«Le Mans 58 was my first big race, the first really important race and unquestionably the best of my three wins there. It's such a huge thrill reeling off all those laps and then coming in to cross the line almost at a crawl, all those people flooding onto the track. In 58 we had terrible weather. It was hard to see, the rain was torrential, and my trick was to get the tool bag out from under the passenger seat and sit on it so I could see over the windshield. The other guys had mops, towels, and sponges but they were floundering while I'd duck down, look up, duck down and look up again over the screen. Boy, I had the worst neck ache for a month after that. But hey, the need to see was so much greather than the pain. I picked up a whole lap on the guys that night in the rain, just because I could see. It was an important win for me, period.» |