Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
Also, I believe it was Shelby himself that came up with the idea of the 3 car finish, to rub it ferrari's face, and the Ford management agreed, not realizing the consequences.
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Leo Levine’s book “Ford: The Dust and the Glory” has been considered kind of the Bible of Ford’s racing history since it first published in 1968. Levine describes what happened like this:
“With approximately two hours left and the cars running 1-2-3, Beebe, Frey, Passino, Cowley and Shelby examined the possibilities for the finish. The Bucknum-Hutcherson car presented no problem, as it was a dozen laps behind. But the car driven by Miles and Hulme, and that shared by McLaren and Amon, were running almost in each other’s tire tracks. The Ford officials were interested in their car winning, not in any special pair of drivers. The cars were the primary thing, and they came before any other considerations. There were three choices:
Let them race, with the winner determined in that manner.
Predetermine the winner and instruct the drivers accordingly.
Arrange a tie.
The first alternative was thrown out immediately. At this point, while the cars were still droning around the circuit, Reiber came up with a message: 'Leo, the officials say if you want to do it, they can arrange a tie and they will cooperate with you.'
...
There had never been a dead heat in the history of the race, and to someone interested in publicity it was the ideal solution. Miles and McLaren, both of whom were getting ready to drive the final trick, were called over and informed of the decision.
Neither liked it. Both wanted to race, but Beebe would have none of that. With a multimillion-dollar program on the brink of success, he would not take a chance on one of them going off of the road in the rain, or on one of them blowing an already tired engine. They were given the procedure, they got in the cars and they took off. Soon after they departed Reiber came back.
'Leo, the officials now say a tie isn’t possible.'
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Explanation by Levine about how McLaren started farther back so technically covered more distance and would be the race-winner in a "dead heat"]
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'Reiber’s news came as a shock. 'Oh my God, that’s not what we wanted at all', Beebe said. 'Is there any basis for appealing that?' There was none...'
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Levine goes on to describe how Beebe had had to censure Miles and Gurney for racing the previous night after the Ferraris had dropped out, how he considered bringing both Miles and McLaren back in to tell them the dead heat idea was off, but how he remained concerned that they would take each other out if he did. He also considered bringing them back in and instructing them as to who would win; Levine quotes Beebe as saying:]
'If you let Miles win, you were giving it to a guy who had given you a hard time. If you let McLaren win, you would take it away from a guy who had earned it over the years...Anyone can question the judgment, but no one can say it was not a consciously arrived-at decision—and on grounds we considered valid and just. To have Ken win would have been more expedient and more popular. But the extent to which McLaren and Amon had played exactly according to our rules militated against Miles. The result was not necessarily even popular with me.'
Two years later Passino was more philosophical about it. 'If we had realized the whole world would take us on over it,' he said, 'we probably would have let Miles win.'”
Leo Levine, “Ford: The Dust and the Glory”, The MacMillan Company, copyright 1968.