1959 12 Hours of Sebring: 12 Hours to Success
Company press release.
In 1961, Richie Ginther would join Giancarlo Baghetti, Willy Mairesse and Wolfgang von Trips to come away with a 2nd place overall finish in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Completing 208 laps, the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa would finish two laps behind eventual winner Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien. It would mark the first time Ginther would stand on the podium in the overall standings at the 12 Hours of Sebring, but it was far from the first time the Californian would stand on the podium at the end of the race. In fact, Sebring would be one of those places Ginther's true talent would be allowed to shine.
Richie Ginther had already enjoyed a great deal of success in sportscar racing before taking part in the 1957 12 Hours of Sebring. Ginther would come to Sebring in 1957 having just scored a class victory in the Paramount Ranch Sports Car Road Races. Finishing 3rd overall in an Aston Martin DB3S, it was clear Richie was a star on the rise within the sportscar ranks.
In recognition of his growing talent, Ginther would arrive at Sebring preparing to take part in the event driving a Ferrari 500 TRC with Howard Hively. Originally, there was to be more than one entry for Ginther in the '57 12 Hours of Sebring. Many recognized his talents and there was to be a Maserati 300S and a Porsche 550 RS entered for Ginther, but neither entry would arrive.
The step up to drive for Ferrari was certainly very important to the race and Ginther's career beyond. Therefore, a good result in the race would be very important. There would be a great deal of turmoil at Ferrari leading up to the race as a result of Eugenio Castellotti losing his life while testing the new sportscar. Phil Hill was already a factory driver for the outfit from Maranello and he was a great spokesman for Ginther within the team. Still, a good result in the race would go a long way to Richie getting his foot in the door with the factory team.
Driving with Howard Hively, Ginther would be strong behind the wheel of the Ferrari 500 TRC. Amongst the brilliant weather and warm temperatures, Ginther and Hively would be brilliant making their way, hour by hour, closer to a strong overall finish.
When it was all over, Fangio and Jean Behra would garner all of the attention for their record-breaking victory. However, Ginther and Hively would be impressive in their own right finishing the race in 10th place overall and 1st in the 2.0 category.
Ginther had done what was needed. The class victory would open the door to Ginther joining an old acquaintance, John von Neumann. These two had paired together racing Porsches. They would now come together racing Ferrari sportscars and the results would be truly remarkable as Ginther would rattle-off victory after victory. This would set the stage for the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring and Ginther's first drive for Scuderia Ferrari.
Ginther and Hively would partner together in the Ferrari 500 TRC back in '57 and would enjoy a strong run in beautiful weather to finish first in class and 10th overall. When the two paired up again for the Ferrari factory team conditions would be quite different.
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Joining the factory Ferrari team, Ginther would find himself stepping back slightly entering a 250 GT car in the race instead of one of the Prototype GT cars. This meant an overall victory was more than likely very unlikely. The other major difference would be the weather. In '57 the weather would be perfect for a record-breaking race. Two years later and the dark skies would be all around the state of Florida and would seemingly never move throughout the whole of the weekend. Therefore, this first opportunity to drive for the Ferrari factory would come with a good deal of pressure. The conditions in practice would be tough. Cars would be aquaplaning terribly, sliding off the circuit as the heavens would yield sudden downpours all over the circuit. Thankfully for Ginther and Hively, they would manage to avoid any real trouble and would be ready to go for the race on the 21st of March. The day of the race would be overcast; however, the break from the wet weather would be welcome to the spectators and the teams. This would enable the race to get underway in dry conditions, but they weren't going to last for very long. Some 40,000 people would witness the start of the race. There would be a number of those that would not start the race. The NART Ferrari 250 TR of Lloyd Casner and Jim Hunt would not start the race. Then, of course, there would be the Maserati 300S entered by Rallye Motors. That entry would not start the race as a result of a fatal accident during practice. Most everyone expected a great battle between the Ferraris and the David Brown-entered Aston Martin DBR1 driven by Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby. Early on there would be a good scrap but it would come to an end quickly when gear lever problems sidelined the Aston Martin by the 33 lap of the race. This meant it really was a Ferrari battle at the front of the field by just the 20th lap of the race. Ginther and Hively would be further back in their 250 GT. However, they would be making their way forward as a result of the number of cars to suffer trouble in the early going of the race. And then the rain returned and the race became really intriguing. Cars would be sliding off the track all over the place. One of the most dramatic accidents would come just after the halfway point in the race when the Stanguellini 750 Sport, driven by Robert Rollason, came sliding off the track and collided with a pole that supported a bridge over the circuit. The car would hit the pole while sideways throwing it up in the air while splitting it in half. The car would end up on its top and would take a number of workers to flip it back over onto its top. The driver, amazingly, would scurry out from under the car really uninjured. The tough conditions made it very difficult for even the very best to keep it under control. The Lister Jaguar driven by Stirling Moss, would struggle for most of the race. But when the rain came the car would come alive in the hands of Moss and they would move up the running order until being disqualified for illegal refueling. Another of those to make their way through the wet conditions would be Ginther in the Ferrari 250 GT. He had run consistently all throughout the race and both he and Hively would tip-toe their way through the heaviest bits of rain to remain out on the circuit and out of trouble. The result would be that they would be well up in the overall standings and would have more than a handful of laps in hand over the 2nd place car in their category. Other than the two other factory Sports 3000 cars leading the way in the race, the 250 GT of Ginther and Hively would be the highest-placed factory Ferrari heading into the final moments of the race. After 12 hours of racing, it would be the 250 Testa Rossa of Dan Gurney, Chuck Daigh, Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien that would come away with the overall victory. They would beat their Ferrari teammates, Jean Behra and Cliff Allison, by just a single lap to make it a Ferrari one-two in the overall standings. As for Ginther and Hively, the two men would brave some very serious conditions to finish the race in 9th place overall. What's more, their advantage of 11 laps over the Ferrari 250 GT of Alfonso Gomez-Mena and Juan Montalvo meant they would finish victors of the GT 3500 category. This would be the second class victory for Ginther and would further prove his worth to the Ferrari factory. This tough result in the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring, and a number of other strong sportscar performances for Ferrari throughout the season, would lead to Ginther taking part in his first Formula One World Championship races the following season, and for Scuderia Ferrari, a dream that only the very best even allow themselves to dream. And all of that would come as a result of 12 hours of success. Sources:
'Sebring 12 Hours 1959', (http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1959-03-21.html?sort=Results). Racing Sports Cars. http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1959-03-21.html?sort=Results. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
'1959 Sebring 12 Hrs', (http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1959/59seb.html). 1959 Sebring 12 Hrs. http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1959/59seb.html. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
'Sebring in the Rain, 1959', (http://thechicaneblog.com/2011/02/28/sebring-in-the-rain-1959/). The Chicane: A Celebration of Classic Motorsport. http://thechicaneblog.com/2011/02/28/sebring-in-the-rain-1959/. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
'Sebring 12 Hours 1957', (http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1957-03-23.html?sort=Results). Racing Sports Cars. http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1957-03-23.html?sort=Results. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
