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Friday was the second track day.
Things went smoothly; everyone knew
the drill from the day before. There
were sessions in the morning and af-
ternoon. Qualifying for the SAAC vin-
tage race was scheduled for the
morning; the race, itself, was held at
the end of the day. Sixteen cars were
were entered and fifteen made the
starting grid. Lest anyone thing that
SAAC’s vintage race is merely an ex-
hibition race, many in SVRA’s staff de-
scribed the race as the best one all
weekend. The front half of the grid
was where the most aggressive driv-
ers were, sitting in the most powerful
cars. Scott Hackenson, in his ‘67
notchback [
above
] took a dip near the
start/finish line without lifting and as
a result, launched his car off the track.
Once committed, he went deep into
the first turn and, to his surprise, he
was followed by eventual race winner
Gary Moore in his ‘66 GT350. Moore
[
above
] not willing to concede the lead;
followed closely, he locking his brakes
at the last minute. He was able to pass
Hackenson and keep the lead for the
rest of the race, with Hackenson nip-
ping closely at his heels.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2015 277
1965 was a very busy year for Shelby American. The Cobra won the World Manufacturers Championship, the 427 Cobra and GT350
were introduced and Shelby American took over Ford’s GT40 effort. Who would have thought that fifty years later, enthusiasts
would be celebrating more anniversaries than they could keep track of? Commemorating the Cobra’s victory was a natural at SAAC-
40, except that with Coupes now worth north of $10M, providing insurance alone rendered them untouchable (and we tried). The
next best thing was Don Wells’ Daytona Coupe replica, which was a very close duplicate to CSX2287 [
pictured above, left, with
drivers Bob Holbert and Dave MacDonald
], the Coupe first raced at Daytona in February 1964. No show queen, Wells mixed it up
on the track in both the SAAC vintage race and in the SVRA Group 6 heat.