LUIGI CHINETTI’S NORTH AMERICAN RACING TEAM

A name synonymous with Ferrari in the United States is Luigi Chinetti. The Italian-born Chinetti was an apprentice at his father’s workshop from a young age, learning machine work and becoming a qualified mechanic at just 14 years old. Only two years later, he would begin a career with Alfa Romeo, where he would eventually meet young racing driver Enzo Ferrari—forming a tight-knit bond that would endure for years to come.

In the early 1930s, Chinetti began a racing career of his own, making a name for himself in endurance racing. Le Mans was his shining achievement as he competed as a driver in every race held from 1932 through 1953, driving for Alfa Romeo, Talbot, and eventually his dear friend Enzo’s own company, Ferrari. His accolades at Le Mans were more than impressive, achieving a 1st-place finish for Alfa Romeo in 1932 and 1933, and later delivering Ferrari its very first win at Le Mans in 1949—the marque’s first entrance in the historic event. In addition to Le Mans success, Chinetti won the Spa 24 Hours race in 1933 behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo and again in 1949 in a Ferrari; the Paris 12 Hours race in 1948 and 1950, both in Ferraris; and he was a four-time entrant in the five-day, 2,100-mile (~3,380-kilometre) Carrera Panamericana, winning the event in 1951 and placing 3rd in 1952, each time in a Ferrari.

Chinetti had moved to the United States after the outbreak of World War II, finding work with Pratt and Whitney and later supporting the war effort working on Rolls-Royce engines at J.S. Inskip. Chinetti became an American citizen in early 1950, with Zora Arkus-Duntov serving as his naturalisation sponsor. Following his retirement from racing, Chinetti’s focus shifted to selling cars, something he had been involved with on the side. He became Ferrari’s North American importer, first based in New York City, and eventually moving to Greenwich, Connecticut. Chinetti’s relationship with Enzo allowed him a direct line to the top of the factory; it was through that connection, and the respect Maranello had for Chinetti, that more historically significant Ferrari race cars passed through his doors than any other factory dealer.

In 1957 Chinetti formed the North American Racing Team (NART). NART was an important extension of what Scuderia Ferrari was doing on the track in Ferrari’s pursuit to earn coveted World Championship points in Prototype and GT racing. Each national racing team had its own significant moments in racing for Ferrari, but it was NART that stood out among the rest. The team was wildly successful over the years, competing in sports car racing, endurance races, and even fielding cars for the United States, Canadian, and Mexican Grands Prix. Chinetti’s NART attracted the top-tier driver talent and received the very best cars to compete from Maranello. The NART team proved a great promotional tool not only for Ferrari in North America, but also for Chinetti’s dealership, with customer demand built by the team’s racing success.

The NART team made its debut at Le Mans in 1957, and over the team’s near-quarter-of-a-century of competition history, it entered almost 70 cars in the world’s most legendary race. To date no team outside of Scuderia Ferrari itself has entered more Ferraris at Le Mans, and of all the cars ever campaigned by NART, one stands out among the rest…

FERRARI, ASCENDANT AT THE CIRCUIT DE LA SARTHE

Le Mans: The ultimate test of man and machine. No race in the world validates podium finishers in finer fashion or holds the 1st overall winner in higher regard. Of competitors having graced Circuit de la Sarthe in the race’s 101-year history, Ferrari’s impressive 11 victories place the Prancing Horse among the most successful marques of the world’s most challenging endurance race.

Ferrari’s first win at Le Mans came in a 166 MM entered by Lord Selsdon in 1949, co-driven by Luigi Chinetti. Chinetti delivered a legendary performance, driving nearly 23 hours of the race—a remarkable and all-but-unbelievable feat. The marque’s second win, and first entry for Scuderia Ferrari, came in 1954 with José Froilán González and Maurice Trintignant piloting a Ferrari 375 Plus to victory. Jaguar would dominate the next three years with the D-Type, with Ferrari’s best finish in that time being 3rd in 1956, with Oliver Gendebien and Maurice Trintignant driving a Ferrari 625 LM. In 1958 Scuderia Ferrari was once again triumphant at Le Mans with the Ferrari 250 TR58 driven by Phil Hill and Oliver Gendebien. The following season, 1959, would result in Aston Martin taking a 1-2 finish with the DBR1, while Ferrari 250 GTs took 3-4-5-and 6th place.

The field was always competitive, with some of the biggest automotive manufacturers in the world taking part—and heading into the 1960s, Ferrari was poised to send a message with a string of dominant performances, the likes of which Le Mans has seldom seen.

Ferrari’s semi-decade of dominance began in 1960, with an impressive 1-2 finish at Le Mans with Scuderia Ferrari’s 250 TR59/60 driven by Paul Frère and Oliver Gendebien taking 1st and Luigi Chinetti’s NART 250 TR59 driven by André Pilette and Ricardo Rodríguez finishing 2nd. Four of the remaining top 10 finishers were Ferraris. The year 1961 would mark a dominant performance for Ferrari with a 1-2-3 finish, with Scuderia Ferrari’s 250 TR61 driven by Phil Hill and Oliver Gendebien winning the race. Hill and Gendebien would repeat in 1962 behind the wheel of a Ferrari 330 TRi/LM, with a pair of 250 GTOs taking 2nd and 3rd. In 1963 Ferrari would win yet again, as SEFAC’s 250 P driven by Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti took victory, followed by Ferraris in 2-3-4-5-and 6th place.

This win—a fourth in a row—at the time tied Ferrari with Bentley and Alfa Romeo for most consecutive wins by a manufacturer at Le Mans. The tie would not last for long, as Ferrari would win once again in 1964 with SEFAC’s 275 P driven by Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella, the same chassis which had taken victory in 1963, followed by a pair of 330 Ps in 2nd and 3rd, and three 250 GTOs finishing in the top 10. This impressive fifth successive win set the stage for 1965, with Ferrari defending the longest consecutive win streak at Le Mans.

THE 250 LM: A 250 GT FOR LE MANS

Ever since the 1960 Formula 1 season, when Ferrari adopted a mid/rear-engine design for its successful grand prix car, Maranello had been a steady proponent of this mid/rear engine placement. This evolution gained traction through the small-displacement Dino prototypes of the early 1960s before Ferrari fitted a Testa Rossa-specification V-12 into the back of a prototype chassis, resulting in the legendary 250 P that won the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans.

By mid-1963, Ferrari was in search of a replacement for the 250 GTO in sports car competition, and Enzo Ferrari naturally concluded that the 250 P could be transformed into a formidable GT-class Berlinetta. A barely modified version of the 250 P chassis was mounted with new alloy coachwork by Scaglietti, featuring a low roof with flying-buttress rear pillars.

After formally introducing the 250 LM at the 1963 Paris Salon, Ferrari struggled to receive homologation approval from the FIA, particularly when the proposed 3.0-litre engine was upgraded to a 3.3-litre single-overhead cam dry-sump version of the V-12, internally classified as the type 211. Frustrated by the FIA’s refusal to cooperate, Enzo Ferrari quickly lost interest in the 250 LM and allotted the minimal production run to privateers rather than any factory usage. In doing so, the 250 LM became the first rear-engine Ferrari sold to private customers, commencing a trend that lasts to this day.

Just 32 examples of the 250 LM were built up to mid-1966, and it remains one of the most desirable Ferraris of all time, encapsulating advanced engineering, sensuous coachwork design, and a successful competition resume.

ANATOMY OF A GIANT-KILLER

Completed in late-1964, chassis 5893 is the sixth 250 LM built (by numerical sequence), and it was distributed to Luigi Chinetti Motors, which in turn sold the car to Mrs Irene Young of Wilton, Connecticut. Mrs Young and her husband, Walter, also owned the 250 LM chassis 5901. Apparently, 5893 did not suit their immediate needs, considering they soon traded it back to Chinetti. This turn of events proved to be most fortunate, however, as otherwise the car would never have gone on to its greatest achievement.

Back in the hands of Chinetti Motors, this 250 LM became an immediate candidate for competition use by Chinetti’s North American Racing Team, better known as NART. By the mid-1960s, NART was one of just four privateer racing teams to enjoy direct support from the Ferrari factory and arguably the most important. In early 1965, the Ferrari was fitted with the more aerodynamically efficient longer nose by Piero Drogo, the factory-preferred coachbuilder who had clothed several of the marque’s prototype racecars.

The field for 1965 was a competitive one. Top honors were expected to be taken by one of the prototype Fords or Ferraris, contributing to the drama that surrounded Ford’s unsuccessful bid to acquire the Italian company. Ford/Shelby were well represented with five Daytona coupés, four GT40s, and two new 7.0-litre powered GT40s. A total of 12 Ferraris would be entered into the race with Ferrari countering Ford’s new GT40 with the 330 P2 and 365 P2. A total of five 250 LMs were also entered in the race, all by the national racing teams supported by Ferrari. Chinetti’s NART team entered a Ferrari 365 P2, #18 driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Nino Vaccarella. It also fielded this Ferrari 250 LM, chassis 5893, raced under #21 and driven by Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt.

Gregory, a Kansas City, Missouri native, appropriately nicknamed the “Kansas City Flash” and known for his young looks and famous glasses, had made a name for himself driving in Formula 1. In 1965, Gregory was driving a BRM P57 for Modena-based privateer team Scuderia Centro Sud, in what would be his eighth and final year in F1. He was no stranger to Le Mans, as 1965 would mark his 10th entry at the famous endurance race, having competed the year prior for Ford Motor Company with Richie Ginther behind the wheel of a GT40. Gregory’s best finish to date at Le Mans had come in 1961 with a class win with co-driver Bob Holbert behind the wheel of Porsche KG’s Porsche RS61 Spyder.

Rindt was an up-and-coming driver, having worked his way up the ranks from Formula Junior to Formula Two, eventually making it to Formula 1 competing in one race for Rob Walker Racing in 1964 at the Austrian Grand Prix in late August. His talents did not go unnoticed, and Cooper had signed him to drive alongside Bruce McLaren for 1965. While Rindt would go on to win the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship in 1970, in 1965, he was still building his resumé. Rindt was a returning driver for the NART team in 1965, having been one of the team drivers alongside David Piper in 1964 piloting another 250 LM (chassis 5909). In a disappointing turn of events, Rindt never drove in the 1964 race: Piper started the race, and their 250 LM (chassis 5909) was forced into retirement by an oil pipe failure before his turn to take the wheel. Thus, 1965 would technically mark Rindt’s first race action at Le Mans.

Gregory and Rindt qualified for a competitive 11th-place start, sandwiched between two Ford products—just three-tenths of a second behind Ford Advanced Vehicles’ #14 GT40 driven by Innes Ireland and John Whitmore in 10th and ahead of Shelby American’s #9 Daytona Coupe driven by Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Shelby American’s #2 GT40 Mk II, driven by Phil Hill and Chris Amon, took a commanding pole, 5.1 seconds ahead of SEFAC’s #19 Ferrari 330 P2.

Going into the race, the strategy for the NART 250 LM was somewhat in question. Rindt, a risk-taker, was in favour of pushing the car, while Gregory, a more experienced Le Mans entrant, favored a more conservative, methodical approach, likely aware of how difficult it would be for the 250 LM to keep up with the more advanced prototypes of Ford and Ferrari. In the race, chassis 5893 held position for three hours with Masten Gregory at the wheel, before dropping to 18th place after the fourth hour. The prototypes had taken over, and the 250 LM remained lodged in 13th place for the next three hours.

By the eighth hour, the GT40s had all dropped out of the race with one problem or another, as the true dominant competitor of the race, time itself, began to impair the performance of the insufficiently battle-tested Fords. The Ferrari prototypes held up slightly better, but three of the 250 LM examples continued unabated. After the 11th hour, 5893 had ascended to 3rd place, trailing only the #26 250 LM of Pierre Dumay and the newly homologated 275 GTB of Willy Mairesse, car #24. Ferrari was poised for a 1-2-3 sweep.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, 20 June, Gregory was forced to pit, as fog had rolled in, and his eyesight was giving him trouble around 4:00 am. This decision resulted in one of the more fascinating (though unproven) anecdotes from mid-century Le Mans history: With Rindt nowhere to be found during the unscheduled stop, backup driver American Ed Hugus, the Le Mans veteran and NART driver, allegedly stepped in to finish his good friend Gregory’s nighttime stint. Hugus had been entered to race, but his car never arrived, allowing him to pivot to this back-up role for 5893. At the time of the race Hugus never publicised his supposed time behind the wheel of 5893. The full story would emerge later in Hugus’ life following a 2005 letter he wrote to Le Mans fan Hubert Baradat that was eventually published in the October 2020 issue of Motor Sport. Ferrari themselves credits the team of three drivers in the race today.

In any event, from hours 12 through 17, chassis 5893 jockeyed between 2nd and 3rd place. By the 18th hour, chassis 5893 had fully established 2nd place, with only Dumay’s car ahead. A punctured tyre and resulting body damage to the leader necessitated an extended pit stop, allowing chassis 5893 to take a comfortable lead during the 21st hour. This position held until the race’s end, with the #21 NART entry, chassis 5893 piloted by Gregory and Rindt, achieving an impressive 1st overall victory—five laps ahead of Pierre Dumay and Gustave ‘Taf’ Gosselin’s #26 250 LM in 2nd, and eight laps ahead of 3rd-place finishers Willy Mairesse and Jean ‘Beurlys’ Blaton in Ecurie Francorchamps’ #24 Ferrari 275 GTB.

It was an unlikely victory for NART and the 250 LM in a field full of more potent prototypes, and it marked the first, and only, time a privateer-entered Ferrari took overall victory at Le Mans ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari Works cars. The impressive 1-2-3 Ferrari finish marked a then record-extending sixth straight win at Le Mans for a Ferrari. Ford’s inexorable march to victory would have to wait until 1966; and for one final year, the 250 LM had provided Ferrari an extension of its dominance at Le Mans. This triumph was notably the last win at Circuit de la Sarthe by Ferrari for 58 years, the next victory not arriving until 2023.

24 HOURS IN A DAY, 24 HOURS IN A RACE

In February 1966, chassis 5893 was entered by NART under #22 at the inaugural 24-hour edition of the Daytona Continental, where Bob Bondurant and Jochen Rindt roared to a 9th overall finish. Fourteen months later the 250 LM was displayed by Luigi Chinetti Motors and the North American Racing Team at the 1967 New York Automobile Show held at the New York Coliseum in Manhattan.

In February 1968 the Ferrari was again entered by NART-Harrah Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Raced under #81 and piloted by Masten Gregory and David Piper, 5893 would qualify 8th but, during the race, would unfortunately become snared in an accident, retiring after 101 laps. NART mechanic Wayne Sparling thoroughly repaired the damage before the car was shipped to France for the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans (rescheduled for September following civil unrest). Driven by Gregory once more, but this time co-piloted by Charlie Kolb, chassis 5893 donned #14 for the race. The team qualified 29th, but their race would end after 209 laps following an accident.

Perhaps there was a measure of revenge when the 5893 appeared at Le Mans one more time for NART in June 1969, this time raced under #17 and driven by American Sam Posey and Italian Teodoro Zeccoli. One year is old for a race car; five years old is archaic in the racing world, as technology changed so fast. Despite this, the pair qualified 24th and achieved a remarkable 8th overall finish, a true testament to the 250 LM’s longevity. But the car was not finished yet.

In late-January 1970, NART entered this 250 LM for its final outing, an encore performance at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where Luigi ‘Coco’ Chinetti, Jr. and Gregg Young again proved the car’s mettle. Racing under #21, and the sole 250 LM in the field, Chinetti and Young qualified 44th making an unbelievable climb during the race to a 7th overall finish, fittingly marking the final time a Ferrari 250 LM would race in a World Championship event. A full seven years after its initial development, the 250 LM was still giving the more technologically advanced large-displacement prototypes a run for their money. Yet the writing was clearly on the wall, and like all great racecars, chassis 5893 faced retirement.

Perhaps no other Ferrari GT car could boast such a meaningful contribution to Ferrari’s racing list of honours. As the winner of the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, chassis 5893 automatically claims a nearly peerless racing pedigree. The car is one of just 25 total Ferraris that competed in the Le Mans endurance event on three separate occasions—and here it should be noted that a majority of these cars were modern-era racing machines. As such, this 250 LM is one of just six Ferraris built during the “Enzo Ferrari era” (1947 through 1988) to have run Le Mans three times.

With three additional appearances at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the car claims a total of six outings for the North American Racing Team. What is even more remarkable is that these were all 24-hour events, making 5893 the only example built during the Enzo Ferrari era to run in six 24-hour races. Chassis 5893 is a true endurance warrior that achieved sports car racing’s ultimate prize.

A RELAXING RETIREMENT ON GASOLINE ALLEY

In April 1970, only a few months after it rolled off the World Championship stage at the 24 Hours of Daytona, through the auspices of the well-known and highly regarded Kirk F. White Motor Cars, chassis 5893 was sold from Chinetti to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Carefully maintained ever since, the 250 LM has been one of the highlights of the museum’s collection while occasionally being exhibited at important concours d’elegance and motoring events.

In addition to being presented at the 1994 Monterey Historics, winning the Best of Show – Sport at the 2015 Santa Fe Concorso, and appearing at the 2016 Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, the Berlinetta has been shown four times at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, three times at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (achieving Best in Show/Concourse de Sport in 2023), and three times at exhibits held at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The Ferrari ran demonstration laps for the IMS Museum’s YouTube page with F1/INDYCAR driver Roman Grosjean in 2021 and later in 2023 during the IMS and IMSA Battle On The Bricks weekend with INDYCAR Driver Jack Harvey. It has also been featured in numerous magazine articles and books, including issues of Cavallino, Octane, Vintage Motorsport, and Vintage Roadcar; and well-regarded books such as Hans Tanner’s Ferrari and Quentin Spurring’s series on Le Mans, among many others.

Along the way, chassis 5893 has been treated to occasional bouts of minor maintenance and upkeep, including attention to the brakes in 1994, a refinish of the bonnet panel in 2004, and a rebuild of the master and slave cylinders in 2015. The car is very well-documented, with a file including copies of paperwork from Chinetti’s ownership, copies of the car’s Carnet de Pesage from its 1965, 1968, and 1969 Le Mans entries, selected race programmes, history report by Marcel Massini, and an original Ferrari Berlinetta 250/Le Mans brochure that prominently features Luigi Chinetti Motors branding. Additionally copies of N.A.R.T.: A Concise History of the North American Racing Team by Terry O’Neil and Ferrari in America: Luigi Chinetti and the North American Racing Team by Michael T. Lynch, both of which this car is prominently featured, are included with the car.

It should furthermore be noted that this highly original example still retains its matching-numbers Tipo 211 engine and type-564/940 gearbox/transaxle, indicating that the car is powered by the same drivetrain that won Le Mans in 1965. Importantly the engine still exhibits multiple “scrutineering” stamps as further evidence of its use in multiple editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Needless to say, this showcases an incredible degree of authenticity that is extremely rare to see on an example with such important and extensive race history.

In short, chassis 5893 is the NART Ferrari. It would crown most any sporting collection, having claimed the ultimate achievement for a Ferrari, and indeed any racing sports car of its calibre—victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s most important sports car race, bar none. Now offered from 54 years of consistent single-owner care by one of the world’s most famous and respected automotive museums, chassis 5893 is a bona fide legend, within the realms of Ferrari, Luigi Chinetti’s NART team, and Le Mans.