Letter to the Author
Dear Mr. Baime:
Thank you for your superlative writing in your recent book "Go Like Hell." You capture the soul of many of us (Americans) during the 1950's and 1960's in the quest for the development of American road racing machines. Having been a small part of that scene, I thoroughly enjoyed the true drama which you bring out in the driver/owner/constructor relationships of the period.
As a personal friend of Phil Hill [having been with him in his reigning year (1962) as World Champion] I too saw the interplay of the new Team Manager Dragoni with the team drivers - Hill (USA), Baghetti (Italy), Bandini (Italy) and Rodriquez (Mexico). It was disturbing for me to see the prelude at that time, and which you bring out, of the Surtees-Dragoni-Ferrari relationship, which I believe was Dragoni inspired. Both he and Forghieri were new to the team in '62 after the defection to ATS of Chiti et al., and I believe they were trying to establish their positions with the drivers who had prospered with the previously successful Formula One team. Forghieri was new to the game, and he had intensive competition from both the Lotus and Cooper engineering teams which were now producing competitive designs in the 2nd year of the 1.5 liter displacement requirement.
I do have one minor correction to the text. On page 38, in describing Carroll Shelby, you write:
“He drove his last race on December 3, 1960, placing fifth in a Maserati at the Los Angeles Times Mirror Grand Prix.”
Having been on the J. Frank Harrison crew for the number 98 “Birdcage” Maserati S/N 2467, I would change it to read:
“He drove his last races on October 16 and 23, 1960, placing fifth in a Maserati at the Los Angeles Times Mirror Grand Prix at Riverside and second overall at the Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in Monterey respectively, thereby securing the 1960 USAC Sports Car Championship.”
Yours very truly
Ralph B. Lehotsky
cc: FordGTForum.com
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By the way - the operative words for the above suggestion were: "minor correction"
