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1962 Mid-engine Scarab
This is one of one the Mid engine Scarab ready to race Santa Barbara 1962 as car No 16 driven by Lance Reventlow. Initially powered by a Buick Engine, it was slower than expected but the debut race for this beautiful race car finished a remarkable second to Krause's Maserati Birdcage.
Mid Engine Scarab - an incomplete history
1962 Mid Engined Scarab by Mike Sells
The history of the Scarabs is well documented in "Scarab" by Preston Lerner (out of print) and I highly recommend it if you're interested in any of the cars they built and raced in the mid 50's and early 60's. A small private but extremely professional team was eventually forced out of the business for tax reasons. They were very successful with the early cars but rather less so as time went on. All of the cars were finely crafted and beautifully turned out and the mid-engine car was no exception. It was created to compete in the newly formed USSRC professional racing series which evolved into the Cam Am events. Originally powered by a small block Buick engine, it was underpowered from the start. Passed on to the Mecom racing team, upgraded with a larger Traco Olds and driven by A. J. Foyt, it won several races when he was able to keep it on the track. It's now owned by Augie Pabst Pabst Racing and continues to be driven, hard, in vintage racing events. It still looks marvelous and goes very well indeed.
Following this debut the one-of-one built by Reventlow Automobiles, Inc. was campaigned by Mecom Racing with AJ Foyt, Walt Hansgen, and Augie Pabst Jr. as drivers.
Car had 1st at Daytona, Nassau and Bridgehampton.Races found on internet of what was know as the Meister Brau Scarab.
A J Foyt raced it at Riverside and Nassau in 1963
and at Mosport and Daytona in 1964. Not sure what year he raced at Bridgehampton.
Augie Pabst, Jr. raced it at Las Vegas in 1965.
From Bob Boe in Virginia about these shots
What gorgeous pics of the Scarab - I was there, Labor Day weekend of '62. I had turned 18 less than a week before, and Dad gave me 40 bucks to go to the races with my buddy John Harris who lived in North Hollywood (we lived in Seal Beach). I was very excited to see the little Scarab run because we owned a '62 Buick Skylark with the same 215 V8 in it and I was real curious to see how it would go.
At that time the front runners in C Modified were generally Krause in the birdcage Maserati, Miles in the Porsche RSK, Bob Harris in his Harris Special, and Don Hulette in his injected 327 engined Jag special (the old Pickford Special from way back), among others. John and I had acted as gophers for Don (we called it "working in the pits") so we got to mix with the big names.
That little Scarab was just so beautiful, it would knock your eyes out. Looking at those two pics just brings tears to my eyes, especially knowing I was probably within 100 ft of the car when they were shot (we were helping a guy with a FJr that weekend - his name was Machado. I put in a little entry on "ultimatecarpage.com" about some of those memories.
Thanks so much for including those shots - think I'll copy and frame them.
From Karl Retzlaff of Wisconsin posted 3/10/11"A ride in the Scarab as a 14 year old boy"
I don't know if this will be of any interest, but in regard to the Augie Pabst Jr. owned 1962 mid-engined Scarab, I was blessed enough to have ridden in the car back in the late 60's. I was a kid living down the road from the Pabst country mansion in the 60's, and through a school chum I got to meet Mr. Pabst and spend a little bit of time hanging around his estate. The Scarab was a beautiful car, and Mr. Pabst occasionally drove the car on the back-streets around his house (we could hear him coming from a long ways away and then he would go flying by our house), and one day he offered to give me a ride in the car, so off we went and what a thrill it was for this 14 year old kid who loved anything with an engine.
Towards the end of our ride Mr. Pabst pulled into the Pabst Farms, and the long driveway leading into the farm had a sharp 90 degree turn in it, and as we went around the turn Mr. Pabst gassed it up and threw the Scarab instantly sideways, and just as quickly he applied opposite lock and expertly saved it, and then he looked over at me and grinned.Yahoo, it doesn't get much better than that!
Karl Retzlaff - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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