FEATURE : DAVE KARASKAS
A life-long adventure
Dave Karaskas has been racing for most of his adult life and is not far short of a 50-year career . Paul Lawrence chatted to the 70s Road Sports contender about nearly half a century of racing .
Now 68-years-old and from Epping in Essex , the Karaskas racing story started in 1974 at the Jim Russell Racing School at Snetterton . He ’ d spent five years marshalling and was eager to go racing , despite extremely limited funds . Dave takes up the early story : “ I was going to buy a Formula 750 car , but the fuel crisis came along and the threat of petrol rationing . So I thought I ’ m not going to buy a racing car if I can ’ t use it . So I spent my savings at the Jim Russell School . And then I met a fellow pupil at the school called Curtis McLean who had a Jensen and he said : ‘ why don ’ t we team up and race the Jensen in Production Sports ?’
After a couple of races in the Jensen , Dave bought an Austin Healey Sprite and did a couple of seasons in the popular Production Sports category . “ They were very happy days but I had no money at all . We used to drive it to the circuit , race it , drive it home , drive to the pub that night and then to work the next day .
“ As long as I had enough money to buy petrol to get to the circuit and do the race , I was happy . We always made sure we left early , parked up in the services and waited for somebody I knew to come in and I could blag a tank full of fuel off their credit cards so I could get home !”
He was desperate to get into single seaters but knew that if he went into Formula Ford , he ’ d just get lost in the crowd . So he chose Formula Vee and did pretty well in that for a couple of years . Then he was one of the founding members of the Pre ’ 74 Formula Ford Championship along with John Nichol . “ I had a Crossle 20F for a couple of years . At the time , I was ambitious and I only wanted to stay in a formula for two years and move on . I went for my big professional try out and raced for Roger Cowman for a year in FF2000 .
Back in FF2000 – 35 years on
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