Sebring race post cards with Corvette's

[Roberto L.]

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Old Fart Photo

Fangio had an instinct for choosing the team/car that he felt he had the best chance of winning in. He was an incredible driver who is acknowledged by some as perhaps the best ever and then one day he was through, saying, "it is finished." My father-in-law returned from a recent trip to Argentina with a stack of Gardell CD's. He says he is more popular today than ever. The wine from Argentina ain't too bad either.

[John H.]

Re: Old Fart Photo

Roberto -

I don't have any slides of Fangio, but I do have a few black & white photos of him (we were pitted right next to the Maserati pit with our manx-tailed Cooper-Climax); I'll see if I can find those and scan one. Next best thing, here's his (winning) Maserati 450S at Tech Inspection in the paddock on race morning (think brown helmet and polo shirt ):

[John H.]

Found It! Fangio Photo

Found it - I used a lot more Plus-X and Tri-X than Kodachrome in those days (and processed my own Ektachrome). Here's Fangio, just out of the car after a pit stop/driver change, catching his breath. Our pit was right next to his - note the high-tech wood construction of the pits in those days, and the 5-gallon gas cans all over the place; the "refueling rig" in those days was a BIG funnel. He drove the final stint, and spent all of it sitting in about two inches of gasoline, which spilled down his back into the aluminum bucket seat when they botched dumping the last fuel can into the funnel on the final pit stop. He was a tough bastard, and a hell of a talented driver. We were there for three days (sleeping in our tow car in the paddock), and he was very nice to me (as a 16-year-old crew chief ).

[Roberto L.]

Re: Old Fart Photo

Incredible picture!! thanks. Almost can hear the old Maestro powersliding with it.

Thanks John, Roberto

[Roberto L.]

Re: Found It! Fangio Photo

Very nice snapshot, the typical race clothes of the time and those fuel tanks. thank you for these great memories of the old times, where drivers where gentlemen... sometimes

Glad that you were there, Roberto

[mike cobine]

Re: Found It! Fangio Photo

Nice shot.

How times have changed. In '91, I ran a 12 hour race at Sebring called the Twin Sixes (six hours Saturday, locked the cars, then six hours Sunday) and driver getting out had to fuel the car because the fuel guy had to be in Nomex head to toe and the driver getting out still was since (s)he had a helmet on. The driver getting in didn't want to be splashed with gas by accident and didn't want to breath the fumes just before going out. And we had to have a fire extinguisher person with Nomex.

An open gas can like that would have had a couple of stewards on you in a second.

A 16 year old wouldn't have even been allowed in there.

[mike cobine]

Re: Old Fart Photo

I'd about swear that fuel truck is still at Sebring, or at least was about 12 years ago. There was an old red one similar to that we had to get fuel from when over in Green Park. You never wanted to be in a rush, because it was slow getting it.

And for all the hassles on ages in the pits, I believe one time the guy fueling from the truck was 16 years old and his 15 year old sister collecting the money.

[Terry M.]

Sitting in gasoline

OOOooohhhhh! That hurts just thinking about it. I'll say he was one tough SOB to take that.

[Bob King]

Re: Russian post cards with Corvette's

Roy - I have a blue 69' 4-speed that my 8-year old son, Evan, and I cruise around Roseville, California all the time in. We adopted Evan from Vladivostok, Russia in 1997. So I'm curious where you got the Russian Corvette postcard? Thanks. Bob King

[Brian McHale]

Amoco "No Lead" ?????? *NM*

[John H.]

Re: Old Fart Photo

I wasn't the only "youngster" at Sebring that year - this is Lance Reventlow's brand-new Maserati at tech (concours-prepared, including fresh Von Dutch pinstriping), just bought for him by mommy Barbara Hutton; he was only 17, but mommy's money and celebrity status smoothed over that problem with Alec Ullman and the "old boy network" that ran the show. He didn't even make the first lap - as he was downshifting coming down the back straight into the big 180, he got 2nd instead of 4th, and crank and rods exited the block in a shower of hot oil and ended his day early. Not an auspicious beginning for his career

[mike cobine]

Re: Amoco "No Lead" ??????

Amoco Premium was always no lead. You could use it in place of "white gas" when needed.

My grandfather retired from the Shell Oil refinery in Roxana "across the street" from the Standard Oil Refinery in Wood River. He used to get so mad when the low lead and unleaded gasolines first came out. They were charging higher prices for all the extra refining that was done, according to the PR hype.

He knew in reality, the lead had to be ADDED to the gas in the production process, so unleaded was NOT removing something from the gasoline but rather just not putting it in.

It actually SAVED the refineries money even though the additives costs more, there was less process by the '70s.

Lead was a cheap and dirty way in the '50s and '60s to get octane and Amoco didn't use that in their premium for their claims of the cleanest gas.

[mike cobine]

Re: Old Fart Photo

It probably didn't help a lot of others' day either, since that was a bad corner to have oil or water in.