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52 VINTAGE MOTORSPORT JAN/FEB 2016 VINTAGEMOTORSPORT.COM

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here was a nearly 20-year period inthe Sports Car Club of America’shistory when Jerry Hansen ruled the

roost. The former Minnesota businessmanracked up a total of 27 nationalchampionships. While it’s hazardous to saynever, it is very likely this feat will never betopped. That’s because no amateur driveror team can afford to bring three or fourcars to the Runoffs and run the table likeHansen did. Duane Davis was a contender,but he retired. John Heinricy has 13 and isstill winning championships but may runout of years before he hangs up his helmet.“I would like to win my last nationalchampionship when I am 80,” theHeinrocket says. “Now we know howlikely that is to happen but I don’t have anyplan to stop,” he adds.

Hansen won his first title in an ex-Penske A Sports Racing Lola T70 atDaytona in 1967. Fittingly, he won his lastnational title in A Sports Racing at RoadAtlanta in 1984. In addition to wins inFormula B and ASR, he took the toppodium step in a slew of different classesincluding Formula A, B Sports Racing, A-and B-Production and GT1. It has beensaid that he bought many of the wins,buying the best cars. It’s true to someextent, but his brilliant driving skillprovided the competitive edge. The simplefact that he won five SCCA Trans-Am proraces and an early F5000 race is atestament to Hansen’s prowess.

Incredibly, he beat some of the bestprofessional drivers on their way up. Thatincludes Milt Minter, Bobby Rahal and

Danny Ongais. He was outclassed by thePorsche 917 twice and outgunned it twice.The 1972 gunfight was with theaforementioned Minter. It was an historicbattle as Hansen was waging war on twofronts, the first with the nightmarish Lola310 and the other with his more-than-ablefoe in the 917. Hansen reportedly said thiswas the best race in his career.

Hansen had his fill of A Sports Racingdetractors whining that he bought thelatest Can-Am professionally prepared cars,so he switched classes to the smaller butblindingly quick B Sports Racing. Thisclass was the spawning ground for driversshooting for a Can-Am professional ride.Hansen’s burnt orange Lola T292 squaredoff against an ascendant Bobby Rahal. Itwas what the Brits call a “ding-dong” race,full of passes and re-passes. Hansenprevailed in one of the Runoffs’ mostexciting duels. The whining ended on thespot.

So, what makes Hansen tick? It ’sessential to understand the man before therace car driver comes into focus. They aretightly interwoven. Hansen is a complexman, an enigma. He’s part P.T. Barnum andpart J.P. Morgan. Which part of thepersonality one encounters depends on thesituation. He seems to be very humble,transparent and friendly when you firstmeet him. He is very likeable, charmingand fun to hang around with. That said,there’s a different person under that veneerwhen it comes to doing business. ThatHansen is fiercely competitive, cunningand manipulative. He lived the term “Showme the money.”

Hansen grew up in South Minneapolis.His entrepreneurial talents were apparentat an early age. He began humbly, picking

By John Jeppesen

Jerry Hansen

Nov. 29, 1970, Hansen battles at RoadAtlanta’s SCCA Runoffs in Turn 5.

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In SCCA racing, Jerry Hansen wonmore championships than any otherdriver, the podium a familiar place.



up trash. He got the idea driving throughalleys to ditch the constabulary, lightsflashing. He got stuck behind a garbagetruck and reckoned he could make a buckor two doing that. So, he hooked a smalltrailer behind his car and offered to haulthe trash for a couple bucks less. Prettysoon he had a sizeable customer base and atidy income. That ended when the big boysin the big trucks said continuing his littlebusiness would be hazardous to his health.

Then he thought buying some of thenumerous South Minneapolis apartmentbuildings might be worth a shot. Notsurprisingly, Hansen’s holdings grew. Onestory says a University of Minnesotaprofessor was handed a note in class toalert Hansen of some pressing need for oneof the many Minneapolis apartmentbuildings Hansen owned.

In the business world, Hansen simplyhad a knack for deal making, whichcontinues to this day. He moved into thestock market and became a top-producingbroker for Paine Webber. Hansen learnedthe art of the deal from TomAune, a successful and colorfulmember of the Twin Citiesinvestment community. WhenAune took a position in asecurity, Hansen dutifullyfollowed his mentor’s everymove. Aune got rich and so didHansen. Hansen left PaineWebber to diversify his portfolio in otherareas.

Hansen’s wealth fueled his racing career.His very first races were on a drag stripracing his Corvette on a dare. He came tothe strip as a spectator and went home

with a trophy and track record E.T. for hisclass. This marked the beginning of hisrelationship with Dick Roe, anotherCorvette racer. More on this later. Hansen’ssuccess encouraged him to give road racinga try on temporary Minnesota circuits such

as Southport airport and the old MetStadium track. Although he preferred big,high-horsepower cars that led to laterfame, the equal opportunity racer alsopiloted the lowly Formula Vee. No doubtthat’s where he learned to be smooth, a

trait that is a hallmark of his driving style.Hansen drove a dizzying array of fast

cars throughout his career. Almost allcarried the Number 44 on their flanks.One of the exceptions was when he racedagainst Bob Tullius’ Group 44. Most of

Hansen’s cars were year-old,fully sorted pro “hand-me-downs.” One exception was asmall-block Cobra. Later on hegravitated to a mixed bag of A-and B-Production Corvettes.Championship number 26 waswon in an ex-IROC Firebird.There’s an assortment of closed-

wheel sports racers from Lola, McLaren,Chaparral, Lotus and the Lee Dykstra-designed Wolverine. His finalchampionship was behind the wheel of theVDS-001 in 1984.

His open-wheel cars were equally fast

In 1977, Hansen’s rear-engine Lola T192 sprintcar was quickly outlawed when competitors

couldn’t keep up. Crew chief Mike Lindorfer isstanding at the front of the car.

Hansen’s on the pole at Road Atlanta in his L&MLola T220 on 11-29-70 for the SCCA Runoffs. Milt

Minter is in the No. 11 Porsche 906 and OscarKoveleski in the No. 54 McLaren M8B.

HANSEN IS A COMPLEX MAN, ANENIGMA. HE’S PART P.T BARNUM ANDPART J.P. MORGAN. WHICH PART OF

THE PERSONALITY ONE ENCOUNTERSDEPENDS ON THE SITUATION.

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and impressive. The most successful wasthe Lola T330, winning a slew of FormulaA championships. He said he drove “usedcars.” Okay, but, the “used cars” includedthose driven by Brian Redman, PeterRevson, David Hobbs, Patrick Tambay andGeoff Brabham. The 330 was BrianRedman’s Formula 5000 championship-contending car. It was developed by racinglegend Jim Hall, the father of theChaparral. It was the development chassisfor the Lola T332, logging miles at thefamed Rattlesnake Raceway in Texas. MikeLindorfer, Hansen’s crew chief at the time,said that even though it was a developmentmule, the 330 was faster than the 332. Itwas only beat a couple of times in itshistory. It even intimidated Danny Ongaisat one SCCA Runoffs event.

Hansen’s Lola T192 has the mostinteresting legacy. He bought it in 1971. Itwas raced in SCCA Nationals at ElkhartLake and Brainerd that summer and wonthe American Road Race of Championsevent at the end of the year. History for thecar in 1972 is unclear but some say Hansensold the car to Daniel Kampo for SCCAracing and then “borrowed back” to use inSCCA Nationals in 1973.

Hansen and crew chief Mike Lindorfercame up with a clever idea: Let’s run thecar in USAC. That’s when the chassis wasreskinned with .060-in. aluminum andfitted with a full roll cage to meet USACsprint car rules. They figured if Jimmy

Clark won with a Lotus at Indy, they coulddo the same on a USAC short track inMinnesota.

Hansen created a huge ruckus at theMinnesota State Fair with his low-slungformula car. It decisively won the USACand IMCA Sprint Car races including the100-mile IMCA race on the final week ofthe fair. The classic sprint car roadstersdidn’t have a chance against the mid-engine Lola. Hansen broke the USAC trackrecord on Aug 26 (18.82) and the IMCAtrack record five days later (19.09).Another blistering qualifying time (19.21)put the No. 44 Lola on pole for the premier100-mile enduro.

The other drivers and ownersvehemently protested everything…the rollcage and the fact that the Lola had rearview mirrors. So, Hansen taped over themirrors and started shotgun on the fieldfrom the last row. It didn’t matter. Theformer college hockey player carved hisway through the field like Wayne Gretzky. The other drivers would attempt “hipchecking” Hansen into the wall, but by thetime they got there the orange No. 44 wasgone. It wasn’t long before Hansen vaultedinto the lead. The lap charts are long gone,but Hansen lapped the field at least once,maybe twice. The victor and crew hastilypacked up and left the track immediatelyafter taking the checker as there wererumors that some drivers had a “special”victory celebration planned for the No. 44crew. Not surprisingly, rear-engine carswere banned from sprint car racing at theend of that season.

Not only did Hansen have superiorequipment, he had the best mechanicaltalent of any Minnesota amateur driver. Atfirst, he had a ragtag group of friends“helping” him at the track. The result was apredictably high number of DNFs. That’swhen Scotty Beckett came on the scene.The DNFs disappeared under Beckett’swatch, but Hansen’s demands ate intoBeckett’s bread and butter car repairbusiness, so they parted company. RoyCampbell replaced Beckett and proved tobe a true innovator, securing more national

Jerry Hansen usually raced with theNo. 44 and was drawn to the fastest

cars, such as this Can-Am Lola.

Jerry Hansen

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titles. Campbell’s inventiveness got theattention of a professional team, soCampbell left for the big time.

Many flatly say Mike Lindorfer was thebest crew chief Hansen ever had. He is asmuch a legend as Hansen himself. Somewill even go as far as to compare him toSmokey Yunick or Junior Johnson.Lindorfer was a brilliant self-taughtinnovator. Like Yunick and Johnson, hewould study the rulebooks and look forsmall gaps, then drive a truck throughthem. He always had a smirk on his face asthe tech inspectors would tear their hairout in post-race impound looking for theLindorfer silver bullet. He’d often usemisdirection to lure the inspectors awayfrom clever tweaks. That’s why Hansen wasrarely, if ever disqualified.

Lindorfer was also a crafty tactician.Hansen was up against Danny Ongais forthe Formula A national championship.Lindorfer knew they were in for a big fight.Ongais was a hot and fearless driver in1974, headed for Indy cars. After Hansenqualified on the pole, Lindorfer discoveredmassive cracks in the cylinder heads.Lindorfer put in a panic call to FranzWeiss, Hansen’s engine builder. Weiss saidall engines were taken by Formula 5000teams racing that weekend.

Lindorfer dumped as much Bars Leaksinto the cooling system as he dared andtold Hansen to stand on it during themorning pre-race warm up. Hansencomplied and came within a 10th of hisrecord pole time. Rather than hazard a lossto an amateur, the ascendant Ongaisloaded up and left the track, citing “safetyproblems” with the car. Had he pushedHansen even a little bit, Hansen’s enginewould have blown to bits. Hansen scoredan easy win as a result of Lindorfer’s guile.

Steve Kranz took over wrench turningin 1976 and did a remarkable job ofdelivering fast and reliable cars. Hefrequently consulted with Lindorfer to giveHansen his own version of the unfairadvantage. Kranz and his crew addedanother 15 titles for Hansen. Lindorferreturned in 1984 in an unsuccessful bid toranother GT1 title but engineered Hansen’s27th and final championship in A SportsRacing, Hansen’s happy hunting ground.

Hansen’s story would be incompletewithout Dick Roe. The two were like ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch(Hansen) could get the Kid (Roe) to doanything. Hansen and Roe first got togetherdrag racing fuel-injected Corvettes, whichmorphed into road racing on temporaryUpper Midwest tracks mentioned earlier.They stepped up the game when they got a

pair of Minnesota-built Devin-bodiedEchidnas. Hansen won his very first sportscar race in that car in 1961 at Wilmot Hills.Hansen was quick to jump for the nextbest thing, so he bought a Cobra. Roefollowed suit in Cobra’s little brother, theShelby GT350. Hansen’s need for speedgrew so he moved again into modified carssuch as the McKee Chevette, an early

McLaren, and the Wolverine, a Lee Dykstraspecial. As Hansen kept moving up, Roemoved out.

Hansen’s biggest gambit came in 1974when he purchased Donnybrooke, a trackbuilt in Brainerd, Minnesota, two hoursnorth of Minneapolis. George Montgomerybuilt the three-mile road course in 1968and hosted USAC Indy Cars, the original

In A-Production Corvettes, Hansenwas a formidable competitor. He clips

the apex in Turn 2 at Road Atlantaduring the Runoffs in 1972.

Hansen is aboard his ’72 Lola T300(HU6) F5000 in the rain. He won the

’72 SCCA Runoffs in this car.

Waiting to roll out on track at Road America, Hansen’s Lola is ready to rumble.

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Can-Am, Trans-Am and Formula 5000races. Great racing and legendary driversweren’t enough to overcome several majormanagement blunders that shut the gatesin 1972.

Saved and RenamedHansen and Roe saved the track from thebulldozers and renamed it BrainerdInternational Raceway as a goodwillgesture to the Brainerd community. DickRoe then took charge and slowly rebuiltrelationships with the Brainerd-area cityfathers. Roe used his connections in stategovernment to get a permit allowingcamping on the vast BIR facility. That wasone of Montgomery’s biggest blunders. Roethen proceeded to improve the track’smeager infrastructure, transforming it intoa world-class racing facility. Roe also usedhis connections to muzzle neighbors whocame very close to closing the gatespermanently for state noise violations.

Hansen rarely showed up for businessmeetings, but always to compete on theultra-fast, three-mile circuit. He literallyand figuratively owned the joint. Roe sayshe could set a clock after every race asHansen would be at the office asking forhis share of the gate.

The track grew, attracting recordcrowds. It made another leap when theNHRA came on the scene, quicklyovershadowing professional SCCA andIMSA road racing events. That’s when

Hansen decided to cash in and take thetrack public. And, that’s when Hansen’sdream life started to unravel.

Hansen used every ounce of sellingsavvy and charm to make the IPOcompletion requirements. He wasrelentless, leaning on anyone, anywhere.One person recalls visiting a Brainerd autodealership and heard one end of theowner’s phone call. He was obviouslygetting a hard sell. When he hung up, theperson just said: “Hansen,” and the otherguy sighed and said: “Hansen.”

Stockholders grumbled when the BIRstock price took the express elevator down.When the stock tanked, many investorswere extremely upset. No doubt Hansenpitched the upside potential of the stockbut not the downside risk of any stockpurchase. Hansen and his young familygrew weary of the bad vibes and pulled up

stakes for some Florida warmth. Hansenand his wife Connie split in that periodand he moved to Maryland to be near hisson Franz and his grandchildren. Whatcould have been a time to bask in successhad turned into a voyage into obscurity.

The final chapter of Hansen’s life is nowbeing written. He has been turned downfor induction into the SCCA Hall of Fameseveral times. He absolutely qualifies, butthe rumors and innuendo over many off-track business disputes weigh heavilyagainst him. Today, the 70-somethingformer racing star is a world removed fromthe halcyon days. Hansen plays tennisevery week, dotes over his grandchildrenand ironically can be found picking uptrash as a community service along localroads and highways…and is regularlypitching new investment deals. ThatHansen will never change.

Hansen won his 27th and finalchampionship in this VDS-001/Chevy

Can-Am, that formerly was GeoffBrabham’s winning ride.

With Bobby Rahal (left) and Mike Hallon the podium in 1974, Hansen holdsup 10 fingers and the trophy girl two,signifying 12 Runoff wins, this time in

B Sports Racing.

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