Prewitt Wins the Vintage Feature to Dominate Palm Springs Races

Steve Prewitt of Des Moines, Iowa, who claims to run the only Chevy-Ford racing team in the country, did well by both makes in the eighth annual Palm Springs Road Races during the weekend. Prewitt, 49, won the Corvette vs. Cobra shootout Saturday and then came back Sunday to win the all- Corvette feature race.

Prewitt, also one of the country’s tallest drivers at 6 feet 7, drove a 1967 Corvette Coupe--prepared and sponsored by his Collector Motor Sports team--to both victories. He also drove a 1965 Shelby Mustang to victory in one of two races for small-bore Trans-Am and SCCA production-based cars.

Prewitt’s only loss came when he finished second in the Shelby to Don Roberts of Phoenix, who won in a ’65 Cobra in Sunday’s nine-lap race.

Dave Vegher of Petaluma won a tense race from former Indy-car driver Danny Ongais in an event for pre-1976 FIA and IMSA GT cars. Vegher drove a ’71 Chevron to hold off Ongais, in a ’69 Porsche 908 entered by Vasak Polak of Hermosa Beach.

Race officials announced an estimated attendance of 50,000 for the four days of racing on a two-mile course laid out next to the Palm Springs Convention Center.