49 replies to this topic

[JasonC12]

Hello all,

Sorry for the depressing/morbid post, but I was wondering if anyone has any information regaurding the tragic accident of Bob Mclean in the 1966 running of the Sebring 12hrs...

While I am longtime attendee of the Sebring 12hrs - myself, only having pleasant memories of the place - I recently had the unpleasant experience of hearing (second hand, from an eyewitness) some very terrible details regaurding the accident and the ensuing fire...

I was hoping someone could perhaps shed some light on this...

Also, and more importantly, in an effort to know more of Mclean outside of simply his accident,
if anyone knows where I might find some more information on this talented Australian Born, Canadian racer, I would be very appreciative...

Thanks again...

[David McKinney]

You could try "Search BB" for a start

[Ol'_Motorhead]

I was there and have some recall of it. I'm short of time just now - I'll try to post later today if there's anything I can add to others.
Cheers.

[FLB]

Jason, Dave Greenblatt posts here sometimes. He was a contemporary of McLean's.

Also, McLean's team mate's name was (is) Jean Ouellet. I've seen it spelt many ways, but that's the correct spelling. McLean's death hit him so hard that he gave up on a promising international career.

[Rosemayer]

I am not a lover of wikipedia but sometimes they get it right.


http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Bob_McLean

[oldtransamdriver]

I witnessed the McLean accident that year. During my two hour break from working as a pit marshall that year (2 hrs. on, then 2 hrs. off) I had gone to the esses to watch the race.

McLean did NOT crash at the hairpin, but was coming out of the esses when the car left the track and headed off to the right across the grass and crashed into the utility pole at the edge of the track.

I don't remember any wheel coming off the car - you couldn't see any wheel rolling around by itself. He didn't seem to have any control over the car - it just drove into the pole. Much conjecture as to why it happened - best guess is some sort of mechanical failure - brakes, or steering, or suspension etc. that caused him to veer off the track. He left the esses at a point where the car would be accelerating out of the curve - almost on the straight leading to the hairpin - no reason to slide off, and I don't remember anyone else going off there. McLean had previously done many laps thru the esses with no problem.

It was a horrifying crash. The car burst into flames and none of the closest turn marshalls that came over could get the fire out or open the door to help McLean out. It also seemed like it took forever for an emergency vehicle with better fire fighting equipment to arrive on the scene.

It was most distressing and I lost interest in the race - just sort of went thru the motions doing my pit marshall stint for the rest of the race. My friend Gerry McDonald was the pit marshall in the Comstock pits that year.

Robert Barg

[JasonC12]

Thankyou very much for that account Robert...

Sadly it seems to jive with the eyewitness account relayed to me (which I was hopping contained a bit if gruesome sensationalism) - namely that the accident occured further up the road from the hairpin, and that is was, overall, a horrendous affair (not that such incidents were uncommon in this period) with Mclean possibly trying to break and extract himself through the windshield of the Gt40, the doors being damaged and unopenable, and the marshalls doing their best, but simply having no means to assist or deal with such a catostrophic blaze (apparently the car had pitted immediately before, and carried a full fuel load.)

Sometimes incidents such as this tend to strike a chord - while being a sebring spectator I had always been aware of the '1966 accident', but I was admittedly bothered when I heard more about it (it seems somewhat not oft talked). But putting the accident in context (rather than knowing just bits and pieces) and, in general learning more about this talented racedriver (rather than an anonymous figure) has been of much value.

While racing remains dangerous, thankfully we have moved past this particulary terrible aspect of an otherwise glorious era, and dread of fire has been virtually eliminated.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Side note to the McLean affair.

I recall Car and Driver's coverage of the race. The feature article carried a sequence of several photos of an accredited photographer being roughed up by the coppers as he attempted to shoot images of the wrecked GT40. The last pix I distinctly recall being the cops walking off with the photog sitting on the ground trying to pick up the bits of his Nikon. Cops 1, Photog 0.

[Paul Parker]

According to the contemporary Autosport race report,

"Oulette (are we sure about the spelling FLB?) came in with the Comstock GT40 Ford, brake pads were changed and off went Bob McLean. Coming down towards the hairpin, McLean braked, but apparently something went wrong and the entire rear-end locked up. The car spun wildly, hit a telegraph pole, went end over end and burst into flames. The unfortunate McLean was killed instantaneously."

As we can see from oldtransamdriver, period race reports are frequently questionable, often being based on second or third hand accounts even on the spot.

In fact Sebring 1966 was a bad day at the races as Andretti suffered locked rear wheels due to transmission problems in the NART Ferrari 365P2 and collided with Don Wester's Porsche 906 causing it to crash and killing 4 spectators who were in a restricted area. This tragedy resulted in course modifications thereafter and allegedly was the reason that Ferrari did not attend the 1967 race for fear of legal repercussions.

[MrAerodynamicist]

http://www.motorspor...hp?db=ct&n=1395

[Ol'_Motorhead]

I didn't see the crash or its aftermath. Its difficult to remember the details 40+ years later. Being from Canada, I do remember the sick feeling in my stomach knowing it was one of the Comstock cars. I do remember the plume of smoke I saw in the air. I believe it happened between the esses and the hairpin at or beyond "Big Bend". We left before the end of the race as we had to catch a flight out of Miami.
Here's a photo of the track in 1966. It was taken either from a bleacher or a pedway. Others here will likely recognize the spot. Its the #3 Donahue/Hansgen Ford MKII at speed. Count the hazards on both sides of the course - amazing! Besides all the poles, the fire hydrant and the two guys standing near it are something else! I don't think you'd outrun a car had something gone awry. Its no wonder there was so much carnage back in the day.
A very tragic happenstance which I believe a factor that ultimately led to the demise of Comstock Racing.
Cheers.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
According to the contemporary Autosport race report,

"Oulette (are we sure about the spelling FLB?) came in with the Comstock GT40 Ford, brake pads were changed and off went Bob McLean. Coming down towards the hairpin, McLean braked, but apparently something went wrong and the entire rear-end locked up. The car spun wildly, hit a telegraph pole, went end over end and burst into flames. The unfortunate McLean was killed instantaneously."

As we can see from oldtransamdriver, period race reports are frequently questionable, often being based on second or third hand accounts even on the spot.

In fact Sebring 1966 was a bad day at the races as Andretti suffered locked rear wheels due to transmission problems in the NART Ferrari 365P2 and collided with Don Wester's Porsche 906 causing it to crash and killing 4 spectators who were in a restricted area. This tragedy resulted in course modifications thereafter and allegedly was the reason that Ferrari did not attend the 1967 race for fear of legal repercussions.

Yes, and those in racing publications are usually far better than contemporary newspaper accounts, which are often sensationalistic to wildly inaccurate.

Which brings me to something Jason mentioned in his follow-up post. These "stories" passed along by others that exaggerate the gore of the accident. This is one of the primary reasons I've contributed so much to Motorsport Memorial. Refuting exactly this sort of thing. I believe a lot of my feelings towards that stemmed from ridiculous exaggerations about Rich Vogler's fatal accident, something I even read in a local newspaper at the time - and never corrected. And that being despite the accident occurring during a live telecast. Even that didn't (and doesn't) stop the exaggeration.

For god's sake, it's tragic enough and terrible enough without adding to what happened to these poor folks.

Jason, thanks for asking about Bob McLean's background.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Manfred Cubenoggin
Side note to the McLean affair.

I recall Car and Driver's coverage of the race. The feature article carried a sequence of several photos of an accredited photographer being roughed up by the coppers as he attempted to shoot images of the wrecked GT40. The last pix I distinctly recall being the cops walking off with the photog sitting on the ground trying to pick up the bits of his Nikon. Cops 1, Photog 0.

I'm going to shock here and say "Good!". I wish more photogs that tried to snap ghoulish photos at races were dealt with the same way (or for that matter those taking advantage of human tragedy for profit).

Thanks for mentioning this though Manfred, it explains a lot...like why the 12 Hour race was shredded in the media after the 1966 event. That's always the explanation.

The people killed in the accidents?, nah, it was because one of their own was roughed up. Legitimately so in this case, but nowadays an angry glance at one of the bastiens of free speech gets one's character assassinated and the slightest contact leads to talk of pressing assault charges (often accompanied by dives that top even the most blatant efforts by soccer or basketball players to draw fouls).

A true irony here is, that it would not surprise me that one of the media outlets attacking the most over this incident was the same one that employed a photographer who literally caused a fatal crash at Sebring. Wonder how they handled that? I can guess.

[FLB]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
According to the contemporary Autosport race report,

"Oulette (are we sure about the spelling FLB?)

http://www.upperstjo...frenchnames.htm

Ouellet is pronounced as Wellette. I'm trying to find a picture of him with his driver's suit, but every single contemporary French-Canadian source (newspapers, books, etc.) I've seen gives his name as Ouellet. Oulette is also a known last name, but it's a simplification of Ouellet and is far, far less common. I suspect his name was spelled as Oulette in the Sebring entry list and that it's been assumed the correct spelling ever since and I believe either George-The-Car or Dave Greenblatt could provide more insight.

Here is a picture of him taken at Mont-Tremblant in 1964. The source is Pierre Luc's RPM: L'histoire du sport automobile du Québec, published in 1970. The picture is uncredited, so I don't know who owns the copyright.

[JB Miltonian]

From the race report in Sports Car Graphic:

"In mid-afternoon, Canadian champion Bob McLean crashed going into the Hairpin, hitting a pole and literally exploding into flames. He was trapped in the Comstock GT40 and perished. Reports were conflicting. Some said he lost a wheel, others that his brakes locked. Judging from the direction of the accident, the latter seems the more logical explanation, but his pucks were changed on all four wheels in a pit stop fifteen minutes earlier, and we (article was co-written by Jerry Titus and Jean Calvin) personally looked at both front and rear discs to see what the deterioration was. There wasn't any. They looked fine. It took firefighters a long time to control the blaze. A reporter, who arrived on the scene soon after, told us the truck contained only water and two ten-pound hand extinguishers, one dry chemical, the other CO2. If so, that's not exactly adequate..."

There is a telling picture in David Friedman's "Shelby GT40" book, of the crash test that they performed on a GT40 (unidentified) at the end of the 1966 season. To quote, "We found that when the rocker panels were crushed the pressure would go right up the filler neck and blow the fuel lid off. With the front end crushed, it directed the fuel up and over the entire vehicle and caused a serious fire problem....because of this test, a lot of changes were made. The biggest ones were the addition of thicker fuel bladders to prevent fire and a stronger roll cage."

[Hugewally]

The info I put in the Wiki article came from the local newspaper story of the race (hairpin - wheel).

[Hugewally]

The photo from the '66 Sebring above was taken from the MG bridge just before the esses.

[TecnoRacing]

There's interesting mini documentary 'King of westwood' about Bob Mclean that is viewable online. It does have a very grainy film of the accident, but most of all some very nice shots of and commentary on Mclean and his racing career...


http://video.yahoo.c...?vid=109212&fr=

[Gerr]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


I'm going to shock here and say "Good!". I wish more photogs that tried to snap ghoulish photos at races were dealt with the same way (or for that matter those taking advantage of human tragedy for profit).

Jim......the caption for the photo sequence that Manfred remembered is "Southern justice in action: Florida cops set upon a photographer during the McLean accident--for no apparent reason--and worked him over with billy clubs and cattle prods. He was arrested for felonious assault on an officer!"........

There is no reason to think of him as an "accredited photographer" as Manfred wrote. That is not in C/Ds race report. In the pics he looks like a regular guy with a camera, no special badges or jacket or a fedora with a press-card stuck in the band.

Anyway, why weren't these cops assisting at the McLean crash or trying to put out the fire ?

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Gerr


Jim......the caption for the photo sequence that Manfred remembered is "Southern justice in action: Florida cops set upon a photographer during the McLean accident--for no apparent reason--and worked him over with billy clubs and cattle prods. He was arrested for felonious assault on an officer!"........

There is no reason to think of him as an "accredited photographer" as Manfred wrote. That is not in C/Ds race report. In the pics he looks like a regular guy with a camera, no special badges or jacket or a fedora with a press-card stuck in the band.

Anyway, why weren't these cops assisting at the McLean crash or trying to put out the fire ?

I'm not sticking up for the cops. Not by any means. He probably got "too close" and in panic mode the cops went pit bull on him.

Do you think this regular guy wouldn't have turned around and sold the photo?

Hardly on the same level as the spectators who had to fight off security guards and jumped a fence at Talladega in August 1975 to pull unconscious driver Terry Link from his burning car. One was quoted as saying: "I just didn't want the man to die."

For that matter, why wasn't the regular guy trying to assist instead of trying to snap a photo? "Crowd control" is probably what the police were supposed to do. Did the regular guy step over fencing?

Perhaps just potentially seeing themselves in the same spot led to the media response (even from C&D). Autoweek certainly slammed media coverage of the tragedies at the '66 Sebring race.

[Catalina Park]

I knew a bloke that was a photographer in NSW from the early 1960s to the late 90s, he took a lot of photos at all the tracks and when there was a very bad accident he took a lot of photos of the accident. He was not doing it to sell photos, he was doing it to help the sport. You see it actually helps at the inquest if they have photographic evidence of the scene of an accident. It also helps the organisers to see if there are things that are preventable.
As far as I know he never sold any of these photos, he told me that he gave them to the circuits. Unlike the current owner of his collection that has some of them on the net.

[Gerr]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


I'm not sticking up for the cops. Not by any means. He probably got "too close" and in panic mode the cops went pit bull on him.

Do you think this regular guy wouldn't have turned around and sold the photo?

Hardly on the same level as the spectators who had to fight off security guards and jumped a fence at Talladega in August 1975 to pull unconscious driver Terry Link from his burning car. One was quoted as saying: "I just didn't want the man to die."

For that matter, why wasn't the regular guy trying to assist instead of trying to snap a photo? "Crowd control" is probably what the police were supposed to do. Did the regular guy step over fencing?

Perhaps just potentially seeing themselves in the same spot led to the media response (even from C&D). Autoweek certainly slammed media coverage of the tragedies at the '66 Sebring race.

The photographer is pictured getting beaten on the wrong side, the track side, of the spectator fence, where many of the crowd also have cameras. Maybe he was on his way to help or maybe the police were enforcing "crowd control".
The photos of the beating were taken from the track side.

C/D, June 1966 was very critical of Sebring in the editorial that month. For instance..."The track at Sebring is far from being a paragon of safety, and certainly the promoters should be called upon to answer why, after 16 years of operation on the same site, more had not been done to generally improve the crude facilities."

Autoweek (April 23, 1966) did slam the media coverage with this introduction...."Reprinted below is an editorial from the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel of March 29 which bitterly reproaches the the Sebring organizers for their failure to "provide spectator protection from the hurtling juggernauts"."

However, this echoes the C/D, June 1965 editoral, also very critical of Sebring's organization and facilities. The race report in the same issue mentions several incidents. Two stand out as a prelude to the spectator deaths in 1966 and involve hurtling juggernauts.
On the first lap an ISO Grifo spun into the crowd and injured two spectators. Later on, another ISO lost it's brakes went down an escape road and plowed into a VW bus, injuring the two occupants.

[Paul Taylor]

I have a short aftermath video of the Bob McLean accident and a photo of the car upside down and (very much) on fire. Not sure if anyone is interested in seeing either, but PM me if you do.

[Paul Parker]

Thanks for the reply FLB.

I was interested in accuracy for professional reasons as all my sources show Oulette. It always amazes me just how many sports car drivers there were in period (and still are), many of them now forgotten.

They really deserve more recognition, especially those that raced when life was a grand adventure and you took your chances without thinking too much about the possible consequences.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

To be fair, I was assuming that the photog at Sebring was accredited. For sure, I remember him being beyond the fence line and whom but an accredited individual should be there. If the bloke was a 'mere' spectator, well, that throws a different light upon the incident. This is all strictly from memory, too, fellas. Did not one of the pix show a spectator behind the fence apparently grinning from ear to ear at the fisticuffs? After 41 years, I seem to still recall that.

Now where did I leave my keys...

[stevewf1]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


I'm going to shock here and say "Good!". I wish more photogs that tried to snap ghoulish photos at races were dealt with the same way (or for that matter those taking advantage of human tragedy for profit).

I guess there are two ways at looking at this...

While I don't agree with the "profit" bit, human tragedy does indeed happen. And I think images should be available to those who want to view - if for no other reason - to understand that this kind of **** really does happen in the real world.

I wonder how many teen-age drivers in the world would be a little more careful if they were to actually see that a nice shiny car really can get violently wrapped around a tree.

Just IMO...

[oldtransamdriver]

As I remember it, I was in the viewing area past the bridge on the outside of the track. McLean was just coming out of Big Bend and accelarating onto the straight leading to the hairpin. He would not have been on the brakes at that point where he left the track.

I don't remember the punch-up between the cops and the photographer.The wrecker/tow-truck came for the remains of the GT-40 some time after I left the scene.

My understanding is that the remains of the wreck were buried somewhere on-site or close by. and Ford was very anxious to put it all "out of sight and mind" asap.

I remember thinking how inept the turn and emergency workers seemed to be - that they couldn't put the fire out! I don't remember who won the race or even whose pit I was working in.

It was the the first time I had witnessed a fatal race accident that seemed so unnecesary.

Robert Barg

[Paul Parker]

More pertinent ifo, thank you Robert Barg.

All the 'reports' I have seen suggest locked rear wheels. Sebring in period was extremely hard on cars (the winning Ford X-1 roadster was subsequently scrapped as its tub had taken such a beating and the remains cut up and allegedly buried at Riverside). Perhaps the GT40 suffered a similar problem to the one that afflicted Andretti's NART Ferrari, a transmission lock-up.

According to the Allen/Jones book The Ford that beat Ferrari, the remains of the Comstock GT40 were buried at Sebring.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Thanks HW - your memory/knowledge of Sebring is superior to mine. In '66, I and a friend "dropped by" in a sense on our way from WPB to Miami at the end of a holiday to the Bahamas. The photos I have are small 2" X 2" b&w prints taken with a Kodak Brownie or its equivalent. Your mentioning the MG Bridge leads me to believe this one is taken from the other side of it looking thru the esses and on to Big Bend. It appears like the only thing between the Porsche and the palm tree is a relaxed safety marshall and a hay bale!
Cheers.
Rob

[Hugewally]

From Ken Breslauer's Sebring book,

"At about the three-hour mark, The Comstock Racing Ford GT40 driven by Canadian Bob McLean lost control at the big bend approaching the hairpin, rolling several times before striking a telephone pole and bursting into flames. McLean was killed and the car was destroyed."

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Breslauer's description seems quite accurate as I seem to recall I was in the pit area and the smoke I saw was across the front straight in that direction. However, the race started at 10:00 a.m. and the wreck was closer to 3:00 p.m., making it about five hours in unless there was a delayed start which I don't recall. I checked the results and the only two 904's listed are Follmer/Greg in the works car and Duval/Kroll in the other. The one in the photo I attached is likely the later. The former finished 7th O/A, the later 16th O/A. Miles/Ruby won in the Ford roadster, Donahue/Hansgen in the Ford Mk.II 2nd. The only other Canadians excluding the two Comstock cars, the surviving one having been withdrawn were Hill/Heimrath in a TR4A in 26th O/A.
Cheers.

[Hugewally]

Rob, you're correct in that the photo was taken on the other (Greenpark) side of the MG bridge. Seeing how its not a ground level, I would believe it was taken from the steps like the other photo too.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Further to my last post, what's a "T" between friends - later, latter??
I decided to scan some more of the old b&w photos from '66. Here's a not so great shot using my hawkeye style camera of the #18 McLean/Ouelette GT40. FWIW, the vertical lines fore and aft of the car are from marking the photo for cropping and enlargement. It might be at Webster, the far end of the track, but that's just a guess on my part. Again my recollection of the event is rather fuzzy after 40+ years.
Cheers.

[oldtransamdriver]

One more thing, I do not remember the GT-40 "rolling several times" before it struck the pole. My recollection is the car stayed upright until the crash, and I don't know if it somehow went upside down then. Is that how the car was found - upside down? (after the fire was finally put out).

Robert Barg

[oldtransamdriver]

I have now seen the photo of the car still burning and it is upside down. After seeing the photo, my memory tells me that the marshalls/fire crew etc. couldn't get the fire out - it eventually burnt itself out?

Myself and the crowd that watched this gruesome event couldn't understand why no-one could get the fire out. People were very uspet at what was happening in front of them. After several minutes most of us realized that there was no hope for McLean.

Robert Barg

[Gerr]

Bob, it's more upsetting to think that Sebring had proven that they had meagre fire-fighting abilities long before.

In 1964, there had been two major fires during the 12 hour.

Tom O'Brien's NART Ferrari caught fire and according to C/D, it took 20 minutes to put out. Photos (in C/D and SCG) show three guys in shirts-sleeves trying to control the huge blaze with two puny water hoses.

The other was the big pit collision with Sanesi's Alfa and Johnson's Cobra. The Alfa smashing the pit wall and bursting into flames surrounded by gas cans. The blaze was controlled by the pit crews with their CO2 extinguishers. The Sebring fire crews arrived a few minutes later.

It does not seem that that the fire-fighting capabilities were improved as J B Miltonian mentioned from the 1966 SCG report on the McLean incident:

"It took firefighters a long time to control the blaze. A reporter, who arrived on the scene soon after, told us the truck contained only water and two ten-pound hand extinguishers, one dry chemical, the other CO2. If so, that's not exactly adequate..."

This this race is at an airport, where one should expect the best in fire-fighting expertise and equipment.

[oldtransamdriver]

My friend Gerry McDonald who was one of the 2 pit marshalls in the Comstock pits was asked by Chuck Rathgeb to go to the esses on his Honda motorbike when it became known that McLean was involved in an accident. We had taken 3 motorbikes with us that year in a trailer so we could explore and have them at the track (on the way down to Sebring we stopped off to see the Nascar race at Bristol). Gerry had to come back and give the word directly to Rathgeb that there was no hope, and Rathgeb promptly withdrew the other GT 40. Gerry can remember all the crew waiting to hear his devastating report.

Robert Barg

[Jim Thurman]

There are several items to reply to...

Manfred, first, no apology necessary, it happens to all of us...and more and more

Gerr and Robert: yes, Sebring's organizers had fair warning of problems and I recall reading of many complaints on safety, crowd control and the like. Again, not to make excuses for them, but as open as such an expansive area was, crowd control would have been difficult, much more so for them than for a traditional circuit.

As far as having such inadequate fire control, this was not isolated just to Sebring. Drivers burned to death trapped in cars later than that. I recall an incident at the Ascot Park oval in November 1968, where a driver was unconscious in a car on fire. After the two fire bottles were used up, they simply had to stand by and let the car burn itself out. This scene was sadly repeated in other instances as the term "fire prepardness" was an oxymoron at the time. It is ridiculous that more wasn't done earlier, but it wasn't. I'm not sticking up for Sebring by any means, but I don't feel they earn any more scorn than most tracks in that time.

stevewf1: I recall this discussion coming up in another thread. If not for profit, I don't see any harm, though I would have to question the motivation and wonder about someone seeking these out as having some sort of issue(s) they need to deal with. At the very least, someone who has led a terribly sheltered life. I recall someone in the other discussion mentioning they didn't need to be reminded of something they were all to well aware of. And U.S. driver's ed high school classes used to feature gruesome footage. Apparently, it didn't help much.

Catalina Park: photos used for accident investigation are useful and not ghoulish, unfortunately the best intentions can still lead to situations like you describe.

[Frank Verplanken]

The CP&A issue of May 7 as an article by John Crittenden on the 1966 Sebring incidents. His description of the crowd behavior and of the overall atmosphere is frightening :

« Three youths stood on one of the bridges which runs above the track, throwing ice-filled cardboard cups downward at the open cockpits of the race drivers who were hanging onto cars going 140 miles per hour. »

« The mushroom of smoke out of McLean’s crash brought a wave of people springing out of the finish line bleachers, and from the entire grandstand area, running toward the hairpin turn a half-mile away. To see them run was to see the beast in man, 2,000 people in instant reaction with a single emotion : ghoulish curiosity. »

« If we locked everybody who was drunk, said policeman, there wouldn’t have been enough jails in Florida to hold them. »

« This was not a picnic or county fair atmosphere, but an asylum. »

Other similar scenes including groups of people crossing the track at night to get on the scene of an accident, yougnsters making love in public, someone trying to set the MG bridge on fire, etc. must have made any cop around quite edgy to say the least.

Incidents continued after the end of the race :
« At 3 a.m. Sunday, the officers hustled the last lingering fans off the grounds. All that was left was 4,700 acres of empty beer cans. And at the track hospital, in a small locked room, five bodies under sheets of canvas. »

Quite an awful race all around

[raceannouncer2003]

I am in regular contact with Kathie McLean, Bob's widow. She has lent me their scrapbooks, which I am scanning for the Canadian Motor Sport Hall of Fame. I told her about this thread, and she followed it. Last month, she faxed me some corrections for Wilkipedia about Bob. Can someone give advice on making the corrections at Wilkipedia, or, if I post the corrections here, can someone take care of that?

Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

[Jager]

I've just found a copy of Alex Ulmann's "Sebring Story" published in 1969 and have been looking at Sebring related threads. Here's what he said :

McLean's Canadian Comstock Ford GT was seen to lock one of its brakes which precipitated a slide at right angle to the course that finished in a spin projecting the car against a telephone post. The car hit the pole amidship, wrapping itself around it, causing the fuel tanks located in the center of the chassis to rupture. Though it is believed that Bob McLean was instantly killed on impact, the resutling fire which engulfed the car in less than a second prevented an accurate diagnosis of the situation.

[Hugewally]

Originally posted by raceannouncer2003
I am in regular contact with Kathie McLean, Bob's widow. She has lent me their scrapbooks, which I am scanning for the Canadian Motor Sport Hall of Fame. I told her about this thread, and she followed it. Last month, she faxed me some corrections for Wilkipedia about Bob. Can someone give advice on making the corrections at Wilkipedia, or, if I post the corrections here, can someone take care of that?

Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

If needed, I might be able to help with that. You can always PM me.

On a side note - the Racing Sports Cars website has a photo of the car from the accident - http://www.racingspo...6-03-26-018.jpg

[Nanni Dietrich]

http://www.upperstjo...frenchnames.htm

Ouellet is pronounced as Wellette. I'm trying to find a picture of him with his driver's suit, but every single contemporary French-Canadian source (newspapers, books, etc.) I've seen gives his name as Ouellet. Oulette is also a known last name, but it's a simplification of Ouellet and is far, far less common. I suspect his name was spelled as Oulette in the Sebring entry list and that it's been assumed the correct spelling ever since and I believe either George-The-Car or Dave Greenblatt could provide more insight.

Here is a picture of him taken at Mont-Tremblant in 1964. The source is Pierre Luc's RPM: L'histoire du sport automobile du Québec, published in 1970. The picture is uncredited, so I don't know who owns the copyright.

Confirm that McLean's team mate name was (is) Jean Ouellet (FLB is correct, different acounts report Oulette) from Rimouski, Québec.

I've discovered that in 1965 four Canadian youngsters including Jean Ouellet attended a driving course by Piero Taruffi's racing school at Monza, Italy, backed by BP.
The others were Peter Learch of Montreal, George Pepper of Ottawa and Craig Hill from London. In the following years all of them started their somewhere successful professional careers. As FLB said, Jean Ouellet quit racing after Bob McLean's death.

Edited by Nanni Dietrich, 03 April 2013 - 11:22.

[Michael Oliver]

Confirm that McLean's team mate name was (is) Jean Ouellet (FLB is correct, different acounts report Oulette) from Rimouski, Québec.

I've discovered that in 1965 four Canadian youngsters including Jean Ouellet attended a driving course by Piero Taruffi's racing school at Monza, Italy, backed by BP.
The others were Peter Learch of Montreal, George Pepper of Ottawa and Craig Hill from London. In the following years all of them started their somewhere successful professional careers. As FLB said, Jean Ouellet quit racing after Bob McLean's death.

Interesting, thanks, Nanni. Just a small correction: it is Peter Lerch, not Learch.

[raceannouncer2003]

Today is the 50th anniversary of Bob's tragic accident at Sebring.  There is a memorial notice in today's Vancouver Sun.  Here is the link:

 

http://www.legacy.co...n&pid=179396178

 

Sadly, Bob's widow Kathie passed away a few years ago.  Their son, Robert Stirling McLean, who raced in England in the late 80s, was killed in a road accident (not his fault).  Their daughter, Michelle McLean-Dryden lives in the Melbourne, Australia area.

 

We have been trying to get Bob inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame the last couple of years.  No luck yet.  We recently got an endorsement from Sir Stirling Moss, who met with Bob on at least a couple of occasions.  Hopefully that endorsement will help.

 

Happier times:

 

 

Sir Stirling with Bob during a promotional visit to Vancouver in 1965.

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 29 March 2016 - 06:09.

[ReWind]

Strange, since he was inducted in  the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society in 2003.
Links: CMHF, GVMPS

[group7]

not a pleasant thing to remember, we lost a great driver that day. rereading this thread now, I came across the post from Frank Verplanken, dated april 17th. 2007, he has not posted here for some time, concerning the behaviour of people, in general at this race. I have some photos (don't want to put them up) I think they are from the "Revs" Stanford site, of a Mustang in downtown Sebring, with the left front corner of the nose of the crashed Comstock GT 40, strapped to the back ! people amaze me ! how they managed to get that is a wonder !

 

Mike (group7) in Canada

[D28]

The current issue of Vintage Motorsport has a story which touches on the sad events, and bad crowd behavour on that day.

[PCC]

I received an e-mail from my dad the other day, which was a reminiscence of his trip to that tragic event. I asked him if I could post it here and he agreed, so here it is:

 

Fifty years ago, this month, two young guys and their girlfriends drove to Florida for the week-end to watch a Sports Car race. We piled a tent and a minimum of luggage on to a roof rack installed on a brand new Morris Mini-Cooper, and headed south from Toronto on a 36 hour drive to Sebring, in the heart of Florida.

While not exactly non-stop, the drive was essentially continuous, with one team sleeping in the back of the Mini, while the other drove. The only interruptions were for food and petrol, and a stop at a BMC dealer somewhere in Tennessee for the 1000 mile new car inspection. The only notable event was at one southern service station where the attendant making the then essential oil check, announced with some amazement that “Thet thar engine’s in thar crosswise!!” To which the smart-ass reply was “Good heavens, It must have slipped”.

Arriving at the old Sebring airfield, (Still in use for this annual event.) we quickly found a place in the sand to erect the tent, and after a brief rest and some interaction with the local ‘sand burrs’ found the Comstock team in their assigned pits.

The expedition had been rather hastily organized to follow the Comstock Racing Team and its representation of Canadian Motorsport to this International Endurance Racing event. The Comstock team led by Chuck Rathgeb had only recently advanced from its Shelby Mustangs to the new Ford GT40. Eppie Wietzes and Craig Fisher were driving one car and Bob McLean and Jean Ouillet, the other. (There is a related legend about the Comstock Team manager Paul Cooke, driving one of the new GT40s from Detroit to Toronto on delivery with racing ’slicks’, —and running into a snow storm near London.) Canadian drivers, Horst Kroll and Jacques Duval with a Porsche 904, and Ludwig Heimrath and Craig Hill with a Triumph TR-4 were also among the entries. All of the international racing heroes of the time from Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney to Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill, along with Pedro Rodriguez and Ludovico Scarfiotti were entered. Roger Penske had a team of Corvettes, and Jim Hall had a pair of the new and relatively unsuccessful Chaparral 2D Coupes. Even AJ Foyt and Mark Donohue were racing GT 40s for the NASCAR Holman & Moody team.

I may have got some Mosport credentials, but security was a lot easier then, and we did get around to meet people we could find from Toronto. Andrée [his future wife] knew everyone, and most of the Canadians knew her. We went back to an area near the tent to watch the race, which was started in the old ‘Run to your car and start’ tradition. I was probably keeping a lap chart, because even in a long race, I wanted to know where the Canadian cars were running.

About four hours into the race, a pillar of smoke rose from the hairpin area and one of the Comstock GT40s stopped circulating. Other spectators reported a crash. I ran around to the Comstock pit to find out what had happened. Bob McLean had crashed and had been killed in the fire. The team had withdrawn the other car, and were starting to pack up. Chuck Rathgeb and Bob’s wife had already left the track. Andrée was devastated. She had been chatting with Bob just before the race. We packed up the Mini and headed North. On the way back home we heard that there had been another crash that had killed four spectators. It had been one of the worst days in American racing.

[raceannouncer2003]

"Strange, since he was inducted in  the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society in 2003"

 

Recently, the BC Sports Hall of Fame seems to favor more prominent, recent athletes in football, hockey, etc.

 

"...a Mustang in downtown Sebring, with the left front corner of the nose of the crashed Comstock GT 40, strapped to the back ! people amaze me ! how they managed to get that is a wonder !"

 

The Mustang had a "Transporter" license plate from Maryland.  I wondered if it was a rental for the Comstock team, though I don't recognize the driver.

 

"...Bob’s wife had already left the track..." 

 

I don't believe Kathie was there...I think she was home in Vancouver.  The local paper said "Mrs. McLean learned of her husband's death through a radio bulletin."

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 29 March 2016 - 06:26.