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[zoran59]

Radoje, hvala!

Odlican video!

Mon francais est faible, mais je comprend beaucoup... (jebiga, francuski mi bio drugi strani jezik u gimnaziji, pre milion godina).

[alberto.ascari]

Ferrari 312T5 being driven by Gilles Villeneuve at Pista di Fiorano.


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Legendarna Lancia D50, jedan od najlepsih F1 bolida ikada. Nakon pogibije Askarija dizajn prodat Ferariju s kojim je na ovakvom bolidu Fanjdo osvojio svoju cetvrtu titulu 1956.

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Lauda

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Indy legend Sonny Meyer has died at age 89

Images courtesy Robin Miller

 

By: Robin Miller | 2 hours ago

 

 

He was a master engine builder, innovator, chief mechanic and behind-the-scenes wizard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than five decades. But Louis “Sonny” Meyer, Jr. (at left in photo above, with constructor David “Quin” Epperly), who passed away Saturday at the age of 89, never bragged about his many accomplishments and was always content to blend in with the scenery and let the results speak for themself.

 

It’s estimated that Meyer was directly involved in preparing the winning engine at Indianapolis a total of 15 times.

 

“Sonny was a damn smart mechanic, excellent engine man and good guy,” said A.J. Foyt, who worked with Meyer on Ford engines in the 1960s. “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.”

 

The son of Indy’s first three-time winner, Louis Sr. (“Louie”), young Meyer got an early start in motorsports when his father purchased the Offenhauser engine business in 1946. Learning everything there was to know about the Offy, Sonny showed a great mechanical aptitude and became coveted in Gasoline Alley.

 

Father and son introduced the supercharged midget engine to Indy in 1949-’50 with Tony Bettenhausen, and Sonny worked on Bill Vukovich’s crew in the early 1950s before becoming a chief mechanic for Bettenhausen in 1958. That was also the year Meyer introduced pneumatic air jacks to Indy cars.

 

A fabled combo: Tony Bettenhausen (left) and Sonny Meyer at DuQuoin, 1951.

He was crew chief at Indy in 1962 when Troy Ruttman charged from 30th to second; helped Joe Huffaker with the MG Liquid Suspension cars; then dove into the Ford program when his dad purchased it in 1964. Ford powered Foyt to his third Indy win in 1967.

 

The Meyer-Drake engine became a major player in the 1970s as Sonny set up shop at Patrick Racing and cranked out big horsepower in between fighting daily with chief mechanic George Bignotti.

 

“We tolerated each other and it wasn’t always easy; but we managed to survive,” recalled Meyer with a smile a few years ago.

 

In 1973, Gordon Johncock captured Indy for Patrick in a car and engine built in-house off West 38th Street. Sonny fueled the Wildcat on pit stops after putting together the winning engine.

 

“I was lucky enough to work on the same team with Sonny, and if you were around him for five minutes and kept your mouth shut you were going to increase your racing knowledge ten-fold,” said Tim Coffeen, who worked with Patrick, Machinists Union and Newman-Haas during his 30 years in IndyCar.

 

“He was brilliant and just a humble, wonderful man.”

 

Following his tenure at Patrick, Meyer went to Vince Granatelli and then John Menard to develop the V-6 Buick.

 

He was inducted into the IMS Hall of Fame in 2013.

 

Sonny is survived by wife Sue, daughter Pam and son Butch.

 

 

[Radoye]

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=425067878444870

[alberto.ascari]

I ovo je već klasika.

Without Ron supporting me.....

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[alberto.ascari]

Hans Heyer

In his single attempt at Formula One, he entered the 1977 German Grand Prix on 31 July 1977 with the second Penske car of the new German team ATS. With little experience in single seaters and a bad car, he did not qualify. He was also the first reserve, meaning that he would get the chance to race if another driver dropped out. No one gave up their spot, but this did not stop him from racing, as he was well known with the marshals at Hockenheim. They looked the other way when he put his car at the end of the starting grid and joined the race anyway. His Formula One career didn't last long, though, for after 10 laps the car's gearbox broke down. He was disqualified from the race and never attempted another race in a single-seat car. Heyer is credited with a DNQ, DNF, and DSQ for his brief moment in Formula One.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heyer

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[Radoye]

Pisao sam vec o njemu na starom forumu. Lik odlucio da iskoristi svoju jedinu sansu u F1 bolidu po svaku cenu, inace nije bio los vozac, jedan od boljih koje je Nemacka dala u turing klasi. 🙂

[Radoye]

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/10/10/why-a-sticker-covered-van-is-in-the-indianapolis-motor-speedway-museum

[Radoye]

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IndyCar veteran John Martin dies at age 80

 

By: Robin Miller | 35 minutes ago

 

He was owner, driver, chief mechanic, engine builder and sponsor finder — all at the same time.

 

John Martin was the last of a breed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1970s and used his talent, guile and work ethic to make five Indianapolis 500s.

 

Martin, who passed away unexpectedly Wednesday at the age of 80, embodied the little guy at IMS and carved out a career despite never having much money or anything resembling a big crew.

 

He bought an old Brabham chassis from Sir Jack in 1971 and qualified for his initial Indianapolis race in 1972. At that time, USAC made each entry list a chief mechanic and even though Martin assembled the car, made all the chassis adjustments and constructed his own Offenhauser engine, he put Mike Mullins down as the chief. Mullins had never worked on an Indy car but was a bright kid that John took a liking to and they qualified 14th.

 

Because of his friendship with Peter Revson, Martin was able to purchase an M-16 McLaren in 1973 and after being caught up in the first-lap melee, he soldiered home to eighth place in the rain-shortened race.

 

In 1974, he scored a major sponsor for him (the Sea Snack Shrimp Cocktail) and finished 11th — again doing everything. The following May was his last as owner/driver and he qualified his old McLaren 16th.

 

Martin’s final start at Indy came in 1976, driving for Grant King.

 

Growing up on a farm around St. Louis, Martin became enamored with speed and began racing a Corvette in the early ’60s in the SCCA before landing a job with the AMC Trans-Am team in 1967. But he was hired as the chief mechanic for Peter Revson and George Follmer. At Mid-Ohio that summer, Follmer was running somewhere else on Saturday so John asked if he could qualify the car and, if he won the pole, could he keep the ride for Sunday’s race?

 

“The team owner rolled his eyes and said, ‘Sure John,” you go win the pole and the ride is yours,” recalled Martin. “Well I put it on the pole and Revson was second and when George got to the track on Sunday he found out I was driving his car. He wasn’t too pleased but I led until it broke.”

 

Martin dabbled in IndyCar team ownership in 2004 with driver Kosuke Matsuura (Martin pictured second from left with team owners John Dick, Aguri Suzuki, Tom Anderson and crew chief Steve Ragan). Image by Walt Kuhn/LAT

 

During the past decade Martin was a fixture at Bill Throckmorton’s shop, building Offy engines for Rick Duman’s restoration business, and also making appearances at the Vintage Indy Registry weekends at Gateway and IMS (pictured, top).

 

He loved coming to Charlie Brown’s every Friday for team lunch with his iPad so he could show the group a video of his latest Offy and turn up the volume to that sweet sound. Everyone marveled at what great shape John was in and he still had that desire to go to the shop every day.

 

He is survived by wife, Linda.

 

Watch Robin Miller’s video retrospective of John Martin, part of his “Tough Guys” series, below:

 

 

 

 

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Jedna od poslednjih trka na originalnom Interlagosu pre "Sena S" skracenja:

 

 

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Mickey Nickos, noted IRL engine builder, dies

Image courtesy IMS

 

By: Marshall Pruett | 3 hours ago

 

 

Former Indy Racing League engine builder Mickey Nickos has died unexpectedly, according to his son Dale, who worked alongside the Chicago-based horsepower guru during the IRL’s infancy.

 

Through their family-run NAC Engines business, the short-track and dirt-racing motor specialists built a loyal customer base in the Midwest. With the IRL’s move to production-based, naturally-aspirated V8 engines in 1997, Nickos was given an opportunity to apply his knowledge gained with late models and sprint cars to Tony George’s all-oval open-wheel series.

 

Nickos (at left) brought his short-track and dirt-racing experience to the then-new Indy Racing League in 1997 – and slayed some giants. Image courtesy Dale Nickos

 

Short, burly, and bearded, Nickos looked like he was destined from birth to become an engine builder. His thick, powerful hands, were rarely far from the motors he assembled; in the last era where IndyCar engines were owned by the teams and could be opened and cared for as desired, the NAC founder kept busy trackside by directly tending to the powerplants that wore his company’s name.

 

“He was definitely an innovative guy in an era of Ed Pink and Menards and bunch of well-funded engine builders,” said IndyCar team owner Sam Schmidt, who was powered by NAC engines at Blueprint Racing and LP Racing during his abbreviated IRL career.

 

“Here was a guy who had a really small shop — him and his son Dale — and wanted to win like all of us, but had to do it with considerably less money. For the better part of two years, we managed to compete in the IRL with a total rotation of two engines. It sounds ridiculous. He was extremely generous; almost worked for free. The world has lost a true original, a racer, and one of the classic characters.”

 

Nickos played a central role in one of all-time greatest upsets in IndyCar history. Facing the IRL titans at Menards Racing, whose in-house Oldsmobile V8 engine program powered Tony Stewart to the 1997 championship, and well-established IndyCar engine builders at Brayton Engineering and Speedway Engines, the tiny NAC outfit gave the even smaller Blueprint Racing team Jim Guthrie owned a clear power advantage at the dawn of the IRL’s new chassis and engine formula.

 

An NAC engine and driver Jim Guthrie (center) co-starred in a major upset in the ’97 Phoenix 200 IRL opener. Image courtesy IMS.

 

Pitted against Stewart, A.J. Foyt Racing, Cheever Racing, Galles Racing, Scandia Racing, Treadway Racing, and other imposing teams in early 1997, Guthrie appeared at the Phoenix 200 IRL event with his unsponsored yellow Dallara-Oldsmobile that was prepared in a shop behind his Chicago-area house.

The epic tale of Guthrie’s shoestring Blueprint team was memorialized at the time by the late and legendary Los Angeles times motorsports journalist Shav Glick.

 

“His crew isn’t paid a dime. His car doesn’t even have a spare engine. He has no major sponsor,” Glick wrote, before uncorking an epic quote from Guthrie following the Phoenix win.

 

“I was going to thank my sponsor after the race, the way all the winners do, but then I realized I didn’t have one,” Guthrie said.

 

With large NAC Engines stickers emblazoned on the rear wing end plates of Guthrie’s No. 27 Indy car to help provide value, in part, where outright cash was lacking, the team started off the 1997 season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, where the Blueprint co-owner used the horsepower advantage to earn a top-six finish. The strong result, as Glick reported, made driving across the country to Arizona for the Phoenix race a possibility.

 

“To get the car ready for this year’s opening race, Guthrie’s father borrowed against a $20,000 IRA to pay for insurance and living expenses in Orlando,” he wrote. “The rest of the money– a Dallara costs $263,000 — came from friends who paid $5,000 each for a share of the team, plus $30,000 each from the Santa Ana and Mescalero Apache tribes in New Mexico.”

 

Guthrie’s hand-to-mouth operation was never expected to topple the IRL’s finest after what was considered a fluke sixth-place run in Florida.

“The money got us there and we paid (the IRA loan) back with the check ($63,250) we got for sixth place,” Guthrie said.

 

After pulling off the once-in-a-lifetime win with Guthrie, the Nickos family was inundated as several IRL teams came knocking. Future 1999 IRL champion Greg Ray and others would rely on Nickos to give their smaller programs a fighting chance against the IRL’s original heavyweights. NAC’s presence in the series would taper off by the end of the decade, though, as boutique engine builders fell out of favor when the likes of Katech, Ilmor, and other firms invested heavily in motor development.

 

Warm, with a ready smile and story to share, Nickos will be remembered for sending a message that, in George’s new alternative to the CART IndyCar Series, giants could be slayed without using the most expensive weapons.

 

 

[alberto.ascari]

Interlagos 1979.

 

 

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[Radoye]

RETRO: The Sounds of IndyCar, 1992 Phoenix test

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MILLER: Special moments in Joe Blow history

Image courtesy of IMS Photography

 

By: Robin Miller | 5 hours ago

 

 

Michael Andretti drew the wrath of many an IndyCar fan recently when he told Marshall Pruett it was time for a franchise system because, “Now, any Joe Blow can buy a car and a truck and show up at the racetrack, and it’s too easy. There’s got to be a way to (make) the franchises worth something.”

 

First off, what Andretti said was spot on because full-time team owners deserve a financial foundation for their commitment to a series that costs a fortune and pays pennies on the dollar. IndyCar lags woefully behind F1 and NASCAR when it comes to taking care of the teams, and don’t tell me the Leader’s Circle makes up for the pathetic purses.

 

But, Andretti’s choice of words probably wasn’t the best because guys like Dale Coyne, Sam Schmidt, Mike Shank, Trevor Carlin and Ricardo Juncos all started out as Joe Blows and worked their way into the top level of American open-wheel racing.

 

And, decades of Joe Blows helped turn qualifying at the Indianapolis 500 into one of the most dramatic days in all of sport and also gave IndyCar racing some feel-good stories for the ages.

 

IndyCar needs more car owners and an investment incentive for them, but while we wait on A.J. Foyt, Ed Carpenter and Carlin to finalize their driver lineup for 2020, let’s look at some great Joe Blow Moments.

 

Back in the days when a car only got three attempts at Indy, Willy T. Ribbs delivered in the most pressure-packed situation. With less than 30 minutes remaining in qualifying at Indy in 1991, he drove into history for Derrick Walker’s little team by bumping former winner Tom Sneva and becoming the first African-American driver to earn a starting spot.

 

A historic performance by Willy T. Ribbs, who qualified 29th in 1991 with an average speed of 217.350 mph. Image courtesy of IndyCar

 

Phil Krueger, who piled into the Turn 3 wall trying to qualify at IMS in 1981 and was badly injured at MIS in 1984, spent the winter of ’86 at A.J. Watson’s shop assembling an old March by himself, and then qualified for his first Indy 500 that May. In 1988, he repeated the process, qualified 15th, and finished eighth in a performance that confirmed he was a RACER to the core.

 

Road racing badass George Follmer decided to try Indy cars in the late ’60s, so he bought a Cheetah chassis, bolted in a stock-block Chevy, and took it Phoenix in 1969. He couldn’t keep up with Mario or the Unsers, but they all blew up so Follmer parlayed his one-stop pit strategy with a wicked pace and attrition to win by three laps!

 

Sprint car renegade Roger Rager figured he was talented enough to make Indy, but didn’t have the connections to get a decent ride. So in 1980, he bought a three-year-old Wildcat chassis and an old Chevy school bus engine block. He then left Gasoline Alley speechless by qualifying 10th. Rager even led the race for a couple laps before being eliminated by a crash in front of him, but became famous forever with his junkyard motor and outlaw spirit.

 

The inaugural IRL race at Orlando featured Indy winner Arie Luyendyk, Eddie Cheever, Roberto Guerrero and a rookie named Tony Stewart. But a mom and pop operation won the race with their son: Buzz Calkins, driving for dad Brad, somehow managed to beat Stewart and John Menard. “I’m in shock,” said the winner afterwards, but no more so than most of the paddock. The Northwestern grad drove smooth and smart, and gave Firestone the best commercial opportunity ever that wasn’t used. (“You think Firestones aren’t superior to Goodyear? Buzz Calkins just beat Tony Stewart.”)

 

Ted Prappas came to IMS in 1992 as a rookie and his car owner, Norm Turley, was a former L.A. policeman whose team was called P.I.G. Racing. They had more heart than money or experience, but somehow Ted managed to qualify in the last row.

 

In 1995, the last year prior to The Split, when Bump Day at Indianapolis really meant something because there was so much competition, Greg Beck showed up for the second straight year with an old Lola and an unknown named Hideshi Matsuda. He qualified 20th and then watched Team Penske miss the show.

Canadian Eldon Rasmussen had a shop on the west side of Indianapolis, a talent for fabricating metal, a habit of talking forever on the phone and a dream to make the Indy 500. In 1979, he took a re-vamped, seven-year-old Antares (a car so ugly it sent Johnny Rutherford to the bar the first time he saw it) and stuck it in the field.

 

Other than John Menard, Fred Treadway, A.J. Foyt and Panther Racing, most of the early IRL teams fostered big dreams and small budgets, so Cheever’s performance at Indy in 1998 has to rank as one of the best bargains to ever make it to victory lane. Armed with savvy chief mechanic Owen Snyder but no engineer, Cheever scored mighty Rachel’s Potato Chips as his sponsor and became the first driver/owner to triumph at IMS since his old boss, Anthony Joseph Foyt.

 

In 1988, Cincinnati’s Gary Trout bought a used car for USAC standout Steve Chassey to drive at Indianapolis. There were a few volunteers but no real mechanics for practice, so Chas had to tighten his own wheels, check the stagger and pretty much police his ride while trying to keep a handle on the chassis. He made the show — and Jack McGrath proud.

 

John Martin showed up at Indy in 1972 with an old Brabham chassis, one engine that he kept re-building, and no sponsor; but he qualified 14th while also serving as his own chief mechanic.

 

IndyCar racing was back under one roof by 2011 and Sarah Fisher’s plucky team was competing against Andretti, Ganassi and Penske with a much smaller budget. But Ed Carpenter got her that first victory (and his first as well) at Kentucky by nipping Dario Franchitti at the checkered flag in a car sponsored, naturally, by Dollar General.

 

Ed Carpenter (No. 67) battled wheel-to-wheel and edged Dario Franchitti (No. 10) to take the first-ever win for himself, and team owner Sarah Fisher at Kentucky in 2011. Image courtesy of Abbott/LAT

 

In 1971, Frank Fiore towed a 1966 Vollstedt chassis with one old engine to Gasoline Alley for a quiet little guy from the East named Denny Zimmerman. They had no sponsor, slept in the garage and ate White Castles for most of their meals, but DZ qualified, finished eighth and was named ROY — one of the most amazing accomplishments ever.

 

Blueprint Racing really didn’t have one. With one car, one engine, no sponsors and a crew of volunteers, Jim Guthrie was more than $175,000 in debt when he towed his car to Phoenix behind his motorhome in the spring of 1997. But even with limited practice because he didn’t want to tax his lone power plant, Guthrie gave a preview of this very unlikely story when he qualified second. In the race, Blueprint stuck to its two-stop strategy and that proved to be the difference when future NASCAR champ Stewart had to make a late pit stop for fuel. Jim passed Davey Hamilton for the lead and then pulled away from Menard’s car to score the biggest upset in IndyCar history. And, his winner’s check for $185,000 got him off and running to Indianapolis.

 

 

 

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Some people are born into extraordinary lives. If you write a film script about them, it would be rejected as being unrealistic. Paul Belmondo had just such a story. His grandfather Paul, after whom he was named, was from an Italian background but was born and grew up in Algeria. He survived the trenches in World War I in spite of suffering from being gassed during the battle of Sant-Mihiel, near Verdun. In the 1920s he sought a quieter life and soon became a well-known sculptor in France, ultimately advancing to become a professor at the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the 1950s. Paul's son, Jean-Paul, was a man of a rather character. Born in 1933, he was a sportsman in his youth and began his professional career as a boxer. He began appearing in films in his early twenties and made his breakthrough to stardom in 1960, in Jean-Luc Godard’s A Bout de Souffle, alongside Jean Seberg, one of the films that launched the Nouvelle Vague movement in the cinema. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s he was one of France’s biggest film stars. Jean-Paul's son Paul was born in 1963 in the Paris surburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, the home of the Renault car company.His parent split up two years later, after 13 years of marriage. His mother, the dancer Elodie Constantin, then moved to London where Paul spent three years of his childhood. He returned to France at 11 but he was not a good student, having become fascinated by cars and by the cinema. His first job was as a camera assistant in a low-budget movie but later served as a director’s assistant for his father 1982 hit film L’As des As (The Ace of Aces). In the same period he raced karts but began to appear in the gossip columns because of his friendship withPrincess Stephanie of Monaco. The pair became a couple for several years, despite pressure from the paparazzi, who shadowed their every move.

 

He finished sixth in his first season in Formula Renault with Ecurie Elf, including a victory on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit and graduated into French Formula 3 in 1984 and finished fourth, his team-mate Olivier Grouillard winning the title. He switched to David Price Racing in 1985 and won a race at Albi but he finished the year in sixth overall and a second season with the British team proved to be even worse. In 1987 he moved up to Formula 3000 with the GBDA team and remained in the formula for the next five seasons with different teams, without much success. In 1992, however, he was able to find the budget to join the March F1 team. He qualified five times and his best finish was ninth in Hungary, but he then ran out of funding. Two years later he returned to F1 with the Pacific F1 team but the car was not competitive and he qualified only twice. After his time in F1 was over he concentrated on GTs and for several years ran his own Paul Belmondo Racing.

 

Unlike some of his peers, Paul was never affected by his celebrity, having lived his entire life in the limelight. In fact he was happy not to be the centre of attention and to live as normal a life as possible. In 1990 he married an Italian model called Luana Tenca. The couple had three children and in 2010, almost by accident, Luana met one of the directors of Canal+, which then ran a channel called Cuisine TV. This resulted in her becoming a TV chef with her own programme called Bienvenue chez Luana. Later he was recruited by France 5 to appear on its nightly talk show C à vous as the resident chef, a job she did for five years.

 

In recent years Paul has found himself gravitating towards the arts, and has played a variety of rules on the stage, on TV and in film. He has worked as a TV commentator on motorsport with various channels and even tried his hand directing a documentary about the life of his father. He has also worked for nearly 10 years as the ambassador for Chapal, the luxury leather goods firm associated with the Bardinon family, which also owns one of the world’s greatest collection of Ferraris, and its own private racing circuit.

 

 

 

[Radoye]