SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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In the 1960’s the Indy 500 was never shown live on TV. It was shown on closed circuit TV in theaters Here is an ad for the 1965 showing, (with shots of the 1964 race, of course).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR3MG8rzOQA
ABC presented highlights of the race on a delayed basis, the first year they covered the event. Indy was not shown live until the 80’s.
The battle between the front-engined and rear-engined cars was about over, as most of the drivers had switched to the rear-engined design, even All-American guy AJ Foyt. When Jim Clark became the first driver to qualify at 160mph, Foyt went out and beat his record, with great satisfaction- but he did it in a rear-engined car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW8-aOeAqQg
After the previous year’s inferno rules were made up calling for reinforced fuel tanks, at least two pit stops for every driver and the use of the more stable methanol over gasoline.
Clark and Foyt were the two greatest racing drivers of the era. Clark won the 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 “world” championships in 1963 and 1965, setting a record with 25 wins that would last for years and would win this Indy. Foyt won five USAC “national” titles in a row from 1960-64 and the 1961 and 1964 Indy 500’s. He would go on to win at both Daytona and LeMans, the only driver to win the three most famous races in the world. They dueled for much of this race, until Foyt’s transmission failed. Parnelli Jones also made a run at Clark and actually pushed his car to the pits after finishing the race with an empty gas tank to get second place. But this was Jim Clark’s 500.
With all Clark accomplished, one has to wonder what his ultimate place in motorsports history might have been if he hadn’t agreed to run in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany for a friend in 1968:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGq06rfj5dE&feature=related
I remember being amazed that this had happened to the great Jim Clark. He was said to be a “driving genius”. Despite the dangerous nature of his profession it seemed to me that someone so good at it would never suffer a fatal crash. The fact that the cause of the crash has never been determined just adds to the mystery of it, (and seems somehow appropriate).
Here is the official highlight film, in two parts. Studebacker/NOVI was still trying to make things work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC5ewfRqUiY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=afijbtALdIA&NR=1
Here’s another, shorter highlight film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4waEZ4Fr2r8&feature=related
There are two terrific documentaries on Jim Clark on U-Tube.
This one is in 6 parts, of which this is the first:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVSLXobwy0&feature=related
This one is in one part but it lasts an hour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPvhcutB8kA&feature=related
There’s also a documentary on the Lotus cars that were revolutionizing the sport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9q0v-3qtjw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR3MG8rzOQA
ABC presented highlights of the race on a delayed basis, the first year they covered the event. Indy was not shown live until the 80’s.
The battle between the front-engined and rear-engined cars was about over, as most of the drivers had switched to the rear-engined design, even All-American guy AJ Foyt. When Jim Clark became the first driver to qualify at 160mph, Foyt went out and beat his record, with great satisfaction- but he did it in a rear-engined car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW8-aOeAqQg
After the previous year’s inferno rules were made up calling for reinforced fuel tanks, at least two pit stops for every driver and the use of the more stable methanol over gasoline.
Clark and Foyt were the two greatest racing drivers of the era. Clark won the 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 “world” championships in 1963 and 1965, setting a record with 25 wins that would last for years and would win this Indy. Foyt won five USAC “national” titles in a row from 1960-64 and the 1961 and 1964 Indy 500’s. He would go on to win at both Daytona and LeMans, the only driver to win the three most famous races in the world. They dueled for much of this race, until Foyt’s transmission failed. Parnelli Jones also made a run at Clark and actually pushed his car to the pits after finishing the race with an empty gas tank to get second place. But this was Jim Clark’s 500.
With all Clark accomplished, one has to wonder what his ultimate place in motorsports history might have been if he hadn’t agreed to run in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany for a friend in 1968:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGq06rfj5dE&feature=related
I remember being amazed that this had happened to the great Jim Clark. He was said to be a “driving genius”. Despite the dangerous nature of his profession it seemed to me that someone so good at it would never suffer a fatal crash. The fact that the cause of the crash has never been determined just adds to the mystery of it, (and seems somehow appropriate).
Here is the official highlight film, in two parts. Studebacker/NOVI was still trying to make things work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC5ewfRqUiY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=afijbtALdIA&NR=1
Here’s another, shorter highlight film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4waEZ4Fr2r8&feature=related
There are two terrific documentaries on Jim Clark on U-Tube.
This one is in 6 parts, of which this is the first:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVSLXobwy0&feature=related
This one is in one part but it lasts an hour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPvhcutB8kA&feature=related
There’s also a documentary on the Lotus cars that were revolutionizing the sport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9q0v-3qtjw
