VIN: the Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935 / 77A chassis 9308900033
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 9308900033
Chassis 9308900033 (‘033’)was one of three new 935s supplied to Dick Barbour Racing in San Diego during the 1978 season. The other pair were ‘024’ and ‘037’, the latter of which was supplied as just a bare shell. Unusually, ‘033’ was sold by the factory with a single turbo engine whereas every other 935 delivered that year came with a twin turbo motor.
Dick Barbour had been racing on and off, mostly with Porsches, since 1968. Barbour began to take things more seriously for the 1977 season when he ran a 934/5 (chassis 9307700959) in that year’s IMSA championship.
‘033’ made its competitive debut at the Daytona 24 Hours which took place over the weekend of February 4th-5th and which was the opening round of both the 1978 World Sportscar Championship and the IMSA series. Barbour was accompanied in the plain white car by Porsche factory driver Manfred Schurti and Johnny Rutherford.
Having qualified eighth, Schurti did the opening stint but suffered an early rear tyre blow out which ruptured parts of the bodywork. Nevertheless, after the first pit stops ‘033’ had moved up to fourth and, despite a broken front spindle early on Sunday morning, continued to charge back up the order to eventually take second.
At the Sebring 12 Hours (March 18th), Barbour had two factory Porsche drivers alongside him when Rolf Stommelen joined Schurti. ‘033’ started from second on the grid but the car’s turbo broke early on and a 40 minute stop was needed to fit a replacement. Stommelen rejoined, but soon afterwards a shock absorber broke which damaged an oil line and destroyed the engine.
Round three of the IMSA championship, the Talladega 6 Hours on April 2nd, saw Barbour and Rutherford qualify and finish third.
Having skipped round four, Barbour drove single-handedly at the Laguna Seca 100 mile race on April 30th. ‘033’ (now painted red) started and finished sixth.
Dick Barbour then headed out to Europe with ‘033’ and the brand new ‘024’ for what was to be his team’s first appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours which for 1978 was a stand-alone event that took place over the weekend of June 10th and 11th. In the new car Barbour joined Brian Redman and John Paul Sr. (whom he had recently sold chassis ‘037). The single turbo ‘033’ was allocated to Bob Garretson, Bob Akin and Steve Earle who qualified 31st overall and third in the IMSA GTX class.
During Saturday evening, ‘033’ was delayed having suffered a couple of punctures after clouting the kerbs one too many times.
However, much worse was to come on Sunday morning.
Soon after 6am, Garretson got off line while overtaking a slower car and had a massive accident at over 200mph just after the Mulsanne kink. ‘033’ barrel rolled multiple times and traveled nearly half a mile down the road. Miraculously Garretson emerged uninjured.
‘033’ was completely wrecked and any salvageable parts were used for the assembly of a new car built around a bare bodyshell (chassis 009 00030) which Barbour debuted a year later at the 1979 Le Mans race.
Notable History
Dick Barbour Racing, San Diego, California
05/02/1978 WSC Daytona 24 Hours (D. Barbour / M. Schurti / J. Rutherford) 2nd oa, 2nd GTX class (#6)
18/03/1978 IMS Sebring 12 Hours (D. Barbour / R. Stommelen / M. Schurti) DNF (#6)
02/04/1978 IMS Talladega 6 Hours (D. Barbour / J. Rutherford) 3rd oa, 3rd GTX class (#6)
30/04/1978 IMS Laguna Seca 100 mile (D. Barbour) 6th oa, 6th GTX class (#9)
11/06/1978 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (B. Garretson / B. Akin / S. Earle) DNF (#91)
Wrecked in Garretson’s massive 200mph accident at Le Mans
Salvageable parts used for the assembly of chassis 009 00030
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
