Lloyd Ruby honored in Wichita Falls, TX, GT owners needed.

[Steve T]

I received a call from a gentleman yesterday concerning an event to dedicate the "Lloyd Ruby Overpass" in Wichita Falls, Tx on September 23.
Seems they had originally planned for Ruby to drive one of the old race cars but have run into problems since it is not street legal. I have been asked to bring the GT and allow Ruby to drive it in the parade of cars. I thought that some of you local guys might want to come along just to meet some of the guest that are going to be there. Might be cool to have one of the original drivers sign your GT.

I will be out of town from Saturday evening until next Thursday and will have limited access to the web/e-mail.

I asked him to send me the details in an e-mail. Here is the e-mail:

We would be quite pleased if you and others were willing to bring your GT-40’s to our dedication ceremonies and car show on Saturday, Sept. 23. In our opinion, “the more the merrier” is a very appropriate statement.



We will have a parade of cars from the south side of town (near where Hwy. 281 enters the city from the south) that will proceed north on the expressway through town and over the overpass. Hopefully, Lloyd will lead that parade in one of your cars. The parade will exit on Sixth Street and go three blocks to a downtown car dealership (Patterson’s Downtown) where we will have a car show for vintage cars, vintage race cars and race cars.



We will have at least two Offy roadsters that Ruby drove in the Indy 500 in the early sixties (one of these also won Monza, Italy with Jim Rathmann). We will have Foyt’s current Dallara Honda that ran in this year’s 500 along with one of Foyt’s midgets, a nice restored sprint car from the late fifties, a late model dirt car and a restored super-modified from back in the day. Your GT-40’s would be a great complement to the show. We also expect almost 100 vintage cars if the weather is favorable.



As I pointed out on the phone, Lloyd Ruby was hired by Carroll Shelby and Ford Motor Co. in the early sixties as one of the test drivers in the GT-40 developmental program of the original prototypes. This program was formed by Henry Ford specifically to defeat Ferrari at LeMans. Ford kept Ruby on to drive the GT-40 in competition. In 1965 in the then new GT-40, Ruby and co-driver Ken Miles won the Daytona Continental which was a 12-hour race, and followed it up with victory in the very first 24 hours of Daytona in 1966 while winning the 12 hours of Sebring (Florida) along the way. These victories launched the GT-40 on to the world stage where, beginning in 1967, they soundly defeated Ferrari at LeMans for four consecutive years.



Our celebrity guest list for Saturday’s event includes Lloyd Ruby, Carroll Shelby, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones, Jim McElreath, Ebb Rose and Donald Davidson, the historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.



We will be glad to have you all. If you can get a feel for how many cars you are bringing that would help with our planning. I can be reached at this email address or at (940)766-4347. Thank you for your interests in our efforts.



Joe Raines

Joe is OK with you guys calling if would like more info.

 

[ByeEnzo]

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try to get up to Wichita Falls next Saturday. My parents still live there. Hopefully some to the celebs (Shelby, etc.) will be there. Enjoyed meeting you and your wife at TMS last Sat.
I will give Mr. Raines a call.

AC

 

[50 BMG]

Sounds cool. Get some pics.

What original car was he going to be driving?

 

[ByeEnzo]

Sounds cool. Get some pics.

What original car was he going to be driving?

He was going to drive one of the Indy cars over the "Lloyd Ruby Overpass" to commemorate it. The local politicos nixed that for some reason, so now he'll lead the parade in a Ford GT. I plan on driving up next Sat. am. If any DFW guys want to get on up there to Wichita Falls, it'll be a great chance to get Shelby and Ruby to sign our cars. I spoke with the director of the event, Joe Raines, and we are all welcome. Ruby is a local legend in Wichita Falls, where I grew up. He had several near wins at Indy, once leading the race with a few laps to go but succumbing to a mechanical failure. He teamed up with Ken Miles to win Daytona twice in a GT40, in addition to Sebring.

 

[Nardo GT]

Steve,,,,got any extra rooms next weekend?

Would love to meet Carroll Shelby and have him sign my car. Sounds very exciting! Also, enjoyed meeting you and your wife at TMS last weekend... I want to see that incredible garage!. Chris

 

[Steve T]

I just got back in town. I will be calling to find out what time the event will be starting and will post a few more details.

Chris and AC - Deb and I enjoyed meeting you both at TMS. Chris, Deb wants a copy of the CD you had playing :biggrin

 

[Nardo GT]

Steve T.

I talked to Joe in Wichita Falls today and told him Karen and I would try and be there Saturday. He said the parade starts at 10:45 and we need to be there by ten. I will have to leave about 6am and would like to meet up with you and/or Cadambi from Ft. Worth to cruise up together if possible. I have left voice mails with you and he for getting in touch. I have the CD in my hand, but unfortunately not very adept at burning. I will have it with me if you would like to copy. Let me know......my cell is on yor voice mail. Thanks, Chris.