Riverside Grand Prix 1959

A photo of Bill Krause's Maserati Type 61 "Birdcage" racecar taken at the 1959 Riverside Grand Prix. In February of 2021 Howard Miereanu told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that he met Billy Krause, as well as Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther and Phill Hill late in 1958, or early in 1959, when he was in his last semester at Art Center College of Design. "They all came to the school and wanted to see the auto designs we were creating. Our project was to design a futuristic race car. Billy liked one of my designs and asked if I would be interested in designing a paint scheme for his Birdcage. He told me that he was having Von Dutch paint the car. Wow…what an honor and I jumped at the chance and submitted a few designs and he selected the one you see on his car." Notice the flying eyeball that Von Dutch added to the nose of the car. Krause was Dutch's brother in law and in addition to the paint, he also lettered the Maserati. Photo from The Howard Miereanu Collection.