February 3-4, 1979
24 Hours of Daytona (Pepsi Challenge)
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Competizione S/N 16407
Result: 2nd overall, 1st in GTO class
Robert Caradine sold chassis number 16407 to Bill Nicolas and Jim McRoberts in 1979 who entered it in the 1979 24 Hours of Daytona (Pepsi Challenge). Bruno Borri’s Modena Sports Cars in Hollywood, California prepared the car for the race, and hired 64-year-old Otto Zipper as the team manager. Tony and John Morton qualified the car 24th.
Adamowicz collection – Philippe Moriniere photo
Adamowicz collection – David Christian photo
Leaving the pits on Friday
Otto Zipper on left and Jim McRoberts in leisure suit.
Adamowicz collection – David Christian photo
Adamowicz collection – Robert Dunsmore photo
Adamowicz collection – Robert Dunsmore photo
The car raced with a large/wide black band painted diagonally across the entire hood. It was a tribute to Otto Zipper, who passed away the night before the race in his motel room, the victim of a heart attack. Ken Starbird took over Zipper’s duties for the race.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Bill Warner photo
“Everyone was quite emotional about it, a very tough deal, and they wanted to withdraw the car. Tony and I wanted to run Ferrari, not really to make a statement, but we thought it would be appropriate to race the car. Sylvia and Tony’s girlfriend Vicki talked the team into running, thinking Otto would have wanted that. So did we. We put black tape diagonally across the hood of the car in honor or Otto.
It was a shame he couldn’t be there because we had an incredible performance largely due to the Porsche turbos being so fragile at the time, because we were obviously not competitive with the Porches.“
– John Morton
John Morton passes the BMW 3.5 CSL of Alf Gebhardt and Sepp Grinbold.
John Morton collection
Adamowicz collection
The car raced with a large/wide black band painted diagonally across the entire hood. It was a tribute to Otto Zipper, who passed away the night before the race in his motel room, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Ken Starbird took over Zipper’s duties for the race.
Prep by Bruno at Zipper’s Modena Sports Cars in Hollywood, helped us win the GTO class. It was one glorious, thundering blast for the ten-year-old design.
#65 Ahead of Porsche Carrera RSR and second place GTO finisher Tony Garcia, Juan Montalvo, and Alberto Vadia.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – David Christian photo
Nighttime drive change – Tony in the car
Driver change and pit stop. Modena Sport Cars’ Pietro Iurilli at right rear of vehicle. Brunno Borri with red cap and fuel hose. Luciano Fabbio in blue shirt with LF wheel.
Adamowicz collection – David Christian photo
Adamowicz collection – Dennis Gray photo
Adamowicz collection – Bill Warner photo
Adamowicz collection – Bob Purgason photo
John Morton leaves the infield and heads for the banking
Tony and John with trophy
Adamowicz collection
Luciano Fabbio and Brunno Borri
The winning car overall was the twin turbo 935 Porsche Interscope car of Danny Ongias and Ted Field. It crossed the line on the starter after waiting for the end on the start/finish track apron. Ours was certainly a “Rocky Balboa” finish, taking a vintage front engine car to the checkered flag.
We technically won the race overall as the Interscope Porsche had not completed the last lap within the required percentage of their qualifying lap. It was a rule specifically intended to prohibit such a finish. Ferrari was the only one who could protest the finish as it was a FIA Manufacturers Championship race. Since our car was of vintage design, not current to Ferrari’s latest 512 BB, they declined to protest the finish results.