The Cal-look Lounge

Post 'em if you 'em.... I believe there was a story on his car in VW Greats?

here we go dean  ;)
vw great spring 72

steve reyes pictures  :o

from dunes buggies & hot vws  ;)

 ;)

more  ;)

There is not enought pictures of dirty dave, I come  in my archives and nothing more that what i already had, because a lounger asked me for information also because it had just received this (3th pict)

Interesting photo collection. I see where Dave had JEB Industries as his main sponsor for years, but then went to DDS, Renfree (which I believe he worked there for a time...), and then Speed Unlimited. That Steve Reyes photo is very interesting.... At first, I thought it was Dean Lowry driving the first DDS car, but once I saw the blowup in person, I realized that it was Dirty Dave's car at Lions. I don't recall seeing Dave's car with the DDS billboard on the door.... until now. Great shot! I got one for my office from Steve Reyes...  Now, I know Dave passed away years ago, but where did his car go...... Hmmm.

Dean.. I got hundreds of vanderbeke photos-stuck in my head. Dave lost his race car when his tow car blew a tire and totaled everything on his way to the Nationals -73 or 74. I'm proud to say he was my friend despite his "challenges". I worked with him, and worked for him in the late 70's, and will remember him as one of those unforgettable characters  that make-up our life experience.

A couple of his "speed secrets", Vaseline in the front wheel brgs., 30 wt. in the trans. Did it work? I don't know, but he went fast without chrome,
polished or billet anything. Dave was the epitome of old school, if not home spun, competing on the NHRA circuit with a shoestring budget.

I worked with Dave at Renfree VW in the early seventies for a short time.  He was in charge of dispatching jobs to the mechanics as well as wrenching on problem cars.  Dave took care of repairing the clutch tube on my old '63 sedan during that time.  Later on, while working at George Follmer Porsche Audi in the mid '80's, I sold Dave parts when he had his Volksweimer shop in Riverside.  I remember him as a loud, controversial guy who really had his shit together when he got behind the wheel of his race car.  Like Phil pointed out, no chrome, no polish, no BS... just fast.

Thanks Phil, Do you recall Dave's connection with DDS? He appeared to drive for Dean & Ken at times, both with his own racecar and the chop top I/gasser..

And it's story time (or ramblings) once again from an old timer:

There was a time when VWs ruled the NHRA lower gas classes. Empi held the I gas record but there were a lot us who could run better times. Empi was sandbagging, only going as quick as needed to win. This meant you could put your hot street motor in a gutted car and running the I gas index win and win............as long as you didn't set the record.......that belonged to Empi. I think it was brilliant as it just made hot VWs more popular. Then Dave Vanderbeck became sponsored by JEB and I'm guessing they wanted him to hold the record to highlight their products. He would set the record and EMPI would take it back. This repeated over and over until the index was so low that many VW race cars were no longer competitive and the cost of NHRA racing was now much higher.
I don't have any fond stories about Dave and they didn't call him Dirty Dave for nothing. All the VW racers helped each other out, sharing parts, etc. But loan Dave some Weber jets and he might return them drilled out to a bigger size.
I remember once he had broken his transaxle and we loaned him the Underdog transmission which he also broke. Oh, he rebuilt it and returned it...no problem. It's just that we couldn't figure out why our car was running flat in 3rd gear until we took the transaxle apart and found the 3rd gear had not been welded.
There's more but what's the point....... a lot racers did this kind of crap and besides that was almost 40 years ago.
Dave Vanderbeck was a serious competitor and a tough one to beat.

Marc Buehler
DRA