[randyzimmer]

I talked to Fred Opert the other day, he was gracious enough to return my call and relate what he remembered. He says he bought four cars and had them flown over along with a T70 and all the spares they could fit by Rupert Keegan's father's service. Two cars went to Chicago to a single team and suggested locating the wife of one of the driver's who worked at Carl Haas'. He thought her name may be Judy but I think he may have meant Vicky O'Connor. He went on to explain his high regard for Ron Dennis who has accomplished so much without having much in the way of formal education. Fred went on to tell how Ron's support of a new hire during those Rondel years came back to him as the former employee became the liaison/Press Officer to Phillip Morris and we know what that helped accomplish. So Fred suggested that anyone who wanted to know the most about Rondel in '73 locate John Hogan who may have the best knowledge of the driver lineup.
Mr. Opert finished up by saying he did not run the cars himself but he knew them as being a bit heavy but sturdy with good characteristics that drivers had no complaints with. (Bertil Roos once commented to me that the cars had a not so good turn in but it looked as if I had that fixed(!)) Fred also said that starting money had everything to do with the revolving chairs in the cars, as a French driver in France got the team more cash and so forth so he had drivers he'd call to put in his cars each year at specific events.