8 Meters: Triumph, Tragedy and a Photo Finish at Le Mans

you at the beginning of the 1960's board was losing ground one was getting his butt kicked by Chevrolet and General Motors on the racetrack and in the sales room Henry Ford the second this is his family empire right so he says you know what am I gonna do and he has this idea he needs a sexy sports car that can stand up to the Corvettes he needs a race team that can stand up to General Motors and maybe a race team that can spread the gospel of Ford Motor Company around around the country so he is he has this idea to go over and buy Ferrari they send this team over to try to make this deal it goes very sour and what happens from there you have a rivalry between these two colossal figures Enzo Ferrari in Italy henry ford ii and dear boy henry ford ii lamar was very important to him for a very specific reason this is the dawn of globalism okay he had an idea to relaunch and recreate his company as a global brand and there was one race in the world that had the clout where if you want it people and Russia would know it people in Italy would know it people in South America would know that was the 24 hours in Lemoore when Henry Ford comes up with this idea to build this racing car he tells his guys you're gonna build the fastest most technologically advanced racing sports car in history of the world so he puts together this team these guys go to work they start mapping out this car on paper before they ever start building it and they realize quickly that this is an automobile that's gonna have to travel at aircraft speeds one of the first things they're gonna have to figure out is how to keep it from taking flight literally the original team had a guy named Eric broadly and Eric broadly debuted at Lamar car called the Lola and it was in fact a mid-engine monocoque prototype with a big Ford v8 in it so it was pretty much exactly the template for what Ford was looking for for its new Ford GT what they decided to do is that they essentially went too broadly they hired broadly to the engineering efforts for the the new Ford GT and they used to Lola GTS as sort of the test mules for the project in 1964 the first year the cause were being built in England they were being engineer in England they were being developed in England and they had the British team was running them the operational racing side of the team and that was John Wyer who was quite well known because he had run the Aston Martin team that had won LeMond 59 where one of the drivers had in fact been Carroll Shelby so there was some sort of synergy going on there and in fact not a single Ford GT finished any race in the 1964 season Ford wanted wire to run the cars of Nassau it was a special kind of one-off sort of race down there towards the end of the year and he didn't want to go but he was forced into going and the cars showed up there and they did terribly again one of them crashed and yellow one blew up and four executives were pretty unhappy as a result they took the program away from wire and they decided to give it instead to Carol Shelby and Shelby American which had successfully been successfully running the Cobras there's a lot of designing testing and trial runs behind every new innovation or new performance record how do I know my name's Carol Shelby and performance is my business here's something else that we're excited about it's this new Ford GP it was designed and built by Ford engineers as kind of a laboratory on wheels to test new ideas and prove Ford's capabilities in open competition we've been given the job of testing this new car and racing internationally now an important figure has emerged by this point in the Shelby organization his name was Ken miles he began work at Shelby as a competition manager and a mechanic he was at Bret he had fought in World War two as a tank commander and he had done a tremendous amount of development on the gt40 Kevin was everything to the program without him I'm not sure where we'll have been a lot of guys had seat time but none like Ken because ken was right to shop so he was always there always available before did a lot of testing so there was an opportunity for drivers like ain't ready to get seat time he would go do all these all the testing you could do because he just wanted more time in the cars for project was something that there was - a lot of value to me as far as honing my skills in road racing especially and you know in the 60s when I was just pretty much a newcomer in the business then to be able to to win with them Bruce McLaren der we won the first victory in Sebring and and race the LeMond and Daytona and again along the way guys like myself benefited tremendously from that and so when they used to run you know out there on the west side Venice and then at LAX and so they would go out to Riverside or up to Willow Springs International Raceway both of them maybe an hour or so away I mean they ran out there constantly they were constantly testing miles was was integral in developing the cobras and the Cobra Daytona crew he did the initial tests in the correction coupe with Peter Brock so naturally when Shelby got the program for the Ford GT the end of 64 beginning 65 miles was the guy who did the major development welcome to the Kenton was the blessing in disguise because for one I learned a hell of a lot I do nothing about Racing's that I met Ken miles and if a better spell racecar Leyland operate one working with him in those days was it was absolutely magic I mean it was it was it was brilliant I mean it was a great engineer apart from being a great race driver I think you can attribute a lot of Ken Mouse's engineering background why Carol did so well the way he tested cars the information he brought back remember in those days there was no city graph machines and all that stuff to read off of it was all pencil and paper even though we're quite a lot more testing to the lot of it did turn out to be guesswork ken was really the prime mover I'm getting the cars to work well ten miles are suddenly a focal figure as he raced the car at Daytona in 1966 and he won he raced the car at Sebring in 1966 and he won so suddenly this guy who nobody you know had ever heard of before this he was just a mechanic in a competition manager it's suddenly in the lead car and thought of as a guy who could win and if he had won the 24s a limb all Ken miles would have won Daytona Sebring and LeMond in 1966 that had never happened the triple crowded it never happened so there's a tremendous amount of pressure going into this race on him and on the whole team it's going to be a hell of a race a hell of a race and most of the people think they Ferrari they're going to come out on top for you gonna be down at the bottom that never happened everybody was thinking for don't never make it they're nothing compared to Ferrari for crying out loud his Ferrari would go into every race they raced and they wound up winning the race so the ultimate showdown is lamothe in 1966 Ford shows up with a slew of cars Ferrari shows up with the slew of cars only now henry ford ii flies in and he himself is going to attend this race i think there was huge pressure to win sixty five had been dubbing the tone the water-type effort but sixty six there was a real determination to win at the time it was certainly the biggest motor racing effort idea but being part of or in ever seen it was a huge effort right from the top corporates to the junior members of the team of the real determination to succeed and to beat Ferrari he does this dramatic thing where he goes around to this to to all the top guys few top guys who are running this program and it gives them a little card it says you better win HF to Andhra for the second with Henry Ford the second he's the Grand Marshal of the race is the honorary grand marshal of the race at the beginning in 1966 he's standing there with a flag and he waves the flag to start the race off the cars go the crowds are going nuts and it's quite clear by midnight that the Fords are going to win it's a race of attrition a lot of the Ferraris have dropped out of the race the Fords are winning somebody hands Carol Shelby a document it's a race report showing the lap times ten miles is racing and he's breaking the lap record he's driving faster than he was instructed to drive the first lap ten miles us the pit because the door was closed properly so he loses some time goes much faster and he's supposed to be going in sets a lap record really early on Dan Gurney is in another one of the Shelby American cars with Jerry Granton so gurney goes out and then sets a lap record of his own and in the third Shelby American car McLaren and Amon they are going very slowly MacLaren's fledgling Formula One team was sponsored primarily by Firestone and Firestone did not have a good intermediate tire I suspect that these ties hadn't tested that they that sort of speed before they were an intermediate from memory which means they were a sort of a half a wet tire half a dry time after a few laps and bursts had started the race and came in them with a tread had come off one of the tires so they put another set on and he went out again and then exactly the same thing happened and so they were losing Turrell amounts of time because the tires were not good for the condition they fell back several laps and they came back and again and told me to get in the car while he went and had a bit of a chat it was a very difficult situation because here we contract the Firestone but no way will we go to finish the race if we or do anything in the race if we had to continue to have tire problems so was either we put the cow under good you Hansel withdrew from the race finally Bruce McLaren made the command decision to switch to good years and he tells Chris Amon he said we've got nothing to lose give it hell and and so we pretty much did and from being well behind we were actually in the lead the gurney and miles were going to be the two rabbits there the two cars had to go and try and break the Ferraris over Kennedy's account front as fast as he could to help Bernie out even though Dan really didn't need too much help because he was extremely quick downwards but he did get up and into second spot and it was first and second for quite some time with the gurney miles all three cars are driving much faster than 40 SEC's want them to and at a certain point the Ferraris all disappear and most of the other Fords they're either retired or they're just not as fast as the Shelby American cars you know they're pulling ahead and Leo Beebe is having a bit of a connection because he's got this note card saying you better win and he's seeing these three drivers are way out in front of everybody and here they are they were kind of like racing you know this is not the way it's supposed to go and it becomes even clearer a win during the middle of the night when gurney is sleeping and Jerry grants out in the car and he pits with the water temperature gauges pegged its overheated head gaskets failed so now there are two the two Shelby American cars are left you know the miles then you in car and the Chris Amon Bruce McLaren car and what Leo Beebe does not want to happen is to then start racing against each other because he doesn't want any more failures he needs them to finish the race it was more a case of winning and I guess that L'Amour being a 24-hour race you had to be a bit conservative I don't recall any sort of clear team orders and they certainly in the first three quarters of the race when it came down to sort of five six hours to go the decision was made to slow the cars down board is winning Ken miles cars way out front henry ford ii comes flying down from his chateau hotel and a helicopter lands that comes into the pits and Huddle's with Shelby and the other Ford guys and they're like wow this is amazing we're gonna win this is historical this has never been done an American manufacturers gonna win the 24 hours a limo all over the world people are gonna say Ford is the best car they won the 24 as a limo they beat Ferrari in India people are gonna go buy Ford cars in Italy and Enzo Ferraris home country people are gonna go buy Ford cars because of this race it's a great trial history in the making so they come up with this idea this PR plan they come up with an idea to have three ford racing cars cross the finish line at the same time to create a photo finish because they think this will be brilliant public relations and it'll make a great cover for all the Karma's at magazines around the world and so he orders him to slow down - laughs times somewhere around the order of four minutes they had qualified a lap times about 3:30 so that's 30 seconds off the pace I mean it's like you know if you're like 5 seconds off the pace that's slow to be 30 seconds off the pace is like glacial and I mean I remember talking to Chris Chris a minute he said it took him you know like several laps just to slow down at that point versus Maxie in the car miles home car was running second and the sign went out saying ease will back off as it would I was slowed down but the instructions were these at the time was ready to hold station a brief slowed down several seconds a lap as did the other cars except for the miles honker which maintained its pace and within a matter of several laps ten miles it actually caught and passed Bruce that christened the memory but a consternation within the whole Ford set up everything became very confusing because the decision was made these guys won't do what they're told basically we're going to create a dead heat situation so there's no point in racing each other the next time Ken came in this ad afforded talk to the officials and they could make it dead heat so they're both you know they come in rather than first and second if they come back and threw together but sherry was quite happy at that point because they were going to vote be winners so that became the strategy really for the last three or four hours that was all all fine but in the background the organizers the Automobile Club de l'Ouest said we've never had a dead heat at l'amour and we're not going to during one of the I think it's the final driver change we're aiming gets out from McLaren to get in the car and we're Denny Hulme gets out for Kim miles get in the car that's when Ken miles is told that he should slow down and allow Bruce McLaren to catch up so they can cross the line together and he's not happy about it when they told Ken they yet slow down he was really upset about it I mean it was he was agitated and he wasn't quite sure what to do or what to say but he did slow down as you know as per instructions was Ken was a it was definitely a team player the a CEO informs for that they will not allow a did he finish for gets this news well it's not like they can radio the guys and tell them hey things have changed we can't have a dead heat anymore you know go to plan B well they didn't have a plan B it got a little got a little tense after that I think Ford wanted to hear more like Ford wins and Ford wins again which you can understand to a certain extent but you know telling that to drivers a little different when we heard about it in the pits you know we're myself in the crew especially granny Collins my he was my number one we we were really upset about it so they cross the finish line together there's only one problem a steward for the race comes up and he says I'm sorry this is a 24 hour race the car that has traveled the furthest will win so according to the ACS theory if the cars crossed line together which in fact they would do Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon would be avoid the victory I virtually the fact that they had covered eight more meters or like 2025 more feet than the the ken miles Denny Hulme car Oh and because we started one place behind the the other car we would have traveled something like boggles eight yards or something further in the race than and the other car so totally unbeknown to us that the organizers made their decision and whether we was a dead heat or not we were actually going to win the race well when the race ended we try to get cars into the Ken's car into the winner's circle and the frogs you know they're from the French officials were just going you know no no no no no no you know saying you've got to go over that direction we need Flair and a name on scar we couldn't understand what was happening look at Ken he was still in the car you know what was going on because far as he was concerned they finished together so meanwhile Ken miles gets out of his car he's just one this historic race he's just made history for Ford Motor Company in this magnificent gt40 race car and he's informed that he came in second and he's devastated ken was absolutely crushed crashed I mean he just couldn't believe it because he would have obviously won the big three even Chris Amon didn't know what's going on he didn't wasn't even sure who won the race when it happened it was very confusing into the race I have had to say and it wasn't really until after we crossed the finish line and suddenly it was announced that we were the winners and the moles honk I was sickened and so so ready first I knew that we'd won the race was them it was after the race and finished at the finish they had a couple of sawhorses with us some plywood and that's where the guy stood they they kind of made a half-assed victory stand on it and that's where all that took place ken called his crew chief Charlie agar poo I think we've been [ __ ] the two crews that were up with the cars at the dirt winner's circle really had no idea what was going on at that point we both thought we'd won raised max for his car won I thought my car won because that was what the plan was if things got little definitely little heated between the two teams after there especially with with Max and myself because it was the crew chief on Bruce's gun I was a crew chief on on Ken's car and he rewards walking away with the win and you know the pits are full of attention and Shelby looked kind of I think the quotes and he look kind of gray you know Shelby was quite unhappy with the way things worked out miles was a personal friend of his and he later said there was a mistake to let the grease down the way it did so at that point you know but he calmed down and they when I congratulated him you know with his big duffle coat like he always wore and everyone calm down at that point but who goes the champagne it will smoothed over you know I don't there's really anybody left who can say exactly who was involved in the decision who could say exactly what happened and there are a lot of stories about a lot of people have different opinions down at this point maybe it's impossible to say exactly how things went down I think what's clear is that board saw an opportunity to a have a public relations coup by having a dead heat finish between its top two drivers so that would look spectacular you know in the movie a great photo and great photo op and a great story and at the same time staging the finish would prevent you know Myles and McLaren from racing each other to the finish it would seem like a kind of a perfect solution to what could be a thorny situation ken was a really great guy I got a long row with him he did tell me one thing I've never forgotten we were sitting up there talking he said you know Davey said I'd rather die in a racecar than being up by cancer I never forgot that two months later Myles is testing a new car at Riverside in California he's at the end of his day they're gonna build this car he's testing it to go back to Limone the following year and all of a sudden the car comes apart there's a crash and Myles is killed in August 1966 two months after the law and he becomes a sort of unsung hero of American motor racing a lot of people watching this may not know who Ken miles is and this is the reason why because he had the Triple Crown of racing taken away from him in this bizarre fashion is bizarre what story the bizarre end to this terrific moment for American racing you could say that this is the most important victory in all the history of American motor racing I felt wonderful about us winning 1 2 & 3 in 66 but Ken miles we made a horrible decision and seeing the three cars come over exactly together it was good politically for Ford so I couldn't argue with it besides that I worked for Ford and I'm not going to go against Henry Ford there has never ever been a program you can talk about the three hundred million dollar Ferrari budget or the McLaren budgets in Formula One now we had no restrictions you know Ford was you know the 900-pound gorilla and that they had resources nobody else had and was spending you know at unprecedented levels they couldn't hire anybody they wanted but they were able to hire a lot of the guys they wanted whatever it costs it was okay he was gonna spend the money he just wanted to make sure the car that was built would capture the imagination of the world and it would win Lamar it was huge for me because I was slimy 22 years nearly 23 it was a huge event and to be standing up there with Henry Ford and willing Lamar overs so almost pitching this I think that see if it was real really l'amour became the biggest one that I had a huge occasion for me to stand up on that podium as I said I was pinching myself a bit you you fairy would say didn't you drive and you win that's what they always said to their drivers and we beat the [ __ ] out of Montoya and fire the language

Channel: Petersen Automotive Museum

Views: 1,299,452

Keywords: Le Mans, GT40, Ken Miles, Bruce Mclaren, Ford, Chris Amon, France, 1966

Id: fhiWRTDZ7-E

Length: 26min 16sec (1576 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2016