Monterey Classic Meets Woodstock - Silverstone Classic 2011

A couple of weeks ago I was looking around Silverstone regarding a film project while several teams representing over 100 years of the automobile history were fettling their vehicles for the forth comingSilverstone Classic 2011 meeting which runs from July 22nd to 24th. If your into powered transport be it steam, diesel, petrol, 2 wheeled, 3 wheeled, 4 wheeled or more you will probably find something of interest during the day and if your camping there will be 2 nights of music headlined by the likes of tribute bands Legend, Queen On Fire and The Rolling Stoned on the first night, followed by Suzy Quattro, 10cc, Wishbone Ash on the second night topped off with an afternoon of classical music from Tetra Electra, Tenors Unlimited and the 40 strong Amadeus Orchestra. What has really helped this event grow in stature is the participation of numerous owners clubs, the Jaguar Owners clubs have chosen this event to officially celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the E-Type and hope to gather over 1,000 of the 70,000 plus E -types built together at the same time, a race for E-types will be held with 58 entries. Other marques including Porsche who also intend to gather in similar numbers, with smaller marques like Bristol being represented by the Bristol Owners Club. Silverstone Auctions the event sponsors will be holding an auction at the Silverstone Classic on July 23rd that will include the sale of the last truely privately built and entered Formula One Car to win a Grand Prix. For those less inclined to the racing which will include classic saloons, sports cars and Grand Prix cars there will be a fun fair, arial displays and gathering of steam powered traction engines to keep you entertained during the daylight hours while you wait for the music to start. My thanks to Jonathon Gill who facilitated this fascinating day at Silverstone, I look forward to visiting the event in July and sharing more details of some of the vehicles I saw during preparations for it in the weeks ahead. Thanks for joining me on this Silverstone Classic edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I'll be sharing some photos of a fascinating workshop in Warrington. Don't forget to come back now !

Lots of Red Cars - Haynes International Motor Museum

A couple of weekends ago I was in a bah humbug mood looking for something to do when a friend asked if I had ever been to the Haynes International Motor Museum, to which I had not and responded accordingly, before I knew it I was being whisked away towards Sparkford in deepest Somerset. The museum bills it's self as having the UK's largest collection of cars, numbering over 400, to which maybe added it probably has the largest collection of cars painted red ! John Haynes publisher of many DIY car repair manuals established the museum, which operates as an Educational Charitable Trust, in 1985. Apart from the accidental or otherwise concentration of red vehicles there are plenty of cars from all over the world some of which were models and or manufactures I had never heard of before. The vehicles are tightly packed at the moment, though unusually for a museum many, possibly even most, get a run round the museum grounds by the museum staff, while others can be hired for weddings and special occasions, a magnificent growling Viper got a quick blast round the museum while we were there. Plans are afoot to expand the museum is September this year and having managed to snap only 10% of the collection over the couple of hours of my visit I look forward to returning even with the building work underway, the ticket I purchased is valid for a year ! Look forward to sharing some of the stories behind these cars in future editions of 'Gettin' a little psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a trip to Silverstone. Don't forget to come back now !

Butt Naked - Borg Warner Trophy

To round out my month of May centenary celebration of the first running of the Indianapolis 500 today I'll be looking at possibly the most coveted prize in all of motor racing, the Borg Warner Trophy seen here in 1960 courtesy of Ed Arnaudin
 

1960 Photo by Ed Arnaudin The Indianapolis 500 always run on Memorial Day weekend is full of traditions including the early morning explosion that signals the opening of the gates to The Brickyard at 6 am on race morning, the marching of bands starting at 8 am, which includes the Purdue University All American Marching Band who play the worlds biggest drum. The National Anthem and Invocation are followed by a rendition of Taps in remembrance of the fallen complete with a military flyover.



1961 Photo by Ed Arnaudin

Another traditional highlight since 1972 is Jim Nabors accompanied by the Purdue Marching band for a rendition of 'Back Home Again in Indiana' during the performance of which thousands of balloons are released, a tradition that started earlier in 1946.

Then there is the call for the 'Ladies and Gentleman' to start their engines in the build up to the race before the pace car laps and first fall of the green flag that gets the race started. Once the race is won the winner is ushered into Victory Lane and since 1936 in a tradition started by three time winner Louis Meyer the winner drinks milk, Meyer actually drank buttermilk.

Wilbur Shaw a three time Indy winner and President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who was not partial to milk interrupted the milk drinking tradition from 1947 to 1955 with a bowl shaped trophy filled with iced water for the winner to drink.
 
Since 1956 milk was reinstalled on the winners menu and only Emerson Fittipaldi, owner of several orange groves, in 1993 has broken the tradition by drinking orange juice.

The winner is then photographed with the Borg Warner Trophy a tradition which also started in 1936. The Borg Warner Trophy was designed by Robert J Hill and Gorham Inc of Providence Rhode Island at a cost $10,000 in 1935. 

A likeness of all the winners faces back dated to first Indy 500 in 1911 adorns the 52 inch 153 lb sterling silver trophy which had to have its base expanded in 1987 to accommodate the faces of the most recent winners. Bobby Rahal's face, sans spectacles unlike Tom Sneva, was the last drivers likeness attached to the original trophy since then likenesses of winners have been attached to the base which was last extended in 2004. The trophy used to be displayed on the roll bar of the winners car however it is now so large and heavy that it is displayed along side the winners car. 

 
1960 Photo by Ed Arnaudin

One thing I discovered while preparing this blog and is verified by Ed's photo is that the flag man atop the trophy is cast as a traditional ancient Greek athlete and is in fact butt naked.

Louis Meyer described winning the Borg Warner Trophy like "winning an Olympic Medal". Prior to 1988 a 24 inch model of the trophy mounted on a walnut base was given to winners since 1988 winners have been given an 18" replica during preparations for the following years race. 

Also since 1936 the winner of the Indy 500 has taken home the Official Pace car, more on which will have to wait until next year. 

Wishing all the competitors in today's centenary running of the Indy 500 the best of luck.

 Evidence provided by Tim Murray shows that as of 2005 the Johnny Parsons spelling error I mentioned in my blog on the Wynns Friction Proofing Special had not been corrected. Apologies for any confusion caused.

Thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scans of his Dad's slides also to Tim Murray and B² from The Nostalgia Forum for their help clarifying dates concerning the Borg Warner Trophy. 

That concludes what for me has been a fascinating month of May looking at a potted history of the Indy 500, thanks for joining me on today's 'Butt Naked' truth edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Shaking hands with 'The Man' - AJ Foyt Jnr

It is impossible to do a legend justice in a humble blog so for AJ Foyt Day here are ten photos by Ed Arnaudin and I that I hope will give you a glimpse into the legend that is AJ Foyt, a man who quit school to become a mechanic and then raced his was into more record books than I have had hot dinners.

 
1960 Kurtis Epperly Q 16th F 10th Photo by Ed Arnaudin

John Wayne fan AJ Foyt started racing midgets in 1956, his first event win was at Kansas City in 1957. AJ has been quoted as saying of his start in racing, "My dad was very successful running midgets in Texas. 

Then, his two drivers ran into some bad luck. People started saying that Daddy had lost his touch. That it was the cars and not the drivers. I wanted to race just to prove all those people wrong."

In 1958 he moved up to Sprint Cars and Championship cars making his first start in the 1958 Indy 500 driving a Kuzuma Offy. At the end of the 1960 season AJ was crowned with the first of his seven national USAC Championships.


1961 Trevis Offy Q 7th Winner Photo by Ed Arnaudin 

The Trevis Offy AJ drove to victory lane in 1961 was built by Floyd Trevis, Bob Alexander and George Bignotti in Youngstown OH. It was allegedly such an accurate copy of the Watson roadsters of the day that it used Watson body panels. It should be noted that Watson started out by upgrading Kurtis designs so the practice of copying and upgrading other successful designs was nothing new and went on until the introduction of the IRL single mandated chassis type.

 
1962 Trevis Offy Q 5th F 25th Photo by Ed Arnaudin 

Having won the 1960 and 1961 USAC championships and the 1961 Indy 500 1962 was a comparatively lean year by AJ's own high standards.
 
 
1964 Watson Offy Q 5th Winner Photo by Ed Arnaudin

Bouncing back with the USAC title in 1963 AJ returned to his 1961 levels of success with an Indy 500 win and his 4th USAC Championship in 5 years in 1964 driving the #1 Watson Offy. Did I mention AJ also won a USAC Sprint title in 1960 already ?
  
1969 Coyote / Ford t/c Pole F 8th Photo by Ed Arnaudin

By 1969 AJ was a name on an altogether bigger stage. Having qualified on the Indy 500 pole in 1965 and won the Indy 500 in 1967, driving a Coyote a vehicle he built with his Dad as Chief Mechanic, AJ was drafted into the 1967 Ford Le Mans team and with Dan Gurney drove to a rookie, distance record setting 24 hour victory in the classic endurance race.

Of driving the Ford MK IV over the dip on the Mulsanne Straight AJ said, the car "would just sort of fly along for awhile at 214 mph or whatever it was, we just drove 'em that way and didn't think much about it." 

In what might be considered an almost unrepeatable feat for US racing prestige Dan Gurney continued the run of success by winning the next international race the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in his Gurney Westlake.

After the Indy and Le Mans victories AJ took his Coyote Indy car to the Ford Wind Tunnel for some tests, afterwards a man in a lab coat told AJ that his self built Coyote had only 7 lbs of downforce, was highly unstable and unsafe to race. AJ replied "Sir, I don't know what to tell you. That car just won the Indy 500." Demonstrating further versatility AJ won the USAC Stock Car series in 1968.
  1975 Coyote Ford t/c Pole F 3rd Photo by Ed Arnaudin

AJ started running the #14 in USAC events in 1973 and ran them exclusively ever since including as an entrant, tomorrow the #14 AJ Foyt Enterprises entered Dallara driven by Vitor Meira will be starting the Indy 500 in 11th while AJ's other entry the #41 qualified in 19th by Bruno Junquiera will be handed over to Ryan Hunter-Reay and start from the back of the grid.

Championships were a little more difficult for AJ to win by 1975 though he added the USAC Silver Crown Championship for front engine open wheelers running on dirt and paved ovals in 1972 and also won the '72 Daytona 500 in the Wood Brothers #21 Purolator Mercury having narrowly missed out to 'King Richard' Petty' the year before. 

In 1975 AJ took his second consecutive, fourth overall, pole at Indy and won both the USAC National Championship and the first of two consecutive IROC championships. He also won the USAC Stock car championship for a second time in 1976.  


  
1978 Foyt / Foyt tc Q10, Winner, Daily Express Indy Trophy, Silverstone, England  

Foyt was crowned USAC Gold Crown Champion in 1977 the following year, on his 20th attempt of a record breaking 35 overall, AJ became the first man to win four Indy 500's in 1977.

In 1978 16 USAC Championship cars visited England for two rounds of the Championship and AJ won the first of them at Silverstone. 

Between the two UK races there was a meet and greet held in central London where the 19 year old writer of this blog was lucky enough to shake the hand of the subject of today's blog, an experience I shall never forget. When I told him I had to abandon my FIAT which would not start in the cold weather he made a suggestion that got it going first time once I got home.

AJ rounded out 1978 with his third USAC Stock Car title. 




1980 VPJ6C Cosworth DFX Chassis #005 Q 12th F 14th Photo by Ed Arnaudin 

In September 1978 AJ decided that his Coyote Foyt with an engine that was his own development of the Ford Quad Cam, introduced by Jim Clark in 1964, used successfully at Silverstone, was getting a little long in the tooth to be a Championship contender.

He acquired this Parnelli Cosworth with which he completed all remaining rounds of the 1978 USAC championship bar the UK rounds. 1979 saw a split between USAC Championship teams and a new group called CART, AJ stayed loyal to the former and won his seventh and final USAC Championship with the Parnelli, he also finished 2nd to Rick Mears at Indianapolis in 1979.


 
1982 #14 March 82C Cosworth Q 3rd F 19th Photo by Ed Arnaudin

Preparing to start from the outside of the front row in 1982 AJ would have had a hard job beating the well prepared Penske PC10's inside him, a job not made any easier when the man next to him Kevin Cogan making only his second start at Indy lost control of his car on the start line and speared into AJ's car. AJ was less than impressed making some choice remarks about Cogan's head and it being located where the sun don't shine which do not need repeating verbatim here. 




1988 #14 Lola T88/00 Cosworth Q 26th F 22nd

I finally got to see AJ run at Indy in 1988, by no means one of his better races he wrecked in turn 2 on lap 54, got out the car waved to an appreciative crowd and stepped inside the ambulance which took him to the infield hospital.

AJ has survived a number of serious accidents, at Riverside in 1965 while chasing down Dan Gurney the brakes on AJ's #00 Ford failed at the end of the long back straight, AJ swerved to the infield to avoid hitting the wall which sent his car flying off the track and into a series of end over end rolls.

The track doctor pronounced AJ dead on the scene but a quick thinking Parnelli Jones saw some movement and immediately started to revive him. Despite sever chest injuries, a broken back and fractured ankle AJ won the 1965 Firecracker 400 just 6 months later !

Footage of AJ's Riverside accident was used in the concluding scene of the film Red Line 7000, see 4m 20secs.

In 1991 AJ had an equally bad accident when his Lola Chevrolet left the road after a foot pedal broke, despite breaking both legs in the accident and allegedly asking his rescuers to hit him over the head with a hammer to relieve the pain, AJ returned to the cockpit in 1992 to make his 35th consecutive and final Indy 500 start. From 23rd on the grid AJ finished 9th in the race.

AJ continued his involvement in first CART and then the IRL along with NASCAR, as an owner his driver Scott Sharp shared the inaugural IRL championship with Buzz Calkins. Kenny Bräck won the 1998 IRL title in a car owned by AJ and won the Indy 500 in a Foyt Enterprises car the following year.

Not noted for being a good traveller to foreign shores or the easiest of men to work for, like his hero John Wayne, AJ is a tough cookie with a reputation for being a bit of a curmudgeon, in his defence he once said "I'm no where as tough as my father. I really think that I am more open to change than he was."

One AJ legend is from when he was in semi retirement, invited to be a Grand Marshall at a midget event AJ overheard a whipper snapper sitting on pole saying something about AJ not being able to cut the mustard. An incensed AJ borrowed a spare midget from a friendly owner in time to qualify towards the back of the field.

During the ensuing race AJ caught the aforementioned whipper snapper and as he made his pass for the lead AJ gave the little runt a one finger salute. Probably too good to be true but it makes a great story for this photograph even if it is not entirely in keeping with the legend I once shook hands with.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin who patiently scanned and sent me the photos his Dad took at Indy between 1960 and 1982 and to the many members of The Nostalgia Forum who provided a wealth of background information.

Thanks for joining me on this AJ Foyt Day edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for a look at the Trophy that may well be the most prized in all motor sport. Don't forget to come back now !

The Pawn - Ferrari 637

Ever since Renault turned up on the grid of the British Grand Prix in 1977 with a 1500cc / 91.5 CUI the stability and hegemony that had been born out of the 500hp 3 litre / 183 cui Ford sponsored Cosworth V8 as the dominant force in Grand Prix racing in 1966 had been under attack. By 1985 power output of the little turbocharged motors had risen from 525 hp in 1977 to 1200 hp in qualifying trim, expensive motors were being built simply to last a couple of qualifying laps a situation that could not last indefinitely.

To get a grip on the situation for 1987 the FIA the ruling body of Grand Prix racing mandated a limit of 4 bar / 58 psi on turbochargers which was reduced for 1988 to just 2.5 bar / 36 psi in 1988 when 3.5 litre / 213.5 cui normally aspirated motors would be allowed to take part in preparation for a completely normally aspirated formula 3.5 litre formula in 1989.

These normally aspirated motors were originally intended to be of a mandated V8 configuration, and this detail upset Enzo Ferrari, who wanted to build a V12 for the new regulations, so badly that he set in motion the design of the Ferrari 637 to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Consultation with Goodyear led to the leading Truesports team and their March 85C complete with driver Bobby Rahal conducting tests in Italy with Ferrari Grand Prix driver Michele Alboreto.



Photographer Unknown image will be credited or removed upon request.

After the tests Ferrari took the March apart and with the lessons learned Gustav Brunner designed this pretty Championship racing car seen here with Michele Alboreto at the wheel.

Unlike the still born Lotus 96 which was built entirely out of carbon fibre for Al Unser Jnr to drive for Winkleman racing in 1985, the Ferrari 637's monocoque was manufactured from a carbon fibre lower half and a conventional aluminium top half.

Between the announcement of the Ferrari Indycar project and its first tests the FIA relented and removed the stipulated V8 configuration for the 1989 Formula One regulations.

In consequence Ferrari built a mildly successful V12 engine which was completely usurped by the V10 engines of first Honda, Renault and Ilmor Mercedes which won most of the drivers and constructors Championships from 1989 to 2000 interrupted ironically only by the Ford V8 which Michael Schumacher used in his Benetton to win his first World Drivers Championship in 1994.

In 1989 Alfa Romeo part of the same FIAT automotive empire as Ferrari announced it's own still born Indy Car programme with an engine designed completely from scratch, unrelated to the Ferrari engine tested in 1986, which was fitted to a proprietary March chassis. At the press launch of the programme journalist Doug Nye spotted an all white vehicle that was clearly not a March chassis with an ALFA Romeo logo on it that nobody from ALFA Romeo was prepared to talk about, it turns out that ALFA may have considered using the chassis of the Ferrari 637 as a test hack for their new motor.

Thanks for joining me for this Ferrari Friday edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow for AJ Foyt Day tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Indianapolis Excursion - Indy 500 29th May 1988

I was living in Brixton, London in November 1987 when I received an invitation from Rick and Karen, two Canadian friends also living in London, to attend their wedding on May 27th 1988 in Toronto their home town.

The first thing I did after I received the invitation was to check the dates for races in the USA around the wedding date, the Winston 500 was to be run at Talledega on May 1st, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 29th as was the Indy 500.

The timing was against me getting to Talladega, a track I finally visited 21 years later, and Indianapolis seemed a lot closer to Toronto than Charlotte so I made my mind up to visit the Indy 500 something I had wanted to do since I read a book by Tommaso Tommasi called from Brands Hatch to Indianapolis in which a precise description of driving around the track is given by Peter Revson.



The weekend of the wedding I went to Avis and collected this shiny brand new Chevy Beretta, an interesting contrast to the £50 1973 Volvo 144 DL automatic I was driving around London at the time !

Early on the morning after the wedding I packed my stuff and headed around 350 miles west on the 401 which turned into Route 96/94 after I crossed the US border into Detroit and then 200 miles south on Route 69. The only difficulty I had was keeping to the 55 to 60 mph speed limits which seemed excruciatingly slow compared to the 70 mph I was used to in the UK.



Eleven hours after I had set out I arrived at a mall parking lot (Lafayette Shopping Centre ?) a mile or so north from the track having picked up a ticket for the bleachers from a vendor at face value of $15 (?) right out side the track. I felt very much at home as some lads were having a kick about with a proper round football, turned out they were telephone engineers from Manchester, England !

My plan was to spend the night in the car, I got a shock when I opened the boot/trunk of the car and found I had forgotten to pack two important items one of which was my sleeping bag. I need not have worried the weather was more than warm enough to feel comfortable sleeping on the back seat of the car wearing a T shirt and shorts.

On race day I woke up with the dawn, had a round of salami of sandwiches I had packed in advance and my customary breakfast apple and headed off to the track which opened at 6am.



I bought a souvenir T-Shirt from a girl, who like me hailed from Germany, on the way in and before I knew it I was standing on the hallowed pavement of Indianapolis pit lane. I was as inspired as I had been by any other tourist sight I had seen, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and even the Pyramids, by the Indy timing tower which I had seen in countless photographs over the previous 15 years I had been a racing fan.



Pinching myself standing before the gates of Gasoline Alley, I felt a little like I was standing before the gates of heaven itself as the sun came up.



The immaculate team haulers seemed a tad quaint to be carrying 220 mph race cars, but then again a hauler never won the Indy 500.

I took a walk all around the infield while the hullaballoo that starts the days proceedings got underway prior to the 11 am start, including a look at the infamous inside of turn 3 hard partying Snake Pit. I saw 'Supersonic' Chuck Yeager prepare himself for duties in the pace car and took my seat in the bleachers as Grand Marshall Garfield was driven around the circuit.



At this point the fact that I had somehow overlooked packing a telephoto lens I had borrowed specially for the event became painfully obvious.

The race was dominated by Rick Mears on pole with Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Snr who locked out the front row of the grid. All three were driving the new Penske PC 17 designed by Penske new boy Nigel Bennett and all three Penske drivers would be 3 of the only 4 drivers to lead a lap of the 72nd running of the Indy 500.



'85 Spinner & Winner Danny Sullivan set a blistering early pace driving the Miller PC17, seen here chasing the #92 of Dominic Dobson, led a race high 91 laps but crashed out on lap 101 leaving Rick Mears to almost run away with the race. Sullivan would end the season as the winner of his one and only CART championship.



For 8 laps I was beside myself with excitement as Scottish born Brit Jim Crawford became the only non Penske team member to lead the '88 500 in his year old Buick 'stock block' powered Lola T87/00. Jim who just two months earlier had been unable to walk as a result injuries received at Indy in 1987 became a father the following week. Jim retired to become a fishing boat captain and died of liver failure aged 54 in 2002.



Two time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi did not lead a lap but still managed to come home 2nd in his Pat Patrick run March 88C powered by the then relatively new Ilmour Chevy V8. The following year 'Emmo' returned to win the fist of his two Indy 500 victories.



Rick Mears ran out the deserving winner of the 1988 Indy 500 a race that ended under yellow flags thanks to a piece of body work that flew off Michael Andretti's 4th place Kraco March with just 4 laps to go. Ricks third 500 victory marked the first for the Ilmour Chevrolet engine which would dominate at Indianapolis until 1994 when a one off Mercedes push rod engine also designed by Ilmour would take top honours.

After the race I rehydrated and slept in the car for an hour before the 11 hour 550 mile trek back to Toronto. Two weeks later I was back at one of my other favourite race tracks Le Mans, but that story will have to wait for another day.

Thanks for joining me on this Indianapolis excursion edition of'Gettin a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow for an Indy Ferrari Friday special. Don't forget to come back now !

King Of Speed - March 86 C

This vehicle, seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed, was driven to Victory Lane at the Indy 500 in 1986 by Bobby Rahal in one of the closest three way finishes in Indy history.

Bobby beat Kevin Cogan and Rick Mears to the line with the fastest race lap, ever at the time, of 209.153 mph.

11 days after Rahals win his team owner, Jim Trueman, succumbed to cancer.



The 1986 victory was the first time the Indy 500 had been won in under 3 hours, Rahal completed the distance in 2 hrs, 55 mins, 43.470 secs averaging 170.722 mph breaking a record set by Mark Donohue in 1972.

The March 86 C became a two time Indy 500 winning design the following year when Roger Penske pulled his old March 86 C from a show at the Sheraton Hotel in Reading Pennsylvania so that Al Unser could stand in for an injured Danny Ongais. Starting from 20th Al took his March to his 4th Indy 500 win.



In the process the March Cosworth combination took its 5th consecutive Indy 500 and Al Unser, who in '78 had taken the first Cosworth DFX to victory also took the tenth and final Cosworth DFX powered victory at the Brickyard.



Bobby Rahal went on to become 1986 CART champion a title he retained in 1987 and won for a third time, now as a driver owner in partnership with Carl Hogan, in 1992.

In 1984 Bobby made one NASCAR Cup start as a road ringer in the Wood Bros #21 Seven/Eleven Ford at Riverside, qualifying 20th coming in 40th winning $875 for his trouble.

Last year Bobby was spotted at Mallory Park getting some laps in classic Lola and Cooper sports cars. For those with the time a visit to Mallory Park on a Wednesday morning is a must !



A couple of weeks ago I visited the Haynes International Motor Museum and came across a second March 86C, chassis 5, originally driven by Micheal Andretti. Micheal qualified 3rd one spot ahead of Bobby in the #18 Kraco March 86C and came in 6th one lap down at Indy in 1986.

In an open wheel career spanning 1983 - 2007 spent 18 years driving in CART Championship cars, Micheal won the CART Championship in 1991 driving for Newman / Hass and finished 2nd in the Championship 5 times including the 1986 season during which he won 3 times driving the #18 Kraco March.

Andretti has a remarkable record at Indy of leading 431 laps on nine occasions but never winning the race as a driver, however as an owner of the Andretti Green Racing team his cars won the Indy 500 in 2005 with Dan Weldon at the wheel and 2007 with Dario Franchitti at the wheel AGR has also won three IRL campionships with Tony Kanaan 2004, Weldon '05 and Franchitti '07.



The car seen above was on pole at Pocono and won at Phoenix International Raceway by a clear lap. This particular vehicle has appeared at Goodwood Festival of Speed driven by owner Nick Mason, and former Indy 500 winners Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan.

Thank you for visiting this King of Speed edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Sea Ray Boats - Wildcat Cosworth IX

The story behind Ueal Eugene 'Pat' Patricks Wildcat Indy cars allegedly begins with the Oil Crisis during the mid 70's. The US Government desperate to secure it's own oil supplies ran a programme designed to encourage exploration for oil reserves of which Pat Patrick's 'Patrick Petroleum', a wildcat oil exploration company, was a beneficiary.

The rumour goes that Patrick used some of these 'funds' to finance the manufacture of racing cars called 'Wildcats' for his team that had won the 1973 Indianapolis 500 with Gordon Johncock driving an Eagle Offy. Allegedly Patricks racing car construction programme was a total write off billed as part of the expense of drilling for oil.

By 1982 the #20 Wildcat XIII designed by Gordon Kimball and Peter Gibbons won the Indy 500 driven again by Gordon Johncock. For 1983 Chip Ganassi, seen above in the #60 Sea Ray Boats Wildcat IX joined Gordon Johncock in the Patrick team.

Chip qualified a 16th and finished a career best 8th, from 5 Indy 500 starts, 5 laps down in the 1983 Indy 500, his CART career was interrupted by a crash in 1984 and he hung up his helmet 1986. By 1988 he purchased an interest in Patrick Racing and the following year they entered the #20 Penske PC 18 in the Indy 500 which Emerson Fittipaldi drove to Victory Lane at Indy in 1989.

For 1990 Chip went his own way starting his Champ Car team which won titles in 1996, with Jimmy Vasser, '97 & '98 with Alex Zanardi and '99 with Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2000 Chip entered his first IRL race and won the Indy 500 with Indy Rookie JP Montoya.

Ganassi subsequently switched his open wheel team to the IRL and his drivers won the IRL Championship in 2003, '08, 09 and '10. Scott Dixon won the 2008 Indy 500 in a Ganassi entered car and Dario Franchitti repeated the feat last year.

Chip is also part of the Ganassi with Sabates NASCAR team currently running Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray, the latter won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 last year.

To round out his portfolio Chip Ganassi also runs a Grand Am team which won championship titles in 2004, '08 and '10 winning the prestige Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona Grand Am event in 2006, '07, '08 and '11.

'Pat' Patrick wound up his team in 2000 though he did make a return in 2004 entering Al Unser Jnr in a hand full of races in the IRL until Al announced his retirement leaving Pat to sell his team.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scan of his Dad's photo.

Slightly off topic, spare a thought for a brave woman Manal Al Sherif who has been arrested for committing the heinous crime of driving a car and encouraging other women to do the same, which under 'religious' laws is apparently illegal for all women in Saudi Arabia.

It is surely a bizarre circumstance when a country that produces so much oil, for the rest of the world to be driving around, should also be the ONLY country in the world which forbids women from driving ?

Please join me in showing your support for Manal Al Sherif on this facebook link.

Thanks for clicking on to today's Wildcat edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Gould Charge - Penske PC10

For 1982 Roger Penske had his manufacturing team in Poole, Dorset, England, where all his open wheelers were made, build 6 Penske PC10's designed by Geoff Ferris. The cars were ready in October 1981, drivers Rick Mears and Kevin Cogan completed 3000 miles of testing during the off season. AJ Foyt said of the legendary Penske preparation "The rest of us are trying to do as much in six days as Penske took six months to do."

Photo by Ed Arnaudin. Rick Mears, took pole at with a record 207 mph average speed in the #1 Gould Charge seen here on the warm up lap for the race, and Kevin Coogan started 2nd with a 204 mph 4 lap average. The first two spots on the grid were sown up just 9 minuets after qualification had started on Pole Day. AJ Foyt filled out the front row. The 1982 is best remembered for an accident at the start that took out Kevin Coogan, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Dale Whittington and Roger Mears. Blame for the incident was placed on the inexperienced Penske new boy Kevin Cogan, though the cause of the accident has ever been satisfactorily explained, it came to light many years later that Rick Mears had a similar incident in another PC10 during private testing that was kept out of the media at the time. AJ Foyt managed to get out for the second attempt to start the 1982 Indy 500 but neither the repairs to Foyt's #14 March nor the months of preparation at Penske were enough to keep Gordon Johncock, driving a Wildcat, from taking a photo finish victory in which Johncock held off Mears by just 0.16 secs. During a 15 year Champ Car Career Rick Mears won 3 CART Championships, a record equalling, with Foyt and Al Unser, 4 Indy 500 victories and an unequalled six Indy 500 poles. Rick also took the most CART Championship race wins during the 1980's. While Mears and Penske lost the battle at Indy in 1982, they took a second consecutive championship in 1982. The following season Al Unser Snr won the championship driving a Penske PC10B after the intended replacement PC11 proved unequal to the performance of the older car after the 1983 Indy 500. Those interested in what lies beneath the super streamlined body of the PC10 might be interested to see a series of photos, taken by the extraordinary cutaway artist Tony Matthews, posted on The Nostalgia Forum, see post three and down of this PC10 thread. My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scan of his Dad's photo. Thanks for joining me for this Gould Charge edition of 'Getting a little psycho on tyres' I hope that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Yellow Submarine - Chaparral 2K

In 1978 Colin Chapman revolutionised Formula One car design by introducing 'ground effect' to the upper echelons of open wheel racing with his Lotus 79.

By 1979 many Formula One teams were making copies and variations of the Lotus 79 using curved 'venturi' in the side pods between the wheels to gain traction grip by controlling the airflow between the lower surfaces of the car and surface of the road to create lowered air pressure underneath the car which 'sucked' the car to the road as it moved, the faster these vehicles were driven the more grip there was available.



Photo Dan Wildhirt

When, in 1978, former Taurus Super Vee designer and McLaren draftsman John Barnard was employed to build an Indy Car for Jim Hall and the Chaparral team to replace their Lola T500 Champ Car, Barnard was the first to transfer the latest Formula One thinking to the Brickyard for the Indy 500.

Al Unser Snr qualified the Chaparral 2K 3rd on it's debut at Indy and then ran away with the race until the transmission failed on lap 104.

The following year Al Unser Snr moved to the Longhorne team who were building a car based on a design by former Super Vee engine builder Patrick Head who's Williams FW07 design started winning formula one races in 1979 and would win the Formula One World Constructors championships in 1980 and 81.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

Johnny Rutherford pictured here alongside Mario Andretti, became the beneficiary of Al Unsers decision to move taking the Chaparral to Victory Lane at the Brickyard in 1980 and onto the PPG Indy Car World Series championship.

In all the Chaparral 2K won six races from 27 starts over three seasons. John Barnard moved back to Formula One with McLaren in 1980 where he introduced the first Carbon Fibre Composite (CFC) chassis into the series, almost all top open wheel series run vehicles using CFC chassis these days, and later in 1989 while working for Ferrari in 1989 he introduced the worlds first paddle shift electronic gear shift mechanism.

Between them Barnard and Patrick Head were the dominant designers during the 1980's in Formula One interestingly they once worked together for a 46 year old London Taxi driver come racing driver Ronnie Grant on his Formula Super Vee team.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning his Dad's photo.

Hope you have enjoyed today's Yellow Submarine edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Triple 500 Crown - Lola T500

During a run of success that included winning the US Formula 5000 championships from 1974 - '76 with Brian Redman and Can Am 2 Championships with Patrick Tambay '77 and '80, Alan Jones '78 and Jacky Ickx '79, Jim Hall turned his attentions to the USAC champ car series in 1977. Hall and partner Carl Hass commisioned Lola to build the T500 a fresh design that was to be driven by Al Unser Snr in 1978.



The design was an instant success at Indianapolis Al qualified 2nd and led 121 laps to go to Victory Lane for the third time. Despite Al bending a front wing in the pit lane 20 laps from home pole sitter Tom Sneva in a Penske ran out of laps to catch the Lola which finished just 8 seconds ahead of Tom.



The '78 Indy 500 was the first of ten that was won by a car powered by a turbocharged development of the 3 litre / 183 cui Cosworth DFV that dominated in Formula One from it's introduction in 1966 to 1981. To meet the USAC regulations the DFV was downsized to 2650 cc / 161 cui and fitted with a Garrett turbo charger.



Engine designer Keith Duckworth described these motors as being like 'hand grenades with the in pulled'. By the end of the DFX development programme the motors were producing 840 hp. Al Unser was also at the wheel of the last DFX powered car, a Penske, to enter victory lane at Indianapolis in 1987.



Having won the 1978 Indy 500 Al Unser also won the two other 500 mile races in the USAC series at Pocono and Ontario becoming the first winner of the 'Triple 500 Crown'. Al is seen driving the car above in the Daily Express 200 at Silverstone, England battling for the lead with Danny Ongias.



Unfortunately the battle only lasted 4 laps, Ongias broke a drive shaft, Al led a good deal of the race but ran out of fuel right in front of me.



The T500 was used in Penzoil colours in early 1979 before Jim Halls Chaparral 2K was ready. In 1980 Jerry Sneva, seen in this photo by Ed Arnaudin, qualified 5th in this T500 and finished 17th in the Indy 500 two further T500's were raced in this event driven by Tom Bigelow Q 31st F 8th and Gregg Leffler Q 23rd and F 10th.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scan of his Dad's photo.

Hope you have enjoyed Triple 500 Crown edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !