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:

 Pro racing returned to Meadowdale for the USRRC races in 1964. Ken Miles easily won the Manufacturer's race from teammate Bob Johnson. Chuck Stoddard's Alfa TZ beat the Lotus Cortinas of Dave Clark (no, not the Dave Clark 5 drummer) and Trevor Taylor.

Jim Hall was on the pole for the Drivers race and he qualified the sister car, to be driven by Roger Penske, with the third fastest time. Penske had to start from the back of the grid because he did not arrive at the circuit until Sunday morning. When the race started Ed Leslie, in the Shelby Cooper-Ford, got off the line first to lead the first lap from Bobby Unser and Hall. By the third lap Penske had moved from the back of the grid up to the lead Leslie, Unser and Hall. After 11 laps Leslie was out with a broken suspension. Hall took the lead, won by 40+ seconds from Penske and clinched the '64 championship.

Tennis Anyone?

I know, this is not a tennis blog.  But I need a place to post the following article my girlfriend wrote about her father's tennis career.  2019 will be the 80th anniversary of Don McNeill's around the world tennis trip, which culminated in him winning the French (now called 'Open") National Tennis Championship at Stade Roland Garros, in Paris.  We are starting a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to send Margaret to Paris for this year's Semi-Final and Finals matches.  I have linked the Go Fund Me campaign to this page because the articles and photos won't fit on the GFM page.  Thanks for your patience:

If you are interested in donating, here is a link to the Go Fund Me campaign:

https://www.gofundme.com/don-mcneill-memorial-trip-to-french-open

Below is a copy of a letter Don wrote to his fraternity brothers from India.  It was published in the February 1939 issue of Kenyon College magazine HIKA.

Chaparral & Cobra Winning Ways Continued at Watkins Glen

Here is an interesting sequence of Hal Keck having a moment at Watkins Glen:

Good Race, Sad Weekend at Pacific Raceways in 1964

The 1964 USRRC Driver's race at Pacific Raceways (often mistakenly called "Kent") was a very good race between Jim Hall in his Chaparral 2 and Dave MacDonald in a Shelby King Cobra.  I won't spoil the story here, so you can read about it in the page photos.
Also, I'm moving this weekend and have updated my book order info page with our new address.  So, YES, there are still some copies of my book available.

Still Available - USRRC History

I still have a few copies of my book for sale:

Grids On The Honor System

Qualifying for the 1964 Laguna Seca USRRC race featured rain.  It got into the timing equipment and an MG ended up with the fastest time.  That obviously couldn't be right.  Even in rain a Chaparral or Shelby Cooper-Cobra would be faster than an MG.  So the officials had the drivers turn in the fastest lap their crew timed them at. Most of the drivers agreed that the grid looked like it should.