VIDEO: Greenwood Corvette, BFG Radials, Add to America’s Le Mans Legacy in 1973

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuF7Ww-xVF8&t=2s


by VM Staff

Already a veteran Chevrolet Corvette racer who’d experienced Le Mans the year before, the late John Greenwood, then age 28, made headlines at the 50th anniversary / 41st running of the Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans in 1973. Driver/engineer Greenwood’s tiny American team brought a GT-class ‘Vette to the Sarthe circuit shod with BFGoodrich street radials — the only car so-equipped in the 61-car starting field.

This video short from Periscope Films crams some wonderful footage into its mere 17 minutes, opening with a brief retrospective of America’s small footprint on the classic race leading into a focus on the 1973 Greenwood Corvette effort. Spoiler alert: The ‘Vette’s engine expired on the Mulsanne straight near the end of co-driver Bob Johnson’s first stint, but until then — through practice, qualifying and Greenwood’s opening session — the Radial T/A tires performed well.

The disappointment is palpable, but the narrator Jim Nettleton’s closing words ring true: “They have tested themselves, and, win or lose, are the better for it.”