Yeah I don't know if they'll be as easy to find on the west coast as they are here around Indy, but Barnes & Noble might be a good start. Some stores will have them in special promotional display stands instead of on the rack. $15 (cheaper if the store discounts their mags, like WalMart) gets you the commemorative SI plus the official 500 program. If you can't find them locally, you can buy straight from IMS at the website. Three different covers, one available only at newsstands, two at IMS, but you can get your pick online. BTW if you have one, check out the big 96-page section at the back where there's a page for every race...I wrote all the photo captions in that section (well over 200 of 'em), and Donald Davidson wrote all the summaries for each race.
Back in the dark ages before the net, I liked the Firestone magazine ads that had pictures of all the winning racers. I think I framed one of the later color ads. I think this continued up into the 60s when I first started seeing them. Daytona and Indy are the only can't miss races for me.
Picked it up today....great edition AND it includes the Official Program for only $15 clams... Great deal...
Racer 5c Who ran the gas turbine car? I thought it was AJ. I think STP might have been the sponsor. This was along time ago. I do not think it finished the race and they changed the rules so they could no longer race gas turbines at Indy.
Was it Andy Granatelli? I was listening on AM radio back then Seems the turbine lost a $9 bearing while way ahead just a few laps from the end. Rule change didn't ban turbines, just cut back the intake size so far it wouldn't have enough power to be compe***ive. Anybody else remember the scream of the NOVI's going by?? Sounded like 20K at least
Can't wait ! I'll be there with my oldest Granddaughter. Her first Indy 500 so it's going to be extra special.
Ryan, How many of the INDY 500 winners exist? I watch the Race every year, but my real interest is in the Pre WWII era. Got to sit in the 4th place finishing car from the 1911 race and got a ride in the 2nd place finishing car from the 1916 event. I own the bill of sale and all the paperwork relating to running the Ira Vail MILLER from 1925. The year old MILLER cost $6,500, and INDY refunded the $100.00 entry fee if you qualified, what would these numbers be today?
That pic of Sweikert in 55.....he won because THE MAN of that era Bill Vukovich who won in both 53 and 54 lost his life on lap 57 of the 1955 race. Vuky would have won 3 in a row if not for getting caught up in the wreck of another driver. Maybe Dave McDonald. Bill Vukovich was one hell of a driver. To look at this pic up close tells you how brutal the race was on a driver. And I may be wrong but this is how he felt after a win. The grounds of Indy and the museum is the most awesome place I have ever been in my life.
They will have some of the old Indy cars doing some parade laps this month. A friend of mine has a 1935 two man car that will be there. I got a chance to be the riding mechanic last weekend at Fontana for a shake down run. It was a neat experience. It gave me a new appreciation for the guys that raced back then. The pictures are from my cell phone so they aren't that great.
Here are a few other pictures of the Indy cars from last weekend at Fontana. I would imagine that some of these cars will also go back to Indy this month.
I believe you're right. I'm pretty sure that's the name I heard. The paint on the hood is new but the rest is the original paint. The paint cleaned up really well so he decided to leave it alone.
That is a great looking car, there must be a good story to go with it staying so nice all these years. Could you get some more details on it? Thanks, Bob
Multiple ch***is/engine combos should be a good deal. I miss watching as a kid, when you could see several different styles of cars that all looked different, including Hurtibuise still trying to qualify a roadster. And even that horrible looking abomination that Bob Hamilton tried to qualify in 1980 or so.
As I recall, Parnelli Jones drove the turbine car of Andy Granatelli. He started last and in two laps p***ed everybody in the field. While leading, he went out with a bad bearing. Kinda like everyman's fantasy.
I don't know the whole story but the car was a complete rebuild as far as I know. All of the plating is fresh. The engine is a Miller 220. I can't remember the name of the guy that would sell the frame rails, cowl, and bodies (starts with an 'R') during that period. I was told that racers could buy these parts from him then put a car together with whatever engine and other bits they wanted to use. There is a Harry Miller connection with the car because one of Miller's employees fabricated the grill. There is more to the story but that's all I know. Next year will be better with the changes but it will still be a spec ch***is. The difference will be that there can be different body kits. The car is a new one but it looks like the owners are trying to delay the introduction of the different body kits until 2013 so they might still look the same as each other next year. All of the engine manufacturers are very busy getting ready and that will add a new variable that has been gone for a while. That will ****e things up as well as the teams learning to set up the new cars. I believe that was 1967. Parnelli had them covered but broke and Foyt got his third Indy win.
Hormel says that 3.8 cans of SPAM are consumed every second in the United States.[/QUOTE] After being forced to eat that **** or eat nothing in viet Nam quite often for a year I told my wife the week before we we got married that if she ever brought a can in the house I would file for divorce on the spot. The smell of it still makes me sick. Back to the 500, I grew up listening to it on the radio through the 50's and probably early 60's either at a family picnic on the car radio or on the radio in the car while we made the rounds of the cemeterys to put flowers on the graves of family members on Memorial day. I'm not sure you can even find it on the radio around this area any more but I usually get to watch it on TV. My heros were the guys who drove the Offy powered roadsters though and I couldn't give you a half dozen names of current drivers. '
I believe the car you are thinking of was Granatelli's Turbine that Parnelli drove, there were a few others but that is the most famous one, they kept making the air intake smaller and smaller and pretty much made them uncompe***ive, When I worked at the IMS, I had a vault that was ***inged to me, had a lot of Trophies, every Speed Age Magazine lots of cool stuff, one day I stumbled across boxes and boxes of letters from people asking the IMS not to let the turbine run, I can barely remember watching Parnelli in the turbine
Hey, following on Posts 29 and 44: Heads up, car nuts AND ALCO nuts in particular! The 1909 ALCO "Black Beast," which ran in the inaugural 1911 Indy 500 will reprise its performance with a ceremonial lap at the Brickyard during pre-race ceremonies. I understand that three or four OTHER cars from that race will also reappear. Not bad for century-old cars, eh? Here's a photo of "The Beast," being driven during the 2009 Vanderbilt Cup Centennial Celebration by auto historian and ALCO devotee Howard Kroplick. Lucky man, as Howard is also the car's owner! It's literally living history in motion, as it's the hundred-horse, six-cylinder machine that won the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup races on Long Island. Whoa! Driven by Harry Grant The Black Beast -- with over 500-CID -- was the favorite to win the first Indy 500 Race, 'til a connecting rod broke well into the race. Repaired, The Beast took second place in the 1911 Elgin National Trophy Race, before it was retired and presented to Grant. Of this weekend's festivities, Howard Kroplick recently enthused with tongue-in-cheek good humor: "I am optimistic that the Black Beast will finally be the first car over the finish line at Indy! For more info -- written by Howard himself -- go to Alco-6 Black Beast Racer on VanderbiltCupRaces.com. And still MORE at: www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/index.php/blog/article/archives_alco...
Didn’t see a reply on this thread Yes that’s Doc MacKenzie’s 1935 and 1936 Indy car. Purring Specials....4 cars in total built.... 2 2 seaters rear wheel drive for big tracks. 1 single seater Front wheel drive machine, and 1 single seat rear wheel drive for short flat tracks
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