1971  Le Mans 24 Hours

   June 12, 1971

I finished third with Sam Posey in this Ferrari 5112M at Le Mans in 71

Waiting my turn

A relaxed moment well before the race

    I knew our car had its limitations so I worked with Sam.  By giving written instructions to him re. the actual rev points, gear changes , etc.  It allowed the car to be driven as if one driver was doing it all.  The 24 hrs of Le Mans is truly a chess game.  We knew we did not have the straight line speed of the streamliner 917K, so we were determined to drive the car within it's design limits. 

Tony talks to Sam about strategy

   The engine performed well considering we did have some oiling problems, the transaxle performed flawlessly throughout the race.  By instructing Sam not to squirt off the corners in low gear, we were able to make everything last to the end, finishing third overall, first Americans and first Ferrari.

Our  SN #1020  Beautiful and unscarred before the race, except for an ugly roof bubble. 

Le Mans 1971 was a far cry from 1970's torrential rains.  What a pleasure to drive in decent weather.  I was teamed with Sam Posey to drive the NART 512M chassis #1020 entry.  Roger Penske's 512M required the assistance of Mr. Luigi Chinetti and was accepted under his American entry.  Our pits were adjacent, and at the start of practice our mechanics started my engine.  It roared to life with lots of blipping the throttle in normal Ferrari fashion.  Roger Penske happened to be behind our car, standing in front of the pristine blue Ferrari.  His matching yellow sneakers and pants were covered with dark soot from our rich engine start up.  This was not a good beginning for the Penske team.

Sam wasn't feeling good all weekend so I did most of the driving.

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

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Tony pulls out of the NART pit

The Adamowicz / Posey 512M on the start finish straight - taken from above the pits