Le Mans, 1966 "Dead Heat"

Jim Craik · Feb 24, 2010

I have a question,

I have several GT40/Le Mans books that all talk about the controversial 1966 "dead heat" at Le Mans.

Almost all the stories say that P1016 Miles/Hulme car was leading, and Ford/Shelby asked them to slow down and let the McLaren/Amon car and the third place car catch up for a "photo op" finish.

The stories go on to say that because the McLaren/Amon car started further down the grid than the Miles/Hulme car that it had covered more distance so the win was given to McLaren/Amon.

Why is it that all the pix/film of the finish shows the black McLaren/Amon car leading across the line?

If it was just a "photo finish" they wanted why would Miles/Hulme let McLaren in the black car pass them and lead across the line at very slow speed???

All the pix/film I have seen do not back up the story!!

Jim Craik · Feb 24, 2010

Originally, the race results were actually determined by distance. The car which covered the greatest distance was declared the winner. This is known to have caught out the Ford team in 1966. With a dominant 1–2 lead, the two cars slowed to allow for a photo opportunity at the finish line, with Denny Hulme slightly ahead of Bruce McLaren. However, since McLaren's car had actually started much farther back on the grid from Hulme, McLaren's car had actually covered the farthest distance over the 24 hours. With the margin of victory determined to be eight meters, McLaren and co-driver Chris Amon were declared the winners. This distance rule was later changed with the advent of rolling starts, leading to the winner being declared by number of laps.

The above was just taken from Wikipedia, what gives?

Has anyone ever looked at the pix???

Jim Craik · Feb 24, 2010

brianstewart · Feb 24, 2010

There’s more to this one than meets the eye. Over the years I have listened to recorded interviews with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon and read a more recent printed interview with Amon. My memory of these is a bit hazy and I don’t remember the laps on which things happened (yes, I’m getting old too) but as I recall it all went something like this… In the latter hours of the race Miles/Hulme were leading comfortably, but the No. 2 car (McLaren/Amon) was gaining at quite a reasonable pace. At some late stage the 2 car was called in to the pits for a tyre change. There was apparently some argument between the Firestone and Goodyear representatives, race officials and the Ford pit crew as to which tyres the car was allowed to run on. As a consequence the car was held in the pits for a considerable period of time (I don’t recall how long, but it was in the order of many minutes), robbing them of any hope of taking the lead. When released the car continued to gain on Miles/Hulme but there was no chance of catching the lead car before the end of the race. Henry Ford II then had the bright idea of a staged dead-heat finish and instructions were given to Miles to slow enough let McLaren catch up, which he duly did. They then formed up in formation with the third place car (which was a number of laps down). However, Bruce, still fuming about the pit/tyre hold up accelerated before the finish line to make sure he was in the lead when the flag fell. Amon, in his interview, said something like “Bruce sure as hell wasn’t going to come second.” (I’d have to listen to the recording or read the interview again to make sure of the exact words).

So the pictures are correct (surprise, surprise) – the number 2 car crossed the line first. Ken Miles was, of course, bitterly disappointed and, understandably, very angry at the result. Hulme was somewhat more resigned (after all he, like McLaren and Amon, was a Kiwi too). The official line about distance covered is correct but I suspect was given much more importance in an attempt to mollify Miles. Unfortunately, as we all know, Miles was killed a short time later so he would never have to opportunity to win at Le Mans the next year. Whatever the outcome, they were four truly great drivers.

I am happy to be corrected on any of the above points. As I said, my memory of the respective interviews is a bit hazy.

Jim Craik · Feb 24, 2010

Brian,

Thanks, I think this could be one of those situations were early on someone wrote a story incorrectly and from then on everyone just repeated it (why check or even look at the pix in your article when its such a great story).

I still have a hard time understanding why Denny Hulme let them pass, unless he thought they were a lap+ down. Even then Denny was no pushover.

I seem to remember a quote from Amon & McLaren, (Amon, "what can we do"), McLaren "I dont know but I'm not going to lose"

All in all it was a great day for our Kiwi friends!!

Jim Craik · Feb 25, 2010

After I started this thread, I went home and checked several of my books, first off it was P1015, not 16, my brain must be going.

Additionally, there is some question about who was driving P1015 at the end, some show Hulme (Wikipedia) some show Miles (The Ford that beat Ferrari, Shelby Reg).

I'll keep looking for more info on what was a very great day for our hobby!

550spydr · Feb 25, 2010

Jim Craik said:
After I started this thread, I went home and checked several of my books, first off it was P1015, not 16, my brain must be going.

Additionally, there is some question about who was driving P1015 at the end, some show Hulme (Wikipedia) some show Miles (The Ford that beat Ferrari, Shelby Reg).

I'll keep looking for more info on what was a very great day for our hobby!

Miles was driving. I've read that he intentionally slowed and maybe even braked at the last moment to allow the 2 car to win. He wanted no part in the staged finish. Ken was ticked off as he was denied a victory.

Mark IV · Feb 25, 2010

Mies was quoted as saying told of the "dead heat", "Thus ends my contribution to this bloody motor race"

Jim Craik · Feb 25, 2010

Eric, Rick

This is starting to make sense, from what I've read about Miles this sounds like something he would do (Hulme the Bear, not so much)

jimbo · Feb 25, 2010

From what I've read, McLaren and AMon weren't all that comfortable in the winners' circle, either. They must have felt that Miles had been robbed, not by them, but by FoMoCo management acting on the orders of whoever thought up the dead heat finish. Shelby's also been quoted as saying that he wished Miles had won. He still says that, from what I've read.

It was forty-four years ago this summer. The fact that we are STILL discussing it tells you something; everyone thinks of Miles and Hulme as the moral victors. I'm not taking anything away from McLaren and Amon- these guys were all in that group of the world's best sports car drivers and any one of them could have won that race fair and square. But there will always be that footnote to which of the Fords won in 1966- M/A won, but M/H deserved it more, maybe?

MK -IV J6 · Mar 23, 2010

brianstewart said:
There’s more to this one than meets the eye. Over the years I have listened to recorded interviews with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon and read a more recent printed interview with Amon. My memory of these is a bit hazy and I don’t remember the laps on which things happened (yes, I’m getting old too) but as I recall it all went something like this… In the latter hours of the race Miles/Hulme were leading comfortably, but the No. 2 car (McLaren/Amon) was gaining at quite a reasonable pace. At some late stage the 2 car was called in to the pits for a tyre change. There was apparently some argument between the Firestone and Goodyear representatives, race officials and the Ford pit crew as to which tyres the car was allowed to run on. As a consequence the car was held in the pits for a considerable period of time (I don’t recall how long, but it was in the order of many minutes), robbing them of any hope of taking the lead. When released the car continued to gain on Miles/Hulme but there was no chance of catching the lead car before the end of the race. Henry Ford II then had the bright idea of a staged dead-heat finish and instructions were given to Miles to slow enough let McLaren catch up, which he duly did. They then formed up in formation with the third place car (which was a number of laps down). However, Bruce, still fuming about the pit/tyre hold up accelerated before the finish line to make sure he was in the lead when the flag fell. Amon, in his interview, said something like “Bruce sure as hell wasn’t going to come second.” (I’d have to listen to the recording or read the interview again to make sure of the exact words).

So the pictures are correct (surprise, surprise) – the number 2 car crossed the line first. Ken Miles was, of course, bitterly disappointed and, understandably, very angry at the result. Hulme was somewhat more resigned (after all he, like McLaren and Amon, was a Kiwi too). The official line about distance covered is correct but I suspect was given much more importance in an attempt to mollify Miles. Unfortunately, as we all know, Miles was killed a short time later so he would never have to opportunity to win at Le Mans the next year. Whatever the outcome, they were four truly great drivers.

I am happy to be corrected on any of the above points. As I said, my memory of the respective interviews is a bit hazy.

Correct except that several original sources claim that Ken was one lap ahead, he knew it, and the IBM score sheets knew it, so letting Bruce squirt ahead meant nothing and Ken really finished 1 OA.

Jim Craik · Mar 23, 2010

I seem to remember that Hulm/Miles tried to drive to victory lane, this makes sense if they thought they were one lap up!

SL70/34 · Mar 23, 2010

Also if Ken Miles won LeMans officially (we all know he did) i believe he would have been the only person to date to have won LeMans, Sebring, and Daytona.

MK -IV J6 · Mar 23, 2010

SL70/34 said:
Also if Ken Miles won LeMans officially (we all know he did) i believe he would have been the only person to date to have won LeMans, Sebring, and Daytona.

Personally I think he did and a lot of people know he did.

allanfeldman · Mar 23, 2010

I think there was a indirect position by Ford. They did not want the headlines to read "Ken Miles becomes the first driver to win Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans in one season. They wanted it to read "Ford wins Le Mans." Ken Miles delibrately braked before the line letting Maclaren /Hume through.
Regards Allan

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