Le Mans  24 Hours

            June 10, 1972

     Sam Posey and I won second place in the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hour race's important Grand Touring car category, while also placing sixth overall amongst a field dominated by much lighter, purely race-bred sports-prototype cars.

     We ran the 1972 LeMans Ferrari #74 GTB 4 because of rules changes created to outlaw the big 917s and 512s so that one of the smaller French Matra prototypes with a F1-like engine might have a chance to win.

Our 365 GTB/4A Daytona Berlinetta (SN #15685) was actually the last of the batch of five 1972 Series II cars which were painstakingly prepared by the factory that year for World Championship of Makes competition. This machine was completed in June 1972 - just in time for its Le Mans 24-Hours race debut.  It was liveried in Italian Rosso Corsa racing red plus the familiar white-and-blue stripes of Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team.  Rules prohibited any rear deck spoiler lip.

    Consequently, most competitive drivers were driving GT cars.  It was this drive to second in class that prompted John Wyer to give me the opportunity to drive his new Gulf-Wyer 3 liter Mirage Ford.

Standing beside my car talking to a couple of journalists as the starting grid forms

This successful Le Mans outing resulted in considerable publicity, fully justifying Mr. Ferrari's high regard for the importance of Le Mans and especially of its production-based Grand Tourismo Category.  In fact, Mr. Ferrari often claimed that success within the category was of more importance to him than an outright win, and of more value to his company commercially "…than just another win in a Grand Prix".

The big Ferrari was fielded by the most legendary of all Ferrari's wonderful concessionaire teams which were active from the 1950's into the 1970's: Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team (NART) which enjoyed a closer relationship with the factory than any of its rivals.

three photos from 1972 Le Mans

Our performance at Le Mans pushed me to the forefront, beating out F1 drivers like Jarrier and Derek Bell in similar Ferrari 365 GTBs.  It was after the race that I was approached by John Wyer to test his Gulf 3-liter Mirage at the Osterichring and race it at Watkins Glen with Gijs van Lennep.  Derek was his favorite driver and received the F1 qualifying engines

Tony plays with renown racing photographer Bernard Cahier

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

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The grid is formed and Tony's Ferrari is at lower right corner.

Please bookmark current page before leaving this website

to view a video clip of Tony's 365-GTB/4A as it looked in a

recent vintage race at Le Mans.   It's posted on U-tube.