A Crime of Passion

Winning Le Mans might be the least interesting thing about the whittington brothers' Porsche 935 K3.

- By A. J. Baime

I remember the excitement and worry, the sense of danger mixed with ecstasy I felt in the maternity ward when my first child was born. That feels like this. Only instead of nurses, there is a race-car transport driver in cargo shorts. Instead of beeping medical machines, a truck winch groans as the transporter squeezes out of its belly one of the most legendary Porsches of all time.

The date: January 7, 2023. The place: Willow Springs International Raceway’s “Big Willow,” the 2.5-mile road course in the Southern California desert with nine corners and elevation changes like a Disney roller coaster. The car: Kremer Racing’s 1979 Le Mans–winning Porsche 935 K3, otherwise known as the Whittington brothers’ Porsche. It began life in Stuttgart as a production 911 RS before the Kremer brothers transformed it into a 935 K3 race car. The vehicle’s story features everything from bags full of drug money to a famous court case, from DEA tricksters to victory at the most important sports-car race on earth.

“Any Porschephile, if they know their stuff, would say this is the most important 911-based car in the world,” says the owner, Bruce Meyer, who was at the track with me. When I ask Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley by phone how much he thought it was worth, he says, “I can’t even imagine. That car is priceless.”

Bruce and I were both going to drive. We had the track to ourselves. We stood in pit lane, shivering in the cold and talking. Shouting is more like it, so we could hear each other over the sound of Bruce’s right-hand man, Tom, revving the throttle to get heat into the engine.