for the sport of Formula 1 in terms of its market value and the image of Formula 1, how great it looks. And Bernie Ecclestone wants that for his sport. My question is: does IndyCar want it for their sport?"
Widening IndyCar's appeal to more than its traditional base is, in Ribbs' estimation, key to restoring its popularity.
"If they can't see it by looking in the stands and if they can't see it by looking at their rating numbers, then they are totally ignorant and should not be in the position that they are in," he said of the series' leadership. "The sponsors of the sport should be looking at the same picture. They should be looking into the stands. They should be looking at their TV numbers and be able to get it figured out. They couldn't be that dumb.
"Right now IndyCar ... IndyCar can't pay people to watch it. I saw the numbers from Long Beach. That, to me, after 25 years, is probably the most glaring observation."
In light of the more sensitive times we live in, Ribbs was asked whether the racial-tinged humor that took place between himself and his former employer Dan Gurney at Indy in 1991 would even be possible to carry out today.
"Well, the PC police in this country and a lot of the PC police are among the so-called mainstream media or liberal media, they need a job," he said of the odd gift exchange between the two. "Gurney would send me watermelon and fried chicken, and I'm sending him back a jar of mayonnaise. If the PC police feel that in their mind they don't like or feel it is appropriate in their mind, then they are going to attack.
"Look, I've known Dan my whole life. I know the man who I raced for and he was a mentor to me. When it came to being fair and equal and putting me on a level playing field, it was Dan Gurney. What Dan knew is I could win. And I won for him. That was Dan's number one priority, was to win.
"And then after when we were going to have the greatest champagne parties in restaurants - I mean, we shut down three restaurants one time. I mean, they had to close it down to clean the place up because there was champagne everywhere. It was very 'family'. I'm still close to members of All American Racers to this day. We had fun with each other back then, and if people didn't like it, or don't like it today, they can kiss my ..."
Ribbs will also be the subject of a new documentary produced by Adam Carolla's team in 2017, to which Willy T says, "It's going to be huge, it's going to be amazing, as my old buddy Donald Trump would say."
Ever the rebel, and rarely concerned with taking the popular viewpoint, Ribbs' loyal nature hasn't changed in reaction to the troubling charges against Bill Cosby, who backed Ribb's 1991 Indy entry. Most people would distance themselves from the alleged and accused sexual predator, but Ribbs' ride-or-die mentality won't allow that to happen.
"I'm really glad you asked, because in the last five years, that is one of the biggest changes from the standpoint in my life that is directly related to Indy. It was his money that put me in Indy. Without Cosby I would not have been there in 1991," he said.
"I'm going to back Mr. Cosby. I'm going to support him. I've never bolted from a fight. Or from backing someone who backed me. I know the kind of person he has been to me and to my family. Being a single father, his wife, Camille, helped me feed my kids when I was out of racing. I haven't forgotten that and I will never will. I'm not that way. I've never been that kind of person. I will fight for those who have fought for me."