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Saturday was a repeat of Friday’s
open track schedule, except for vintage
race practice sessions in the morning
and afternoon. One was for Cobras
and GT40s, one for Shelbys and one
for Trans-Am cars, including mid-
1980s tube-frame cars. There was also
a Ladies’ Session at the end of the day,
which was well received. They all
drove within their limits but smile me-
ters were redlined.
By 7:30 p.m. everyone was back at
the Sheraton for a sit-down dinner
and a program of guest speakers.With
all of the former Cobra team members
in attendance, we had an excellent
choice of speaking talent. Carroll
Shelby, of course, spoke but so did a
combination of drivers and race me-
chanics who each shared some of their
most memorable experiences of the
races they participated in.
Sunday was “car show day” with
pop vote cars lined up on the track,
which was not in use due to Lime
Rock’s prohibition from racing on Sun-
days. That went back to 1957 and it
was a fact of life the track has learned
to live with. One of the highlights of
the weekend was a “GT40 Reunion”
which attracted a dozen of those cars,
including the 1966 LeMans winner,
the black #2 MK II driven by Bruce
McLaren and Chris Amon.
More than a thousand cars were
entered in the popular vote show. We
had intended to park them around the
entire track but by Sunday morning
decided to compress them onto only
the front straight and Big Bend. To
stretch them around the track would
have meant some cars would have to
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Summer 2016 104
The agony of defeat. After an altercation
with a guardrail (note: guardrails do not
lose) this owner used his windshield to ad-
vertise for someone with a trailer to bring
his car back to New York. He obviously re-
ceived assistance because the car was gone
by the end of the convention.