Sad News - Dick Guldstrand: Corvette racer and Southern California hot-rod icon
Dick Guldstrand passed away Sept. 2 at age 87. Guldstrand was one of the few remaining hot-rodders-turned-racers, whose exploits took him as far away as Le Mans and Indianapolis and as near as his first Guldstrand Motorsport shop in SoCal's Thunder Alley. By the early '60s Guldstrand was running Corvettes at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. He went to Indianapolis in 1966 for the 500 but failed to qualify. For a while he drove a Grand Sport for Roger Penske. He drove Corvettes to victory all over the West Coast as well as at Daytona and in Trans-Am. He was in the movies, too. A friendship with "Grand Prix" cast members James Garner and Bob Bondurant lead to the creation of Garner's race team "American International Racing," after the movie wrapped. AIR fielded L88 Corvettes and Lola T70s at Daytona and Sebring, with leading sports car drivers of the day Scooter Patrick, Davey Jordan, Lothar Mothschenbacher and Guldstrand. The team also fielded a John Surtees Formula A/F5000 car in late 1969 that was featured in the documentary "The Racing Scene" starring James Garner as himself. When his racing days were over, he switched to tuning Corvettes, with a shop right in the middle of the old Thunder Alley in Culver City, with neighbors like Ed Iskenderian, Stuart Hilborn, and Troutman and Barnes. He moved the shop to Burbank in 2000 (
AutoWeek). Guldstrand raced in
seven Sprint Cup Series races from 1965-1972, six at Riverside and one at Ontario. His best Cup finish was a 5th at Riverside in 1970.(9-4-2015)