By dawn, the little (pop. 1,400) Long Island village of Bridgehampton was noisily abustle. By 6 a.m., ratchety Coopers, purring Allards and roaring Ferraris were already tuning up. By noon, three hours before the start of the big Bridgehampton Cup race, some 35,000 spectators lined the closed-course route. They craned at one of the three killing right-angle turns, or hurried down to the bridge where the cars jumped to a four-wheel takeoff. Some were attracted by the morbid sudden-death aspect of the sport, but mostly they were dedicated sports-car fans.
For those who can afford to pay $2,000 to $15,000 for a sleek, low-slung imported sports car—and even for spectators who cannot afford it—road racing is supercharged with excitement. From a mere handful of postwar enthusiasts, the Sports Car Club of America, one of dozens spread over the U.S., has grown to over 2,500 members. Last year nearly 10,000 sports cars* were sold in the U.S.
Big Hope. Some of the best of them were in the big race for the Bridgehampton Cup. The first of road racing’s big three,† it brought a field limit of 30 starters. A host of disappointed entrants were shut out because either their cars or their driving was not up to scratch, or their entries were too late. A bang-up race from start to finish, it was not finally settled until the homestretch run. Allards, Ferraris and Jaguars dominated the big-car field, but the fans especially watched No. 15, a blue & white Cunningham C4R, powered by a Chrysler engine. American-produced by Millionaire Sportsman Briggs S. Cunningham, the car was the U.S.’s big hope in a field dominated by Europeans. Dragging exhaust pipes forced the Cunningham out of the lead and out of the running in the twelfth lap. From there on, it was nip and tuck between Bill Spear’s Italian Ferrari and Fred G. Wacker Jr.’s English Allard (with Cadillac engine).
The Ferrari held the lead until the 16th lap, when Wacker, president of the S.C.C.A., gunned the Allard in front. On the 21st lap Spear, 36, driving all out, took the lead. Wacker made one more bid. For a good part of the final lap, the Allard and Ferrari ran wheel to wheel on the two-lane road until Spear pulled ahead to win by a couple of car lengths. Time for the 100 miles (25 laps): 1:11:42, an average of 83.6 m.p.h.
Future Plan. Spear, a hulking (6 ft. 2 in., 240 Ibs.) racer, has only been at it for two years. This was his first important victory. Credit, he confesses, should go to Mechanic Alfred Momo, 56, a Ferrari specialist and former Italian air-force man. His winning 4.1-liter Ferrari (Model America) is essentially just as it came from the factory: $12,000 worth of Italian handiwork with an aluminum body and a triple-carburetor, twelve-cylinder engine (220 h.p.), capable of driving the car 140 m.p.h. Spear and Momo made only two alterations: an anti-sway bar was installed in front to improve the car’s “cornering” qualities, i.e., its ability to hold the road at a high-speed turn, and the battery, for weight-distributive reasons, was put in the rear.
Driver Spear has plans for the future which do not include the speedy Ferrari. He and Cunningham plan to take No. 15, the U.S.’s blue & white hope, over to France and race it in the 24-hour Le Mans race in June. This time, they hope, nothing so trivial as a loose exhaust pipe will take the lead away from them.
* To qualify as a sports car, as opposed to an out & out racing car, each must be equipped with a self-starter, headlights, hand & foot brakes, and other essentials for standard highway driving. Stock U.S. cars are poor road racers. Their weight to horsepower ratio makes them relatively sluggish, and their soft springing gives them clumsy turning qualities.† The others: the Elkhart Lake (Wis.) race; the hill & dale Watkins Glen (N.Y.) race.
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