1963 Road America 500 - Dave MacDonald & Bob Bondurant win GT Class in Shelby Cobra CSX2136
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- Published on Sep 8, 2016
- SAI teammates Dave MacDonald and Bob Bondurant co-drive Shelby Cobra Roadster CSX2136 - jointly entered by Steve McQueen & Carroll Shelby - to a 1st in GT & 4th OA finish in the 1963 Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Shelby American entries finished this grueling 500 mile event 2-4-6 overall in a field of 61 sports cars. Winning time was 5 hrs 56 min
Other notable finishers:
Augie Pabst/John Wuesthoff 1st OA in an Elva Mk.7 Porsche - 5 hrs 56 mins
Ken Miles/Bob Holbert 2nd overall in a modified Cobra 289 Roadster
Roger Penske 7th overall in a Mecom owned Ferrari 250 GTO
Briggs Cunningham/John Fitch 20th overall in a Jaguar E-type roadster
Lew Spencer/Bob Johnson finished 2nd GT & 6th overall in Cobra Roadster joint entered by Shelby & Vic Damone
My father, Joseph B. Swanson was driving his #58
Elva Mk VI in this race. He finished 26th overall and 14th in class.
The new grassroots is lemons
Congratulation to Mr. Swanson!! That's what built SCCA racing. Not everyone had the funds to support a top flight racing team, then or now. Many weekend racers had to feed the family first and go racing with whatever fit the budget. I crewed for several different teams and rode the crash truck for many years with SCCA and enjoyed (nearly) every minute of it. That is what built the "grass-roots" sports car racing after WWII in the US.
I had a Shelby CSX 4000 series Cobra, what a blast to drive.
I had the honor of visiting with both Carroll and Bob several times when I was a Shelby Dealer.
This is a wonderful video! I got such a kick out of seeing/hearing a young Roger Penske. You can see how analytical he is even as a young driver.
This is the kind of racing I grew up with. My Dad raced in SCCA in central California. I literally grew up in the pits there.
@carlsagan lives Charlotte was off the hook. So was Rockingham and Martinsville. Back when Rubbing was Racing 😁
@SGTJDerek That's a damn shame, Sarge. I was lucky to have beautiful Road America nearby.We also saw stock cars at Shawano Speedway,and the Milwaukee Mile.Wouldn't mind checking out Talladega or Charlotte,though.
I grew up in the heart of NASCAR Country but I wish Trans Am Racing had of gotten better coverage. Even the IMSA races of the time couldn't be found. Forget Rally Racing or Baja.
Each car was so unique! No problem telling them apart.
I won a few sales contests back when I was selling Fords during the 80's - Twice I got to spend a day with Bob Bondurant and NASCAR's T-Bird drivers at Ford's huge proving grounds in Romeo. It was the most fun I've ever had, driving 140+ MPH on the huge 5 mile oval and learning how to race on the road courses.
Dude lost his front left wheel and STILL kept racing. That's bad ass!
Great vintage racing!! Thanks for posting. Cheers!
500 miles, 1 pit stop at 250? On a freaking ROAD COURSE? Gotta love it.
I started racing Moto GP in 87 and this was the only track I really want to race on being 3.4miles nice and long flat out at 120mph plus all days nice sweeping corners.
So many famous drivers in the same race is amazing to me. Too bad I wasn't born a decade earlier...
Got to love these old racing videos, especially the race track safety features hay bails protected by sturdy trees, long before Armco took over that job,
Think of a time when a well designed race car FIVE YEARS OLD could still be considered a threat for the overall win. Drum brakes. Only a four speed transmission. Iron block V8. Actually street driveable (which they all were at one time or other). Scarab.
At 6:15 watch the wheel work of Ken Miles, 98 Cobra.
What a driver, what a car and so misunderstanding, isn´t it Mr. Ford?
Champion
awesome, great circuit one of the best.
What a glorious time to live.
Amazing...these were just race cars then....now they're all a million dollars each!
All the cars were so beautiful...
I saw Dave McDonald and Eddie Sachs killed at the 1964 Indy 500. Both were terrific drivers. It was a sad day.
U know Shelby was one of my hero's and this racing is all on the track...he was saying how in Europe he became friends with Dino FERRARI Enzo brother and said he was a good friend an someone he learned from on his journey .
His Brother, Dino, died in 1916, same year as his Father died,Enzo had a Son also named Dino, it was Enzo's Son who was tight with Shelby..
Imagine if Ken Miles and Bob Bondurant were driving Daytona Coupes
Ken Miles was racing a 289 Cobra entered by Williamson Ford and Bob Bondurant was driving a Cobra entered by Steve McQueen/Shelby American.
That is the golden age of racing.... and what a smooth announcer too
Driving a bomb on wheels . . . Beautiful but deadly.
That shelby is just beautiful 😍
Penske right thou I love this track because it's long but it is hard on brakes because its so high speed your going a hundred every where got to love it...
Good old times and amasing races, iconic old racing cars and drivers, there are no more like this nowadays, never! Today is only politics and millions!
the Elva Mk VII Porsche won in irs first race out. Wow
"Spencer has lost his untightened front wheel and is running the whole course on his disc."
Outstanding!
Can you imagine in todays values of these cars how much money is on that track....
KEN MILES IS THE GOAT 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
Hell of a race Gimmie a smoke....I love those days...scotch and soda sure...too
Hey, what happened to the trophy gals? Good times, kel!
Thanks great video man we have come a long way...who forgot the hey bales...
Thanks nice too see my favorite track in America in its infancy...guard rails we don't need know stinky guard rails...I love that just a race not even a hey bales any where great old foot age thanks...boy those cobras need a sway bar or two ....
The pits were dirt, crazy
The pace car looked like a Corvair.
It was.
Does anybody know if all three of Cunningham's E Types were factory "lightweight" cars?
@Timinator62 Two of the three, though I seem to recall the third one was hardly a just-off-the-street one. Thanks for the memory jog., and RSC is the 99% fact source for that era. We still have a problem with the '64 Bridgehampton race though...
Mom Knew Sports Cars & Loved These Cars/Drivers; Dad & Her Went To Nor/SoCal Tracks Before & After They Got Married!
Has to be exhausting race to run
R.I.P Bob, rev in peace o7
Great film, thank you
Ferrari was the endurance king? What the hell happened?
They stopped trying. Pretty simple. The 333 was the last gasp of top-line Ferrari racing sports cars, and they didn't even build that one...
Big thank' for this sharring!!
Gotta laugh at the Corvair Pace Car-
Fantastic....
aprox 6 months later Dave Macdonald crashed and passed away
Unfortunately that was the norm back then. These guys clanked when they walked.
Those Scarabs were something else
"E Jag". It's E-Type Jag !
Roger Penske as a driver. Was he an owner as well?
Penske started out as a production sports car racer, graduated to Maserati Birdcages (winner) Cooper Monacos (winner) designed his own car based on a Cooper F1 car (winner) won his class at Sebring in a Ferrari GTO, raced a Grand Sport Corvette at Nassau (winner) and that's the short story. A championship-level driver and engineer, but he felt - correctly - that the management and team owner role was his strength. He also won in a Chaparral.....the automatic trans one.
THANKS !
The announcer sounds like the Batman tv announcer from the 60s...hey I'm old...same bat station same bat channel....
shit tires,had to know how to drive
Did you notice the tail through the turns?