Chevrolet Corvette Wins First Endurance Cup Race at Riverside

John Heinricy, Chevrolet Corvette chief development engineer, led most of the way Saturday and won the inaugural $20,000 United States Endurance Cup auto race at Riverside International Raceway.

Heinricy took the lead for the final time on Lap 127. He was teamed in the white Corvette with magazine editor Tony Swan. They averaged 83.202 m.p.h. and traveled 500.5 miles during the six-hour race.

The winners used B. F. Goodrich tires on the car, and it cost them the $50,000 contingency prize that Goodyear had put up if the overall winner used their product.

Second place went to Don Knowles and actor Bobby Carradine. They finished 43.697 seconds behind. Third were pole-sitter Stuart Hayner and driving instructor Bill Cooper.

The event also saw the return to professional motorsports of England’s Stirling Moss.

Moss, 55, who retired from racing following a 1962 Formula One accident during practice at Goodwood, England, joined former rival Innes Ireland, also a Formula One veteran, in a Porsche 944. However, the pair finished out of the top 10.

The last time Moss and Ireland faced each other at Riverside was in a Formula One race in 1960.