Pasta's Livery Warehouse

USRRC Mid-Ohio 1966 - Lola T70 MkII #31

Added 2024-08-27 06:00:03 +0000 UTC

For the Lola T70 MkII Spyder mod.

Now, this one is a bit of a stretch in terms of Can-Am classification, but it's still a T70 that was ran in Can-Am at some point.

This car was driven by Donald (Don) Skogmo, a veteran racer who started racing in club events in 1953. Rather wealthy himself thanks to his Gamble-Skogmo merchandise stores, Skogmo raced many exotic cars in various events throughout America. Skogmo famously fitted a Ford 289 V8 into a Maserati Birdcage and went racing with it in 1963. Later settling for more tame machines, Skogmo purchased Lola T70 MkII SL71/33 in 1966 and wasn't able to race it in it's debut event due to a seat malfunction. Once the problem was fixed, he ran it at the 1966 USRRC race at Mid-Ohio, before entering the 1966 Road America 500.

Road America had just received new Armco barriers from an insurance company, separating the pitlane and the racetrack. During the Friday practice session, Skogmo entered the final turn and went over the crest - his T70 losing the rear end and sent them into a spin, sideways into the newly built safety barrier. Skogmo was impaled and died instantly. He was 36 years old.

Following the crash, the safety barrier was extended to reach before the crest, with the pitlane entry moved down accordingly.