Corvette Legend Dick Guldstrand Passes Away at the Age of 88

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Corvette Legend Dick Guldstrand Passes Away at the Age of 88


Sad news today as we learned that another Corvette legend has passed away.

Dick Guldstrand, known as “Mr. Corvette” passed away this morning at the age of 88.

In his early days, Dick’s parents wanted him to be a lawyer, but it was race cars that would eventually win the battle for his attention and he never looked back.

A famous alumni of California’s dirt tracks in the 50’s, Guldstrand’s racing exploits earned him a sponsorship from H.E. Baher Chevrolet dealer and a fuel injected Corvette Sting Ray Z06. From 1963 to 1965, he won three consecutive SCCA Pacific Coast Championships and in 1964 he was named the California Sports Car Club Driver of the Year.

In 1966, Guldstrand won the GT class at the Daytona 24 Hour race and in both 1966 and 1967, Dick piloted one of the Corvette Grand Sports at the 12 Hours of Sebring for Roger Penske. He also raced a 1967 L88 Corvette at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bob Bondurant.

Corvette Legend Dick Guldstrand Passes Away at the Age of 88


Guldstrand also worked as an adviser on a number of Hollywood movies including 1967’s “Grand Prix” as well as working with Elvis on three different movies, “Viva Las Vegas,” “Speedway,” and “Spinout.”

In 1968, Guldstrand opened Guldstrand Engineering in Culver City, California and was instrumental in a number of racing programs including James Garner’s American International Racing team that ran three identical 1968 L88 Corvettes.

In his later years, Dick spent much time around the C4 Corvettes and his Guldstrand 1986 Corvette won all the events at the SCCA National Solo Championships that year. When the ZR-1 Corvette came out, Guldstrand used it as the basis for his custom built GS-90 which won accolades throughout the industry.

Guldstand was one of the first inductees to the National Corvette Museum’s Corvette Hall of Fame where he was inducted in 1999 with Corvette chief engineer Dave McLellan and former head of Chevrolet Jim Perkins.

Dick Gulstrand was a true Corvette legend and his influence on the brand is both understated and underappreciated. Our hearts here at CorvetteBlogger.com go out to his family and friends and we offer a final Corvette wave to a great man in our hobby.

Corvette Legend Dick Guldstrand Passes Away at the Age of 88


Source:
National Corvette Museum

Related:
[VIDEO] Dick Guldstrand Reflects on his Custom Corvette ZR-1, The Guldstrand GS90
[VIDEO] Corvette Racing Legend Dick Guldstrand Talks About His Hollywood Days
[VIDEO] Corvette Racing’s Legends of Le Mans

 



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