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In Memoriam: Bob Grossman
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It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Bob Grossman, due to complications associated with multiple myleoma. Bob was 79. Visitors to Limerock vintage race events as well as automobile shows in the Northeast are familiar with Bob as a an artist, specializing in watercolor paintings of vintage race events. But this was just the most recent activity in a long and varied career.
Bob's start in the automobile field came right after being discharged from the army after WWII. Aspiring to be a professional singer, he began buying and selling used cars to pay for singing lessons. By 1953, he was an authorized dealer for Jaguar and Volkswagen in Nyack, New York.
He soon began racing his own XK120 in area events, and eventually became quite successful as a racer.
In 1959, he entered his own Ferrari California at Le Mans, and drove it to his first of many top ten Le Mans finishes. The performance was good enough to win him a place on the Briggs Cunningham Le Mans team for 1960, and he drove a dramatic race, bringing his Cunningham Corvette to a class win. During the last hour of the race, the car's cooling system boiled over, but the rules prohibited refilling the radiator. Thinking fast, the pit crew cooled the motor by covering the intake manifold with ice cubes. Several pit stops were required to allow him to finish. The engine finally expired just as he crossed the finish line, one of the most dramatic Le Mans finishes ever.
In 1963, he repeated the show, being the only Cunningham driver to finish Le Mans in his Lightweight E-Type. The excitement began when his brakes failed in the 16th hour, leaving the car with a crushed nose. A frenzied Jaguar crew pieced the bonnet together in a little over an hour, allowing him to finish.
Among his other accomplishments were two national class championships in SCCA racing. He was the past president of the Road Racing Drivers Club, an association of professional sports car drivers. Bob continued selling Jaguars, Volkswagens, Ferrari's and Maserati's into the 1970's from his Nyack dealerships. In recent years, he had engaged in numerous automotive related activities, including contributing several articles to the JCNA website.
Bob was born in Philadelphia and attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. He was a professional singer (a baritone) and served in the Army in Europe in World War II. His survivors include a brother, Jon, of Branford, CT.
Posted: 5/28/2002
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