The fun-loving New Zealander, Denny Hulme, had a great deal of experience piloting open-wheel cars and was now demonstrating great potential in sportscars. Ford teamed him with the cocky but likeable American oval-racer, Lloyd Ruby, making his Le Mans debut.
The lovely dark blue metallic #4 Mk IV was the first to encounter problems out on the long, fast Le Mans circuit: a sticking throttle saw Hulme visiting the pits on lap 2. The 10-minute stop was costly. The race proceeded uneventfully for Hulme/Ruby; the pair working hard to play catch-up to the leaders after their early stop. In the process, Hulme set the lap record at 3:23.6. Andretti would match this time a little later but the race record would not be toppled until 1970.
Around 9:30pm, Ford and Ferrari each lost their first cars to the unforgiving race. In rather unspectacular fashion, Ruby misjudged the turn at the end of the Mulsanne and stuffed the #4 Holman-Moody-prepared Mk IV into the sand. The big Ford was buried too deep to do anything about. It wasn't until two days after the checkered flag fell over the 1967 race that the car was recovered.
Out on the circuit, other Fords were out in front and looking good for the time being. Nobody knew how the dramatic race was going to unfold!
