I Had A Lot Of Fun In Racing Great Friends Like Sonny Ates Bubby Jones Larry Dickson Jimmy Oskie Tim Delrose Gary Bettenhausen Johnny Rutherford Jim Mcelreath Jimmy Blanton Jim Mcwhity Jim Rathman Parnelli Jones Bill Vukovich! All Great Drivers And They Know What It Was All About!!!!!!! The 60s 70s Where The Best Racing Era Ever!!!!

Amen to that.

How things have changed. When I was 16 the Indy 500 WAS the Great American Race; it was the greatest race in the world. The cars were towed to the track on an open trailer, usually behind a station wagon or a big Cadillac. The winning car had an engine in the front, and it was a work of art and craftsmanship that was a pleasure to view. The winning driver of the 500 held the sprint car track record at my local track, and I had actually seen 14 of the drivers in the field race sprint cars there. None of the drivers ever posed in a swimsuit for Sports Illustrated, or won a dancing contest. English was their first language. Where the hell have we gone wrong?:O:

P.S.
I know I have some memory loss, but was I dreaming or did I just lose 2 weeks on this message board?

Oh & here's one of the things I liked about the '70s


The Olds Cutlass !!

We Didn't Go Wrong Its The Leaders Of Open Wheel Racing That Has It In Unrepairable Shape!!!!!!!!!!! Its Done For Midget And Sprint Car Drivers And Fans!

The Late June Cochran From Indy Former Playboy Bunny!

The greatest 10 year span at the INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY was from 1957 through 1967.
Not only was this the greatest group of drivers in history, including Jones, Clark, the real Foyt, the real andretti, the real Unsers, Gurney, nascar drivers, sports car drivers, sprint car drivers, euros etc, etc, but also the greatest and most interesting cars, including the mid 50s Kurtis Novis, the late 50s/early 60s Kurtis 500G and Watson roadsters, the Epperly "laydowns", “the Cooper”, the Lotus/Fords, Lolas, anything from Mickey Thompson, the giant early 60s Kurtis Novis, the beautiful '66 Eagles, and the very clever '67 STP turbine.....

In addition to the great cars and drivers from '57 through '67,there were also more interesting car builders, mechanics, car owners and sponsors "per square inch" than any other time in history...

Car builders Kurtis, Watson, "Lugie", Meskowski, Kuzma, Salih, Trevis, Ewing, Halibrand, Gerhardt, Gurney, Chapman, Broadley, Brabham, Thompson, Epperly, etc.

Owners like Hopkins, Dean, Chapman, Bignotti, Root, Zink, Granatelli, Demler, Gerhardt, Bowes, Wilke, Watson, Agajanian, Robbins, Porter, Yunick, Thompson, Vatis, Gurney, Mecom, Van Liew, Walther, etc. etc................ sponsors like Dean Van Lines, Bowes Seal Fast, Sumar, Dayton Steel Foundry, Bardahl, D-A Lubricants, Leader Cards, Bryant Heating and Cooling, American Red Ball Van Lines, Federal Engineering, Travelon, Belond, Konstant Hot, Wynn's, STP, etc. etc.

It was the greatest technical period in INDY CAR history, OFFY vs Ford vs NOVI vs turbine, race engines vs stock blocks, turbos and superchargers vs normally aspirated, Americans vs euros, front engine vs rear engine, Firestone vs Goodyear vs Dunlop vs Sears Allstate, 2 wheel drive vs 4 wheel drive, tube frame vs monocoque, etc, etc.

Ward, Sachs, Bryan, Hanks, the Rathmans, Marshman, Hurtubise, Ruby and on and on and on.
They even had the best paint jobs back then with all of the pearl and candy colors, the classic scallops and the great gold and silver leaf trim.

But the best part of it all was that almost all of the cars were
called "Specials", because they were!

1957 through 1967 had it all!!!!!!!!

Oh!, and by the way, they were able to run all of these races without wings, carbon fiber or spotters!
__________________

Yes, another work of art from the period... :O:

Yes And Then All Rear Engine Junk And Rich So Called Drivers Your Never Heard Of Till The Come To Indy!!!!!!!!! Unlike Before When Drivers Come From Midgets And Big Car Racing That Had A Following Of Fans When They Got There! That You Seen Race Midgets & Sprint Cars All Over The Usa!!!!!!!!!

Very true Mac

Billy Englehart had great taste in............ummm, pace car accessories.:wink