A Winner Again

Bad was too mild a word to describe Jimmy Clark's turn of luck. The best-known racing-car driver in the world, two-time Grand Prix champion, winner and twice runner-up in the Indianapolis 500, Clark had not won a Grand Prix race all year, and he had lost his world title to Australia's Jack Brabham.

Power was his problem: the two-liter, 245-h.p. Coventry Climax engine in Clark's Lotus was no match for the bigger three-liter engines that his competitors were using this year. He spent most of the year trying to beg, borrow or buy a competitive engine. But for last week's U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, N..Y, the next-to-last race of the J966 season, Jim had a three-liter of his own--a 16-cylinder, 400-h.p. BRM. Then, in practice just a day before the race, his new engine broke down.

Determined to appear at least, Clark persuaded BRM officials to lend him a backup three-liter that belonged to BRM's own racing team of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart. Mechanics worked all night installing the engine in Jim's Lotus; the job was not completed until ten minutes before race time. With no chance to test the engine, Jim figured that his chances of winning--or even of finishing the 248-mile race--were about 1,000 to one. "It was 30 laps before I tried to put on any pressure to see what would happen."

When Clark finally tramped on the throttle, he got the sweetest shock of the year. "The car ran beautifully." His luck had turned again--and so had his competitors'. Italy's Lorenzo Bandini, the early pacesetter, was forced out when his Ferrari developed engine trouble on the 34th lap. Champion Brabham took over -- but a cam follower on his Brabham-Repco snapped on the 55th lap. Gunning his Lotus into the lead; Jimmy Clark stayed there the rest of the way, averaging a record 114.94 m.p.h. to win the 20th Grand Prix of his career and the biggest winner's purse --$20,000 -- in the history of Grand Prix racing.

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