By VM Columnist Fritz Frommeyer

As the sun rose over this year’s final cars and coffee hosted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, a special “guest” arrived amidst powerful sounds from its V12 engine. Joining hundreds of muscle and sports cars, hot rods and contemporary classics was a 1964 Ferrari 250LM, the Scuderia’s last overall Le Mans winner, coming in 1965.

Not looking out of place in a more modern world, the Ferrari has been a part of the Museum’s collection for years. “It’s one of those cars that, even though the heart and soul of our Museum is ‘all things ‘500’…are just so important to us,” remarked Joe Hale, Museum president.

This Ferrari 250LM was thought to have no chance of victory at LeMans in 1965. Photo: Fritz Frommeyer

Jason Vansickle, curator of vehicles at the Museum, said the car’s indirect IMS connection is that its drivers, Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt, both competed in the “500.”

Driving the Ferrari Saturday morning was Dan Rosenau, who recently joined the Museum as restoration manager from Andretti Autosport. Testing the car on IMS grounds, Rosenau showed it to some former Andretti associates. With them was Romain Grosjean, their newest IndyCar driver, who was immediately drawn to the car and took it for a brief run.

Le Mans in 1965 could be termed Ford vs. Ferrari 2.0. It was the second year that Ford GT40s challenged Ferrari (330 P2 prototypes). One by one, those favorites dropped out, leaving victory up to two lesser but spirited 250LMs. Gregory/Rindt took the lead and won by five laps after the other Ferrari blew a tire late in the grind.