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Sebring Memories – 1986

The 60th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring is coming up this month and I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of my personal memories of this classic endurance event.

Back in the 1980’s I was involved with a little Porsche team from Dayton, Ohio and we ran a few select IMSA Camel GT races with an old GTU Class Porsche 911. We always ran Mid-Ohio, which was only a couple of hours away from home. We often raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona, as well as occasionally at Road America and Watkins Glen.

Ah, but Sebring – we always ran the 12 Hours of Sebring. There was something very special, even magical, about racing at that old airport circuit and we always gave it our best effort. We raced in sun, rain, fog, smoke, dust – you name it and at one time or another we encountered it at Sebring.

I guess the end of the 1985 season marked the end of our innocence as a part time old Porsche 911 race team, because at the end of that season our main drivers (John Higgins and Howard Cherry) decided to purchase an honest to god, real prototype Porsche race car – the Porsche Fabcar built by Dave Klym of Atlanta.

In 1986 we brought our new (to us anyway) Porsche Fabcar to the 12 Hours of Sebring, where drivers John Higgins, Howard Cherry and Chip Mead suited up to do battle with 75 other entries in the classic Florida endurance race.

There were 15 of the GTP prototypes and 14 of the GTP Light prototypes (same as our class) in addition to a huge field of GTO and GTU cars. Our Porsche Fabcar was essentially a 3/4 scale Porsche 962 with a flat 6 Porsche engine, but without the turbocharger as used by the larger Porsche 962 model. It had a 962 gearbox, 962 brakes and suspension and was one tough car.

Things went pretty well for us – the car qualified mid-field among the other Lights entries and our quickest driver, Chip Mead, started the race.

Of course, then Sebring leapt up and bit us in the ass. Early in the race, the nose box on the car, which of course holds the entire nose in place, collapsed and Chip drove the car around the airport circuit at pretty much full speed, with showers of sparks flying behind the car as the nose box and nose pretty much ground themselves to dust on that lap.

We made repairs and continued, only to have a door hinge fail while Howard Cherry was driving and the driver’s door proceeded to be sucked off of the car. Of course, there was no spare door (why would you need an extra door?). Howard said that some 962 went by him and he heard a large explosion and the next thing he knew the door was gone. Talk about getting your doors blown off!

One thing I do know from the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1986 – there sure were a hell of a lot of photos taken of our car on the track. First with the nose trailing a shower of sparks and second without a driver’s door, so spectators could look into the car and actually watch the driver as he changed gears and steered the car.

The final drama came with about an hour left in the race when Chip Mead radioed that he had lost all power in the car and had coasted to a stop somewhere shy of turn 10 out on the circuit. After a few minutes of conversation that kind of went like “try this, try that” the radio went dead and for most teams, the race would have been over.

However, after the day we had, we really wanted to finish this race, so myself, driver John Higgins and crew chief Ray Thacker hopped into a van and went out to look for our wayward car and driver. Now, the fancy Chateau Elan Hotel wasn’t there at the time, there were no lights for TV in any of the corners and that side of the circuit between turns 9 and 10 was dark as hell as we drove along the outside of the fence that separated the circuit from the street.

We spotted the car, resting on a flat area just behind the guardrail on the opposite side of the track from where we were, so we did what anyone would have done at the time – we parked the van, hopped the fence and dashed across the pitch black track while the race was continuing to go on. It was quite the scene. I remember vividly to this day watching one of the Porsche 934s flash by, its turbo exhaust making the entire rear underside of the car glow a bright cherry red from the heat.

Once we got to the car, Chip Mead was long gone, having given up on trying to get the car fired. He had hopped the fence, had a beer with fans in Green Park and was walking back to the pits to tell the rest of the crew that the car was finished.

Contrary to the rules, and with the blind eye of the corner workers who were standing by, crew chief Ray Thacker jumped into the car and looked for the tool kit that we had packed for just such an on track incident where the driver was to be the only one to touch the car and make repairs. To Ray’s dismay, the tool kit was missing as Chip had taken it with him back to the pits. Ray took his trusty Swiss Army knife out of his pocket and started to touch electrical leads all throughout the cockpit, as he surmised that the problem was electrical and not mechanical.

After what seemed like an eternity, he found the problem (the main power switch had shorted out). Ray rigged some wires, bypassed the switch and hit the starter button and the car fired immediately to the cheers of the now quite substantial crowd that had gathered along the fences to watch our efforts.

We quickly stuffed Higgins in the car (we had at least had the forethought to bring a driver along who had his helmet and gloves with him) and sent him back out onto the circuit where he proceeded to complete the final two laps of the race.

Ray and I crossed the track (again), jumped into his van and drove back to the pits, where we found our entire crew back at the truck, having packed up our pits. They, along with Chip, were sitting in lawn chairs, enjoying a few beers and celebrating that the race was finally over.

They all looked at us and asked where the hell we had been, and we told them that we fixed the car and it had taken the checkered flag with Higgins behind the wheel.

“I’ll be damned” Chip said.

Higgins took the checkered flag, drove the cool down lap and then pulled into the pits, where he found a totally empty pit box, as everything had already been packed up and we were all back at the truck.

Ah, Sebring. What a special, wonderful place. I love it.

We finished the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1986 with our new Porsche prototype after a full day of trials and tribulations and actually ended up 5th in the Lights Class.

Next installment – Sebring 1987

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