2018

William “Bill” Warren Chamberlain II

Physical science technician, 85

William  “Bill”  Warren Chamberlain II of Burney passed away on October 18, 2018, at Shasta Regional Hospital in Red­ding.

Bill was born in Hono­lulu, T.H., on January 21, 1933, and  was a descendent of the missionaries who  trav­eled from Boston, Massa­chusetts, to the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1800s, and was a member of the Hawaiian Mission Chil­dren’s Society in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He attended Punahou School in Hawaii and then moved to Washington, D.C. in his early teens, where he graduated from high school. He attended American Uni­versity in Washington, D.C. Bill was married to Ann Rehley on Oct. 13, 1957. They were married 61 years.

He was a physical sci­ence technician for the U.S. Geological Survey, Dept. of the Interior, in Washing­ton, D.C. In 1965 he was transferred to their  office in Menlo Park, California, where he retired in 1986.

He  and Ann  moved to Burney in 2006. After moving to Burney, Bill served as a Rotarian for a number of years. He loved fishing and the outdoors, and for 42 years worked as a volunteer at the race tracks for the San Fran­cisco Region of the Sports Car Club of America.

In lieu of flowers, dona­tions may be given to Mayers lntermountain Healthcare Foundation, 44160 Highway 299, McAr­thur 96056; or The National Wildlife Federation, P.O. Box  1637, Merrifield,  Virginia 22116.

The family would also like to thank the staff at Mayers Memorial Hospital, who took excellent care of him.

RON GRABLE (1940-2018)

One of the San Francisco Region’s most successful racers, Ron Grable, passed away on October 30, 2018.  Ron was college educated as an engineer and accepted a job with Westinghouse which required a move to the East Coast from his home in Southern California.  He continued sports car racing, a hobby he first took up in Arizona after college, using his daily driver, a Porsche 356.  Racing on tracks in the Northeast, he did well enough in E Production to qualify for the Road Race of Champions in 1964 at Riverside where he finished second in class.

In 1966 Grable accepted a job with Fairchild Semiconductor and move to the San Francisco Bay Area.  He switched from his Porsche to a fully sponsored Dodge Dart which he took to second place in the Region and followed with a win at the ARRC to become National A Sedan Champion.

This was really just the beginning of his racing career which included drives in Winston West stock cars; Formula A National Champion; the AMC Javelin factory Trans Am team; the Tasman Series in New Zealand/Australia where he helped to introduce the Formula 5000 cars to that series: Formula 5000 L&M Championship Series; Questor Grand prix for F1 and F5000 cars; and Can Am in a Chevy/Lola.

He contracted with John Greenwood to drive the Greenwood Corvettes for the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  After a couple of years managing restaurant he resumed racing in vintage events for the next three years in several different cars.  During this period Grable was technical editor for Motor Trend magazine which lead to the opportunity to resume his professional racing career.  He accepted a ride in an IMSA GTU Mazda RX-7 for the Daytona 24 Hours followed by two full season with teammates Jim Busby and Rick Knoop also in the IMSA Series.

From 1985 through 1988, Grable raced a Morrison-Cook Corvette in the SCCA Playboy Endurance Series, winning the team and drivers championship in 1986.  He retired from racing at the end of the 1988 season but remained involved in the automotive and motorcycle industries as a freelance writer for several magazines.  Having enjoyed competition for most of his life, he took up flying which resulted in the purchase of a Pitts Special Aerobatic plane he used for air shows and cross-country air races.  In retirement he lived in Prescott, Arizona with his wife until his passing.

No question Grable was a Renaissance Man – educated, competitive, multi-talented, determined and successful at whatever he undertook.

Written by:  Gary Horstkorta – October 2018

Matthew Lawrence Luna (1955 – 2018)

The SFR Starter crew lost our good friend and fellow starter to a fatal heart attack in November 2018. He was 64.

Matt and his life long friend Paul Einhorn were in grade school together and died almost within a year of each other.

Paul recruited Matt for the start crew and he was a great choice. Matt was a wonderful soul and was always fun to work with.