No nice garages in 1965. Teams found garages in town. Here the Mecom team gets the Ferrari 250LM and Lola T-70 ready.
Spare engine for Shelby with a note to be careful when starting, be very careful.
Shelby checks pyrometer tire temps on two of his cars. The numbers tell a story.
One of the Brit boys taking care of the David Piper Ferrari gets dressed and shows us his 6 pak abs and bikini briefs. His mates have a laugh.
Work goes on getting the Lola ready. Men over and under the car. But where are the jackstands?
An artful glance through the air outlet of the #14 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe.
It’s near the end of the night and one mechanic is fitting the rear bodywork back on the #22 Lola T-70.
A mechanic spends his Friday night making sure his car will finish.
FIA races always had pre race medicals. The Doc checks out Sherm Decker as Oscar wonders what is going on outside.
Now it is Oscar’s turn to do his vision test. Because Oscar could not read, Decker fed him the answers.
The BARC Cooper-Ford arrices from Connecticut. A truly low budget operation, it was towed by a Willys Woody Jeep on a two wheel open trailer. Bob Poupard walks toward the car.
The intrepid crew of the #10 GT-40 MkII pushes their race car out of scrutineering. To truly appreciate the photo, compare the grocery prices to today.
The #18 Cobra has passed its ground clearance test over the cleverly engineered FIA official “box”. Some Ferrari’s did not pass and were put in the sports racing class
Wouldn’t it be great if today the great sports cars had to drive around town. People marvel at the Ford GT’s headed to the 5¢ store.
The barely recognizable Lotus 19 of Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Despite its custom build, it was not nearly as fast as the Chaparrals.
The Goodyear Blimp Mayflower cruised overhead until the storm appeared. They landed and tethered but the huge inflatable was blown nearly vertical by the 50 mph winds.
A south american woman photographer got creative taking photos so we got creative taking ours. The police in back don’t seem concerned.
The aftermath of the Cobra-Volvo collision. Amazing that driver Nick Cone, laying under the Volvo when the Cobra hit, was uninjured.
The GT-40 team of Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren go overnotes during practice. They would finish 2nd overall.
Phil Hill stresses something to the crew. Richie Ginther listens intently and big Jerry Grant seems amused.
Richie Ginther gets a laugh out of something. Ginther was such a great driver and engineer in F1 and sports cars. In my opinion, he was never appreciated for all he did for Ferrari and later, Honda and Porsche.
Graham Shaw, on the left, has said something that the mechanic seems not to like and Doc Dick Thompson wonders about.
What is Pedro Rodriguez telling Graham Hill.
Richie Ginther is enjoying his ride in the Ford GT-40.
Bruce McLaren drove for Ford. A brilliant engineer, designer, driver and organizer. The world lost Bruce in 1970 but the McLaren name still lives. Nobody had a bad word for Bruce McLaren.
Phil Hill. A great driver, a gentleman and our first F1 World Champion. Nothing more needs to be said.
Pedro Rodriguez has a word with a factory Ferrari mechanic who just happened to be vacationing in Sebring and volunteered to handle the Ferrari’s who accidentally were there.
If you knew about the Mecom team, here is what John Mecom looked like at the races. He was different with his beloved New Orleans Saints.
Briggs Cunningham at 58 years old, looking the cosmopolitan man of the world we so loved. Briggs & old pal John Fitch would pilot a 904 Porsche to 20th overall. Bet they loved being in a coupe.
Big Bill Spear makes an appearance. Spear co drove with Cunningham and Phil Hill and I am sure everyone enjoyed seeing him. Hill & Ginther on the left are enjoying Bill saying he’d never fit in a GT-40.
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