By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. They can be testaments to brilliant, visionary thinking, or they can be ideas that never panned out. They can be magnificent beasts that ruled the day, or they can be evil handling failures that slunk away into motorsports history. But many of the machines that have been raced over the decades brought something significant to the sport, and even more important, etched into our memories a time and a place that will never be forgotten. Anyone who has grown up in and around the sport has developed a list of favorite racing cars from the time they were kids. It usually started along the way with favorite model building kits or slot car sets, but we all developed our favorites, which we've all added to over the years. I am no exception. As a matter of fact, my list is extensive and at times convoluted. But by no means is it meant to be some sort of be-all and end-all. They just remain meaningful to me.
(Getty images)New Smyrna Beach Airport Races, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, February 10, 1957. Marvin Panch driving the No. 98 Ford “Battlebird” Thunderbird takes the start of the Sunday 40-lap feature race. Next to him is Carroll Shelby driving a 4.9 Ferrari. Other stars racing that day were Troy Rutmann, Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner and Paul Goldsmith. Shelby and Panch ran 1-2 that day. Ford had hired Peter DePaolo Engineering to prepare four Thunderbirds in an effort to steal Chevrolet's thunder with the Corvette; two of the cars were “stock”, and two were fully race prepared experimental sports-racing cars. The stock cars were designed to go against the Corvette in SCCA events, and the two experimental racing cars were designed to go against exotic European sports racers. Dubbed “Battlebirds,” the two experimental machines were heavily modified from the chassis up; one featured a Paxton supercharger and a Hilborn racing fuel injection system, and the other a heavily-reworked NASCAR MEL 430 engine. Both engines were set back in the chassis and coupled to Jaguar four speed transmissions.
(Getty images)
(Getty images)Laguna Seca Raceway, October 23, 1983. Al Unser in the No. 7 Penske Racing Hertz Penske PC-10B/Cosworth in the Cribari Wines 300 CART PPG Indy Car World Series race. He finished in eleventh place that day, but he won the 1983 CART Championship driving for Roger Penske.
(Photo by Dave Friedman)
Riverside International Raceway, October 13, 1962. Bill Krause in the very first competition Shelby American Cobra (CSX2002), which made its debut in the prototype class at the 1962 Riverside Times Grand Prix. The car was extremely fast and quickly pulled away from its competitors, humiliating those driving the brand-new '63 Corvette Sting Ray, which was also making its debut. Krause's Cobra failed to finish when a stub axle broke, but the writing was on the wall for Zora Duntov and his troops back in Detroit - the new Sting Ray was pretty much obsolete compared to the lightweight Cobra.
(Getty images)
(Photo by Dave Friedman)Riverside International Raceway, October 13, 1962. Bill Krause in the very first competition Shelby American Cobra (CSX2002), which made its debut in the prototype class at the 1962 Riverside Times Grand Prix. The car was extremely fast and quickly pulled away from its competitors, humiliating those driving the brand-new '63 Corvette Sting Ray, which was also making its debut. Krause's Cobra failed to finish when a stub axle broke, but the writing was on the wall for Zora Duntov and his troops back in Detroit - the new Sting Ray was pretty much obsolete compared to the lightweight Cobra.
(Getty images)Nürburgring 1000 Km, May 29, 1964. The Ford GT40 made its racing debut at the Nürburgring on May 31. Here the No. 140 Ford GT40 entered by Ford Advanced Vehicles undergoes technical inspection before practice. Bruce McLaren is in the cockpit, while Phil Hill sits on the sill next to McLaren. Hill put the brand-new racing machine on the front row next to the Ferrari 275P driven by John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini, but even though the Ford was quick in its debut, it was far from being ready to race because of a long list of issues, from aerodynamic instability to suspension problems. The new Ford racing machine retired from the race with suspension failure.
(Getty images)
(Getty images)Nassau Speed Weeks, December 1963. Needless to say, this is a very famous photo. John Mecom and Roger Penske lean on one of three factory-supported Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sports that were entered under the Mecom Racing Team banner to compete in several races that week. Developed in secret by Corvette Chief Zora Arkus-Duntov & Co. and aimed at the Shelby Cobra, the lightweight Grand Sports were accompanied by a remarkable number of Chevrolet engineers who just so happened to be on vacation in Nassau that week. The Grand Sports were a total surprise and caught Carroll Shelby completely off-guard. Mecom had assembled an All-Star lineup of drivers, including Penske, Jim Hall, Dr. Dick Thompson, Augie Pabst and John Cannon. And the Grand Sports were blistering fast, too, lapping ten seconds a lap quicker than Shelby's Cobras. For a brief, fleeting moment in time the Corvette Grand Sport was the talk of the racing world.
(Dave Friedman photo)
Sebring, March 1964. Designer Peter Brock next to the Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupe that he designed. Initially resisted by the Shelby American crew, Brock basically had to get the car built off to the side in the shop, as there was a reluctance to believe it would work. But since the Shelby Cobra roadsters excelled in sprint races, but getting beat on the high-speed European tracks, Shelby gave Brock the go-ahead to complete the car. At its first test at Riverside, the Cobra Daytona Coupe was more than 20 mph faster than the competition Cobra roadster. Shelby American won the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1965 with the Cobra Daytona Coupe, becoming the first American manufacturer to do so.
(Dave Friedman photo)Sebring, March 1964. Designer Peter Brock next to the Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupe that he designed. Initially resisted by the Shelby American crew, Brock basically had to get the car built off to the side in the shop, as there was a reluctance to believe it would work. But since the Shelby Cobra roadsters excelled in sprint races, but getting beat on the high-speed European tracks, Shelby gave Brock the go-ahead to complete the car. At its first test at Riverside, the Cobra Daytona Coupe was more than 20 mph faster than the competition Cobra roadster. Shelby American won the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1965 with the Cobra Daytona Coupe, becoming the first American manufacturer to do so.
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