Book Review
Ford Took the Podium in FoMoCo Finish – ROUTE ‘66
Ford Took the Podium in FoMoCo Finish
ROUTE ‘66
Despite numerous books, a well-received movie and – perhaps – your own Road & Track archive, to fully appreciate Ford’s overall win at the 1966 Le Mans you needed to be there. No, I don’t mean the actual race – although not a bad thought. I simply mean living in 1966 and paying attention to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
At that point in my automotive journey I had begun to read Road & Track semi-regularly, having evolved from Motor Trend and Super Stock and Drag Illustrated… as one would hope. In these pre-Internet days the time between the actual Le Mans race and R&T’s coverage was, to be polite, delayed; the coverage, however, was extensive, giving the reader a clear picture of (in the words of ABC’s Jim McKay) the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Ford’s 1-2-3 victory was amazing, and while regrettable that the choreographed finish robbed Ken Miles and co-driver Denny Hulme of 1st place, it did make for one helluva photo finish.
Given that it’s been sixty years since that ’66 race, it seems appropriate to recognize both the date and the importance of Ford’s win to our domestic auto industry. Ford Motor Company had been present in both Great Britain and Europe for some 50 years; with that, Ford wasn’t – by any stretch – a new name on the Continent. But European competition by Ford was relatively new, with forays into rallying and single-seat competition, but no starring role in endurance competition. That, of course, changed in 1964, with Ford’s debut at Le Mans. And while the results were suitably – and notably! – disastrous in both ’64 and ’65, the learning curve was crested in 1966 with that aforementioned finish. And while the ’66 result took an abundance of both cubic inches and cubic money, the GT40, its drivers and the Shelby American team became icons in the public imagination. And while few could (or would) buy a street version of the GT40, those memories still fuel the public imagination.
Many books document that affection, but one notable entry is Preston Lerner’s comprehensive look at Shelby American, titled – simply enough – Shelby American. Preston’s byline is well known to readers of Automobile Magazine, various European titles and – most recently – Hagerty. It was, of course, the Shelby team that moved Ford forward in its endurance contests and, not incidentally, made Shelby a household name…although ‘Carroll’ never really caught on.
And one more Ford note of note: As I’m writing this in early June, it’s 130 years since Henry rather inelegantly widened his shed door and rolled out his Quadricycle for its first test run. Little more than a light wagon with 4 horsepower, the Quadricycle’s success would lead to the launch of the Ford Motor Company in 1903. The rest – as they say – is history, but you’d be hard-pressed to identify more humble beginnings leading to Ford’s enormous successes.
Start time for this year’s race is this Saturday, June 13th at 10:00 a.m. in the East and 9:00 a.m. in Texas. HBO Max offers continuous coverage, and in the absence of that subscription there are streaming alternatives. Or you can watch McQueen’s Le Mans epic (if you haven’t, you should!) or the more recently released Ford v. Ferrari. That may not be as epic as Le Mans (and you have to accept Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby), but it’s certainly compelling – and offers an absolutely great portrait of driver Ken Miles.
So buckle up, Cowboys! And watch 60+ drivers start their engines…
