A Second for Ford

There is one place in France where Americans still have some clout: Le Mans. For a while, after a trio of U.S. Ford Mark 11s finished one-two-three in last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, officials talked about changing the rules of the race -- to require that cars go 30 laps between fueling stops (the Fords needed gas every 20 laps) and have room inside for four persons (the Mark 11s could barely squeeze in two). They changed their mind when Ford threatened to pull out of this year's race altogether, leaving the field wide open for Italy's Enzo Ferrari, whose siren-red racing machines won every 24 Hours from 1960 through 1965.

A Better Idea. If the thought of another Ferrari runaway was too much for Le Mans officials, the thought of another Ford runaway was too much for Ferrari. Still smarting over last year's debacle, the "Monster of Maranello" entered three cars in last week's 35th 24 Hours: brand-new, 330 P4 prototypes, little hand-tooled bombs that weighed only 1,875 Ibs., were powered by 4-liter,450-h.p. engines, and could nudge 200 m.p.h. on Le Mans' Mulsanne Straight. Unfortunately for Enzo, Ford had a better idea: a new prototype of its own, called the Mark IV, that carried a 7-liter engine and 500 horses under its hood. In pre-race trials, Ferrari mechanics watched disconsolately as four Mark IVs lapped the 8.3-mile track at better than 144 m.p.h., hitting speeds as high as 215 m.p.h. on the straight. The best any of the P4s could muster was a 142-m.p.h. lap.

Still, speed is one thing at Le Mans -- and survival is another. The Ford Mark IVs were obviously faster, but could they outlast the Ferraris? Gambling that they could not, Ferrari Team Manager Franco Lini ordered his drivers to hold back, bide their time, and wait for misfortune to hit the Mark IVs. The gamble almost paid off. One Mark IV went off the course, got stuck in sand and never got out; another lost its rear hood, had to pit for repairs and dropped far behind. Then there was Mario Andretti. Running second in the No. 3 Mark IV, Andretti barreled into a turn at 150 m.p.h., only to lose control of the car when his right front brake grabbed. The Mark IV caromed off one wall, then another, bounced back and finally spun to a stop in mid-track -- directly in the path of two other Fords, Mark II-model backup cars driven by Roger McCluskey and Jo Schlesser. "I didn't know if Mario was still in the car," McCluskey said later, "and I knew I would kill him if I hit him. So I had to put her into the wall." So did Schlesser. Scratch three more Fords.

One in the Run. That left only one Mark IV in the running -- driven by Dan Gurney and Indianapolis 500 Winner A. J. Foyt. But it was exactly where it was supposed to be--in the lead. "We kept expecting mechanical trouble," Gurney said later, "but it never came. The Ferraris were no real threat." With Foyt at the wheel, the first man ever to win at both Indy and Le Mans, No. 1 merely coasted across the finish line, 32.5 miles ahead of the pack. In 24 hours, Gurney and Foyt had covered 3,251 miles at a record average speed of 135.4 m.p.h.--10 m.p.h. faster than the old mark set by last year's winning Ford Mark II. In the winner's circle, Gurney sprayed champagne on Henry Ford II--and Foyt waved an arm at a group of beaming Ford executives. "Well," he announced, "we saved those guys' jobs again."

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