See post #4 in this very thread (
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/g...-liveries.html ) for Tampa Racer Dave Heinz first Corvette.
The 1968 LeMans Corvette started life as a street car and in 8 short weeks became the highest placing winning Corvette of its time at the 24 Hours of LeMans. Although the Dave Heinz-Bob Johnson team was a private effort, Chevrolet unofficially supported them and even supplied the team with an L-88 427 ci engine.
This is the Dave Heinz Vette from LeMans:
As we celebrate 427 Day, we can't help but attribute that 1972 win to the 427 powerhouse!
Development of the 427 big block started with the so-called "Mystery Motor" used in Junior Johnson's 1963 Daytona 500 record-setting Chevrolet stock car. This "secret" engine was a substantially modified form of the previous W-series 409 engine, and was subsequently released for production use in mid-1965 as the Mark IV, referred to in sales literature as the "Turbo-Jet V8."
The 427 was introduced as an engine option at the beginning of 1966 Corvette production. A variety of single and multi carburetor options, camshaft, cylinder head, intake, and compression ratio combinations would yield 7 unique 427 engine packages."
The success at Le Mans wasn't a fluke. That 427 engine took the LeMans Corvette on to finished 3rd overall at the 1973 24-hours of Daytona, 6th overall at both the 1972 and 1973 Daytona races, and started on the pole at the 1973 12-hours of Sebring.
Click this:
Today the truly unique race car can be seen 7 days a week at the MY Garage Museum & Retail Store in Effingham, Illinois!