CLIFF

Ladabouche Photo
The door off one of Howie Westervelt's earliest Wright cars,
as it sits at the Saratoga Automobile Museum.

    Starting in the 1950's, Cliff Wright developed a name in the New York State racing community, mostly as a car builder and owner. Throughout much of the years that Wright had highly competitive coupes, he was partnered with sponsor, Tollgate Ice Cream - from Slingerlands, New York. Toll Gate owner Ron Zautner and Wright were familiar figures at tracks ranging from the Pine Bowl, to Fonda, to Lebanon Valley, to Stateline Speedway.
   The team had anywhere from one to as many as three cars during various time periods in the 1950's into the early '70's. Perhaps, the team reached its highest point of success in the later 1960's when they fielded the modified #24, driven mostly by Kenny Shoemaker, from Westmere. This car ran roughshod over the competition at major league tracks like Fonda and at smaller venues like Victoria.
   I feel privileged to have met Wright and Zautner at the once-monthly breakfast meet in Watervliet.

Gene Strenkowski Photo Howie with an early Wright/Zautner 83.	John Grady Photo Howie with the same car, the source of the door at Saratoga.	Photo Source Unknown Howie with an early victory, with the whole team.
Photo Source Unknown Howie	From Racers Bored Site Stretch Van Steenberg, with what I believe to be a Wright car.	Arnie Ainsworth Photo Howie and Stretch in Pine Bowl action.
Photographer Unknown Howie with one of the team's earlier cars, at Pine Bowl.	Photographer Unknown The car is beginning to have that familiar Wright / Zautner look- particularly the roof light.	Russ Bergh Photo Similar car, with more refinement - at Fonda.