Page 95 - Yanks reviews

Porsche Road & Race, June 22, 2020 / page 14
From 25th on the grid, the Field/Minter/Morton Porsche had climbed to seventh overall, second in IMSA. Starting even further back, 32nd, Akin, McFarlin and Woods passed 25 cars before head gasket problems struck, ultimately ending their effort as darkness fell. By that time, in spite of longer pitstops than the Porsches, the Gregg Ferrari had moved from 28th to 12th, and third in IMSA.
Among the quickest in the pits was Dick Barbour’s 935.
“We did some pretty clever things,” the big man remembered, “Like our belts, we had surgical elastic bands attached to the roll bars and belts, so when you unlatched them, the belts just flew up out of the way. And when the next driver got in, there they were, ready to be pulled down and latched. It definitely made our stops faster.
“Our only problem was the paparazzi. They drove us crazy because of Paul. They’d stand in front of the car, you know,
and when you’re ready to go, they’re still there. We tried everything. We tried bribing them with T-shirts, everything, but they wouldn’t go away. The gendarmes tried, but they couldn’t control them either.
“Finally, on one stop the first day, I told Rolf just to start the car and stand on it. He did and bumped about four of them off the fenders on the way out. Paul was little nicer about it than Rolf and I.”
“Well, I was a bit more suable,” Newman quipped.
“The fact is,” said Barbour, “we all knocked some over. It was the only way we could get out of the pits. And eventually, they did back off a little.”
Shortly after 1:00 a.m., another American-driven 935 was out. After climbing to sixth overall, a half-hour into John Morton’s stint, the engine in his, Ted Field and Milt Minter’s Porsche expired.
“I drove a little bit in the rain. Again, I don’t think I did a full stint. We’d have picked up more positions if I’d kept the car in the pits. You know, I didn’t exactly cover myself with glory at Le Mans.” – Paul Newman. “Oh, I think he did.” – Dick Barbour THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION
1028 1979 E Twice Around the Clock
The Yanks at Le Mans E 1979
Preston Henn heads for the pits, where his damaged NART Ferrari will be retired after slamming into the guardrail at Tertre Rouge. “I hit oil there. They say there was an oil flag waving, but I didn’t see it. That was it. I screwed up.” – Preston Henn THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION
I remember going down the Mulsanne, with the one wiper going, and lightning going off down at the end
of the Mulsanne. I said to myself, ‘Dear Mother Mary, if I get killed here, that’s it. I can’t help it, I really love it here, it’s magnificent!’
“It was a fast car,” said Morton, “I think Vasek (Polak) owned it. I know Vasek was the reason I drove it. We torched a cylinder like the early Porsche turbos.”
Morton and Field would be back, but it was to be Milt Minter’s final Le Mans. One consolation, they missed the rain.
“I got in the car at 1:30 in the morning,” Ed Abate recalled, “and it wasn’t raining yet, but after a while, it started, and finally, I had to come in for wet tires.
“I remember going down the Mulsanne, with the one wiper going, and lightning going off down at the end of the Mulsanne. I said to myself, ‘Dear Mother Mary, if I get killed here, that’s it. I can’t help it, I really love it here, it’s magnificent!’”
But lightning was a bad sign – the rain became a massive downpour, flooding the course dangerously in places, and making it impossible to see.
“I mean, the sky opened up,” said John Hotchkis, “and it poured. And on rain tires, we’re still going down the Mulsanne at 180 maybe, instead of 200. You can’t see anything, except to the side, like Lindberg. You don’t know where you are. “And you begin hearing funny noises. And you go, ‘Holy Christ, the engine is going to bust, and eight miles from home, it’s gonna get awful cold out here.’ But it’s not you, it’s the guy you’re about ready to run into!
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Dr. Edwin Abate