Ford v Ferrari races into theaters on Nov. 15.

[Anthony]

I was researching a "L88" for sale maybe 1 year ago, and came upon this article written by pete delorenzo, tony delorenzo's brother, about ken miles. amazing.

"Tony and I and some friends had traveled to Meadowdale Raceway back in August of 1964 to see the USRRC series (United States Road Racing Championship) race weekend, which was the pinnacle of American road racing at the time. This was the first professional road racing I had ever seen in person, and it was Tony’s second (he had been to Meadowdale the year before). The USRRC race weekends consisted of a GT race (Corvettes, Cobras, Jaguars, etc.) as the opener, followed by the big sports cars (Chaparral, etc.) as the feature. We watched as the factory Shelby American Cobra team led by Ken Miles (No. 98) and Bob Johnson (No. 99) dominated the field, finishing 1-2, followed by three independently-entered Cobras. The best Corvettes in the country were there and they were utterly humiliated, not only racing seconds a lap off of the pace, but none of them finished.


Then something fascinating happened. We watched as the crack Shelby American crew swarmed over Miles’ Cobra immediately following the GT race. They took the full windshield off, replacing it with a tiny plexiglass bubble windscreen, filled it up with racing gas, and rolled it to the very back of the USRRC sports car race grid in 27th position. Dead last. It seems that the officials had allowed the team to enter Miles in the race with no qualifying time.
We were then treated to one of the most dazzling displays of race driving we had ever seen, and it still resonates to this day. Jim Hall (No. 66 Chaparral 2A) dominated the race, followed by his now-legendary teammate, Roger Penske (No. 67 Chaparral 2A) for a memorable 1-2 for the Texas Road Runners. Dick Doane (No. 29 McKee Chevette Mk 1) finished third (sound familiar? Chevrolet would buy the rights to the Chevette name from McKee for the production car of the same name), and George Wintersteen (No. 12 Cooper Monaco T61M Chevrolet) finished fourth. And Mr. Miles? He would charge from the back of the field in a jaw-dropping run that would see him finish fifth – in his 289 Cobra – just one lap behind the winners. Believe me, this isn’t a case of appreciating something from the past more now; no, we appreciated what we were seeing, in real time. It was simply fantastic and amazing, in the true sense of that overused word."

[t walgamuth]

There was another race that I thought you were writing about at first. I don't remember all the details but I believe it was with the new 427 race car. The scca would not allow it in the production class because the oil cooler had not been on the homologated car so they took it off and he ran in the production race without it....and won.

Then they put the cooler back on the car and he ran in the prototype class with it on and won that too. That is how I remember it but may have some details wrong.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

There was another race that I thought you were writing about at first. I don't remember all the details but I believe it was with the new 427 race car. The scca would not allow it in the production class because the oil cooler had not been on the homologated car so they took it off and he ran in the production race without it....and won.

Then they put the cooler back on the car and he ran in the prototype class with it on and won that too. That is how I remember it but may have some details wrong.

I'm not sure which car that might have been. CSX3002 was the only 427 raced by the factory; Miles raced it twice but was a DNF both times. Edit: I've been mulling this over (because I have nothing else to do, LOL) and I think the oil cooler thing happened at an early SCCA race for the 289 team cars. Maybe Lake Garnett?

Incidentally I think Meadowdale '64 was the only time the team cars (or at least Miles' car) ran American Racing Torq-thrust wheels. I don't recall why they ran them but I've always thought they looked cool with them on.

[t walgamuth]

Maybe it was the early 289?

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Maybe it was the early 289?

I’m pretty sure it was. I’ll look in the library tonight

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Maybe it was the early 289?

Just took a look at “Carroll Shelby’s Racing Cobra” by John Christy. He relates the “cooler story”. It did happen at Lake Garnett, Kansas in 1963; Miles & Co. showed up there in what has been speculated to have been an effort to derail the efforts of Corvette drivers like Don Yenko and Dick Thompson from gathering SCCA points at smaller, outlying events. Before the A- and B-Production race the Corvette boys protested the Cobras’ rear axle oil coolers as being non-standard. The coolers were disconnected and the Cobras finished with Bob Johnson-Dave Macdonald-Miles 1-2-3.

The main event was a Modified race where Dick Thompson was entered in one of the feared new Grand Sport Corvettes. Miles got the officials to agree that reconnecting the oil cooler would make the car a “Modified” and was allowed to enter the race. He led lights to flag and took the win over an early variant of a Chaparral. The GS ran second until it failed halfway through the race.

[t walgamuth]

Great story even with all the correct facts! Thanks for checking that for us.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Great story even with all the correct facts! Thanks for checking that for us.

No worries—as with seemingly a lot of stories related to Ken Miles, the facts would support a movie script on their own

[Trubble]

Speakin' of movie scripts, I found a downloadable version of the film's script at this site:

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress...ript-final.pdf

Even though I've seen the film twice, Ken Miles' accent had me guessing a few times.

Thanks to all who have posted some of the real history here. As an amateur historian, and a fan of all things Shelby and Cobra, I appreciate getting the straight skinny from you all. I have A handful of Cobra books on the shelf, like John Morton, and Art Evans book on Miles, and Laban's books on Shelby. They're gonna help me pass a long winter until we get Cobra weather back again in Ohio.

[snakeeyes]

Good to see that FvF has 4 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Bummer that none of them are in the actor/actress categories. It would have been nice to see one for Bale's portrayal of Miles.

[LudicrousSpeed]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Good to see that FvF has 4 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Bummer that none of them are in the actor/actress categories. It would have been nice to see one for Bale's portrayal of Miles.

The oscars is merely a progressive popularity contest saturated in virtue-signaling 'wokeness'. Meh.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by LudicrousSpeed

The oscars is merely a progressive popularity contest saturated in virtue-signaling 'wokeness'. Meh.

Hahaha...I don’t completely disagree with you, I guess.

Made Phil Remington’s family happy, at least.