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Willy Mairesse, circa 1962 -- a
postcard photo. After I finished the book I returned all photos,
transparencies and artifacts to the people from whom I had borrowed
them. The items which I had purchased or been given, I donated to
the Boulder, Colorado Shelby museum. I retained a few photos, like
this one, only because they were stuck away in odd
files. I wanted people to see these artifacts rather than
hoard them in my house or garage.
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This portrait was taken in New York
City at the time of the 1962 New York Auto Show. In the 1980s,
John lived near me, and helped with the book's photo
captions. John knew the names of all the turns, the
identity of the people in the photos and was present at most of the
events. John's own book "The Certain Sound" is one of the
great ones. John and Tottie Wyer's life-long
friend, John Horsman, has just published his own book, "Racing
in the Rain.". John Horsman also lives in Arizona and helped
me with this book.
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This is Ken Miles at Sebring Florida, 1963 in CSX 2002 before the start of the race. Miles had been dead five years by the time I started to research the book but he was able to speak in the book through his race reports and through his friend, Charlie Agipou. |
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Shelby the Pirate, Sebring 1964.
Another great photo by Bernard Cahier, the greatest of all the
Cobra-era photographers. Bernard understood what he was
photographing -- you cannot photograph (or paint) what you
cannot see. Think about it. Bernard fought with the Free French in
WWII, raced sports cars in Europe in the '50s, worked
in Southern California for a few years, became a racing
photographer and wrote for Sports Car Graphic during the
'60s. |
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This is Ken Miles at Sebring 1964
in the "turd" being pushed hard under braking by David Piper. There
is a great story in the book about John Morton's debut as a Cobra
team driver in this race. A book could be written about
Ken Miles, and one has, by Art Evans.
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The mighty Bob Bondurant prior
to1964 Le Mans, where he wrote Cobra history. The book
recounts the controversy of whether or not Bob was too aggressive
during the 1965 European season. I suppose, if you are a racing
driver, you might want to be aggressive. Bob is a great guy and
also lives in Arizona.
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Jo Schlesser in CSX2299 at Sebring,
1965. Schlesser was one of those guys whom everyone liked and whom
everyone missed after he died. There was a special comraderie
amongst the drivers and crews because they knew what they
were doing was dangerous and that people were going to die. This is
a Joe Farkas (Ford) photo which was used as the basis for the
boxtop art for Revell's Daytona coupe model.
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John Whitmore at the Tourist Trophy
1965 -- one of the great stories in the book. John found a life
beyond racing and is another great guy. When I first met him, in
1973, he didn't even own a car.
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Jack Sears in 2299 at Le Mans 1965.
Another great, true story that Hollywood could never write.
Twenty-four hour races like Le Mans were a real crapshoot -- the
winners required both preparation and luck.
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