WORDS: DAVID LILLYWHITE | PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT HOWELL, NADIR ALI
This year’s American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse, Michigan, US paid tribute to road and race car constructor Reeves Callaway, who died in July 2023 aged 75 following a fall at his home in California.
Seven of the most important competition Callaways, as well as a collection of Callaway road cars, attended the event, where they took part in track parades and displays in memory of the company founder. The cars were joined at the event by Peter Callaway, son of Reeves, and a number of other key figures in Callaway history.
Most poignantly, Peter drove competition chassis 001, known as ‘Frieda’, around the M1 Concourse track wearing his father’s race suit to applause from the crowd – the first time Frieda has been driven since the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Frieda was built by the Callaway Competition team in Germany, and in 1994 it became the first Corvette to race at Le Mans since 1976. Sadly, Frieda suffered a DNF due to an error by French driver Michel Maisonneuve, who disappeared from the scene and was never seen by the team again. A year later, Frieda became the highest-finishing Corvette at Le Mans in 35 years (ninth overall) since the 1960 Cunningham Corvette’s class win (eighth overall).
Having also raced in the 1994 BPR Global Endurance Series, taking several pole positions, race wins and overall podiums, in 1995 Frieda was retired after the Le Mans finish and remains in ‘as raced’ condition. Only tyres, fluids and fuel systems have been changed or modified.
The other competition cars gathered together were: the 1996 Callaway C7R #002, the first complete, bespoke Callaway, with a carbonfibre monocoque and GM small-block underpinnings; 2001 Callaway C12R #001, built on a Corvette C5 chassis with a widened body, which led its class at Le Mans in 2001; 2008 Callaway C6 Corvette Z06.R GT3 ‘EVO’, one of 22 C6-based GT3 racers built by the team; 2009 Callaway C6 GT4 19EX, one of five C6 EX (experimental chassis) converted for GM by Callaway into FIA GT4 race cars; and the 2016 Callaway C7 Corvette GT3-R, a commercially available C7 Corvette FIA GT3 race car built by the team.
Joining Peter (above, left) with the cars were designer Paul Deutschman (above, white shirt), who was recruited by Reeves Callaway to design the company’s first car, known as ‘Sledge Hammer’, and who has designed every Callaway since; Callaway Competition team manager Ernst Wöhr (above, sunglasses), who has led the race-car programme since Frieda; John Kyle II (above, right), owner of several of the vehicles gathered, including Frieda; Charles Wicht, whose CWR Motorsports company looks after John’s cars and who owns the 2016 model; former Callaway Competition mechanic Wayne; and Chris Chessnoe of the Callaway Owners’ Group.
The Callaway Cars company continues under long-time manager director Mike Zoner working with Peter Callaway; its latest road models were on show at M1 Concourse during the event. The Callaway Competition team in Germany also continues, and is now offering road-car builds for the first time in its history.
For more on American Speed Festival, see our story here.
