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Riverside, October 1960: chassis 2469 is unhooked from a Ford pickup truck before the Times GP, where Billy Krause took it to a great victory. (Photo: William Oosthoek) » More Photos
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TOUGH IN THE SHORT SPRINTS
In 1960, six months of World Championship campaigning lay ahead for Camoradi, with one-off Tipo 61 appearances at Sebring by Briggs Cunningham (chassis 2459, finished late in February) and Dave Causey. Casner raced the converted prototype, 2451, and the new 2458, 2461 and 2464, each factory maintained. It should have been a walkover, since the Tipo 61 was the superior package that year.
Unfortunately, although Birdcages led every Championship round, the cars often lacked the stamina for endurance racing. Problems with engines, transaxles and de Dion tubes were compounded by the inevitable bad luck. Auxiliary equipment such as starter motors performed badly at Le Mans. Of the five rounds, the Tipo 61 won only at the Nürburgring.
However, in North America races rarely exceeded 200 miles, the perfect distance for a Birdcage. Casner's second Tipo 61, a brand new chassis 2458 (see Salon, pg 22), was flown in just in time for the February 1960 Cuban GP, Fidel Castro's single attempt at motor racing. In spite of having to cope with a loose seat, an exhaust system coming apart and hard, gripless Goodyear tires, Stirling Moss captured the 51-lap feature at Camp Columbia Airfield near Havana. He made it look easy, leading from start to finish and setting the fastest lap.
The Cuban GP was the first international win for a Tipo 61, but four weeks later the Birdcages failed miserably at Sebring. In the hands of Moss and Dan Gurney chassis 2458 lasted 136 laps, or eight hours. Leading by six laps, the Maserati was sidelined with terminal transaxle woes. Its sister car-Camoradi's 2451-blew its engine after only two laps with Masten Gregory at the wheel, leaving co-pilot Shelby without a ride.
Although the car carried 2451, Camoradi team member Fred Gamble remembers it as a new car with many different features. It may well have been a completed customer
Deprived of his ride at Sebring, Shelby asked Casner for a Birdcage to enter in the April 1960 Examiner Grand Prix at Riverside. Although Casner was not very interested in pursuing the U.S. racing scene, he was always in the market for prize money. With a purse of $21,000, Riverside was round one of the professional USAC Road Racing Championship. In Miami, Camoradi's chief mechanic, Lee Lilley, transplanted a transaxle from one of the newer Sebring cars into chassis 2458, the Havana winner, whereupon the Birdcage was flown to California. Upon its arrival Shelby asked Joe Landaker, a mechanic from his former John Edgar days, to perform additional preparations, such as increasing the Tipo 61's fuel capacity to avoid a fuel stop in the upcoming 203-mile race.
A frustrated Jim Hall-still waiting for the Birdcage he ordered in November 1959-blew the rear diff of his 570S Maserati on the starting grid, but his former business partner did much better. Driving a conservative race, Shelby outlasted all competitors and took chassis 2458 to its second victory in three races. However, in a dispute with Casner over a previous salary claim, the driver refused to split his $7,000 prize money. When tempers flared, Shelby did not return chassis 2458 but parked it at the Santa Fe Springs shop of his good friend Dean Moon. According to Gamble, Shelby's claim was without merit, but it took an incensed Casner awhile to track down the Birdcage.
The Tipo 61 was flown back to New York, from where it was to be shipped back to Italy for a rebuild. At that moment, Jim Hall called Casner to make him an offer. Rather than wait for a Birdcage to arrive from Italy, Hall was impatient enough to settle for a used one for now.
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