I recall this USAC season vividly. This particular race was filmed for the ABC Wide World of Sports, which was televised the following Saturday afternoon. In the 1968 season, Bobby Unser had a string of early season wins, including the Indy 500, where he appeared to have a lock on the championship. But, Mario Andretti whittled away at Unser's point lead throughout the season, with part of Andretti's successes, on the ovals, resulting with switching from the DOHC Ford turbo V8 to a turbo Offy/Drake in mid-season. The USAC Champ Car series, up through the 1968 season, had a peculiar points system awarded to drivers, in that if the driver's original car fell out of the race from a crash or breakdown, he could take over the driving of another vehicle in the field, where he would split the points with the primary driver. It was that driving substitution option, at the 1967 Riverside race, that won the USAC championship for AJ Foyt in that year. One reason Andretti did not take over Lloyd Ruby's car from the outset, it was because Ruby was in contention to finish high in the season's point standings. USAC did away with drivers point sharing option in 1969, meaning that when a driver dropped out of a race, he could not hop into another car in the field to earn points. In Andretti's championship season for 1969, he would not have needed the driver substitution option, as he dominated that year, winning the majority of the races, including the Indy 500, at Riverside, and even on the dirt at Pike's Peak.
Racing at its best. I've raced on this track several times and it is pretty challenging. These guys make it look easy. Gurney is a super smooth driver.
So many great names racing and commentating here! So cool to see the STP turbines in their last race but also sad that they couldn't continue racing in USAC after this due to the rule changes.
You've got to give "Pelican" Joe Leonard full credit for doing as great a job driving the turbine car s quickly as he does on a road course.These were VERY hard cars to drive even on some ovals but countering the complete lack of engine braking combined with "spool up" time and you have a need for complete concentration.
"..we'll be back to check on him in a moment.." FFS, Chris - the car is broken in half, upside down, on fire and he's trapped inside!!! They obviously didn't have red coloured flags back then, lol.
JFTR, the original ABC "Wide World Of Sports" broadcast version of the '67 race does exist in race-trading circles and was up on here in full at one point (*TWICE!*) but it was eventually deleted both times. ;-(
Dr. Lou Fell...a lucky guy in that wreck. Riverside held some excitement in those days. Dan Gurney was a great driver in his racing days. His Eagle Westlake-Ford stock block was a winner for a few years. I especially loved the '69 model.
You know what? I forgot that Mario took over Joe Leonard's # 60 STP turbine...maybe that got Andy G.'s desire to get Mario for the next few years. And, Man! This race had a lot of wrecks and Andretti's "car hopping" for another Indy Car Championship.
At 13:00 min Best line, talking about the College football Hiesman trophy” OJ Simpson , he can get in and out of trouble faster than any man on earth” 😂 Little did they know
+racerx143 I was at this race "working" in the Firestone garage. Actually I was only 16 and my friend and I were snuck into the pits by the Firestone group as my best friend's dad was West Coast Director of Firestone Racing Marvin Porter (a great stock car racer himself) and 1/3 owner of Vels Parnelli Ent. We were standing on top of the Firestone truck when Lou Sell crashed and we were all sure he was dead. To answer your question there was a severe lag in the Turbines and no engine braking which is why they had two set of brakes on the front (inboard/outboard). Like anything else in racing it was a matter of timing. Joe Leonard and Art Pollard just stepped on the gas before they even entered the corner so the turbine got spooled up by the time they were on the other side of the corner! Practice it enough times and have the talent those guys did and it became second nature. Two funny little life events were that the little Kawasaki 120 that Parnelli used to go get Andretti was the same bike we used to borrow from him to trail ride at Marvin's place in Baja Mex. Also I always wanted to race Riverside and it turned out my first race was there in 1979 where I started 42nd and finished 4th in a 45 min race!!! I loved the track and always ran well there no matter what else was going on. It got extremely rough in later years. The EPA rented the track and ran BUSES around it for a month in the middle of a hot summer!!
+racerx143 Remember, as Dave Despain mentioned the beginning, almost all the races were on ovals which made this much easier. If my memory is close there were only about three roadrace tracks run each year. Actually the cars were truly designed with ONE race in mind....the Indy 500! The year (1967) before Parnelli came within a few laps of a runaway win when a $10 part failed. Same thing (not the same part) happened to Joe Leonard in 1968 while in another good lead. Remember they had the advantage all wheel drive which only one or two of the piston powered cars had. The turbine and the all wheel drive were such huge advantages that the all wheel drive has been banned in virtually all track style races and the intake size on the turbine was so restrictive as to be totally uncompetitive. Many people have asked why over the years but I think it comes down to this....can you imagine Tony Hulman announcing "Gentleman start your engines" at Indy and the response would be a whine and whoooooooosh!! That would never fly! Also Ford was deeply involved and no one in the world, to this day, made a turbine street car in numbers. No more "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday". In some ways it was a shame as the turbines could race a whole season on one or two engines and they were very inexpensive to buy and maintain. Anyway even then I thought it ironic that the turbine era ended against the Turn Nine wall at Riverside with a driver that had only done a lap or two in the car. The 1968 Turbines were very advanced for their time an not just because of the engines. I still have my track credentials and button for the race. It meant a lot to me at 16 and I got to meet almost all the big name drivers of the time then and over the next few years. Working for Parnelli and Marvin Porter (I even lived with the Porters for a summer) was an amazing thing for a racing crazy kid.
+Vincent Brennan, WOW! Thanks for the comment, man! Inboards *and* outboards up front?!? Jeez, I need to do more research on those cars. Sounds like Leonard & Pollard had that 'spool it up' technique down *years* before the F1 "Turbo Era". EDIT: Yeah, I accept your claim that the Chrysler Turbine street car project wasn't really "in numbers". They only made about 50 of those things, right? Astonishes me that they ever tried it at all.
+Peter Mayer isn't it, though! I had heard that there was a USAC road racing thing going on, but don't recall ever seeing it on TV (I was six years old in 1968 ).
This was real Indy Car racing, real innovation, real men! Indy Car is crap now. Indy car still belongs on ovals with a couple road races sprinkled in. Two years later was the beginning of the end with the entry of winged cars.
I recall this USAC season vividly. This particular race was filmed for the ABC Wide World of Sports, which was televised the following Saturday afternoon.
In the 1968 season, Bobby Unser had a string of early season wins, including the Indy 500, where he appeared to have a lock on the championship. But, Mario Andretti whittled away at Unser's point lead throughout the season, with part of Andretti's successes, on the ovals, resulting with switching from the DOHC Ford turbo V8 to a turbo Offy/Drake in mid-season.
The USAC Champ Car series, up through the 1968 season, had a peculiar points system awarded to drivers, in that if the driver's original car fell out of the race from a crash or breakdown, he could take over the driving of another vehicle in the field, where he would split the points with the primary driver. It was that driving substitution option, at the 1967 Riverside race, that won the USAC championship for AJ Foyt in that year.
One reason Andretti did not take over Lloyd Ruby's car from the outset, it was because Ruby was in contention to finish high in the season's point standings.
USAC did away with drivers point sharing option in 1969, meaning that when a driver dropped out of a race, he could not hop into another car in the field to earn points. In Andretti's championship season for 1969, he would not have needed the driver substitution option, as he dominated that year, winning the majority of the races, including the Indy 500, at Riverside, and even on the dirt at Pike's Peak.
Gurney's car was a beauty as well as the other cars of that era. They looked different from eachother before everything become a spec car series
Complete craziness
It's a pity that we'll never see RIR again
I was there. 16 years old and snuck into the pits with the Parnelli Jones Firestone crew.
Racing at its best. I've raced on this track several times and it is pretty challenging.
These guys make it look easy. Gurney is a super smooth driver.
I've never seen anything like Mario getting into 3 cars in one race.
So many great names racing and commentating here! So cool to see the STP turbines in their last race but also sad that they couldn't continue racing in USAC after this due to the rule changes.
You've got to give "Pelican" Joe Leonard full credit for doing as great a job driving the turbine car s quickly as he does on a road course.These were VERY hard cars to drive even on some ovals but countering the complete lack of engine braking combined with "spool up" time and you have a need for complete concentration.
R.I.P. Dan Gurney
How unbelievably awesome!
Watching this made my day. Thanks!
I just bought an Autoweek subscription because of this video
jk but this is fantastic!
"..we'll be back to check on him in a moment.."
FFS, Chris - the car is broken in half, upside down, on fire and he's trapped inside!!!
They obviously didn't have red coloured flags back then, lol.
The Riverside International Raceway destruction was a great loss for the American motorsports.
That is the Goal for crazy Roger Penske, back to the USAC National Championship Times
We were there that day. We were close to turn nine and saw the Turbines hit the wall.
Can anyone please get that 67 race back up on here? It's so good!
It’s back up now. Been on a year already so better watch it soon before someone claims copyright violation and demands TH-cam to remove it.
JFTR, the original ABC "Wide World Of Sports" broadcast version of the '67 race does exist in race-trading circles and was up on here in full at one point (*TWICE!*) but it was eventually deleted both times. ;-(
Dr. Lou Fell...a lucky guy in that wreck.
Riverside held some excitement in those days. Dan Gurney was a great driver in his racing days. His Eagle Westlake-Ford stock block was a winner for a few years. I especially loved the '69 model.
You know what? I forgot that Mario took over Joe Leonard's # 60 STP turbine...maybe that got Andy G.'s desire to get Mario for the next few years. And, Man! This race had a lot of wrecks and Andretti's "car hopping" for another Indy Car Championship.
At 13:00 min Best line, talking about the College football Hiesman trophy” OJ Simpson , he can get in and out of trouble faster than any man on earth” 😂 Little did they know
I think he was actually talking about A.J. Foyt.
i also love these early 90's commercials
This should be available as a videogame
the chevy sounded like a can-am car, which is weird hearing a single seater rumble...
Great film and thanks for sharing. Listen at 13:02 for a promo that is prophetic.
But they talk about A.J.'s ability to get in out of trouble quickly, not O J.
Did the Lotus Turbine car that was at Barrett-Jackson ever sell? I think they were trying for 1.5 million and nobody was interested at a million.
6:50 Even with constant spray it took minutes to get him out of there. That is exactly how Roger Williamson died a few years later.
Pretty sure there were some USAC skins made, there was the beginnings of a mod as well at one point, USAC '67?
How did they get that turbine powered car to accelerate out of the corners? It's my understanding those engine have a lag.
+racerx143
I was at this race "working" in the Firestone garage. Actually I was only 16 and my friend and I were snuck into the pits by the Firestone group as my best friend's dad was West Coast Director of Firestone Racing Marvin Porter (a great stock car racer himself) and 1/3 owner of Vels Parnelli Ent. We were standing on top of the Firestone truck when Lou Sell crashed and we were all sure he was dead.
To answer your question there was a severe lag in the Turbines and no engine braking which is why they had two set of brakes on the front (inboard/outboard). Like anything else in racing it was a matter of timing. Joe Leonard and Art Pollard just stepped on the gas before they even entered the corner so the turbine got spooled up by the time they were on the other side of the corner! Practice it enough times and have the talent those guys did and it became second nature.
Two funny little life events were that the little Kawasaki 120 that Parnelli used to go get Andretti was the same bike we used to borrow from him to trail ride at Marvin's place in Baja Mex. Also I always wanted to race Riverside and it turned out my first race was there in 1979 where I started 42nd and finished 4th in a 45 min race!!! I loved the track and always ran well there no matter what else was going on.
It got extremely rough in later years. The EPA rented the track and ran BUSES around it for a month in the middle of a hot summer!!
Thanks for the info. Sounds doable with practice on an empty track but must have been a real challenge surrounded by other cars.
+racerx143
Remember, as Dave Despain mentioned the beginning, almost all the races were on ovals which made this much easier. If my memory is close there were only about three roadrace tracks run each year.
Actually the cars were truly designed with ONE race in mind....the Indy 500! The year (1967) before Parnelli came within a few laps of a runaway win when a $10 part failed. Same thing (not the same part) happened to Joe Leonard in 1968 while in another good lead. Remember they had the advantage all wheel drive which only one or two of the piston powered cars had.
The turbine and the all wheel drive were such huge advantages that the all wheel drive has been banned in virtually all track style races and the intake size on the turbine was so restrictive as to be totally uncompetitive.
Many people have asked why over the years but I think it comes down to this....can you imagine Tony Hulman announcing "Gentleman start your engines" at Indy and the response would be a whine and whoooooooosh!! That would never fly! Also Ford was deeply involved and no one in the world, to this day, made a turbine street car in numbers. No more "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday". In some ways it was a shame as the turbines could race a whole season on one or two engines and they were very inexpensive to buy and maintain.
Anyway even then I thought it ironic that the turbine era ended against the Turn Nine wall at Riverside with a driver that had only done a lap or two in the car. The 1968 Turbines were very advanced for their time an not just because of the engines.
I still have my track credentials and button for the race. It meant a lot to me at 16 and I got to meet almost all the big name drivers of the time then and over the next few years. Working for Parnelli and Marvin Porter (I even lived with the Porters for a summer) was an amazing thing for a racing crazy kid.
+Vincent Brennan, WOW! Thanks for the comment, man! Inboards *and* outboards up front?!? Jeez, I need to do more research on those cars. Sounds like Leonard & Pollard had that 'spool it up' technique down *years* before the F1 "Turbo Era".
EDIT: Yeah, I accept your claim that the Chrysler Turbine street car project wasn't really "in numbers". They only made about 50 of those things, right? Astonishes me that they ever tried it at all.
A "turbo" and a "turbine" in Indy Car history are two very different things. Google it.
By the way,please note that Dan Gurney silently brought about another revolutionary racing development: he has a racially integrated pit crew.
i laughed so hard at 13:04 it aged so well
wow!
+Peter Mayer isn't it, though! I had heard that there was a USAC road racing thing going on, but don't recall ever seeing it on TV (I was six years old in 1968 ).
Jim McKay was the best!
This was real Indy Car racing, real innovation, real men! Indy Car is crap now. Indy car still belongs on ovals with a couple road races sprinkled in. Two years later was the beginning of the end with the entry of winged cars.
Nah. The beginning of the end was when they stopped using front-engine roadsters. Or was it when they eliminated the ride-along mechanic?
At least IndyCar still doesn’t have garbage ball sports gimmicks like NASCAR
,plus size models
Those cars were total junk, its a wonder anybody survived that year?
Ward was a terrible announcer. Completely wrong in a lot of his comments.