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

LANDING A SPONSOR

At the end of the phone conversation, Jeffords had found the Streamliner a new owner and himself a new sponsor for the remainder of the season, including Nassau. Jeffords would drive 2451 for Harrison, who would supply crew and transporter, and take care of maintenance.

Jeffords remembers: "We had no time to change the Camoradi colors. I did put my name on the rear fenders of the car, together with Jesse's as 'driver's agent.' Without Jesse I would never have struck the deal with Harrison."

Fitting into the cockpit was another matter. "Oh man, that car was fitted for Masten, who was short! I was 6'3" and weighed 210lbs. It took some work but even afterwards the cockpit was never very comfortable for somebody my size." As for the race: "Augie Pabst had the pole with the Scarab, with Shelby in Ol' Yeller next to him. I was on the second row, next to Jim Hall in a regular Birdcage.

"At the start, Augie had trouble getting away and I tried to go around him. Now I was on the side, with the field speeding by. At the first corner I was back in 17th. I was furious! This was the only race that I remember that I had a plan. Since I did not know the car well I planned to play the waiting game, rather than go as fast as possible. I preserved the car by limiting the revs to 5700. In spite of that I was back in third by lap three. By then I turned my mirror down to concentrate on what was in front of me. By the halfway point Shelby broke his transmission and I started to put the pressure on Augie. I knew the Scarab's capabilities as I had raced it the previous year. I slowly started to increase the revs: 5900, 6100, etc., chipping away at Augie. By the time his lead was down to about eight seconds, they started sweating. Augie got the blackboard and he increased the pace, only to break one of the Scarab's halfshafts. And that was the race."

The Road America 200 was a complete Birdcage victory, with Hall and Katskee following Jeffords home for a 1-2-3. Schroeder finished seventh.

During the summer, Maserati completed the second batch of Birdcages, with three more Tipo 60s (chassis 2465 for Luigi Bellucci, 2466 for Giovanni Volpi and 2468 for Cunningham) and the long awaited Tipo 61 for Frank Harrison (2467).

In September, Jeffords faced a choice of Harrison cars before the Road America 500, the SCCA's equivalent of a long-distance race. Jeffords reflects, "I invited Jim Hall to be my co-driver in this race. Frank Harrison brought three Maseratis-a brand new red Birdcage, the Le Mans Streamliner and a 450S. This last car was quite a handful, very fast on the straightaway but very heavy. You needed a Hercules to drive that s.o.b. It would wear out a driver real fast. Since the Streamliner was relatively tired compared to the new Birdcage, I said, 'Why don't we use the red car and we'll smoke them.' I practiced with a light load of fuel as well as a full tank. The difference was dramatic-some two seconds a lap-so we decided to start with half a tank of gas. This would force us to make two pit stops. I started and just took off.

A lot of it was accomplished by the lighter fuel load. When Jim took over after the first pit stop, he was back in the pit within a few laps. He got out and poured a bucket of water over his feet and I said, 'Jim, what the hell are you doing?' He responded, 'You drive it!' "I just jumped back into the car and the moment I hit the brake I knew we had a problem. The exhaust manifold had cracked and it threw fire right at the pedals. Flames were coming out! I managed to get to Turn 12 by switching my feet back and forth, but there I spun it. Did a 180 and still stayed on the track, but the car was undriveable by then."

Meanwhile John Fitch moved the new Cunningham Tipo 60 (2468) up the charts. Co-pilot Bill Kimberly remembered: "John stalled at the start and was last after one lap. When he came in for fuel and a driver change after about two hours, he was up to fourth overall. During my stint I passed Hansgen in the experimental Le Mans Jaguar, which had a full load of fuel, and got up to leading the race for several laps. After stopping for fuel, John took over and we finished fourth overall, on the same lap with the big cars."

Overall victory went to the Causey/Stear Tipo 61, which crossed the finish line in the pouring rain after six hours and 16 minutes. Kimberly raved about his Tipo 60: "I liked it a lot. It was fun to drive. It handled so well especially compared to my Testa Rossa, which felt heavy. The thing that struck me was that the Tipo 60 was so light to steer, almost like a plaything. It also had a very positive short throw on the gearshift."

Jeffords agreed. "I was not pushing our Birdcage at all. I was using the brakes. I was cornering flat out, but I was not using the revs at all. Best handling car I ever drove! The car was a treat. You could drive it by your fingertips."

The 1960 season in the U.S. ended with the professional West Coast races at Riverside (the 203-mile Times Grand Prix) and Laguna Seca (the 204-mile Pacific Grand Prix). With major prize money at stake in these final two rounds of the USAC Championship, nine Birdcages showed up in California. The newest Tipo 61 present was completed in Modena and flown in by TWA only two weeks before the race. It was chassis 2469, ordered by George Humiston, owner of Maserati Representatives of Beverly Hills. Jack Brumby, the service manager of this new distributorship, was a supporter of local hot shoe Billy Krause, who got the ride.

Krause remembers: "We picked the car up at the airport, brand new with the gears for Riverside put in already. When we got it off the airplane it had spaghetti wrappers and an old wine bottle in it. Junk all over!"

Modifications were made after the initial tests. "I lowered the windshield as it was right at my eye level and it would have driven me nuts. So I cut a piece of Plexiglas off, turned it around, put it down below and screwed it back on, so that it deflected the air. I also put a bigger, sprint car type Bell steering wheel on the car, to slow the steering down at Riverside." For better control, Krause installed a side harness.

That year's Times Grand Prix saw the appearance of the first two Lotus 19s, entered for Gurney (by the Arciero brothers) and Moss (by U.D.T. Laystall). They qualified one-two and only Krause could get close to their times. On race day he put up a ferocious fight with the rear-engined cars until both broke down. By then Krause's lead was such that even a misfire five laps from the finish could not prevent him from taking the checkered flag by a wide margin. The Harrison Birdcages finished as well, with Jeffords' Streamliner beating Shelby's Tipo 61 for fourth overall. The Cunningham Tipo 60 with Hansgen at the wheel trounced all Porsches, for the under-2-liter win and a remarkable eighth overall.