In the classic June Sprints that’s still run today some seventy years later, Carroll Shelby drove Luigi Chinetti’s 4412CC, 330HP in-line, six-cylinder 121 LM (0558LM) in this SCCA National event on the 4.0-mile road racing course near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Shelby survived the challenges of a host of Ferraris and the three D-Type Jaguars of the Briggs Cunningham racing team. He led all 38 laps of the 152-mile race, setting the fastest race lap, and beating Lou Brero’s D-type across the line by six seconds. 0558LM was raced by the factory with Umberto Maglioli, Phil Hill, and Eugenio Castellotti in 1955 before going to Luigi Chinetti, who provided it to Hill and Shelby to race in 1956. (Caption by Jeff Allison)

Photos by Glen Glendenning
Captions by Jeff Allison and Pete Vack

Bob Birmingham and Glen Glendenning have previously featured the cars at the 1956 June Sprints at Road America, but we purposely left out the large contingent of Ferraris that entered the Sprints that year. We present them herein.

While gathering up the photos for this piece, three points of interest came to our attention:

Glen Glendenning captured the first cars on the new track, probably in June of 1955.

Robert Birmingham tells us about Road America’s first event
With photos by Glen Glendenning unless otherwise noted

During the late 1800s, and decades beyond, was a small, calm pastoral village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin serving the farming community. Times were good, America was entering an industrial period and the village became a popular vacation destination. Available via the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) the village served many wealthy Chicago and Milwaukee families who sought to enjoy what was offered.

Quality resorts served visitors, the Schwartz Hotel, Siebkins, Pine Point, Sharps and Osthoffs, each overlooking a deep, blue lake where stately trees lined the shore. Business ebbed during World War I, picked up after but during the mid-thirties Great Depression returned to hard times. World War II continued the demise until signs of recovery in the late forties. To put it bluntly the town was not growing, business continued to laze and then something changed. The town was Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Dallas, October 1960. Frank Lance and Bob Schroeder working on Jim Hall’s second Birdcage Maserati, chassis 2463, before the Times Grand Prix at Riverside.

As told by Frank Lance to Willem Oosthoek
All photos by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection], unless stated otherwise.

Read Part 1

After their adventures In Nassau, Frank and Red Byron stopped at Sebring to watch the first U.S. Grand Prix, won by Bruce McLaren in a works Cooper/Climax. It had been a busy 1959 year, and not only confined to competition cars.

Frank: “In the latter part of 1959 we also restored a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing coupe that Jim had taken as a trade-in. Red and I did an in-car rebuild of the engine as well as installing a made-to-order air conditioning. This may have been the only 300SL to be air conditioned. Foy Barrett did a total body job with a candy apple red paint job. Red and I took it for a shake-down run going through Plano at 142 mph, with Red driving. Jim kept that car until several years ago and sold it for a nice sum.”