Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Gamesmanship at Mid Ohio 1964?

With both the Manufacturer's and Driver's championships settled a fair number of cars and drivers showed up for the Mid Ohio round.  

There were 16 cars for the Manufacturer's race.  I see now that I incorrectly stated that the Cobras were the only over two liter cars.  There was also an E-type Jaguar, an Austin Healey 3000 and a Corvette.  Miles led from the start followed by Tom Payne and Bob Johnson.  After 20 laps Miles had a 20 second lead over Johnson.  Then Miles started slowing down to let Johnson catch up. During the next 22 laps Miles and Johnson swapped places many times.  At the end Johnson won by 1 second over Miles.  Bill Wuesthoff was fifth overall and won the under two liter class, driving a Porsche 904.

26 cars started the Driver's race.  Jerry Grant took the lead at the start in a Lotus 19, with the Chaparrals of Jim Hall and Hap Sharp right behind.  This lasted for 20 laps before Grant lost his brakes and pitted.  Hall stepped on it and pulled out a one minute lead by the middle of the race.  Then Hall backed off and let Sharp catch up and take the win by one second.  






I still have a few copies of my book left.  Below is order info: