SAMOA goes road racing

In the 60s SAMOA was all about autocrossing but the 70s saw SAMOA Minis invade Northwest road racing circuits in force. Steve Ludwig led the way, on the track in 1968. He was soon joined by Pete Gerheart, Chris Miller, and Al Beebe. It was easy to pick out our club racers with their distinctive paint jobs; green and yellow on the Ludwig Mini, dark green and white for Gerheart, dark over light blue on Miller’s machine and purple with orange trim (which soon gave way to bright yellow) on Beebe’s blaster.

In these photos taken at Seattle International Raceway, you'll see Chris Miller (#738) chasing Roy Thomas down the hill between turns 2 and 3A, Steve Ludwig (#137) shadowing Al Beebe on the straight, Pete Gerheart (#200) on the strait and Al Beebe (#90) between turns 3A and 3B. The pace lap photo shows all the cars but Miller's at the front of the grid heading for turn 3A. Chris wasn't entered in that race or he would have been up there too! The Chris Miller photo was taken in 1976, the others in 1979.

Through the years over a dozen SAMOAns have raced Minis but these are the founding club racers who inspired them to get out on the track. Look them up at the reunion if you want to hear some great Mini racing adventures!