Sixty years ago, an American sportsman built his own cars to tackle the world’s greatest endurance race

Many in America today see road racing as more a sub-genre of motor sport, with the nation thoroughly consumed by oval racing on tracks that seem to dot the continental 48-state landscape with the same frequency as major retail chains and fast food restaurants. For the most part, only those who dare to dream on a very large scale with little fear of challenging the world on a global level even dare to think about road racing, let alone attempt to launch an all-American effort to compete against the best machines and manufacturers the world has to offer.

In recent years, America has witnessed such an effort by the factory-backed Corvette Racing squad. Based in suburban Detroit, Corvette Racing has won the production-based GT1 class championship of the American Le Mans Series seven times, as well as tacking up a handful of class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race that remains the indicative test of any sports machine and the men who rally behind the effort.