The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

out in Spokane, Washington with all the then-big names present. By 1956 a Ferrari came into the mix followed by a series of Porsches including a 550, a 356, 718 RS 61 and an early Carrera. Many of his entries used No. 13. March 1962 found him at Sebring in one of the three Alpines entered by the Rootes Group; Ken Miles and Lew Spencer were in one of the other Rootes Alpines that day. His first go in a Cobra produced a DNF at the SCCA Divisional at Mid-Ohio in July 1963 in CSX2009, which was the first car given by Ford to Holman-Moody for their preparation. It’s thought the poor performance of this car here and in its prior two races cemented Ford’s interest in Shelby over their preferred NASCAR shop. In any event, Payne took over the maintenance of the car and produced a win at an SCCA divi- sional race followed quickly by 2nd OA at the preliminary 200 mile race at Road America in September 1963. The next day Payne co-drove with Dan Gerber (grandson of the baby food founder) in Gerber’s car (CSX2027) in the 500 mile main event. As an aside, Payne and Gerber were not only friends but business partners in a Michigan area Ford dealership. The pair set an “A” production lap record that day and finished 38th OA, 5th GT behind the Shelby team drivers. The results were good enough for none other than Jacques Passino to order a “race car for Tom Payne,” and CSX2430 was delivered in June 1963. Payne immediately produced a 2nd OA at an SCCA Divisional race and then a 3rd GT at Mid-America behind Bob Johnson and Ken Miles, the three of whom were credited with the fast lap at 1:51 in the GT class. 1965 saw Payne added to the Shelby American team for selected USRRC events, shar- ing a Daytona Coupe ride at Daytona, Sebring and LeMans with his friend Bob Johnson. In early 1965 Payne was late for a practice at a race in Canada and jumped in his car wearing his coat and tie. The corner workers went nuts thinking a spectator had purloined a race car, but all was soon straightened out and “Gentleman” Tom Payne had a new persona. Through the reminder of 1965 and into 1966, Payne drove CSX2430 with some success and then transitioned into his new 427 Cobra, CSX3020. But the 427 Cobra had no racing class to itself and was relegated to the over 2-liter class which included prototypes and cars that would soon morph into Can-Am racers. Tom Payne’s racing career petered out in 1967 after a series of DNA’s, DNS’s and DNF’s. His place was secure how- ever given his fine results and his ever present good humor in the Cobra camp. To wit, Ken Miles loved cats. He had trained his cat to use the toilet at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Un- fortunately, the cat was run over and not long after Ken returned from his 1966 LeMans disappointment, he re- ceived a telegram fromTom Payne and Bob Johnson: “New cat will arrive tonight at eight o’clock American Air- lines flight 64.” Miles went down to LAX and almost had his hand torn off when he ran his hand into the crate to grab the cat. Payne and Johnson had sent him a bobcat! Tom Payne passed away in Sun Lakes Arizona in December 2005. He was 82. There was no shortage of guys who showed up at Shelby American think- ing they were going to drive race cars. Each and every one of them had some sort of experience and some of them were pretty good wheelmen; but they didn’t really understand that by 1963 Shelby American had their pick of the best available professional drivers. Hell, world class mechanic Ron Butler came all the way from New Zealand on the “notion” from Al Dowd that maybe he’d get to drive a race car if he showed up at Princeton Drive. Among the numerous aspirants, one of the guys who successfully took the alter- native route to team driver was J. Lewis Spencer II. He did a favor for Carroll Shelby in late 1961 and was ultimately rewarded with a team ride in early 1963. Who said: “Good deeds don’t go unpunished”? Like many of the others, Lew Spencer was a west coast racer of some note. Born in Independence, Mis- souri in 1928 he and his family moved to California at the end of World War II. After a stint in the U.S. Navy dur- ing the Korean War he took an inter- est in amateur sports car racing and by 1954 he was racing an MG TC and a Morgan on the SoCal tracks. There were two competing governing bodies in the late ‘50s in SoCal: the California The SHELBY AMERICAN Tom Payne Lew Spencer Winter 2021 50