EXCITING 1961 INDIANAPOLIS 500 - High Quality Race Film - A.J. FOYT Race Winner
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ย. 2019
- Rare and enhanced 16MM footage of the 1961 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The 45th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Tuesday, May 30, 1961. The race celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 1911. Won by A.J. Foyt.
Eddie Sachs and A. J. Foyt were battling for 1st-2nd in the latter stages of the race. On Foyt's final scheduled pit stop, his crew was unable to properly engage the fuel mechanism, and his car did not take on a full load of fuel. Foyt returned to the track, and was pulling away from Sachs. Foyt's car was running faster due to the light fuel load, but his crew signaled him that he would be unable to make it to the finish without another pit stop. The crew borrowed a fuel feed mechanism from Len Sutton's team, and signaled Foyt to the pits.
Foyt gave up the lead on lap 184 for a splash-and-go. That handed the lead to Sachs, who was now leading by 25 seconds. With three laps to go, the warning tread showed on Sachs' rear tire and Sachs decided to play it safe. Rather than nurse the car around, he pitted to replace the worn tire on lap 197. Foyt took the lead with three laps to go and won his first (of four) Indy 500 victories by a margin of 8.28 seconds.
A notable story included the appearance of two-time defending Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham from Australia, who drove the race in a low-slung, British built Cooper powered by a Coventry Climax engine. Dubbed the "British Invasion," it would be the first notable post-war appearance of a rear-engined car, and within five years the rear-engined revolution would take over the Speedway. The venerable front-engined roadsters with their larger and more powerful engines were much faster down the long straights, but the superior handling of Brabham's Cooper in the corners kept his car competitive. Brabham qualified 17th at 145.144 mp/h and drove the car to a respectable 9th-place finish, completing all 200 laps. He had planned to run conservatively and make only two pit stops, but tire wear and fuel consumption forced him to make a 3rd stop, negating his strategy. Had he driven more aggressively with three pit stops, he might have been much closer to the lead serial.
5 months after the race in October 1961, the front straight of the track was paved over with asphalt. Thus the entire track was now paved in asphalt and only a single yard of bricks at the start/finish line was left exposed from the original 1909 brick surface. This meant that the 1961 race was the last 500 in which cars raced on the original bricks other than those at the start/finish line.
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Those four-cylinder Offy engines were of a single block with no separate cylinder head. With that, there was no way a head gasket would blow, as there was no separate cylinder head for that engine. The design also allowed for very high cylinder compression ratios, important for generating horsepower.
This was truly the golden age of Indy , I wish we had real drivers like Foyt, Sachs, and Ward today they were the best of the best!
This is remarkable to see it in color, as back in the day if local TV stations would televise this, which they would do on weekend afternoons, it would be in black & white.
I say about televising films of auto races, as KPIX in San Francisco back in the early to mid-1960s would do that. It's where I got my introduction to F1 driver Jim Clark; as F1 racing films were televised on Sunday afternoons.
I, my brother & sister, were at that race at the invite of Earl Schmidt, who was on the 500 mile race board. Have a wonderful picture of A. J. Foyt as he took his winning run around the track. Remember a wreck happening in front of the Grandstand. Eddie Sachs was our favorite driver! What an exciting day it was!
1961. So beautiful cars, so beautiful year!!! The year I was born! ❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸
Right on!
I had an uncle named Jack Frank. Great guy. Thanks for the cool films on racing in the golden era. Drivers were very brave considering the lack of safety equipment.
Thank you for watching. I'm from Pittsburgh so probably not related. But thanks again for kind words
What! Am I the FIRST to put a comment in? Okay...This "Tulsa Films" special about the 1961 Indy 500 is very good! Good camera quality and angles with the men who did the overall production back nearly 60 years ago. (as the saying goes: "They don't make 'em like that any more." ) This famous race had two good drivers who showed their best: Foyt & Sachs. And, as I've said in many other old Indy racing films - I wish that the late Eddie Sachs had won the Indianapolis 500 even one time...let alone be a U.S.A.C. National Champion in the good years of the early 1960's.
Driving in that era and since the beginning of motor racing was dangerous. Many a good driver met his fate in the speed sport series of all kinds. The up and coming driver like Bobby Marshman that hailed from a small town in Pennsylvania was one. The loss of the great veteran Tony Bettenhausen was another. Then there's Don Branson. He was a demon on the dirt track racing scenes. You know...the is only a few of those guys left as of this date (10-23-2020): A.J. Foyt & Parnelli Jones...and those guys are well into their 80's now. Foyt has been one of my top five favorites ever since he started winning the car races. (Jimmy Clark is STILL my number 1 favorite...and he is one who died well before his time)
Well...I've put this show on pause. I'll continue on now to enjoy the 1961 Indy classic.
Cool. I was born in Jan 61. AJ is THE man
Race car drivers of this era of racing were so vulnerable to major injury and death. We've come a long way to protect drivers today.
This is one of the best films I’ve seen from that era, great clarity and color…👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Glad you enjoyed it
Awesome video,thank you for the sharing!
Thank you too
This race was a changing of the guard:The rear-engined cars started making their presence known,and names like Four and Jones were becoming household names.
I meant to say Four and Jones
@@vince065us You said Four and Jones.
Thanks Jack Frank Very Greatful To See These races
I read A.J. Foyt's autobiography. I remember him telling his mother he was going to win that gold Thunderbird for her.
These are absolute gems. Thank you for posting them.
Not a word about brabham in the rear engined cooper.... a debut that would change indy forever!
Did you watch it?
1:03
3:32
5:42
21:54
Wrong. He was specifically mentioned at 1:05. And again at about 3:34. The contemporaneous narrator could not have known the significance of the strange little car at the time.
Hey I managed to make the 65 race. Green car, foreign chassis, non iffy engine on gasoline.!
Jack Brabham and the 1st rear-engine car to run at Indy. They didn't like the idea so not much mention was made of it.
June 24, Sir Jack Brabham was a pioneer midget driver in Australia, the conquered formula One in a car he designed and built himself and pioneered the rear engine car at Indy and to think I used to live around the corner from the house he grew up in in Sydney
A true legend
And to have known car builder Floyd Trevis and his son Ron, it should give some recognition to him in the Youngstown, Ohio area, but few seem to care, sadly. I lettered a few sprints in that tiny little shop on Loveland Ave.
Thanks so much for this! Exceptional quality and I like the "behind the scenes" action in the garage.
Glad you enjoyed it!
We have come a long way since 1961 haven't we. It's almost comical watching all the stuff that would not be allowed today. But it was the state of the art in that era, and everyone was amazed and excited at the "speed" and race technology. The front engine "specials" were soon to be put out to pasture. It's interesting that 60 years later Foyt is still involved in the Indy 500.
Things like standing on the track to throw the caution? That's how it was done, but it's downright suicidal just the same.
Oh, and A.J's not only involved, but this year his team dang near won the race. (I'm happy Newgarden won, but was really pulling for Ferrucci and Supertex.)
I was there.
Brabham finished 9th.
History was made.
Nice video! I was there! My first 500!
I like how the marching band @ 2:52 has a bunch of 48-star flags, even though it's 1961.
Those few months only 49-star (Alaska) flags are now worth big bucks.
No cookie-cutter cars back then. Also 'qualifying' actually meant something - as something like 60+ cars attempted to qualify. Back then you could build your own car in your barn or garage and attempt to qualify. The rear-engined car made its first appearance with 'Black' Jack Brabham and his F1 Cooper.
I was at this race.
Cool
Wow Jim Rathman 3 2nd's and a win very impressive!
Ah, the heroes {too many killed too young) and sponsors (Rislone, Bardahl, Perfect Circle, Raybestos, and Mobil) of a long, long ago youth. This 1961 race was the first I recall - my fifth-grade year. But I was a non-conformist and by grade eight it was Formula 1, Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans for me. Apologies. :)
PS Boys' Life and Life magazines were my Indiannopolis reporting publications of choice. Well, actually they were the only ones my parents provided. And the only ones they could afford.
LOL! I know the feeling. Same here.
The front engined roadsters of that era had to be given a push by the pit crew members as those cars only had two-speed manual transmissions. First gear to get going, second gear for race speed. The Offy engine high-torque allowed for the two-speed tranny.
J.F.P.......................thank you for this transfer, HQ indeed !!!!!!! .........thumbs up also
Glad you enjoyed it
Fantastic movie, I subscribed your channel, greetings from Italy, Fabrizio
Thank you very much!
@@Tulsa_Films Thanks to you for sharing!
1mn 07 : Jack Brabham Cooper Climax. Sponsor Kleenex. Kimberly special
I just knew when that driver got out of his car and left it in the middle of the race track it was gonna be trouble , and did you see him just causally walk off the track ..as he was stepping over the guardrail a car flew by,,,just seems like I would be in a hurry to get my butt out of harms way…..🤪🤪🤪🤪
Noticed the marching band had 48 star flags. @2:55 The 50 star flag had been adopted the previous year.
Interesting. Good catch
I see they finally had roll bars installed for safety. In mid to late 50's they didn't have them and if you wound up in a crash that flips the car or does a rollover or two, the driver is more than likely dead or has serious injuries.
😃
Hurtubise was another one of those drivers that didn't know how to take care of his car, and make it last. Ran it as hard as possible, all the time. He was always fast. But could of won a lot more races if he had more race savvy.
In my opinion A.J. was the greatest driver ever. He could drive anything that had wheels on it. He won Indy, Daytona 500 and 24 hours of Lemans. What other driver did it?
The real story of the 1961 Indianapolis "500" wasn't A.J. Foyt's first (of four) career wins at Indy but Jack Brabham, who drove a modified rear engine Formula 1 car.
Within a few years, front engine cars in Indianapolis-type race cars would become extinct.
I bet that rear engine Cooper looked crazy to people back then.
Jack Brabham Cooper Climax, 2,7 cc
where did Jack Finish ??? RiP Sir Jack
Never made it to Indy. Dad did in 1963 when we lost Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald. After that year front fuel tanks were banned.
Not 1963 but 1964!
@@healthyone100 ok 1964. The ol memory ain't what it used to be.
@@kshsghahah5631 That's cool man, i was 14 i remember my cousin bringing to my house the N.Y. Daily news the whole back page was a picture of the crash i'll never forget that!
RIP Lucy
I wonder if that Foyt kid ever amounted to anything after this...
the hand of the mechanic inside the engine 1:16
Davis at 15:50… wth? Run off the track. He caused that accident
Foyt wasn't sporting his familiar number 14 then.
Foyt won two of his four like that being in the right place at the right time l hadn't heard some of those great names in years. I think it was a few years later that Eddie Sachs got killed another great racer .
Thank you take care 🙂
Race starts at 11.oo
"There they are 33 of the world's best drivers in over a million dollars in cars" LOL.. Nowadays ONE car cost over a million..