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THE CHAPARRAL STORY, PART I.
Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 08:11AM By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. Jim Hall's Midland, Texas-based Chaparral Cars team had established itself as a force to be reckoned with in sports car racing in the U.S. in the early '60s, but the team was still hungry for success in the major endurance events at Daytona and Sebring. Hall, with co-drivers Hap Sharp and Ronnie Hissom, did finish a noteworthy sixth overall at the 1962 12 Hours of Sebring in the front-engine No. 10 Chaparral I Chevrolet, but that was only the beginning of a difficult climb. In the 1963 12 Hours of Sebring, with the front-engine design of the Chaparral I Chevrolet having reached its limits, the Chaparral team had a dismal run, with both cars unable to finish the race.
In 1964, while his Chaparral Cars team worked on improving its all-new, mid-engine Chaparral 2 Chevrolet, Hall signed to co-drive a Corvette Grand Sport in the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring with Roger Penske. Although they qualified their Chaparral-white No. 4 Corvette Grand Sport decently in seventh position, the duo finished well down the field in eighteenth. By the time the 1965 12 Hours of Sebring rolled around, the Chaparral Cars team had enjoyed notable success in the West Coast USRRC sprint races, and Hall & Co. devoted all of their efforts to develop the Chaparral 2A for the Florida endurance classic, focusing not only on speed, but the durability needed to deal with the notoriously brutal concrete runways of the famous central Florida airport circuit. The new cars were powered by 5.4-liter aluminum-block Chevrolet engines, combined with a "mystery" automatic transmission, but the experts didn't give Hall's team much of a chance in the lengthy race.
And 1965 was shaping up to be a major-league showdown at Sebring, with the entry list the most impressive in the race's history. Hard on the heels of the team's victory in the 2,000 km Daytona Continental, Shelby American entered two Ford GT40s for Richie Ginther/Phil Hill (No. 10) and Ken Miles/Bruce McLaren (No. 11); and four Cobra Daytona Coupes for Ed Leslie/Allen Grant (No. 12), Bob Johnson/Tom Payne (No. 14), Bob Bondurant/Jo Schlesser (No. 15) and Lew Spencer/Jim Adams (No. 16). Dan Gurney entered a highly-modified All American Racers No. 23 Lotus 19 J Ford (with Jerry Grant co-driving), and John Mecom entered the No. 22 Lola T70 Mk 1 Ford for John Cannon/Jack Saunders. Mecom didn't stop there, however. He entered a couple of Ferraris too, including the No. 30 Ferrari 330 P for Pedro Rodriguez/Graham Hill "loaned" from the factory and the No. 29 Ferrari 250 LM for Mark Donohue/Walt Hansgen. Another Ferrari - the No. 31 250 LM entered and driven by David Piper/Tony Maggs - would turn in an excellent run. The Chaparral Cars team entered two cars for the race: The No. 3 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet for Jim Hall/Hap Sharp and the No. 4 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet for Ronnie Hissom/Bruce Jennings. Added to this formidable entry list was a wide variety of independent Cobras, Corvettes, Corvette Grand Sports, Porsches and even a Bizzarini (!), so the stage was set for what would be a memorable 12 Hours of Sebring.
Qualifying for the race played out as expected, with Jim Hall putting his No. 3 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet on pole and the No. 4 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet of Hissom qualifying right next to it. Ken Miles put the No. 11 Shelby American Ford GT40 in third and Phil Hill was fourth in the No. 10 Shelby American Ford GT40, followed by Gurney, Cannon and Rodriguez at the sharp end of the grid.
Race day dawned very hot and humid, and temperatures would soar to the mid-90s, but the 50,000 spectators were still eagerly awaiting the clash between the racing heavyweights. The race was intense with battles all through the field as the top cars took turns leading, but the ever-present heat was taking its toll on drivers and spectators alike. By 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon, ominous storm clouds were forming within view of the circuit. In fact, it got so dark that some of the racing machines turned on their headlights. At 5:25 p.m., the event that made the 1965 12 Hours famous until this day - "The Deluge" - happened. A ferocious storm hit the circuit with 50 mph+ winds and torrential rain. How bad was it? Five inches of rain fell in just the first 30 minutes of the storm, an astonishing amount that simply overwhelmed the basically flat circuit.
Lap times for the top cars slowed to ten minutes; it got so bad that some teams brought their cars in to the pits to wait out the storm, including the Chaparral team, which parked the leading No. 3 car for fifteen minutes. The pit lane was impassable, with eight inches of standing water carrying unattended tools and tires away. In short, it was a real mess. "Deluge" indeed. After about 90-minutes, the storm faded away and the hard racing resumed. Jim Hall's Chaparral Cars team would prove the critics wrong, with the No. 3 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet driven by Hall and Hap Sharp powering to the overall win, four laps ahead of the second-place finishing No. 11 Shelby American Ford GT40 driven by Ken Miles/Bruce McLaren (they finished first in the P+4.0 class). The No. 31 Ferrari 250 LM driven by David Piper/Tony Maggs finished third. And the Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupes swept the GT5.0 class, finishing first (No. 15 Bondurant/Schlesser), second (No. 14 Johnson/Payne) and third (No. 12 Grant/Leslie).
The 1965 12 Hours of Sebring was a momentous day for Jim Hall's Chaparral Cars team. They proved the doubters wrong and achieved their first major international race win. And the race will always be known for "The Deluge", a once-in-a-lifetime weather event that remains etched in history.
(Sebring)
A closer view of Jim Hall getting into his No. 3 Chaparral 2A Chevrolet at the start of the 1965 12 Hours of Sebring.
(Sebring)
The Chaparral 2A Chevrolet was a stunningly beautiful machine. The body was designed by GM Styling's Larry Shinoda. You can clearly see that the front-end design was taken directly from Shinoda's design work on the Corvair Monza GT and SS concepts.
(GM Design)
The Corvair Monza SS (in red) and the Corvair Monza GT (in silver) were designed by Larry Shinoda during his tenure at GM Styling. The two concepts clearly influenced his designs for the Chaparral 2, 2A, 2C and 2D. The close working relationship between Jim Hall, Chevrolet Engineering and GM Styling has been well-documented.
(GM Design)
Larry Shinoda stands proudly by the clay mock-up of the Monza GT. The picture was taken in the GM Styling viewing courtyard at the GM Technical Center in 1962.
(motorsportcollector.com)
Editor-in-Chief's Note: I wanted to take this opportunity to mention George Levy's fantastic new book, Texas Legend - Jim Hall and his Chaparrals. This Official Biography of Jim Hall is simply one of the finest biographies I have ever read, and it stands as the definitive work chronicling the life and achievements of Jim Hall. Full disclosure, Jim Hall is and has been one of my all-time favorites, and Levy's book does Jim justice like no book before it. It is filled with details and anecdotes never revealed until now. I highly recommend this book for enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. It is a superb effort and well worth the read. -PMD
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG