Charlie Lloyd passed away earlier this month at age 89. He joined PCA and Nord Stern in 1968 and was a very active member in the 70s. He certainly was one of the racing pioneers that makes Nord Stern the track-oriented club it has been for the past 50+ years. A number of years ago he sent me an email with his Porsche history. Of course, I cannot find it but do remember it vividly. Today I called Larry Skoglund and confirmed the details. (With lots of color as only Larry can provide <G>.)
In the very early 70s, Charlie was racing a 356 Speedster with a 4-cam engine in the SCCA E Production class. He became disillusioned with the where SCCA classed the car and the cost of running the 4-cam. Even then, 4-cam parts were starting to dry up and quite expensive. According to Larry who built many of these engines, a 4-cam that made good power simply didn’t live very long. Because of where the car was classed it only could be competitive if built to max power and revs.
Charlie also had an early 912 targa that he bought in Europe and had put a lot of miles on. He elected to turn the 912 into a race car and had Larry build him a 2.0 liter 911 engine for the car. He then went racing in D Production. This was 1972-73. I couldn’t find any SCCA race results for that era but I’m thinking he was pretty competitive.
I love that he had removed the windshield and replaced it with the low plexiglass version that was quite popular at that time. Those Jongbloed were also quite popular at that time. There is also a Nord Stern connection there but that is for another post. Note the fender flares. Fiberglass body panels were pretty cutting edge in 1972 and would become very common.
Charlie with a very youthful looking Larry Skoglund.
in 1982 Charlie joined Dudley Davis and Hank Godfredson driving a Rick Moe built GTU class 911 at the Sebring 12 Hours. This home-brewed Nord Stern effort finished a very strong 21st in a field of 67 cars and 5th in GTU. The race featured no less than ten 935’s and every world class driver of the era. The race was won by John Paul Jr & Sr in a 935 which like had 3x or more the horsepower than our guys. Watch for a separate post on this race. 1982 was the last year of the original Sebring track, then 5.2 miles in length with the T7 hairpin much tighter than it is now.
Thanks to Larry and Rick Moe for the photos. Watch for more…
As an SCCA racer and corner worker in the late 70s, I can attest that Charlie Lloyd was very competitive in D Prod!
After getting to know Charlie through racing and my business I knew another side of Charlie. Besides racing a FV in LOL, SCCA for years I also ran a lot of marathons. One time at about the 10 mile mark of Twin Cities Marathon I came up on Charlie. Surprised I asked him, what are you doing in the middle of this thing? He said this is my last training run for the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. I was thoroughly blown away. That’s one of the most grueling events one can take on. 2.5 mile ocean swim, 100+ mile bike ride, and a 26 mile marathon. All at 100 degrees and on the same day. I think he ran more than one.