Vette60

Thanks for sharing - those are really pretty cool.

Dan Hampton

They were '55-'57 passenger car chassis(s) that were shortened. If memory serves, I think one was from a station wagon. These were pretty crude cars. In a earlier post, I showed Jerry Hansen driving one on ice---on dry pavement they felt like you were driving on ice. A real handful.

My history of the car is brief. I knew Jim Bartlett, who once owned all three, through some Shelby activities. Through Jim, I was able to meet Steve Steers. One year we were hanging out at their paddock when they were racing at Elkhart Lake at the Brian Redman Challenge and Steve told me that the third car was for sale in Colorado. The owner was a M.D. going through a bad divorce and had to sell his collection. He had previously raced with Steers and Bartlett. Actually Jim Bartlett was preparing the ad for the owner since he knew the history the cars so well. I told Jim to not submit the ad until I talked to the owner. The next day I called and bought the car the same day. Owned it for ten years or so but drove it sparingly. Ended up selling it to Jim Hardison who, by that time, had acquired the first car built that belonged to Jim Bartlett.

bjm

I was good friends with Jim during the time he was vintage racing and loved the Echidna's and since we lived near Steve my Father and I got to know Steve as well. I have never seen anyone that could drink a bottle of Scotch like Bartlett. I have not heard from him in many years and heard he might have passed, but not sure. Still have my Echidna Racing hat!

Dan Hampton

BJM:
I keep in close contact with Steve Steers. He has moved to Texas from Illinois and still campaigns his car. I heard that Jim was in a hospice center but cannot totally verify that. Jim was a very generous person. He gave me a number of B/W photographs, signed by Shelby, racing his Maserati Tipo. I have them hanging in my library. He wouldn't take a dime for them. Referencing your point about Jim and his scotch, he did enjoy his social time.

Ausbrian

Australian Echidna

jimgessner

dan are you planning on corvettes at carlisle ''race car reunion'' august 21-25, 2019 ? Great place to share stories.

Dan Hampton

Hi Jim. Always great to hear from you and see your posts. Don't know about Carlisle. For all practical purposes, I rarely know what I am doing from one week to the next, but I will keep that in mind.

Dan Hampton

desertpilgrim

IIRC, Echidna, as shown in #25, was chosen as the car's name because it was an eater of beetles, ala Scarabs.

Dan Hampton

The naming of the car was pretty interesting. In the above photo you see a triangulated, red logo. Here is how it came to pass. John Staver wanted to name the car the "triad" after he and the other two team members. Doc Larson wanted to call the car the "Borealis" after the Aurora Borealis, which is the polar light viewed in northern climates like northern Minnesota. Ed Grierson, whose wife was an inveterate crossword puzzle expert thought that the shape of the car resembled an anteater----not an ordinary anteater, but a long nosed one--an Australian Echidna.

So, in the logo you see the triangle (for the triad); in the center is a snowflake representing northern Minnesota and the Borealis, and across the bottom is the name: Echidna. Each team member was, then, represented.