Rich Wilson's replica of the Dana Chevrolet
1967 LeMans car
(click the image to go back)
Although Ford had their hands full competing with Ferrari
at LeMans in 1967, they had to contend with Chevrolet
as well. And Chevy came intending to win. Through Dana
Chevrolet in California, Chevy entered a brand new L-88
427-cubic-inch 1967 Corvette Coupe. They brought in some
heavy-hitters to drive; namely, Dick Guldstrand, Bob Bondurant,
and Don Yenko. With a qualifying time of three minutes
and 56 seconds the Corvette flat outran Ford's 289-powered
GT350R Mustang, which qualified with a time of four minutes
and 13 seconds. The Vette even reached a top speed of
171.5 mph with Gulstrand behind the wheel. Unfortunately
about half-way into the 24 hours race, a factory-stock
wrist pin (required by the rules) failed allowing a connecting
rod to split the engine block in half. Despite this disaster
the Corvette placed 27th, well ahead of the Mustang.