<CORSA Chapters> May 6 Center Conversations to Focus on Sports Car Racing Legend John Fitch

Thu Apr 20 13:26:59 EDT 2017

FOR  IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Glenda  Gephart, International Motor Racing Research  Center
Director of  Administration and Communications
607-535-9044; glenda at racingarchives.org

Judy  Stropus
203-438-0501;  cell 203-243-2438
 jstropus at earthlink.net

May 6 Center Conversations to Focus  on
Sports Car Racing Legend John  Fitch

This  photograph from the International Motor Racing  Research Center's 
John C. Fitch Collection is an  artful portrait of Fitch with his 1966  
Corvair-based Phoenix prototype. The photograph  was used to promote the Phoenix, 
but the car was  never put into production. The Phoenix will be  on display 
at the Racing Research Center for the  May 6 talk about  Fitch.

WATKINS  GLEN, N.Y. (April 19, 2017) - Sports car racing legend,  engineer 
and innovator John Cooper Fitch will be  the subject of a Center 
Conversations talk May 6  at the International Motor Racing Research  Center.  

"The Exciting Life of John C. Fitch"  will be presented at 1 p.m. by Fitch 
historian and  archivist Lawrence W. Berman and Fitch friend Bob  Sirna.

Fitch's 1966 Corvair-based Phoenix  prototype will be on display for 
thetalk. It is  expected to arrive at the Center next week.  

The talk is sponsored in part by the  Watkins Glen Area Chamber of 
Commerce, and is open  to all. The Racing Research Center is located at  610 S. 
Decatur St., Watkins Glen,  N.Y.

A $5 donation for admission is  requested to help defray costs.

The talk will be live-streamed at  www.youtube.com/user/IMRRC/live or via 
the  Center's website at  www.racingarchives.org/stream/. The talk also will  
be archived on the Center's You Tube channel to  watch in the future.

The Racing Research Center, a  motorsports archival and research library, 
houses  a significant collection of Fitch materials,  including his own 
archives donated late last year  by his sons, John, Christopher and Stephen 
Fitch.  Berman facilitated the donation.

"We are delighted to have Larry Berman,  a leading expert on Fitch's 
career, and Bob Sirna,  who traveled for many years with Fitch, provide  their 
unique perspectives on his remarkable life  and contributions to racing," Head 
Archivist Jenny  Ambrose said.

"Their beautifully illustrated  presentation will be part of a larger 
celebration  of Fitch's life and will serve as the opening  event for the 
Center's new exhibition on Fitch.  Featuring selections from the Center's extensive 
 Fitch collections, the exhibition will include his  goggles and racing 
helmet, trophies from his  racing victories and portraits by noted  motorsports 
photographer Jesse Alexander.  Photographs, papers and ephemera reflecting  
Fitch's diverse interests and accomplishments will  also be displayed," 
Ambrose said.

Fitch established his collection at the  IMRRC in 1999 with the donation of 
papers relating  to his engineering career as a safety designer and  
consultant, with particular emphasis on the Fitch  Inertial Barrier and the 
displaceable  guardrail.

Other donors have added to the Fitch  materials over the years.

Fitch died on Oct. 31, 2012, at the age  of 95.

"John Fitch lived an exciting, storied  and full life. We will attempt to 
hit the  highlights of an amazing career which included  fighter pilot, race 
car driver, race and highway  safety specialist, fuel catalyst inventor and 
many  more," Berman said. "In reviewing his many  accomplishments, one would 
have to conclude that  it was an honor and a privilege to have been  
considered his friend."

The Fitch Collection includes  correspondence, technical reports and 
publicity  and sales materials relating to the Fitch Phoenix.  The one-off car is 
now owned by Charles Mallory of  Connecticut, who has generously placed it 
on  display at the Center.

Fitch became the first Sports Car Club  of America (SCCA) National Champion 
in 1951,  claimed a victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in  1953, won his 
class in the Mille Miglia in Italy  in 1955 and was awarded a Golden Jubilee 
Tourist  Trophy at Dundrod in Northern Ireland the same  year. He won five 
major international road races,  including the first Buenos Aires Grand Prix 
in  Argentina in 1951. 

He participated in almost 140 races on  three continents, from the first 
post-World War II  road race at Bridgehampton in 1949 to his last  
professional race at Sebring in 1966.

Fitch's work as an inventor was  extensive. His most well-known innovations 
include  the inertial barriers, barrels that protect  drivers from 
dangerous hazards at exit ramps and  bridge abutments; the Driver Safety Capsule, a  
compartment in a race car that surrounds and  protects drivers in the event 
of a collision; and  his devices and treatments for improving fuel  economy 
in cars and ships.

For more information about the work of  the International Motor Racing 
Research Center,  visit the website www.racingarchives.org. 

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International Motor Racing Research  Center,  610 S. Decatur St., Watkins 
Glen, NY 14891
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