Swift DB-1 85-011

[Bob Devol]

December 17, 2007:

This car has been SOLD was just delivered to its new home in southeastern Massachusetts. Special thanks to Apex Speed for making this great car easy to sell and buy. A donation is on the way. And thanks to all the great people in Formula Ford and Club Ford for making my years in those classes so much fun.

Now, for me, it's back to Spec Racer in 2007...



SWIFT DB1 Chassis 011-85

• Ivey engine
• Penske 8100 double-adjustable shocks (set up by Stimola, zero droop)
• Panasport wheels on centerlock hubs
• 11 gear sets
• Alloy differential carrier
• Reinforced footbox and front rocker rear pivots (see photo)
• new Fast Forward rear hubs/stub axles/CV joints/bearings/halfshafts (this bulletproof upgrade is a must for the DB-1)
• new Fast Forward front hubs and stub axles
• rains on Panasport wheels
• front roll hoop extension
• Stack tell-tale tach
• 2 Momo steering wheels -- one full, one cut-top
• New rotors and brake pads
• Aero hardware and safety wire throughout
• Specialty Tools: custom deep socket for hubs, FF head bolt socket, gear change tray, combination jump battery pack/compressor and jump cables, etc.

This stout regional car is a great value. Factoid that may interest some: original owner was Tony George (yes, that Tony George). Car located in New York Metro/Southern Connecticut area. Going back to Spec Racer, but will still miss this car!



$12,500

[Bob Devol]

This car is still available.

[bentfocus]

Hey there,
I was wondering a few things about this vehicle.
1. What year was the car manufactured/assembled.
2. What is the engine configuration, i.e. # of cylinders (4 i assume), displacement.
3. Are there still competition opportunities in the Western U.S. with this car?
4. I think not, but are there any aero bits (wings or alternate bodies) available?

Thanks in advance for info!

[johnd]

Bent:

I'll take a stab.

In reviewing the designation that Bob has put forth, I would say that this car was the 11th DB1 chassis that Swift produced in 1985. The DB1 caused quite a stir back in late 1983 and love it or not, it has forever left its mark in US FF racing. Speaking of Formula Ford, this is a spec class, and as such runs the Ford 1600cc 4-cyl in line motor. Some refer to this as the 'Kent' motor, or simply the 'Pinto' motor. Today the rocker designed DB1 is still quite competitive in US trim. In fact it is probably the best all around chassis to get if one was contemplating an entry into FF racing. They are easy to work on, have tons of bits and pieces available, and are still one of the slickest cars in a straight line. About wings and such, the FF class (perhaps a review of the SCCA GCR would be in order), does not permit the use of wings and other aero devices. The longish tail of the DB1 could be fitted with a bent aluminum tail piece (sort of a wicker bill), but that would be about it. You would be free, however, to make whatever changes to the body work that you would care to make, within the guidelines of the aforementioned GCR.

In looking over some of the bits on Bob's car, Penske 8100's prepped by Stimola, 11 gear sets, Ivey engine, zero droop front, Fast Forward front hubs and stub axles, not to mention that every time you pass some gas you can do it where our beloved Tony once plupped his buns, this is a fantastic package for the asking price.

Good luck with your search for a FF. It is a wonderful class, and the racing is still some of the best available.


John D.

[bentfocus]

Thank alot John. I'd agree that that "historical bum" makes this a great piece. One last thing I for got to ask was:

Is this car in race ready condition?

[Bob Devol]

First off, thanks to John D for providing some background on the ground breaking, history stopping DB-1. The DB-1 dominated US Formula Ford racing for at least ten years and DB-1s still routinely show well at the SCCA Runoffs, year in and year out.

People have asked me why I describe this as a stout Regional car. Well, it doesn't have all the legal tweaks on it. For instance, it still has the Bosch distributor and the stock cast iron head. But it can, and has at least once in my hands, still win Regionals.

This car only has a little over 100 races in its SCCA log books since it was new in 1985.

Yes, it can be rolled out for a race right now.

[hardkorre]

fellas ,

we have hear a db1 with all "the" good upgrades minus an aluminium head. this car is a steal at this price. the new axle upgrades alone are close to $2000. 11 gear sets, count 'em 11! that would be at $50 a pop thats $550. axtra set of panasport ultra's with fresh rains another $500. not to mention this car has won within it's last couple of races, with bob driving no less!

for those of you thinking the db1 is an also ran, look at what bardwell did at the run offs. till the first corner that is. if he didn't get tangled up he could/would have had a podium and who knows..... these are great cars for the money. most of you thinking about buying this car are not at the national level and and really don't need a piper. get this car and go racing already!

[Bob Devol]

Hi Hardkorre:

I'm not sure who you are, but I'm assuming we either know, or have raced against, each other. Thanks for the endorsement. I owe you a beer. And, yes, with the hub installation of the components by Doug Learned and shipping, the Fast Forward upgrades came to $2,000-plus.

Another reason for the low-ish price is that I got bought the car for a good price from Jim Geithner and am paying it forward. By the way, the transponder is not included with car; I'm going to need it for my to-be-purchased SRF. Sorry. Also, the rain tires, while servicable, are not new. The 11 gear sets include what's already in the gearbox.

Car is still available, but there are interested parties.

[Bill Tebbutt]

I miss it.
Probably still my Ivey in it (from the sound of it - iron head, Bosch)

I have a pic on the office wall of me in it in the Wet at the Glen. Little known fact is that it was at one time literally on top of the short track record at the Glen in my hands (being chased by Kent Sawyer, who edged into a new lap record that day).

Haven't seen it in a few years, but will attest to its "then" straightness, and quality of assembly. I had purchase the car from Kerry Cornelius, who when racing was a very thoughtful prep guy. Sold to Pat Washburn, who I assume sold it on to the current owner. The car had no frame damage, a perfect oiltank/adapter/gearbox case, alloy diff carrier, super straight Panasports, all new rod ends, etc .........

For some weird reason, Pat never wanted/got Tony George's personal seat that came with the car - I still have it in the basement. Happy to throw it in the to lucky buyer!.

Cheers,
Bill Tebbutt
Lola 492 S2000
March 78B
Hawke DL2
Merlyn Mk 20 Formula B

[Bob Devol]

Hi, Bill:

Patrick Washburn sold it to Jim Geithner who lives in eastern New York State who then sold it to me. I think Washburn ran it at the Solo II Runoffs one or more times then sold it to Jim in 2004. I bought it from Jim in July '05.

[Gary Godula]

Bob,

I have the trailer that Pat built for the car which I bought from Jim (aka Hardcore) when you purchased the car. I tested the car when Pat owned it and had suggested some subsiquent changes to improve it for solo.

I only have one question to ask.....does it still have all of the bolts wired like it did when Pat owned it? Talk about overkill. There must have been at least five pounds of wire on the car. Someone was very particular when prepping this car. Damn clean car at the time. Looks like it still is. For someone looking for a good regional/divisonal car that can be made into a good nationals car with some updates, this car is a good investment.

[Tom Dalrymple]

Bob--Just wondering if the logbook shows Tim Blakeley being an owner. I had a DB1 in my shop that was an ex Tony G. We had it in Texas around 1993

[Bob Devol]

Tom:

There's no Tim Blakeley showing in the log books' ownership records. I think the car was in the Texas area in the late Eighties in Kirk Miller's hands as there are several Texas Motor Speedway events listed. Miller also drove the car in the Runoffs.

Did Blakeley run the car in SCCA? There is a gap in the log books between 1991 and 1995. According to the owners' listing, there have been 11 owners including me and no Tim Blakeley. Maybe someone else can fill in the gaps here.

This is definitely the ex-Tony George car. There are lots of his autographs in the opening pages of its first log book from 1985.

Looking forward to rejoining you guys in Spec Racer after I get this and my house sold.

[rickb99]

Hmm excessive wiring of bolts? LOL you need to spend some time working corners

You'd be AMAZED how many bolts, nuts, washers, screws, "retainer clips" (snicker), Dzus fasteners, hood pins, rubber grommets and various unidentifiable metallic "things" you pick up over the course of a day of racing. Of course this list doesn't include the obvious like axle's, rod big end pieces, radiator hoses, windows and body parts (which seem to fly off even without contact).

But this sure looks like a GREAT car. Just not in our budget at the moment, Sigh

[Tom Dalrymple]

We did run SCCA events. When I got the car, it had a blue powdercoated frame. I talked Scotty Segars into sandblasting the blue off and we painted it off white. It had a Stack tach that failed most of the time. It also had all of Protech's stuff on it. On the major fastners that went into the bellhousing I machined spacers to space the bolts out enough to drill and safety wire them. I don't remember much more about it.

[M.L.Sauce]

Tom I think you bought the blue framed DB1 for Tim from me.It was Randy Shafer's car.It came from California,definately not the same car.I think it belonged to the guy that won the FF Reunion at Willow Springs but I can't remember his name.

[andyllc]

Tom I think you bought the blue framed DB1 for Tim from me.It was Randy Shafer's car.It came from California,definately not the same car.I think it belonged to the guy that won the FF Reunion at Willow Springs but I can't remember his name.

Shane Lewis

[Tom Dalrymple]

That is the car, just remember the T. George in the log book. Wonder if he had more than one.

[Bob Devol]

Tom:

That's what I was thinking. Maybe Tony George had more than one Swift DB1 or borrowed or rented a Swift during those years.

[Bob Devol]

This car been SOLD was delivered to its new home in southeastern Massachusetts today.

Thanks to Apex Speed for making this great car easy to sell and buy. A donation is on the way.

And thanks and a tip of my helmet to all the great people in Formula Ford and Club Ford for making my years in those classes so much fun. For those of you in the Northeast, I'm returning to Spec Racer in 2007 and I'll see you guys in the paddock.

Happy Racing and Happy Holidays to all!

Bob Devol

[Messenger Racing]

A guy named Mike Messer in Lubbock Texas owned an ex Tony George DB1 in the early 90's. Car sat most of the time he owned it. I then sold it for him but don't remember where it went - it was a beautiful black car at the time - don't remember the frame color. Is Messer's name in the logbook?

Jay Messenger

[Bob Devol]

It's quite possible that Messer owned my now ex-DB1. I can't exactly remember his name in the log books, but I do know the car was mostly inactive in SCCA events for about 3 1/2 years in the early Nineties. Yes, the car was originally black and remained that way probably until its current paint scheme was applied several years ago.

[Rick Kirchner]

I stumbled onto this old thread. I was at IRP in 85 or so when Tony ran a regional in a Swift. Might have been his driver's school. I remember being told the car was Scott Brayton's before it was Tony's and Larry Curry was Tony's crew that day.

My name, Kirk Minster's, or Bruce Faucett's was probably in the logbook as the tech inspector.

[Paddy O'Brien]

I was at that 1985 IRP regional too and recall that "Babes" strip club sponsored the car and in fact didn't Gary Jackson(Babes owner) end up racing that car? I remember the tow rig for the tiny DB1 was a full-tilt Indycar tractor-trailer and Steve Krissiloff ran the "show". Dwight Woodbridge from Michigan ended up with alot of Tony Georges FF stuff when he sold out. I used to hate following Tony George around IRP because he used to drop his inside wheels off the track at T 4 and drag rocks and dirt on the track eventhough most formula drivers agreed not to do that, to save radiators, Tony didn't care.

[Rick Kirchner]

You're right, paddy - it was Krisoloff and not Larry Curry! Boy does Babes bring back a lot of memories. Most of the guys on my softball team lived there three to four nights a week. The girlfriends were not impressed when the dancers started showing up at our games.......

Gary Jackson also sponsored Davy Jones that year.

[Bob Devol]

Now I've stumbled onto my old thread again.

The logbooks on the car indicate that T. George bought the car new in winter of 1985. The signatures in the car's earliest logbook are all his. No record of Brayton having raced the car in SCCA.

[FVRacer21]

Bob,

Not that it helps your case.

I don't believe Scott Brayton ever drove a Swift. Scott drove a 45F and then jumped right to Indy cars.

Skip Barber bought the prototype Swift at the runnoffs for Jeff Andretti (it had to go back to CA as they had not even made the production jigs.) Jeff ran it and then crashed (got crashed?) at the Runoffs.

Here it gets fuzzy. I think the car was sold to Todd Brayton (Scott's brother) who ran it until it got crashed again and I don't know if it got rebuilt. I believe the first chassis was all chrome moly while the first production cars were mild steel.

But things get fuzzy after 20 years.

Chris Z

[DFR Dave Freitas]

If this is a California car that had a blue frame, and if it's the FF festival winner, then it was Danny Hill Jr.'s car. Our team won that race with Danny, Shane Lewis won the 83 and older class with a Lola 640.
The car was purchased from Carroll Smith in 1987. Carrolls son Chris drove the car previously. This car also won the final FF race ever at Riverside Raceway.
The chassis is not the original one though, it was replaced in 1988 after a crash at Firebird raceway. The crashed frame was later put together as a backup car for Danny at the runnoffs (3 teams that year had full on backup cars), and then the backup car was sold to Dave Gott.
With me so far?
If this is the same car, I have about a million stories to tell about it, cause Danny was as wild as they came. We either won or crashed, and when we crashed we crashed big.
Also, the blue powdercoat frame wasn't my idea, Danny thought it would be cool. It wasn't.
One last thing. This was the last DB1 frame built (the replacement frame that is). We went through hell to get Swift to make it, even though they were sourced out to Protech. After ours was built, they made a few of the DB1-89 chassis, which were almost identical to the DB1, but had a few changes.

[John LaRue]

I always "thought" that Bruce May ended up with the original protptype chassis and that it was subsequently replaced by a new frame which Pat Prince built. Perhaps not. I also thought that after Bruce's passing the original car was going to be rebuilt by Gib.

I did for a short time own one of the last three DB1's that were built in 1989 and it did have some changes from the earlier cars, one of the easiest to detect were the round down swept tubes between the dash hoop and the bell crank mount. In the earlier versions this was a single rectangular bar. This was Larry Smith's car and I sold it back to him. Larry told me that there was a picture of the car hanging at Swift's HQ.

[akilcoyne]

Chassis #A (I believe) is indeed in Gib's shop. John is correct, it was indeed owned by Bruce May. It's the car that R.K. Smith won the runoffs with in '83. It's original including never having the 2.0L bars installed. Gib is currently about 80% finished restoring it.

[John Robinson II]

Bruce Mays' car was sold to Shandelle Leonard and will see action again at the runoffs.

John

[cliff]

anyone know who owns these last 3?

[akilcoyne]

I'm not sure that Bruce ever raced the car the Gib is restoring. I think it has been a very long time since this car has been on track and I believe the car was bought as a basketcase.

[akilcoyne]

I believe Tom Stillwell from Minnesota has one of the final 89's. Alan Murray of Murray Motorsports does the Prep. work for Tom.

[John LaRue]

Cliff,

I presume that Larry Smith still has one of them. He and I were the only owners of that car and it is absolutely pristine. There was a second 1989 car that bounced around the CenDiv a few years back and the last I knew it belonged to Tom Reinsel. I think he had it for sale after he purchased a VD and I would estimate it sold. Jon Adams might be aware of the rest of the story on that one. The third car I believe was originally owned by Mike Berg in CA. I don't have any idea what became of that car.

I believe that the frame that Gib is rebuilding is the one Bruce raced in his two National Championships. I seem to recall that he decided it was a bit long in the tooth shortly thereafter and that is when the replacement frame was built. Gib would know the entire history.

[Steve Demeter]

FWIW,
Bruce told me that his car was the prototype that Bob Smith won the Runoffs in in1983 with, and he had not been drinking.

[cliff]

John
your old car was one nice ride...went like stink as well.

[FVRacer21]

It looks like tracing the lineage of the Runoffs winning car is a project in itself. Someone has to have the log book(s). As history, they might be worth as much as the car<grin>.

ChrisZ