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 !

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 !

Rained Off - Eagle Offenhauser 7400

As I mentioned yesterday the 1975 Indianapolis was won by Bobby Unser and today thanks to photo's by Ed Arnaudin we can have a look at the #48 Eagle Offy 7400 driven by Bobby Unser, seen starting on the outside of the front row with #20 Gordon Johncock and #14 AJ Foyt on pole, that was declared the winner after 174 of the scheduled 200 laps.



All American Racers which manufactured Eagle racing cars was set up initially by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby to tackle the World Championship Grand Prix circuit and the US Champ Car and Sportscar circuits in 1964.

In 1967 Dan Gurney won the Belgian Grand Prix in an Eagle Weslake Mk 1, also known as T1G, run by the firms UK based satellite team known as Anglo American Racers. The following year Bobby Unser won the Indy 500 in an Eagle chassis.

Upon retiring from the cockpit Dan Gurney bought Shelby out and in 1973 Gordon Johncock in an Eagle run by Pat Patrick was declared winner of the tragic rain shortened race, in which his team mate Swede Savage suffered injuries from which he would later die and a member of his pit crew was fatally struck in pit road by a fire truck going the wrong way down pit road to attend to the Savage incident.



By 1975 McLaren also with two Indy 500 wins were regularly challenging Eagle for overall supremacy on the USAC Champcar Circuit and this would prove to be the third and final Indy 500 victory for the Eagle marque.

It transpires that the Eagle chassis type numbering system is worthy of a large dense volume all of it's own, however to the best of my knowledge the winning car that Bobby Unser car drove is a type 7400, if a chassis number becomes known to me I'll add it below.

Bobby Unser is part of one US Racing's elite families, he and his younger brother Al Snr competed on the Champ Car circuit in the 1960's, 70's and 80's.

Bobby known as the 'undisputed King of Pikes Peak', counts among his many success 13 Pikes Peak hill climb victories, 8 of them in a ten year period, the '68 and '74 USAC Champ Car championships, along with his Indy 500 wins of '68, '75 and '81.

In 1968 Bobby participated in two Grand Prix for BRM, after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix he flew back to the United States and took part in the Hoosier 100 at Indianapolis, upon his return to Monza with fellow Italian GP qualifier Andretti, they were told that the rules forbade drivers to participate in 2 races less than 24 hours apart.



In 1975 Bobby also won the IROC championship to confirm his all round versatility.

Hope you have enjoyed today's All American Racers edition of getting a lil' psycho on tyres, and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Three Time Winner - McLaren Offy M16

The McLaren M16 was designed by Gordon Coppuck in 1970 and took essential design queues from the Lotus 72, that was dominant in Formula One, including the chisel nose and side mounted radiators.



On it's Indy debut in 1971 M16's of Revson, Donohue and Hulme qualified 1st, 2nd and 4th for the 500, the race was won by repeat winner Al Unser with Peter Revson coming home a career best 2nd. Mark Donohue driving for the private Penske team said of the M16 that it "...obsoleted every other car on track..." and proved it with a win in 1972.



In 1973 Johnny Rutherford, seen driving the M16C/5 here at Goodwood Festival of Speed, took pole position again in his works M16 though the Eagles of Johncock and Vukovich Jr took first and second in the race that was called early due to rain. The following season driving the same car Rutherford started 25th on the grid and went on to win the first of his three Indy 500's.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

In 1975 Rutherford drove the #2 Gatorade M16E/1 qualifying 7th and coming in second.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

Lloyd Ruby drove the #7 Allied Polymer Group M16E/2 qualifying 6th and finishing 32nd in 1975 and in 1976 Rutherford dominated the Indy 500 with a victory from pole in this ex Ruby chassis. Cliff Hucul raced this same car at Indy from '77 - '79 qualifying a best 18th in '79 and finishing a best 22nd in '77.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

Bob Harkey seen in the #33 Dayton Walther M16C/2 here in 1975 qualified 23rd for the Indy 500 and after 18 laps handed the car over to Salt Walther who's own M16 had experienced turbo failure after 2 laps. Salt was flagged in 10th at the conclusion of the rain affected race. In 1976 David Hobbs nade his fourth and final Indy start in this car starting 31st and finishing 29th.

In 1978 Jerry Karl modified M16C/2 fitting a Chevrolet stock block motor, Karl made three starts in '78, '80 and '81 recording best start positions of 28th in '78 and '80 and a best finish of 14th in '78. This car still fitted with a Chevy stock block but now with orange #15 bodywork as used by Peter Revson resides in the Matthew Collection.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning his Dad's photographs and to everyone who contributed to the M16 thread on The Nostalgia Forum for providing the chassis details.

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

Taxi Driver - Jim Robbins Eagle Ford T/C Mk 2

Continuing GALPOTS potted history of the Indianapolis 500 Ed's photos shown here today were taken in 1969, when Ed Arnaudin took the opportunity to get good and close to the Jim Robbins team again.



The driver of the #67 Eagle Ford is Lee Roy Yarbrough, not related to Cale Yarborough, from Jacksonville, Florida.

Lee Roy is said to have won his first race at 19 at a local dirt track and progressed through the NASCAR Sportsman Division with 11 wins and onto Modifieds where he won 83 features in 3 years.

On reaching the top Grand National Division, today called Sprint Cup he won 14 races from 198 starts over 12 years. His best season was 1969 7 wins, including Darlington, Charlotte and both races at Daytona, from 31 starts in the seasons 54 races. Many retirements due to engine failure kept him out of the title hunt won by David Pearson.

Lee Roy made just three starts in the 'Indy 500' in '67 '69 and '70 his best finish was in 1970 when he completed 107 laps and retired with turbo failure and was classified in 19th place.

His career, as were several others,was adversely affected by the withdrawal of Ford from competition and Yabrough disappeared from NASCAR after failing to secure a ride for the Daytona 500 in 1973, he was eventually admitted to a mental hospital where a fall inflicted a fatal traumatic brain injury aged 46.



Jim Robbins turned up at the Brickyard in 1969 with three vehicles the #10 and #27 Vollstedts and the #67 Eagle Ford Mk 2, seen here, a design inspired by UK free lance design consultant Len Terry. This vehicle appears to be one of several built in 1968, though at this stage I do not know it's exact history prior to the 1969 race.

After Denny Zimmerman failed to get the #67 up to speed in 1969 Lee Roy Yarbrough moved over from his ride in the #27 Vollstedt to qualify 8th for the Indy 500, during the race a turbo pipe broke sending him into retirement and a final classification of 23rd.



All of Jim Robbins 1969 entries were powered by turbocharged Ford engines, a turbocharger had first been used at Indy in 1952 on the Cummins Diesel.

With the arrival of the normally aspirated 4,195 cc / 255 cui Ford V8's in 1963, several Offenhauser powered teams turned to supercharging smaller 2,752 cc / 168 cui motors to remain competitive in 1965, following the lead set by Novi some years earlier.

A couple of Offenhauser powered vehicles had mechanically more efficient turbochargers fitted to these smaller motors in place of the superchargers in 1966. Bobby Unser drove his Eagle Offy to the first turbocharged victory at Indianapolis in 1968.

In 1969 Ford also went the smaller capacity turbocharged route and only three cars in the 33 car field of '69 did not have smaller 168 cui engines with turbochargers fitted.

Note how the large turbocharger air intake on the left rear of the #67 is rearward facing so as to avoid the problems experienced by the Cummins Diesel turbocharger in 1952 which sucked up so much debris from its front facing turbo air intake that the turbines terminally failed on lap 40.

I'd like to thank Steve Arnaudin for scanning today's photographs and Amphicar at The Nostalgia Forum for his help in identifying the car.

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

When Everything Went Wrong - Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs

The Indianapolis 500 run in 1964 will be for ever remembered as one of those days where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, not just in front of the 250,000 spectators at the track , including the late Ed Arnaudin who took took today's photos from the exit of turn 4, but also on live close circuit cinema broadcasts through out the United States.

The out come of everything going wrong was a fireball and the instant death of Eddie Sachs and a couple of hours later, as a result of his injuries, the death of Dave MacDonald.

Eddie Sachs was known as the 'Clown Prince of Auto Racing'. Born May 28th 1927 in Allentown, PA, Eddie won the 1958 USAC Midwest Sprint Car Championship.

From 65 AAA and USAC starts Eddie won 8 USAC Championship races, he started twice from pole at Indianapolis in 1960 and '61. With three laps to go in '61 Eddie made a pit stop from the lead to replace a delaminating tyre finishing second saying afterwards "I'd sooner finish second than be dead." This was to be his best career result in the 'Indy 500'.

In 1963 Eddie was running 4th behind Parnelli Jones and Jim Clark in the Indy 500, when Parnelli's oil tank split spilling oil on the track allegedly causing Eddie to spin into retirement with 9 laps to go. After the race Eddie got into a fist fight with Parnelli over the issue and earned himself a year on probation from USAC.

Dick Sommers Eddie's team owner at the race has been quoted since as saying “I’ve often regretted not having yelled and screamed at the USAC board that day in the hope that Eddie would follow suit. He probably would have been suspended for a year and might be still around.”

Dave MacDonald known as the 'Master of Oversteer' was born in July 23rd 1936 in El Monte, CA, Dave's start in motor sport was on the Drag Strips of California and proceeded on to road courses with Don Steven's Corvettes usually numbered '00'. Scoring a remarkable 26 wins from 57 races in three seasons brought Dave to the attention of Carroll Shelby in 1963.

Shelby's faith in Dave was rewarded with 17 further outright and class wins including the first wins recorded in the 260, 289 and Shelby Daytona Cobra's. Daves last victory was at the wheel of a King Cobra at the USRCC event at Kent Washington on May 10th 1964. From 101 races Dave managed a remarkable 44 victories.

Also severely injured in the aftermath of the 2nd lap incident at Indy in 1964 was Ronnie Duman who's car caught fire after a secondary collision causing injuries from which it took two and a half months to recover.



As if to emphasis just how difficult it was to learn the lessons of the fireball at Indy in 1964 Bobby Marshmam, who started in the middle of the front row at Indy that year, went tire testing at Phoenix at the end of the season, he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt when his fuel tank ruptured in an accident. A week later Bobby died of the burns sustained in the accident.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scans of his Dad's photographs.

Join me again tomorrow for another edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres'. Don't forget to come back now !

West Coast Detailing - Lotus XI

A couple of weeks ago I looked at Ed Arnaudin's photo of Floyd Aaskov's Lotus XI at Thompson CT taken in 1958, where you will find details about the Lotus XI model.



Today we are looking Carlyle Blackwell's photograph of Jack Nethercutt's Lotus XI at Paramount Ranch in 1956/57.

It would appear that Jacks Lotus XI ran a similar 4 cylinder 1098 cc /67 cui Coventry Climax engine to Floyd Aaskov. One thing that stands out about Jacks car is how amazingly clean it looks, it looks as well detailed in many other photographs I have seen of this vehicle.

Records indicate that Jack Nethercutt started racing in 1956 with a Mercedes Benz 300 SL, oddly records indicate Floyd Aaskov started racing in a similar model 12 months later on the east coast. In 1957 Jack started notching up regular GM class wins on the West Coast and in 1958 he acquired a Ferrari 500 TRC with which he started winning in the 2 litre / 122 cui EM class.

In 1959 Jack upgraded his 500 TR by fitting a 2.5 litre motor in and running in the 152 cui DM class in which he continued his record of accumulating class wins.

For 1960 Jack took delivery of a Ferrari 250 TR 59 with which he again took class wins in the 187 cui S1 division including a third overall in the Sebring 12 Hours. Half way through 1961 Jack swapped his Ferrari for a Lotus 19 and again running in the DM class continued his winning ways until 1964, taking a class win at the '62 Riverside 6 hours with a one off drive in a Morgan plus 4 along the way.

Records show that Jacks career ended in 1965 driving a Mirage Oldsmobile in the over 5 litre / 305 cui class still carrying the #102 but without much in the way of success.

Jack appears to have settled for running a Mirage Chevrolet for Scooter Patrick in the first Can Am championship in 1967.

A similar photograph by Carlyle Blackwell to photograph above appeared on the cover of Road & Track in March 1957.



The caption read "It was dry and hot at Paramount Ranch, near Los Angeles, the day Carlyle Blackwell shot our March cover - but no hotter than the Lotus Eleven, driven here by its owner, Jack Nethercutt."

My thanks to Carlyle Blackwell who took these photographs, to Ed Arnaudin who purchased the copy in the 1950's and to his son Steve for sending me the scan, thanks also to Jean L and JB Miltonian at the TNF Forum for their help in identifying the track and coming up with the R&T details.

I hope you have enjoyed today's West Coast detailed edition of "Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres" and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Broken Promises - DB Panhard HBR

Somehow almost overlooked this photo by Ed Arnaudin of John B Mull in his DB Panhard competing in Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958, although John did not finish this race, we shall see this is a significant model in the world of national and international class H up to 750 cc 45.7 cui racing.



The manufacture of DB cars commenced after a promised drive failed to materialise at the 1936 French Sports Car Grand Prix for Charles Deutsch and René Dubonnet. The following year they entered a special of their own devising using the remnants of of a Citroen Traction Avant 11 CV.

Their specials placed in the very first post war race in Paris in 1945 and with the construction of the open wheel DB7 Automobiles Deutsch & Bonnet became a business entity in 1947.

Unhappy with the supply of Citroen parts they switched primarily to using flat twin Panhard motors of 744 cc / 45.4 cui. DB Panhards took class victories at the Mille Miglia, four times, Le Mans, three times, Sebring, twice and SCCA class H, the latter in 1958 with Howard Hanna at the wheel and in 1959 with Ray Heppenstall at the wheel.

Despite their on track success after building nearly 1000 vehicles, a disagreement over the architecture of their next model led to Deutsch and Bonnet going their separate ways forming CD and Automobiles René Bonnet respectively, the latter using Renault power became part of Matra Automobiles in 1965.

Panhard which as Panhard et Levassor had been in business since 1897 was absorbed in to Citroen in 1965 with the last vehicle produced in 1967 the name is still to be found in use as a brand of French built military vehicle.

The HBR model seen here was built from 1954 to 1961 on the most common DB chassis shared with Mille Miles and Coach models of which a combined total of 660 were made.

John B Mull appears to have had a collection of vehicles to race with Evelyn Mull between them they are known to have raced a Jaguar XK120, AC Ace Bristol, Austin Healey 100 S and this DB Panhard, JB is also known to have raced an OSCA S750.

Hope you have enjoyed the Race 1 Thompson CT 20th July 1958 series, my thanks to Ed and Steve Arnaudin for the photograph and to Terry O'Neil for the race results. Join me tomorrow for Ferrari Friday when we will be looking at a vehicle driven by a reigning 3 time World Grand Prix Champion on it's victorious debut and a month later was driven to a class victory by the USA's first future world champion. Don't forget to come back now!

You can't reverse that thing here mate ! - Lotus IX

Moving up the field at Thompson CT on 20th July 1958 today Ed Arnaudin's photo's feature a Lotus IX driven by Len Bastrup a respected Lotus driver who finished 2nd in Race 1 for class G, HP & HM cars.



Around thirty Lotus IX models were manufactured from 1954 to 1955 with a variety of engines available from MG, Connaught and Bristol, this particular model had the most common 4 cylinder 1098 cc / 65.4 cui Coventry Climax Class G spec motor .

The body was penned by Frank Costin, brother of Mike who gave the Cos to Cosworth, and manufactured by Williams & Pritchard, who GALPOT regulars might remember were responsible for an all time favourite of mine the special body on a BMW 315/1.

Colin Chapman the dynamo behind Lotus Cars and accomplished racing driver entered a IX for the Le Mans 24 hours in 1955.

During the race he crashed his car into a sand bank. Thinking nothing of the incident he reversed out and was promptly disqualified for unauthorised reversing.



Len Bastrup was racing from at least 1953 to 1960 starting in MG's and then moving to Lotus cars in 1955. He shared a Lotus XI at the Sebring 12 hours in 1956 with Lotus founder Colin Chapman which burst into flames after an accident in practice which caused terminal damage and withdrawal from the race before it had started.

My thanks to Ed Arnaudin for the photographs, his son Steve for sending them on and Terry O'Neil for the race results.

Hope you have enjoyed today's 45.5cui edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Double Bubble - FIAT 750 GT Zagato Coupé

Continuing the series of posts relating to Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958 captured on camera by Ed Arnaudin, today we are looking at the fascinating FIAT Abarth 750 Zagato driven by Paul Sagan to 6th place overall the only class H finisher.



After the 22 hp FIAT 600 was launched in 1955 Carlo Abarth set about maximising the potential of tuning the engine by increasing the size from 633 / 38.6 cui to 747 / 45.6 cui fitting a Nardi inlet manifold and increasing the compression ratio to produce 47 hp.

Meanwhile while Zagato set about building a Coupé based on the same car the 30 hp 600 TS, when Abarth saw the coupe he suggested to Zagato they work together to produce a vehicle for racing in the popular 750 cc 45.6 cui sports car class prevalent in national and international racing at the time.




Over 600 of these successful racing vehicles which won the SCCA class H in '59 '60 and '61, are thought to have been built between 1956 and 1960 when the maximum permitted engine sizes for the various national racing classes were changed. The 'double bubble' name which is derived from the two humps in the roof stuck in America where a chewing gum brand bearing the same name was popular.

Paul Sagan is known to have been successful driving Porsche 550's in 1956 and 1957 before he moved over to running the #27 FIAT Abarth 750 during and after which his record is sketchy though he seems to have returned to racing Porsches by 1961.

My thanks to Terry O'Neil for the race results and Steve Arnaudin for his Dad Ed's pictures, wishing Ed all the best on his return home from hospital.

Hope you have enjoyed today's double bubble edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres and that you'll join me again tomorrow for a look at the cool 2nd place Lotus IX of Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20 July 1958. Don't forget to come back know !

HM Racer - Nardi MD4 Spyder

Todays post comes courtesy of photographer Ed Arnaudin who's photo's were kindly forwarded to me courtesy of his son Steve.



Featured today is a Nardi ND 4 Spyder, seen here at the New York Championship Race meeting, Thompson CT July 20th 1958 where it came in 11th driven by John Igleheart in Race 1, a race which I will be returning to tomorrow.

Enrico Nardi was an Italian racing driver, engineer and designer who worked for Lancia and the works Alfa Romeo Scuderia Ferrari Team. Enrico is credited with being one of the first two drivers to race the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, considered to be the very first Ferrari model in all but name, in the 1940 Mille Miglia.

In 1951 Nardi established his own workshops on Via Lancia, Torino to build prototypes and one of the strangest vehicles out side of Can Am 2 the twin boom Nardi Bisiluro for the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours.



The mid 1950's ND4 Spyder is one of many of Nardi's 750 cc vehicles which came in a variety of shapes powered by a variety motors including JAP, Crosley, Panhard and in the case of this particular vehicle a 4 cylinder 43 hp 747 cc / 45.5 cui FIAT unit sourced from the FIAT 600 parts bin.

John Igleheart driver of the #95 seems to have been a specialist at racing cars with small motors he is known to have raced from at least 1953 to 1968, he seems to have been most successful driving a 'Bobsy'.

My thanks again to Ed and Steve Arnaidin for todays valuable contribution and to Terry O' Neil for the race results.

Hope you have enjoyed today's 45.5cui edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Piccoli Ferrari - Siata 208S

Today's photograph by Carlyle Blackwell comes from Ed Arnaudin's collection and I'd like to thank his son Steve for sending it to me.



Photo Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry's please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

Just 35 Siata 208S's were manufactured in Italy from 1953 to 1955. Of those 25 were imported into the USA by Ernie Mcafee.

The cars were fitted with a 105 hp FIAT 70 degree V8 2 litre / 122 cui '8V' engine which allegedly was so named because FIAT erroneously believed Ford owned the V8 trade mark.

The 208S is known to have been driven to victories by among others Bob Kuhn, Dick Hayward and Douglas Diffenderfer who was winning races as late as 1960.

Probably the most famous owner of a 208S was Steve McQueen who apparently replaced the badges on his car with Ferrari badges and called it 'Little Ferrari'.

It should be noted that Ernie Mcafee and Jack McAfee, who appeared on this blog a couple of weeks ago, were not related, though the younger Jack did work for Ernie and on one occasion raced with Ernie sharing a Parravano Ferrari in the 1952 Panamericana.

They often raced against each other right up until Ernie's last race at Pebble Beech on April 22nd 1956 in which he was killed when his car hit a tree. A crash incidentally that heralded the end of Pebble Beech as a venue for racing and led to the development of racing at Laguna Seca in 1957.

Hope you have enjoyed todays piccoli edition of getting a lil' psycho on tyres and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

28 07 12 PS My thanks to Pamela Blackwell who has kindly retrospectively given me permission to post the photo's her father took.

Lennon's on sale again, Lot No: 363 - Ferrari, 330 GT, #06781, 1964.

I'd like to thank Steve Arnaudin for sending me a link to the subjects of today's Ferrari Friday.



Lot No: 363 is billed as the greatest "collision of universes" on one website, and it's not hard to disagree, it is well known that John Lennon had a couple of Rolls-Royce Phantom V Limousine's one of which was famously painted by J.P. Fallon Limited to become known as the 'psychedelic Rolls' though the design is actually based on traditional designs of gypsy caravans one of which John had purchased for his garden.

John said of his Rolls that it was for 'relaxing'.



Less well known was that John also had a Mini for 'pottering about in', and by all accounts had a crash involving his Austin Maxi.

News to me thirty years after his death is that John also bought this Ferrari, his biography 'John Lennon – A Life' by Philip Norman tells us "In February 1965, John passed his driving test, an event that made headline news across the nation. Within hours, every luxury car dealership in the Weybridge area, hoping for business, jammed the road outside Kenwood's security gates with Maseratis, Aston Martins, and Jaguar XK-E'. John strolled out to inspect this gleaming smorgasbord, eventually selecting a £2,000 light blue Ferrari.' "



This is the car sold on 20th April 1965 registered with these DUL 4 C plates to John who was officially recorded as living in central London at the time.



The 330 engine featured 12 cylinders of 330 cc / 20 cui each, from which the 330 name stems, giving the Colombo V12 a total capacity of 3,960 cc / 241 cui capable of producing 300 hp. This engine would form the basis of several racing motors including that used by the Ferrari P4.



John's Right Hand Drive US bodied 330 GT was fitted with electric windows, a Webasto Sunroof and is one of 508 equipped with the original 4 speed gearbox with overdrive.



Unfortunately John's car is no longer it's original Azzuro Light Blue VM 3015 colour, the current darker colour was applied during a restoration in the 1990's after the car had been found ten years earlier painted red.



The 330 GT came with shiny Borrani wheels adjustable Koni shock absorbers, rear leaf springs assisted by coils, unusually the dual circuit servo assisted braking had one servo operating exclusively on the front and the other exclusively on the rear brakes.



John said of his Ferrari he bought it 'for zoom' on 12th of November 1965 six months later DUL 4 C was advertised for sale with 3,000 miles on the clock.

The car is for up for auction at Bonhams Grand Palais event in Paris tomorrow it will be interesting to see if it fetches the maximum estimated € 170,000 in these times of economic uncertainty, my guess is that this is an extremely conservative estimate designed to draw the punters in.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Ferrari Friday 'zoom' edition of Gettin' a little psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow for a look at a Piccoli Ferrari. Don't forget to come back now !