So What's New?(Column)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

With new-car season upon us, let's take a moment to appreciate the real value of "new.'' More particularly, the pursuit of new experiences that keep a person engaged in life. Certainly driving or working on a car that's new to you-whether one that just rolled out of the factory last week, or an antique you've just added to your collection-qualifies. If you wonder what keeps some people hale and happy well into their golden years, I'm convinced that it has to do with the willingness to keep pursuing new experiences.

Consider Bill Pollack, whom I finally met and spent a little time with at the Zippo Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in early September. Pollack was a leading figure in the early days of California sports car racing. Trained as a pilot during World War II but never sent overseas, he caught on to the MG-TC early and was off to the races. History records that he won the main event at the Pebble Beach Road Races in '51 and '52, going wheel-to-wheel with the likes of Phil Hill and Ernie McAfee. Pollack drove and won with a lot of cars that are now famous in vintage circles, including the Baldwin Special, the Stovebolt Special and a slew of Jaguars, Ferraris, Maseratis (at Sebring) and Corvettes. He also laid out the road course at Willow Springs, marking the apexes with wooden stakes, among other adventures and exploits.

His Pebble Beach victories came at the wheel of Tom Carsten's Cadillac-powered Allard, painted black with red wire wheels and white sidewall tires. The tires were a performance advantage, being prewar stock made of genuine rubber rather than the less-grippy synthetics of the day.

Pollack stopped racing in '57, after a crash in a Lister-Chevy that he blamed on loss of concentration. He figured that meant he should hang up the cardboard helmet, but he never stopped having fun with cars and drives a 911 today.

One new thing keeping Pollack ...