by A. J. Baime
The following books proved most valuable: The Enzo Ferrari Memoirs: My Terrible Joys by Enzo Ferrari; The Fords: An American Epic by Peter Collier and David Horowitz; Ford: The Dust and the Glory, Volume I, by Leo Levine; John Surtees: World Champion by John Surtees; That Certain Sound by John Wyer; Memoirs of Enzo Ferrari’s Lieutenant by Franco Gozzi; Ken Miles by Art Evans; and The Cobra Story by Carroll Shelby. The collection of articles Ferrari: The Man, the Machines, edited by Stan Grayson, was extremely useful, as were the original Ford GT engineering papers from the mid-1960s, published today in one volume as The Ford GT by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Dave Friedman’s Shelby GT40: The Shelby American Original Color Archives, Brock Yates’s Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine, and Robert Daley’s The Cruel Sport: Grand Prix Racing 1959–1967 (and his New York Times stories) were all extremely useful in culling facts and dialogue.
Mark Mandel at ABC was kind enough to retrieve the original Wide World of Sports broadcasts. My deep gratitude goes out to Jason Harper, Amy Grace Loyd, Robert Anasi, my wife Michelle for reading early chapters, and Bob Love, whose encouragement helped me to write the proposal for this book in the first place. Special thanks go to Scott Keogh and Jeff Kuhlman at Audi for their hospitality at Le Mans. I’d also like to thank my sister Abby, my Aunt Karen and Uncle Ken Segal, “the outlaws” Bill and Connie Burdick, Jack and Margo Ezell, Sydney Goldenberg, and Susan Baime for all their support through the years.
Finally, I’d like to thank a handful of people who taught me how to write: Jim Kaminsky, a great mentor who gave me all my initial breaks in this business, Chris Napolitano, Kenneth Silverman at New York University, Sarah Sherman and Brock Detier at the University of New Hampshire, my brilliant elementary school English teacher Mr. Breithaupt, and (though we’ve never met) Bruce Springsteen.
This book is dedicated to the lights of my life—Michelle, Clayton, and Audrey. I am the luckiest bastard on the planet.
Notes
Introduction
x A four hour sprint race: Gordon H. Jennings, “Le Mans 24 Hours,” Car and Driver, September 1964.
Prologue
xi He shifted from third: John Fitch (estimating speed and gearshifts at this point on the track), in discussion with the author.
He was wearing goggles: Mark Kahn, Death Race: Le Mans 1955 (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1976): 119–120. xii Each ticket had a warning: Kahn, Death Race, 22.
Levegh had had a vision: Kahn, Death Race, 92–93. xiii It is too narrow: Fitch, interview. Also: John Fitch with Art Evans and Don Klein, Racing with Mercedes (Redondo Beach, CA: Photo Data Research, 2005), 63.
Levegh was going about: Kahn, Death Race, 101. xiv He eyed a 16-foot-wide: Kahn, Death Race, 104.
1. The Deuce
3 I will build a motor car: Henry Ford with Samuel Crowther, My Life and Work (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2004), 73.
Just before 8:00 A.M.: William Serrin, “At Ford Everyone Knows Who Is the Boss,” New York Times Magazine, October 19, 1969. In this piece, Henry II discusses his morning routine and commute.
“HFII”-monogrammed slippers: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Fords: An American Epic (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002), 260.
His commute took him west: Serrin, “At Ford.”
4 Ford Motor Company made: Reference Document in the Ford Archives from “News Department,” stamped June 8, 1961.
Henry II could see the stacks: Edsel Ford II, in discussion with the author.
Just before 10:30 A.M.: Booton Herndon, Ford: The Unconventional Story of a Powerful Family, a Mighty Industry and the Extraordinary Men Behind It All (New York: Avon Books, 1970), 208.
It was like being summoned: Lee Iacocca with William Novak, Iacocca: An Autobiography (New York: Bantam, 1984), 46.
We like what you are doing: Herndon, Ford, 208.
5 One of the greatest marketing geniuses: David Abodaher, Iacocca (New York: Zebra Books, 1984), 55.
If you want to be in this business: Herndon, Ford, 208.
The industry consumed 60 percent: Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill, Ford: Rebirth and Decline, 1933–1962 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963), 436.
This is a nickel and dime: Robert Coughlan, “Co-Captains in Ford’s Battle for Supremacy,” Life, February 28, 1955.
My name is on the building: John S. Demott, “My Name Is on the Building,” Time, October 12, 1987.
6 Cost less per pound than a wheelbarrow: “Auto, Upon Pound Basis, Ranks with Cheaper Machinery,” Washington Post, October 17, 1926.
7 He was a saint: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 156.
This thing killed my father: Coughlan, “Co-Captains.”
I’ll take it only if: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 167.
8 Can you believe it?: George Koether, “How Henry Ford II Saved the Empire,” Look, June 30, 1953.
Built 86,865 aircraft: Walter Hayes, Henry: A Life of Henry Ford II (New York: Grove Weidenfield, 1990), 24.
There were forty-eight plants: “The Rouge & the Black,” Time, May 18, 1953.
The fat young man: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 163.
Beat Chevrolet: Coughlan, “Co-Captains.”
Look, we’re rebuilding: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 180.
9 It was more than: “Mrs. Ford Senior Sees Exhibit Here,” New York Times, June 12, 1948.
Instrument of conquest: “Young Henry’s $72,000,000 Gamble,” Newsweek, June 14, 1948.
10 The fight between Ford: Coughlan, “Co-Captains.”
Drive it home or make love to it: Clay Felker, “Iacocca: Whiz Kid, Senior Grade,” Esquire, November 1962.
11 Next year there will be: Felker, “Iacocca: Whiz Kid.”
The buyingest age group in history: “Ford’s Young One,” Time, April 17, 1964.
Iacocca was passed a photograph: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 249.
What we need is a campaign: “The Mustang—A New Breed Out of Detroit,” Newsweek, April 20, 1964.
12 The tomb: “The Mustang.”
Put in class for the mass: “The Mustang.”
In European racing: “Press Box,” Detroit News, February 27, 1961.
13 The specific engine size: “Ford Is Set to Ignore Industry Ban on Ads That Emphasize Speed,” Wall Street Journal, June 12, 1962.
Chevrolet was funding a racing campaign: Alex Gabbard, NASCAR’s Wild Years:
Stock-Car Technology in the 1960s (North Branch, MN: CarTech, 2005), 39.
Also: Leo Levine, Ford: The Dust and the Glory, Volume I (Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers, 2000), 265–267, 289–290.
14 These guys are cheating: Lee Iacocca, in discussion with the author.
Not since the heyday: “Thumping Year,” Newsweek, April 2, 1962.
We believe this action: Levine, Ford, 267.
Never received a reply: Levine, Ford, 267.
GM’s slice of the pie hit 61.6 percent: “G.M. Chunk of Auto Mart at 40 Year High,” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 21, 1962.
15 Now I don’t want to imply: Bob Ottum, “Someone Up There Said ‘Let’s Race,’ and Lo, Ford Came Flying,” Sports Illustrated, December 25, 1967.
But as others were doing it: Ford with Crowther, My Life and Work, 50.
Accordingly, we are withdrawing: “Ford Abandons Pact,” New York Times, June 12, 1962.
Continue with unabated vigor: “Ford Junks Agreement to Ban Horsepower Ads,” Detroit News, June 12, 1962.
We’re going in with both feet: Levine, Ford, 290.
The biggest automotive scoop in years: Levine, Ford, 290.
16 Detroit’s romance with racing: “Detroit Roaring Back Into Race Competition,” New York Times, April 5, 1963.
2. Il Commendatore
17 I am convinced: Enzo Ferrari, The Enzo Ferrari Memoirs: My Terrible Joys (London: Hamish Hamilton London, 1963), 139.
Small chamber with a desk: Today, Ferrari’s original scuderia office is on display at the Ferrari museum
in Maranello.
18 The puppy: “Il Grande Anno del Costruttore dei Famosi Bolidi di Maranello,” Corriere della Sera, February 28, 1958.
His diuresis, the presence of albumin: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 44.
19 Don’t let it get you down: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 42.
20 Ferrari’s aim: Winthrop Sargeant, “The Terrible Joys,” The New Yorker, January 15, 1966.
The heartbeat of the creature: Gino Rancati, Ferrari, the Man (Milan: Sonzogno Publishing, 1977), 18.
Absurdly gifted artisans abound: Griffith Borgeson, “The Great Agitator,” Ferrari: The Man, the Machines, ed. Stan Grayson (Princeton, NJ: Automobile Quarterly Publications, 1975), 13.
21 It is my opinion: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 26–27.
An agitator of men: Borgeson, “The Great Agitator,” 23.
Sei di Denari: Franco Gozzi, Memoirs of Enzo Ferrari’s Lieutenant (Milan: Giorgio Nada Editore, 2002), 10.
22 Extremely emotionally attached: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 27.
Speed-bewitched recluse: “Ferrari: Speed-Bewitched Recluse,” New York Times, June 8, 1958.
23 What life means: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 44.
I have lost my son: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 44.
Racing no longer had meaning: Rancati, Ferrari, the Man, 100. Also, Brock Yates, Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 242.
The office Dino kept: Hans Tanner and Doug Nye, Ferrari (Newbury Park, CA: Haynes Publishing, 1986), 7.
24 Record del Miglio: Gozzi, Ferrari’s Lieutenant, 12–13. Also, Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 18.
25 Ferrari, why don’t you put: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 40.
50 percent car, 50 percent driver: Rancati, Ferrari, the Man, 27.
Near superhuman courage: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 61.
Almost a third of the scuderia’s income: Tanner and Nye, Ferrari, 22.
At the first bend: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 60.
26 Huge sums of Reichmarks: Yates, Enzo Ferrari, 85.
27 Brauchitsch has burst: Yates, Enzo Ferrari, 104.
28 The future is here: Gozzi, Ferrari’s Lieutenant, 45.
If Chinetti was willing: Ken Gross (automotive historian and long-time contributing editor at Playboy magazine; Gross knew Chinetti and had heard him tell this story), in discussion with the author.
West 49th Street: Albert R. Bochroch, “Ferrari in America,” Ferrari, ed. Stan Grayson, 177.
All we wanted to do was: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 41.
29 The first Ferrari arrived: Stan Nowak, “The First Ferraris,” Ferrari, ed. Grayson, 100. Roman suits of armor: Stan Nowak, “Bodies Beautiful—Ferrari Coachbuilding,” Ferrari, ed. Grayson, 137.
The car which I have: Tanner and Nye, Ferrari, 7.
On December 2, 1956: Rancati, Ferrari, 106.
30 I like the feeling of fear: “A Man Who Was Born 400 Years Too Late,” Life, April 9, 1956.
Making love is: Ken Purdy, “Portago,” Sports Cars Illustrated, August 1957.
Burst into song: Ferrari, Ferrari Memoirs, 43.
3. Total Performance
31 You go to a big: Bob Ottum, “Someone Up There Said ‘Let’s Race,’ and Lo, Ford Came Flying,” Sports Illustrated, December 25, 1967.
A bitter controversy: “Controversy Brews Over Racing Issue,” Los Angeles Times, February 10, 1963, and “Is Today D-Day at Daytona Race?” Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1963.
32 It was all a smokescreen: Kenneth Rudeen, “Big Smokescreen in Daytona,” Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1963.
33 In the open test: “Advertising: New Horsepower Race,” New York Times, March 7, 1963.
Ford Motor Companies: Internal company document, Ford Archives at Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 1608, Box 1.
34 If racing sells cars: “If Racing Sells Cars. . .,” Newsweek, June 10, 1963. Also: Lee Iacocca, in discussion with the author.
Son of a gun, Lee!: Ottum, “Ford Came Flying.”
Forget all the details: Ottum, “Ford Came Flying.”
35 The idea is staring: Carroll Shelby, filmed interview, The Cobra-Ferrari Wars (Spirit Level Films, 2004).
Give him the money: This is a widely repeated story. For the sake of a source: Pete Brock, “The Car that Lived Up to Its Legend,” Car and Driver, July 2001.
36 You know, I think: Carroll Shelby as told to John Bentley, The Cobra Story (New York: Trident Press, 1965), 195.
There’s no man born: Shelby, The Cobra Story, 8.
Drive it?: Shelby, The Cobra Story, 35.
37 A rich patron named: Shelby, in discussion with the author.
I’m going to buy: Shelby, The Cobra Story, 74.
You can drive some: Shelby, interview. Also, Shelby, The Cobra Story, 88.
38 Like a knife being stuck: Shelby, interview.
39 It seems that in a ridiculously: “Corvette vs. Cobra: The Battle for Supremacy,” Road & Track, June 1963.
Hi, I’m Lee: Dave Friedman (Shelby American official photographer), in discussion with the author.
I’m not an engineer: Shelby, interview. Also: Steve Smith, “The Ford in Carroll Shelby’s Future,” Car and Driver, June 1963.
40 Does winning automobile races: “Racing Victories Spur Ford Sales,” New York Times, September 7, 1963.
I came to Europe: “European Investment by Ford Nears $800 million,” Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1963.
41 170 gigantic presses: Factory descriptions from David Burgess-Wise, Ford at Dagenham: The Rise and Fall of Detroit in Europe (Derby, U.K.: Breedon Books Publishing Ltd., 2001), 143–168.
43 530 Park Avenue: Victor Lasky, Never Complain, Never Explain: The Story of Henry Ford II (New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1981), 101.
Looked better in a bikini: Lasky, Never Complain, 101.
I’ve got the company: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 245.
Don’t give me this shit: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 241.
I’m leaving: Lee Iacocca with William Novak, Iacocca: An Autobiography, 68.
44 He was like a time bomb: Collier and Horowitz, The Fords, 223.
4. Ferrari, Dino, and Phil Hill
45 I was just a young man: Phil Hill, Ferrari: A Champion’s View (Deerfield, IL: Dalton Watson Fine Books, 2004), 85.
Jinx: Robert Daley, “The Ferrari ‘Jinx,’” Esquire, November 1959.
It is the race: Steve McNamara, “Enzo Ferrari,” Sports Car Illustrated, September 1959.
46 Enough with these absurd: “Proposta la Soppressione della Corsa a la Revisione di Tutte le Gare Su Strada,” Corriere della Sera, May 13, 1957.
Enzo Ferrari, born in Modena: Enzo Ferrari, The Enzo Ferrari Memoirs: My Terrible Joys (London: Hamish Hamilton London, 1963), 156.
Why should I continue: Gino Rancati, Ferrari, the Man (Milan: Sonzogno Publishing, 1977), 145.
47 One estimate put the figure: Ken W. Purdy, “Stirling Moss: A Nodding Acquaintance with Death,” Playboy, September 1962.
The driver pulled from a wreck: Purdy, “Stirling Moss.”
Quitting was in itself: Purdy, “Stirling Moss.”
Only those who do not move: Robert Daley, Cars at Speed (New York: Collier, 1966), 33.
For an instant he: “Jean Behra Killed in Race Crack-Up,” New York Times, August 2, 1959.
48 The modern racing car: Piero Taruffi, “Stop Us Before We Kill Again,” Saturday Evening Post, November 16, 1957.
Almost a superhuman quality: “Il Grande Anno del Costruttore dei Famosi Bolidi di Maranello,” Corriere della Sera, February 28, 1958.
A modernized Saturn: “Vatican Paper Asks End of Auto Racing Deaths,” New York Times, July 10, 1958.
His inner circle saw him struggle: Franco Gozzi, in discussion with the author. I wouldn’t want to be: Daley, “Ferrari ‘Jinx.’"
Everything that I’ve done: “Il Grande Anno.”
49 It does not seem: Griffith Borgeson, “The Great Agitator,” Ferrari: The Man, the Machines, ed. Stan
Grayson (Princeton, NJ: Automobile Quarterly Publications, 1975), 39.
How would you like: Phil Hill, “A Championship Season and Other Memories,” Ferrari, ed. Stan Grayson, 220.
51 Third or fourth Ferrari ever: Phil Hill, in discussion with the author.
52 Guaranteed not to cause ulcers: William Nolan, Phil Hill: Yankee Champion (Carpinteria, CA: Brown Fox, 1996), 61.
You go as fast: “Racers Challenge Death in Mexico,” Life, December 7, 1953.
On the end of the bench: Nolan, Phil Hill, 76.
53 One of consummate and meticulous: Pat Jordan, “Of Memory, Death, and the Automobile,” The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan (New York: Perseus Books, 2008), 189.
I would so love to get: Robert Daley, The Cruel Sport: Grand Prix Racing 1959–1967 (St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks International, 2005), 35.
He didn’t have much contact: Hill, “Championship Season,” Ferrari, ed. Grayson, 225.
Black-framed portraits: Robert Daley, in discussion with the author (Daley interviewed Ferrari in his office in 1958 with Hill present).
54 We can win this race: Daley, Cars at Speed, 128.
5. The Palace Revolt
55 This kind of love: Brock Yates, Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 63.
I want to create a car: “Too Slow, You Lose—Too Fast. . .,” Newsweek, July 17, 1961.
57 Mickey Mantle in a Ferrari: “The Law and Mr. Phil Hill,” Los Angeles Times, March 27, 1961.
He is resolve: Diana Bartley, “High Speed, High Brow,” Esquire, June 1961.