I first met Hap Baldwin through Harry Sorteberg, who was his son-in-law at the time.
Hap was usually at the races with Harry and when I went along, he and I would help with the
crew duties on Harry's car.

Later, Hap decided to try racing and bought a Formula C car which proved to be more trouble than it was worth. He then bought Glen Biren's Lola and started running in Formula Ford.

Hap was always faster than me, much to my distress, as he had quite a few years on me. We used to joke about the old guy beating the skinny young guy.

Over the years I lost track of Hap, but he was always in my memories of my years of racing and I always wondered what he was up to.

Early in 1999 as I was returning to racing, I learned that Hap had been killed in his private plane.
I was deeply saddened by this news and I still have a hard time thinking about it.

I still have Hap's Formula Ford which he sold to me after a particularly bad crash at Laguna Seca.
I think it would be fitting to get it back together so I could see his old car running again.

Hap was a member of the San Francisco region of the SCCA.

The two photos below are about all I have left of Hap.