John Morton's Journey to Le Mans

How did it happen?

With a career that spanned several decades, it’s hard to imagine a guy who has driven more world-class racing cars than the legend that is John Morton. We chatted for a bit about what it was like to drive the Porsche 935 for the first time at Le Mans and here are his thoughts on the topic.

“Ted Fields called me from Interscope Racing. He owned a 935 Porsche and asked me if I would be interested in driving it at Le Mans,” he explains. “Ted said ‘yeah I can only pay you $2,000 and cover your expenses.’  I never made that much money in my life for a race so my reply was just yeah that’ll be ok.”

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Stranger in a strange land

At this point in life, he had raced all over the United States but had never been to Europe, let alone driven a car on A European race track. He wandered around town with teammate Milt Minter for a while before a generous restaurant owner took them in for a meal. Not knowing the area they managed to find a local Frenchman who they followed to their hotel. How you sleep before a race like this is hard to imagine.

>>Join the conversation about John Morton's run at Le Mans right here in Rennlist.

What was the car like?

The 935 Le Man car was no joke. Producing upwards of 800 horsepower they aren’t slow even in the modern world of McLarens and Ferraris. “The first time I got in a factory-prepared 935?” John paused to think, “Holy shit this is fast!!!” He would go on to explain to me that at the circuit in this time period the chicanes weren’t yet added. Drivers were full throttle for over a minute at 200 miles per hour! The guy had to of run on adrenaline for the entire day.

>>Join the conversation about John Morton's run at Le Mans right here in Rennlist.

Early demise

“Unfortunately the car broke down halfway through the race,” he informs me. “But it was an incredible experience.” After this early demise, he would have a chance at redemption two years later. This second attempt would ultimately result in turmoil when his co-driver crashed the 512BB LM he was racing.

>>Join the conversation about John Morton's run at Le Mans right here in Rennlist.

Le Mans quirks

John cleared his throat briefly and laughed when I inquired about practicing before the race. “Le Mans is hard to get up to speed because you get so little time to practice. You get very few laps because of how large the course is. Half an hour in the car is 3 or 4 laps so you don’t get a lot of time.”

>>Join the conversation about John Morton's run at Le Mans right here in Rennlist.

You didn’t finish, but what do you remember about it?

“Well, it wasn’t entirely successful," he concluded. "But it was a dream come true.”

>>Join the conversation about John Morton's run at Le Mans right here in Rennlist.

To see John Morton's favorite race cars of all time, click here.

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