1952 Sebring grid. The #89 Jag XK120 of Charlie Wallace and Dick Yates finished 6th. #26 Morris Minor won the sports 1100 class. The #11 Allard and the Bill Spear, Briggs Cunningham #8 Ferrari failed to finish.
1952: We get a glimpse of the red #23 Jag that finished 2nd leading Walt Hansgen in his #52 MGTD. The red VW special of the Brundage brothers finished 11th just behind Hansgen. The Brundage family went on to start Brumos Porsche.
1952: A close look at the grid. The Grier-Collins Allard lasted abput half of the 12 hours, the red Jag of McDonald-Kennedy was also a dnf when it crashed over some hay bales despite its special air vents and bumpers. You can see the front of the
1953 and the field has 81 cars entered. The #9 Fraser-Nash replica made only 2 laps before blowing up. A similar car had won the 1952 race. Dave Ash and Frank Ahrens #4 MG special finished 13th and #44 driven by comedian Fred Allen finished 19th.
1953 Sebring winner is the #57 Cunningham C4R driven by Phil Walters and John Fitch. Note the Florida license plate and Phil Walters with his aviator sunglasses looking over the work. Did they drive the car up from Palm Beach?
1953: Tom Scatchard & Henry Wessells #56 Siata and Otto Linton and John Edgar’s #39 Siata Amica special sit in a hanger where you can see 3 airplane wing pieces stored behind. The air base was now the Sebring regional airport and remained activ
1954: Big news is Lancia has brought 4 of its D4 race cars with an all star lineup. 2nd from L is Luigi Villoresi, Robert Manzon (arms folded), two time world champion Alberto Ascari with Gino Valenzano. Missing are Juan Fangio, Piero Taruffi and P
1954; Alec Ulman (always in jacket and tie) and Reggie Smith in front of the leader board. At that moment, two Lancias are leading with the Walters/Fitch Ferrari owned by Cunningham in 3rd. Note the #56 OSCA is shown 2nd on Index and they went on
1954: Moss and Lloyd win in the Cunningham OSCA. Little known is the 1954 race was held on Sunday, not the typical Sebring Saturday. Only 1953-54-55 were held on Sunday.
1955: The race starts. on a widened and somewhat newly paved circuit. This image shows what little infrastructure and spectator amenities there were. Notice as well nobody is wearing shorts. many women in dresses and men in jackets. A different t
1955: Bob Said and friend in his 750 Ferrari Monza. Said had a very bad day as his race was finished when he collided with an ambulance on the 3rd lap that was sent out to assist a Renault driver who had flipped. At least 6 cars were flagged off t
1955: The tech line includes the Maserati of Tom Friedman and Karl Brocken. The car was a 2 liter A6GCS but was stuffed with a 3 liter motor. The red Healey 100 was driven by Bill Wonder and Bill Wellenberg to 24th.
1956: Phil Hill looks up at California friend Jim Sitz wondering how the teen made it all the way to Florida. Hill had told him that if he wanted to be a serious journalist he had to get to Sebring. Sitz started the trip out of a small LA airport
1956: Sebring spectators have always been creative. A bunch of folks climber the roofs of the old air force barracks to get a high view of the esses and the hairpin.
1956: Fun story. Carlos Menditeguy rolled his Maserati in the esses and was thrown out of the car. He lay face down not moving. Officials are trying to figure out what to do with this dead driver. Minutes later a nurse appeared and told them he wa
1957: Famed French photographer and journalist Bernard Cahier chats with World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio in the Maserati pits. Fangio, with co driver Jean Behra, would win Sebring for the second consecutive year.
1957: Porsche is now very serious about the World Sportscar Championship but only brought 1 550RS #41 for Hans Hermann and Jack McAfee. The private 550RS Spyders of Art Bunker/Charlie Wallace (#44) and JP Kunstle/Ken Miles (red 45) beat the factory
1957: Piero Taruffi sits in the GM hanger trying on Arkov-Duntov’s Corvette “mule”. Chevy built this car for drivers to test at Sebring. The car was quite good and Fangio, in 3 laps, lowered the track record in the car. Taruffi and John Fitch dro
1958: The amazing Archie Scott-Brown came to Sebring to drive his usual Lister-Jag but with Walt Hansgen in a Cunningham car. On lap 3, his car suddenly slowed and Olivier Gendebien ran up the back of Scott-Brown’s car and was literally stuck on to
1958: The Sebring race queen attracted a lot of photographers in her lovely striped shorts as she strolls past the Jean Behra - Edgar Barth brand new Porsche RSK.
1958: Now America’s most important international sports car race Sebring had yet to upgrade its facilities. But nature still calls and at mid day the line is long to the men’s room.
1958: Chris Economaki (white hat) was already a giant in the racing car publishing business with National Speed Sport News. He points to the left while interviewing Carroll Shelby on the grid. Shelby drove a factory Aston Martin but the car was a
1959: The scoreboard is much improved from the one we showed in 1954 but still a long way from today. The #7 Ferrari is leading from Ferrari #9 and they would finish this way with Phil Hill, Ollie Gendebien, Chuck Daigh and Dan gurney sharing the d
1959: French ace Jean Behra sits in his Ferrari 59/60 Testa Rosa. Behra was a super fast driver but had a temper. Later in July 1959 Behra would punch out Ferrari team manager Tavoni after Tavoni accused him of ruining his Ferrari at the French gr
1959: It was a cold and rainy weekend. Pedro Rodriguez drives through the mud with is father in the Ferrari 250TR #11. Pedro co drove with Paul O’Shea but as was usual for the Rodriguez boys, the car failed to finish.
1959: The first FIA World Championship grand prix was held in December at Sebring. Jack Brabham became world champion after pushing his Cooper to the finish line for 4th place. It was the first championship for a rear engined car, for Brabham and
1960: A pensive Masten Gregory waiting for the start. Gregory partnered with Carroll Shelby in a Camoradi Birdcage Maserati. The car lasted 3 laps and blew up.
1960: Cameron Argetsinger (red cap) watches as his Alfa is fueled before practice. This fueling station was busy all weekend with teams taking 5 gallon cans back and forth during the race.
1960: It was still common to see a local dealership from somewhere in America race Sebring. Jim Forno’s Continental Motors in Vestal, NY brought his whole crew to the race. While they were a DNF the crew had a blast.
1960: Jo Bonnier and Johnny Cuevas hold a drawing of Bonnier. No idea who did the artwork or why Johnny was holding it. Cuevas was famous for his lighter collection and later his ink pen collections. Did he draw this portrait?
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