Vintage Indy: 1961 (and 50 years before)

[SWC75]

In 1961, the most famous Indy driver of them all, AJ Foyt, won his first of four Indy 500’s. The first three would come in that decade. AJ’s name, (it stands for Anthony Joseph) sounds like a car rushing past you.

He won it over Eddie Sachs who had again won the pole and appeared to have the race won because of a problem with the fuel hose at AJ’s pit. AJ went in for gas and they couldn’t pump it into his car. He went out and ran like the wind because he was running on fumes and his car was lighter than Sachs. But he sensed something was wrong and came back in. His crew had to borrow a fuel pump to get him the gas he needed to finish as Sachs roared on by. But Eddie was concerned about the state of his tires- he’d had to gun it to try to keep up with AJ- and decided to pit himself, costing him the race. But who knows what it would have cost to not do so. You wonder if another racer would have taken that chance. Eddie never did win at Indy and AJ won four times.

Jim Hurtubise led for 35 laps before blowing a piston. He never won at Indy, either. Parnelli Jones was another legendary driver who would win at Indy in 1963

The race featured a multi-car pile-up near the start/finish line as Don Davis spun and left his car perpendicular to the field. Other cars had to steer around it and several of them lost control. No one died in this mess but Davis did at a race in Dayton the next year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaM_u-DolaE

I can’t find the type of highlight I’ve been using for 1961 but there are some clips from the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94-jzOm2gX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEJwwOWZnuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJTtGTjY6x0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGdHYNbEUmU
(This is actually a portion of the official highlight film, taken through a TV screen.)

 

[SWC75]

1961 was the 50th anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 1911. Just as last year was the 100th anniversary. Here is a home movie made on that day 50 years ago, showing, an extensive parade before the race that includes past winning drivers in the cars they won it in, including Harroun in his “Marmon Wasp”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m328VPtZNuo

And here are AJ Foyt and Ray Harroun subsequently appearing on “I’ve Got a Secret”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo8E2bBpnRY
Ray was 82 at the time, AJ 26. Now AJ is 77. Time has marched on.

Highlights of the first Indy 500 in 1911:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReLJ7UZdG9Q
Some cars had two seats and a mechanic as passenger. This was not unusual in those
days, although Harroun did not have one, which would have made his car lighter. At one (later), point in the race’s history a riding mechanic was required to even things out. Sam Dickson, (not the mechanic who falls out here), was killed when his driver hit the wall. In those days, riding mechanics were in graver danger than the drivers- they didn’t have the steering wheel to hold on to. The order of start was not determined by qualifying speed but rather by the date the entry was received in the mail. Most of the drivers were relieved by other drivers at some point. As Harroun’s speed was less than 75 miles an hour, it took him 6 hours and 42 minutes to win the race. Cyrus Patschke drove 35 of the 200 laps for Harroun. Some years later, there was a controversy as to whether Harroun had completed the full 200 laps erupted: he may have taken the checked flag after 199 laps: Ralph Mulford, who finished second claimed to have lapped Harroun during a pit stop. But no formal protest was filed at the time, (despite what it says in the captions of this clip), so Harroun went into the books as the first Indianapolis winner. He does have kind of a sheepish look on his face in the final shot, as if he knows he got away with something.