San Francisco Region Hall of Fame − 2008

 

  

Judy Kondratieff Ganley

 (1936-2007)  After attending her first sports car race in 1964, she decided to give racing a try. She took the first step and purchased a Bugeye Sprite and then attended an RDC driving school, received her license and looked forward to her first race.

Over the next 3 years, Judy raced the Sprite at many tracks on the West Coast and performed much of her own maintenance on the car.  Seeking a different challenge, she switched to a Mini-Cooper in 1968 and continued a busy racing schedule.  Like many other SCCA members, Judy was not satisfied with just participating on race weekends.  She decided to give more of her time to other SFR activities and became the first woman elected to the Board in 1969. She became Treasurer in 1970 and in 1971 she served the first of two terms as Assistant Regional Executive. Additionally, she was a driver instructor, a driver observer, a corner worker and did public relations work.

With her success as a sports car racer and being a women driver, Judy was recommended to Atlanta based Baker Racing in 1970.  Sponsored by Ring Free Motor Oil Company, Baker Racing entered a Prototype Sprite in the 12 Hours of Sebring and wanted it driven by an all-women team. The team consisted of Judy, Janet Guthrie, of Indy 500 fame, and European rally ace, Rosemary Smith.  The team finished first in class and nineteenth overall.  With her Regional and Sebring successes, Judy was voted Women Racer of the Year by the Motor Sports Press Association (MSPA).

In 1972, Judy retired from driving but her involvement in racing continued.  She accepted an invitation from Patty McLaren and traveled to Europe to attend the GP’s with the McLaren F1 Team.  Before long, Judy was assisting with timing/scoring where she exhibited an amazing ability to accurately time up to 20 cars with a single stop watch.  On many occasions, Judy’s timing charts were used by other teams and drivers to compare their times against those of the race organizers. With her reputation as a timer growing, Judy embarked on a long career providing administrative support to major racing teams.  These included (Chris) Amon Engines Ltd; LeMans with Matra (1972); BRM F1, Williams F1, Gulf in the Sports Car World Championships; Gelo Racing at Nurburgring 1000km, LeMans and Interseries; Vern Schuppan’s CanAm Team at Laguna Seca and Riverside (1980).

Along the way Judy became involved with race car engineering and between 1984 and 1987 she assisted various Group C teams with technical advice along with timing and lap charting.  She returned to LeMans several more times in the 1980’s performing her flawless timing duties for several teams and co-managed one of the Schuppan Porsche 962C’s in 1990.  Besides her on-track advice, Judy gained considerable experience in aerodynamics and was involved in several wind-tunnel programs.

In 1971, Judy met and married Formula 1, Formula 5000, LeMans and CanAm racer, Howden Ganley.  While still an active driver, Howden co-founded well known racecar manufacturer, TIGA, in 1976.  Judy became reacquainted with the SCCA and the SFR working with Howden as the two made several trips to the U.S. from their home in England to promote the sales of the very successful TIGA Sports 2000 and Camel Lights racers.

Marty Kaufman

Marty began his racing activities in the late 50’s with organized drag racing in the Central Valley of California, and then in the mid 60’s as a flagger and board member with USARM (United States Auto Race Marshals) and a group known as Course Security. From there he moved to autocross and SCCA Club Racing and joined SCCA in March, 1969. After promoting a couple of SCCA National events through the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce, he was asked to be Race Chairman by the San Francisco Region, and he held that position until 1971. In 1972, he was elected to the Region Board and held various positions including Treasurer and member-at-large. From 1982 until 1986, he was the Regional Executive.

When Sears Point Raceway closed in the mid 1970’s and Filmways abandoned the track, Marty was acting as a part time manager of the facility when the Jaycees worked a deal with Filmways to have the facility available to run some charity races. Marty and a group of Region members later helped owner Jack Williams underwrite the purse to get IMSA and Camel to commit to their first race at the track in July 1976.

From 1984-1986 he traveled with the Trans-Am series, becoming its Chief Steward in 1986. In 1987 he got a call from IMSA founder and President, John Bishop, asking him to join their team. Since that time, with the exception of one year, he has been the Race Director of the IMSA Camel GT Championship and the American LeMans Series (ALMS) races.

In 1986 Marty was given the Region's highest award, The Premier Award of Merit. He received this award as the first RE in the history of the Region to hold the office 4 years; he was Chief Steward of the Trans-Am and was representing the Region to the outside racing world as well as being quite active in our Regional race program; and lastly he was named Motorsportsman of the Year by the Motor Sports Press Association (MSPA). In 2007 he was elected to membership of the prestigious Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC).

Tom McCarthy

Tom joined SCCA in 1963 and attended driving school in 1964. Since then he has won several championships and awards. He was the Wheel Driver of the Year in 1973 and 1986; he was regional FP champion in 1973, 1979, 1987 and 1989; he was the PCRRC FP Champion in 1973, 1979, 1987 and 1989; and from 1994 to 1996 he was the SSC PCRRC & NORPAC Champion.

Tom was elected to the Board of Directors in 1976 and served as Competition Director that year and Assistant RE the next. He again served as Competition Director from 1982-1987. He was elected Regional Executive from 1988-1990 and while RE in 1988 he conceived the idea of a club owned race track to ensure track time for our drivers and as the solution to the predicted closure of both Laguna Seca and Sears Point and after the closure of Riverside Raceway.

At a general membership meeting at the Foster City Holiday Inn in 1988, Tom convinced an overflow membership that we should take a leap of faith and try to build our own race track.

A New Track Committee was formed, with Tom as Chairman, and forged on with great enthusiasm and a goal of finding land and a location that was suitable for our needs. Several potential sites were found, including one in LaGrange. A great deal of effort went into that location until a misunderstanding as to the use of the land caused distrust among the county planning commission toward the project and the New Track Committee was forced to abandon that site. There was some disappointment among the committee members, and some left. With Tom’s encouragement that the Track Committee could succeed, other locations were looked at. The Region hired David Vodden, whose sole job was to locate properties. But it took until 1992 before the site in Glenn County was located. The Committee of record is on the sign at the track entrance.

In 1990 Tom assumed the role as President and Chairman of the Board of S.F. Properties, Inc, aka Thunderhill Raceway Park. He conceived the track surcharge plan to help fund the track and brought together the financial tools to make the plan work.

In 2002 he was given a Special Lifetime Achievement Award and elected Chairman Emeritus of S.F. Properties.

Dick Mudd

A longtime resident of Glenn County, Dick comes from a background of civil service, as his grandfather was a Glenn County Supervisor. He served as a member of the Glenn County Supervisors, District 3, from 1988-2000 and eventually becoming Chairman of the Board.

His connection with Thunderhill came in response to letters that were sent to all Northern California county supervisors by the New Track Committee. Dick met with members of the Committee at a meeting in Yuba County because he felt the track would be a good fit for Glenn County. Dick helped to locate the previous owner of the land and facilitate various meetings and contacts to get approvals necessary for the track to be built. From beginning to end all the necessary permits were obtained in 6 months. The ground breaking ceremony for Thunderhill Raceway Park took place on May 8, 1993.

Dick retired from the Glenn County Board of Supervisors in 2000. He has become a staunch supporter of Thunderhill and is a regular attendee at the track events.