Ray,
Your statement:
> I'm confused by what Tom says, wasn't it Doane Spencer who displaced Shelby
> American as developer of the Tiger racing program?
confuses me, a little. Are you under the impression that Shelby American
was a "developer of the Tiger racing program"? And that he was
"displaced" from such an assignment?
His organization designed the Tiger, yes. He contracted with Rootes
Racing Department (UK)to supply his modified engines for the Le Mans
Tigers, opting to give them the 260 models, instead of the 289's he
used, yes. But the Le Mans Tiger designs were of English origin and
manufacture, and they had their own Department for Racing as well as Rallies.
Here, in the US, Doane, working with Hollywood Sport Cars, a dealer, as
well as Larry Reed (another dealer), and Lew Spencer (yet another
dealer) were the spark-plugs behind US Tiger racing, as well as the
originators or test beds for pre-LAT equipment development. I do not
know what financial arrangements International Automobiles, Inc. (US
Rootes distribution) provided, but certainly some support.
I do not know if Shelby America raced one Tiger, although they did hire
Ken Miles (who also raced Alpines for Lew Spencer), as well as Lew
himself, to race Cobras.
Certainly we have the experts on line to clarify this, as the responses
to date do not address the issue of "displacing Shelby".
Steve
____________________________
Steve Laifman
Editor
<http://www.TigersUnited.com>
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