[Daveymac]

Originally Posted by 67 king cobra

Rich, pleased to hear from you and I hope to cross paths. Glad to know that I am on track with my research. What memories your family must have of such a special time in racing history and I might have some original photos of your Father. I would love to hear more about the Hawaiian GP as I have been searching for a Porsche that raced there long ago.

Have you spoken to Chuck B***** about the Cooper Fords? he is doing a book on them and you would be invaluable to his research. Do you know anything about my car?? Do you know anything about AAR the XE 351 blocks and how they went to the GT 40's, the Honker and the King Cobras?

Haven't spoken with Chuck about his book project but I'm sure he got tons of info from guys like Pete Brock, etc. I'll tell you though; a guy who has retained an incredible wealth of knowledge from those days is Shelby chief mechanic Wally Peat. We spent the reunion weekend reminiscing with Wally & his wife Dora Ann and Wally told some amazing stories.

You can read about the Hawaiian Grand Prix here: Dave MacDonald pilots Shelby Cobra CSX2136 to a 2nd place finish at the 1963 Hawaiian Grand Prix - Racing Legend Dave MacDonald, images, videos, Shelby Cobra, Corvette, Indianapolis 500 NASCAR, Sherry MacDonald (keep in mind, this is a Dave MacDonald tribute site so the content is geared toward my father's accomplishments). But basically the trip to Hawaii was Carroll's way of treating the team after back-to-back wins in the LA Times GP & Monterey Pacific GP. Back in the day those were the two biggest & richest road races in America and the world's best drivers from all genres came to California to run them. Carroll's Cobra movement was in full swing at this time and those two wins provided a resounding seal of approval for his brand … the man was on cloud nine. The Hawaiian GP was a non-championship race and no points were at stake so it was a great place to celebrate and still show off his cars. Craig Lang (Olympia Brewery heir) was a Hawaiian resident and part-time club racer and he had just negotiated with Carroll to purchase a new King Cobra. He, Wally peat & my father would build the car for my father to race, The car would be known as the King Cobra Lang Cooper and while Craig would own it, he'd run it under the Shelby banner. The Cobra movement had complete financial backing form Ford but two new King Cobras were the limit - the Cobra Daytona Coupe was already in development. Carroll realized this as an opportunity to run another team car at no cost to Ford brass. (That car is a whole nother story though).

Anyway they brought two Cobra Roadsters and a King Cobra to the Hawaiian GP and Carroll decided to let Craig drive the King Cobra and put Ken Miles & my father in the roadsters. My mother told the Hawaiian GP story during the panel discussion at the Shelby reunion and she told about the plan my father & Ken concocted the night before the race. She says they decided to let Craig win the race. "I was not on board with this plan” she says, “I always wanted Dave to win…every race"! lol. But Ken and my father knew Craig would be the hometown hero with a win and there was no changing their minds. They planned to drag race to the finish line for second place and as it turned out my father placed 2nd by what news articles described as a "thin coat of paint". It was a tight finish as all three Cobras were within one second of each other as they crossed the line.

Sorry I don't have any knowledge regarding your King Cobra, my research of that era pretty much stops at May 30, 1964. Would love to see any original photos you have of my father, if you come across any please pm me or post them here, it would be much appreciated!

Rich