Klasika

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[Radoye]

Mario Andreti:

 

 

[Radoye]

 

[alberto.ascari]

Ricardo Rodriguez, najmladji pilot ever u Ferrariju. Monza 1961.




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[alberto.ascari]

Danas je pedeseta godišnjica.[emoji3583]

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RETRO: Lee Kunzman beats the Grim Reaper

Image by John Mahoney

 

By Robin Miller | 4 hours ago

 

 

It was June 5, 1970 at a USAC sprint race in Odessa, Mo., that Lee Kunzman first bitch slapped the Grim Reaper. At that point in his career he was not only a rising star in the toughest open-wheel racing in the country but one of the most versatile drivers since A.J. and Rufus.

 

A year earlier he’d won the first USAC midget race he entered against the likes of Kenyon, Tattersall, McGreevey and Wente and run second or third 10 times in sprinters. He passed his rookie test at Indy in ’70 but neither car he drove had a chance to make the show so he wound up winning the Night Before The 500 midget main at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

 

A week later he was fighting for his life at I-70 Speedway – broken, battered and engulfed in flames.

 

“It’s been 50 years?” says the 75-year-old Kunzman when informed of that fateful night. “Damn, I am getting old but I remember all of it — I never lost consciousness.”

 

He’d gone to buy his pit pass for the USAC sprint show that night when informed he’d been fired from his steady ride. So he hopped in a strange car and was making the best of it. He started last in his heat race and was passing Gary Bettenhausen for the lead when the throttle stuck.

 

The car hit the wall, then climbed it and tore down a 10-foot fence before bursting into flames. Kunzman had no way of knowing but the impact broke his neck, his right arm and fractured his right wrist while his left arm was tangled in the fence.

 

“I knew I was on fire and soaked with fuel and I kept saying, ‘Stay conscious, don’t breathe or you’ll die.’ When I finally crawled away from the car I tried to run to a fireman to have him put me out and that’s when I knew my neck was broken because my legs went one way and my head went another.”

 

But in the midst of this ghastly accident, an angel emerged. Dr. Ward Dunseth, who had sponsored Lee’s sprint car in 1969 (pictured above, with Kunzman in the cockpit), thankfully was at the track that night and his quick thinking likely prevented paralysis.

 

“Doc held my head up and soaked my body with damp cloths, which probably saved some third-degree burns,” recalled Kunzman. “Then he found one of those tanks at state fairs where they kept apples and it was full of water, so he got some help and they laid me into the tank for buoyancy while he held my head and neck as we drove to the hospital. He’s the only reason I’m not paralyzed.”

 

The handsome 25-year-old from Guttenberg, Iowa suffered second-degree burns on his face and neck. His nose was nearly burned off along with his eyebrows and he couldn’t shut his eyes for long periods of time. After six weeks in the hospital, he was released and began thinking about 1971.

 

“I knew I’d be scarred but I also knew I could still race and that helped motivate me all winter,” he reasoned. “A bone specialist told me I’d never race again but I was happy to prove him wrong.”

 

On April 25, 1971 at Cincinnati’s Tri-County Speedway Kunzman made his comeback in a midget and it was spectacular. USAC would not grant him a license because they said he wasn’t physically recovered, so he borrowed another driver’s helmet for practice and qualifying.

 

Even though he looked like hell (think Phantom of the Opera) that’s also how he ran in the feature as he captured the 40-lapper. When he pulled into victory lane, he was so tired he couldn’t pull the car out of gear and damn near ran over a couple USAC officials.

 

“But you should have seen the look on their face when I took off my helmet,” says Kunzman with a laugh. “Then they said I could have my license back.”

 

A.J. Foyt with Lee Kunzman at Indianapolis in 1973. Image by David Phipps/Motorsport Images

 

Of all the tough guys in racing, only A.J. Foyt rivals Lee for setbacks, comebacks, broken bones, burns and that amazing ability to erase bad memories and go speeding back into life.

 

From 1971-73 he was brilliant on the high banks at Salem and Winchester, always formidable at Terre Haute, Williams Grove or Eldora and lost the ’73 USAC sprint title by a few points. It was so obvious he was a special talent and finally Bob Fletcher gave him a first-class IndyCar ride halfway through ’73 — he was on the front row with Mario in his first start.

 

But Kunzman would face his biggest challenge that December when he was critically injured while testing Fletcher’s car at Ontario. He had to relearn how to read, write, walk and talk after a severe brain injury. It took nearly two full years to recover but he was back in a race car in 1975 and almost won the 1979 IndyCar race at Atlanta.

 

He missed three of his prime years with injuries yet still scored 14 USAC sprint wins and 16 midget victories in what totaled about five full seasons. He never complained or moaned about bad luck, inferior Indy cars or all his challenges. He doesn’t move too fast these days but he’s always got a smile or a story at team lunch.

 

And 50 years ago he crawled out of an inferno in Missouri and never lost that fire to stand on the gas.

 

 

[Radoye]

Bobi Rehol:

 

 

Kastroneves:

 

 

[Radoye]

Dotakli smo se Argentine onamo na temi o nesudjenoj nam ovogodisnjoj F1 sezoni - malo je poznato da je Argentina nekad imala svoj nacionalni F1 sampionat. Ono sto je posebno interesantno je to da za razliku od drugih nacionalnih F1 sampionata u to vreme (britanski, juznoafricki) ovde nisu ucestvovali polovni F1 bolidi nekoliko godina stari nakon sto su ih se ratosiljali timovi iz svetskog sampionata nego iskljucivo lokalne konstrukcije. Evo par fotki iz 1976:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jedan od argentinskih timova-konstruktora, Berta, pokusao je da izadje i na dve trke za svetski sampionat (1975 VN Argentine i VN Brazila) ali zbog razloraznih tehnickih problema nisu nikada uspeli da okrenu nijedan pun krug tokom zvanicnog trkackog vikenda.

 

 

[Radoye]

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Legendary Porsche engineer Hans Mezger dies at age 90

Image courtesy of Porsche

 

By RACER Staff | 14 minutes ago

 

 

Hans Mezger, the engineering genius behind a number of Porsche’s most renowned racing and road cars and engines, has died at the age of 90.

 

Mezger’s works over more than three decades with the company include the 911’s air-cooled, six-cylinder boxer engine as well as the 917 Le Mans racer and the TAG turbo Formula 1 engine (with which Mezger is pictured above) raced to world championship success by McLaren.

 

Mezger joined Porsche straight out of university in 1956. “I wanted to join Porsche because the Type 356 sports car inspired me,” he recalled years later. “So I applied, got an interview, and the company offered me a job in diesel engine development. Until then, I didn’t even know that Porsche had such a thing. But I envisioned working on sports cars. They showed understanding and that’s how I started in the calculations department at Porsche.”

 

Mezger gained his first experience with the four camshaft engine Type 547, developed a formula for calculating cam profiles and became part of Porsche’s first Formula 1 project in 1960. He was involved in the development of the 1.5-liter eight-cylinder Type 753 as well as the corresponding chassis of the 804.

 

“On this Formula 1 project I also learned a lot about the design of combustion chambers,” he related. “This also directly benefited the design of the 6-cylinder boxer engine for the later 901/911. Ferry Porsche, with his visionary leadership of the company, his human qualities, dignity and great dedication, became my role model. I wholeheartedly shared his philosophy of racing in order to build the best sports car for the road, was impressive and had a lasting impact on myself and my work during the entire period I spent at the company.”

 

Mezger was responsible for the overall construction of the 917 racer and its 12-cylinder engine, which dominated at Le Mans and in the World Sportscar Championship in 1970 and ’71, as well the Can-Am series in modified form.

 

“The news of his death represents a very sad loss for us. Our thoughts are with his family,” says Michael Steiner, Member of the Porsche Executive Board, Research and Development. “We thank Hans Mezger for his extraordinary engineering achievements, which he has done for motorsport in general and for Porsche in particular. His innovations for our series sports cars will remain unforgotten forever.”

 

 

[Radoye]

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On This Day in Trans Am History: June 12, 1983

June 12, 2020

 

June 12, 1983

 

Making his fourth start in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, Willy T. Ribbs scored his first major career victory at Portland International Raceway. A native of San Jose, California, Ribbs led final the 37 laps after starting third, driving the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet Camaro fielded by Portland’s Neil DeAtley.

 

“I had been knocking on the door in the first three races of the season, at Palm Beach, Summit Point and Sears Point,” Ribbs recalled. “When we got to Portland, everything worked great. Not just great in how the car performed, but how the race unfolded. We were strong. It was surreal.”

 

Gene Felton, winner of the season opener at Moroso Motorsports Park, qualified on the pole in the No. 2 Oftedahl Racing Pontiac Trans-Am. Greg Pickett actually posted the fastest qualifying lap – 1:09.47-seconds in the No. 6 Pickett Racing Corvette – but started sixth.

 

David Hobbs started on the outside of the front row in the No. 29 Budweiser Camaro. The popular Englishman got the jump at the start and led the opening 14 laps before losing the lead to his teammate. Ribbs led the rest of the way, although Pickett closed in during the latter stages of the event. Ribbs finished strong, nosing out Pickett at the finish by .60-seconds.

 

“There was no doubt I was going to win,” Ribbs recalled. “But it’s not a win until you cross the line. I kept asking myself on the cooldown lap, ‘Did I win?’ I wasn’t quite sure I won, and I kept asking the team. Then, when I got out of the car, that was when it sunk in that I had won the race.”

 

Tom Gloy rounded out the podium in the No. 8 Lane Sports Racing Mercury Capri, followed by Hobbs and Felton.

 

Also competing in the 35-car field were Lyn St. James, 11^th in the No. 18 Lane Capri, and Paul Newman, 21^st in Bob Sharp’s Datsun 280ZX turbo.

 

Ribbs finished the campaign with five victories and took second in the championship, 10 points behind Hobbs, earning Rookie of the Year honors.

 

Ribbs went on to compete in 61 Trans Am races, winning 17 of them while recording 37 top-five finishes. When he stepped aside he was the third-leading winner, and as he is proud to point out, “I was the leading money winner when I quit.”

 

PHOTO: Willy T. Ribbs in 1983 action (Mark Windecker photo)

 

 

Ko ne zna Ribsovu pricu najtoplije preporucujem dokumentarac "Uppity".

 

Prvi crnac koji je seo u neki F1 bolid nije se zvao Luis Hamilton.

 

[alberto.ascari]

Mansell u Mondeu, BTCC, 1998. Imao sam isti Mondeo (bar spolja[emoji16]), motor 1,8 Zetec.




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[alberto.ascari]

Kod nas ide GP Kanade 1999.




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[alberto.ascari]

Kod nas ide GP Kanade 1999.




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Jbg, overio ga Schumi u Wall of Champions...

Shvatam ja da je ovo 21 godinu star snimak, ali fali mi kako pratimo i komentarišemo zajedno, pravo vreme za trku, Sunday 3PM..[emoji16][emoji16][emoji16][emoji2510][emoji2510][emoji2510][emoji2510][emoji469][emoji469][emoji1063]

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[Radoye]

 

[Radoye]

Otkazan ovogodisnji Gudvud:

 

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Charles Gordon-Lennox, the Duke of Richmond, announced today that the Festival of Speed and Revival will not be held at Goodwood in 2020 due to ongoing concerns about public gatherings related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

[Radoye]

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On This Day in Trans Am History: June 16, 1973

June 16, 2020

 

June 16, 1973

 

There was no need for a checkered flag at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday, June 16, 1973. Mother Nature took matters into her own hands shortly after 6 p.m., blanketing the circuit with a wall of heavy fog that ended the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli race 20 laps shy of the scheduled 92-lap (500 kilometer) distance.

 

Maurice “Mo” Carter was declared the winner. He was forced to abandon his Chevrolet Camaro on the race course, and was taken to the Kendall Service Center to receive his trophy. Weather dominated the event, changing from wet to dry several times, leading to numerous pit stops to switch to the appropriate tires.

 

Carter became the first Canadian driver to win in the Trans Am. It was also his lone triumph in 38 starts from 1969-81.

 

The lead in the competitive event changed hands seven times. Paul Nichter captured the pole with a lap of 2:02.103-seconds on the 3.377-mile circuit and led the opening 10 laps in the rain. Milt Minter then led through lap 24 in the Bob Harmon Porsche Carrera RS. John Greenwood then powered his Corvette into the lead for 13 circuits, before giving way to the Corvette of Marshall Robbins for 11 laps. Greenwood regained the lead when Robbins pitted, but Al Holbert went out front for five laps in the Porsche Carrera RS started by Mark Donohue. Greenwood again took the lead on lap 61, and led until lap 69 when Carter took over.

 

Four laps later, fog blanketed the circuit. With virtually zero visibility, officials used flares to warn the drivers stranded throughout the circuit.

 

Peter Gregg finished second, 45 seconds back in the Gerrard Porsche RS, followed by the Greenwood/Bob Johnson Corvette, the Corvette of Robbins and Jerry Thompson, and Ludwig Heimrath in a Porsche 911.

 

The race was part of a popular Five Star format, also including an SCCA L&M Championship Series Formula 5000 race won by championship-bound Jody Scheckter, and a Volkswagen Gold Cup event won by Bertil Roos.

 

 

[Radoye]

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RETRO: When Michael Andretti signed an F1 deal – with Ferrari

Phoenix, 1991. Image by Colombo/Motorsport Images

 

By Marshall Pruett | 1 hour ago

 

 

Plenty has been written about Michael Andretti’s decision to leave the CART IndyCar Series at the end of 1992 to compete for McLaren in Formula 1 alongside Ayrton Senna. It’s his desire to depart for Ferrari one year earlier, while on the road to capturing the 1991 CART championship with Newman/Haas Racing, where the real intrigue is found.

 

His attempt to add to the family legacy at Ferrari, where his father raced and won across three F1 stints spanning 1971-1982, makes for a fascinating revelation as joining the Italian national team nearly came to fruition.

 

“It was ’91. We were at Elkhart Lake, and I had just signed a contract with [Carl Haas] for ’92,” Andretti said. “But there was a clause in there about Formula 1, that he said that he would never enforce, that if I [wanted] to go [to] Formula 1, he would never stop me. And so, in ’91, I happened to sign a contract. This is something that not too many people know. I signed a contract with Ferrari to drive for them in ’92.”

 

At the time, Haas was among the leading power brokers in the CART paddock. As one of IndyCar’s most successful teams, the duo of Mario and Michael Andretti brought immense funding from sponsors to the Illinois-based outfit owned by Haas and Paul Newman, which likely contributed to the change of heart by Haas. Also beloved for his occasionally hapless ways, Hass was quickly forgiven by Andretti.

 

“And so, when I brought [the Ferrari contract] back to Carl, he said, ‘I’m not going to let you do it,’” Andretti recalled. “I’m like, ‘Well you said you would!’ I was really, really mad at him. We were staying at the same hotel, and we’re heading out race morning, and I wasn’t even talking to him. He’s in the car in front of me, and we get in the car, and his coat’s arm sleeve was sticking out the side of the door when he closed it.

 

“So, the whole way [there], you see this thing flapping in the wind. And it’s like, God, I want to be so mad at him, but I just couldn’t stay mad enough.”

 

With his Newman/Haas contract set to expire, Andretti signed with McLaren and embarked on what he readily describes today as his worst year in racing. Haas, in turn, pulled off a whale of deal to back-fill Andretti’s seat for 1993 with reigning F1 champion Nigel Mansell where the Briton delivered the CART title.

Although the 1992 Ferrari F92A was among the Scuderia’s greatest modern failures in F1, the proposed pairing of Andretti and a certain triple world champion could have played a meaningful role as mentor to the Italian-American rookie, continues to pique the 57-year-old’s curiosity.

 

“I think it was a three-year deal that I signed,” he said. “And so, they knew that it would take some time for me to get going, and [Alain] Prost was going to be my teammate. So I felt like I was going to be able to learn a lot there. I thought it was a great opportunity. To drive for Ferrari right out of Indy cars would have been awesome. So, it’s something that was really disappointing.”

 

As the prospect of having Prost and Andretti in 1992 fell through, Ferrari stuck with the Italian, fired the Frenchman (after Prost made derogatory comments about his 1991 chassis), and inked Ivan Capelli to herd the twin-floor F92A. In retrospect, Haas might have done Andretti a favor at Elkhart Lake in 1991.

 

“It would have been cool, even though that year wasn’t very strong,” he said. “But, hopefully if I could have run with Prost, which at that time you were able to do unlimited testing and things like that. I would have been able to be a lot more prepared. And I think it would have been less political with me going to do that, than it was when I joined McLaren. It would’ve been an interesting exercise, but unfortunately it never happened.”

 

 

[Radoye]

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Mysterious Maserati Uncovered 50 Years after Indy 500 Rookie Test by Al Unser

June 18, 2020 | By Ben White

 

 

Sitting idle in a cold, dark storage unit lay a forgotten piece of motorsports history that very few people knew still existed. Even though in complete disrepair amid badly faded paint and hints of rust, through restoration and resurrection the machine was destined to someday return to its former glory.

 

Almost six decades of sunlight have come and gone since the No. 63 Arciero Brothers Maserati owned by Frank Arciero Sr. was entered briefly into open-wheel competition in 1964 and 1965. That carefully selected collection of parts produced the very first asphalt Indy car motorsports icon Al Unser drove. It was also the car Unser drove for his rookie test for the 1965 Indianapolis 500.

 

The Pete Weismann-built machine was seemingly taken from Indianapolis Motor Speedway and never raced again before resurfacing 50 years later some 2,300 miles from the track. Noted vintage car builder Matthew Wittmier discovered it among items he bought out of a storage unit in Shelton, Washington, the westernmost city on the Puget Sound. How it came to be in that place will remain a mystery forever, as the identity of the person it was bought from has been lost.

 

Wittmier found it through an advertisement on a well-known website saying a vintage Indy car was for sale with the names Arciero and Unser lettered onto its faded red-and-white paint scheme. He contacted Unser by phone and was told he did drive the car at Milwaukee and then Indianapolis but did not qualify it for the “500.” Wittmier also learned there is an ongoing search by Maserati for the engine the car carried that day.

 

Arciero, a longtime car owner, got involved in motorsports in the mid-1950s and fielded teams in CART and Champ Car through the early 2000s. Arciero also fielded cars in SCCA, Can-Am, Super Vee, Indy Lights, Atlantics and INDYCAR competition during his legendary career. Motorsports royalty often drove his cars, including Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Jim Clark, Al and Bobby Unser, Roger Penske, Phil Hill, Geoff Brabham, Michael Andretti, Scott Pruett, Max Papis and Dan Wheldon.

 

Donald Davidson, historian for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, uncovered vital information concerning the car’s early history.

 

“Apparently, there are three instances where the car was entered into races,” Davidson said. “It was entered at Indianapolis in 1964 on the Dean Van Lines team as a Delta International Movers Special, which I think was another Al Dean Company. The car didn’t run. So, it was entered and may have been at the track, but it was never on the track.”

Davidson offered a theory concerning the car’s brief stint at IMS in 1964 and why it was dismissed in favor of other possible entries at that time. The decision seemingly came down to personal preference.

“Dean Van Lines was having driver problems in 1964,” Davidson said. “There was no driver entered on the No. 94 Delta International Movers, which would have been Dean Van Lines’ first rear-engine car. That year, some people were starting to enter rear-engine cars, and the top teams had rear-engine cars and roadsters. The roadsters were the backups for the rear engines if they didn’t work out. A.J. Foyt and Parnelli Jones had rear-engine cars at their disposal, but they went in favor of the roadster again.”

 

Al Unser drove the No. 94 eight months before the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in the Tony Bettenhausen 200 on Aug. 23, 1964 at Milwaukee, as the Agajanian Bowes Seal Fast Special, completing 51 laps before engine issues sent him to the garage.

 

The car changed hands when J.C. Agajanian sold it to Arciero, a business magnate with large interests in construction, real estate, concrete and wine production in California. It was seemingly a good car fielded by a well-respected, winning team.

 

In 1965, Unser, a future four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was in the midst of a career that was new and untested. Unser set out to follow in the tire tracks of his famous family of racers in hopes of making his mark in American motorsports.

 

There was father Jerry Unser and uncles Louis and Joe, the first member of the Unser clan to lose his life to the sport, killed in 1929 while test-driving an FWD Coleman Special on a Denver highway.

 

Al's oldest brother, Jerry, became the first Unser to drive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1958 but lost his life in a crash during a practice session prior to the 1959 Indianapolis 500. Middle brother Bobby drove in his first Indianapolis 500 in 1963, becoming the first family member to win the Indianapolis 500, in 1968. When Al arrived at Indianapolis for the first time in 1965, the Unser name was well known around open-wheel racing circles.

 

Al Unser confirmed the No. 63 Arciero Maserati was the first asphalt Indy car he ever drove.

 

“The very first Indy car I drove was in 1963; it was a dirt car at the Phoenix mile down there at the fairgrounds, and it was the Joe Hunt Magneto car,” Unser said in 2017. “The 94 car (now the No. 63 Arciero car) is the first asphalt car I ever drove. (Laughter) I don’t remember the exact paint scheme of the car when I ran it at Milwaukee because that was just too many years ago.

 

“I do remember when I ran it at Milwaukee, the car had an Offy (Offenhauser) engine in it. It did not have the Maserati engine in it then.”

 

Even though well back in the distance, an image in a photo taken during the opening laps of the 1964 Tony Bettenhausen 200 at Milwaukee seems to suggest the car was red and white as it sits today. Two extra solid red fuel tanks carrying 94s were included when the car was purchased from Wittmier by Ray Evernham in March 2017. The car and numerous parts were delivered from Shelton, Washington, to Ray Evernham Enterprises in Mooresville, North Carolina, in June 2017.

 

Unser competed in both the Sprint and National Championship divisions in 1965. His No. 63 Arciero ride was good but lacked the horsepower to get the job done. The engine blew, ending all hope of seeing the car in the 1965 Indianapolis 500 field.

 

He was relieved when at the 11th hour, A.J. Foyt offered him a ride in his backup Lola Ford. Unser qualified deep in the field, in 32nd on the 33-car grid, but avoided crashes and mechanical issues and finished ninth.

 

Unser remembers how he got in Arciero’s car and how it performed at Indianapolis.

 

“I remember the thing was a good-handling car at Indianapolis that year, but the engine just wouldn’t produce any power,” Unser said. “We ran the car 151 miles per hour, and it just wouldn’t go anywhere. Finally, Louie (another Unser brother) put some nitro to it, and we blew it up. It was the last engine we had so that just ended everything.

 

“To my knowledge, I don’t believe the car was ever run again. (Laughter) That’s because we had run through all of our Maserati engines. I think there were only three engines they had, and I think we blew all three of them.”

 

 

[Radoye]

 

 

[alberto.ascari]

Monte Carlo 1996. Frentzen na Irvineovom krilu.





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[Duh sa sekirom]

Gledao sam je ponono za vreme pandemije. Ima cela trka na YT.

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[Radoye]

Dzim Klark:

 

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RETRO: The best IndyCar/NASCAR crossovers

ISC Archives via Getty Images

 

By Robin Miller | 20 hours ago

 

 

This weekend’s IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway could be the start of something that might encompass other tracks down the road as both series look to regain their oval track fan base. And while it’s the first time Indy cars and stock cars have competed together at the same track on the same day/weekend, back in the 1960s and 1970s it was commonplace to have some of the biggest names of USAC and NASCAR try their hand at each other’s discipline.

 

A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue and Dan Gurney ventured down to Daytona or out to Riverside while Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Bobby & Donnie Allison and Paul Goldsmith strapped on the Indianapolis 500.

 

“I liked to go in somebody’s backyard see how good I was against them,” said Foyt, who captured the 1972 Daytona 500 and ran NASCAR’s crown jewel 28 times (pictured above: Foyt en route to third at Daytona in 1979). “I liked to challenge people at their own ball game.”

 

Mario Andretti in victory lane following the 1967 Daytona 500. RacingOne/Getty Images for NASCAR

 

Andretti sent a shock wave through the south when he won Daytona in his first try in 1967, but loved the challenge of racing anything.

 

“I think we inspired one another,” said the 1978 Formula 1 world champion. “If Parnelli, A.J. and Dan can do it, I wanted to try. That’s how I looked at it and got my inspiration. It was a beautiful thing.”

 

It was cool to see Donnie driving for Foyt, Bobby for Roger Penske, Cale as teammates with Lloyd Ruby for Gene White, Lee Roy wheeling Jim Robbins’ car and Goldy behind the wheel of roadsters for Smokey Yunick, Norm Demler and Herb Porter. They all qualified for Indy multiple times along with Bobby Johns, while Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner and Charlie Glotzbach didn’t make the show.

 

But the staggering statistic is that IndyCar regulars racked up 18 wins (Foyt 7, Gurney 5, Parnelli 4, Mario and Jim Hurtubise) in the Cup Series while no NASCAR driver has ever made it to victory lane in Indy cars. Yarbrough came within nine laps of wining the inaugural California 500 at Ontario and also posted a third at Trenton in 1971, while Goldsmith finished third at Indy in 1960 and Donnie Allison came home fourth in 1970.

 

All totaled, NASCAR’s crossovers only made 41 starts among seven drivers from 1958-1975 and Yarborough has 14 of them because he ran the full 1971 USAC Championship Trail.

 

A.J. rated Donny Allison highly after his Indy 500 runs with Foyt’s team. He finished sixth with this Coyote-Ford in 1971. Image by IMS archive

 

“You know, we were raised in all types of cars on pavement and dirt and those guys were raised in stock cars only except Goldsmith (AMA motorcycle champion), so I think it was easier for us,” said Foyt. “And, other than Cale, they didn’t have a lot of miles in our cars.

 

“I thought Donnie did a helluva job for us no more than he drove (five starts) and I always thought Cale could have won with a top car. Goldsmith is one of the most under-rated drivers I ever raced against, but you know Indy cars aren’t for everybody. Junior Johnson said it was like driving a hay wagon with wagon wheels.”

 

Andretti agrees with IndyCar’s all-time winner.

 

“It’s much easier to adapt to a stock car from an Indy car. It’s much tougher for those guys because it’s such a different animal. The biggest problem we had was over-driving because those cars are so clumsy and you never think you’re going fast enough — especially coming off a corner.

 

“But I credit Gene White for trying to bring a lot of NASCAR guys over to IndyCar and it was good for our sport.”

 

Kurt Busch is the only modern-day tin topper to step out of his comfort zone and do the Indy/Charlotte double and he did a splendid job in his Indy 500 debut back in 2014 – starting 12th and finishing sixth. John Andretti, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart also pulled off that double but they were all open-wheelers first and Mario would like to see more crossover.

 

“Oh god yes,” he exclaimed. “I know Jimmie Johnson has said he won’t run ovals but he wants to give road racing a try and that’s great. Kyle Busch would be exciting at the Speedway and I think Kyle Larson could handle it.

 

“Can you imagine if Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt would have won Indy? They would have put that trophy at the top. And when I look back on my career, I take so much satisfaction in all the different cars I drove and feeling like I belonged. It was a great challenge on a personal level and that’s what shines brightest on my career.”

 

 

[Radoye]

Rodjen na danasnji dan 1918: