Morton collection
Morton collection
Stardust Grand Prix
Las Vegas, Nevada
Lotus 23B Porsche
April 24, 1966
George Boskoff and Bruce helped me prepare my car for the first race of the season which was in Las Vegas at Stardust Raceway on April 24. Bruce worked on updating my engine while George worked with the chassis and, along with Jeff Schoolfield, would help me at the west coast races. We had made it to Stardust Raceway for the first USRRC race. Miles was driving for Otto Zipper. Scooter Patrick was in Zipper’s 904 Porsche and George Follmer was in his championship winning Lotus Porsche. Miles won with Follmer second, Scooter Patrick third in a 904 Porsche, then me. John Cannon won the overall race in Dan Blocker’s MK 10 Genie.
Riverside International Raceway
USRRC
Lotus 23B Porsche
May 1, 1966
3rd
“Scooter Patrick took Ken Miles’ place in Otto Zipper’s Porsche 906 and easily won the under-two liter class. Follmer was second; I was third. I was close to Follmer’s speed but he still had the edge. Overall was won by Buck Fulp in a GT 40 Lola.”
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection
Daily Independent Journal
Bridgehampton
US Road Racing Championship
May 22, 1966
Lotus 23B Porsche
8th
The next race was Bridgehampton out on Long Island, New York. Other than having to buy some new gears to have the correct ratios for the track, everything went fairly smoothly. I finished eighth overall, but only fifth in the under-two liter class. Again Scooter Patrick won the under-two liter class followed by Herb Wetanson and Peter Gregg, all in 906 Porsches. Skip Barber was next in a Brabham GT 40 Climax then me. Jerry Grant won overall in a Lola GT 40.
Morton collection – Robert Raymond photo
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection – Los Angeles Times
Watkins Glen
June 26, 1966
Lotus 23B Porsche
DNF
“My car ran pretty well in practice and was doing OK in the race. I can’t remember what my position was, but early in the race heading into the high-speed esses, flags were waving like crazy. There were yellow flags then a red flag. A red flag meant stop immediately; I did.
A 906 Porsche was stopped against the guardrail on the right side of the track as the road climbed into a fast left at the top of the hill. Then there was the wreckage of John Cannon’s Dan Blocker-owned MK 10 Genie and a burning T 70 Lola. The driver of the Lola was Mark Donohue in only his third race for Roger Penske.
Apparently the Cannon Genie and the 906 Porsche of Joe Buzzetta touched, causing the Genie to spin blocking the track in the very high-speed turn. Donohue came onto the scene and plowed into the Genie and caught fire. Donohue was painfully but not critically burned. The Genie was badly damaged; the Penske Lola was destroyed.
After a long cleanup, the race resumed. A little past the halfway point of the two hundred mile race while going down the back straight at full speed, my engine blew. When a Porsche engine blows, things get very expensive.
Upon examination, it appeared that a connecting rod bolt broke first, sending parts through the crankcase. A piece even got into the cooling fan and destroyed it. Again the overall race was won by Buck Fulp. Bill Eve finished third for the first good result that Eve and Jones had all season.”
Genie MK 10
Road America 500
September 4, 1966
Genie MK 10
Morton collection – photo
Morton collection – Sheboygan Press article
“Nickey Chevrolet was on the north side of Chicago. They sponsored the Jim Jeffords ‘Purple People Eater.’ Al Seelig came to me with a proposition: if I would accept the job of crew chief on Blocker’s Genie, I could co-drive the car in the Road America 500 in September.
On Saturday morning, Bob Harris practiced first before turning the car over to me. I ran a few laps. The car felt really fast, so it was going to take some time to feel completely comfortable. I was amazed to be several seconds faster than Bob and still, there was a lot left in the car. In fairness to Bob, he’d never raced at Road America.
A Road America lap is four miles but it seemed to be taking longer than usual. Someone said, “He’s overdue.” Eventually it became obvious that Bob was not going to come in. We were told that the car was off the track in turn one. Bob walked back and told us that the engine, “just quit at the end of the straight.”