David Ward Ridenour

2/7/1933 - 3/7/1966

Record updated 02-Jul-07

Reidenour was a fine sports car driver who was killed in his very first sprint car race at Calistoga Speedway in California on July 3 1966, the day after his 33rd birthday.

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Reidenour, from San Francisco, was a fine sports car driver who campaigned an XK 120 in the late 1950s. He aquired a Costin bodied 1959 Lister-Jaguar which he raced in 1961 and 1962 and was very competitive in local races.

In 1963 he aquired the first Genie MK8 powered with an Oldsmobile V8. His best finish in the car was 2nd place at the USRRC event at Pacific Raceways, near Kent Washington, on July 21st. Pedro Rodriguez won the race in another Genie, a Joe Huffaker entered Chevrolet powered car. Huffaker built the Genies in San Francisco with various engines from 1100cc BMC units to big V8s.

In 1964 Ridenour replaced the Oldsmobile engine with a more potent 289 Ford. He painted the car green and entered it as a Genie-Comet sponsored by a San Fransisco Bay Area Mercury dealer. He finished fourth in the USRRC sports car race at the Pacific Raceway in Kent in May that year.

He continued to campaign the car in 1965 finishing 3rd at Laguna Seca in the third round of the USRRC series and came fourth again in round 6 at the Pacific Raceway.
 
He campaigned up and down the Pacific Coast and even visited Westwood, near Vancouver, BC, several times.

In 1966 he raced a Mustang and a Lotus 23 in the USRRC series but was then killed in an NARC Sprint Car race at Calistoga Speedway in California on July 3, the day after his 33rd birthday. It was his first sprint car race. He was drving for Herk Viglienzone and had no experience of driving a sprint car on dirt. No other cars were involved in the accident.



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