Ferrari Alaska racing team--what was the most historic Ferrari they had up there? | FerrariChat
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Ferrari Alaska racing team--what was the most historic Ferrari they had up there?

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by bitzman, Apr 22, 2014.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    wallace wyss
    #1 bitzman, Apr 22, 2014
    I recently read a 2007 post on another site that said

    "There was a guy that use to ice race his Ferrari's. I heard he had a pair of early TR's, a Lusso, and a few 250 / 330's. He raced with the the Ferrari Alaska Race Team (F.A.R.T). "

    Maybe that was Fred Stefano? I once wrote someone in Alaska to ask if he still had his California spyder or some other '50s or '60s historically significant car and someone wrote me back and said they were writing care of their friend who was now in a nursing home and he got a big laugh out of the letter so I never knew they had such a car up there or not but I was glad they got a chuckle out of the letter.

    My theory is that, during the big oil boom, some instant multi-millionaires were created and some might have bought Ferraris though the driving season for such cars is extremely short. I one time met an Alaskan millionaire who had made money by buying up the main street in a city that had fallen several feet in an earthquake.NO one was allowed to build on it. Some 10-20 years later the land was judged stable and he could rebuild and made a killing
     
  2. merstheman

    merstheman F1 Rookie

    Apr 13, 2007
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    Mario
    #2 merstheman, Apr 22, 2014
    Fart.

    Ha.

    Sorry, that's all I have to add to this thread.
     
  3. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

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    Vincent Vangool
    #3 Vincent Vangool, Apr 22, 2014
    I remember reading about some ice racing but can't recall where?
     
  4. Ney

    Ney F1 Veteran
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    Apr 20, 2004
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    #4 Ney, Apr 22, 2014
    You will have much better luck looking for Ralph Stefano of Anchorage Alaska and yes he had several even numbered Ferrari's.

    The ice racing car was 0568, raced in Sweden.
     
  5. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    #5 El Wayne, Apr 22, 2014
    These are the cars that I show as having passed through the hands of Ralph Stefano:

    500 Mondial 0474MD
    750 Monza 0496M
    500 TR 0634MDTR
    500 TR 0636MDTR

    250 GT Boano 0441GT
    250 GT PF Coupe 0943GT
    250 GT PF Coupe 1259GT
    400 SA 2373SA
    250 GT SWB California 3163GT
    250 GT/L 4447GT
    250 GT/L 5207GT
    250 GT/L 5557GT
    330 GT 5405GT
    330 GT 5407GT
    365 GTC 12271
     
  6. Ed Niles

    Ed Niles Formula 3
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    #6 Ed Niles, Apr 23, 2014
    Don't glorify the FART; that was just Ralph's little joke. There was no "team." He was a great kidder and a wonderful teller of tales. Around that same time I was thinking of doing FART, but Ralph beat me to it. So, I came up with WART, Western America Racing Team. I made up a logo of a cowboy on the PH, waving his stetson hat, and had decals made as well as 100 lapel pins, which I gave out to my closest F-buddies. (Sorry, they're all gone, but I may have a few decals left somewhere). Ralph had a rampant moose, and he not only did pins, but jackets and caps as well. While it's true that Ralph did some ice racing in a 500 TR with V-12 engine, I was never a racer at all. As I recall, he was a civil engineer or something like that. A very entertaining guy; I miss him.
     
  7. Mule

    Mule F1 Rookie
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    #7 Mule, Apr 23, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  8. gimmea250swb

    gimmea250swb Formula Junior
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    Taylor
    #8 gimmea250swb, Apr 23, 2014
    I've got a hat. When I get home Ill take a photo
     
  9. C.HILL

    C.HILL Rookie

    Dec 1, 2004
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    #9 C.HILL, Mar 3, 2015
    When I was with Bob Taylor at concourse incorporated in the late 70's in Burlingame ca.
    We bought Ralph Stefano's two early Testarossa 's from him, one was pretty much rolled up in a ball, the other had a Lusso motor with flex pipe headers. Robin Officer built a new body for the first one in our shop, the second one with the Lusso motor was sold to a guy in Kansas City. Ralph said he was multiple times Alaskan Ice racing champion, we tried to buy his Lusso especial with GTO style nose, but did not come to terms with him.
    He indeed called his operation FART with the prancing moose emblem, he was a real character, and a real salt of the earth type of guy, I had a hat and shirt but they are long gone. Ralph died from cancer not too long after we bought the cars.
     

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