StandOnIt
Farm Truck
Fans at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida will take a trip down memory lane when the famed Chaparral 2 turns exhibition laps around the historic Sebring International Raceway on the 50th anniversary of its 1965 victory, prior to the 63rd running of the classic on Saturday, March 21.
With the publicized battle between Ford and Ferrari for supremacy in international endurance racing, interest in the sport was at an all-time high in 1965 – especially following Ford’s breakthrough first victory for the GT40 earlier in the year at Daytona.
For Sebring, though, it was a Chevrolet-powered prototype fielded by Texan Jim Hall (BELOW) that scored a four-lap victory in what is considered to be one of the greatest races in Sebring history. Hall was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 105.41 mph, and then broke the race lap record, running 104.41 mph. Torrential rain fell later in the event and ended the opportunity for additional records, with Hall and Hap Sharp scoring an all-American victory.
This is pretty wild:
“Taking that car back to Sebring will be real special. Fifty years is a long time ago. That was an amazing race, and winning was very, very satisfying for the team. That race had a huge amount of rain. Dad brought in a consultant forecaster to tell him when it was going to hit. They ran flat-out until it hit and had a huge (seven-lap) lead, and then parked the car for a time because you couldn’t see anything. The water was so deep it came into the ****pit, so they were sitting in water for a fair amount of time. They felt very lucky to finish that race.”
http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/1140...victory-iconic-chaparral-2-returns-to-sebring