Found: 1960's era Indy 500 photos

[keiser31]

Found these photos in my stuff today and they brought back some excellent memories of my and my dad's visits to Indy. Thought I would share.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Thanks, Keiser,

Back when it was low tech. I loved the 500 in the 50s and 60s.

Ben

[Dandy Dave]

Thanks for sharing. Dandy Dave!

[keiser31]

Can anyone tell me who that was signing autographs in the fourth photo??

[Guest Dr. Strangelove]

Here are 2 favorites of mine. AJ Foyt in the 1964 Watson-Offy winner - the last year a front-engined car won at Indy and Jim Clark with Colin Chapman and crew with the '65 Lotus-Ford winner. Little did I know that I was witnessing the hey-day of Indy racing. Now the Indy 500 is a joke with one chassis - a 12 year old Dallera and one engine, a leased Honda the teams cannot modify. This coupled with a poor TV package and rent-a-drivers with dubious talent like Milka Dunno. Why is she allowed to slowly circle the track while the in-your-grill Paul Tracy sits?

Edited January 22, 2010 by Dr. Strangelove (see edit history)

[Guest Dr. Strangelove]

With his hands and arms severly burned in a crash at the Milwaukee Mile, Hurtubise told his doctors to form his hands around an Indy car steering wheel so he could drive again. Back in the day, Jim and the other drivers were brave, steely-eyed SOB's, but sometimes a guy has just got to have some fun.....

May 21, 1972 was another last day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. It had been several years since Hurtubise had entered the race with any kind of chance to win it, lead it or even qualify well for it. For most of that time he had been engaged in a quixotic attempt to qualify an improved version of the outmoded front-engine "roadster" that had dominated the Speedway until the rear-engine revolution of the mid-1960s. With time growing short, there was a fever of activity around Hurtubise's Miller High Life Special, as it slowly moved toward the head of the qualifying line. The crowd buzzed. Would the old Mallard, as Hurtubise called his car in tribute to its ducktail rear end, get a chance to make even a ceremonial tour of the Brickyard? No. Precisely at 6 p.m. the gun sounded, locking in the field for another year. At which time Hurtubise removed the cowling from his Mallard to reveal neither an Offenhauser nor a Ford, but rather five cases of his sponsor's product, already chilled and ready for folks to drink. Which is what most of the Speedway officials soon did.

Imagine doing this in todays 'politically correct' world.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Dr. Strangelove (see edit history)