1998 was a transition year in sports car racing in the United States. IMSA was in the process of being sold by Andy Evans to Don Panoz during 1998. The Reign of Andy Evans had been tumultuous at best. Under this backdrop, Gianpiero Moretti was coming to the end of his racing career. He was now 58 years old.
At this point in time, Moretti probably had more top class starts in IMSA races than anyone else. He was the quintessential “Gentleman Driver”. He made his living, forming the MOMO company which started out making steering wheels. He had eventually branched out to other automotive products. He was well loved in the paddock, and in fact frequently cooked pasta for many of the teams during the IMSA race meetings.
I had worked on teams racing against Moretti in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 1994, I started with Doran Racing, who were preparing Moretti’s Ferrari 333SP in IMSA competition.
RACE 1: Daytona
Moretti had first come to Daytona in 1970 and raced in a Ferrari 512S. He did not finish. He continued to race over the years, much of it in the USA. The Daytona 24 hours became a fixture on his calendar.
Momo entered Porsche 935s, Porsche 962s, A Nissan GTP, and several other makes over the years. In the early 1990s, Moretti was instrumental (along with IMSA) in convincing Ferrari to build a sports car for the new WSC (World Sports Car) rules that IMSA implemented in 1993. This was, of course, the Ferrari 333SP.
Through all this, the desired victory at Daytona proved elusive. In 1992, he was leading Sunday morning in a Joest Porsche 962, and the engine failed. The next year with two hours to go, he had an insurmountable lead in his Nissan GTP—and again, the engine failed.
In 1996, once more with a small lead Sunday morning in his Ferrari, co-driver Bob Wollek got run off the road by a GT car, causing the car to lose several laps while repairs were completed. Max Papis earned his nickname, Mad Max that day, making up all but 62 seconds of the deficit, but fell just short.
In 1997, again with a car fast enough to win, a small, minor oil fitting broke spraying oil on the exhaust which started a fire. Although the Doran crew repaired it, the car could only get back to 7th overall.
By 1998, the teams had really figured out the Ferrari 333SP. The engines ran fine for the 24-hour distance. It all came down to preparation and execution. Kevin Doran was the team owner of Doran Racing who prepared Moretti’s cars. Kevin had won the Daytona 24 hours twice in the 1980’s as Al Holbert’s chief mechanic, so he knew what was required.
Jeff Graves was the chief mechanic on the Ferrari. Most of the other crew and mechanics on the team had been with Kevin since the Ferrari 333SP first came to IMSA in 1994.
In those days, Daytona had started the concept of a pre-test. In early January, the circuit would open for three days for open testing. It would give the teams an opportunity to test everything for the 24-hour early and find any bugs beforehand.
Kevin and Jeff were determined to get organized and focused to set the stage for the race at the test. Each session started with a plan to test and run in all race brakes, bodywork, and suspension. We worked out of remote open garages away from everyone else. The test went smoothly, and the team left with a good sense of accomplishment.
Three weeks later for the race, the team again situated itself in the remote garages, far away from the commotion in the main area.
The team had a great driver lineup—Moretti, of course, with Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi—who had all driven the 333SP since the beginning. They all knew the car very well. As the fourth, Arie Luyendyk, Didier’s neighbor in Scottsdale, AZ, was brought on board. He was very experienced. He had won the Indianapolis 500 twice, had won Sebring, and had run sports cars with Nissan before. He fit right in like he had been on the team for years.
The race in 1998 would again be a Ford-Ferrari battle reminiscent of the 1960s. The main Fords were from Dyson Racing. They were Riley & Scott MK3 chassis with 5-liter Ford V8s. The main protagonists from Ferrari were Moretti, Wayne Taylor’s team, and Andy Evans’ group.
The Ferrari ran a 4-liter V12. The Ferrari probably had a slight edge on horsepower, but a disadvantage on torque. The Ferrari was well-suited to Daytona, which favored top speed.
There really was a stellar driver line up for all the major cars. Wayne Taylor had himself, Eric Van de Poele, and Fermin Velez. The Andy Evans squad consisted of Bob Wollek, Max Papis, Ron Fellows, and Yannick Dalmas. The Dyson Team, in two cars, had James Weaver, Elliot Forbes-Robinson, Butch Leitzinger, John Paul Jr, Dorsey Schroeder, and Perry McCarthy, along with Rob himself.
The Moretti car qualified 2nd behind the Evans Ferrari. With some superstition, Kevin (Doran) took the pit right at the break in the wall, where you would turn left into Victory Lane. The hope was that this would be an omen.
Moretti himself started the race, and in the first stint, had an altercation with a GT car, which caused some damage to the body work on the right rear and the right rear wing plate. It was repaired with tape over the next several pit stops and the car continued. The IMSA officials complained about the right-side number, which had been lost on the right side-pod, so the team had to fashion a #30 out of yellow tape and put it on the wing end plate during one of the subsequent pit stops.
So, while the car looked a little second hand, it continued with good pace. During the night, we were lucky. On lap 397, Luyendyk had a tire fail as he was coming into the Daytona tri-oval at over 190 mph. Maybe his Indy car experience helped him, as he spun to his left and did not hit the wall, ending up in the pit lane, very near our pit stall. That ended up only needing a quick check and change of tires in order for the car to continue. It could have been a lot worse.
By Sunday morning, the car was back to second place. One of the two Dyson cars was out, the other was leading. The two main Ferrari competitors were also out. Taylor’s car had crashed in the early evening, and the Evans car had terminal gearbox and engine issues. Everyone knew from the previous year that the Dyson Fords were straining to make 24 hours.
Although they had won in 1997, the car was struggling at the end. So on Sunday morning, we started to push harder, making the Dyson team run faster to stay ahead. A short while later, the Dyson car started smoking and running about 5 seconds per lap slower. A short while after that the car came into the pits in a big cloud of smoke and steam. The engine had expired.
Rob Dyson completed the painful TV interviews, as the Daytona 24 was also an emotional event for him. A true sportsman, he then came down to the Moretti pit box and hung out with the Doran team till almost the end of the race. At around lap 627, Luyendyk came in and said he felt a vibration in the rear. As a precaution, the right rear upright and axle (where Moretti had been hit earlier in the race) was changed.
Moretti took over after that and was really enjoying himself, and the team had a hard time getting him out of the car when his stint was up. But he was to finish the race and the team wanted him well rested, so Mauro Baldi did about 40 minutes.
The video feed showed Mauro making the sign of the cross in the car after each lap was completed, as we all knew what was at stake. Mauro then came in and handed it back to Moretti for the final 20 minutes or so for the finish—as there was no way Moretti was not going to be the finishing driver. This was his 28th year at the event.
At the finish, all the teams lined the pit lane in salute and applauded as Moretti came in. The first guy to shake his hand as he drove by was Rob Dyson—a class act. A Ferrari had won the Daytona 24 hours for the first time since 1967. The church bells were ringing in Maranello. It was front page news in Italy.
Victory lane was surreal. As they handed out the Rolex watches, Moretti started to open the packaging and take his watch out. This was not done before. Most drivers just smiled and accepted the Rolex box. Someone asked, “what are you doing, Gianpiero?”
He said, “I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get this watch, I am going to put it on now”!
RACE 2: Sebring
Sebring in 1998 was run under a convoluted rule set. This was now the opening round of the PSCR (Professional Sports Car Racing) championship. Andy Evans had changed the name of IMSA to PSCR but was in the process of selling it all to Don Panoz.
Daytona had previously been run as a USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship event). Entrants for Sebring had the choice of running under PSCR, ACO (Auto Club d’Louest) or FIA (Federation Internationale de L’Automobile) rules—which were all, of course, slightly different from USRRC rules.
The WSC (World Sports Car) cars were slightly quicker than the top GT1 cars in practice and qualifying. ACO rules, however, allowed GT1 100-liter fuel tanks, whereas WSC got only 80 liters. So, depending on mileage, GT1 cars would probably run longer stints, making less pit stops for fuel. There were also slight changes in some air restrictor sizes, and importantly, refueling times were regulated by a fuel hose restrictor, which was smaller than the USRRC size had been at Daytona.
The WSC cars dominated qualifying with the two Ferrari 333SPs and the top Riley & Scott Fords taking the top 5 places, all in the lap time of 1:55 and change. The faster GT1 cars (the two Panoz GTR1 and the Champion Porsche 911 GT1-Evo, were in the 1:57 bracket.
However, post-qualifying tech caught out quite a few cars with improper sealing restrictors, including one of the Dyson Fords and all three of the GT1 cars. This left Wayne Taylor’s Ferrari on the pole, and our MOMO version 3rd, with one of the Dyson Fords in between.
Our Momo car had the same driver line up as Daytona (less Arie Luyendyk). Gianpiero Moretti, Didier Theys, and Mauro Baldi were very familiar with the car, the track, and the tires (we used Yokohama). Forty- eight cars started. While less than some in the past, the traffic would be difficult—as the speed differential between the faster cars and the slowest ones was some 40 seconds per lap based on qualifying speeds.
Didier took the lead at the start. Shortly thereafter, both Dyson cars ran into trouble, one with engine failure, the other with electrical issues and a subsequent crash. Wayne Taylor’s Ferrari was slowed by fuel feed issues. The two Panoz GTR-1 and the champion-entered Porsche 911 GT1 Evo proved competitive in race trim as they went further per fuel stint than we could go with the Ferrari.
Early on, it was noticed that the GT1 Porsche of Boutsen, Wollek and Pilgrim seemed to be putting in 100 liters of fuel faster than we could put in 80 liters, so something was amiss. Other teams noticed this as well—most notably Panoz, as the Porsche was fueling much faster than they were.
Upon investigation by the PSCR officials, it was discovered they were still using the USRRC refueling restrictor. The resultant penalty left them some 3–4 laps behind us. Our plan had been that Moretti would do all his stints during the daylight hours, Didier Theys would run the difficult twilight sessions, and then he would turn the car over to Mauro Baldi for the finish.
By late afternoon the temperatures cooled, and we started to have trouble getting temperature in the tires when we put new slicks on. Didier, in fact, spun once while exiting the pits on new tires. We would lose time to the GT1 cars for several laps after fitting new tires, as the drivers had to take it easy.
Also, by rule, we did not have the carbon brake system of the GT1 cars, so more time was lost when we had to change the brake pads. We duly maintained a slight lead until around 7:50 pm, when Didier turned the car over to Mauro Baldi. He would take it to the finish just past 10 pm.
There was a yellow with pace car around 9 pm. The Panoz GTR-1 of Andy Wallace was right behind us in the line-up, but one lap down. We knew we would need one more stop to make the end. We were unsure of their situation, but knew they had more fuel capacity and might make it to the end without stopping.
We did not want to get into a situation by stopping, going to the back, then giving another yellow the potential to put them right behind us on the same lap. So, the decision was taken to stay out, run our fuel down to the end, and short-stop under green for the final splash. That’s what we did, and Mauro did a masterful job the last 2.5 hours to bring us home.
It turned out the Panoz also needed a splash of fuel, so it ended up the same—1 lap down in 2nd place. The Champion Porsche made a good recovery to round out the podium.
For the 4th time in history, one team with the same car had won the “36 hours of Florida” (Daytona plus Sebring) in the same year. It had previously been done in 1982, 1985 and 1996. It was subsequently done in 2016 by the ESM Nissan. Mauro Baldi had joined some elite company, being, at that time, one of 7 drivers to complete the “Triple Crown of Endurance Racing” (winning Daytona 24, Le Mans, and Sebring). NOTE, there are now 9 who have accomplished that feat.
RACE 3: Le Mans
Since the team had won Daytona and Sebring, Moretti decided to enter Le Mans once again in 1998 in the unlikely event that he could complete the “triple”. I say unlikely as by then the ACO (Auto club de L’ouest) rules did not favor IMSA WSC cars at all, especially the Ferrari with the smaller 4.0-liter engine.
Fritz Gebhardt (the Momo distributor of Germany) and his team joined us, providing all the logistic support needed for the event, including his truck and motorhome, which was pressed into service as our hospitality center. He even brought in a German chef who ran a restaurant in Germany to handle all the food needs of crew and guests. It was superb, and a good addition to our little group from the USA.
Wednesday night practice went reasonably well, but by the end of the night, the engine was leaking some water. However, this was not a disaster, as we had a brand-new rebuilt engine to install on Thursday for the race. We would run it on Thursday night, and then all would be set.
This plan went downhill quickly as Didier Theys made one lap on Thursday and came in with oil leaking everywhere. A camshaft housing had cracked. Michelotto (the Ferrari Engine builders by 1998) suggested we might put in the old engine, but since it had been leaking water, Kevin Doran refused and asked them to repair the oil leak. Problem was, there were no parts on site to do that.
A mechanic at Michelotto in Italy had to gather the required parts and tools, get on a plane and fly to France. Our crew spent all day Friday getting the engine out and prepared for whenever the engine man from Michelotto showed up.
He did not show up at the circuit until about 8 pm. Some of the crew was sent back to the hotel; the rest of us reinstalled the repaired engine and tested it in the car at 4 am on race day. By then it was too late to get back to the hotel. We slept in the driver caravans for 2 hours. By then, at 6:30 am on race day, fans started arriving, so there was too much noise for sleeping.
So, there we were, starting a 24-hour race with about 2 hours sleep. The car ran reasonably well in the top ten until just past midnight when the gearbox started having problems. Unlike the Audis, the Ferrari 333SP’s Gearbox was not a quick change. It took 30-40 minutes. The car ran well the rest of the way, and we ended up 13th overall.
Shortly before the finish, Team Manager Kevin Doran designated four of us to go up into the fan area behind the pits near the ACO office. We had won some prize called the ESCRA prize. None of us really knew what it was. Apparently, it was a prize awarded each year to the mechanics that the ACO had deemed to have provided the best service for their car during the race.
There, in a private area, we were feted with champagne, wine, and snacks, and presented medals by the ACO officials, some of whom were in jackets and ties. We, of course, looked totally out of place in our greasy fire suits. Having only slept 2 hours in the previous 48, we were soon a little lightheaded from the Champagne. But we did all our PR posing with the officials and graciously accepted the nice medals. Loading up the truck was an arduous chore after that.
RACE 4: Watkins Glen
Having finished all three of the “big Races”, Moretti decided to enter the Watkins Glen 6hr in early July. Little did we know that this would be his last race. At this point, this was a USRRC sanctioned race. Many of the teams in the USA would run some PSCR (Professional Sports Car) races and some USRRC races in 1998.
The main participants would again be as they were at Sebring: prototype cars From Ferrari and the Riley and Scott-Fords of Rob Dyson, along with the quick GT-1 cars of Panoz and Porsche. The Prototype cars were again slightly quicker but carried less fuel, so they would have to stop more times than the GT-1s.
Qualifying did not really show what the race pace would be, due to the fuel disparities among the classes. Our Ferrari qualified 2nd to one of the Dyson cars, with the other Dyson car 3rd. The GT-1 cars led a few times in the middle stints, due to their longer fuel windows. Due to a jump restart penalty on our car in the middle stages, we were a lap down on the lead Dyson car with two stints to go.
However, critically, Mauro Baldi passed James Weaver (Dyson-Ford) quickly on the restart to put us back on the lead lap, albeit most of one lap down. Lucky for us, there was another pace car situation due to an accident with about 1 hour to go. Somehow, we pitted quickly, while the Dyson car did not (there was some confusion whether the pits were open or not—but they were). Baldi turned the car over to Didier Theys, and he started in front—just ahead of Weaver for the last restart.
The two former roommates (Weaver and Theys) in English F3 many years prior, put on a good clinic for the last hour, and Didier beat James to the line by just 0.6 seconds to win the third US main endurance race in 1998. This was the first time one team and one car (Ferrari 333SP-019) had won the three main US endurance races in one year. It has not been done since as of this writing.
We had been lucky but had pulled off the victory. All the mechanics loaded up, then went to Pierces 1894 (a famous Elmira NY eatery) for a dinner party. Moretti, Renzo Setti of Ferrari, and Kevin Doran went to the Ramada Inn Corning to celebrate by drinking Wild Turkey, which was Moretti’s favorite drink.
By the time we all got back to the Ramada, Moretti was still drinking Wild Turkey. He announced his retirement. We discussed old times. We were all very happy for him. It was a good feeling to go out victorious.
Myself and one of the other team mechanics, Bill Pasquini, still had to drive to Rochester NY to make a 6 am flight (Rochester is about a 1.5 hour drive from Watkins Glen). After a few more wild Turkeys with Gianpiero, we staggered out around 1:30 am. How we made it to Rochester without killing ourselves or getting arrested, I don’t know.
Luckily at 3 am in upstate New York, there are not a lot of people on the roads. Neither one of us could drive for more than 20 minutes or so at a time. We would pull over and have to switch out with each other. We got to the hotel, took showers, and crossed to the airport for the flight home. After that night, we could sleep on the plane!
Moretti retired from racing. An era was over. The team carried on with another of the great gentleman drivers, Fredy Lienhard. But that is another story.
Outstanding story Martin. Thanks for sharing.