My partner Jack Douglass--a Hinsdale, Illinois Chevrolet dealer--and I decided in 1968 we needed an upgrade from the McKee MK VI we had been campaigning. I found a Lola T70 MK3B in California that was owned by Carol Shelby’s company. It had been driven the previous year by Peter Revson for Dana Chevrolet. Peter was later killed in an F1 accident while testing in Africa. I flew to California and went with some people from Shelby to Willow Springs for testing. Wow! It was the fastest car I had ever driven even though it was powered by a small block Chevrolet. I discussed it by phone with Jack. We agreed to buy it. We paid $10,000 for the car, packaged and delivered to the airport, extra engine, wheels and lots of spare parts.
The car was flown to Chicago where it was readied for its first race, the 1968 500-miler at Elkhart Lake. I had renewed my friendship with Jerry Entin while in California. He agreed to co-drive with me. The car was ready--painted as it arrived in primer, engine rebuilt by Traco, etc. Jerry arrived in Chicago. As a low budget operation, he stayed at my house. We arrived at Elkhart Lake and I qualified. Not sure where. I started and early in the race braked hard coming into Canada Corner. The car did a 180 and backed into the foliage next to the track. No real damage but the end of the race for Team Douglass. It turned out that one of the many team volunteers had not tightened both master cylinder caps. The rear drained and thus the braking problem. SORRY JERRY!
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