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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 10
WINCE UNTIL YOUR CHEEKS CRACK
Hard to believe a million-dollar
Cobra would have been treated this
way fifty years ago. Oh, wait – it
wasn’t a million dollar car back then.
It was just a one of a handful of race
cars that were built by the factory to
race in a specific time frame. They
were outdated quickly and were re-
placed by newer, updated models and
sold as used cars to independent rac-
ers who continued to flog them.
Shelby entered three Cobras in
the Road America 500 USRRC in Sep-
tember 1964. Ken Miles and Ronnie
Bucknum drove #98, CSX2431. John
Morton and Skip Scott drove #97,
CSX2492. The third car (serial num-
ber not known) was driven by Ed
Leslie and Bob Johnson. As the photos
along the bottom show, when Miles
was driving, a head gasket let go and
he parked the car near Canada Cor-
ner. When he got back to the pits he
was added to the leading team Cobra
and by virtue of his superior skill and
experience and was put behind the
wheel of the #97 car. He was driving at
the end of the race, finishing 2nd
Overall and 1st in the GT class. The
photos show the team riding on the
car as Miles drove it to the Winner’s
Circle. Pictured [
top, left to right
] are
Kerry Agapiou, Peyton Cramer, Cecil
Bowman, drivers John Morton and
Skip Scott, and Pat Rogers.
Cobras must have had thicker
skins back then.