| Born in Pittsburg, PA in 1931, Ray Heppenstall is the | | | | This was powered by an 1100cc Rytune DKW |
| great-grandson of the founder of Heppenstall Steel, | | | | engine, Rytune being an associated company of Elva. |
| then the largest family-owned steel company in the | | | | Heppenstall entered the Scorpion at the SCCA |
| U.S. But Ray's fame would come from the racing | | | | National At Marlboro, Maryland and Continental Divide, |
| world, not his grandfather's steel industry. | | | | Colorado, and drove the car to third place in each of |
| Ray entered his first race, a 12-hour endurance race | | | | those races. His Scorpions placed fifth (with driver |
| at Linden, N.J., airport on Aug. 22, 1954. He drove his | | | | Pedro Ridriguez) and second ( with driver Chuck |
| new Nash Metropolitan, which he had modified with a | | | | Wallace) in the Vanderbilt Cup Finals at Roosevelt |
| dual-throat Stromberg carburettor and 12-inch front | | | | Raceway in Long Island. |
| wheels. Heppenstall and his co-driver Howard comply | | | | It was during 1968 racing season, in the Howmet TX, |
| had to retired after five hours with mechanical | | | | that he made history by designing, building, and |
| problems. | | | | driving the Howmet TX to wins at Huntsville and |
| For the next 14 years, he was driver, designer, and | | | | Marlboro. The Howmet was the first and only |
| mechanic for his own cars, and for other owners, | | | | turbine-powered car to win a race. |
| racing primarily SCCA road events across the United | | | | When the Formula Super Vee began in 1971, fitted a |
| States. During 1958 and 1959 Ray raced a D.B. | | | | Lotus Formula 3 chassis with a VW engine and ran in |
| Panhard HBR5 Super Rally Coupe for Howard Hanna | | | | the SCCA Super Vee championship series. Ray |
| from Philadelphia, the US Eastern distributor for D.B. | | | | continued to run a team in Super Vee, but when the |
| The car gained numerous class wins, with Ray | | | | formula changed from using air-cooled engines to |
| winning the SCCA Class H production championship in | | | | water-cooled, around 1978, he decided that racing |
| 1959, following Hanna's win the previous year. Acting | | | | had become far too expensive, and closed his |
| as D.B. salesman throughout the eastern United | | | | workshop, moving out of racing |
| States, Ray drove the car to and from all the race | | | | Around 1990, living in New Jersey, he became |
| meetings, including Riverside in California. | | | | involved in the US vintage racing scene, racing an |
| In 1960 Ray imported a modified version of the | | | | immaculate 1949 Crosley Hotshot three or four times |
| front-engined Elva Formula Junior cars built in England | | | | a year and, in 2000, building up a Miller for vintage |
| by Frank Nichols, known in the USA as the Scorpion. | | | | racing. |