The Gran Turismo Goes To Bonneville ... and Stretches Its Wings in NASCAR, Too
Andy Granatelli, then president of Studebaker's Paxton Products Division, took two 1964-model Gran Turismo Hawks to the Bonneville Salt Flats in September and October 1963. Both cars, which left the South Bend factory with regular-production 289 V8 engines, were retrofitted with R-series high-performance 304.5 in³ V8s that were built for Studebaker by Paxton.
At Bonneville during the September session, the R3-powered car (which was supercharged), designated #5, ran the flying kilometer at a speed of 157.29 mph (253.13 km/h). The R4-powered car (naturally aspirated, but with dual four-barrel carburetors), car #4, set a fastest average speed of 147.86 mph (237.96 km/h).
When Granatelli and company returned to the flats in October, the R3 car was driven to a top speed of 154 mph (248 km/h), while the R4 car made several runs at more than 135 mph (217 km/h).
The Hawks were among several Studebakers that were run at Bonneville during this time period. The company's cars set 72 USAC records in September, and raised that to 337 the following month. Most of the records were set by the company's Lark-based Daytona convertibles, but the Hawks made a more than credible showing.
Impressed by this display of performance, Indianapolis, Indiana's Dick Passwater, a USAC and NASCAR Grand National driver in the 1950s and 1960s, purchased the R3-powered car from Granatelli following the Bonneville runs. Passwater convinced Studebaker to sponsor him, and he entered the car in the 1964 Yankee 300, as well as some other races, including some on dirt tracks. The car's best showing came in the Yankee 300, when Passwater finished tenth despite having brake problems with the car that forced him out of the race.
As a humorous aside, Passwater replaced the Studebaker engine in the Bonneville-tested Hawk with a Pontiac mill for the 1965 racing season, using a little bit of chicanery (he placed the Stude engine's valve covers over the Pontiac covers. In a 2001 story written by Denny LeRoy for Jet Thrust News, a Studebaker enthusiast publication, Passwater said of his engine swap (which evidently went unnoticed by race officials), "We cheated back then and sometimes we got caught, but most of the time we didn’t."
Read more about this topic: Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk
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