Another modern photo of SN 0872 at a vintage event

   Here's Tony's 1970 Le Mans 312P as it looks today.  Only two such cars exist, and Tony raced both.


   Today, SN 0872 owned by Peter Sachs in Stamford, CT.

SN 0872

SN 0872

SN 0872

     I didn't see Chuck for 26 years, but in 1996 we would meet again in Phoenix to sign the Battle of the Titans, a print commemorating the 1970 Le Mans. As we scribbled our names 500 times, Chuck and I reminisced about the race. How much it had rained. How the windshield had kept fogging up, and how I had used the potato to help cure the problem. How I had spun under the Dunlop Bridge, and then at the end, how I had been forced to push the car back to the pits.


     And yes, we also reminisced about what a really great car the Ferrari 312P had been.

Chuck Parsons in gold, Tony Adamowicz in white

Tony left, and Chuck meet again 26 years later

       Le Mans 24 Hours

       June 13, 1970    cont.

1996:  Tony signs one of Michael Keyser's 500 prints:  BATTLE OF THE  TITANS  that commemorates the race

              Thirty Three years later, Tony would say:


      "Both 312Ps arrived at LeMans in 1970.  The 0872 car, with the Parkes bubble roof was chosen to race.  I recall asking to drive 0870, because it was the one I drove at Daytona with David Piper, and because it didn't have the ugly bubble.  I thought the Bubble car would be slower aerodynamically than the 0870 car.  Both Chuck Parsons and I were short torsoed and could get away without the ugly bubble.

      I was never told the 0870 car was sold, only that the 0872 bubble roof car was better prepared for the race.  Both cars went through scrutineering.  I didn't buy that the 0872 was better, because I knew it was crashed into the wall at Daytona by Parkes who fell asleep at the wheel.

      The 0872 car was far from prepared as indicated.  It had terrible bump steer to the point that it was unmanageable. I had to beg them to do a chassis alignment and bump steer adjustment.  The cars when driven at Daytona or Sebring did not have ill handling .  I tried to convince Chuck Parsons that the car was great.  He hated it, and in the rain that came, allowed me to do the maximum stints allowed by the rules.

     Chuck soon retired...  he said largely due to this particular race.  Even Hans Herrmann who won the race in his 917, announced his retirement, explaining:  "I made up my mind to chuck racing altogether.  In the rain one found oneself in situations so absolutely beyond control that the risk was really too great."

      Regardless of the rain, I've always felt the Ferrari 312P was a really great car.  Best of all, my relationship with Chinetti and NART was firmly established, which led to many more Ferrari drives!"

Tony Adamowicz, Gary Wheeler, Tony a2z, Tony Adamowics, a2zRacer, Gary Wheeler, Tony Adamowicz

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