The Owens-Corning Corvettes won 22 straight races between May of 1969 and November of 1970, with the streak ending here, at Road Atlanta at the SCCA Runoffs where Tony is seen fighting back from a brief ignition failure to finish 3rd behind teammate Jerry Thompson and winner John Greenwood.
Photo: Hal Crocker
Tony DeLorenzo Photo: Courtesy of Tony DeLorenzo
Tony DeLorenzo’s father, Anthony G., was a newspaperman, a reporter for UPI who then went to work for the Kudner Agency where one of the clients was GM’s Buick Division. There he was “discovered” and hired away by GM president Harlow Curtis. This ultimately led young Tony into the world of motorsports, where he raced an A Sedan Corvair in 1965 and ’66 before spending most of the rest of his career driving Corvettes, highlighted by a couple of seasons where he and teammate Jerry Thompson won 22 consecutive races, often finishing 1st and 2nd. His exploits with Corvettes has earned DeLorenzo enshrinement in both the Corvette Hall of Fame in Bowling Green, Kentucky (2009), and the Great Hall at Bloomington Gold in Illinois (2011). These days he’s racing vintage cars and is a regular participant in various tributes celebrating the Corvette’s 60th birthday. VR Associate Editor John Zimmermann recently spoke with Tony about his career and his accomplishments.
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