1966 Indianapolis 500 Film
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- No copyright infringement is intended with this, or any other video I upload. The purpose of uploading this video is for the viewing pleasure for those that watch it.
This is the Golden Jubilee running of the Indianapolis 500, the 50th edition, run on May 30, 1966.
If the 1965 race didn't mark the end of the front-engine roadsters at Indy, this race in 1966 did, as only one, driven by Bobby Grim, even made the field. However, the Lotus cars were not as dominant as they had been, as the competition was catching up, as other teams with different chassis had made up ground on the Lotus.
In qualifications, reigning USAC champion Mario Andretti was the fastest, easily taking the pole position, while reigning Indy 500 and World Champion Jim Clark and George Snider, driving A.J. Foyt's second car, completed the front row. (Foyt crashed on the first day of time trials.)
But this was a race for rookies, controversy, and mayhem. Rookie car owner John Mecom brought two first-timers to the Indy 500, though one of them, 1962 World Champion Graham Hill, could hardly be considered a rookie. The other first-timer, Jackie Stewart, was a rookie in he truest sense. They were teamed with 2-time Indy champion Rodger Ward and chief mechanic George Bignotti, who had won twice with A.J. Foyt, so there was experience there.
But controversy and mayhem ruled the roost in ths race, and it began on the start. Gordon Johncock started on the second row, but his car had a 2-speed transmission, so it was slow to get going, while Billy Foster was charging from the fourth row. Foster literally ran over Johncock's car, starting a 16-car pile-up that eliminated fully one-third of the field, including himself, A.J. Foyt, and Dan Gurney. Others eliminated in this crash were Don Branson, Gary Congdon, NASCAR driver Cale Yarborough, Arnie Knepper, and the last four starters, Al Miller, Bobby Grim in his roadster, Larry Dickson, and Ronnie Duman.
Johncock's was one of five damaged cars able to continue, but the rules at the time prohibited any work on the cars during the red flag period, so they would have to start from pit lane after their cars were repaired, and they were several laps behind the leaders. That rule was changed in 1967, allowing teams to work on cars during red flag conditions.
But the madness had just started. After four laps behind the pace car (when the field came around after the crash at the start, that completed the first lap), Johnny Boyd crashed on the lap 6 restart, then Mario Andretti ran into trouble, and while his problems were ensuing, Snider and Chuck Hulse crashed exiting turn 2. After just 60 miles, 14 cars had crashed out of the race.
The bizarre nature of this race even affected the front runners, as Jim Clark spun in turn 4 while leading on lap 65, then did so again 22 laps later in turn 3, while at almost the exact same instant, 1963 winner Parnelli Jones had problems and dropped out, as did 2-time winner Rodger Ward 12 laps earlier while running fifth. All this resulted in Lloyd Ruby dominating much of the middle of the race, as he led a total of 68 laps, more than anyone on this topsy-turvy day.
But Ruby became a victim of an oil leak caused by a broken cam housing bolt, knocking him out of the race, giving the to three positions to the British drivers, led not by Clark, but rather by Stewart and Hill. Hill was lapped by Clark early in the race, but unlapped himself on Clark's first spin, a fact that went unnoticed by the scorers until late in the race, and is still a source of controversy. Then Stewart lost oil pressure with nearly a 2-lap lead, which gave the lead and the race to Hill, who became the first rookie to win the race since George Souders in 1927.
The high attrition, combined with the carnage of the start, resulted in just seven cars running at the finish. Behind Hill and Clark were Jim McElreath, Gordon Johncock, and Mel Kenyon. Stewart was sixth and received the speedway's Rookie of the Year honors, despite the fact that Hill, anothr rookie, actually won the race. Veteran Eddie Johnson finished seventh, despite completing only 175 laps, which was an example of the extreme attrition of this race.
All credits go to SPEED (SpeedVision, the forerunner to the current SPEED Channel, originally aired the material used in the video), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, USAC, and Championship Racefilms.
If there are any others who I'm forgetting, please let me know so I can add them to the list of those to credit.
That was cool to watch I love watching old racing footage
Jim Hurtubise qualified and ran his Mallard roadster in 1968. Finished 30th. That was the *real* last appearance of the roadster at Indy.
I watched this at theFox Theater in Atlanta. AJ could have been a foretop man on the Constitution the agility he showed in climbing that fence.
I have Billy Foster's autograph. Got it at Langhorne in 1962.
Great upload thanks.
I saw the '66 Indy 500...my dad, an uncle, and two of his "business friends" all had a good view of the race...especially the first lap accident and the race winner, famous F1 driver from London: Graham Hill pulling into "Victory Lane". My favorites were Clark, Andretti and Foyt. The one who had the possible victory snatched away was, Lloyd Ruby. The retirement of a real Indy racing champ, Rodger Ward, was a sad event, but, as Ward had promised himself in the years of his racing career: "The day I find racing is no more fun then, that's the day I quit ".
That 1966 race could have been one of the best in Indianapolis 500 history had it not been for the first lap wreck. I don't think Hill would have won the event. Foyt, Dan Gurney Mario (had his car held together; he claimed that a number of slow laps after the start up of the race, did his engine in) all had potential. Even the famous Parnelli Jones. But...who's to know?
And of course, when Ruby fell by the wayside, Jackie Stewart got the lead and even lapped Jim Clark at one point before his car lost oil pressure and dropped out with eight laps remaining. But the only thing that likely made that race interesting at all was that Clark battled an ill-handling car all day, as he spun out twice in 22 laps and still wound up finishing second (and some claim to this day that Clark actually won the race).
Exactly! Jimmy Clark was, in motor sport history, one of the all-time best drivers and his beautiful Lotus car did have its problems. I wonder...had Andy G. and his brothers let Colin Champman's Lotus boys have total control of the month's events...the Lotus model could have easily won.
Clark was, to me, and still is, my number one all-time favorite in racing. Just think...had he been alive he would have likely won Indy again - maybe three times (like the 1969 race...not Mario's win but, Clark's)
I went to 14 of the Indy 500's. 1994 was my last when Al Unser, Jr. pulled off an easy victory for Penske, though, Nigel Mansell was my favorite in that event. ( Mansell was one of those guys who pushed himself to the limits )
@@tsf5-productions And Chapman's Lotus team might have finished 1-2, because until he crashed just past the 400-mile mark, Al Unser was right up there in the #19 STP Lotus, as well. Unser might have even been ahead of eventual winner Graham Hill at the time of his wreck, though the scoring regarding Hill and Clark was somewhat controversial, because it wasn't until the final 20 laps that the scorers discovered that they had either credited Clark with one lap too many or had not credited Hill with one lap. When that oversight was detected by the officials in the latter stages of the race, Hill was placed ahead of Clark.
Well, cjs83172, I still think that Clark won the race that year. Not denying that the I.M.S. track officials were all wrong but those two spins and continues of Clark's...well...somebody in scoring just didn't pay too much attention of Clark's # 19...which going by at some high speed, looks like Al Unser's # 18. Same make, color of the cars but, one says as sponsorship: "STP Oil Treatment" (Unser's), and the other: "STP Gas Treatment". Yes...Clark's car owner wanted Whitehall inner tires to distinguish the two (just like the NOVI of Driver, Art Malone's in the '64 Indy race and personally... I wished Clark's Lotus had the number "18" instead of "19"...just " an even series number" which to me looks good on a winning car...usually. )
Watching a few times the "closed TV circuit" cut of some 45 minutes of selected scenes on TH-cam, Scotsman F1 driver, Jackie Stewart, seemed to have been driving, at times, rather off line grooves. Maybe, his car was starting to get loose due to track conditions. What do you think?
And...here's another thing about the cars that didn't finish the race ( and that was one of the lowest number in the history of the Indy 500's ) ...Dan Gurney's first year of Eagles made a good impression: Lloyd Ruby, Joey Leonard, Jerry Grant, Rodger McCluskey, and of "Dan, the man". Those Eagles were better than some of those other car chassis designs of that 1960's era...let alone the 1970's. And, the Ford DOHC V8 Indy engine...what a beautiful sound!
@@tsf5-productions And the thing about the scoring issue was that, years later, when his Indy career was profiled on "Race for Heroes", Al Unser even said that there were those that thought he was ahead of Clark after Clark's two spins, which is the danger when you have two cars that were literally identically painted, as was the case with Clark's and Unser's cars in that race. But Sid Collins mentioned in the official film of that race that Hill, who Clark had lapped, had moved up during Clark's first spin, meaning that he had unlapped himself from Clark at that time. That may have been what the officials discovered in the latter part of the race when they put Hill ahead of Clark when they were second and third.
Now it is nice to see, two F1 legends 1st and 2nd. :)
And it would've been 1-2-3 had Jackie Stewart's car not quit on him within sight of the finish. And had Stewart's car not failed, the top two finishers would have been Indianapolis 500 rookies, which is a testament to how great a mechanic the recently passed George Bignotti was, as Bignotti was the chief mechanic on all three of John Mecom's cars in that race, two of which were driven by Stewart and Graham Hill. (The other one was driven by all-time Indy great Rodger Ward.)
Should've been Jackie Stewart's race. Even Hill himself was surprised at his luck, but he ran a good race. Indianapolis chooses its winners more than they choose it.
And that year's race was a textbook illustration of that, because first, that was Lloyd Ruby's race, as he dominated the middle portion of it (after Jim Clark spun twice in 22 laps), leading for 68 laps before being brought in, and eventually retiring with a cam housing stud failure. Ruby's problem handed the lead to Stewart, who was coasting to victory until his engine gave way, and that's how Hill inherited the lead, though many who were there that day thought he wasn't actually the leader, but with 20 laps remaining, USAC discovered that they had either credited Jim Clark with one lap too many or had not credited Hill with one lap, because that's when they first posted Hill as being ahead of Clark, and when Stewart's engine failed, that gave the lead to Hill, but Andy Granatelli's team, which had teamed with Colin Chapman's Lotus operation, urged Clark to also drive into victory lane, believing he had won for the second straight year.
@cjs83172 Poor Lloyd Ruby couldn't buy luck at Indianapolis if he had a billion in the bank. Worse than the Andretti curse. I say Jackie's race cause he was so damn close to the finish. And yes, there are still people that insist that Clark actually won. Controversy wasn't born with Paul Tracy, lol. I still consider Mario the rightful winner of 81, so I guess we all have our stories. But 66 was largely a heartbreak race. At least the early crash wasn't fatal like 64.
@@CarlosMedina-wu8ug Which was amazing, given the wheels and tires that were bouncing everywhere. The only injury was A.J. Foyt suffering a cut finger climbing the fence, which fortunately, kept all those flying tires and wheels from flying into the crowd.
And Mario Andretti committed the exact same infraction at the exact same time Bobby Unser did in 1981. He just didn't pass as many cars (Mario passed three, but let the third car he passed go back ahead of him, while Bobby passed eight). With as many cautions that fell after that incident (the last 50 laps of that race were littered with cautions, usually for minor things), had both drivers been penalized at the time, given that Gordon Johncock, who was never involved in the controversy, eventually fell out with six laps remaining, the results would have been the same, with Bobby taking a fairly easy victory.
Because @eriq affandi, it's not shown on the video, which is made from the original film, and it might not have made the official film of the race. Only Brock Yates mentioning it on his special about 15years ago would make those watching this video even aware that he had been killed in practice.
That guy really know how to wave a flag... "the very first lap.." I remember watching on the Wide World of Sports that year.. those guys watching are lucky not to have gotten their heads knocked off....
Yes, Pat Vidan, who was the flagman from the Indianapolis 500 from 1962-'79, was known for the flamboyance with which he waved the flags. When they installed the flagstand after the tragic 1973 race at Indy, some of that flamboyant flag waving had to be calmed down. Part of why Vidan could be so flamboyant with how he waved the flags was because he was standing at track level on a stand between the track and pit road.
@@cjs83172 After the crash-filled 1973 race, a new overhead starter's platform was built above the start/finish line, and that's where Pat Vidan flagged the race from 1974 through 1979.
Graham Hill was not the first rookie to win the Indy 500.
That would be Ray Harroun, who won the first Indy 500.
In fact, rookie winners were a fairly common occurrence in the first 15 runnings of the race (1911-'27), but Hill was the first Indy rookie to win in the modern history of the race, as his win was the first for a rookie at Indy since George Souders' win in 1927, the first for a rookie since rookie tests were made mandatory in 1935, and it would be the last rookie win at Indy for another 34 years. Of course, he was hardly a rookie in the traditional sense, given that he'd already been an F1 World Champion (in 1962, the year before Jim Clark won the first of his two F1 titles).
Thanks for the info
@cjs83712, why you didn't mentioned the Chuck Rodee Fatal Crash on this video ?
When the 16 cars pile up (on 1966 Indy 500) ?
Do you know how we can see footage of Autumn 50 in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1967? Thanks.
just occurred to me that Lotus went with red because of the thought that green was bad luck. Is this true or was the color choice a sponsorship thing?
It had to do with Andy Granatelli's STP sponsorship, as well as now being part of his team. Granatelli ran or entered Lotus cars from 1966-'69, and they all carried his familiar red STP colors, as Petty Enterprises would do with it's #11 car in 1972, the first year STP sponsored Petty Enterprises' cars in NASCAR.
@@cjs83172 Thanks!
I didn't knew that Jackie Stewart raced in the indy 500 before
+33kalam He raced in the event twice for car owner John Mecom, nearly winning it in 1966 and drove from near the back of the field into the top 5 in 1967 before dropping out in the latter stages of the event. The odd thing is that, although Graham Hill won the 1966 race as a rookie, it was teammate Jackie Stewart who was actually given the nod for Indy's Rookie of the Year honor. Stewart, Hill, and future NASCAR great Cale Yarborough were among those that made their Indy debuts in 1966.
Who was that climbing over the fence into the crowd?
It was A.J. Foyt that was climbing the fence. Actually, that resulted in the only injury anyone suffered from that melee at the start, because A.J. cut his hand climbing the fence (Brock Yates mentions that in the open for this race, which came from the old SpeedVision program "Faces of Victory, Memories of Indy").
Ok, why was he climbing the fence?
@@mackydog99 Because there was a tremendous fear of fire in those days, and with as many cars involved in that huge wreck as there were, there was a fear that one or more of them would catch fire. Remember that this was just two years after that horrific tragedy, when Dave MacDonald's and Eddie Sachs' cars exploded in that lap 2 catastrophe, and Ronnie Duman was also badly burned in that crash, and then later on in the race, the fuel tank aboard Parnelli's car exploded after the first pit stop, forcing him to dive from his car while it was still moving to avoid more serious burns than he got. Foyt was climbing the fence to avoid any fire that may have arisen from that huge crash, but fortunately, there wasn't any.
Thank you. Good information. Much appreciated. Been an Indy 500 fan for over 60yrs but some of these old videos I've never seen or heard. Thanks again.
Who's da guy introducing... and at the end?
Legendary motorsports commentator Brock Yates, as noted in the graphic at the beginning of the upload.
Brock Yates, also an automotive journalist and the originator of The Cannonball Run outlaw race across the USA.