You can probably write this story as well as I can, even though I was there that day and you were likely not. There are a lot of clues.
1. There’s a lot of red clay at this track; esses in the background and a hard lefthander just behind the car: got to be just past Turn 5 at Road Atlanta, early days.
2. The 904 is a later version: the larger, more angular rear brake cooling intakes and the shorter door attest to that. The front air dam isn’t factory; maybe California fiberglass work.
3. This is an in-the-day shot: look at the film grain in the image and the American Mags and the treaded tires on the car. But it has been long enough since the car was produced that it is no longer the terror of the two-liter prototype class, and has dropped into private hands to continue in amateur racing.
4. “AP” on the door was an SCCA designation for A Production class, the playground of the big-bore Corvettes and Cobras and the uncomfortable venue to which the much smaller 904 was assigned, perhaps because of its successes on the tight and twisty courses west of the Mississippi.
5. The upper door reveals that the driver was Jim Cook; I can’t tell you much about him, but he was pretty well known at the time and a good driver, a Californian.
6. Because this is Road Atlanta, not very close to California and not inherently friendly to 904s running A Production, you might correctly suspect that this was shot at the ARRC—the American Road Race of Champions–and that Cook had earned his invitation through successes at tighter tracks in the west.
Finally, take a look at what Cook is doing here—I do believe that the green wedge at the far right is one of those big Corvettes that he is stuck to like glue, pushing the 904’s advantage gained through the twisties. Pretty aggressive, but hey, that’s what Porsches did and do.
I have no doubt missed some fine points here, and you might challenge me on some others—what do you see in this 1970 image?
View Comments (5)
The Corvette driver did not miss a shift coming out of T5, hopefully...:-)
Looks like a vintage early 70's Bell Star......
I owned this car from about 1985 to 1999 and historic raced it a number of times at Monterey and elsewhere in the U.S . During its 1985 restoration it was discovered to be one of what proved to be just four 1965 Porsche factory team 904 6-cylinder coupes campaigned exclusively in Europe during the 1965 season. In fact, this car (chassis # 906-011) was the 1965 Le Mans trials car used in April or May for Le Mans testing, prior to the July race. Subsequently, it was brought to the U.S. by Vasek Polak and sold or leased to Jim Cook, who raced it extensively and successfully, largely on the West Coast. In order to conceal it's prototype status for SCCA competition, the chassis # was changed from to 904-109, a number that is beyond the number of 904's actually produced. Furthermore, Cook was required to run the 4-cam, 2-liter engine. The "elephant ear" intakes, the short doors and the up-down door windows are the external evidence of the cars identity, but the "hidden" clues were the oil lines leading to the positioning of a 6-cylinder engine in the chassis and the very unusual (and not easily duplicated) quick-release latching mechanism for the tail section. I believe that the car now belongs to a Pacific Northwest Porsche historic racing enthusiast and appears regularly at historic races. I never saw this great photo when I owned the car...thanks Leonard!
Jim Cook's brother, Joe Cook worked for me back in the 70's. Jim Cook died at the wheel of a race car. I believe it was at Sears Point. He suffered heart failure during the race.
My thanks to all of you. Great additions to the history of a great car!