To everyone,
No F1, but nostalgia related.
I have been asked for help on info about Leo Beebe, the race director of Ford during the 60's.
By now I have about given up on such info since it appears to me that I need books specially devoted to Ford.
Which I don't have.
Is there anybody out here who can fill me in a little on the man Leo Beebe, his career, what he did and his influence on Ford during the 60's? and perhaps in later years?
My sincerest thanks to everyone who is willing to step forward with some info or directions/suggestions where to look for.
Yours sincerely
Henri Greuter
Information about Ford Racing director Leo Beebe, where to be found?
Started by
Henri Greuter
, Jul 15 2004 08:17
7 replies to this topic
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#2
theunions
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Posted 15 July 2004 - 19:57
Have a look at Leo Levine's "The Dust and the Glory," which was finally reprinted by SAE about 3 years ago.
#3
JB Miltonian
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Posted 15 July 2004 - 20:39
I looked in my Automotive Literature index and found a listing for this article in Autoweek, July 21, 1978 (26 years ago), written by Bob Irvin:
Leo Beebe doesn't go to auto races anymore. A decade ago he could be found almost any Sunday at one track or another.
In those days, he was head of the multimillion dollar Ford Motor Company Motorsports program. He led the Ford program which scored victories at Indianapolis, LeMans, Daytona and elsewhere.
He still remembers with a shudder how it all began for him in 1963. He was brought back from a job with Ford in Europe and given the assignment of pulling together the fast spreading company racing program. "I had never seen a race before. I had no idea and what I saw scared hell out of me," Beebe recalled.
The first race he saw was a stock car event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. In the race NASCAR hero Glenn (Fireball) Roberts was fatally injured when his Ford was struck from behind and engulfed in flames. His next race was the Indianapolis 500, where two more drivers of Ford-powered cars, Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald, died in flames.
After that Indy disaster, Beebe recalled, "my son turned pale and looked at me and asked, 'Dad, do you have to do this for a living?' I told him 'I hope not' but after that it got better, although Jim Clark's death broke my heart".
Ford got into racing then, Beebe said, because "performance was the premier thing on the roads in the 1960's. The kids wanted hot autos, sporty cars - we all did. So there was competition - Chevy with its Blue Flame engines, Chrysler with its Hemis. It was a hot track we were all on."
Lee A. Iacocca, who is now the president of Ford, "staked out the objective - Total Performance - and we came up with a plan which said we had to win across the board," Beebe recalled.
But times change and Beebe has left the company. He is now Dean of the Business School at Glasboro State College in New Jersey. However, he confesses, "I am still a Ford man at heart and sure, I miss those days - they were exciting times." And, he adds, he still follows racing "a little" in the papers. "I was delighted to see my old friend A.J. Foyt win the Indianapolis 500 last year - that old curmudgeon. I wish he would quit while he is ahead."
Beebe doesn't see a manufacturer ever getting involved again on the scale of Ford in the 1960's. "Racing was a way for Ford to catch up in the 1960's and we did have that tradition. I don't think Ford should do it again, per se, but the spirit should be retained. All of us need the excitement and challenge like that in everything we do. All of us in business and corporate life need to be challenged and that's what I tell the students at the college."
I talked to him recently when he was in Detroit meeting with the Big Three auto companies - not about racing but on a fact-finding mission on health care for a government agency in Washington. "I still feel nostalgic about those other days. I still carry in my wallet a card from Henry Ford II which he wrote to me before the 1966 LeMans race. 'You better win' , it said."
He did and one suspects he still is in the acedemic life as well. Leo keeps the pedal to the metal.
Leo Beebe doesn't go to auto races anymore. A decade ago he could be found almost any Sunday at one track or another.
In those days, he was head of the multimillion dollar Ford Motor Company Motorsports program. He led the Ford program which scored victories at Indianapolis, LeMans, Daytona and elsewhere.
He still remembers with a shudder how it all began for him in 1963. He was brought back from a job with Ford in Europe and given the assignment of pulling together the fast spreading company racing program. "I had never seen a race before. I had no idea and what I saw scared hell out of me," Beebe recalled.
The first race he saw was a stock car event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. In the race NASCAR hero Glenn (Fireball) Roberts was fatally injured when his Ford was struck from behind and engulfed in flames. His next race was the Indianapolis 500, where two more drivers of Ford-powered cars, Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald, died in flames.
After that Indy disaster, Beebe recalled, "my son turned pale and looked at me and asked, 'Dad, do you have to do this for a living?' I told him 'I hope not' but after that it got better, although Jim Clark's death broke my heart".
Ford got into racing then, Beebe said, because "performance was the premier thing on the roads in the 1960's. The kids wanted hot autos, sporty cars - we all did. So there was competition - Chevy with its Blue Flame engines, Chrysler with its Hemis. It was a hot track we were all on."
Lee A. Iacocca, who is now the president of Ford, "staked out the objective - Total Performance - and we came up with a plan which said we had to win across the board," Beebe recalled.
But times change and Beebe has left the company. He is now Dean of the Business School at Glasboro State College in New Jersey. However, he confesses, "I am still a Ford man at heart and sure, I miss those days - they were exciting times." And, he adds, he still follows racing "a little" in the papers. "I was delighted to see my old friend A.J. Foyt win the Indianapolis 500 last year - that old curmudgeon. I wish he would quit while he is ahead."
Beebe doesn't see a manufacturer ever getting involved again on the scale of Ford in the 1960's. "Racing was a way for Ford to catch up in the 1960's and we did have that tradition. I don't think Ford should do it again, per se, but the spirit should be retained. All of us need the excitement and challenge like that in everything we do. All of us in business and corporate life need to be challenged and that's what I tell the students at the college."
I talked to him recently when he was in Detroit meeting with the Big Three auto companies - not about racing but on a fact-finding mission on health care for a government agency in Washington. "I still feel nostalgic about those other days. I still carry in my wallet a card from Henry Ford II which he wrote to me before the 1966 LeMans race. 'You better win' , it said."
He did and one suspects he still is in the acedemic life as well. Leo keeps the pedal to the metal.
#4
Henri Greuter
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Posted 19 July 2004 - 06:57
theunions and JB Miltonian.
Thanks for all info and suggestions.
Much appreciated and will follow the advises.
best regards,
Henri Greuter
Thanks for all info and suggestions.
Much appreciated and will follow the advises.
best regards,
Henri Greuter
#5
john glenn printz
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- 661 posts
- Joined: June 05
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Posted 21 November 2011 - 14:04
It was always my understanding that Leo Clair Beebe (1917-2001) was the Ford Motor Company's "trouble shooter". Anytime or anywhere the Ford Motor Company had a serious problem Beebe would be sent for, take control, and correct the situation. After Ford's debacle at Indianapolis in May 1964, Beebe was put in charge of Ford's motorsport program in mid-1964 to straighten things out.
In 1969 or 1970 I met Mr. Beebe at a dinner party held at the Ford Headquarters (Glass House) in Dearborn Michigan and got to talk to him. I had him autograph my copy of Leo Levine's FORD THE DUST AND THE GLORY (1968). When Beebe was suddenly put in charge of Ford's motorsports division in 1964 he had not seen a race. Things did indeed turn around when Beebe took control, but I also think he came in just at the right time and lucked out.
After Ford powered cars won at Daytona in 1965 (Fred Lorenzen), Indianapolis in 1965 (Jimmy Clark), and at LeMans in 1966 (Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon) Beebe was replaced in August 1966 by Jacque "John" Passino as the head of Ford's racing program. Beebe then became the marketing director of Lincoln-Mercury. Leo spend 28 years working for the Ford Motor Company.
P.S. It appears however that my memory above is in error, as Beebe seems to have taken over the motorsports division at Ford in early May 1964, i. e. before the running of the tragic 1964 Indianapolis 500. One secondary source says that Leo took over as Ford's racing boss in April 1964. Beebe's first race, which he actually witnessed, was the Charlotte 600, held on May 24, 1964 where Fireball Roberts was fatally burned.-Printz
In 1969 or 1970 I met Mr. Beebe at a dinner party held at the Ford Headquarters (Glass House) in Dearborn Michigan and got to talk to him. I had him autograph my copy of Leo Levine's FORD THE DUST AND THE GLORY (1968). When Beebe was suddenly put in charge of Ford's motorsports division in 1964 he had not seen a race. Things did indeed turn around when Beebe took control, but I also think he came in just at the right time and lucked out.
After Ford powered cars won at Daytona in 1965 (Fred Lorenzen), Indianapolis in 1965 (Jimmy Clark), and at LeMans in 1966 (Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon) Beebe was replaced in August 1966 by Jacque "John" Passino as the head of Ford's racing program. Beebe then became the marketing director of Lincoln-Mercury. Leo spend 28 years working for the Ford Motor Company.
P.S. It appears however that my memory above is in error, as Beebe seems to have taken over the motorsports division at Ford in early May 1964, i. e. before the running of the tragic 1964 Indianapolis 500. One secondary source says that Leo took over as Ford's racing boss in April 1964. Beebe's first race, which he actually witnessed, was the Charlotte 600, held on May 24, 1964 where Fireball Roberts was fatally burned.-Printz
Edited by john glenn printz, 31 July 2012 - 14:37.
#6
fbarrett
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Posted 22 November 2011 - 21:15
Leo Levine is living in Connecticut and may be able to add more details. Unfortunately, I no longer have a good e-mail address for him, but you may be able to reach him via Mercedes-Benz USA in Montvale, NJ, or via SAE in Detroit.
Edited by fbarrett, 22 November 2011 - 21:15.
#7
E1pix
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Posted 22 November 2011 - 21:18
You might PM USAdiligence on this BB, he does some work with the Henry Ford Museum.To everyone,
No F1, but nostalgia related.
I have been asked for help on info about Leo Beebe, the race director of Ford during the 60's.
By now I have about given up on such info since it appears to me that I need books specially devoted to Ford.
Which I don't have.
Is there anybody out here who can fill me in a little on the man Leo Beebe, his career, what he did and his influence on Ford during the 60's? and perhaps in later years?
My sincerest thanks to everyone who is willing to step forward with some info or directions/suggestions where to look for.
Yours sincerely
Henri Greuter
#8
john glenn printz
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- 661 posts
- Joined: June 05
Member
Posted 30 July 2012 - 13:24
I just came across Saturday, A. J. Baime's book GO LIKE HELL. FORD, FERRARI, AND THEIR BATTLE FOR SPEED AND GLORY AT LE MANS (2009), Advance reading copy. I hadn't seen this book before. I thought it might just contain information about Beebe.
On page 119 it contains the following paragraph (quote);
"Beebe and Henry II had met during World War II. They'd served together in the Navy and had formed the kind of bond mem do when in uniform during wartime. Beebe was no auto man. He was a high school sports coach. But Henry took him in and made him his top troubleshooter. Beebe had been with the company ever since, nearly twenty years now. "If he told me to jump out of that window, I'd do it, and think about it on the way down," Beebe said of his boss. He'd never seen an automobile race before the day he was made chief executive in charge of all Ford racing---stock cars, Indy cars, sports cars, the works. Henry II needed a man in charge he could trust."
An Ohio newspaper, dated August 26, 1966, contains the following paragraph (quote), " Beebe is a 1938 graduate of Michigan, where he stared on the basketball team - he was captain his second year - and played baseball. He also won the Big 10 award for proficency in athletics and scholastic achievement."
On page 119 it contains the following paragraph (quote);
"Beebe and Henry II had met during World War II. They'd served together in the Navy and had formed the kind of bond mem do when in uniform during wartime. Beebe was no auto man. He was a high school sports coach. But Henry took him in and made him his top troubleshooter. Beebe had been with the company ever since, nearly twenty years now. "If he told me to jump out of that window, I'd do it, and think about it on the way down," Beebe said of his boss. He'd never seen an automobile race before the day he was made chief executive in charge of all Ford racing---stock cars, Indy cars, sports cars, the works. Henry II needed a man in charge he could trust."
An Ohio newspaper, dated August 26, 1966, contains the following paragraph (quote), " Beebe is a 1938 graduate of Michigan, where he stared on the basketball team - he was captain his second year - and played baseball. He also won the Big 10 award for proficency in athletics and scholastic achievement."
Edited by john glenn printz, 31 July 2012 - 14:31.
