Another Breeze has made it into a Hall of Fame at long last. This time the Sports Car Club Of America Hall of Fame. Interesting to see were our friend Joe got his engineering nous from.
Congratulations to Joe and Family
From the SCCA website...
Bill Breeze
[1910 – 1980] - Bill Norwood Breeze was born in San Francisco four years after the great earthquake of 1906. He began his relationship with automobiles at the early age of fourteen when he purchased and old, open-top touring car with a friend. Breeze and his friend took many tours through the city streets without his parent’s knowledge. He went to high school in San Francisco then onto Stanford University to study business. In 1934, at twenty-four years old he bought a Ford Roadster and drove it to Los Angeles to have Edelbrock heads fitted to the car. Around this time he astounded his friends by driving to Salt Lake City in one day, a distance of about eight hundred miles which was quite a feat in those days considering the condition of the roads.
Breeze was initially employed by Crocker Bank in San Francisco but with his interest in all sorts of mechanical things, he decided to change careers and became a machinist, a job he kept through World War II. After the war, with his enthusiasm for cars undaunted, he became friends with Kjell Qvale who had set up a car dealership in Alameda and in 1948 would become the MG Distributor for Northern California. Naturally Breeze bought an MG-TC and no doubt joined the MG Car Club which subsequently led to his becoming one of the first members of the newly formed San Francisco Region of the SCCA in 1948. From this point forward, Breeze would become an active racer and club official whose guidance and influence would help spur the growth of sports car racing in the area.
In the spring of 1949, Bill Breeze won a car race in his MG-TC on the oval track at San Jose Speedway and while not a road race, it was the first organized race won by a sports car in the area. Breeze was actively involved in club planning and helped organize and participated in what is recognized as the first road race in the Western U.S. at Buchanan Field in November, 1949. There were twenty entries in the five lap race which was won by Bjarne Qvale, Kjell’s brother.
By May of 1950, membership had grown to seventy-five and the second race at Buchanan Field was held with thirty entries with Breeze finishing second to Sterling Edwards. He continued to participate in club races and rallies whenever possible and also was elected to the position of the Region’s Activities Chairman. With the success of the first two races at Buchanan Field, there was a desire to add more events to the schedule so Breeze and the SFR Board organized the first race held at Pebble Beach on November 5, 1950. The Pebble Beach races fueled interest in sports car racing and the SF Region in these early years. By the final race held at Pebble Beach, entries had grown from thirty-five in 1950 to one hundred and forty in the final year of 1956.
Breeze was elected to the position of Regional Executive in 1951 and 1952 and it was under his leadership, the region staged the most successful sports car event on the West Coast for years to come, the races in Golden Gate Park. While Pebble Beach was a great success, it was the races in Golden Gate Park that brought sports car racing to the average person and created more local and national publicity than any other sports car race during this period. Over 250,000 spectators attended the races during its run from 1952-54, exposing sports car racing to many who had never seen a race before. Considering the region had only staged a handful of races, the Golden Gate Park events exhibited a high level of organization for such a young club and generally, the races went off without a hitch and received nationwide praise. There was even some suggestion by the media that GGP should become a Grand Prix circuit.
Also in 1951, Breeze’s had an accident while driving a Jaguar XK120 at the race in Reno. He suffered a broken arm and with four small children and a wife at home, the decision was made to retire as a driver. However, this only shifted his involvement in racing from being a driver to a businessman.
Breeze had already opened The Sports Car Center (SCC) near the Richardson Bay Bridge in Sausalito. The SCC employed several talented individuals including Bob Winklemann, Mogen Skov, Jack Dalton and a very young Peter Brock. SCC also worked closely with master fabricator/car builder Nadeau Bourgeault who had a shop nearby. Along with Breeze, all these individuals would leave their mark on the local racing scene.
There is no question that Breeze’s Sports Car Center played a vital role in the growth of sports car racing in Northern California. It offered a professional, knowledgeable business where racers and would be racers could get advice, parts, service, race-preparation or even a race car. The Sports Car Center was the forerunner of the many, racer oriented specialty shops that would spring up around the San Francisco Bay Area in the years to come.
In the mid-1960’s, sports car racing had grown to a major spectator sport nationwide and was becoming a big business with factory teams beginning to appear. At this point, Breeze decided to close the SCC and move on to other pursuits including bicycling and astronomy, a hobby that included building an eight inch reflector telescope for Tamalpais High School.
Congratulations to Joe and Family
From the SCCA website...
Bill Breeze
[1910 – 1980] - Bill Norwood Breeze was born in San Francisco four years after the great earthquake of 1906. He began his relationship with automobiles at the early age of fourteen when he purchased and old, open-top touring car with a friend. Breeze and his friend took many tours through the city streets without his parent’s knowledge. He went to high school in San Francisco then onto Stanford University to study business. In 1934, at twenty-four years old he bought a Ford Roadster and drove it to Los Angeles to have Edelbrock heads fitted to the car. Around this time he astounded his friends by driving to Salt Lake City in one day, a distance of about eight hundred miles which was quite a feat in those days considering the condition of the roads.
Breeze was initially employed by Crocker Bank in San Francisco but with his interest in all sorts of mechanical things, he decided to change careers and became a machinist, a job he kept through World War II. After the war, with his enthusiasm for cars undaunted, he became friends with Kjell Qvale who had set up a car dealership in Alameda and in 1948 would become the MG Distributor for Northern California. Naturally Breeze bought an MG-TC and no doubt joined the MG Car Club which subsequently led to his becoming one of the first members of the newly formed San Francisco Region of the SCCA in 1948. From this point forward, Breeze would become an active racer and club official whose guidance and influence would help spur the growth of sports car racing in the area.
In the spring of 1949, Bill Breeze won a car race in his MG-TC on the oval track at San Jose Speedway and while not a road race, it was the first organized race won by a sports car in the area. Breeze was actively involved in club planning and helped organize and participated in what is recognized as the first road race in the Western U.S. at Buchanan Field in November, 1949. There were twenty entries in the five lap race which was won by Bjarne Qvale, Kjell’s brother.
By May of 1950, membership had grown to seventy-five and the second race at Buchanan Field was held with thirty entries with Breeze finishing second to Sterling Edwards. He continued to participate in club races and rallies whenever possible and also was elected to the position of the Region’s Activities Chairman. With the success of the first two races at Buchanan Field, there was a desire to add more events to the schedule so Breeze and the SFR Board organized the first race held at Pebble Beach on November 5, 1950. The Pebble Beach races fueled interest in sports car racing and the SF Region in these early years. By the final race held at Pebble Beach, entries had grown from thirty-five in 1950 to one hundred and forty in the final year of 1956.
Breeze was elected to the position of Regional Executive in 1951 and 1952 and it was under his leadership, the region staged the most successful sports car event on the West Coast for years to come, the races in Golden Gate Park. While Pebble Beach was a great success, it was the races in Golden Gate Park that brought sports car racing to the average person and created more local and national publicity than any other sports car race during this period. Over 250,000 spectators attended the races during its run from 1952-54, exposing sports car racing to many who had never seen a race before. Considering the region had only staged a handful of races, the Golden Gate Park events exhibited a high level of organization for such a young club and generally, the races went off without a hitch and received nationwide praise. There was even some suggestion by the media that GGP should become a Grand Prix circuit.
Also in 1951, Breeze’s had an accident while driving a Jaguar XK120 at the race in Reno. He suffered a broken arm and with four small children and a wife at home, the decision was made to retire as a driver. However, this only shifted his involvement in racing from being a driver to a businessman.
Breeze had already opened The Sports Car Center (SCC) near the Richardson Bay Bridge in Sausalito. The SCC employed several talented individuals including Bob Winklemann, Mogen Skov, Jack Dalton and a very young Peter Brock. SCC also worked closely with master fabricator/car builder Nadeau Bourgeault who had a shop nearby. Along with Breeze, all these individuals would leave their mark on the local racing scene.
There is no question that Breeze’s Sports Car Center played a vital role in the growth of sports car racing in Northern California. It offered a professional, knowledgeable business where racers and would be racers could get advice, parts, service, race-preparation or even a race car. The Sports Car Center was the forerunner of the many, racer oriented specialty shops that would spring up around the San Francisco Bay Area in the years to come.
In the mid-1960’s, sports car racing had grown to a major spectator sport nationwide and was becoming a big business with factory teams beginning to appear. At this point, Breeze decided to close the SCC and move on to other pursuits including bicycling and astronomy, a hobby that included building an eight inch reflector telescope for Tamalpais High School.
