Dom Perino and his father, Rich Carroll, are CORSA convention regulars, and enthusiastic participants in the autocross. Rich shared the following thoughts with me:

"Dom and I have a very serious challenge at each convention, often swapping fast time in class with each run. Last year I won by under 0.1 seconds. This year, Dom won by under 0.3 seconds. The car is VERY STOCK. If we could find the right white wall width (we are off by 1/16th of an inch), and if we chose to go with a red steering wheel, the car could compete in Concours in Factory Restored class. This car is a stock 110 hp 4-speed with the complete factory air setup. The engine is stock and the car consistently does very well at CORSA conventions. According to Bob Marlow's notes, this car beat all the stock high performance 140s and turbos, and all the late models.

We have an absolute ball with the car. Dom has been slaloming for more than ten years, and almost always beat me on pavement. Last year at Lake Tahoe was an exception. We also slalom in winter on frozen lakes using a different Corvair, and he has yet to beat me on the lakes. Ice and snow are the great equalizer for horsepower and the quick reaction times of the younger set, although, as you can see, the lack of horsepower at national conventions doesn't seem to affect Dom.

At Daytona (a 1.1 mile infield track), I took the first run and Dom couldn't get within a couple of seconds of me with his first run. I kept telling him the course needed all the horsepower he could find. My second run bettered my first, so Dom knew he had to find a bunch of horses to stay competitive. For his second run, he intentionally over-revved coming out of the starting area and slam-shifted second, sending the fan belt into the corner of the engine compartment and gaining 10 hp for the rest of his minute-plus on the track. He ran the entire course without the cooling fan, and his time showed a very significant gain over mine.

We had to install a new fan belt for our third runs, and thanks to Fred Bybee, who allowed us a few minutes (we changed the belt in 12 minutes), we completed our runs with the belt on and we both improved on previous times. In the end, Dom's third run was the fastest, and he beat me fair and square."

Below, we see the stock Monza that makes all that fun possible for Rich and Dom. Hey, I'm not a Concours judge, but those white walls look fine to me!   

While I didn't have the opportunity to meet the owner of this 1963 Corvair 95, Virtual Vairs group members Al Lacki and Robert Marlow informed me it belongs to Steve Calandra of New Milford, NJ. Robert owned the van at one time and gave (yes, gave) it to Steve. "It looked horrible and didn't run," he told me, adding "He did a nice job with it."  

Steve is Vice-President of the New Jersey Association of Corvair Enthusiasts (NJACE), and is apparently not only a fan of Corvairs, but of 1950s and '60s audio technology such as juke boxes, vinyl records and 8-tracks. I should have checked the interior for a copy of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida!