Cobra Ferrari Wars - Book Photos

with descriptions

Willy Mairesse, circa 1962 -- a postcard photo. After I finished the book I returned all photos, transparencies and artifacts to the people from whom I had borrowed them. The items which I had purchased or been given, I donated to the Boulder, Colorado Shelby museum. I retained a few photos, like this one, only because they were stuck away in odd files. I wanted people to see these artifacts rather than hoard them in my house or garage.

This portrait was taken in New York City at the time of the 1962 New York Auto Show. In the 1980s, John lived near me, and helped with the book's photo captions. John knew the names of all the turns, the identity of the people in the photos and was present at most of the events. John's own book "The Certain Sound" is one of the great ones. John and Tottie Wyer's life-long friend, John Horsman, has just published his own book, "Racing in the Rain.". John Horsman also lives in Arizona and helped me with this book.

This is Ken Miles at Sebring Florida, 1963 in CSX 2002 before the start of the race. Miles had been dead five years by the time I started to research the book but he was able to speak in the book through his race reports and through his friend, Charlie Agipou.

Shelby the Pirate, Sebring 1964. Another great photo by Bernard Cahier, the greatest of all the Cobra-era photographers. Bernard understood what he was photographing -- you cannot photograph (or paint) what you cannot see. Think about it. Bernard fought with the Free French in WWII, raced sports cars in Europe in the '50s, worked in Southern California for a few years, became a racing photographer and wrote for Sports Car Graphic during the '60s.

This is Ken Miles at Sebring 1964 in the "turd" being pushed hard under braking by David Piper. There is a great story in the book, pages 103-107, about John Morton's debut as a Cobra team driver in this race. A book could be written about Ken Miles, and one has, by Art Evans.

The mighty Bob Bondurant prior to1964 Le Mans, where he wrote Cobra history. The book recounts the controversy of whether or not Bob was too aggressive during the 1965 European season. I suppose, if you are a racing driver, you might want to be aggressive. Bob is a great guy and also lives in Arizona.

Jo Schlesser in CSX2299 at Sebring, 1965. Schlesser was one of those guys whom everyone liked and whom everyone missed after he died. There was a special comraderie amongst the drivers and crews because they knew what they were doing was dangerous and that people were going to die. This is a Joe Farkas (Ford) photo which was used as the basis for the boxtop art for Revell's Daytona coupe model.

John Whitmore at the Tourist Trophy 1965 -- one of the great stories in the book. John found a life beyond racing and is another great guy. When I first met him, in 1973, he didn't even own a car.