Mike Yager, who bills himself as chief cheerleader at Mid-America Direct Inc, started his mail-order auto-accessory business in 1974 catering to the needs of Corvette owners. Yager purchased Tweeks a few years ago and is working hard to build up the same camaraderie with Porsche people that he enjoys with the 'Vette set. For Funfest weekend he even shoved over some of his Corvette collection to make room for a beautiful selection of Porsches owned by Bob Ingram. These included a 356 Carrera GT, a Speedster and a 1973 Carrera RS. Despite their pristine condition, Bob and his son Cam believe in regularly exercising their collection, making them true Porsche aficionados.
Speaking of diehard Porsche owners, the people who showed up for Yager's sweltering soiree drove as many as 500 miles through searing Midwest heat and humidity. They were rewarded with door prizes, a low-key concours and excellent technical seminars. The latter included Porsche technical guru Bruce Anderson, memorabilia maven Prescott Kelly and the PCA's John Crosby, expounding on the joys of club racing.
Emphasizing the fun aspect of Funfest, unlike the PCA, judging for the concours was based more on an owner's relationship to his or her car than the amount of time spent toothbrushing the underside of the spare tire.
"We like to reward the person who may not have the rarest or most expensive car, but who loves his car even though he knows it ordinarily wouldn't be eligible for an award at a traditional car show," said cheerleader Yager.
All the cars were immaculately clean, and there were some rarities like a 1996 Targa and a 968 cabriolet. The Midwest seems to be particularly enamored of the front-engine Porsches with a number of 944s, 968 and a very nice 924S in attendance. As usual, the majority were 911s, although some pristine 914s and 356s also made the show. The vehicle that put the most fun in the Funfest combined both the Porsche and Chevy aspects of the event. It was a 1961 356 powered by a 1965 Corvair Corsa engine. Technically, according to its owner/builder and a chrome nameplate on the rear, a Porschair.
Robert LaFollette first built the car in 1964. We asked him about his inspiration for the project. "I was sitting in a bar and declared that I could put a Corvair engine into a Porsche," recalled LaFollette. "Some guy I didn't know stood up and said he knew where I could get a wrecked Porsche for a hundred bucks, and that was it. It took me six months to build. Once I got started, I couldn't stop."
Turns out this was not the first hybrid built by the retired Ford employee. LaFollette worked at Ford racing during the 1960s, where one of his assignments was to mate a 427 V8 with the GT 40 chassis. The Corvair-Porsche was a piece of cake after that. "I grew up just down the road from here and would hang on the fence at the Speedway dreaming of how to get into pit lane. When Ford hired me to work on the IndyCars, it didn't know I would have done that job for free," LaFollette confessed.
The Porschair is in its third iteration. The 140-bhp chromed flat six is mated to a Corvair Powerglide transaxle and rear suspension. LaFollette made everything for his car, including the wheels. They are VW center hubs welded to Ford pick-up truck rims that are 14 in. in front and 15 in. at the rear. LaFollette admitted that the drive to last year's Funfest wasn't much fun-the draft from big rigs would blow his car around the highway. He went home and devised a rear sway bar. During this year's 500-mile trip, LaFollette claimed, "I went looking for semis to pass."
As for next year's Porsche Funfest, Yager and his 130 dedicated employees are already planning a bigger and better event, including a fall weekend date when hopefully the temperature will also be more hospitable.
Tweeks.com Porsche Funfest 2003www.tweeks.comE-mail: funfest@tweeks.com