1967 24 Hours of Daytona

The 1967 24 Hours of Daytona was an endurance sports car race that took place on 4 and 5 February 1967 at the 3.8-mile (6.1 km) Daytona International Speedway road course in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the sixth running of the Daytona Continental endurance race, and the second time the event was held as a 24-hour race. It was also the opening round of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship.

Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini won the race for Ferrari with its new 330 P4 model, leading a 1–2–3 finish for the marque.

In the 1960s, Ford and Ferrari were involved in an endurance racing rivalry, which arose after the Italian manufacturer refused to be bought by the Americans. Thus, Ford decided to enter endurance racing in 1964, which eventually paid off in 1966 with victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the overall victory in the World Sportscar Championship. For the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967, Ford entered as many cars as possible to maximize its chances of another victory. There were six factory cars at the start, three each from Shelby American and Holman & Moody, supplemented by a number of private entries. The factory teams used Mk.II Ford GT40s, while the private teams participated with Mk.I models. However, Ferrari had not stood still in the winter of 1966 either. Technical director Mauro Forghieri was given complete freedom by team boss Enzo Ferrari to design new cars and engines. As a result, the team introduced the new Ferrari 330 P4, of which two examples were entered into the race: an open-top "Spyder" numbered 23 and a closed-top "Berlinetta" numbered 24. The former was an ex-P3 chassis converted to P4 specifications (sometimes referred to as a P3/4), while the latter was a brand new P4. In addition to the two works entries, privateer teams entered two 412 P models, which was a less sophisticated version of the P4 intended for customers. Despite the high costs, Ferrari traveled to Daytona for a test session in December 1966.

In qualifying, the Ford of Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt took pole position, just two tenths ahead of the Chaparral 2F of Phil Hill and Mike Spence. Ferrari's first factory car, the No. 23 of Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini, started fourth, behind the private entry of Pedro Rodríguez and Jean Guichet. Immediately after the start, Hill took the lead, and after half an hour he had a twenty second lead over Gurney. Ford and Ferrari, meanwhile, focused on their own lap times and decided not to push hard for the lead unless the it increased to more than five laps.

After three hours the Chaparral spun and had to retire, allowing the No. 24 Ferrari of Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti to take the lead. The other Chaparral of Bob Johnson and Bruce Jennings also had to abandon the race. Ford's cars suffered from many mechanical problems, such as defective seals and transaxles, and had to be brought in one by one for long pit stops or retirements. Ford's mechanics made more and more repairs, but eventually almost all of the manufacturer's cars had to retire. Gurney and Foyt had to have a transmission replaced and were still fifth, but six hours before the finish they also had to give up. The only Ford factory car that could still threaten Ferrari, the No. 1 of Bruce McLaren and Lucien Bianchi, had to significantly reduce its speed due to overheating. This entry eventually finished the race in seventh place, 73 laps behind the winner.

With half an hour remaining until the finish, three Ferraris occupied the first three positions. They reduced their speed so that they could cross the finish line side by side. This was in response to Ford's photo finish at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unlike in that race, where the two leading cars had completed the same distance and it was not initially clear who had won, the leading No. 23 Ferrari was three laps ahead of the second-placed No. 24 entry, while the NART-entered 412 P finished a further 26 laps behind in third. The photo taken of this finish was kept in Enzo Ferrari's office for a long time. The first Ford, the private J. W. Automotive entry of Dick Thompson and Jacky Ickx, finished sixth, behind two Porsches. The race is referred to as "Enzo's revenge" by various media outlets. Ferrari led for more than twenty hours during the entire race.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Sources:^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

• Race report on The Morning Call