VIN 194679S723028

Car Year:	1969
Car's approximate birthday:	June 26, 1969
Owner:	V.V. Cooke
Country:	United States
Purchase date:	01/01/1971
Date sold:	12/31/1972
State:	Race Car
Exterior:	900 Tuxedo Black
Interior:	Other Color
Softtop:	Other Color
Wheels:	Other Color
Delivery Dealer Zone:	Unknown
Delivery Dealer Code:	Unknown
Options:	RPO	Option	Percentage Sold [%]	Sales Price [$]
	19467	Base Corvette Convertible (BB 430hp)	42.91%	4,438.00
	A82	Headrests	100.00%	17.95
	F41	Special Front and Rear Suspension	4.29%	36.90
	J50	Power Brakes	43.54%	42.15
	J56	Special Heavy Duty Brakes	0.30%	384.45
	L88	427ci, 430hp Engine	0.30%	1,032.15
	M22	4-Speed Manual Transmission, close ratio, heavy duty	0.26%	290.40
	Total		0.000000000000046% (1 Cars)	6,242.00
Factory job nr.:	Unknown
Export Car:	Non Export Car
Car history:
Race Numbers: 3, 8, 80 Ownership: Doug Bergen (1969-70) V.V. Cooke (1971-72) Bill Jobe(1973-74) David Preston (1975-1996) Kevin Mackay (1996-2002) Larry Bowman (2002-present) Sponsors: 1969-70 - Doug Bergen Racing; 1971-72 - V. V. Cooke Chevrolet (Louisville, KY) Drivers: 1970 - Bob Johnson (Marietta), Bob Johnson (Columbus), Jim Greendyke (Greenville) 1971-72 - Alan Barker 1973-74 - Bill Jobe 1975-2002 - Dave Preston 2002-present - Larry Bowman Status: Currently restored as the # 80 V.V. Cooke/Allan Barker car. Owned by Larry Bowman Original Color: black Tires/Wheels: American Mag, Goodyear Race Engine: 1969-70 RPO L88 (427) 1971 to present - TRACO built small block Driveline: M22 4-speed trans, 2:73 to 1 axle ratio, J50, J56, F41 Condition: Restored to active racing condition for historic racing Modifications: Roll cage, 42 gallon fuel cell, fender flaires, Koni shocks, HD springs (for Daytona). Advice from Gib Hufstader. Notes/Race History: The car made a fairly remarkable debut at Daytona, in 1970. It was numbered as #8 and was driven by Bob Johnson (Marietta), Bob Johnson (Columbus) and Jim Greendyke (Greenville). The two Johnson drivers had named their earlier (1968) car the "band aid" nickname and this still carried-on. At Sebring, the same three drivers finished eleventh out of sixty-eight entries and second in GT class. The car was then sold to V.V. Cooke for his driver Allan Barker. Allan won two consecutive SCCA B-Production national championships (1971/72). The car then took two more consecutive championships (1973/74) with Bill Jobe as owner/driver. Two things separate this car from a lot of the other racers. First, although it was originally purchased by Doug Bergen as a factory L-88 to run A-Production, it was converted very quickly by Don Barker to small block format. The other point is that the car has remained virtually original (ie: as built by Don Barker) in both appearance and in technical set-up. Doug Bergen had been involved in racing for several years before he took delivery of this car. In 1969, Doug decided he would drop out of the racing scene. Gib Hufstader noticed this and about half way through the season re-initiated a sales pitch to keep the Corvette ranks fully occupied. Eventually, Doug agreed that he might do another season and that is when he acquired the black/tan L-88 that is the subject of this story. It was too late to compete in the balance of the 1969 season but the car was readied for the start of the 1970 season. Now, V.V. Cook had been looking for a new car for his racing work with the Barkers. V.V. Cook owned a Chevrolet dealership in Louisville (KY) and had been active in racing for a few years too. In fact, he had owned a 1963 fuelie that won the 1969 and 70 B-Production National Championships. He had been looking for some new car to stay competitive. He had seen this new car make a very strong impression both on the track and in the press. So he had started talking with Doug Bergen at Sebring to see if the car was for sale. Then, at Watkins Glen, V.V. Cook again approached Bergen and asked him to set a price. Negotiations continued through to the IRP event. The race was just getting ready to start. Bob Johnson was sitting in the car on the pre-grid. Bergen asked $8,000 and V.V. said he would give him $8,500 but the car had to be sold right then and there. Well, for whatever reason, Doug said yes. He told Bob to get out of the car... it had just been sold. And that was that. Two races as a big block at premier events. Allan and Don Barker, brothers, were also hooked up with V.V. Cook, so, when the new car came back to Louisville there was no doubt that they were the team that was going to run it. According to Allan, they had done so well with their prior small block configurations that they decided they would convert the car to that configuration. They redid the car and put the V.V. Cook paint scheme on it and went out to win the next two years. Their success was noted in an article on Allan Barker in the Oct/Nov 1972 issue of "Corvette NEWS". There was one amusing change in the team strategy, just once, according to Allan. Apparently V.V. Cook was coming to one of the race at Mid-Ohio to watch them run. Their results were good but they wanted to put on a little show for V.V. But they didn't want to break or do anything stupid. Anyway, Allan had posted the best qualifying times and was at the front of the grid with Jerry Hanson who was the A-Production champion. So he went to Hanson and asked him if he would just let Allan get to the first corner without fighting it out and let him lead one lap. He promised to relinquish the lead after that and then he would run his normal strategy, trying just to keep in front of the B-Production cars. Hansen said no. So Allan took the lead anyway and never gave it up for the whole race. He won outright. The car was sold, after the 1972 season, to Bill Jobe who was another fairly well funded privateer. The car won two more national championships in his ownership, 1973 and 74. This made the car the Winning-est Corvette in SCCA history, ever. From there the car sold to David Preston. David wasn't as well funded but he raced when he could and did regional and club racing. David changed the white parts of the V.V. Cook paint scheme to yellow and painted the wheels yellow. He actually owned the car from 1975 until I bought it in September 1996. Kevin Mackay found the car and acquired it in 1996. Since that time it has been sold to Larry Bowman (2002). February 27, 2009.
For Sale:	No
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