INDY 500 & DAYTONA 500 1963 LOTUS FORD RACECARS 89294

Presented by Ford Autolite Sparkplugs, this historic film shows the racing circuit circa 1963 beginning with the 1963 Daytona 500, the 5th running of the event held on February 24, 1963. The 1963 Daytona 500, won by beloved underdog Tony Lund is one of the great stories in American motorsports. At 17:21, the film moves to the 1963 Indianapolis 500. with a focus on the new Lotus Fords. The film follows the Lotus team at the speedway and once the race begins, Clark and Gurney prove the Lotus not only can compete with the offys, they are a threat to win the race! At the end of the race Clark is runner-up behind (spoiler alert) winner Parnelli Jones by only 34 seconds! And -- "the Lotus Fords will run again."
The 47th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday, May 30, 1963.
Parnelli Jones took his only Indy 500 win despite his car (nicknamed "Calhoun") spewing oil from a cracked overflow tank for many laps, which allegedly caused at least one driver to spin and crash. USAC officials put off black-flagging Jones after car owner J. C. Agajanian ran down pit lane and convinced them that the oil leak was below the level of a known crack and would not leak any further.[1] Lotus owner Colin Chapman, whose English-built, rear-engined Lotus-Ford finished second in the hands of Scotsman Jim Clark, accused USAC officials of being biased towards the American driver and car.
The non-black flagging of Jones remains controversial. Many, including Chapman and journalist and author Brock Yates, believed that had it been an American driver and car in second place instead of Clark in the British built Lotus, officials would have black flagged him.
Goodyear arrived at the track and supplied tires for some entries, but participated only in practice. No cars used Goodyear tires during time trials or the race itself. It was the first time since about 1921 that Goodyear attempted to compete at Indy. Goodyear had last won the race in 1919.
The 1963 Daytona 500 race was affected by the weather -- with temperatures reaching up to 75 °F (24 °C) and wind speeds up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). The race was won by Tiny Lund driving a 1963 Ford in three hours and 17 minutes. There were 2 cautions flags which slowed the race for 10 laps. Lund won by making only four pit stops, but he would not have been able to make the distance on four pit stops had the first ten laps not been run under caution to dry the track from earlier rains. Had the race not started under caution, Lund would have had to make five pit stops, just as Fred Lorenzen and Ned Jarrett did. He was able to win on four pit stops along because of the slow start time.
Lund filled in for an injured Marvin Panch, who suffered injuries after a crash in a Maserati. Panch was to drive a Wood Brothers car in the 500. The win was Lund's first victory of the season.
The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.
This race marked the first time that ABC's Wide World of Sports covered the great American Race. It also helped to dispel the long-standing stereotypes of the Southern United States after the rest of the United States witnessed an emotional inspiring win.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@ronsnow2015]

Thank you for the upload and all your effort. Nice video.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

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[@tsf5-productions]

The sports media of back then was like so many "special documentaries" : 'Classic music from an orchestra...a narration of slang-style that was known as "hip" back then...and the footage of surroundings that now-a-days has changed the areas drastic.(Take example how the Indy Speedway of today looks from the old days. Back then, I thought the I.M.S. was huge...now, it's a small looking place)
I love these old auto racing films! The industry of media doesn't make them like that any more.
The 1963 Lotus-Ford was THE turning point of Indy cars...more than the 1961 Jack Brabham British Cooper-Climax 4 cylinder. I was there when the '63 First Day of Time Trials happened (between 3rd & 4th turn). It was my first Indy racing experience and I was thrilled! When Clark & Gurney went out to qualify, oh what excitement it was to hear that Ford V 8 make.
As to the '63 winner, Parnelli Jones - as great as he was in racing cars, that race should have been Clark's. The leaking oil tank most likely caused the Eddie Sachs spin (and he told Jones that after the race) and Roger McCluskey's. But...four years later, Jones should have won Indy in that unique turbine car.
Well, old Indy 500 races, I love. They sure brought out real character in many a good race driver.

[@20alphabet]

Absolutely super upload!

[@WildwoodClaire1]

Jones' car should have been black-flagged for leaking oil but his car owner, JC Agajanian, was on the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Speedway. So, even though Eddie Sachs crashed because of the oil, it really didn't matter how dangerous conditions were, there was no way Jones would be black-flagged. That was especially true because black-flagging Jones would have given the race to a foreign car and team, a rear-engine Lotus driven by Scotland's Jim Clark. It is also ironic that Jim Hurtubise was black-flagged for leaking oil even though he wasn't. The oil Hurtubise was accused of leaking was in fact spewing from Jones' car.

[@davidthompson5460]

The #88 burgundy colored Studebaked coupe at (very briefly) 0:55 is what should have been.

[@blkcoupequattro]

18:30 the hood up on the new SBF

[@richardhall9815]

RIP Eddie Sachs.

[@johneddy908]

The Lotus-Fords at the 1963 Indy 500 were powered by an engine based on the production Windsor V8.

[@stevefowler2112]

yep...the 260 v8

[@alfi6745]

Did I just watch a 30 minute spark plug add from the 60s?

[@cool3865]

yes you did, they did alot of those back then. but alot of behind the scenes look is great

[@TheRacer120]

I wonder what the guy at 11 minutes would think about him having a snooze being preserved on a film which people around the world would be able to view nearly 55 years later.

[@davidthompson5460]

The Tiny Lund 1963 Daytona 500 story should be told better than this. He WON the race.

[@JohnGeorgeHill]

"Hey Honey!" They can't say that stuff today. Lol.