History ofZonker Race Cars

As far as I know, the first Zonker was the “Screaming Yellow Zonker Spl.” This car’s chassis was originally constructed to original LeGrand Mk IV plans at Sports Car Engineering in Fargo, ND, in the early 1960’s, and was the first plans-built LeGrand constructed outside Red LeGrand’s shop. This chassis ended up in upstate New York, powered by a small-valve Lotus TwinCam mated to a Porsche 911 transaxle. It competed, in full Yellow and Blue livery, in B Modified at an early ARRC at Daytona. There was at least nominal sponsorship by Screaming Yellow Zonkers, the glazed popcorn-and-peanut treat of the Sixties.

Zonker I at Donnybrooke, about 1990

I purchased this car, minus the Lotus engine, fitted it with a Datsun 1600 engine, and competed in a number of events at Donnybrooke, Road America, Blackhawk Farms, before selling it as a vintage restoration project. To the best of my knowledge, the car landed in Chicago, but its current whereabouts and fate is unknown. Its sale funded the beginning of the Zonker Mk II project.

The Mk II chassis was purchased as a complete Winklemann Formula Ford, and I competed briefly in FF before disassembling the car and selling off the Ford engine and Hewland gearbox. This, in turn, funded the acquisition of a Honda VF1000F motorcycle engine, a 1000cc V4, and a one-piece sports racer body. This car competed with some success, winning a regional championship, a second place Divisional championship, and an invitation to the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta in 1992.

Zonker Mk II at Road Atlanta, SCCA Runoffs, 1992

That the car was heavy and lacked horsepower, and that neither problem was likely to be surmounted with the existing hardware, led to the sale of the Mk II (actually the disassembly of it). The chassis was returned to Formula Ford guise for vintage competition, the body went in a different direction for a Sports Racer project. As an aside, the race prepared V4 engine would later power a street motorcycle that still provides ample thrills today. If you sense a pattern, here it comes: the sale was necessary to provide the seed capital for a new car, one which would address both the weight and power deficiencies of the Mk II. Thus was conceived the Zonker Mk III-T.