I saw it Dino, Clem and Blake photo bucket video. Blake gets spanked by 6 cyl. 😆 Sorry Tom I couldn’t resist.
Snow falling right now 4-6″ expected here.
Sorry for being so out of the loop on things. I heard of Clem’s passing through the grapevine yesterday and denied its truth. I didn’t want it to be true. Then when I got home I searched and sadly found it was in fact true. Sad stuff for sure!!
When my brother and I started our short stint in racing, we had Ford cars. My brother worked in the Carmel area at the time and we had heard of Clem and his 6 cylinder Maverick. We first went to the Valley as spectators and saw it for ourselves. I would guess this would have been somewhere in the early to mid 80’s. Clem had the later Maverick with a 5 speed (Doug Nash). What impressed us was that the car would lift the front wheels off the ground in third! Not bouncing, lift them. We both thought it was the greatest thing an eventually made it to the pits to check out this awesome car. At some point we talked with Clem who encouraged us to get a car together and run it. I put together my Pinto and my brother had his ’62 Fairlane. Although our time running the cars was short we always looked for Clem in the pits. He was very positive, supportive and a great buddy. Like others have said, I do not recall a harsh word from him. He shared with us his knowledge and analysis of our cars and was a huge help. I can’t say enough good things about him. To me he was a true grass roots racer who was far sharper than what was readily apparent. Under that extended valve cover was true wizardry. Very saddening news. He was one of the guys that I always looked forward to seeing and one that I would brag about to my fellow wrenching buddies.
Great person, the best….big loss. Sorry to hear it.
I know I asked this question a while back,and wonder if there’s any ‘updated’ news? Did somebody purchase Clem’s ‘Maverick’,or any of his family members going to continue running it perhaps? Clem will be sadly missed,not seeing him this year at the ‘Valley’. 🙁
babycakes.
dino