SEBRING 1960

Zych and Nicholas catch a ride with Spankey Smith in his MG Magnette. The warm weather, the international drivers and the fabulous cars. The smell of orange blossoms. We were overwhelmed. This is the first big overall win in a major race for the Porsche factory.

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Graham Hill in the #42 RS-60. Hill and Bonnier chose not to drive the car in the race. Gendebien & Herrmann were assigned to the car and won the race.

Hill and Bonnier in front of #42. Are they making the decision to drive another car in the race?

Hill and Bonnier decided on #43. Here Graham drives the car. It lasted 43 laps and the motor blew. Hmm, wonder what they were thinking when their original car won.

The pilots compartment of a factory Porsche RS-60.

The #46 RS-60 driven by Anton vanDory and Roberto Mieres. The car and team had won the under 1.6 class at Daytona, but at Sebring the engine broke.

A stunning yellow RS-60 driven by Ernie Erickson and Don Sessler. The car was fast in practice but jammed a timing gear at the start and completed just 1 lap.

Porsche’s line up before the race. Sebring 1960 was huge for Porsche as this was their first big international overall win. Next to the winning RS-60 is the Carerra Coupe of Count Karel Godin de Beaufort, know to the barcboys as Count deBlowfart.

The #44 of Bob Holbert and Roy Schecter were leading when an electric gremlin stopped them in the pits giving the win to Gendebien and Hermann. A glorious look at what international endurance racing looked like in 1960.

The Holbert/Schecter RS-60 was was entered by Brumos Porsche. None of the RS-60’s were entered by Porsche - they were all entered by individuals but driven by the best Porsche had.

Ferrarri 250 Testa Rossa 59/60. This car was driven by Chuck Daigh and Richie Ginther and was our pick to win. Sadly it was a dnf.

Daigh heading down the short straight to the old hairpin. Flat out, nose a bit high and a screaming V12.

The Lovely/Nethercutt car is pushed to the starting grid. I have always thought the 250 TR 59/60 to be among the best looking race cars ever.

Jack Nethercutt signals he is coming into the pits in his Ferrari Testa Rossa 59/60. He and Pete Lovely would finish 3rd overall.

The #10 Ferrari rolls to the starting grid. Note the size of the crowd. Ed Hugus & Augie Pabst were 4th overall in the Berlinetta

This gorgeous yellow SWB Ferrari was 7th Geroge Arents & Bill Kimberly

Bill Sturgis & Fritz D'Orey were 6th in the #12 FerrariBerlinetta

George Constantine, Dean McCarthy & Bob Publicker were 10th OA in the 250 GTCalifornia Ferrari

The Italian duo of Georgio Scarlatti & Carlo Abate were 8th in this Scuderia Serenissima California

The #17 California George Reed & Alan Connell were 5th

The Mexican phenom brothers Ricardo & Pedro Rodriguez look over their 2 liter Dino Ferrari.

Ricardo ready to head out. We barcboys were so jealous of the brothers. We were the same age and sleeping on the ground eating peanut butter sandwiches and they were racing a NART Ferrari at Sebring.

The business compartment of a Ferrari 250TR 59/60

Dan Gurney drove this Maserati Tipo 61 “birdcage” with Stirling Moss. For a short while Gurney had a white stripe on his normal black helmet.

Stirling Moss, the fastest race car driver on the planet in 1960 signals the Maserati’s transmission has given up. Moss was tough on cars and it was often win or break but there was no denying his speed.

The Causey Brothers Birdcage gets some brake attention. Luke Stear co drove with Dave Causey but this car suffered the same fate as the Gurney and Moss car. Transmission trouble.

Causey always presented nicely prepared cars. His twin brother Dean and he were farmers from Indiana and invented several farming techniques including hydroponics.

The Cunningham Maserati of Walt Hansgen and Ed Crawford suffered from a differential failure. The Tipo 61 featured a transaxle to create a 50/50 weight distribution and it often failed. Fact: over 200 steel tubes were used to create the frame - hence the nickname Birdcage.

Ed Crawford who drove several years for Cunningham in the red Maserati.. Crawford was raised in Chicago to a wealthy family and got his reputation in his blue 550RS Porsche before joining Cunningham. At Sebring he high sided the birdcage at the hairpin and spent 30 minutes digging it out.

Hap Sharp and Jim Hall shared this Cooper Monaco and while fast, it was very fragile and only completed 26 laps.

Sir Stirling laps the Tom O’Brien/Don Horn Alfa. Moss and Gurney led the race before their transmission failed.

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The BMC Factory brought 4 MGA twin cams and 3 big, booming 3 liter Healeys. #!9 was involved in an accident, the other two finished.

Johnny Cuevas (red shirt) leans on his Carrera Speedster he shared with Swede Ulf Norinder. We have no idea who the proud young man is in the yellow shirt.

Duncan Black and Charlemagne Tower ran his Daimler SP250 with the aerodynamic rolled up windows helping. The car went the entire 12 hours to 34th overall. Black used that car to dominate SCCA racing that year.

Vestal, NY car dealer Jim Forno and Ike Williamson drove the Morgan. The car broke a front hub.

The Alfa of Watkins Glen luminaries Cameron Argetsinger and Bill Milliken. A complete private entry that ran well and was still going after 12 hours. Note the New York State license plate starting with WK for Watkins Glen.

A typical Sebring moment. A factory MGA twin cam is passing what appears to be a Turner and about to be gobbled by Moss in the Birdcage Maser and the Pete Lovely Ferrari

Sweet little Bandini Fiat driven by Fred Haynes and Victor Luken suffered a broken radiator on lap 27.

One of Wacky Arnolt’s Bristol powered Bolides. This car driven by Bill Bradley, Jim Johnston and Bud Seaverns finished a solid 22nd and its sister car #31 won the 2 liter class.

A factory team of 3 beautiful Lotus Elites were entered. Number 55 Jay Chamberlain and Charles Evans finished 25th and 3rd in the 1.3 liter class.

Elite #56 lost brakes at the hairpin and hit a photographer who was in the escape road. Unfortunately both the driver and the photographer died in the accident.

John Eells Kelley was atop the pits and shot this great sequence. Here the drivers are waiting the Lemans start.

The drivers have crossed the track and are leaping into their cars. Many would simply forget seat belts to save time. A silly move for a 12 hour race.

And they are off. Moss in #23, typically the fastest LeMans starter is slow getting off and #25 Hansgen who fastened his belts is also just getting started.

Rubber and exhaust cloud the front straight as 65 start the 12 hour. Note in the distance the #3 Corvette has still not started.

Early in the race cars come streaming past the pits. This is a very fast section of the track and in 1960 only a few hay bales separated the track and pit lane. Radios? What radios? Info was passed by pit boards.

The new Lola Mk I came to the US and was very fast and finished 17th overall and 1st in the 1100cc class. Drivers were Charles Vogele and Peter Ashdown.

Overhead shot of the 750 OSCA of John Bentley and John Gordon who won the 850cc class and were an amazing 12th overall.

The Sprinzle Sprtie did not do well in the race finishing only 62 laps. In this photo Stirling Moss is testing the car in practice.

Just a nice fast drive in thie 300SL roadster. Paul O’Shea was hired to drive but the car wore out its brakes in practice and there were no spares. The car sat in the paddock and never started the race.

Late afternoon on Thursday and the cars are waiting for night practice.

Jesse Coleman stands at the start finish line. The front row has Hansgen in the silver rear engined Cooper, Jim Hall in the red Elva and Ed Crawford in the blue Stanuellini.

The flag drops and Hall gets a slight lead on Crawford but Hansgen is barely moving with a bad motor.

Second lap and Crawford tries an outside pass.

Jim Hall’s Elva (yes the future Chaparral designer) leads Ed Crawford’s Stanguellini. That is how they finished - and that close.

Walt Hansgen in the Cooper Formula Junior

Fast Eddie Crawford was not known for open wheel racing or engines in front but he went well this day.

Jay Chamberlain’s spanking new Lotus 18. 1960 saw formula junior introducing rear engined cars and the Lotus 18 was a winner for years. Chamberlain was 3rd.

Always at Sebring there are wonderful cars in the paddock. Here, a sensational and very rare Jaguar XK-SS.

In attendance a rare Fraser-Nash.

Late in the day Cameron and Jeanne Argetsinger fuel their Alfa Giulietta. The #81 300SL practiced but ran out of brakes and no spares were available. The car never started, Argetsinger and Bill Milliken finished 27th overall and 4th in GT 1.3.

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BMC brought 4 twin cam roadsters with hard tops. 3 raced and one was labeled P. The #38 was the British driven car of Colin Escort and Ted Lund.

This is the Canadian car driven by fred Hayes and Ed Leavans. This car was 24th overall. Most important it was later owned and raced by BARC founder Dave Nicholas who won FP in the 1968 Watkins Glen 100. The car now lives in Germany with Stephen Propsting.

This car with the white stripe was the American driven entry of Dan Flaherty and Jim Parkinson. This car was owned by barc member John Wright and it is exactly as it was at Sebring - unrestored and wonderful.

To not wear out the mechanics of the twin cams, MG brought a sister P car. The lore has it that the car was being taken to Cuba, the boat sank and it now sits at the bottom of the Caribbean.

Eells Kelley’s haunting portrait of American racing legend Masten Gregory, the Kansas Flash. Gregory was a hero of Jim Clark, Carroll Shelby and Joe Tierno. Tierno liked him because he was one of the only really quick drivers to wear glasses.

Augie Pabst finished 4th overall in the Ed Hugus 250GT Berlinetta #10. Pabst was not only an exceptional driver but a prankster of the first order. Noted for parking his rental car in a motel swimming pool and simply walking away.

Swede Joachim Bonnier (black shirt) holds a drawing presented to him by Johnny Cuevas a wealthy Cuban whose family were Sugar barons.

Walt Hansgen (back to camera) talks things over with Pete Lovely (cowboy hat). Ed Crawford to the left in the black shirt.

Pedro Rodriguez (goggles) with Zora Duntov (dark glasses) and Carroll Shelby chat before the start.

Dave Causey sits in his birdcage Maserati warming it up before the start.

Chuck Dietrich, barc member, does his best impression of Maynard J Krebs alongside his very fast racing wife Suzie.

Carroll Shelby in his chicken farmer coveralls had an unevenfrul weekend driving with Masten Gregory in a Camoradi Maserati. The car lasted 3 laps.

John Fitch (white coveralls) and Briggs Cunningham are surrounded an hour before the race. Fitch and Cunningham would drive a Corvette oddly entered by Jaguar cars of New York. Fitch rolled the Corvette when a hub broke.

Belgian ace Olivier Gendebien listens to Ollie Schmidt. We nicknamed Gendebien Jellybeans to mimic the pronunciation in French. Jellybeans won in the Porsche and twice other with Phil Hill in Ferrari’s and go on to win Le Mans 4 times.

Great Italian Georgio Scarlatti drove the Scuderia Serenissima Ferrari California to 8th overall with Carlo Abate.

Stirling Moss has a chat with Geoff Healey, son of Austin Healey founder Donald.

A young Dan Gurney. Already part-timer at Ferrari he co-drove with Moss and led much of the day. Dan Gurney was a giant of motor racing and we were privileged to see him many times.

I think its Jim Jeffords but the Corvette experts say no. We can’t see the number so this driver needs to be identified by a reader.

Fast Fred Windridige next to the Corvette he shared with Dick Thompson. This was a sister car of Fitch and Cunningham and fared no better blowing its motor at lap 41.

Ricardo Rodriguez speaks Italian to one of the Ferrari mechanics who is taking care of his OSCA Formula Junior.

Ricardo and Stirling Moss on the start grid. Moss started equally as young as the Rodriguez brothers. Was he passing on his knowledge?

Pedro sits on the pit wall, his Mom in the polka dot slacks attended the brothers races religiously.

Phil Forno sits and warms up one of Cunninghams Stanguellini’s.

J Ward Allen, a funeral home director from Endicott came to race the Jim Forno and Ike Williamson Morgan but the car broke before Ward could get in.

Paul Richards won the Sebring 3 hour race.- in a Fiat Abarth. Not even Stirling Moss in a factory Sprite could catch Richards.

Phil Hill arrives. Besides being an F1 world champion, many time Le Mans & Sebring winner Hill was an avid and excellent photographer.

One of the famous Sebring High School cheerleaders.

BARC on its way to Sebring. Dave Nicholas (hat and shades) Dave Zych (middle) and our patron Spankey Smith and his MG Magnette. Easy to see why we are smiling - look at the snow across the street.

Map of the original Sebring course.

The cover of the 1960 Sebring program.

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Olivier Gendebien in a slightly dented RS-60. He and Hans Hermann were the backup to the team of Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier. Bonnier/Hill were scheduled to drive #42 but opted out to take #43. Bad mistake as their car failed.

The ever young Hans Hermann going under the MG bridge towards the esses. Proving that smooth is fast, the pair won by 9 laps. Remember there were no full course cautions to bunch the pack together to create photo finishes.

Brumos Porsche entered #44 for Bob Holbert and Roy Schechter. Schechter was a retired air force pilot. Holbert was a many time Porsche champion and father of future champ Al Holbert. The pair would be second overall.

Difficult to say if it is Roberto Mieres or Anton vonDory driving the Argentine Porsche. The car failed about half way.

To help finance the race Alec Ulmann signed an agreement with AMOCO oil as the fuel provider. Ferrari and Porsche had contracts with Shell & BP and could not send factory teams. Instead Porsche had Jo Bonnier putchase and enter the cars. His race car #43 and the #46 failed to finish. Hmm, was it the fuel?

Pete Lovely drives into the dusk in the #8 Ferrari TR-59/60 entered and co driven by Jack Nethercutt. They were 3rd overall and won the 3 liter class.

Jack Nethercutt in his Ferrari. Nethercutt ran a well organized operation all the way down to painting his helmet the same color as the car. The Nethercutt Museum is a must visit when in CA.

Augie Pabst and Ed Hugus in the #10 Berlinetta were 4th. It is odd that with all the hundreds of photos we took at Sebring this is the only fairly close shot of #10.

A beautiful 250GT California driven by Allan Cannell in this image. George Reed owned and co drove the car to 5th overall. The car was the short wheelbase version and not yet homologated and had to run in the SP class.

Chuck Daigh casually flies in the #7 TR 59/60. He shared the car with Richie Ginther. They never ran lower than 3rd and led briefly before dropping out.

The stunning canary yellow Berlinetta of George Arents and Bill Kimberly. This same car raced for a few years in the SCCA and sold in 2022 for 7.5 million pounds..

How can you have too many photos of gorgeous cars I ask again. The 246Dino of Ricardo and Pedro waits for battle on Saturday morning.

The Stugis/ d’Orey Berlinetta follows Jim Jeffords #3 Corvette into the esses. The Vette ran well finishing 157 laps and 26th overall. The Berlinetta had a much better day finishing 6th.

Another 250GT California. This one from Bob Publicker, co driven by George Constantine and Dean McCarthy. This crew would finish 10th overall

#11 Cooper Maserati of Hap Sharp & Jim Hall follow a typical Sebring pack of cars. A factory Austin-Healey, an OSCA and a Corvette. Current followers get nervous about 4 or 5 divisions Back in the day you couldn’t count how many different classes were on track.

The highest placing Corvette of Chuck Hall (Jims brother) and Dick Fritz streak past a course marshal standing very close to the track. They won the 5.0+ class and were 16th overall.

Dan Gurney co drove with Stirling Moss in this tipo 61 Maserati. They led up until just after the half way point. The transmission failed and by lap 136 they were out.

John Colgate and Fred Spross were in #19. The car ended up with Spross flipping in the esses. The car went over 3 times and an AP photographer was there and shot the entire accident. Spross was OK but goggle it for some amazing photos.

Joe Shepherd’s 356 Carrera passes the big Healey of Gil Geitner and Lew Spenser. Both cars had good races with the Porsche winning 1.6GT and an amazing 9th overall.

The #40 MGA twincam passes the #35 AC Bristol that had the LR wheel come off. Two of the three twincams finished the race. #40 was owned by BARC member John Wright for years.

BMC were all in for 1960. The had 4 twincam MG’s, 3 big Healey’s and a couple Sprites. Of course they would need publicity photos.

Johnny Cuevas and his Carrera broke a crankshaft. Cuevas raced at Sebring from 1958. Cuevas was Cuban living in the USA. He was a well known collector or pens-writing pens.

The Argentinian Roberto Mieres. Mieres raced sports cars and F1 earning 13 world champ points. Roberto is one of only 5 people who have competed in F1 and competed in the Olympics. At Sebring, his RS-60 Porsche would not finish.

The Freddy vanBeuren Alfa. The Mexican entry won the 1300 class and was 18th overall after a long battle with Tom O’Brien’s Alfa. Brothers Javier & Adolfo Velásquez co drove with Freddy.

Classic Sebring. AC Bristol, Arnolt Bristol, Elva Courier with a WWII cargo plane as a backdrop. BARC thinks Sebring should bring back some of those grand planes and scatter them around the circuit.

The Peter Ashdown, Charles Vögele Lola Mk I. The car was owned by the Swiss Vögele and was driven quickly to win the 1100cc class and finish 17th overall. Simply one of the most beautiful sports racers.

Late afternoon on Thursday. Crews and cars are waiting for dusk and for night practice. It still amazes me that the only barrier separating the track from the pits were haybales.

Across from the pits, old incandescent bulbs try to illuminate. The Good year Blimp above the track keeps spectators informed and sells them tires. Today, the pits are as bright as noontime.

Social life before the start. Shelby, Zora Arkov, Pedro with Paul Whitman (straw hat) and a friend chat with Lisa, Roger Penske’s wife.

The Best of Times & the Worst of Times. Buddy Horton is finishing up repairs to his Elva Courier completing only 92 laps. Behind, the #44 Porsche of Bob Holbert flashes by at dusk. The Porsche would finish 2nd overall and complete 187 laps.