Cool/Funny Sports Photos

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're right, very little in common. But keep in mind none of the cars in the biggies like Sebring and Le Mans are stock models, every one is a purpose built racecar. The mad-men were in their own world and made it up as they went.

Duntov had been fighting an uphill battle with the executives since he took over Corvette. He wanted to build a real sports car and they didn't. He assembled a team of fellow engineers who were also racing enthusiasts, and worked on making cars that could win races. The strategy being winning would drives sales, and sales would drive public demand for cars from the dealer's showroom (or at least with help from the parts department), they could win races with.

That strategy worked eventually, in another 10 years they were winning both A and B production championships every year, but it was living in a minefield for Duntov. Every time he talked to the motor press he had to be careful. Of course he wanted to give the car magazines the best numbers he could, but his statements would make it back to the executive offices too.

So the interviews had a lot of, here's the numbers (wink-wink-nod-nod) and the writers would speculate what the real numbers were... in print. Then independent tests would pop up to confirm speculation.

Over at Ford, the T-bird had no mentor so that evolved into a "personal" car which is fine if that's what you want. The T-bird sold more cars and made more money shareholder value than Corvette did for GM.

I'm glad Duntov won the fight against the executives, bean counters, and 4-door aficionados.