Additional Race Photos

After Shelby had finished campaigning the Cobras, he continued with the new Ford Mk II GT40. The illuminated score board shows Dan Gurney's Ford Mk II (number "02") in first place with minutes to go. Gurney's motor broke on the last lap and he pushed the car across the finish line to secure a second place finish.

Dan Gurney in a period F1 photo. Gurney was one of the great drivers of the period and a legendary Cobra team member.

Dick Roe had purchased a GT350 from Lew Spencer at High Performance Motors. When the opportunity to purchase a little-used team USRRC car came up at the end of 1965, Lew contacted Dick. This is the Cobra Caravan delivering CSX 2557 to Dick Roe on April 28, 1966 in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Unloading CSX 2557 in front of Dick Roe's home, Dick is standing to the right. At this point, CSX 2557 was probably the least-used team car in Shelby's basket of cars, having only been raced at Bridgehampton 1964 by Charlie Hayes. See the book, page 237.

Dick Roe's first race with the car, at Breezy Point Airport "Land O'Lakes" Regional SCCA near Brainerd, Minnesota May 1966. Dick placed first in A Production. The competition 289 Cobra was a relatively easy car to drive on a simple airport course -- lots of power, good brakes and good feedback to the driver.

1966 Nurburgring 1000 Kilometers. John Surtees and his Ferrari P3 front-line prototype. This would be Surtees' last sports car race for Ferrari and one of his last in any Ferrari. Surtees had been badly injured in a 1965 accident and, by Le Mans 1966, felt that the Ferrari team had lost confidence in him, and so he quit, in spite of the fact that he was leading in the F1 races.

Dick's second race, at Road America June (1966) Sprints near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Dick place third in A Production behind Jack Hurt in the then-new 427 Cobra and Tom Payne in another private 289 Competition Cobra. Road America is an high-speed track and so the 427 could pull the 289 on the long straights. Payne had a lot more Cobra race time than Roe. 1966 was the last year of SCCA A-Production competition for the USRRC/FIA Cobra specification 289 race cars.

Still Elkhart Lake June Sprints -- Dick Roe in turn 5. His sponsor's name, Tousley Ford, can be seen on the cutback door. CSX 2557 could be distinguished from most of the cutback-door cars in that it had a white-painted rollbar and dual-pipe exhaust exits.

Still Dick Roe Elkhart Lake '66, coming out of Canada Corner. There is a "RA 1966" tech inspection sticker on the nose just inboard of the right headlight. The cockpit rear bulkhead is unpainted. The side exhausts had a "muffler" but if it was like the ones on the coupes, it had no baffles or packing material -- just to appear to comply with FIA regulations.

Another win in A Production, at Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington Minnesota, an airport-type flat course, July 1966. Dick Roe raced the car just once more, in August 1966 at Indianola, Iowa, in an SCCA Midwest Regional, and again won A Production. This was to be Roe's last race, as he heard about the new SCCA rules which would reduce the performance of the 289 Cobra.

David Piper finished second to Bob Bondurant at the Ilford Films 500 at Brands Hatch in 1966. Bondurant was driving a right-hand drive 427 competition Cobra roadster and Piper was in his old dark green LM. Bondurant would not race another Cobra for almost ten years and David Piper would graduate to more powerful Ferrari prototypes.

This is Steve McQueen in a street 427 Cobra on the old Riverside Raceway, 1966. McQueen was a real racer with both dirt motorcycles and sports cars and was good enough to score a second-place finish at Sebring 1970 in a Porsche 908.