.PorscheRaces returns to top-flight sportscar prototype racing in America this weekend in the Daytona 24 Hours. 50 years ago, it overcame adversity to win. Feature:
To focus on the result – a 22-lap victory for Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg with Brumos Racing – doesn’t tell half the story. And while team owner/driver Gregg is sadly no longer around to tell the tale, Haywood, who just a few years earlier had been in the Vietnam War, takes up the story…
Having qualified eighth overall, four spots ahead of Penske’s RSR, the Brumos squad were 17 seconds away from the pole time of the Derek Bell/Howden Ganley Mirage. But, in 1973, pace was very much trumped by reliability in a twice-around-the-clock event. “It was a big seagull,” recalls Haywood. “It was in the morning, with more than seven or so hours left in the race. We had a pretty big lead at that point, I was quite relaxed in the car. And I’m going down the back straightaway and, suddenly, this large bird crashes through the windshield.
“We knew Dan Davis had one there,” recalls Haywood. “And I’m sure Mr Davis – who eventually became one of the owners of Brumos – wouldn’t like this story told, and his car was the perfect match for our car. Jack hunted him down and asked if we could borrow his windshield, and he said ‘No!’ Haywood and Gregg won by 22 laps over the NART Ferrari 365 GTB/4 of Francois Migault and Milt Minter.
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