| | | Famed Alfa Romeo Trans-Am driver Horst Kwech was the featured guest and keynote speaker at the recent Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing Trans-Am Invitational, held June 21-22nd at Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, CO.
The event featured several Alfas, including Richard Ballantine’s TZ1, Ken and Sara Black’s GTV, and the Alfa-Powered Ausca Sports Racer owned by Frank Slejko.
Kwech’s Trans-Am driving antics were recalled by several other participants, including Shelby team mechanic Bernie Kretzschmar, who commented on the “Wild man in the Alfa back in the ‘70s”. His first introduction to Kwech’s driving style was watching him drift the Alfa around a corner, lap after lap. “He was full-lock, left wheel off the ground, and he’s waving… AT US!”
Kwech recounted the beginnings of his driving career with Alfa, when he partnered with Alfa dealer Bill Knauz to campaign an Alfa in SCCA D-Production. In SCCA Central Division, Kwech said, the Triumph TR4s were simply too fast for the Alfa to be competitive.
Then came the Alfa Romeo TI Super. “It was kind of a boxy car, a 4-door SE-DAN” Kwech said, “and then the TR4s just go away!” A 1-2-3 finish at Watkins Glenn with the TI Supers was especially satisfying, according to Kwech.
1966 saw the beginning of the Trans-Am series and Kwech found himself in a factory sponsored GTA with co-driver Gaston Audrey. “Were we sponsored by Alfa – Yes!” Kwech said. “Was it undercover – Yes!” 1966 saw Alfa sweep the manufacturer’s Championship in the under 2 liter (U-2) class.
1967 and 1968 saw a re-classification of the Porsche 911 to U-2 and resulted in domination by the German marque. Kwech drove for Shelby in 1968 in major endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where he battled engine reliability problems. “It was disgusting,” Kwech said, “Motor, motor, motor…” The team lost 45 engines that season. 1969 had Kwech testing and driving for Ford, with similar reliability issues.
1970 saw Kwech back in an Alfa, again dominating the season, with 3 wins, 6 second place finishes, and 1 third place. By this time, Alfa’s chief rivals, Datsun and BMW, were getting serious with factory-backed teams that were becoming very competitive.
Kwech described the 1971 Trans-Am series, in which the old U-2 class had been modified to the 2.5 Challenge class, as “another great season,” filled with hard fought battles against the BRE Datsun team.
After 2 wins, a second place, and 2 third place finishes, Alfa entered the last race of the season, at Laguna Seca, with a slight lead in the championship. According to Kwech, “ Riverside [the previous race] should have been our last race, but Peter Brock and Datsun bought Laguna.” Thus, the race at Laguna Seca was added to the schedule after Datsun guaranteed to buy a certain number of tickets.
For the Laguna Seca race, Alfa was required to relocate their fueling to the left side of the car. Instead, Kwech said, they simply decreased the thickness of the steel plates that held the gas tank, while using the same size tank.
The race, Kwech remembered, was “a bit of a wreck-fest, we [Kwech and the John Morton Datsun 510] kissed a little.” While Morton stopped for fuel, Kwech did not and crossed the finish line first. The Datsun team immediately launched the now infamous protest which saw the Alfa disqualified over the capacity of its fuel tank. This ruling gave the 1971 2.5 Liter Trans-Am Championship to Datsun.
“The money Pete Brock spent on buying the race got him the Championship,” Kwech said.
1972 was another victorious year for Datsun, and interest in the 2.5 Liter Challenge waned throughout the year. By 1973, the series was dead.
Kwech went on to race other marques in many other race series, and spent time as a team owner and manager. However, he said, the type of camaraderie and support he experienced during the Trans-Am series can only be found today at Amateur and Vintage race events. “It doesn’t exist anymore [on a professional level], but it exists here!”, he told the RMVR members in attendance.
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