Miles, Ruby Overcome Gurney Heroics, Win Sebring in GT40 Roadster

Subtitle:Fords Went 1-2-3 In Historic 1966 Finish

After winning the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours in a Ford GT Mk II, Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby went to Sebring in a newer version of the Ford GT40 – the open-cockpit Ford X-1.

It was a different car than the one they raced at Daytona, but Miles and Ruby brought it home with the same result – winning by 12 laps over Walt Hansgen and Mark Donohue in a Ford Mk II. Peter Revson and Skip Scott took third in a GT40 as Ford won the 12 Hours for the first time in a 1-2-3 sweep.

Looking at the box score, it appears to have been an easy victory. However, the race was closer than the official finish indicates. American legend Dan Gurney actually dominated the event in the Ford GT Mk II he co-drove with Jerry Grant, even though he’s listed at the bottom of the official box score.

Gurney was leading entering the final turn on the last lap, but the engine seized within sight of the finish line. The Californian – who rolled across the finish line to win the inaugural Daytona Continental in 1962 – would have been classified second if he stayed with his car. However, perhaps remembering the heroics of Jack Brabham in Sebring’s lone Formula One race in 1959, Gurney got out and pushed his car to the finish, only to be disqualified for his actions. Meanwhile, Miles was just as stunned as the Sebring spectators as he drove by his teammate to take the checkered flag.

It was an up-and-down day for Gurney. Starting his blue No. 2 Mk II on the pole, Gurney’s Ford failed to fire after running to his car in the Le Mans-style start, and all 63 competitors went by. Once he got going, Gurney passed 27 cars on the first lap. By lap 15, he was up to seventh. Gurney set a new lap record of 2:54.8 early in the race, and then passed the race-leading Ferrari 330P3 of Mike Parkes on lap 24.

At that point, the Fords of Gurney and Miles had waged a back-and-forth battle for second while running down Parkes. An irate team owner Carol Shelby ordered the pair to settle down, waving a hammer at Miles from the pits.

While Ford was represented by 13 GT40s – including four Mk IIs – there was plenty of competition. Ferrari brought the new 330P3 for Parkes and Bob Bondurant, while Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team had a 330P2 for Mario Andretti and Pedro Rodriguez. However, neither car made it to the finish.

Also experiencing problems was the two-car Chaparral entry, with defending Sebring winners Jim Hall and Hap Sharp returning in a Chaparral 2D. Both cars were out by the 35-lap mark, with suspension damage and an oil leak.

While many competitors fell by the wayside, the bright red No. 1 Miles/Ruby roadster kept up the chase behind the Gurney/Grant Mk II until losing a lap to repair a cracked brake disk, leaving their teammates with a comfortable lead. With an easy victory in sight, Gurney took over for Grant in the final half hour, only to come up 250 yards short of his goal.

Among the class winners were Peter Gregg and George Follmer, winning the Sports 2000 class in a factory-entered Porsche 904 GTS, and Penske Racing in GT +5000 with George Wintersteen and Ben Moore in a Corvette Stingray – the second consecutive for new car owner Roger Penske.

Gurney’s push to the finish was similar to Brabham’s finish in the 1959 U.S. Grand Prix at Sebring, where the Australian ran out of fuel on the final lap, got out of the car and pushed it across the finish line. That gave Brabham a fourth-place finish and enough points to clinch his first of three Formula One World Championships.

Ford’s success at both Daytona and Sebring gave the American manufacturer plenty of momentum in quest of their ultimate goal – which they achieved three months later with a 1-2-3 sweep in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Gurney would have to wait a year, but he shook off his bad luck by winning at Le Mans in 1967, sharing a Ford GT40 Mk IV with A.J. Foyt.