People · Profile No. 1

Zora Arkus-Duntov

Racer. Refugee. Engineer. Provocateur. He escaped two of history's darkest chapters, won his class twice at Le Mans, and talked his way into a job at Chevrolet with a letter — then spent twenty-two years turning a slow, pretty boulevard car into America's sports car, and the rest of his life fighting for the Corvette it could still become. This is his story, told properly: in twelve chapters.

The chapters

• Prologue Nassau, December 1963 Five illegal Corvettes, a Texas oil heir's airplane hangar, and the week Zora's outlaws humiliated the Cobra.
• Chapter 1 · 1909–1927 Revolution A boy with two fathers and one name to honor them both, coming of age as an empire collapses around him.
• Chapter 2 · 1927–1938 Berlin Motorcycles, a supercharging thesis, a consulting job with the Mercedes Grand Prix team — and a country turning monstrous.
• Chapter 3 · 1939–1952 The Escape A dancer in an MG one step ahead of the Wehrmacht, a ship out of Lisbon, and the little aluminum heads that made the Duntov name famous before Chevrolet ever called.
• Chapter 4 · 1953–1954 The Letter A white roadster on a turntable at the Waldorf-Astoria, a letter to a man he'd never met, and a car dying on dealer lots.
• Chapter 5 · 1955–1957 "No Dog Anymore" A camouflaged Chevy up Pikes Peak, 150 mph on the sand at Daytona, the Real McCoy at Sebring, and one horsepower per cubic inch.
• Chapter 6 · 1957–1962 The Ban The magnesium Super Sport gets 23 laps of glory before the industry outlaws racing — so Zora goes underground.
• Chapter 7 · 1962–1963 Sting Ray Wars The masterpiece arrives — and its two fathers go to war over a strip of fiberglass down the back window.
• Chapter 8 · 1962–1964 The Lightweights One hundred twenty-five Cobra-killers, planned in secret. Five escaped. This is the heartbreak chapter.
• Chapter 9 · 1965–1969 Backdoor Horsepower If GM won't go racing, the racers will come to GM: the L88 rated at 430 lying horsepower, and the all-aluminum ZL1.
• Chapter 10 · 1960–1974 The Mid-Engine Dream CERV I, CERV II, XP-882, the four-rotor beauty, the Aerovette: five approaches to the Corvette Zora knew was right — every one of them killed.
• Chapter 11 · 1975–forever Legacy Retirement, a museum with his ashes in the wall, and a mid-engine Corvette that finally arrived — 45 years after he drew it.

One life, at speed

• 1909 Born Zachar Arkus in Brussels, Christmas Day
• 1927 Family flees to Berlin; motorcycles and engineering school
• 1939 Marries dancer Elfi Wolff in France; joins the French Air Force
• 1940 Escapes the fall of France via Lisbon to New York
• 1947 Ardun overhead-valve heads make flathead Fords fly
• 1953 Sees the Corvette at the Motorama; hired by Chevrolet May 1
• 1955 Pikes Peak record in a camouflaged '56 Chevy
• 1956 150.583 mph at Daytona; "The Corvette was no dog anymore"
• 1957 Fuel injection: one horsepower per cubic inch; the SS races Sebring
• 1963 Sting Ray, Z06, and five Grand Sports against the world
• 1967–69 L88 and ZL1: race engines hiding on the order sheet
• 1970–74 Mid-engine prototypes dazzle shows, die in boardrooms
• 1975 Retires January 1; hands the keys to Dave McLellan
• 1996 Dies April 21; ashes entombed at the National Corvette Museum
• 2020 The mid-engine C8 arrives. Zora wins the long game

Further reading

Start with Jerry Burton's definitive biography Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Legend Behind Corvette. Online, the deep cuts include CorvetteForum's profile, the Corvette Action Center biography, the National Corvette Museum's tribute, and the Revs Institute's Grand Sport #002 history.