1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix – Race Profile

1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix Race Profile – “El Chueco” Rides A Hot Seat

Story by Louis Galanos

In 1957 Sebring was holding only its sixth installment of the 12-hour race. With the growing popularity of sports car racing in post World War II America, the event was finally coming into its own since its creation by impresario Alec Ulmann in 1952.

To many sports car fans in America at that time the Sebring race was second only to the 24-Hours of Le Mans. The fact that it was the only event in North America that qualified for points toward the Federation Internationale de l’automobile (FIA) World Sportscar Championship (WSC) didn’t hurt. As a result, Sebring became the premier sports car event in the U.S. and a must-attend if you were an aficionado of sports car racing.

Always on the look out to help promote Florida, and tourism, the then governor of Florida, Leroy Collins, proclaimed March 18-23, 1957 as International Sports Car Race Week thus gaining additional media attention for the event at Sebring.

Not everyone in Florida was thrilled with all the hoopla surrounding the Sebring event. Bernard Kahn, sports editor for the Daytona Beach Morning Journal, had a few choice words in his regular newspaper column about the Sebring 12 hour race and the folks who raced there.

In his writings Mr. Kahn did recognize the obvious talents of driving “artists” like four-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio (affectionately known as “El Chueco” or knock-kneed by his fans) and British driving ace Stirling Moss. However, Mr. Kahn referred to many of the lesser known drivers at the Sebring event as that “nameless number of café society snobs trying to get their kicks by being ‘sportsmen’ for a day.”

This “snobbish” remark was obviously designed to appeal to the large numbers of NASCAR fans who lived and worked in the Daytona area and may have resented anyone who drove a “furrin” automobile.

Besides the governor of Florida, the folks in New York and Detroit were also well aware of the significance of this race. For weeks national newspapers, magazines and wire-services fed the public’s interest by reporting on the international celebrities who would attend the Sebring race in 1957 or drive in it, like the Marquis de Portago of Spain and Count Wolfgang von Tripps of Germany.

Of the several media stories making the rounds about this year’s race was that General Motors Chevrolet Division would challenge the European dominance of this event by entering four Corvette sports cars (two modified & two production). In this group would be a radically new car made of lightweight materials.

General Motors interest in the Sebring race was purely business. There was a mantra taking hold in Detroit back then that went something like this, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” With that in mind the folks at GM arrived at the track in early March for some testing. One of those cars undergoing tests and a shakedown was a magnesium-alloy bodied Chevrolet Corvette Super Sport (SS.) It was equipped with a 4,638 c.c. engine with lightweight aluminum heads that produced 30 more horsepower (315) than the production Corvette and with 1000 fewer pounds. The power plant on the SS would have the largest displacement of any car to race at Sebring that year.

Paul O’Shey, who was scheduled to drive one of the GM team Corvettes in the race, commented that the power-to-weight ratio on the Corvette Super Sport or “space-frame Vette” was such that you could burn rubber in all four gears.

This ‘concept car’ was the brainchild of Chevy competition director Zora Arkus-Duntov who was now the Director of Performance for General Motors. History would later refer to Duntov as the “Father of The Corvette”.

In addition to this elegant metallic-blue Corvette SS there was a practice SS built that was equipped with the less powerful standard Corvette engine and painted with a large letter “P” on the body. Also, the body was plastic and not magnesium and looked so shabby, when compared to the other car, that it got the dubious moniker of “mule”. However, it was very fast and in the days prior to the race other drivers were constantly peppering Duntov for a chance to drive one of the SS’s.

Not wanting to risk having another driver wreck the one-of-a-kind magnesium-bodied concept Vette he allowed a selected few to drive the “mule”. After finishing practice in their Maserati team cars both Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss were allowed by Duntov to take a courtesy run in the practice car.

Fangio got into a car he has never driven before and on his first two laps broke the course record of 3:29.7 set the previous year by Mike Hawthorn of England in a Jaguar. On the third lap Fangio broke the course record by almost three seconds (3:27.4). Not to be outdone by his team-mate, Stirling Moss also broke the 1956 record with a time of 3:28 in the Corvette. When John Fitch, who was the designated SS driver for the race, took the “mule” out for a run the best he could do was get a couple of seconds closer to the course record but not break it.

When Fangio returned to the pits he was ecstatic. He claimed he could have gone at least two seconds faster “if he had tried.” This was an obvious testament to the driving skill of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, driver who ever lived. Note: According to Sports Illustrated magazine, General Motors representatives had been in negotiations with Fangio to drive the new Corvette SS at Sebring up to a week before the race. They were offering what some say was a “huge” amount of money. However, Fangio felt the car was too new and untested and he decided to stay with Maserati. GM also had similar talks with Moss.

The Duntov folks tried to keep quiet the news that an American car had broken the track record so resoundingly. But the word got out and as both the foreign and domestic drivers were arriving at the track for practice the next day the main topic was that an American Corvette had broken the track record. The press descended on the Corvette pits but both the drivers and crew were uncharacteristically mum with no one willing to comment. It was assumed that Duntov had ordered everyone to keep quiet until he was ready to go public with the news.

This didn’t stop the media from reporting it as an “unconfirmed story” and this fueled speculation that an American car had a chance to end European dominance of the premier sports car racing event in America. This might have encouraged undecided race fans to attend and possibly witness history in the making. Besides watching the new Corvette in action was reason enough to attend.

1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix – Race Profile Page Two

The other major story in international racing news that year was the defection of world champion Juan Fangio from the Ferrari team to drive for arch-rival Maserati. Fangio had won for Ferrari at Sebring the previous year in a Ferrari 860 Monza with co-driver Eugenio Castellotti.

Speculation abounded as to why Fangio would leave the Ferrari team of his own volition. Everyone knew that the only way you leave Ferrari is if Enzo Ferrari personally fired you. Some wrote that Fangio had a history of not staying long with any particular team and the thought of driving the new 4.5 liter Maserati V8 brute of a car was too much to resist.

This turned out to be the case. In their successful attempt to lure Fangio from the Ferrari ranks the Maserati factory offered to supply him with no less than six brand new race cars for testing. Each of those cars would cost, in today’s dollars, between $170,000 and $190,000 each. The car he picked was the one he eventually drove to victory at Sebring in 1957.

Maybe Fangio’s only reason to leave Ferrari was that he was just looking for a better car to drive than Ferrari had in its stable and maybe not. For the moment let’s take a look at what happened at Sebring the previous year (1956). Fellow countryman Carlos Menditeguy, who was second only to Fangio in popularity in Argentina, was driving for factory Maserati while Fangio was with Ferrari. During the race Menditeguy missed the first turn in the Esses and flipped his car which landed upside down trapping him (no roll bars in those days).

He was badly injured and bleeding from cuts and head injuries but the corner workers were able to extract him from the car and eventually he was dispatched to Weems Hospital in Sebring.

Fangio and co-driver Eugenio Castellotti went on to win the race in their Ferrari 860 Monza and after the awards ceremony Fangio immediately went to the hospital to be with Menditeguy.

Seeing what terrible shape Carlos was in Fangio made the decision to stay by his bedside until Mrs. Menditeguy could arrive from Argentina. All the while Fangio was talking to doctors, hospital and Maserati officials to see if Carlos could get transferred to a hospital specializing in the kind of trauma that Carlos had experienced. At the time Menditeguy’s injuries were considered life threatening and Fangio was deeply concerned for his friend.

After Mrs. Menditeguy arrived her husband was transferred to a hospital in Palm Beach where x-rays showed he was suffering from two skull fractures. All during these trying days Fangio received numerous and sometimes angry telegrams from Ferrari in Modena requesting his presence to prepare for the next race. It was during this time that the relationship between Fangio and Ferrari began to sour.

Alec Ulmann was well aware of what Fangio was risking by staying with his friend and had referred to his actions as, “a remarkable act of sportsmanship.” Carlos Menditeguy eventually recovered from his injuries and raced for several more years. He retired from racing after competing in the Argentine Grand Prix in 1960.

Following the defection of Fangio to Maserati the burden for winning for Ferrari at Sebring fell on the shoulders of the 26-year-old Castellotti. On the 14th of March 1957, Castellotti was testing a new Ferrari car that was designed to compete with the new 4.5 liter Maserati that Fangio would drive.

In a private testing session, attended by Enzo Ferrari, at the Modena Autodrome in Italy a signal was given for Castellotti to pick up the speed but coming into a curve he lost control and the car impacted heavily. His body was thrown three hundred feet from the car. His tragic death from a skull fracture just one week before the Sebring race cast a somber mood over the team.

Probably due to his enormous world-wide popularity neither the Ferrari officials nor their drivers at Sebring that year would officially comment about Fangio’s defection to Maserati. However, that didn’t stop some of them from putting in their two cents regarding the new 4.5 Maserati that Fangio and Frenchman Jean Behra would drive.

Ferrari factory driver Alfonso de Portago, driving the #12 Ferrari 315 S (Sport), was very blunt when asked if he thought the Maserati “four-five” would last the race. “No I don’t,” he said.

Ferrari team leader Peter Collins, driving the #11 Ferrari 315 S, had little confidence in the four-five when he said, “It (the Maserati) hasn’t held together yet.” That was a reference to the first race of the season in Argentina that Ferrari had won after the new Maserati had retired.

There probably hasn’t been a Sebring race run that didn’t include some drama both on and off the track and 1957 was no exception.

Just days before the race the F.I.A. issued an appendix to its rules concerning the race, mandating that during the first tire change a team had to use the spare tire that all cars were required to carry.

This didn’t affect the Corvettes and some other cars but for Ferrari and Maserati it was the “kiss of death” because on their cars the wheels on the front and rear of the cars were of different sizes. So, if you came into the pits with a damaged wheel or flat tire and your spare didn’t match the size of the wheel to be replaced you were prohibited from changing the wheel. You would then have to withdraw your car from competition.

Ferrari team leader Peter Collins, a representative from Maserati and Alec Ulmann then met to discuss the problem. Collins, who was very knowledgeable about FIA rules, told the press that the new appendix was in violation of FIA’s own rules concerning how such changes were adopted. Supposedly such changes had to be approved unanimously by all the competitors or it couldn’t be put into effect. It is assumed that this argument carried the day with the FIA.

The ever-vocal Collins had a few choice words to say about the use of 55 gallon oil drums to outline the course and turns at Sebring. He protested that they should be “banned” and their use was “very, very dangerous…” Despite this complaint oil drums were used at Sebring for several more years.

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Considering the press coverage the race was getting it was apparent to all that the Sebring 12-hour event was finally coming into its own since it was created by Alec Ulmann in 1952. Since that first event it has gained in popularity each year and 1957 would see a record crowd of 30,000 in attendance at the 5.2 mile road course laid out over the landing strips and taxi-ways of the old B-17 bomber base formerly known as Hendricks Field.

The town of Sebring, population 7,000 in 1957, benefited economically each year from the event but there was the expected group of locals who resented this annual invasion and disturbance of the peace by all those loud cars and milling strangers who didn’t speak “American.”

Some residents objected to the factory Ferrari cars being housed at the Pontiac dealership and the Maserati team housed at the Weaver Auto Parts garage in the heart of Sebring. The garage owners, however, didn’t mind the rental fee they were paid. To some locals having those teams in the heart of Sebring only added to the congestion downtown during the week before the race and the fact that some of these unlicensed and unmuffled race cars were driven the seven miles to and from the track during the days before the race upset a few residents. For the most part the citizens of Sebring welcomed the newcomers because it literally put Sebring on the map for one week of the year.

Added to the complaints by some of the older folks was the fact that the young ladies of Sebring thought that many of the Italian drivers and mechanics were “cute.” Maybe they should have put up a sign in town for the locals to “Lock up you wives and daughters.”

Some of the Ferrari and Maserati race cars were driven by mechanics and drivers from the downtown to the track and back along a stretch of highway today known as Kenilworth Boulevard. If you drove the rather desolate road back then you couldn’t help notice several abandoned housing developments that were left over from the Florida real estate boom of the 1920’s. All that was left from those heady times were the dilapidated gates and faded signs marking someone’s dream of life in paradise.

There was a rumor circulating at the track that the local police had arrested Ferrari driver Alfonso de Portago and had taken him to the police station. It seems that the Spanish Marquis was going a little too fast in town and when stopped he tried to feign ignorance of local speed limits by not speaking English, despite the fact that he was fluent in several languages including English. Only with the help of Alec Ulmann and a pile of cash was he released lest he spend race day in the “hoosegow.” Unfortunately this was de Portago’s last Sebring because he would die tragically at the Mille Miglia less than two months later when his car left the road at high speed killing him, his co-driver and a number of spectators including several children.

Many of the fans attending the only FIA sanctioned sports car race in North America traveled great distances in an era when Interstate highways like I-95 and I-75 didn’t exist. Automotive license tags from just about every New England state could be seen on cars in the spectator enclosure on race day and some West Coast tags were also seen. Added to this was a hoard of foreign cars, especially Jaguar automobiles, and for some reason the Jag drivers would give each other a modified salute every time their cars would cross paths.

Sports car clubs from around the nation were there with early arrivals already staking out an enclosure for their members who might arrive late. Probably the largest contingent was the Miami Sports Car Club who came to see several of their members who had entered the race. As with many of the clubs, banners and club flags announced their viewing area. Some spectators and club members would even show up with a truck load of scaffolding to build elaborate viewing stands that would need a building permit in today’s world.

As anyone who ever attended a Sebring race during that era will tell you, the event was as much an endurance event for spectators, especially at Sebring, as it was for the cars and drivers entered. The record crowd in 1957 only added to the perennial problem of long lines for bathrooms, food, drinks and everything else.

But, this didn’t stop the crowd from having a good time and the race organizers would sometimes turn a blind eye to the wild parties that would be legendary for years to come. The police who provided security in the spectator area seemed more concerned over the dogs that some spectators would smuggle into the track. In the past loose dogs were serious problems with some crossing the track in the middle of the race. In 1957 one officer had to threaten to shoot an owner’s dog if he didn’t keep it on a leash.

Sebring was a great place to show off your car to others who owned the same make and show off yourself if you were so inclined. Hats and outfits of all kinds were in vogue at Sebring in 1957 with one woman parading around the spectator enclosure wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat with a large stuffed pheasant mounted on it. A male spectator was seen walking around with a Nassau policeman’s “topee” helmet on his head.

As was to be expected numerous young women paraded around in skimpy shorts and tops or in two-piece swimsuits with some coming close to bikini standards. None of these outfits went too far lest the local constabulary take an interest in them. However, in the city of Sebring the French Renault team was housed at the Kenilworth Lodge. Some of the drivers were women and one, Mademoiselle Gilberte Thirion, decided to take advantage of the warm Florida weather by wearing her very skimpy French bikini to the hotel pool. This made several hotel employees and guests do a double-take. One can only guess what happened at the hotel once the word spread through the town.

1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix – Race Profile Page Four

Race day, March 23, 1957, dawned clear and sunny which seemed like heaven for all the sports car aficionados who had come down from the frozen northeast.

Early risers, who camped out at the track, began the familiar trek to the restrooms to try and beat the crowds and be the first to use the facilities before they got too nasty. Some experienced hands were seen even carrying their own toilet paper supplies.

There were already lines of cars at the front gates of the raceway as fans hoped to get in to the track, parked and in viewing position prior to the 10 a.m. start.

By 8 a.m. activity began to build in the paddock and on the grid as pit stewards arrived and mechanics began to do some last minute checking of engines and suspensions.

At 8:30 a.m. a driver was seen going up and down the pit lane muttering expletives and looking into each pit stall. His helmet had been misplaced and he was desperate to find it. He eventually did.

By 9 a.m. the public address system in the pit area was cranking out one announcement after another. Pit stewards are ordered repeatedly to begin moving spectators and “unauthorized personnel” from the pit area.

The throaty and distinctive roar of Ferrari and Maserati engines could be heard as mechanics began warming up engines. Fangio could be seen talking to Behra, who would take the first turn at the wheel of their 450 S Maserati. Mechanics began to move the cars to the “stalls” on the starting grid in preparation for the Le Mans-style start.

Gene Bussian, a 21-year-old, had traveled from Illinois to be the Chief Porsche Pit Steward at the Sebring race. He had been recruited for the job by Chief Steward Tex Asche because he knew a bit of the German language.

He remembers the atmosphere in the pits and on the grid that day. The drivers were in an upbeat mood and devoid of the tension found in today’s races. Back then racing was still a gentleman’s sport and drivers often treated each other as good friends instead of competitors. Sometimes this convivial attitude would get out of hand. During the opening ceremonies of the 1956 Sebring race a group of drivers surrounded the female majorettes of the Sebring High School Band stopping the entire band in the midst of their marching and playing. Everyone had a good laugh and the band eventually was allowed to continue.

A small crowd of photographers was snapping away at the Renault Dauphine pits. It seemed that the women drivers, who were scheduled to drive one of the three 845 cc (smallest engines in the race) Renault Dauphines this year, were posing for the press. Only one or two photographers could be seen at the Corvette and Maserati pits. I guess that John Fitch and Juan Fangio were not as pretty as the French women.

Near the Renault pits were the four factory Lotus-Elevens brought over from England by Colin Chapman. Chapman had an innovative way of financing the Factory Lotus team effort at Sebring this year. All four entries were pre-sold to American customers. If you had purchased one of the cars you got to drive it at Sebring in 1957. However, you couldn’t take possession of the car until after the race. During the race the car was a “Factory Lotus.” After the race the car was yours or what was left of the car was yours.

With minutes remaining Alec Ulmann conducted a driver’s meeting by opening with the statement, “You are all experienced drivers so you don’t need any briefing….” He then went on at length to brief them about passing, looking out for slower cars and so on. In what some will laugh about later he announces that Ferrari had “erroneously” entered engine displacements for their #11 and #12 Ferrari 315 S cars. With pressure from FIA the Ferrari folks had come clean. The actual engine displacement on the two cars was 3800 cc’s and not 3442 cc’s. This announcement received a chorus of boos and whistles from the assembled drivers much to the embarrassment of Ferrari drivers Collins, Trintignant, de Portago and Musso.

1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix – The Start

Thirty seconds before the 10 a.m. race start Chief Starter Joe Lane began the countdown. At zero the flag dropped and the drivers sprinted the short distance to their cars.

Peter Collins in the #11 Ferrari was first away with Moss not far behind but the 3-liter engine on Moss’s #20 Maserati 300 S sputtered for a brief moment and Collins gained a commanding lead. The rest of the field followed with the tiny Renault Dauphines bringing up the rear. By the end of the first lap Collins was ten seconds ahead of Moss with Behra in the Maserati 450S not far behind.

Within the first hour the new and relatively untested Corvette SS began to experience brake trouble and pitted to have them checked and for new tires. A Cunningham Jag driven by Bill Lloyd was out with engine problems as Collins continued to lead with Behra now in second place just seconds behind Collins. Stirling Moss was third in his 3.0 Maserati, Portago fourth in his Ferrari 315 S, fifth was Masten Gregory in his Ferrari 290 S and sixth was Phil Hill’s Ferrari 290 MM.

Behra broke the old course record with a time of 3:24.5 in pursuit of Collins and finally takes the lead on the 19th lap. John Fitch had already made two pit stops in the Corvette SS and was now stranded on the race course with a burned-out coil. He made the repair himself in 30 minutes and returned to the race 20 laps behind the leader.

During the second hour of the race the heat began to take its toll on car and driver alike. The Maserati 150 S of Jo Bonnier and Giorgio Scarlatti blew an engine and retires. Jean Behra was still in the lead by one minute over Collins with Portago, Moss, and Gregory rounding out the top five.

Phil Hill brought in the #14 Ferrari 290 MM ahead of schedule with electrical problems. It could have been a faulty generator or voltage regulator and it caused the battery to weaken and die. He later told Bill Grauer, recording the race for Riverside Records, that the Ferrari brakes needed a lot of muscle to engage. He trained for this by doing deep knee bends with 100 pounds on his back. He said the other Ferrari drivers were always complaining about the brakes but he was not having any problems. Hill felt that Ferrari may have been the last race constructor to go to any kind of brake booster.

During the third hour tragedy struck as Chicago Driver Bob Goldich, who drove the #39 Arnolt Bristol for Team Arnolt, went into the Esses too fast and flipped his car several times. He died instantly of a skull fracture and broken neck. Later, team owner Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt withdrew the rest of the team in honor of Goldich. This marked the first death of a driver in the history of Sebring race. There was talk in the pits that Goldich may have hit one of those “dangerous” 55-gallon oil drums and this caused him to wreck.

At 1:15 p.m. Behra entered the pits and finally turned the car over to Fangio. During his three hours in the car he broke the course record several times and at this point had a fairly large lead. Moss was second, Collins was third, Portago fourth and Carroll Shelby’s 2.5 liter Maserati was fifth.

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By 3 p.m. there were 15 cars officially withdrawn with one of them being the Corvette SS. Word was that persistent overheating problems led to the withdrawal. The official records showed the cause to be failed rear suspension. There were also two more cars in the pits for lengthy repairs. Fangio was still in the lead and Moss finally decided to turn his car over to his co-driver, Harry Schell. After waiting for 5 hours Schell was probably wondering if he would ever get a chance to drive. Lou Brero brought his #15 Ferrari 290 S into the pits and collapsed due to the heat. Masten Gregory took over. Brero recovered and returned later.

The burning sun and relentless heat were taking their toll on the spectators with many seeking any shady spot they could. Several of the concession stands temporarily ran out of cold beverages. Literally hundreds and hundreds of empty drink cups littered the ground in the spectator enclosure and the 55 gallon oil drums being used as trash receptacles were overflowing.

At 3:19 p.m. Portago brought in his #12 Ferrari 315 S with serious brake trouble. The mechanics couldn’t seem to remedy the problem and the car returned to the race with Luigi Musso at the wheel. Portago said the car has “no brakes.” Right before 4 p.m. Hawthorn brought in his D-Jag for a remarkably quick 6-minute brake change. Remarkable when you consider they had to reline the brakes on the Jag instead of change pads.

At the half-way point (4 p.m.) Fangio still led but a major mistake by the Maserati team led to a disqualification for one of their cars. It seemed that both Fangio and Carroll Shelby were running low on fuel. Shelby brought in his #21 Maserati 250 S and had just begun refueling when he was told to get back on the course because Fangio was coming in. After Fangio was serviced, Shelby returned for much needed fuel but was immediately disqualified. There was an FIA rule that you had to drive at least 20 laps before you can come in for more gas and the Maserati pits had forgotten about that rule. Maserati was forced to retire the car.

Between 4 & 6 p.m. Fangio and Behra maintained their lead. The Hill/von Tripps Ferrari came in for a regular pit stop but refused to start (dead battery) and was retired. The angle of the sun at that time of day was blinding for some of the drivers. Spectators were amazed when they observed Moss, sans goggles, take one hand off the steering wheel of his Maserati to shade his eyes as he went through the hairpin.

Drivers at Sebring that year commented later about the driving ability of Juan Fangio. While they were constantly fighting the steering wheel going through the turns they were amazed to watch Fangio take each turn gently holding the steering wheel on the big 4.5 Maserati turning it a little this way and a little that way. To some of them it seemed that Fangio was out for a Sunday drive. “He didn’t ever look like he was racing,” said Lotus driver Joe Sheppard.

By 8 p.m. Fangio was still first with Hawthorn, Portago and Schell following. That order hadn’t changed in over an hour. Portago had to pit because of a problem with his fuel pump. The stop cost him 30 minutes. Moss continued to gain on the leaders.

At 9 p.m. Fangio was still at the wheel of his car and was now four laps ahead. Because of pit stops and driver changes Moss was now in second with Hawthorn third, Masten Gregory fourth and Walt Hansgen fifth. Peter Collins was way off the pace with four minute laps due to failing brakes. The small but reliable Porsches were now in 8th, 9th and 10th position. They also had the Index of Performance well in hand.

At 9:30 there was some commotion in the Maserati pits. It seemed that during the scheduled final pit stop a mechanic had spilled a large quantity of gasoline on Fangio’s seat. If you ever wondered why drivers were required to exit the car during refueling then here is your answer.

In typical Italian fashion there was a lot of yelling and hand gestures. The team manager went off to find a replacement seat. They found one and Fangio returned to the race with his lead now at four laps. Just 30 minutes to go and everyone in the Maserati pits was holding his breath.

At 10 p.m. fireworks appeared over the track. It signaled the end of the race and a tremendous victory for Maserati. Coming in first were Fangio and Behra at the wheel of their Maserati 450 S with the Moss/Schell Maserati 300 S second. Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb were third in their Jaguar D-Type, Masten Gregory and Lou Brero were fourth in a Ferrari 290 S, Walt Hansgen and Russ Boss were fifth in a Cunningham D-Type Jag, Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant were sixth in a factory Ferrari 315 S, Alfonso de Portago and Luigi Musso were seventh in factory Ferrari 315 S, Art Bunker and Charles Wallace were eighth in a Porsche 550 RS, Jean Pierre Kunstle and Ken Miles were ninth in a Porsche 550 RS, Howard Hively and Richie Ginther were tenth in a Ferrari 500 TRC. Bunker and Wallace also came away with a first in the Index of Performance which rated cars according to performance.

When Fangio brought the winning car into the pit area he was surrounded by fans and press alike. Under the bright lights of the motion picture cameras he graciously called over Jean Behra to join him in the victory celebration. Dozens of flash bulbs were going off at once. Once the camera lights were turned off and the flash bulbs faded Fangio unexpectedly excused himself and left Behra alone to talk to the people from the print media. Some reporters felt slighted by his quick departure.

Not until several days later was it revealed that Fangio left early to get medical attention for painful burn blisters he was suffering from his waist down to his knees on his right side. It seems that the insulation on the exhaust pipes, which ran along the driver’s side of the car, had worn away and his lower body was exposed to very hot temperatures. His discomfort had not been evident when he brought the car into the winner’s circle.

So, for those last three-and-one-half hours of the race El Chueco (“Knock-Kneed”) drove riding a very hot seat. No wonder his other nickname was El Maestro or “The Master.”

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1957 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix Epilogue:

The winning car of Fangio and Behra was 20 miles ahead of the second place Moss/Schell Maserati at the finish. They broke all existing Sebring records establishing a new distance record of 1,024.4 miles, a new average speed of 85.45 mph and Behra’s time of 3 minutes, 24.5 seconds was an amazing five seconds faster than the record set by Mike Hawthorn in 1956, driving for Jaguar.

Juan Manuel Fangio would go on to win his fifth and final World Driver’s Championship in 1957. This record would not be broken for 46 years.

The 1957 Sebring race would be Fangio’s last appearance at this event as a driver. In February of 1958 Fangio would be kidnapped by Fidel Castro’s rebels while at the Cuban Grand Prix. The rebels released Fangio after the race unharmed. Until his death Fangio and Castro would remain friends.

The Corvette Super Sport (SS) would never race competitively again because General Motors would sign on to the Automobile Manufacturer’s Association opposition to factory involvement in racing. To celebrate the first race at the new Daytona International Speedway in 1959, General Motors brought out the retired Corvette Super Sport. It did a lap of 155 mph during the opening-day ceremonies.

On December 1, 1957 Maserati announced that it would be withdrawing from factory support for racing because they were losing money. However, they would continue to build race cars for private entries.

For Further Reading & Listening:

The Sebring Story, Alec Ulmann, Chilton Book Company, 1969

“The Sebring-Winning Special, Escape Roads,” Autoweek January 5, 2004, p.29

The Sounds of Sebring 1957, Riverside Records, Bill Grauer Productions

“Fantastico Is For Fangio,” Kenneth Rudeen, Sports Illustrated Magazine, April 01, 1957

[Source: Louis Galanos]