Well into the 60s F1 drivers didn't wear belts or harnesses. Thought it was safer to be throw clear, than be burned up or be the meat in a .040 aluminum sandwich.
Definitely no old race car drivers back in the day. It would be hard to live to retirement age with safety conditions the way they were. It's unbelievable to look back and watch these pioneers. Thank you Ryan.
It's actually Beethoven's 5th... I chose it after watching Ken Burns' ww2 documentary. After Pearl Harbor, the 5th could be heard all over the air waves... I'm no classical music expert, but I guess the music signifies a dark period of rage and grief. Kind of cool...
Ernest Hemingway : “Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” i believe you aren't too far from the truth about the 5th, ryan... having been written during the first part of the Napoleonic era.
Err, I thought they played Bethoven's 5th because there was a sequence that starts out Da, Da, Da, Dahhh, or 3dots and a dash, ya know ... __ or V in Morse code, as in V for Victory. Or maybe the pharmacist screwed up my scrip, again.
Ryan, still thinking about your crashes? Hope you are getting them back together. Keep it safe, especially with the little ones. This is a good reminder. There is no way I could imagine racing around in cars like that with open cockpits and not rollbars, etc. That one guy was lucky he got thrown out because of the fire and then even luckier he didn't get run over by the passing cars. Real car crashes of any sort are pretty hard to watch because we all can easily imagine ourselves in the situation and hope it never happens to us or anyone we know.
I remember driving a car with pin-drive wheels. The brakes were good enough to loosen the wheels from time to time. Once knowing I wouldn't reach a control point (and chance to tighten them) for another hour kept going on. Stopping would have cost me. One by one I caught cars that started ahead of me. One by one they were passed.... everytime I'd brake the car would shake. My prize was "1st in" having started 56 min back of the first car. That's all! Got out gave the wheel nuts a smack with the hammer. I'm the only one that knew the wheels were loose. Now you guys do. Sometime I look at these movies and wonder how many guys, like me, made the decision to go to the next stop and didn't make it. Hard part about being a mechanic/builder/driver you hear, feel, smell, every signal your creation gives you. I know it made me slower or at least I thought so I wonder how much warning they got?
Cool video. Pretty dramatic and eye opening! Really makes you feel lucky about having so many advances in safety tech/gear.
The death of Bill Vukovitch was pretty horrific.There is utube footage. And of course the great Fireball Roberts....... fire.....bad.
For a time I was driving an old two man Indy car for a friend. Buddy of mine wanted a ride and came to the garage one day before the races. 'OK We need to get in and check how you fit in this thing with me' I climbed in and slid under the wheel. Once tucked it to the office I said'Hop in' He climbed over the exhaust as I explained that he couldn't touch the pipe without leaving some of him behind. We how locked the belts and I explained to him I needed to get to the gear shift and hand brake. and finally 'Wheen we get out of the pits and pass the starters stand unhook your belt.' 'What is we have an accident?' He said. I told him "Did you see how I got into this thing! I WILL THROW YOU CLEAR ON MY WAY OUT!' He didn't say anything but he never got back in the car. I think he had a vision of me one-armin' him on my way thru the car. Some cars you don't WANT to stay in HONEST
Does anyone remember the footage of A.J. Foyt( I think) doin the crazy chicken dance in the pits when he was on fire. It the took crew a few seconds to figure out what was going on because they couldn't see the flames.
I saw the '64 Indy 500 on the big screen at the movie theatre. It was horrible. A friend of mine was sitting where the accident happened and he was burnt. When the fire was out he said you could see Eddie Sach's skeleton. Dave MacDonald died from inhaling the fire. His lungs turned to liquid.
The 4-bar brackets on my Racer were brazed on when I got it and they worked themselfs loose ( where the bushings attached to the Brackets ) The axle was only the thickness of the seat away from my spine, ready to take it out every time I stood on the Gas or let off on it. But I was Racing for points, so I had to set a time. I didn't tell anybody either ( 'till I had set the time I needed and the Car was back on the Trailer... )
The sinister beauty of this part of Beethoven's 5th. Symphony was an excellent choice to back these horrific but riveting visuals.
One thing about it, as dangerous as racing was back then, it weeded out the pretty boys and left the hard core racers. Hell they probably protested using seat belts cause they didnt want to be tied in when it caught on fire. Rather take their chances bouncing down the track.
The 64 Indy 500 left such an impression on me I bought the die cast of the winner. In 1964 I was 5 years old and we would watch the race for what seemed like an entire day. That was All American Entertainment>>>>.
'2 dead. Ok, what a shame? Clear the mess and let's finish this race and have a good time.' Man, those were some pretty harsh times. No time for whiners and chickens.
Afterwards, many of the sponsors weren't real happy about being associated with whole debacle, especially with the mainstream media displaying graphic pics and all. They put alot of pressure on USAC to tighten up the saftey standards and as a result, fuel bladders and Nomex technology from aviation was soon adapted.
Here's another 'lucky butt'...... Geoffrey Ansell rolled R9B on lap 23 at the 1948 british grand prix. Fortunately, he was thrown from the car and emerged unscathed.
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