April 7, 2009 by Louis Galanos

Maverick at Daytona – James Garner and American International Racers

By Louis Galanos

In 1968 I attended Daytona Beach Junior College on the GI Bill. Due to the proximity of the Daytona Speedway I became interested in attending the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events held there.

Well, one thing led to another and I joined SCCA and began volunteering to help staff events from Regionals to Nationals and eventually professional events like the 24-Hours of Daytona and the 12-Hours of Sebring.

In January of 1969 I was working the 24-Hour race at Daytona and, when not on duty, spent time in the pits taking pictures of the fabulous cars and legendary drivers.

Like the 1970 Sebring race with Steve McQueen, the 1969 event at Daytona had a movie and television star in attendance in the form of actor and team owner James Garner.

For those of you out there who are too young to remember James Garner is best known for such TV shows as Maverick and Rockford Files. He also starred in movies like The Great Escape where he co-starred with good friend Steve McQueen.

In 1966 he made the movie Grand Prix where he loosely played the role of American Grand Prix Champion Phil Hill. The movie was made in a new process called Cinerama which, when shown in theaters, used three projectors simultaneously projecting onto three screens that were curved to take up your peripheral vision.

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