Cunningham C2R
Returning to Le Mans for their 2nd attempt, the Cunningham team looked good. Cadillac had withdrawn their support and supply of engines, but Briggs had gone to school with a guy whose father was the head of engineering at Chrysler. And they had this new motor they called the FirePower Hemi V8. Baed on some experimenting the team had done with a Healey Silverstone powered by a Cadillac engine, they built their own sportscar and called it the Cunningham C-2R.
Three cars were entered and they were doing well until George Huntoon wiped out the steering in the #3 after hitting a concrete barrier used to mark the course. George Rand crashed the #5 car in heavy rain, leaving only the #4 Fitch/Walters car to soldier on. By Sunday morning they were up to 2nd place and held that for six hours before a connecting rod failure caused them to limp home in 18th.
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Shelby Mustang fans may claim try to it as their own, but it was Briggs Cunningham that devised the white with two blue stripes motif that has come to be recognized as the American livery.
We all know that the the national colors were established in 1900 for the Gordon-Bennet Cup and standardized during the Grand Prix era between the wars. But they were centered around a different type of car, one where the body sat atop an often exposed frame. The American racing colors were white body/blue frame. The two Cadillacs that Cunningham entered in the 1950 race did not have exposed frames. They were given white bodies with one broad blue stripe that covered nearly the entire top of the car. For 1951's C2R entries, he wanted something more elegant, and added dual racing stripes.
Pete Brock was a gearhead in high school when Cunningham was trying to conquer Le Mans. Several years later, he was a designer for Carroll Shelby and was tasked with coming up with a distinctive design scheme for the factory Mustang hotrod they were building. The decision was easy. Caroll Shelby was very much a self-promoter, so it's not inconceivable that he ordered the colors swapped for his Cobras in order to shine some of the attention his way.
