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Jack McAfee
An Early Builder of the Porsche Legend

by Michael T. Lynch
Page 2

After that, Edgar sat out most of the 1955 season while Jack continued in Parravan's Ferraris. In September, Edgar and McAfee teamed up again as entrant and driver, this time with a new Porsche 550 Spyder. It was a fortuitous choice. After several good finishes in California races, the car was prepared for 1956's Sebring by Porsche employee RoIf Wuetherich, Jack and his friend Joe Landaker, who had towed and wrenched for both Edgar and Parravano.

For the big 12-hour race Jack was teamed with Pete Lovely who had won the 1955 SCCA F Modified (under-1500 cc) National Championship in his notorious "Pooper," a Cooper with pushrod Porsche power. The two West Coasters engaged in a race-long duel with the Hans Herrmann/Wolfgang von Trips factory entry only losing out in the last few hours but still finishing second in class and seventh overall. Huschke von Hanstein, Porsche's team manager, was so impressed that he sold the winning factory car to Edgar on the spot. "We weren't leaving without that car," Jack says.

Armed with the latest Porsche machinery Edgar and McAfee made a run for the SCCA National Championship in Class F. The attempt was successful with Jack winning at Pebble Beach, Cumberland, Elkhart Lake and Seattle. A rare defeat took place at Beverly (Mass.), where Jack held off Ed Crawford for the scheduled number of laps, only to find no checkered flag. That fell three laps later, when eastern favorite Crawford finally took the lead.

The 1956 championship was the last national campaign for Jack, a true amateur sportsman whose day job running his dealership kept him close to home. When Edgar sold off his Ferraris and Porsches, Jack followed them and drove for Stan Sugarman, the Phoenix-based buyer.

Vasek Polak

Long-time Rivals: Jack McAfee in Vasek Polak's RSK leads Ken Miles in an RS-61. McAfee takes his signature late turn-in, giving Miles the impression there might be an opening. Miles finished second to Bill Krause's Birdcage Maserati in the feature, while McAfee retired. This was Jack's last race. Photo by Dave Friedman

Future and Past: Jack McAfee, in John von Neumann's Porsche America, leads Ken Miles' MG Special R- I at Moffett Field in August 1953. Of the 16 Porsche Americas made, 14 came to the U.S. and almost all were raced. Jack enjoyed the first of his many Porsche victories in this car. Photo by Dean Batchelor, Ron Kellogg Collection

The Hybrid: Jack McAfee's Porsche 550A with an RSK engine heads for second in the under-2000cc feature at Santa Barbara on May 31, 1959. He won Class E. Photo by Bob Tronolone

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