Steve McQueen Le Mans

What was called America’s greatest motorsports victory, ever. All American team of Gurney and Foyt win despite being appointed as the rabbits to force the Ferraris to retire.Gurney sprays champagne in what will become a regular event in motor racing. The Henry Ford Collection photo

By Pete Vack
All images from Yanks at Le Mans

In 2019, we reviewed the massive three volume work of Twice Around The Clock – The Yanks At Le Mans, with a review for each volume. More than just book reviews, VeloceToday interviewed the author in depth to find out more about the creation of this masterwork. Today, remembering the late Tim Considine, we present an abridged version of those reviews.

Vol. I (1923 – 1959): 408 pages / 371 photographs

How did Considine define the scope of the book? Fortunately, he took a broad view of what constitutes Americans at Le Mans. Chinetti, for example, became a naturalized American citizen after he moved to the U.S., and so becomes fair game as is his North American Racing Team (this is noted with an asterik in the book).

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Review by Pete Vack

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Don Nunley’s new book Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror is a personal view of the filming of McQueen’s Le Mans epic. Nunley’s position as the Property Master in the movie was significant. A Property Master is responsible for making sure there is continuity between scenes – how much water was in the glass, how long was the cigarette ash, etc. and for purchasing, renting, and even manufacturing all props needed for a production; he makes sure they are functional and positioned correctly for each scene; Le Mans required more than 20,000 props. In addition, Nunley helped to market the props, such as the Heuer watches worn by McQueen during the movie.

Nunley saw a lot and knew a lot; he was on the set the entire time. He had previously been the assistant Property Master for Wanted, Dead or Alive, a TV western starring McQueen. McQueen was arrogant even then. “If he disliked something in the script, he would literally start ripping out the pages,” recalled Nunley. Bolstered by the success of Bullitt, by 1969 McQueen now had the money and power to create the movie he had dreamt about since 1959, when, according to Nunley, McQueen announced that he would make a racing movie and Brigitte Bardot would be the female lead. [Read more…] about Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror