Bill Mendenhall is the owner of T332 HU49 and below he tells us of the history of his car.
Puchased from Lola by James LaBar for Jerry Karl to race in US F5000 series in 1974 (debut at Laguna Seca 13 October) and 1975 (last seen Road Atlanta 31 Aug 1975). Not seen in 1976, but rebodied with Riley bodywork for the Can-Am series in 1977. Entered by Karl at Mid-Ohio (where the entry list described it as a T330) but did not appear; then raced at Trois-Rivières but retired. Tom Erwin noted that Karl's car was "T330 HU15", although this number makes no sense for Karl.
Sold to Tex Arnold (then Club Racing Director at Texas World Speedway) in Can-Am spec, but Arnold's only appearace with it was a Rio Grande Regional in October 1978, where he did not race. Sold it to Gerre Payvis (Peoria, AZ) in early 1979, and raced by him at Willow Springs in April 1979, still in Riley body and Arnold's red-and-white livery. Payvis raced it in the Road America Can-Am race in 1979, again with its Riley body, and also rented it to T. Patrick McGonegle (Cincinnati, OH) for Watkins Glen in July 1979, but he did not start. Tom Erwin was at the Glen and looked at the car but could not see a chassis plate. However, he did note that it was "Ex-Karl", which confirms Waters' notes.
The car was retained by Payvis during 1980 and 1981, but he is thought to have raced his T333CS-bodied HU53 throughout that period. The ex-Karl car remained unused until 1984, when it was sold to George T. Smith (Mount Freedom, NJ), and entered by GTS Racing/Racing for Britain for David Leslie at the Dallas Can-Am race in July 1984. According to Waters, it was then sold by Smith to Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO). Smith, who had previously entered Al Loquasto and Drake Olsen in CART, also sold his 1972 Indy Eagle to Haines in about 1984 or 1985.
The car's SCCA Log Book shows the Lola's next race as being the CHR race at Gateway in May 1989, where it was raced by Steve Rees (Kansas City, MO), still in Can-Am specification. Rees had owned the ex-Jack Hinkle Lola T165 that was advertised by Chuck Haines in 1989, so may have got the T332 directly from Haines. The next name in the log book is that of Stanley E. Siegel (Orange, CA). He returned the car to F5000 specification and raced at VARA Willow Springs in September 1990, and at ASRA Firebird (Phoenix, AZ) in February 1992. Sold by Stan Siegel to John Obialero (Littleton, CO) 1994. He ran it at the F5000 reunion at Pueblo, Colorado on 6 May 2001. Raced by Obialero at the major historic meetings at Road America in July 2008, July 2009, July 2011, July 2012, July 2013, July 2014, July 2015, July 2016, July 2017 and July 2018. Bought from Obialero by Marc Rauchfuss (Simi Valley, CA) in September 2022. Bought from Rauchfuss by Bill Mendenhall (Anchorage, Alaska) in March 2025.
