I would imagine neither Ford or Shelby wanted to remember the 65 Le Mans! Alan Mann got Shelby banned from all European Cobra races, except Le Mans, after Mann told Ford, either Shelby or me, Ford chose Alan, and a good thing to. Shelby got the best cars, but it was an unmitigated disaster for Ford and Shelby! By the half way point, all the GT40s and Cobra's were out, except for one battered Daytona of Mann's racing. The car was piloted by Gentleman Jack Sears and Dick Thompson The Flying Dentist, (you just can't make these things up.) The car had been in to bad shunts and the engine would loose
oil pressure after a few second of full throttle. At hour twelve, Sears came in to the pits and said, "this is pointless"! After a bit of an argument, Alan said the words every Cobra lover should know by heart, "but we've got to try and finish one Ford at least, you can do it, just drive the bloody thing on it's
oil pressure!" And Sears did, second after second, minute after minute, rev it up, then back off, hour after mind numbing hour! Alan latter said about Gentleman Jack, "he could have blown it on Mulsanne any time, but he just sat there doing what he was told for the rest of the race. Now that is discipline!" Ferrari took the first three positions, and first in Division III, But Sears and Thompson came in a respectable eighth overall, and garnered 12 points. Those points meant that the only way Ferrari could win Division III, was if, they won all the remaining races and the Cobra's failed to garner any points for the rest season. Cheers, Dennis