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Le Mans / ALMS
ALMS: Sebring Seconds - One Podium Step From Glory
Winning at Sebring is a difficult task. Only 111 drivers have managed to accomplish an overall victory in 59 years of racing on the tough circuit that evolved from a World War II air base...
Jon and Clint Field and Liz Halliday finished a surprise second overall, taking the LMP2 class victory, in the 2006 Twelve Hours of Sebring. (Photo: Rick Dole/LAT)
By Ken Breslauer
The old adage that “nobody remembers who finishes second” is hardly true at Sebring. Especially since 1970, when Steve McQueen made second place famous by teaming with Peter Revson in a Porsche 908 and finishing only 23.8 seconds behind Mario Andretti’s Ferrari in a dramatic race.
Winning at Sebring is a difficult task. Only 111 drivers have managed to accomplish an overall victory in 59 years of racing on the tough circuit that evolved from a World War II air base. So finishing second place can be rewarding… yet frustrating.
Dan Gurney led the 1966 race until his Ford gave out on the last lap, only a few hundred yards from the finish. He pushed his car the remaining distance, but the team car driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby passed him in the final minute. A heart breaking second-place that was later stricken from the record books (pushing your car was illegal). Of course, Gurney had won the race in 1959, and later won twice as a car owner (1992-93) for Toyota.
A couple of relative “unknowns” finished runner-up at Sebring in 1955 by a margin of just 25 seconds. Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby were on the verge of greatness, but in 1955 they were a couple of American hot shot drivers still not well known, especially on the east coast. They finished second driving a Ferrari in a controversial race that was not decided for several weeks due to a protest by their car owner over scoring discrepancies.
Andy Wallace holds the Sebring record for the most second place finishes at Sebring with five- but he won twice as well. Emanuele Pirro has finished second four times, but he too has a pair of victories at America’s greatest sports car race.
For many drivers, a Sebring win has been especially elusive. Derek Bell, certainly one of the greatest endurance drivers ever, finished runner-up at Sebring four times, but never won. James Weaver has three second place finishes without a victory. Butch Leitzinger will be making his 20th Sebring start this year. He has class wins to go along with three second-place overall finishes, but would likely trade those for an overall victory.
David Brabham has finished second twice, including last year’s near upset win driving the Highcroft HPD entry. Brothers Dario and Marino Franchitti have each finished second at Sebring (Marino has twice been runner-up).
Names you may be surprised to learn have finished second overall at Sebring include: John Gunn, Al Unser, Jr., Liz Halliday, Ted Field, and Louis Krages (who always raced under the pseudonym John Winter), to name just a few.
Halliday was part of a somewhat forgotten second-place recorded by the Intersport team of Jon Field and son Clint back in 2006. Their Lola was one Audi DNF away from a stunning upset - but Audi simply doesn’t DNF at Sebring, so that second place effort seldom gets the recognition it deserves.
Morris Carroll and Charles Schott (husband of the infamous former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott) are certainly not household names. In fact, even serious road racing historians probably don’t remember they finished second in the very first Sebring 12 Hours back in 1952. History is sometimes unkind to second place finishers… Schott died of a heart attack in the bathtub of his mistress. Marge inherited all his car dealerships and bought the Reds. But that is another story.
Legendary playboy driver Porfirio Rubirosa salvaged a second place finish for the Lancia team in 1954 after their top three cars had dropped out. He had talked his way into a drive with the team at a bar in New York a few weeks before the race. He met his end in 1965, driving his Ferrari into a tree after an all-nighter at a Paris nightclub.
As a car owner, Rob Dyson has yet to win outright at Sebring, a race he has come so close to winning. He has five Sebring podium finishes, including second place three times: 1997, 1999 and 2008. The 1997 race had an especially cruel ending for Dyson, with Scandia Ferrari team owner Andy Evans (who just happened to own the sanctioning organization AND the track at that time) allegedly manipulating caution periods to his favor. The 1999 race, perhaps the greatest Sebring ever, saw the Dyson team fall just nine seconds short.
It will be hard not to root for Dyson at this year’s 12-hour classic.
The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring fueled by Fresh from Florida takes the green flag at 10:30 am on Saturday, March 17.
The old adage that “nobody remembers who finishes second” is hardly true at Sebring. Especially since 1970, when Steve McQueen made second place famous by teaming with Peter Revson in a Porsche 908 and finishing only 23.8 seconds behind Mario Andretti’s Ferrari in a dramatic race.
Winning at Sebring is a difficult task. Only 111 drivers have managed to accomplish an overall victory in 59 years of racing on the tough circuit that evolved from a World War II air base. So finishing second place can be rewarding… yet frustrating.
Dan Gurney led the 1966 race until his Ford gave out on the last lap, only a few hundred yards from the finish. He pushed his car the remaining distance, but the team car driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby passed him in the final minute. A heart breaking second-place that was later stricken from the record books (pushing your car was illegal). Of course, Gurney had won the race in 1959, and later won twice as a car owner (1992-93) for Toyota.
A couple of relative “unknowns” finished runner-up at Sebring in 1955 by a margin of just 25 seconds. Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby were on the verge of greatness, but in 1955 they were a couple of American hot shot drivers still not well known, especially on the east coast. They finished second driving a Ferrari in a controversial race that was not decided for several weeks due to a protest by their car owner over scoring discrepancies.
Andy Wallace holds the Sebring record for the most second place finishes at Sebring with five- but he won twice as well. Emanuele Pirro has finished second four times, but he too has a pair of victories at America’s greatest sports car race.
For many drivers, a Sebring win has been especially elusive. Derek Bell, certainly one of the greatest endurance drivers ever, finished runner-up at Sebring four times, but never won. James Weaver has three second place finishes without a victory. Butch Leitzinger will be making his 20th Sebring start this year. He has class wins to go along with three second-place overall finishes, but would likely trade those for an overall victory.
David Brabham has finished second twice, including last year’s near upset win driving the Highcroft HPD entry. Brothers Dario and Marino Franchitti have each finished second at Sebring (Marino has twice been runner-up).
Names you may be surprised to learn have finished second overall at Sebring include: John Gunn, Al Unser, Jr., Liz Halliday, Ted Field, and Louis Krages (who always raced under the pseudonym John Winter), to name just a few.
Halliday was part of a somewhat forgotten second-place recorded by the Intersport team of Jon Field and son Clint back in 2006. Their Lola was one Audi DNF away from a stunning upset - but Audi simply doesn’t DNF at Sebring, so that second place effort seldom gets the recognition it deserves.
Morris Carroll and Charles Schott (husband of the infamous former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott) are certainly not household names. In fact, even serious road racing historians probably don’t remember they finished second in the very first Sebring 12 Hours back in 1952. History is sometimes unkind to second place finishers… Schott died of a heart attack in the bathtub of his mistress. Marge inherited all his car dealerships and bought the Reds. But that is another story.
Legendary playboy driver Porfirio Rubirosa salvaged a second place finish for the Lancia team in 1954 after their top three cars had dropped out. He had talked his way into a drive with the team at a bar in New York a few weeks before the race. He met his end in 1965, driving his Ferrari into a tree after an all-nighter at a Paris nightclub.
As a car owner, Rob Dyson has yet to win outright at Sebring, a race he has come so close to winning. He has five Sebring podium finishes, including second place three times: 1997, 1999 and 2008. The 1997 race had an especially cruel ending for Dyson, with Scandia Ferrari team owner Andy Evans (who just happened to own the sanctioning organization AND the track at that time) allegedly manipulating caution periods to his favor. The 1999 race, perhaps the greatest Sebring ever, saw the Dyson team fall just nine seconds short.
It will be hard not to root for Dyson at this year’s 12-hour classic.
The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring fueled by Fresh from Florida takes the green flag at 10:30 am on Saturday, March 17.
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