Bob Schroeder (1926–2011)

Bob Schroeder, the only Arkansas-born driver to ever participate in a World Championship Formula One event—the 1962 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen—passed away in a Dallas hospital on December 3, 2011, at the age of 85. Born Robert Edward Schroeder in El Dorado, Arkansas, on May 11, 1926, Bob served in the U.S. Marine Corps during WW2, then moved to Houston, where he worked in the then booming air-conditioning industry. By 1952 the sports car bug had bitten him.

Schroeder bought his first sports car, a new 1952 Jaguar XK-120, from Big Jim Hall of Houston and promptly entered it at Caddo Mills, east of Dallas, in January 1953. The race was won by Carroll Shelby in an Allard-Cadillac, but Schroeder acquitted himself well. He soon became the Activities Chairman of the Houston-based San Jacinto Region of the SCCA, organizing race events at Mansfield, Louisiana, and by 1957, at Galveston’s Scholes Field. Additional rides came in Big Jim Hall’s Allard/Chrysler in 1953 and Warren Layne’s cycle-winged Alfa Romeo Special in 1955, but by 1956 Schroeder built a new sports car for himself, helped by Dale Burt, a Houston midget driver. It was based on a Kurtis chassis with a 6.2-liter Buick engine and equipped with disc brakes. Unfortunately, the Goodyear aircraft calipers never worked as intended, although a number of BM class wins were scored during the 1957 season.