Dedicated Airhead—The Chuck Forge Story

In many circles, the term airhead applies to someone who is silly or lacking in intelligence. However, it is also a slang term to describe the method used to cool an airplane, motorcycle or automobile engine. For decades, virtually all aircraft and motorcycle engines were air-cooled and many notable automobiles were as well, including Volkswagen, Chevrolet (Corvair) and, of course, Porsche.

Chuck Forge was one such Airhead, but in a positive way and a dedicated one at that. From 1962 until his passing in 2009, Forge raced only air-cooled engine cars—VW, Corvair and several Porsches. But Forge was not just an average amateur driver with a passion for racing. He was a multiple race winner, regional champion and a highly respected electrical engineer in Northern California’s Silicon Valley with many technology patents to his name. He applied his engineering knowledge to his racecars and with his driving talent, the combination made him a very hard man to beat on the race track. An indication of his passion for racing is shown in this comment he made to a good friend who asked Forge if he was ever going to get married. Forge replied, “Well, I got out of Stanford and could afford to be serious about racecars. All my friends did too. But they got married, and in a few years, they weren’t doing racecars anymore. I concluded that racecars and wives were mutually exclusive and I preferred racecars.”