1st	John Love	John Love Motors Cooper 79 (FL/1/65)	Climax FPF
2nd	Sam Tingle	S.A. Tingle LDS Mk. 3 (LDS/10)	Climax FPF
3rd	Clive Puzey	Clive Puzey Motors Lotus 18 (18/P2)	Climax FPF
4th	Doug Serrurier	L.D. Serrurier LDS Mk. 3 (LDS/11)	Climax FPF
5th	Jackie Pretorius	Scuderia Scribante Lotus 21 (21/952)	Climax FPF
6th	Tony Jefferies	John Love Motors Cooper 55 (F1/11/61)	Climax FPF

Points are awarded in the same style as the Constructors Championship in Grand Prix racing – 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, for both Over 2-litres and Under 2-litres, with only the best result of a marque getting points. In addition, there are four classes: A, over 2,000cc; B, 1,300cc to 2,000cc; C, 1,000cc to 1,300cc; and D, under 1,000cc.

There were three Ford Mustang notchback sedans – the fastback models lack sufficient headroom in the rear per the latest edition of Appendix J – present with A.J. Foyt at the wheel of the Dale Brown entry, # 4. Team Starfish entered two Plymouth Barracudas and Group 44 had a Dodge Dart on the grid. There were two Chevrolet Corvair entries, five of the BMW 1800 TISA cars, six of the Alfa Romeo GTA rockets, two Alan Mann Ford Lotus-Cortina cars, a gaggle of BMC Minis – from a 850cc to a Cooper S 1,175cc, a half dozen Saabs, three Volvo 122S cars, a VW, a Renault-Gordini R8, an Opel Kadett, and among the odds and ends – a VW.

With the grid determined by engine size, practice was even more of a shambles than one would expect. Jochen Rindt was not amused when nominated co-driver Roberto Bussinello managed to roll the Alfa GTA they were assigned, not going too much harm. The Autodelta team mechanics fixed it up so that it was fully functional, even if a bit tatty looking.

The Foyt Mustang was first off the grid with the Charlie Rainville Team Starfish Barracuda in its wake. Behind this pair were the Ed Diamond Mustang, the other Team Starfish Barracuda with Scott Harvey up, Dick Thompson in a Mustang, Don Eichsteadt in one of the Corvair entries, and the Barracuda of Ray Stoudenberg. The Rainville Barracuda and the Foyt Mustang rounded the first lap in a dead heat, but Foyt soon was starting to draw away from Rainville. Behind them the mayhem kept the (sparse) crowd entertained.

With an hour both of the Lotus-Cortina entries were out. Art Riley put his Volvo on its roof and had the BMW of Bill Campbell and the Saab of Bill Boyer imitate him. No physical injuries and all three rejoined the race. Al Rogers was driving the tiny Honda as if it were on a mission and embarrassing many of the larger cars, particularly the Saabs. Rally wizard Paddy Hopkirk had the 1,275 Mini-Cooper S up to ninth at the mid-point before it dropped out of the race with various ills.

Foyt stopped pitted early (lap 13) and Bob Tullius assumed the lead in the Group 44 Dodge Dart, extending that lead to almost two minutes. However, the Dart would have to pit twice and the Alfas only once. The Alfa driven by Rindt – wrinkled bodywork and all – was lurking behind the Dart waiting to take the lead. When the Dart finally rolled into the pits, the stop took an agonizing five-plus minutes. The Barracudas were struggling with brake problems, so the Alfa GTA of Rindt was now firmly in the lead. Meanwhile, Foyt retired the Mustang after its overheating problems got worse and worse.

The pit stops for the Alfas went smoothly and the race ended with Rindt lapping the third place car on his last lap. Of the 44 starters, 26 were still running at the finish with the Honda 600S in 21st position.

1st	Jochen Rindt	Autodelta SpA Alfa Romeo GTA
2nd	Bob Tullius	Group 44 Dodge Dart
3rd	Andrea de Adamich/ Teodoro Zeccoli	Autodelta SpA Alfa Romeo GTA
4th	Paul Richards	Alfa Romeo GTA
5th	Horst Kwech/ Gaston 'Gus' Andrey	Alfa Romeo GTA
6th	Scott Harvey	Team Starfish Plymouth Barracuda
7th	Charlie Rainville	Team Starfish Plymouth Barracuda
8th	Howard Hanna	Alfa Romeo GTA
9th	Ryan/ Howard	BMW 1800 TISA
10th	Cuomo/ Cosentino	Fiat Abarth

Class A:	Tullius
Class B:	Rindt
Class C:	Marinelli/ Drolet	BMC Mini
Class D:	Cosentino/ Cuomo

The Ford entries were headed by the Daytona-winning Shelby American International (SAI) team. Starting with this race, Ford now had the individual cars painted in different colors versus the team colors previously employed. The SAI cars were no longer in the Guardsman Blue that the Shelby had team had employed since the 1963 season. In a metallic blue was the # 2 Ford GT Mark II (chassis 1031) of Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. This car had been used by Holman & Moody (H&M) at Daytona. The other SAI entry, # 1, was painted red and entered for the Daytona-wining duo of Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby. As to what to call it, well, good question. It was originally built by Abbey Panels as one of two experimental roadsters that Ford was interested in fielding along the coupes. The first roadster was supplied to Kar Kraft on early 1965. When attention shifted to the development of the Mark II, the roadsters were pushed off into a corner. In the early Fall, the first of these was supplied to Bruce McLaren to modify to the new Group 7 regulations. The roadsters were never officially given chassis numbers when supplied to Kar Kraft, but the first roadster was simply called '110' since it was supplied after '109' which was produced in the Fall of 1964 and before two additional GT40 coupes that Abbey Panels produced, '111' and '112.' I am not aware of the second roadster – '110A' ? – ever being used.

At any rate, McLaren modified '110' to the specs for the new Group 7 sports-racing cars in the Appendix J to come into effect on 1 January 1966. This included an FIA windscreen and various other modifications to bring it in line with the regs. In went one of the 427-cubic inch engines, a Hewland LG500 gearbox, and Halibrand wheels with Firestone tires. Painted white with a blue nose, the car was entered for the Fall Professional Racing series in the United States. It also sported 'Ford X – 1' emblazoned on the rocker panels. Chris Amon drove it in four races – the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park and The Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside. At Mosport Amon retired, but managed to finish fifth at Riverside. The 'X – 1' ran in the Nassau Speedweeks races at the end of the year. It retired from both the Governor’s Trophy and the Nassau Trophy events. After Nassau, Kar Kraft ordered McLaren to turn '110' over to SAI in Venice. SAI brought the chassis up to Mark II specs and fitted Mark II front and rear bodywork. SAI also strengthened the rollbar/ roof structure of '110' and added a full windshield for possible Group 6 use. SAI referred to '110' as either the 'GT – X1' or 'GTX – 1' – so take your choice. For Sebring, '110' was fitted with an automatic transmission.

Holman & Moody brought a white and black Mark II (1032) for Walt Hansgen and Mark Donohue. The other H&M entry was gold with a black nose and was the same car (1031) used at Daytona with the automatic transmission. Still using an automatic gearbox, Ronnie Bucknum was partnered with A.J. Foyt. All the Mark II cars sported modifications since the Daytona race: lightweight rear bodywork now made of fiberglass, new scoops for the rear brakes, and while the H&M cars retained Dzus fasteners the SAI cars now used quick-release pins on the nose section.

In addition to the Mark II versions of the GT40, there were other Ford entries as well. The Alan Mann Racing entries were two lightweight GT40 cars that AMR started as a project at the beginning of Winter. Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) had sent AMR two chassis – 1019 and 1023 – to use as the basis for the 'lightweight' GT40s, but AMR had Abbey Panels prepare two new cars, AMGT-1 and AMGT-2. Both continued to use the 289-cubic inch Cobra engine, the ZF five-speed gearbox, and were on Goodyear tires. Since both had heavily modified suspension and brakes, they were running in the Sports Prototype class. Both were also painted red with white stripes and using many of the same bodywork tweaks as the Mark II cars. In AMGT-1 were John Whitmore and Frank Gardner and in AMGT-2 were Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill.

There were two GT40s entered by Essex Wire for Augie Pabst/ Masten Gregory and Skip Scott/ Peter Revson. The Canadian Comstock Racing Team also had two entries, their newly delivered car (1037) for Eppie Wietzes/ Craig Fisher and the first GT40 (1000) from the production line was on loan from FAV for Bob McLean/ Jean Oulette to drive. The Bill Wonder GT40 was now painted maroon and Wonder was to share the driving duties with Caldwell. Peter Sutcliffe entered the GT40 entered by Ford Advanced Vehicles at Daytona for himself and Innes Ireland to drive. And the final GT40 was the silver Scuderia Bear entry (1029) for Richard Holquist/ Bruce Jennings.

The Chaparral team brought two cars – white naturally, the 2D used at Daytona for team Boss Jim Hall and Hap Sharp to drive and a new 2D for Phil Hill and Joakim Bonnier. Gone was the 2C flipper used at Daytona. Both sported revised bodywork and were really very attractive cars to look at in the paddock. The 'slush-a-matic' was still in use and both the cars used the 327-cubic inch engine.

The factory sent one of the new 4-litre 330P3 cars (telaio 0846) for Mike Parkes and former Cobra ace Bob Bondurant to drive. With a wary eye on the new Porsche Carrera 6, Modena also sent the new Dino 206S for Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti to knock heads with the German Batmobile entries. Backing up the factory cars were the North American Racing Team (NART) of Luigi Chinetti. Pedro Rodriguez and Mario Andretti were back in the 330P2 used at Daytona. In a race where the Ferrari entries used to outnumber the Corvettes, it was slim pickings this time. The Jack Slottag/ Larry Perkins Ferrari 250GTO was back again. As this was the first GTO of the production line in June 1962, telaio 3223, it was getting a tad long in the tooth. It had managed to survive to come home 19th at Daytona, but it was struggling now. Arthur Swanson and Robert Ennis were in the Swanson-entered 250LM. And that, Sports Fan, were all the Ferraris! All five of them.

The Porsche brigade was expanded by the presence of more of the Carrera 6 – or 906 – Batmobiles being available to thrown into the fray. The Factory – Porsche System Engineering, entered two of the 906 cars for Hans Herrmann/ Joe Buzzetta and Gerhard Mitter/ Gunther Klass. The works team also had 904 models for George Follmer/ Peter Gregg and Dieter Glemser/ Udo Schutz. There were privately entered 906s for: Swiss Charles Voegele and his partner Josef 'Seppi' Siffert; Ed Hugus and his partner Lake Underwood; and, Scooter Patrick and Don Webster in the Precision Motor Cars entry. There were three more 904 entries by private entrants Jacques Duval, Briggs Cunningham, and Herb Wetanson. In addition, there was an 8-cylinder Spyder entered by Keymo Motors for Charlie Kolb and Buck Fulp.

In the big American Iron department, there were Shelby Cobra roadsters entered by Tom Payne (289), Space Science Service (427), and Scuderia Bear (427). The Corvette entries were the Gran Sport roadster entered by Roger Penske, the Stingray of Harold C. Whims, Jr. and the other Penske entry, a Stingray.

During practice, the Miles/ Ruby GTX-1 had several of the automatic gearboxes fail and it was finally decided to use one of the T44 manual gearboxes for the race. The automatic gearbox in the Bucknum/ Foyt Mark II run fairly well, but still seemed to not have the edge that the manual transmission had getting out of the corners. The Gurney/ Grant Mark II was fast out of the box and ended up on the pole with a time nearly three seconds quicker than the time set by the Chaparral in 1965: 2min 54.8sec. Second was the Ferrari 330P3, showing that Ferrari still knew their way around the circuit with a time of 2min 56.6sec. The next three in line were Fords, the third qualifier being the surprising quick Alan Mann lightweight GT40 of Hill/ Stewart, the Mark II of Hansgen/ Donohue, and the X –1 once it had it a manual gearbox installed.

Contrary to ritual, the flag dropped (this year by the Governor of Florida, Hayden Burns) at 1000 (10am) without a countdown, and the drivers dashed across the track to their cars. The sprinters reached their cars and then created one massive traffic jam as everyone tried to funnel into the first turn while dodging cars of all sizes, shapes, and colors. That is most of the cars were roaring down the track. When polesitter Gurney tried to start his Mark II, nothing happened. For nearly two long minutes the blue Mark II sat on the grid. Then it finally fired and Gurney joined the fray in the penultimate position.

From 12th on the grid and into the lead was the Dino with Scarfiotti not only leading the pack off the grid and off into the hinterlands, but he was the leader of the first lap as well! Graham Hill was nipping at his exhaust pipes and took the lead on the second lap. Right behind him was Parkes in the 330P3, which soon was in the lead.

On the first lap, Gurney passed 26 cars as he screamed through the field! After only 20 laps, Gurney was third behind Parkes and Miles in the X –1. And after only 90 minutes, Gurney was now in the lead, and drawing away. Both the Chaparral entries were out before Noon. The # 12 Coupe of Hill/ Bonnier retired when an oil leak defied all efforts to fix it. The # 11 Hall/ Sharp dropped out with the rear suspension broken only eight laps after the # 12 car called it a day. The Hall entry had been as high as fourth place before problems hit. Things are not looking good in Midland right now. After much head scratching, the engine problem was traced to a ring package that did not seat correctly and therefore allowed the blowby problem. With Hall stating that he was embarrassed by the performance of the team so far, entries for the Targa Florio and Spa were dropped so as to work on the cars.

The Foyt Mark II was making a series of pit stops with brake trouble – shades of Daytona! The problem as eventually traced to the brake balance being out and the front calipers were boiling the brake fluid making Life very exciting for Foyt. The FAV/ Sutcliffe GT40 had the engine croak – a rod broke, and dumped oil at the Hairpin. Oil which Stewart could not avoid and so had a lurid spin in the AMR GT40 and was very fortunate to escape with only minor damage, all of which was quickly repaired. However, later the engine died and that was that.

After three hours, the Comstock GT40 entry with McLean at the wheel had a massive accident at the same place, the Hairpin. As McLean approached the corner, a rear brake appeared to lock. The GT40 swerved into a ditch, started to somersault end-over-end, struck a telephone pole, and after bouncing on impact burst into flames winding up only meters from the FAV/ Sutcliffe GT40. McLean, the Canadian Driving Champion, was killed instantly. The other Comstock GT40 was withdrawn as soon as it was realized what had happened.

The attrition on the Ford front was such that the Bill Wonder GT40 was out – disqualified for refueling on the course, and the Essex Wire entry for Gregory/ Pabst was out with engine problems.

The race settled down as Gurney and Grant settled into the lead, with the Ferrari P3 and the NART P2 making a sandwich of the X –1 in third. However, at about the nine hour mark the P3 rolled into the pits with a broken transmission. Fords were now running in first and second. Soon there was another incident which was to sour an already dreadful race. As Andretti approached the Webster Turn at the end of the Warehouse Straight, he had problems. As he went down the gears, the gearbox locked for just a split second and Andretti put a wheel off the road and then did a series of spins, finally stopping and crawling back to the pits. In the midst of the spin, the Precision Motor Cars Porsche 906 with Don Webster at the wheel got caught up in the accident. The Ferrari threw up a cloud of dust when it initially dropped a wheel off the track and Webster was suddenly hit by the red car which was spinning on the track. While the blow was only a light one – Andretti never realized that the P2 hit the Porsche, it was to have devastating effects.

The Porsche left the track and unable to slow, crashed some distance off the track, actually striking a warehouse and overturning. The car ended up in a restricted area that was supposed out limits to spectators. Unfortunately, the Porsche mowed into a small group watching the race from this vantage point, among them Patricia Heacock, the wife of one of the local supporters of the race. When the shock wore off, it was realized that not only was the Porsche driver badly injured, but four spectators were dead – including Mrs. Heacock. When the P2 was nearly ready to the depart the pits, fuel vapors were ignited by the hot exhaust pipes and the car caught fire in the pits, but was quickly extinguished although the car was not out of the race. Just after the fire, Andretti was told of the grim news from the accident at the Webster Turn.

Meanwhile, the leading SAI cars started to engage in a bit of intramural fisticuffs and were dicing each other and not slowing a bit although Carroll Shelby had ordered them to stroke home and win the race. Shelby then had a series of messages displayed to remind the driver who they worked for – with the subsequent obedience to orders.

It looked as if it were to be a great win for Gurney and Grant. Starter Jesse Coleman watched the Mark II sweep by the pits for what should be its last lap since the clock would hit the 2200 (10pm) mark before it finished the lap. Eyes strained looking for the blue Mark II to emerge from the darkness and take the checkered flag. As the minute hand hit 12 and signaled the end of the race, still not even a hint of Gurney in the # 2 car. Then the red X –1 flashed by the finish line. A surprised Coleman almost forgot to give the flag a wag in its direction as it roared past.

The Gurney Mark II was only about 200 meters from the finish line when the engine had a rod bolt break and rolled to a stop. Gurney emerged from the cockpit, a puzzled look on his face, and then checked the engine compartment. After a hasty talk with the marshals at his location, Gurney then pushed the car – not off the track, but down the finishing straight. After several long minutes, Gurney pushed the car over the line only to find himself disqualified. Had he simply left the car where it was, he would have been second. In any event, Ford still salvaged a 1 – 2- 3 result, with the Foyt automatic Mark II finishing 12th. At the end, 32 cars were still circulating, the final car – a Jaguar XKE, managing a total of only 81 laps in the 12 hours.

1st	Ken Miles/ Lloyd Ruby	Shelby American International Ford GT X –1	228 laps
2nd	Walt Hansgen/ Mark Donohue	Holman & Moody Ford GT Mark II
3rd	Peter Revson/ Skip Scott	Essex Wire Racing Ford GT40
4th	Hans Herrmann/ Joe Buzzetta/ Gerhard Mitter	Porsche Systems Engineering Porsche 906
5th	Lorenzo Bandini/ Ludovico Scarfiotti	SEFAC SpA Ferrari Ferrari Dino 206S
6th	Charles Voegele/ Josef Siffert	Charles Voegele Porsche 906
7th	George Follmer/ Peter Gregg	Porsche Systems Engineering Porsche 904
8th	Ed Hugus/ Lake Underwood	Ed Hugus Porsche 906
9th	Ben Moore/ George Wintersteen	Penske Racing Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
10th	Bob Grossman/ Ed Lowther	Scuderia Bear Shelby Cobra

Fastest lap: Dan Gurney, 2min 54.8sec