Synopsis
Indianapolis track announcer Tom Carnegie used to whip the crowds into frenzied excitement during qualification runs for the famous 500, especially when he intoned his trademark exclamation “It’s… A… New Track Record!”. That occurred quite often during the period 1962–1972 with its unprecedented explosion in speed. Parnelli Jones became the first man to break the 150-mph barrier with a lap at 150.370 mph in 1962, then just 10 years later Bobby Unser’s 196.678 mph was not far short of the 200-mph mark. This happened because the “decade” brought extraordinary advances in car, engine and tire design, including takeover by the rear-engine configuration and the emergence of aerodynamic wings, wide slick tires and unrestricted turbocharged engines that ultimately produced over 1,000 horsepower. • Year-by-year coverage includes the technical developments behind rising speeds in a period that saw Formula One-inspired rear-engine chassis depose Indy’s traditional front-engine roadsters. • Following his 150-mph qualifying landmark in 1962, when Rodger Ward won the race, Parnelli Jones claimed victory in 1963 after holding off an unexpected challenge from rookie Jim Clark. • The 1964 Indy 500 saw A.J. Foyt—writer of this book’s foreword—achieve the last win for a front-engine roadster. • Scotland’s Jim Clark, the pole-sitter in 1964, famously achieved the first rear-engine win in 1965 driving for Lotus, while A.J. Foyt’s 161.233 mph in qualifying made him the first pole-winner to exceed 160 mph. • Englishman Graham Hill won in 1966, followed by a third victory for A.J. Foyt in a career total of four. • The 170-mph mark was breached in 1968 when Joe Leonard’s turbine-equipped Lotus lapped at 171.559 mph in qualifying, but the win went to the Eagle of Bobby Unser, marking the first victory for the Unser dynasty. • Qualifying speeds dropped back a little in the next two races, which brought wins for Mario Andretti (1969) and Al Unser (1970), who then won again in 1971. • While Mark Donohue won the 1972 Indy 500 in a McLaren, qualifying brought the biggest-ever leap in speeds with Bobby Unser’s 195.940 mph in his Eagle exceeding the previous record by an incredible 17 mph, resulting in the 180-mph and 190-mph barriers both being broken in the same year. Foremost Indianapolis 500 historian Rick Shaffer tells the entire story with authority and style in this captivating book.
About the Author
Donald DavidsonIndianapolis Motor Speedway Historian Donald Davidson has been blessed with what he is told is a "selective retentive easy access" memory. He showed up at the track in 1964 as a young adult from England, obsessed with the "500" and having memorized a plethora of trivial facts about the event and its participants. To his amazement, he was immediately embraced by the racing fraternity and taken into its inner circle. Returning in 1965 (this time on a one-way ticket and clutching a "green card"), he was invited by IMS Radio Network Chief Announcer Sid Collins to participate as a commentator on the race-day broadcast, a duty he has performed ever since. The week after the race, he was hired (by Director of Competition Henry Banks) to be the keeper of records for the United States Auto Club (USAC), and since that time has contributed to dozens of books, written numerous magazine stories and local newspaper columns, given hundreds of talks, been featured on ABC News, and been a guest, along with Mario Andretti and Jackie Stewart, on Ted Koppel's Nightline. He has hosted a call-in radio show every May since 1971, and for 20 years has conducted a four-night course on "500" history for IUPUI, the Indianapolis-based combined campus of Purdue and Indiana Universities. He joined IMS full time on January 1, 1998. Rick ShafferFor most youngsters growing up in Indianapolis, the "rite of passage" can mean one's first visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the case of writer/historian Rick Shaffer, it came during October of 1962, when his father took him and his older brother on a surprise trip to the track and museum. Like his co-author, Shaffer got to witness his first Indianapolis 500 in 1964. A combined interest in history and auto racing led him to major in journalism in college, and he has been writing stories on the subject since 1973. From 1987 through 1993, he helped cover the sport for The Indianapolis Star. Over the years, he has also written articles and columns for a number of racing publications. Shaffer currently resides outside of Indianapolis where he continues to write, occasionally lecture and collect books on the subject of auto racing. This is his second published book and he rates the latest experience the combination of "a labor of love" and "a dream come true."
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