03 1969 Le Mans, Wide World of Sports

[@jdb47games]

I presumed the TV coverage had been lost, and that only the various filmed reports of the race survived. It was therefore a delight to see those last two laps in full.

[@bioshock9998]

Pretty sure the fia and the wec have access to it all. They just don’t release the full ones to the public unless you pay for it online

[@maxmulsanne7054]

RIP Chris Economaki 🌿✝️🏁💨 The best there ever was....

[@thomashallman5436]

damn right as a boy growing up chris is still the man max

[@scout6180]

On the last lap on the Mulsanne Hans Herrmann passed too early then moved to the center to block Jacky Ickx from passing him in the draft so Jackie swung to the right and passed anyway. Absolutely thrilling to the last second!!

[@anthonygreen7978]

Keith Jackson weather it's LeMans,Indy, College Football,he's maybe Old School but he's still off the chain. Especially when him and Jackie Stewart did the Indy 500 together in the 70s and most of the 80s. Both of them are second to none!

[@brmh1667]

Wonderful! Today (16/6/2022, 53 years later....) is the first time I have seen that last lap since race day in 1969, I thought it was gone forever! I was doubting myself that I remembered them passing on the last lap down the Mulsanne so it is fantastic to have my memory confirmed as correct. Thank you for this classic and historic upload. You've made my week.

[@Spyker8921]

Oldest Le Mans live coverage I've ever seen

[@mooreanonumbers]

3:26 No superimposition graphics, no problem, just hold the standings card in front of the camera. Love it.

[@gimmeshelter1969]

A most memorable 1969 Le Mans 24 Hour with its dramatic finish! I have to agree with Phil Hill that Hans Herrmann in the Porsche basically threw away the win by making his move on Ickx too soon on the Mulsanne; by not waiting till they were closer to the Kink to pass the GT40, Herrmann allowed Ickx enough time to repass and take the win. Amazing finish! Amazing race! Economaki's post-race interview of co-winner Jackie Oliver was terrific. Thanks for posting this footage of a truly classic motor race.

[@NevadaClassicsRE]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@fazzxides8429]

Ickx has said that he let the Porsche go by him so that he could get the tow past the Porsche at the end of the straight knowing that the Porsche was not able to pass him at any other place on the circuit, made that his winning strategy. Either way, the right car won to make the ‘69 race into the fairytale it became; From stone last to first as a result of Ickx’s remarkable protest, walking to his car instead of running like every other driver. That also proved to be a victory because 69 was the last-ever Le Mans to start with a dash by the drivers to their cars. A combination of the winning driver’s heroic protest and the death of the British driver on the first lap, who hadn’t strapped himself up yet by the time of his high speed accident. And having 2 cars separated by such a small margin in a 24 hour race makes this a truly memorable year for this race. Iconic car and Ickx, if he was not already an icon stamped his quality with another 5 wins. Great to see this footage, thank you for posting.

[@maxmulsanne7054]

@@fazzxides8429 I read the same thing about Ickx's tactics somewhere (maybe an old _Road & Track race report). As you say, with all circumstances involved that you mentioned before, an incredible victory by any means - the same car that won the year before with Rodriquez/Lucien Bianchi at the helm. Also as Gurney noted years ago in R&T, it was common for drivers to steer with their knees while on the Mulsanne straight to buckle up their seat belts.

[@mikezulim2567]

This is great! I never knew Keith Jackson covered Le Mans. Great announcer. Kudos to ABC, as they were the only network to show any motor racing coverage in the 60s and most of the 70s. Finally CBS got into some racing in the late 70s and then NBC in the 80s.

[@maxmulsanne7054]

CBS still covered F1 at least during the 1980s, with the brilliant tag team of Ken Squire and David Hobbs. ABC surrendered it's status when McKay left the 500 coverage, and NBC was nowhere to be found in F1 once ESPN got stupid and put F1 on "selective" cable networks to fans who could afford their cable-clusterfuck package. ABC has been _'Disney-fied'_ since the mid-1990s (imagine that... about the same time Tony George divided CART/IRL).... CBS got outfoxed by FOX (for NASCAR coverage) ... and NBC now in recent years, thinks that they can save themselves by adding the 500 to their menu. Too little too late... May all those network heads and their children suffer long, agonizing deaths.

[@theodoretheelder6248]

The aerial shot of the last two laps were just incredible. I fell deeper in love with that car.

[@dynamicmotorsports804]

It's a great piece and one of the most unforgettable finishes in the storied history of Le Mans

[@kpegc]

Thank you for this upload! As a lifelong racing fan who loves driving the cars featured here in video games, there is no better way to appreciate the sport's history than to experience it for yourself. I'm glad you provided such a direct view of this French racing classic's history!

[@joeneufeldt4738]

16:59 "Jackie very slow start" oh I love it

[@AnthonyK1]

Keith Jackson.........Legend

[@stevekirstein8450]

Thanks for posting this. Great also to see the original opening sequence for Wide World of Sports - what a classic

[@dynamicmotorsports804]

You're welcome, Steve. Glad you enjoyed it. The last ten minutes is worth a replay.

[@ronflatter1235]

Keith holding up the graphic card meant there was a problem producing the key effect in the remote production unit.

[@WindTunnelRacing]

I DID NOT KNOW THIS Footage Existed!! And to have the American Broadcast! Could you imagine though just HOW Excited all commentators would be today?? They weren't even that excited for the Greatest Ever Finnish in Endurance Racing History. AND HOW ABOUT THAT PASS at 45:30 - 45:35!?

[@thevmanvj]

As an act of protest, Jacky Ickx WALKED across to his car, at the start of the race, and was the last one away. Ickx, and his partner, Jackie Oliver actually won. Their car...a Gulf Ford GT40, was the same car that also won in 1968. True story.

[@maxmulsanne7054]

True story indeed. Which means that there should have been a movie about these subjects & this race, than goddamned Ken Miles and the Ford factory BS racing "challenge." Instead of all this misguided, unsustainable homage created from a lame and inaccurate movie.

[@luisy.gonzalez6469]

And his protest was justified by John Woolfe's death on the opening lap.

[@mikehipperson]

I remember watching this live on TV in colour in the UK when John Woolf crashed. He was what was commonly called 'a gentleman driver', an amateur who had the money to buy one of the most dangerous cars ever built. In the next incarnation the 917 was very much improved aerodynamically by going to a Kamm tail and increasing the engine size to 5 litres which meant that they were even faster. The bodywork on the cars were made as light as possible and would flex under aerodynamic loads so much that one driver commented that the panel over the pedal box, incidentally ahead of the front axle line, would bend so much that it would trap his feet on the pedals! This made the 917 a pig to stop from 200+ mph at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

[@jdb47games]

Your memory might be deceiving you, as the start of the race was shown on Grandstand on BBC1, but that channel only went colour later that year. Only BBC2 was in colour in June 1969.

[@aureliobrighton1871]

She also moved sideways on the Hunaudieres when the tire compound, under unprecedented and prolonged top speeds, became alive on the rims. In testing, Brian Redman said he felt concerned only until he passed another 917 which he observed was also 'step dancing'.

[@BartonFarley1]

Fantastic post! I remember seeing this as a kid and it helped kindle my passion for European sports car racing. Thank you!

[@dynamicmotorsports804]

My early days in television were a blast. Imagine a world with no internet, smart phones, laptops, Facebook, Google, etc. etc. Satellite broadcasts were about as high tech as it got.

[@maxmulsanne7054]

@@dynamicmotorsports804 Yeah I can imagine. I lived during those days. Wish I could go back.

[@analogdesigner-Jay]

Thanks for sharing this video!

[@altfactor]

Although this is a black-and-white kinescope, I'm pretty sure that this was originally broadcast in color.

[@williamford9564]

5:16: The Gods heard Keith Jackson say how nice the weather was and said "We'll make up for it next year". 1970 was one the wettest races in LeMans history.

[@AmericasChoice]

I saw this live...

[@AmericasChoice]

Phil Hill called it, Porsche passed to early.

[@freddiefrenzy6775]

Curious to what Keith meant when he alluded to a "false start" at Sebring

[@cousteaugrenadier]

great footage from the era! yes it was so dramatically on the earlier hours Porsche squadron team up awesome position but at the final laps those Ford cars slip them away to finish as winner at the Le Mans '69 race

[@FelixCervantes]

Porsche to this day, has its ignition on the left side because the found it saved a few seconds on these type of starts.

[@williamford9564]

16:49: In the bottom left is Jacky Ickx rolling off. In protest of the danger he perceived with the LeMans style start, he walked to his car instead of running and CAREFULLY attached all of his safety belts. The previous year, Willy Mairesse had crashed on lap one after failing to properly close his door. The injuries ended his racing career and a few months later, despondent , he committed suicide. A 24 hour race is not won on the first lap, Ickx said. John Woolfe in his Porsche 917 did NOT attach his belts and when he crashed at White House on lap one, he was thrown from his car and died.

[@gareththomas2000]

Do you have more Le Mans 24 hours coverage on ABC? As far as i know, 1961, 65, 66, 67 and 70 was on ABC, can you check which years was aired and whether you can show it on youtube?

[@NevadaClassicsRE]

This is all I have.

[@gareththomas2000]

@@NevadaClassicsRE Do you have any F1 that was covered on WWOS?

[@maxmulsanne7054]

@@NevadaClassicsRE That's okay, with commercials and all. We're good. Thank you. 🌝👍🏁💨

[@aureliobrighton1871]

0:59 looks like Jo Siffert :)

[@WindTunnelRacing]

And they Cut to NCAA TRACK AND FIELD????

[@maxmulsanne7054]

13:27 Rolf Stommelen: co-driver of the 2nd place (overall) Dick Barbour & Paul Newman Porsche 935 at the 1979 Le Mans. Killed at Riverside in 1983 during the IMSA GT event. 🌿✝️🏁💨 8:03 Chris Economaki almost called it; Matra would win 3yrs later. 13:36 _"What is Le Mans to you? David Hobbs car No. 7, GT40?"_ Hobbs: _"Well it's a long and rather boring race."_ CBS Sports: _"GREAT COMMENTARY!!"_ ... you're hired!!

[@paulonatanaeldossantossana3909]

1:08

[@dynamicmotorsports804]

This was a very early satellite feed, and the technology was unstable. With fiber optics, we're all a bit spoiled today.

[@paulonatanaeldossantossana3909]

47:44

[@mdgeist012002]

Someone needs to fix the video on this

[@dynamicmotorsports804]

This was a very early satellite feed, and the technology was unstable. With fiber optics, we're all a bit spoiled today.

[@jdb47games]

I presume you're not of an age to have been watching in 1969. TV was often like that on live outside broadcasts.

[@randallmiller8238]

LOL and no Chevrolet 👍

[@ronflatter1235]

Phil Hill was awful. “It certainly looks like it’s going to be a race.”

[@maxmulsanne7054]

30+ years later America is captivated by NASCAR's Legend Darrell Waltrip with his customary comments of _"Boogity!-Boogity!"_ ... now cue in the Gopher-Cam. Stay classy America...

[@meltuchman3280]

A whole lot of talking virtually nothing being shown and I'm sure I was watching this nonsense LOL LOL