Among those first 14 factory-prepared, racing-purposed Z06 Corvettes was Chassis No. 2227, the first of two assigned to Yenko Chevrolet in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, for delivery to Grady Davis, executive vice president of Gulf Oil Research and Development. An experienced racer himself, Davis had proven to the Gulf Board of Directors the value of real-world competition as a product development tool by successfully fielding a team of Gulf-sponsored Corvettes beginning at Sebring in 1961. Now, he planned to campaign his two new Z06 Corvettes in service of the same cause. Designated by Davis as “Gulf One,” Chassis No. 2227 was delivered to Gulf personnel at the St. Louis assembly plant in October 1962, driven to the corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, prepared to Davis’ specifications and rushed to Puerto Rico for the first and only Puerto Rico Grand Prix. With renowned Corvette specialist Dick “The Flying Dentist” Thompson at the wheel, Gulf One scored the first class win of its career. After an A-Production victory at Marlboro, Maryland’s “Refrigerator Bowl” in January 1963, Gulf One was then prepared to FIA rules for Florida’s Daytona Continental and Sebring 12 Hours races. In February, Thompson scored a huge third place overall and first in GT3 at Daytona behind two Ferrari GTOs, following up in March with a disappointing gearbox failure at Sebring after impressively qualifying at the front of an international field of sports and prototype entrants. Gulf One’s early successes were suddenly overshadowed by Chevrolet’s abrupt post-Sebring decision to withdraw support for all racing activities, shocking the dedicated racers who had staked their fortunes on the new Z06. Undeterred, Davis continued to campaign his two Team Gulf Corvettes. Thompson barnstormed Gulf One across the country, winning first place overall at the SCCA President’s Cup at Marlboro, Maryland, the A/Production class at Danville, Virginia, and Road America, and finishing the season as the most successful of all the Specially Assigned Z06 racers. In 1991, noted collector and racer Rich Mason purchased Gulf One and commissioned talented Carson City, Nevada, specialist Chet Bunch to perform an extensive restoration, prepared and finished exactly as it was on the starting grid of the 1963 Sebring 12 Hours, including the unique rear fender flares, a last-minute requirement by the FIA to cover its extra-wide Firestone racing tires. Other special features on the car include two-bar finned, aluminum, knock- off wheels, a modified fuel filler, running lights, Plexiglas windows, manually operated headlights, rear deck-mounted fiberglass brake-cooling scoops and a special hood designed to improve airflow through and over the front end. Since it’s restoration, Gulf One has garnered numerous awards, including the 1993 NCRS Special Interest Award at Cypress Gardens, Florida, the Corvettes at Carlisle Chips Choice Award and Best Competition Car at the 2013 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance, has been included in the 1994 Bloomington Gold Victory Lane Special Collection and 2009 Grand Finale Special Collection, and was inducted into the Bloomington Gold Great Hall in 2013. It’s been the subject of numerous magazine articles, and it’s accompanied today by its complete ownership history and even Grady Davis Gulf letters to Don Yenko and Zora Arkus-Duntov. Today, Gulf One is firmly established as the most celebrated Z06 in Corvette history as the most significant, well-documented and thoroughly authenticated of the first 14 1963 Z06 Sting Rays purpose-built for racing. It was the first car prepared with the advanced race technology developed specifically for the Z06 and later adapted for use on the prototype Grand Sports. During its career, it was the most widely campaigned of all the original works cars; indeed, it was the only one to compete entirely at the national level, racing in more venues than any other. No other Z06 received more corporate support from Chevrolet. Gulf One remains the most highly original of all the original racing Z06 Sting Rays, and it stands as a monument to one of American road racing’s greatest eras.
