Co-driven by Ray Heppenstall, Ed Lowther and Dr. Dick Thompson, the whooshing Howmet TX qualified 3rd for its second race at Sebring (where it is shown at the hairpin), though, as at Daytona, new-car problems forced early retirement. Performance kept improving through the year, but then the program ended. Photo: Pete Lyons www.petelyons.com
Fast Lines

Tough Ray Heppenstall

As the years pile up, I find myself learning more about people I used to know than I ever appreciated at the time. So it is with Ray Heppenstall, the brusque, raw-edged racer from Pittsburgh, PA.

Pete Lyons
Pete Lyons

My first impression of him was a little alarming. It was at Sebring in 1968, when I was a young journalist and his car was guaranteed to fascinate me: the Howmet Turbine. This was a McKee Can-Am roadster fitted with a coupe roof and an experimental Continental gas-turbine stuffed into the engine bay.

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