Bob Garretson passed away last weekend at the age of 92 and leaves behind a legacy of important race and Championship wins in a transitional period of the sport.
Born in Sunnyville, California, in what is today known as Silicon Valley he did some drag racing in his formative years, and, after a spell in the US Navy, studied engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he paid for tuition by rebuilding and tuning V8 engines.
He left the world of the automotive for quite a while, designing probes for superconductors, until a college friend visited him, driving an imported Porsche 356. He bought his own car and then invested in a Porsche tuning shop in Mountain View.
In the 1970s he built and prepared a Porsche 914/6 GT for Walt Mass, who used it to win the IMSA GTU championship. This led to a closer involvement in the sport, working with Dick Barbour Racing.
Garretson took the overall win in a Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935 alongside Brian Redman and Charles Mendez in what is understood to have been his first ever Pro race!
His California-based Garretson Enterprises concern built and prepared winning Porsche 935’s for Dick Barbour, Paul Newman, IMSA 1980 Champion Sachs Turbo driven by John Fitzpatrick, and countless others.
The company also tuned and prepared roadgoing Porsches including those of Steve Jobs’ and Wosniak which led to the one and only direct Apple sponsorship in racing… ever!
The Sebring win in 1978 was followed by an overall win at Daytona in the 24 Hours in 1981, again with Brian Redman, the squad completed by Bobby Rahal.
Indeed that season, solid points scores elsewhere, and a calendar that saw the factory teams contest fewer races saw Garretson claim the first ever World Drivers Championship in 1981 at the age of 48.
His career saw no fewer than five starts at Le Mans, and two class podiums in the IMSA GTX category both of which saw him finish in the top ten overall.
He was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2019.
(With thanks to IMSA and FIA Hall of Fame)
Pics copyright and courtesy Racingsportscar, Fred Lewis, Brent Martin, Porsche
