Charlie Kolb passed away June 15 at the age of age 85. The lanky Kolb, who played minor league baseball in the New York Giants organization before becoming an auto dealer in Miami, raced at the top levels of the sport for a dozen years. He dominated the SCCA’s 1960 Formula Junior championship with his Elva 100-BMC, then scattered a number of other significant victories over the course of his career. These included the last major win for Maserati’s 300S model at Savannah in 1962, the 1963 Paul Whiteman Trophy race at Daytona with a Lotus 23, and the Nassau Tourist Trophy with a NART Ferrari 275 GTB Speciale in 1965. Driving with Roger Heftler in a Porsche 904 GTS, he also won the GT2000 class at the Daytona 2000K in 1965.
Kolb contested the second Can-Am race ever held, at Bridgehampton in 1966, with a Ferrari Dino 206S, then tackled subsequent Can-Am and USRRC races with a Chevrolet-powered Lola T70. He raced a Camaro in the early days of the Trans-Am series, and competed at Sebring throughout the 1960s in cars ranging from a works Triumph TR3 to a Ferrari 330P, with his best finish coming in 1969 when he took 9th overall at the wheel of a NART Ferrari Dino.
