Rest in Peace Ronnie Kaplan

[Jon Mello]

Trans-Am racing icon Ronnie Kaplan passed away on Saturday 3/1/14 at 87 years old. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the Petersen Museum Trans-Am tribute a few years ago. What a wonderful and talented man he was. He will be missed. My condolences go out to the Kaplan family.

[mike343sharpstick]

There are a few nice obituaries out there. Having a TA-inspired '69 Javelin I've learned a lot about that chapter in racing, He did a ton with little resources.

Ed Justice Jr wrote,"Ronnie Kaplan was a great guy and the real deal. He's featured in the new book we just published on George Follmer www.follmerbook.com. Here's a quote from the book about Ronnie.

"Ronnie Kaplan was larger than life. He was a car owner, but he was also an honest to god car builder/mechanic and crew chief. He did it all and knew every nut and bolt on the car. Remember, AMC didn't even have a research and development program. they just wanted to race against Ford and Ronnie had to build everything from the ground up."
-George Follmer"

Godspeed Mr. Kaplan
http://www.racer.com/index.php/scca/item/101559-trans-am-pioneer-ronnie-kaplan-dies-at-87

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/03/ronnie-kaplan-a-driving-force-behind-amcs-trans-am-efforts-dead-at-age-87/

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=ronnie-kaplan&pid=169938298&fhid=16216

[1109RWHP]

Sad news. We are losing them one at a time.

[JoeC]

RIP Ronnie Kaplan

saw this on the corvette forum

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1586305023-post1.html

[Shadow Ahead]

Regrettable news.

S A