SWC75
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The battle between the traditional front engine Indy roadsters and the rear-engined cars that had become popular in Europe continued. There were still some hold outs for the front-engined cars and they were rapidly losing the war but they wound up winning this battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2NcUCsOrA
One of the drivers commenting on the new concept in that clip is Eddie Sachs, who was about to race in the 500 for the eighth time. He had promised his wife in that 1960 documentary that he would retire as soon as he won the race. He had come close each of the last four years, winning the pole in 1960 and 1961, finishing second in 1961 and 3rd in 1962 and spinning out in Parnelli Jones’ oil in 1963 and getting punched by Jones when he said so. He was still trying to fulfill his commitment to himself and his wife.
Besides telling his wife he would retire if he won, Eddie was also known for saying other things. He was noted as the best quipster on the racing circuit, once saying, “If you can’t win, be spectacular!”. He is now remembered for one thing: the spectacular way his quest- and his life ended.
It connected him forever with someone he barely knew: a rookie driver named Dave MacDonald. Dave had been racing sports cars with some success. This was his first ride in an Indy car. Mickey Thompson designed a new car for him to drive. It had a new concept that would become popular: “ground effects”, extensions of the car designed to use the air to pin the car to the ground so it would handle better through the turns and take them at a higher speed. USAC at first approved the car but then demanded changes, removing some of the “ground effects” and raising the chassis a couple of inches, which made the car less stable. Graham Hill, the 1962 Formula One champion, tested the car and refused to get back in it. Jim Clark, the 1963 F-1 champ, told MacDonald, “Get out of that car, mate, just walk away”.
On the second lap of the race, McDonald lost control of the car and slammed the inside wall. He was carrying 80 gallons of gasoline, a fuel favored at the time because the mileage was better than alternative fuels like methanol or ethanol and thus you could reduce the number of pit stops. The collision with the wall ruptured his gas tank and caused his car to explode. It’s momentum carried back onto the track. In that 1960 documentary, Sachs had said that, when an accident occurs ahead of him, he goes against instinct and drives right at the wrecked car, assuming that by the time he gets there, it will not longer be at that spot. But in this case, the driver ahead of Sachs, Bob Veith decided to beat MacDonald’s car to the outside and succeeded. Eddie, in that split second, decided to follow Veith and he didn’t make it, slamming right into MacDonald’s flaming car and causing a second explosion. Johnny Rutherford was behind Sachs and saw nothing but flame. The only thing he could was to drive through it. He drove right up over Sachs car and then MacDonald’s and actually came down back on the track , only to be broadsided by Bobby Unser, a collision of two drivers who would go on to win the 500 six times. Amazingly, both survived the inferno with minor burns. Another driver, Ronnie Duman, was clipped by Unser’s car and, like McDonald, crashed against the inside wall and exploded. Duman spent 2 /12 months in the hospital recovering from his burns, returned to racing and died in another crash in 1968.
Amazingly, Dave MacDonald was still alive and conscious. But he was burned over 75% of his body and had inhaled the flames. It was hopeless for him and he died 2 hours later in the hospital. Eddie Sachs had died almost instantly. It was reported at the time that he died of a broken neck and thus didn’t experience the heat of the flames but that’s often said in these cases, much as a military officer writing to the family a deceased soldier always says “he never knew what hit him“. Sachs‘ specific cause of death has never been determined. One driver claimed to have seen Sachs struggling in the flames to get out of his car. A tarp was put over his car and it was transported to the garage area where his body was finally removed from it.
This is the most horrific and memorable crash in Indianapolis history and everyone who saw it- or who has seen it since, can never forget it. It looked like the track had been napalmed. After that, they used technology that was used to protect gas tanks in helicopters and limited cars to 50 gallons, which eliminated the advantage of using gasoline so most drivers switched to the less volatile methanol and ethanol. There would be flame in future crashes but not such a hellish inferno and huge dark cloud as we see here.
For the first time in history, the red flag came out, suspending the race due to an accident, (as opposed to the yellow, during which the race continues under slow speeds and without passing). They restarted an hour and a half later, with the cars in the same positions. The race, like the show, must go on.
After the accident, Indy broadcaster Sid Collins gave a famous eulogy:
"You heard the announcement from the public address system. There's not a sound. Men are taking off their hats. People are weeping. There are over 300,000 fans here not moving. Disbelieving.
Some men try to conquer life in a number of ways. These days of our outer space attempts some men try to conquer the universe. Race drivers are courageous men who try to conquer life and death and they calculate their risks. And with talking with them over the years I think we know their inner thoughts in regards to racing. They take it as part of living.
A race driver who leaves this earth mentally when he straps himself into the cockpit to try what for him is the biggest conquest he can make (is) aware of the odds and Eddie Sachs played the odds. He was serious and frivolous. He was fun. He was a wonderful gentleman. He took much needling and he gave much needling. Just as the astronauts do perhaps.
These boys on the race track ask no quarter and they give none. If they succeed they're a hero and if they fail, they tried. And it was Eddie's desire and will to try with everything he had, which he always did. So the only healthy way perhaps we can approach the tragedy of the loss of a friend like Eddie Sachs is to know that he would have wanted us to face it as he did. As it has happened, not as we wish it would have happened. It is God's will I'm sure and we must accept that.
We are all speeding toward death at the rate of 60 minutes every hour, the only difference is we don't know how to speed faster and Eddie Sachs did. So since death has a thousand or more doors, Eddie Sachs exits this earth in a race car. Knowing Eddie I assume that's the way he would have wanted it. Byron said "who the God's love die young."
Eddie was 37. To his widow Nancy we extend our extreme sympathy and regret. And to his two children. This boy won the pole here in 1961 and 1962. (Actually 1960 and 1961.) He was a proud race driver. Well, as we do at Indianapolis and in racing, as the World Champion Jimmy Clark I'm sure would agree as he's raced all over the world, the race continues. Unfortunately today without Eddie Sachs. And we'll be restarting it in just a few moments."
Defending champion Parnelli Jones was badly burned when his car caught fire in the pits. He was using the new fuels and the fire he was dealing with was invisible. That ended his race. Jim Clark again made a strong bid to win until his suspension gave out. AJ Foyt won his second Indy 500, and the last by a front-engined vehicle, although many no longer cared.
Here is the official highlight film in two parts, both black and white. It’s sponsored by Studebaker, who had three Novi-powered cars in the race. Both the company and the engine were nearing the end of their history. There is a section describing the precautions that were used to protect the drivers but it didn’t help McDonald and Sachs. It’s interesting how the end of the highlight narration says that the sacrifices have been too great to not continue racing- a reverse of the normal argument. And I’m not sure Dave and Eddie were “masters of their fate”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czud5-9B8ZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=3udKrVFGJJ4&NR=1
This newsreel shows what happened to defending champion Parnelli Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyNldVlZNbc&feature=related
Here is color footage of the fatal accident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=YJ9RaX5rBgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2NcUCsOrA
One of the drivers commenting on the new concept in that clip is Eddie Sachs, who was about to race in the 500 for the eighth time. He had promised his wife in that 1960 documentary that he would retire as soon as he won the race. He had come close each of the last four years, winning the pole in 1960 and 1961, finishing second in 1961 and 3rd in 1962 and spinning out in Parnelli Jones’ oil in 1963 and getting punched by Jones when he said so. He was still trying to fulfill his commitment to himself and his wife.
Besides telling his wife he would retire if he won, Eddie was also known for saying other things. He was noted as the best quipster on the racing circuit, once saying, “If you can’t win, be spectacular!”. He is now remembered for one thing: the spectacular way his quest- and his life ended.
It connected him forever with someone he barely knew: a rookie driver named Dave MacDonald. Dave had been racing sports cars with some success. This was his first ride in an Indy car. Mickey Thompson designed a new car for him to drive. It had a new concept that would become popular: “ground effects”, extensions of the car designed to use the air to pin the car to the ground so it would handle better through the turns and take them at a higher speed. USAC at first approved the car but then demanded changes, removing some of the “ground effects” and raising the chassis a couple of inches, which made the car less stable. Graham Hill, the 1962 Formula One champion, tested the car and refused to get back in it. Jim Clark, the 1963 F-1 champ, told MacDonald, “Get out of that car, mate, just walk away”.
On the second lap of the race, McDonald lost control of the car and slammed the inside wall. He was carrying 80 gallons of gasoline, a fuel favored at the time because the mileage was better than alternative fuels like methanol or ethanol and thus you could reduce the number of pit stops. The collision with the wall ruptured his gas tank and caused his car to explode. It’s momentum carried back onto the track. In that 1960 documentary, Sachs had said that, when an accident occurs ahead of him, he goes against instinct and drives right at the wrecked car, assuming that by the time he gets there, it will not longer be at that spot. But in this case, the driver ahead of Sachs, Bob Veith decided to beat MacDonald’s car to the outside and succeeded. Eddie, in that split second, decided to follow Veith and he didn’t make it, slamming right into MacDonald’s flaming car and causing a second explosion. Johnny Rutherford was behind Sachs and saw nothing but flame. The only thing he could was to drive through it. He drove right up over Sachs car and then MacDonald’s and actually came down back on the track , only to be broadsided by Bobby Unser, a collision of two drivers who would go on to win the 500 six times. Amazingly, both survived the inferno with minor burns. Another driver, Ronnie Duman, was clipped by Unser’s car and, like McDonald, crashed against the inside wall and exploded. Duman spent 2 /12 months in the hospital recovering from his burns, returned to racing and died in another crash in 1968.
Amazingly, Dave MacDonald was still alive and conscious. But he was burned over 75% of his body and had inhaled the flames. It was hopeless for him and he died 2 hours later in the hospital. Eddie Sachs had died almost instantly. It was reported at the time that he died of a broken neck and thus didn’t experience the heat of the flames but that’s often said in these cases, much as a military officer writing to the family a deceased soldier always says “he never knew what hit him“. Sachs‘ specific cause of death has never been determined. One driver claimed to have seen Sachs struggling in the flames to get out of his car. A tarp was put over his car and it was transported to the garage area where his body was finally removed from it.
This is the most horrific and memorable crash in Indianapolis history and everyone who saw it- or who has seen it since, can never forget it. It looked like the track had been napalmed. After that, they used technology that was used to protect gas tanks in helicopters and limited cars to 50 gallons, which eliminated the advantage of using gasoline so most drivers switched to the less volatile methanol and ethanol. There would be flame in future crashes but not such a hellish inferno and huge dark cloud as we see here.
For the first time in history, the red flag came out, suspending the race due to an accident, (as opposed to the yellow, during which the race continues under slow speeds and without passing). They restarted an hour and a half later, with the cars in the same positions. The race, like the show, must go on.
After the accident, Indy broadcaster Sid Collins gave a famous eulogy:
"You heard the announcement from the public address system. There's not a sound. Men are taking off their hats. People are weeping. There are over 300,000 fans here not moving. Disbelieving.
Some men try to conquer life in a number of ways. These days of our outer space attempts some men try to conquer the universe. Race drivers are courageous men who try to conquer life and death and they calculate their risks. And with talking with them over the years I think we know their inner thoughts in regards to racing. They take it as part of living.
A race driver who leaves this earth mentally when he straps himself into the cockpit to try what for him is the biggest conquest he can make (is) aware of the odds and Eddie Sachs played the odds. He was serious and frivolous. He was fun. He was a wonderful gentleman. He took much needling and he gave much needling. Just as the astronauts do perhaps.
These boys on the race track ask no quarter and they give none. If they succeed they're a hero and if they fail, they tried. And it was Eddie's desire and will to try with everything he had, which he always did. So the only healthy way perhaps we can approach the tragedy of the loss of a friend like Eddie Sachs is to know that he would have wanted us to face it as he did. As it has happened, not as we wish it would have happened. It is God's will I'm sure and we must accept that.
We are all speeding toward death at the rate of 60 minutes every hour, the only difference is we don't know how to speed faster and Eddie Sachs did. So since death has a thousand or more doors, Eddie Sachs exits this earth in a race car. Knowing Eddie I assume that's the way he would have wanted it. Byron said "who the God's love die young."
Eddie was 37. To his widow Nancy we extend our extreme sympathy and regret. And to his two children. This boy won the pole here in 1961 and 1962. (Actually 1960 and 1961.) He was a proud race driver. Well, as we do at Indianapolis and in racing, as the World Champion Jimmy Clark I'm sure would agree as he's raced all over the world, the race continues. Unfortunately today without Eddie Sachs. And we'll be restarting it in just a few moments."
Defending champion Parnelli Jones was badly burned when his car caught fire in the pits. He was using the new fuels and the fire he was dealing with was invisible. That ended his race. Jim Clark again made a strong bid to win until his suspension gave out. AJ Foyt won his second Indy 500, and the last by a front-engined vehicle, although many no longer cared.
Here is the official highlight film in two parts, both black and white. It’s sponsored by Studebaker, who had three Novi-powered cars in the race. Both the company and the engine were nearing the end of their history. There is a section describing the precautions that were used to protect the drivers but it didn’t help McDonald and Sachs. It’s interesting how the end of the highlight narration says that the sacrifices have been too great to not continue racing- a reverse of the normal argument. And I’m not sure Dave and Eddie were “masters of their fate”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czud5-9B8ZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=3udKrVFGJJ4&NR=1
This newsreel shows what happened to defending champion Parnelli Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyNldVlZNbc&feature=related
Here is color footage of the fatal accident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=YJ9RaX5rBgU
