History Back Home Again In Indiana. Indy 500 Stories, Photos, Please

This Sunday is the running of the Indy 500. I would like to see photos from the 500, racecars, programs or hear any stories.

I have never miss watching the 500 since I was born. My father has listened on the radio or watched every year since 1962.

 

I recently re-connected with my old high school shop teacher. Knew he raced when he was younger. Then I found out he was a crew chief on the car owned and fielded by actor James Garner at Indy. He told of how hands on Garner was, how they went over lap charts every morning in the garage and how Garner met his mom when he took him home for a "home cooked meal" after Indy one year. It became a ritual with them and his mom expected to see them every year the week after Indy. Garner was her favorite actor before she even got to meet him. He still goes back every year and works as a pit steward and his dog is the mascot of the Indy fire team. Dog is even in the front of the Indy safety teams pictures!

School would have been a lot better with some of the stories I've found out in the last couple years. Our paths have actually crossed several times thru the years and we never knew it!

SPark

 

That John Zink car is in the museum, now! Took pics of it because he is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and won the 500 in 1955. Bones

Got to comparing photos..... might not be the same car!? Bones

 

Grew up listening to the 500 on a small radio in the garage with my dad. Occasionally got to go to the time trials. Back in the days of Andretti, Foyt, Unser, Mears, Rahal, etc. Legendary names in the history of the brickyard. Had a t-shirt stating “Life begins at 220 mph”. Nothing like seeing the greatest spectacle in racing , Tom Carnegie announcing at the track and Jim Nabors singing “Back Home In Indiana”. Was also interesting to see the newest pace car as well. Very long front straight away, low banked curves and “the short chute”. And the ultimate privilege: drinking the bottle of milk after victory. A lot of history, legends, innovations and speed. And yes, in Indiana!!!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Guy I used to work with Immigrated from Germany about '64? Was cruising WI. Ave one Sat night, might have been '65 when he & a buddy were offered race tickets for the next day! They look at each other & say...what ever they say in German, I guess.
Off they head in a '64 Galaxy & drive all night to get to Indy in time for the race.
Ticket guy at the gate says "these ain't race tickets, they are for watching the race on closed circuit TV at the Movie theater in downtown Milwaukee!
Much discussion & cursing ensues...The guy takes pity & lets them in to the race!
That guy was a character!

 

I dont have anything personal to contribute story/photo wise but there is one man who helped elevate Indy to the modern age and that is Ted Halibrand.

Taken from Hemmings article.
And if any one name has been synonymous with magnesium wheels over the years, it's Ted Halibrand's.

Halibrand was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1916, right about the time that magnesium production around the world sharply increased in the military buildup to World War I. Before he would become acquainted with the metal, though, Halibrand first became enthralled with racing, likely due to his proximity to Paterson's Gasoline Alley, where racers such as Ted Horn and Pappy Hough could rent garages for a dollar a month during the Depression.

By the mid- to late 1930s, Halibrand had relocated to Southern California, both to take a job with Douglas Aircraft as an engineer and to move closer to the year-round racing on the area's dirt ovals. He remained with Douglas during World War II as a field service representative, a position that took him around the world, helping maintain the variety of planes that Douglas built for the U.S. armed forces.

While working on those planes, Halibrand often found himself replacing aluminum parts in high-stress locations with magnesium parts; though magnesium production dropped dramatically after World War I, the magnesium industry had fully recovered by supplying military needs during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and by finding greater use for the metal by alloying it with aluminum and zinc.

Like many of his contemporaries, Halibrand returned to racing after the war, but with new ideas about how to go faster. In this case, he decided to cast a set of wheels for his midget out of magnesium in 1946: doing so would both cut down on the amount of unsprung weight and add strength (and a measure of safety) at all four corners of the car.

The wheels worked as planned, and the following year, Halibrand formed Halibrand Engineering in Culver City, California. Following the dream of every racer, Halibrand took the wheels to Indianapolis in the late 1940s to ultimately prove their durability, and starting in 1951, every Indianapolis 500 winner for the next 16 years ran Halibrand magnesium wheels.

This is my favorite photo of Ted Halibrand.


https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mus/2011/03/Ted-Halibrand/3697171.html

 

I went there in 1980, with my younger brother and our uncle. Most of the field was made up of guys we had seen at Winchester, Eldora and Dayton. We had seats in the pits right behind Gary Bettenhausen's Armstrong Mould team. He came in 3rd that year in a DGS powered car, the last time an Offy based engine placed at Indy, I believe. We pitched a tent across from the Marathon refinery on Holt the evening before the race, and 16th street is an absolute zoo the night before the 500.

 

I had a buddy in Vietnam in 1968 who told about living a mile and a half or so outside the main spectator gate and that cars would be backed up in front of the house early in the morning waiting to get in. He and his brother or buddy would find a couple of cheap bikes and ride them to the raceway and on into the infield where they leaned them against a pole and walked off and left them. Said they never even looked to see if they were when it was time to go home.
I grew up listening to the race on the car radio with either my dad or later with my step father while we were off on a family picnic. I think I even may have talked my grand parents into putting it on the radio as we rode from cemetery to cemetery to place flowers my grandmother had grown on family and friends graves. That was in their 54 Chevy with a couple of wash tubs of flowers in the trunk.

 

A friend of mine (she is a H.A.M.B.er but I don't know her handle.) and her husband live about 4 miles from the speedway the can hear the cars in the south turn.
I asked her what is like 500 weekend, she said they lock themselves in the house Thursday night and don't come out until Monday afternoon!

 

For those who are interested and might not know, the Indy 500 photo archive
is located in the 500 Museum. If you haven't been to the museum you're missing
a fantastic display of cars, awards, toy cars and memorabilia. You can look through
the archive and purchase photos at very reasonable prices, at least they used to be,
and in various sizes. The museum is open daily for a very nominal fee, and even if you're
not particularly a circle fan it's still worth the visit to see.

My first trip to the course was for the '71 race. What an eye opener the night before was.
16th Street was a madhouse what with all the people and drinking, but in a good way. The
street was closed off so the madness was contained. The great part was meeting people
from across the country. Different accents and varied interests in racing. They opened
the gates about 2:00 am, we all streamed in and scrambled for ground space to crash until
morning. A very kool experience, including the race.

 

Anyone have more to add?
I think @flatheadtommy owns some pretty cool Indy history, if he would not mind sharing?

 

1st rear engine indy car 1937.

 

This is the DA special driven by the Great Johnny Thomson with the skin off . you will notice the Offy laid right on its side

 

Jack and Freddie in discussion !

 

This is Rolling Art !!

 

The very tough, Paul Russo, A real Veteran !

 

I was born in Indy and lived about three miles east of the speedway for the first twenty - odd years of my life, so the place has great significance for me. I watch the race for the nostalgia effect. The place has changed so much since my days there and most of the people I knew who were connected with the race are gone now.

I worked at a speed shop across Sixteenth Street from the speedway grounds selling circle track parts in the early seventies. Plus, we were the neighborhood alky and nitro dealer. As a result of that we worked closely with the Valvoline fuel and oil crew. The owner had "ins" at the speedway and seemed to know everyone connected to the place, so I got to know a lot of the grunt level full time champ car guys. At that time several of those guys also had an interest in sprint cars, which added to the comradery.

It's a different world now, but I still watch and think about the old days.

 

My Dad took me to the 1948 race when I was 12 years old. I will try and find my stuff from the race and be back with a good story.

 

"Team seems to have prepared his motor bike quite well!"
TFF!!

This NEVER gets old:

 

Garage fire, race day morning 1941.

 

A few years ago, I was scouting interesting cars in Spokane Washington. One thing lead to another and I got a lead on some interesting stuff. Made contact with the owner and got an invite to check out his collection.

Old time master fabricator and mechanic, had some incredible restored cars, but the real deal was Tom Sneva's very 1st car he tried to qualify at Indy. This guy built the car from the ground up . While it did not qualify that year Sneva did try to make the field.

His original car is still owned by the builder and is part of a large private collection of interesting collector cars. I will be in Spokane for the swap meet in July and will stop by the collection and try and get some photos and history of Tom Snev's 1st attempt to qualify at Indy.

just sayin.

brasscarguy

The car was a rear engine design can't remember the power, it looked a lot like the Lotus style of Indy cars.

 

Gasoline Alley, race morning 1971, Lloyd Ruby.

 

Jim Tipke was the builder and it was powered by a turbo charged Offy.

 

WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

A big part of New York State history.
The 1951 winner Lee Wallard on May 30, and very badly burned at Reading Fairgrounds a few days later on June 03 1951.

Lee Wallard is almost un-know out side of the most hardcore race fans in this area. Even though it is less then a hour drive to his home town of Altamont.

 

Wallard's rookie ride at Indy 48.

 

His last year 2014-

 

1909 - 3.2 million bricks are brought in to pave the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway track surface

Barney Oldfield in the
Harry Miller, the "Golden Submarine" - circa 1917



From-
http://indymotorspeedway.com/oldpics.html

 

Pace cars-
1911 Stoddard Dayton
Driver Carl G. Fisher


1912 Stutz
Driver-Carl G. Fisher


1913 Stoddard Dayton
Driver-
Carl G. Fisher


1914 Stoddard Dayton
Driver-
Carl G. Fisher


1915 Packard "6"
Driver-Carl G. Fisher


1916 Premier "6"
Driver-Frank E. Smith


From-http://indymotorspeedway.com/v1/500pace.htm