It is the diamond at the top of the crown for those who are brave enough and talented enough to try to wear it.
I've been around that track granted it was in a bus tour but you sure can appreciate the track.......those curved banks are ridiculous!
Chuck Weyant told me that Vucky and McGrath were so much faster than most of the field and running so hard he felt something bad was going to happen. Chuck ended up 12th, I believe it was his first Indy start.
Vukovich is the greatest driver to ever race and makes me proud to be from Fresno (which is saying a lot). The part of the video when his crew is waiting for him to come back is devastating.
hard for me to pick an era of Indy I like the best. I would say 55 to 65 was some of the coolest rides. My dad got a chance to crew in the late 70s at the tail end of the era where a privateer could think of competing.
Damn. Brutal is right. Thanks for that. In that sweet spot between elite home built hot rods driven by hard core bad*** dudes and the big money organization era. Guess they're still driven by hard core bad*** dudes.
I may have posted this before, but Letterman sums it up better than almost anyone in this interview...
Big Indycar fan, My favorite racing event of the year. I’ve only been to the 500 once in 2011 but it’s mystified me since. I’d go every year if it were financially feasible (and kids). So much history there it blows my mind to think about it, not to mention the insanity that @Ryan mentioned. For anyone interested this is a great read on the track and it’s history:
I remember listening to that race on the car radio while we were either on the way to or at a family picnic or possibly in the car between cemeteries as we carried wash tubs of flowers and a lot of juice cans to (remember those large tin cans that at least a quart and probably more orange or other juice came in then?) Half the yard here where I live now was flower garden with a large section full of peonies. We cut and carried a lot of flowers to the cemeteries as here it was "decoration day" and most folks placed and many still do place flowers on the graves of family and friends. My grandparents indulged me a bit and let me listen to the race on the radio that day. Memories from a guy who was an Indy 500 fan at 9 years old that year.
1955 was the year that Bill Vukovich died in a fiery wreck. He was going for 3 wins in a row. Indy was always a scene of great success or great tragedy. I have a couple of books on the event, fascinating reading.
1955 was also the year of that bad crash at LeMans. I believe over 80 people were killed and many injured.
"Way back Story" All in the love of INDY 500. As far back as I have had race fever,Indy 500 has been top race of the year too hear*/then watch after TV started coverage. Sitting out in the yard in our car in the 1950's ,do too car radio could pick up race better;before TV. Years later by the early 1970's,when I was designing an building SCCA FF,got to meet some big name Indy car builders,Zink,Beach,and even let Red LaGrand use part of my shop a few days{ Red showed me how to do bumpsteer check n adjust on his new FF} and in a few years,worked brifly with Frank Williams{ race car designer @ Lotus} then,@ my speed shop[ CompTech.]. In 1984,then 1985s,DuPont Prize of $10,000 was put up ,for the first Human Powered vehicle to go over 65mph,on Indy 500 track. Well that was,as I saw it, a way to race my own designed vehicle on Indy 500 track!!!! Took some time inbetween off hotrods an race cars,too design an build a human powered streamliner. Turned out ,there was 93 others who wanted the DuPont Prize,like MIT,Ga.Tech and on n on,big engineering University's from around the world with wind tunnels exct.,were going for it. A long with a few kind of like me. The first year,no one hit the speed mark,and next year was set up,I designed an built another + updated an we took both "Strange One" and "Too Strange" for another go at it!. In the first year 93 vehicles tried,fastest top speed across the yard of bricks*,was like 51.32 mph. powered by USA Olympics Bike team rider,in a streamliner designed n built by a bike factory in Calif called E'Z'Rider, Got first place! Well done! We;'Team Strange" from Miami Fla. >Me an the kid that lived around the block who races 10speeds, my rider,when the smoke cleared,was the 10th fastest in the world*. Not bad,so we went back the next year an finished 7th.an 9th with a updated design. Then had to make a living at hotrod n race cars again all year long,so no more fun n games at Indy 500 track. I'm in a blue hat behind my two streamliners.
The Jalopy Journal
