Beast (The 289 USRRC Cobra)

1964 Cobra 289 USRRC car.  I don't recognize the driver; he may be a Shelby American mechanic.

This low resolution picture is excellent in two respects: 1) It was taken at Mid-Ohio in 1964; 2) the color is dead-nuts on.  It documents the car.  This is exactly what a USRRC Cobra looked like: brake scoops, Halibrand alloys, white exhausts, mirrors, and all.  I know because I saw them run at Watkins Glen in '64.

The 427 Cobra has a well-deserved reputation for being a beast.  In race trim, the 289 car wasn't a stroll in the park either.  I watched most of the '64 Watkins Glen race from the end of the long straight.  At that time, there was no "bus stop" chicane.  Instead, there was a tighter right-left chicane leading directly onto what is now called the "Outer Loop."

The factory Cobras had no competition in the "big dog" GT class.  They ran ahead of the field like a 3-car train.  The drivers were Ken Miles, Ed Leslie, and Bob Johnson.  Two privately entered Cobras finished fourth and fifth (Harold Keck and Graham Shaw), a lap down.  They were followed home by Chuck Stoddard's Alfa Romeo GTZ, another lap down.  Mike Gammino's Ferrari GTO ran sixth before it DNF'ed.  The point of this list is that nobody had anything for the factory Cobras.

With the race won on the starting grid, the factory team drivers were free to play.  Cobras have a short wheelbase.  The cars were unstable in heavy braking, or Miles, Leslie, and Johnson were trying to outfox each other in the braking zones, or both.  They darted and weaved all over the road as they shifted down for the chicane.  Johnson out-braked himself once and got "four wheels off" into the dust on driver's left.  He was able to whoa it up in the dirt and grass, and re-entered the race a more distant third.

We sometimes hear that a race car is "forgiving" or easy to drive.  The USRRC Cobras were not.