This Month in Cobra History - January

[computerworks]

This Month in Cobra History - January

The first race won by a Cobra - Riverside, January 1963

(note - Most Cobra history timelines indicate this event to be January 1963. From the archives, it appears that this was actually the first weekend in February. Race programs from SCCA Pacific Coast Points Championships Feb 2-3, 1963 event at Riverside show both entries from Shelby. The actual race, I believe, was Pacific Coast Championship Point Races (Race 9 - Production A, B, C), Riverside International Raceway ... but we'll consider this a January event, since most dialogs reference it as such).

After a disappointing outing in Nassau, the Shelby team lost driver Billy Krause to the Corvette factory team. In a bit of irony, they picked up Corvette team driver Dave MacDonald for the 1963 season. In addition, a local independent driver, who had been working with Shelby and the Rootes Group turning the Sunbeam Alpine into a racer, joined the team... that would be one Ken Miles.

(How Shelby and Miles came together is an interesting story in itself.)





The cars ran in Production Class A, with Aston-Martin DB4-GT and Zagato, 327 Corvette ('62), Stingray ('63), Ferrari 250GT and Jaguar XKE.





This was the first and only race victory for the 260-based Cobra.





The coolest thing about this is that the two new drivers went out and finished one-two in their first rides in a Cobra; that must have 'pumped' the boys in Venice big-time for the coming season.

Cars 98 (Miles) and 198 (MacDonald)




The victory at Riverside was a minor one in a regional race, but the race story is legend...

...MacDonald won going away from everyone except Miles, who followed him closely across the finish line. What really set the Corvette contingent's teeth to grinding was a typical Miles stunt. Halfway through the race, he pitted suddenly and asked for a drink of water. Tossing the half-empty cup aside, he tore out of the pits., re-passed the Corvettes and closed in behind MacDonald for the finish. The screams from the Corvette and Stingray drivers were loud and bitter, and they would have entered a formal protest if they could. But there was nothing in the rule book that said a driver couldn't stop for a drink of water if he was thirsty.



What was on the radio that day? Top 10 Billboard-January 1963
Go Away, Little Girl (Steve Lawrence)
Walk Right In (Rooftop Singers)
Hotel Happiness (Brook Benton)
Tell Him (The Exciters)
Pepino, The Italian Mouse (Lou Monte)
My Dad (Paul Peterson)
Two Lovers (Mary Wells)
Zip-a-dee Doo-Dah (Bob B. Soxx/Bluejeans)
The Night has a Thousand Eyes (Bobby Vee)
It's Up to You (Ricky Nelson)