Sixty Years of ’Murrican Muscle

Corvette didn’t show well at Le Mans this year, which is unusual, and I suppose in time we’ll find out where the speed went. But sometimes falling short can emphasize how often a competitor lands on top.

For Chevrolet, the tally of success at the Sarthe still stands at seven class victories since 2001, or ten counting back to 1960.

For me, tuning in from afar to watch the big, throbbing coupes pounding through the glittering nighttime of France, there was a pang of nostalgia I hope I never lose. Once upon a time I too was privileged to hurl my own Corvette through the darkling countrysides of Europe (see this column in March 2013). I promise you, it’s an experience that marks you forever.

“America’s Sports Car” turned a feisty 60 this year, and ever since it was a toddler it has been spoiling for fights. Even the very early, very underdeveloped 6-cylinder model did some amateur sparring on race tracks, while back at Chevrolet’s gym Mr. Corvette himself, Zora Arkus-Duntov, was industriously teaching it some pro moves.

In 1956, Duntov slammed a souped-up V8 Corvette to a 150-mph speed record on Daytona Beach, a newsmaking velocity for the day. Then Chevy’s hired shoes John Fitch and Walt Hansgen guided a modified stock version into 9th overall at Sebring, behind nothing but pure-racing European marques with low, lean aluminum bodies and engines with multiple camshafts.

One hectic year later, Duntov came back to Sebring with a Euro-style racer of his own. Both Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss tested the Corvette SS prototype and said encouraging things about it. A more polished car built for the race was too new to run for long then, but Duntov was planning a four-car follow-up at Le Mans until GM abruptly outlawed any factory-sanctioned performance programs.

Happily, Mr. Corvette was a bit of an outlaw himself and managed to keep his scrappy youngster in training. Better, stronger, faster parts kept gushing out of Chevrolet Engineering’s back door into the hands of Corvette owners who knew how to use them.

In 1960, private team owners named Casner and Cunningham race-prepped a total of four Corvettes for Le Mans. A modest few Chevrolet engineers took personal interest in the venture and scheduled vacation time to help out. Former factory driver Fitch, now an independent contractor, and Bob Grossman nursed one of the Cunningham entries to 8th place overall, and 1st in class.

Meanwhile, Duntov’s old SS prototype got a new “Sting Ray” body style and GM styling chief Bill Mitchell—entirely on his own private initiative—set up a little team of weekend warriors to race it. Dr. Dick Thompson, a D.C. dentist, drove the Sting Ray to an SCCA National Championship. At the same time, club racers across North America were driving stock Corvettes to wins and championships of their own. Beyond that, Chevy V8s rapidly became the power plant of choice for racecar builders of many kinds.

When Chevrolet launched the second-generation, split-window street car, Zora Duntov made sure to have a race winner ready too. The competition-tuned model was called the Z06, and on October 13, 1962, at Riverside in its debut race, it outlasted Ford’s equally new Shelby Cobra to win.

Of course Carroll Shelby and his Cobra crew soon found reliability and pushed ahead of the Corvette; of course Duntov prepared an answer: his Grand Sport. An all-new chassis, ultra-light body and stunningly powerful engine might have turned the tables in Chevy’s favor—except that Chevy waved the red flag. Duntov had to give up his GS effort and go back to simply making the stock Corvette as fast as he could.

Pinnacle of that program was the L-88, an “option package” that could turn third-generation street cars into raw racers of brutal performance at tracks like Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. At the French track in 1972 and ’73, the big bruisers scored Corvette’s second and third GT class firsts.

Eventually corporate retirement policy forced Duntov to step away, but he’d kept something important alive and its vitality continues today. New generations of GM management have long since accepted the value of racing, and now the factory openly supports Corvettes in several kinds of competition: Grand-Am (several teams) and FIA GT3 (a Callaway program) as well as the official Corvette Racing ALMS and Le Mans efforts (Pratt & Miller), winner of many races and championships.

As a one-time Corvette guy, I have to admit some bias: I love to watch “my” car winning. Also, I confess to a bit of “us vs. them” American pride welling up.

You know, Porsche people are justly proud of “their” motorsports heritage, and they rightly point out how long the 911 silhouette has been a fixture on the world’s racetracks.

But look how long a thread “America’s Sports Car” has woven through our sport.