"Dick Guldstrand"
Better known as "Mr. Corvette," Dick Guldstrand has spent the majority of his adult life involved with developing, racing and promoting the Chevrolet Corvette. In recognition of his hundreds of contributions to the success of the Corvette, through development engineering, performance on the race track, assisting racers, organizing Corvette events and promoting Corvette when ever and where ever he could, Dick Guldstrand was inducted
into the Corvette Hall of Fame at the Corvette National Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1999.
As a Corvette racer, Dick won three consecutive Pacific Coast Championships (1963-1965) including the Southern Pacific A/P Championship, won the GT-Class at the 1966 Daytona 24-hour race, set a GT track record at Le Mans in 1967, was the first professional driver for Roger Penske driving Roger's Corvette Grand Sport at Sebring in 1966 and 1967.
Dick developed, raced and won with Chevrolet Camaros in the famous Trans-Am series, and developed Lola Can-Am cars for James Garner. He also managed the race team and raced in the series himself. His list of significant racing successes goes on and on.
After opening his own business on the famed "Thunder Alley" in Culver City, California in 1968, Dick went full-time into the business of developing race cars. His development expertise was evident in the performance of the 1985 Corvette, a car that set new track records at the Mid-Ohio 24-hour event and the 12-hour race at Willow Springs.
In the mid-1980s Guldstrand produced the GS80, a special Corvette with performance and handling equipment created by Guldstrand Engineering. It was widely acclaimed by the press and enthusiasts for its superior handling and overall performance. In the '90s, Dick created the GS90, a ZR1 Corvette. The beauty of the car along with its outstanding performance made it a sought after vehicle and, like the GS80 before it, was featured on the covers of virtually every important automobile magazine worldwide.
While Dick has retired from active competition he does make spectacular appearances at selected and premier vintage race events around the world including the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed in England and the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca, California. He has also served as technical advisor for a number of TV shows including Tim Allen's Home Improvement and Ed Asner's Thunder Alley.
Visitors to Dick's shop are likely to meet any one of a number of notables from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Nicholas Cage who are either there to visit or to have him put his special touch on their Chevy-powered cars.
