Because of the newly constructed protective pit wall the pit lane was awash and looked like a canal to everyone. Spare tires and other items were seen floating around in the pit enclosures and tools disappeared in the water. Drivers, crew and race officials waded in water approaching eight or more inches. Some will always remember the comical sight of Carroll Shelby with the brim of his soaked black Stetson down around his ears standing in water up to his ankles.
On the race course the cars with wide race tires began to aquaplane and lose traction and handling. Some drivers and crew said later they were waiting for the race officials to red flag the race because conditions were too dangerous. That decision was never made and the rains and the race continued unabated.
In the Bizzarrini pits the brakes had been repaired and Mike Gammino jumped into the car and tore out of the pit and into the storm. He was going to try to make up for the time lost due to the long brake repair but the heavy rain complicated things for him and everyone else on the track.
The water rose steadily in the Bizzarrini pits and Mr. Bizzarrini took off his expensive Italian shoes and socks and placed them on a box in the corner of the pit stall. He then rolled up his pants legs and went back to work managing the one car they had left in the race.
In the meantime the water rose even higher and spare tires and other flotsam and jetsam began floating around with some making an exit out the back door of the pit and into the flooded paddock. Bizzarrini’s shoes went that route never to be seen again. The next day, when he boarded his plane back to Italy, he was in his stocking feet.
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When Mike Gammino got into the #9 Iso Grifo A3C, after the brakes had been repaired, it was raining very hard and in his haste to return to the contest he neglected to buckle his seat belt. Three laps later the car came around turn twelve and onto the front straight. Gammino accelerated as he passed the start-finish and the car began to hydroplane and lose control. The car struck a support for the Mercedes-Benz pedestrian bridge broadside cutting the car in two pieces with the split coming right behind the driver’s door.
When the corner workers arrived to render assistance they found Mike Gammino in his seat in the front half of the car. His hands were still on the steering wheel. The driver’s seat was still firmly affixed to the floor. His firmly affixed seat belts were with the back half of the car which was now twenty-plus feet distant. It was sheer luck that neither piece of the car ended up in the nearby spectator enclosure.
It was still raining heavily when Gammino exited the wrecked car and in his shocked state didn’t take note of the condition of the car. After the corner workers determined that he didn’t suffer any serious injuries he was allowed to walk back to the pits where he met up with his father and some of the Bizzarrini crew. He was approached by co-driver Charlie Rainville, who asked , “…how bad’s the car?” Mike replied, “don’t know.” Charlie said, “Well, let’s go see.”
The Rainville/Gammino Iso Grifo A3C after being split in two after hitting the Mercedes-Benz Bridge. Photo courtesy of Paul RainvilleThey turned around and walked the few yards to the accident scene. Gammino took one look at the car, cut in two with the pieces over twenty feet apart, and promptly fainted. As you can imagine, if he had buckled his seat belt he might have been cut in two when the two pieces of the car separated. It was indeed a lucky day for Mike Gammino. However, for Giotto Bizzarrini, C. Rino Argento and all the others who had worked so hard for the team their luck had run out. Not only were their two cars out of the race but both were wrecked beyond repair. Fortunately there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers involved in the accidents.
The race continued without the Bizzarrini team. The skies began to clear and the rain dissipated. The soft porous sands of South Florida quickly absorbed the flood and the lap times began to improve for the cars remaining in the race.
Over at the timing and scoring shed the standings after the rain storm showed some dramatic changes. The small displacement cars running on narrow tires knifed their way through the standing water while the big displacement cars with wide tires were lucky to stay on the track at 30 m.p.h. The #61 Sebring Sprite of Clive Baker and Rauno Aaltonen passed a Ford GT40 three times in a short period of time while the #62 Sebring Sprite of Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Makinen passed the leading Chaparral four times in the rain. At the end of the race both Sprites were in the top 20 which was unusual for them. It was all due to the rain.
