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A little while back, Dave Reinecke noticed a 'Widner Automotive' sign on a photo of my Coyote Lakes Raceway. He had said that he had shopped there in Colorado Springs many moons ago for auto racing parts. Dan and his wife Barb were my neighbor two doors down until Dan passed away in his sleep on Halloween night about 5 years ago. I still see Barb every few months since she moved to a new neighborhood nearby.
For those that don't know Dan Widner --- He was a southern California product that grew up building and racing hot rods. He told me he went to high school with Natalie Wood, Don Drysdale and Robert Redford, but didn't know them because they never happened to be under the hood of his car at the same time he was. Dan won the Baja 1000 twice in one of the lower classes. I believe it was 1969 and 1970. The 1969 trophy was the most awesome trophy I have ever seen. It had a trapezoidal onyx base about 5 inches high with a foot plus tall bronze Aztec warrior and a 6 inch bronze eagle. Weighed a ton.
Later in life Dan drove winning AA fuel dragsters and opened Widner Automotive in Colorado Springs. What a racing life.
Anyhow I painted up one of the pit stalls on my Coyote Lakes Raceway as a Widner Automotive sponsored pit area. I also made up some decals and painted up two tribute cars with Dan's colors and logos on them. Dan's wife Barb got a kick out of them, but never quite plugged in why I would want to do such a thing. The photo shows the Carrera McLaren M20 and a Slot.it Jaguar in Widner Automotive livery.
Half Fast Slotter/Jeff
For those that don't know Dan Widner --- He was a southern California product that grew up building and racing hot rods. He told me he went to high school with Natalie Wood, Don Drysdale and Robert Redford, but didn't know them because they never happened to be under the hood of his car at the same time he was. Dan won the Baja 1000 twice in one of the lower classes. I believe it was 1969 and 1970. The 1969 trophy was the most awesome trophy I have ever seen. It had a trapezoidal onyx base about 5 inches high with a foot plus tall bronze Aztec warrior and a 6 inch bronze eagle. Weighed a ton.
Later in life Dan drove winning AA fuel dragsters and opened Widner Automotive in Colorado Springs. What a racing life.
Anyhow I painted up one of the pit stalls on my Coyote Lakes Raceway as a Widner Automotive sponsored pit area. I also made up some decals and painted up two tribute cars with Dan's colors and logos on them. Dan's wife Barb got a kick out of them, but never quite plugged in why I would want to do such a thing. The photo shows the Carrera McLaren M20 and a Slot.it Jaguar in Widner Automotive livery.
Half Fast Slotter/Jeff
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