This is pretty incredible... A view from the stands of the 1934 Indianapolis 500. Bob and weave to get a view between the heads in front of you. Your reward? A view of some of the most beautiful race cars to ever grace the brickyard. It's a shame th... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Holy **** that's cool !! Dude there's no wall between the pit lane and the race track and the stands seem to be right next to the track like right on top of the cars >>>>.
I went to the 2007 Indy. The high lite of the trip was the museum, much more fun than the race itself. If you ever get the chance its really worth the trip.
Cool stuff. Was this the year of the Miller Fords? I saw one of them at the Kohler Int. Challange @ Elkhart Lake this summer, absolutely the epitome of craftsmanship. Couldn't find anyone there to explain the transmission though. I know they were front wheel drive but I didn't see an actual transmission under the beautiful body work. Anyone here know how the drive worked? PanheadGuy
Awesome footage! Indy is one of those places that harbors soo much energy, I can't imagine what it was like back then. I got to work grand stand security on turn 3 one year and there is nothing like the last ten laps...except maybe the first ten. I still have the security hat and shirt. At a local auction a while back I picked up these photos in an album. They're 1935 but that's close enough right?
panheadguy, The transmission sits right in front of the engine, you can see a bit of it in the left side of the picture: They are beautiful cars, but suffered from a tight build schedule- the steering box was placed too close to the exhaust, and all of the cars retired early when the steering got cooked. It was also an interesting venture a****st Henry Ford, Harry Miller, and a young, ambitous Preston Tucker, who acted as middleman in the deal...
Just did a quick look through the Jack Fox book and 8 of the 33 cars in the 1934 INDY 500 exist today that I know of. These cars had a great racing lifespan.
Chet Miller finished 33rd in the 1934 INDY 500 in the Ford Flathead powered Bon Aluminum & Br*** Corp. car, makers of Bonnalite pistons.
Unfrigginbeleivable. Man, what it musta been like to be there....the sounds, smells, speed and the sounds. We needed this. Thanks, Ryan.
I never really had even the slightest notion of the old racers, until I went to the Peterson Auto Museum a few weeks ago. I have a new room in my brain for this sort of thing. There was an article in Rod & Custom about the late model ford and chevy 4 bangers that resemble the old offenhauser race engines. Love the polished aluminum!!!! The videos the Peterson had, even had sound. What an amazing part of history!
I use to live a couple blocks from the track on 16th st in the 60s. We'd walk down there often and check things out. Later I saw a few milestones like the Granatelli turbins (sp), first qualifying over 200 mph, and the stinky wooden bathrooms were a sight to behold....especially the knott holes missing in the womens" ! The Museum is quite a sight to see the evolution of automotive racing technology.
Hello Mac, I see the differential and a belhousing. Nothing that looks like it would hold gears. Maybe they were an in/out box like thing. What car is this with an offy motor?
...and no roll bar, and no fuel cells, and no Hans device, and no safety harness and probably no health insurance of any kind! Men of steel.
Here ya go Panhead, sorry about the photo quality, from the Mark Dees Miller Dynasty. The frontdrive casting held the transmission and was the anchor point for the IFS. The Ford Flathead block is turned 180 degrees and heads swapped around.
...and wearing a T-shirt! Fantastic footage, the consistent inclusion of material like this is what makes TJJ such an indispensable part of my daily routine. Thanks Ryan.
Somebody can correct me if I'm incorrect here... If memory serves me, after the failure of the Miller-Fords of 1935, Henry Ford washed his hands of the project and all five cars were sold. Most of them appeared at Indy numerous times under different names and with different engines. Some of the modified '35 Ford grilles were replaced with different bodywork to further disguise/streamline the cars, A couple of them became the first Novi cars. I have always thought those were some of the most beautiful cars that ever raced at Indy and I would love to clone one of them for the street.
panheadguy- sorry for not responding more quickly! 37kid gave you a good head-on shot of the trans, but what I circled from my earlier photo is the gearbox (the offy is transplanted into a '35 Miller Ford):
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