Central Kansas Corvette Club

CENTRAL KANSAS CORVETTE ASSOCIATION
• Clarence 'Clay' Bontrager and the StingRat •

Article and Photos from the 1977 National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC) National Convention in Dallas, Texas featuring Clarence 'Clay' Bontrager and the StingRat, as published in the September/October 1977 issue of NCCC's Blue Bars Magazine

StingRat in action, second row from bottom, far right photo

Enlarged scan of StingRat in action as seen in earlier photo

Clarence 'Clay' Bontrager and the StingRat: FTD in Speed Event!

Bontrager was the ONLY racer to run in the 70's, finishing over two-and-a-half seconds ahead of 2nd-place finisher Byers in RP (race prepared). Wow.

Bontrager finished third in RP in the Drag event (I believe the published time of 11.61 for Shapiro is a typo and should read 11.71), finishing a mere 0.050 seconds behind Byers. An 11-second run in the quarter mile is absolutely flying. "T" indicates trophy.

For the second year in a row, Bontrager takes Overall FTD at a National Council of Corvettes Clubs National Convention: 1976 in Orlando, Florida, and again in 1977 in Dallas, Texas.

At this point, the staff of Blue Bars Magazine, Corvette News and every other major Corvette-focused magazine in the nation should have been fighting each other over who gets exclusive interview rights. I'm inclined to agree with CKCA Vetter News editor Dave Griffin:

– Source: https://www.ckca.club/stingrat-jan-1977-vetter-news.html

If a subsequent NCCC feature article on Clarence, the StingRat and the CKCA exists, I'm not aware of it.

Well done, Mr. Bontrager. I wish I could've been there to see it with my own eyes. – GH

All page scans above are from the September/October 1977 issue of NCCC's Blue Bars Magazine, a physical copy of which resides in the CKCA archives.