George Follmer | FerrariChat

George Follmer

Discussion in 'South Central - USA (TN, MS, AL, GA)' started by Lotus91, May 11, 2015.

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  1. Lotus91

    Lotus91 Formula Junior

    Oct 20, 2014
    279
    #1 Lotus91, May 11, 2015
    anyone remember George Follmer ? he raced for Penske in the short wheel base Porsche 917 in can am, Lotus F 5000, Penske AMX with Donahue, Porsche 962's, Trans AM in a Fod, raced at the Speedway 3 times with little success and he even did a stint in F1 in a UOP Shadow for Ted Field. at one point Mr. Follmer even drove a Ferrari 206 Dino at several events as well but was never a Factory Ferrari driver from what I remember

    Mr. Follmer is my annual Lotus owners club banquet guest speaker for 2017 at AMP. we get about 400 Lotus owners from all over the world,. Last time I was head of the program I had Dan Gurney. This year I asked Bobby Unser to do it in CO and he agreed.

    Mr. Follmer raced a Lotus 23 B in the early 60's but the Corvair engine was junk so they threw in a Porsche 904 4 cam in it and he won a couple championships.

    Mr. Follmer is the guest of honor at this weekends historic GP event at Barber.. Nice guy, very friendly and awesome stores about Lemans, Trans AM, Penske Porsche etc..

    I asked who his heros were and his meared mine. Richie Ginther, Gurney, Donahue, Savage, Peter Revson....

    neat guy.
     
  2. 375+

    375+ F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 28, 2005
    12,067
    #2 375+, May 11, 2015
    I remember George well. He raced an entire season of F1(1972 or 73) in a UOP Shadow but I don't think that Ted Field had anything to do with it. He scored a podium finish(3rd) in Spain as I recall.
     
  3. spirot

    spirot F1 World Champ

    Dec 12, 2005
    14,532
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    Tom Spiro
    #3 spirot, May 13, 2015
    George Follmer did race the Shadow in F-1 - it was Don Nichols project. at the time a young guy named Harvey Posthelwaith was an engineer / mechanic/ draughtsman ...

    he and Jackie Olliver raced most of the season,while the car was good, they just did not have much luck. George was getting a bit old for F1 at the time and did not have the sponsorship.

    However in Can AM he was a real terror. he was very, very strong in Can AM cars against Jackie Stewart in the Chapparal, and even the initial Porsche 917's... I remember seeing him at both Watkins Glen and Mid Ohio back in the 70's. He is a super nice guy.
     

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