Dave MacDonald - Corvette Legends

In the period leading up to the 500, the MacDonalds' lives had become almost as fast as the cars Dave drove. In the 17 months between the beginning of 1963 and the 1964 Indy race, he raced in 44 events.

The crash at Indy marked the first time the 500 had ever been stopped because of an accident. While race officials quickly concluded that there was no driver error, the race, its causes, and its repercussions are hotly debated to this day.

"After Indy, I was hurting so. I needed to change my life, so I moved a few miles away, but stayed close to my in-laws," says Sherry MacDonald. "From Indy on, I didn't follow racing. My interest in racing was basically one race driver."

It wouldn't be until the early 1990s, when Corvette fans started recovering and restoring old Corvette race cars, that MacDonald's all-too-short racing career began to get the attention it deserved.

"It's so gratifying to meet people who raced with Dave and hear how much they admired him, not only for his skill as a driver, but for being a really nice guy," Sherry adds. Today she is retired, but as busy as ever with volunteer projects and her large family.

Dave's Biggest Fan: Doug MacDonald

It's not easy growing up in the shadow of a big brother who happens to be a successful race-car driver. When Dave MacDonald started drag racing, Doug was still just an "in-the-way kid." And when he was finally old enough to go to the drags, the experience proved anti-climatic.

"I was too young to get into the pits, so I had to watch from the stands until it was Dave's turn to make a run," he says. "For a little kid, it was really boring. I just wanted to see my brother race."

From Doug's perspective, things were more interesting around the house when Dave was working on one of his cars, or when the guys came over to hang out and talk. "I just hung around on the edges, trying not to stay out of the way and understand what they were talking about."

One day, Dave asked Doug if he'd like to go to the road-race track. "We had to get up at 3 a.m. to load up the car and gear. It was a real adventure! My job was to watch the race car. It was a blast watching people gawk as we went down the road.

"Once, Dave passed a Corvette that was showing off. You should have seen the look on their faces when a Chevy station wagon towing a race car rocketed by them." [The MacDonalds' wagon had a supercharged 283 engine.]

When Doug was finally old enough to get into the pits, he discovered that it was difficult to see much of the racing from ground level. "A track official saw that I was bored and asked if I'd like to come up into the timing tower. It was the perfect place to watch, because I could see the entire course.

"The official said to me, 'I want you to watch your brother's car; he tends to crash in every corner. You tell me if he does, because that will help me watch the other cars.'

"Dave did spin out a lot, but never crashed. Later, I realized later that he was perfecting his drifting technique. Dave always felt that the spectators wanted to see exciting racing, and he loved giving them a good show. He really loved the NASCAR fans, because they went wild over his driving style. Our dad went to see Dave race when he could, but Mom didn't like it. She stayed home and worried."

MacDonald was a Corvette man first, but the offer from Carroll Shelby to drive Cobras was too good an opportunity to pass up. Team owner Jim Simpson remembers the day Shelby came to him and asked if he could hire Dave away.

"I knew it was best for Davey's career, so I let him go. I told Carroll that that kid was going to be the world's greatest racing driver, and you could put that in granite." (As we will see, that's exactly what happened many years later.)

When Dave started working for Shelby, Doug found that there were plenty of crewmen to take care of everything. "I was really in the way then. I met Mr. Shelby a few times, but he always seemed busy and was very gruff."

It was around this time that Dave began planning his future in motorsports. While working for Shelby, he was heavily involved in the design and construction of the King Cobra. That and experiencing the inside of a racing organization helped him envision a way forward, as Doug explains.

"Just before Indy, Dave told me that after the race, he wanted to start his own race-car company and build his own team cars, with me as his main driver." This was not an uncommon career path at the time. Shelby had been a champion driver, as had Roger Penske, Colin Chapman, and numerous others. Race cars were advancing at a feverish pace, and many drivers recognized that it wasn't wise to tempt fate for too long.

After the tragedy at Indy, Doug gathered all of the memorabilia he'd collected from his brother's racing career and burned it. "I wanted nothing to do with cars and didn't even drive for two-and-a-half years," he says. "Finally, my dad said, 'Let's go for a ride.' We drove out into Death Valley to a little place called Scotty's Castle. Dad pulled over and ordered me to drive. It was a very long walk back, so I reluctantly got behind the wheel. By the time we got out of the desert, it all came back to me, and I was feeling good about driving."

Dave had been friends with Bob Bondurant, who in 1968 opened the Bondurant High Performance Driving School. A few years later, Bondurant was surprised to see Doug registered at the school. "Why do you want to do this?" he asked. "Look what it cost your brother."