Jerry Knapp & Elite Enterprises

4/18/2023

Revised: Museum Staff. "Jerry Knapp & Elite Enterprises." In The Midst Of. Cokato Historical Society. (July, 2022) vol. 42, no. 2.

Laser 917 designed by Jerry Knapp.

Did you know that Cokato was home to a race car driver and kit car designer? Did you know that one of his designs ended up in the Disney movie "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo"?

Gerald “Jerry” Knapp was born April 13, 1942, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He attended Foxhome public school, and graduated from the West Central School of Agriculture in Morris. He also served six years in the Air Force National Guard. Knapp married Myrna Hanson in 1961. They had two sons, David and Steven.

Knapp raced his Formula Vee car in both amateur and professional racing series for around 14 years. He even shared his love of racing with his sons, David and Steven and his nephew, Thomas.

Knapp began his career in woodworking and sales, which eventually led him to a position at Dura Supreme, Inc.

Elite Enterprises Inc. before the 1973 fire.

In 1967, the Knapp family moved to Cokato. In 1969, Jerry and Mynra Knapp started Elite Enterprises, Inc. in their garage before moving to a larger facility once the business expanded. The company made fiberglass sports car kits, which were typically installed with a Volkswagen chasse and engine. One of Knapp's most popular models was the Laser 917. On April 26 1976, two bright red Laser 917 Phase III Sports cars with Corvair engines arrived at Walt Disney Studios in California for the shooting of the movie "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo." According to the April 29, 1976 Cokato Enterprise, Carl Karppe, director of Disney Productions had called Knapp in February to order the cars, and that later movie director Art Vetrocelli phoned to discuss some technical details about the vehicles and make sure they could accelerate quickly.

Aside from kit cars, Knapp also created fiberglass mailboxes and furniture. In 1981, he and his wife formed Elite Auto Sports to focus on the creation of Formula Vee race cars, kits, and parts. They sold the businesses in 1986 before Jerry Knapp passed away from acute myeloid leukemia on March 1, 1987, at the age of 44.

In the Midst