December 1-6, 1963 - The Shelby American take their red hot King Cobra's to the Bahamas to run the Nassau Speed Weeks.

Shelby American press release heading into the 1963 Nassau Speed Weeks

L-R: Peyton Cramer, Cecil Bowman, Dave & Sherry MacDonald, Craig Lang and Red Pierce arrive early and relax before the races

Between races Carroll flew to New Zealand to wed Auckland beauty Sue Stafford. Photo Jules Delancey

Carroll Shelby and new bride Sue arrive back in the Bahamas after their wedding ceremony in New Zealand. Photo Dave Friedman

Carroll & Sue share a light moment before business. Dave MacDonald's wife Sherry exits the Cobra hauler. Photo Dave Friedman

Fun & games come to an end and it's time for some international racing. Photo Dave Friedman

Thursday December 5th, AJ Foyt, Dave MacDonald and other drivers huddle before the weekend races. Photo Dave Friedman

Ditto for Dan Gurney (L) and Skip Hudson. Photo Dave Friedman

(L-R) Superstars Pedro Rodriguez (hat), John Mecom, Augie Pabst, Roger Penske, Dick Thompson & Skip Hudson. Photo Dave Friedman

Dave MacDonald's wife Sherry will help the Shelby crew by tracking driver lap times. Chief mechanic Wally Peat wraps Sherry's scarf
around Dave's face to protect him from debris flying off the rough Nassau track. Photo Dave Friedman

Dave MacDonald's King Cobra waiting for cars to fill the starting grid so it can fall into position. Photo Dave Friedman

Photo Dave Friedman

Nassau Trophy race ready to begin and drivers continue to gather on the grid. Photo Dave Friedman

Nassau Trophy race has international flavor with LeMans style start. Drivers waiting for the gun. Photo Dave Friedman

Dave MacDonald waits patiently for the gun but some in the back half of the grid are already off and running. Photo Dave Friedman

Guns goes off and drivers sprinting toward their cars. L-R Ken Miles, Norm Namerow, Dave MacDonald, Bob Holbert and in the center
is Dan Gurney (black helmet) with a step on Holbert. Photo William Roberts the Bahama News courtesy Roy Spencer's MotorBinder.

Dave MacDonald was a pretty speedy runner and makes up a little ground as he races toward King Cobra CM/1/63. Photo Dave Friedman

Photo Dave Friedman

Roger Penske #36, AJ Foyt #77 and Skip Hudson in #16 are off to a good start. Holbert has his #98 King Cobra out too. (Dave Friedman)

Closer look of the start. #65 is the Corvette Grand Sport driven by John Cannon. Photo Dave Friedman

Sherry watches Dave storm off the line. George Reed has a prime spot and gets his Ferrari 250 TR 59/60 Ford out quick. (Dave Friedman)

Skip Hudson blasts out to the early lead in his Copper Monoco T61 Chevrolet. Photo Dave Friedman

MacDonald & Holbert (far right) have their King Cobras off to a clean start near the front of the pack. Photo Dave Friedman

Lap one congestion and Dave MacDonald (center) off to a good start in the top ten. Directly in front of Dave is AJ Foyt. Out of view is
Bob Holbert in the other King Cobra and leader Skip Hudson.

Lap 5 shows Roger Penske, Skip Hudson, Dave MacDonald & Jim Hall running 2-3-4 behind leader AJ Foyt (out of view). Photo Friedman

Lap 9 MacDonald gets by Penske and into 2nd (behind Foyt) as they both put a lap on Uwe Buehl's Porsche 718. Photo Dave Friedman

Skip Hudson driving Nickey Chevrolet's Cooper Monaco T61 leads Charlie Kolb's Lorus 19. Photo Dave Friedman

Legendary driver AJ Foyt still leading the race comes up behind Jim Hall and his ailing Chaparral and on lap 12, AJ blows by Hall and
Jim would retire the Chaparral at laps end

American superstar Dan Gurney pulls his Lotus 19B Ford past Augie Pabst in the Zerex Special. Pabst's car is the same car Roger Penske
drove 2 months earlier in the LA Times Grand Prix. Roger finished 2nd in that race behind winner Dave MacDonald. Photo Dave Friedman

Lap 15 and Dave MacDonald slings his King Cobra past AJ Foyt to briefly take the lead. Penske, Hudson & Rodriguez running 3-4-5.

Lap 16 AJ Foyt retakes the lead as he and Dave MacDonald both swing past Hugh Kleinpeter's spinning Begra Mk II. Photo Dave Friedman

MacDonald prepares to put a lap on the Fiat-Abarth of Marvin Dee. Dave's King Cobra was running well but the rough course took its toll
and he retired on lap 27 with transmission problems. Photo Dave Friedman

#22 Paul Layman in a Sadler Corvette, #14 John Fulp in Ferrari Dino 268 SP & Bob Grossman in Ferrari Dino 196 SP. (Dave Friedman)

Dick Thompson is running a strong race and on lap 30 moves into 4th place as he goes wide to pass a now struggling Roger Penske.
Penske would retire on lap 35. Photo Dave Friedman

Lap 40 and Bob Grossman has his Ferrari just ahead of John Cannon's Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport. Photo Dave Friedman

Mike Gammino blazes through the Nassau course now running 5th in his Ferrari 250 GTO. Photo Dave Friedman

Lap 47 and Pedro Rodriguez runs 2nd behind the leader AJ Foyt. Here Pedro slings his Ferrari 250 Prototype past the Cooper Monaco
now driven by Bob Holbert who retired his King Cobra on lap 6. Pedro is desperatly trying to chase down Foyt with only 7 laps to go.

But Rodriguez could not catch Foyt and after 2 1/2 hrs of racing, AJ crosses the finish line 2 minutes ahead of Pedro to win the Nassau
Trophy race. AJ collects his rewards. Photo Dave Friedman

Article recapping the Nassau Trophy race with AJ Foyt winning.

Trophy Dave won from Nassau Speed Weeks - 4th place in the Nassau Texas Classic