Category Archives: Blog Stories

July 4th it will be 54 years when the Daytona Cobra Coupe won the FIA GT World Championship. What was it like for you when that happened?

July 2, 2019Blog StoriesadminBRE2GB

I was thrilled of course but by the end of the ’64 season the Coupe was already well-proven. What I felt most about the’65 Championship was elation for driver Bob Bondurant. He went to the mat with the Coupes in Europe. Alan Mann, team owner and manager for the Cobra team in ’65 in Europe, was rough on Bob. He made it clear to Bob his English drivers were to win over him. Bob employed the adage of success is the sweetest revenge and went to work. Not only did he take the Championship win at Reims but he did it on July 4^th, America’s independence day from the British. Now that’s a movie!

For myself, the highlights with the Coupe were mostly in ‘64:

The Coupe’s first test day at Riverside that February where it broke the roadster’s lap record by 3.5 seconds. Up until then few people in the shop at Shelby’s believed in the Coupe. At that first test, Ken Miles called Shelby from the track and said: “this thing’s a rocket ship.” By the time we had the car loaded and back at Shelby’s, the center of the floor had been cleared out for it and it was decided it would race at Daytona the next month. I still met some resistance from Phil Remington on my design for a rear air foil but it was clear the Coupe was staying. Prior to this point the guys in the shop referred to the Coupe as “Brock’s Folly”. That wasn’t heard again after the Riverside test.
The Coupe’s stellar performance at Daytona (its first race) on February 16th. The Coupe was so efficient we found we could throttle back the performance to be just slightly faster than the Ferraris and be 25% more fuel efficient than our Cobra roadsters! All that was required to win was to lead the Ferraris until it was time for them to pit. At that point we could put a couple of laps on them before pitting for fuel. Over the hours we were some seven laps in the lead until we had a pit fire. We were so far ahead of Enzo’s Ferraris at the time of the fire the crew were sure they could repair it and still win the race. For whatever reason Carroll decided to pack everything up and the Coupe’s first win would come a few weeks later at its next race, the 12 Hours of Sebring. With the Coupe now proven to be a winner against Ferrari we were well on our way to achieve Carroll’s goal of beating Enzo.
The Coupe’s win at Le Mans in June with Bondurant and Dan Gurney. I think this says it all.

Heading into the end of the ‘64 season we had Ferrari beat with two more Coupes being completed. Had him beat, that is, until Enzo got the sanctioning for the late-season Monza race cancelled so we couldn’t get the points needed to take the Championship away from him that year. We learned never to underestimate what Enzo would do to win. 1964 was the year the Coupe made Shelby American an international success even though the record books don’t quite show it. Not that anything in racing is a “given” but the Coupe winning the FIA GT Championship for Ford and Shelby in ‘65 was as certain as possible. The Daytonas’ superior speed all season long even forced Enzo to announce he was quitting GT racing after Monza. The Cobra team’s success against Ferrari in ’64 convinced Henry Ford II to hire Shelby to develop and race the prototype Ford GT40s in ’65. Enzo would focus all of his energy on the prototype class against the GT40s. So in ’65 the question wasn’t really if the Daytona Cobra Coupes would win the championship but which driver would win the championship in them, English or American? July 4^th, American driver Bob Bondurant racing in Reims, France brought home the FIA GT Championship to Shelby, Ford and America.

With summer upon us, which automotive museums would you recommend people visit that don’t get a lot of publicity and we might otherwise miss?

June 7, 2019Blog StoriesadminBRE2GB

I’ve been lucky to have been invited to some great under-the-radar museums. Here are some of my favorites:

• The Chaparral Gallery in the Petroleum Museum in Midland, TX. Jim Hall’s collection of Chaparral’s is fascinating. Here you can see and compare how rare innovation and brilliance changed our sport forever. The oil field displays are pretty impressive too. This is where implausible inventions were created because no one had ever done what these wildcatin’ Texas “ahl biznes” roughnecks achieved. Innovation is part of Hall’s DNA. As much as anything I enjoyed the serenity of this place. In the quiet of the West Texas plains along I-20 is the greatest collection of Jim Hall’s Chaparral race cars. It’s a modest and quality display of these aerodynamic wonders. Well worth a stop.

• Speedy Bill’s (Speedway Motors) Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE – This is truly one of the most amazing museums (automotive or otherwise) I’ve ever been to and it was a crazy set of circumstances that led me there. While visiting Gayle’s family in Nebraska her dad asked if I had ever stopped by Speedy Bill’s in Lincoln. Her dad was in the communications business and had built some radio towers in the empty lot next to Bill’s Speedway Motors Museum. Her dad had met Speedy and gone through his collection before it was open to the public. He said there were “some pretty unique things” there he thought I’d like.

Even though it would be along our route heading back to our home in the Seattle area we didn’t have time to stop. However, traveling down I-80, two exits past Speedy’s in Lincoln we lost a wheel nut and the right rear wheel off my Daytona Coupe. We searched for the far-flung nut but in the tall grass alongside the freeway, we couldn’t find it. We stayed in Lincoln for a couple of days while another one was made. While waiting we rented a car and headed to Speedy’s. We met Bill (now deceased) and he gave us a tour of this incredible one-of-a-kind collection. As a racer in his youth, Bill was always interested in speed which translated into the myriad collection of accessories that increase the performance of a car. It’s how his massive automotive accessories business began.

In his collection, rather than just have a Model T on display he also had every accessory available for it. My grandad, EJ Hall, a personal friend of Henry Ford’s, made the two-speed Ruxtell axles for the T, amazing that this option was the ONLY non-Ford made part ever sold by Ford! Speedy had one on display. There aren’t a lot of cars in this collection so once you see everything that Bill pulled together you realize that gathering a bunch of rare cars and displaying them is child’s play compared to what Bill amassed. One particular focus is engines. I saw more unique, historically important engines than I ever imagined. Go to the museum website and select Display, then Engines from the drop down menu. The engines alone are worth the trip, but there’s more. An entire floor was dedicated to pedal cars and model tether-cars. People would travel on trains far and wide to race these “spin-dizzies” during the war as fuel rationing didn’t allow for real automobile races. It’s rather difficult to describe how amazing this collection is, except to say it’s at the top of my list of museums you should see that you might never hear about otherwise. Preferably, don’t wait until your car breaks down on the Interstate out front!

• With a location like Hickory Corners, Michigan I wasn’t surprised I hadn’t ever heard of the Gilmore Museum, until I arrived. It’s a sprawling complex of 20 exhibit buildings on perfectly manicured grounds. Located between Detroit and Chicago it has a particular focus on America’s automotive history including the horseless carriage as well as steam, gas and electric powered vehicles (before those became trendy). In covering America’s transportation history you also have to include trains. The Gilmore does that well with an actual train switch tower onsite which was relocated to the Gilmore campus after serving the Kalamazoo and South Haven railway line for more than 100 years. Visit their website and look at the Gilmore site map to see all the great displays in store for you.

There are dozens of smaller museums of quality we should all make an effort to support including:

You ran BRE Datsuns in several of the very first Baja races, including a 4 vehicle team in 1969 consisting of a Datsun pick-up and three factory-built “lightweight” Datsun 510s, built to African Safari Rally specs. You managed the team and then co-drove one of those cars with John Morton. Then for many years more recently you also covered the Baja races as a photojournalist with your wife Gayle. What are the top things you’d like to share about the Baja races for those of us who’ve never been?

May 31, 2019Blog StoriesadminBRE2GB

First, let me say that Baja racing is my favorite form of automotive competition. Baja racing culture is about life, speed, the beauty of the land and enjoying everything to its fullest extent. The fact that the rules are fairly free, with minimum oversight allows lots of innovation for the competitors. As for ourselves… with no fences, an open road and no self-inflated officials blowing whistles, screaming or telling you where you can’t stand means you’re in Baja for one of the most exciting and grueling adventures on the planet; Baja is one of the last great open road races in the world.

1. Let’s start easy.

Get acquainted by watching a Baja race on TV. This Saturday, June 1^st, 2019 the San Felipe 250 will air on ABC's "World of X Games" at 2:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT. I’ve seen a preview and I can’t wait to see more…some spectacular coverage!

2. Getting the bug and want more?

Watch the full feature movie Dust to Glory by Dana Brown.

3. If you want to go to a Baja race

first, make a plan. The Baja 500 is actually running this week starting Saturday in Ensenada. Understand it’ll never turn out the way you expect but it’ll give you a structure to start! There’s a common saying mentioned frequently when nothing goes as planned in Baja (and it never does)… “That’s Baja!” We still have the race logs and maps we created when we raced in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Be prepared but most of all be flexible.

4. Choose the “right spot” to watch the race:

This is an easy yet difficult task in Baja because there’s 1000 miles of road to choose from. Once the field goes past there’s little chance of ever seeing them again, so get comfortable and relax. One of my favorite locations is the “Rollers” just outside of Ojos Negros. Hardcore fans will have been there since the day before the start, selecting their spot and partying as only they can in Mexico. You’ll know when the Trophy Trucks are coming as their support helicopters will appear first in the distance. Within a couple of hours, the entire field will have passed and, essentially, it’s over; but you’ll never forget the day. There are literally hundreds of such places all along the course, so be sure to look at the course maps.

5. Determine a meeting point so if all fails,

you know where to go to get back with your group. Gayle and I got separated while covering the Baja 1000 in 2004. I was shooting from a helicopter and she from the ground. She was to drive to a specific helicopter refueling location to pick me up when my stint in the chopper was over. She got there but I wasn’t there. Turns out there had been an accident on course and our chopper was flagged down to help. By the time rescue personnel arrived and we were back on our way we couldn’t recover the schedule. I stayed with the chopper until it got dark at which time they had to land because no aircraft are allowed to fly at night over Baja. I then flagged down the support truck of a team I knew. They gave me a ride but they were going the wrong direction, farther south to meet their race vehicle which was down with broken wheel lugs. I tagged along and got the best night photography of my career showing the team welding lugs onto the race car’s chassis in the middle of nowhere in the dark.

Having planned in advance what should happen if we didn’t connect at the fueling spot, Gayle knew not to wait for me any longer than 1pm. Following the course map she found a couple of crossover points where she got more race shots. As darkness fell she went back to race central in Ensenada and tracked which racers would be arriving at the finish line soon. It was the year “Dust to Glory” was being filmed and she engaged in some interesting conversation with the crew and director. She got some amazing shots at 2am of the winner of the bike class taking the flag (she loves to point out the two seconds in the movie where the camera pans past her as the winner comes in. After a few more hours of shooting she went back to our ultimate meeting location (a nearby ranch used by racers). No one was there and the generators shut off at night. She found her way to a room in the dark. A few hours later I was dropped off by the crew I’d spent the night with. Even with all the downtime they experienced they never quit and won the championship with my photos to prove it. Gayle and I had great stories to share when we reconnected. And we reconnected without panic because we had a plan and a contingency plan with an if-all-else-fails meeting location (the ranch).

6. Relax and take time to enjoy

the wonders of Ensenada like the local fish market where you’ll see fish being offloaded from boats and the best $1 fish tacos at stands just outside. Drink only bottled drinks. You can also go high-end for a great dinner at the upscale Sano’s restaurant just north of town. Try the spinach salad, a ribeye medium rare with baked potato and a great glass of local Santo Tomas red. It doesn’t get much better.

7. Join a pit crew.

Really got the bug? Most Baja pit teams are made up of volunteers. Some of these contract support teams, with members from all over the world, have been meeting in Baja annually for decades, hauling in everything imaginable to service and fuel their contracted racer teams. Since many pit stops are hundreds of miles below the border and teams have to get there at least a day in advance there’s no skimping on making life a great party. Great food, people, equipment and drink plus every possible luxury imaginable (including swimming pools) can be found out there, hundreds of miles from nowhere. Sublime madness. Do an internet search on “Baja pit crews.”

Why did you feel it was valuable, and take it upon yourself, to develop a brand for Shelby like the creation of the Shelby logo, letterhead, business cards, apparel, etc?

May 24, 2019Blog StoriesadminBRE2GB

As successful as the Shelby American operation was, Carroll didn’t really understand the potential of a viable brand using his name with his attendant racing success. Any attempt on my part to upgrade our initial “Shelby” or “Goodyear” merchandise was met with resistance because of cost. Shelby saw the advantage of promoting his name with “T” shirts but would only allow the cheapest materials to minimize cost. He didn’t understand that superior materials would last indefinitely as “collector items” and continue to promote visibility. Shelby simply didn’t have the facilities or people to promote and market any internally created products. Shelby’s rather small team of mechanics and fabricators were “racers”, without question the BEST in the racing game, with only one goal…WIN! But there wasn’t anyone internally who understood the potential of the Shelby brand. Later this became obvious and was one reason that Shelby allowed himself to be taken over by Ford when the opportunity came up to develop the GT40s. Ford had the expertise, money and a vast organization to promote and merchandise the Ford brand using Shelby’s name a team.

Why didn’t your Type 65 design have a ring spoiler? There’s none shown on your clay model.

May 15, 2019Blog StoriesadminBRE2GB

The Type 65 “Super Coupe” was designed to replace the Daytona Cobra Coupe in 1965. It had a 427 engine, modern suspension and a shape that would theoretically have allowed speeds well over 200 mph. What it didn’t have was a moveable driver-controlled wing at the rear called a “Ring Airfoil” that was initially planned for the Daytona Cobra Coupe.

Had the wing been used on the Daytona it would have been faster, safer and far easier to drive. Once it was “discovered” that the Daytona was unstable at speed without the Ring Airfoil a far less complicated “spoiler” was added to the rear which helped tremendously in improving the Daytona’s performance. Even though the opportunity to fit a Ring Spoiler to the Daytona existed through the 1964 season there was simply no time or opportunity to replace the spoiler and the cars had already proven its superiority over the once invincible Ferrari GTOs. The attitude within the Shelby team was “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Fast enough to win was considered “good enough” without spending more time and money to improve what was already a proven winner.

The Type 65 didn't have a Ring Spoiler because the opportunity to use a “moveable aerodynamic device” on all racing cars had passed by then due to regulations banning them. Others who had adapted moveable “wings” during the interim, like Jim Hall’s Chaparrals and several Formula 1 racers in Europe, were banned when the FIA determined that failures of such devices at high speed would cause a loss of traction and result in crashes that would endanger spectators.

Brock Racing Enterprises