The 1972 AAR "Mystery Eagle" on display
The
Lyon Air Museum of Santa Ana California recently hosted the “Vintage Motor
Racing exhibit” with a special tribute to Dan Gurney. This was a fitting
memorial as Gurney’s All American Racers has been based in Santa Ana since 1970.
One of the two AAR Eagle race cars on display was a recreation of the historic 1972 “Mystery
Eagle.” shown as it appeared at the 1972 ‘California 500.’
Veteran
racer Jerry Grant began the month of May 1972 without a ride for the
Indianapolis 500-mile race but campaigned for the seat in the second Eagle for
Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers (AAR) team. Grant was an ideal candidate for
the highly sought-after ride in second AAR Eagle, but there was a problem:
Gurney had a fast machine but no sponsorship.
Photo of Jerry Grant in 1972 courtesy of
the IUPUI University of Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection
Gurney
and Grant had a long relationship which dated back to 1965, when Grant first
co-drove with Gurney in a Lotus 19 in the Daytona 2000-kilometer race. Grant had
driven for All-American Racers in 1966 in the ill-fated Gurney-Weslake Ford
engine powered Lola T70 sports car in the USRRC and SCCA Can-Am series.
On Thursday, May 18, 1972 Jerry
Grant was formally announced as the driver of the second AAR 1972 Eagle painted
purple and white and dubbed “the Mystery Eagle.” The car appeared to outsiders
to be unsponsored, as aside from contingency decals, there was only the logo of
CV Enterprises on the rear wing and the company logo “You Name it” emblazoned
across the nose of the car and on the rear wing end plates.
CV Enterprises was a company operated by the mysterious Christopher A. Vallo
Junior, a self-described millionaire from the Chicago suburb of Highland Indiana
who also owned property and a restaurant in Minnesota. Vallo, a
Korean War veteran of Greek descent, had been convicted in 1965 of passing
counterfeit currency and was sentenced to three years of probation.
In
late 1970, the 265-pound Vallo approached stock car builder and racer Ray
Nichels and his son Terry with a check for $1 million for the Nichels’ to build
Vallo a team of winning Pontiac stock cars. In November 1971 Nichels
filed an $8 million lawsuit against Vallo that alleged non-payment per their
contract terms.
According to fellow historian and
writer William LaDow, the contact for the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500’ CV
Enterprises sponsorship came through Bobby Unser, who introduced Vallo to
Gurney during the month of May when Gurney was desperately searching for sponsorship
for a second Indianapolis entry. In hindsight, given the nationwide publicity
given to Nichels’ lawsuit, one wonders why (or if) Gurney was not wary of Chris
Vallo, or perhaps he was that desperate for sponsorship.
The
terms of the agreement between the pair was never revealed, but Grant got the
ride on May 18 over Unser’s objections, as Unser reportedly wanted a sprint car
driver as his teammate according to Gordon Kirby. On Friday May 19, 1972, Grant
took his first laps in the #48 “Mystery Eagle” and after just 20 or so laps of
practice, posted a best lap of 186.881 MPH.
The following day, after the
remaining “first day” qualifiers failed to knock Unser from the pole position,
Grant qualified for the 1972 Indianapolis 500, his sixth Indianapolis start, in
the 15th position. Grant’s four-lap average speed of 189.294 MPH with the last
lap run at 191.164 MPH, was the fourth fastest run overall, and the fastest
qualifier of the third day non-pole position eligible cars.
In a post-qualifying interview with
the Associated Press, Grant commented on such a fast run after so few practice
laps. “Sure, I’m excited. But
it’s easy to explain. I have the world’s best former driver as a car
owner and the world’s best current driver as a teammate.” According
to Gordon Kirby, however, there was tension behind the scenes, as Unser who had
done all the testing and development work, resented Grant’s immediate
success.
The 1972 Indianapolis 500 featured a new rule that required that, a car take on
fuel during at least four mandatory pit stops during the 500-mile race. The
rule further stated that “approved
procedures under this supplementary regulation will be covered in bulletin
form.” The total amount of fuel allowed for each car to
complete the 500 miles was 325 gallons, the same as 1971 but with one
additional stop required.
Each
car started the race with 75 gallons of methanol fuel on board, and the pit
tank limited to 250 gallons. While a total of 325 gallons seems like a lot of
fuel today with contemporary electronic engine controls, it was going to be
close for many teams in 1972 to average better than 1-1/2 miles to the gallon
with their mechanical fuel injected turbocharged engines.
At the start of the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500’ on Saturday May 27, pole-sitter
Bobby Unser took the lead at the drop of the green flag and led the first 30
laps until his car retired on lap 31 with ignition problems. Gary Bettenhausen,
in Roger Penske’s McLaren then took control of the race.
Grant battled with Bettenhausen and took the race lead of lap 162 when Gary
pitted and then held it for three laps until he pitted and Bettenhausen resumed
the lead. On lap 175, Grant retook the lead and held on while Bettenhausen’s
car retired on lap 182 with ignition problems. Bettenhausen’s teammate Mark
Donohue inherited second place but was nearly a lap in arrears.
While in the lead, Grant’s Eagle began to vibrate and “push” or understeer
entering the turns with what Grant thought was a bad right front tire, so with
just thirteen laps to go, Grant was forced to pit a fifth time. Without working
team radio communications since early in the race, with only hand signals from
the driver, Gurney and the crew surmised that Grant’s Eagle was running out of
fuel. With the “Mystery Eagle’s” 250-gallon pit side fuel tank empty, the crew
stopped Grant in teammate Unser’s stall.
In a chaotic situation, the crew connected the fuel hoses, and then Gurney
realized the problem was not fuel and ordered the crew to disconnect the hoses.
The AAR crew changed the right front tire before they realized the problem was
with the left front tire.
By the time the disastrous pit stop was over, Grant’s car had been stationary
for 38 seconds and Mark Donohue in the Sunoco DX- sponsored McLaren had swept
past into the lead. Over the final 12 laps, Grant could not close the gap and
crossed the finish line nearly a lap behind Donohue.
To finish second after he led the ‘500’ with thirteen laps to go must have been
a crushing disappointment to Grant and the AAR team, but the worst was yet to
come.
George
Bignotti, crew chief for Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing, owner of third-place
finisher Al Unser’s ‘Viceroy Special’ filed a post-race protest which claimed
that Grant’s car should have been “automatically
disqualified “after it took fuel from Unser’s fueling tank.
Bignotti’s protest was reviewed by the stewards overnight, and meanwhile, the
AAR team studied videotape as they suspected that the USAC scoring was wrong
and that Grant had actually won the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500.’
When the official race results were
posted at 8 AM on Sunday morning May 28 1972 , Jerry Grant and the “Mystery
Eagle” were placed twelfth in the finishing order. Chief Steward Harlan
Fengler, Referee Don Cummins, and Steward Walt Myers had upheld Bignotti’s protest
and that Grant was not credited any laps after the pit violation, just as if
the car had retired at that point.
After a hearing the USAC Appeal Board announced
their decision on Wednesday afternoon June 7 1972. While the panel
agreed with Dan Gurney’s claim that the lap 188 refueling of Grant’s car was a
mistake, as the car did not need fuel to complete the race, Chief Judge Charlie
Brockman said that Gurney’s “line
of testimony is not relevant. The stewards cannot be responsible for the
mistake of a contestant. The panel respects Mr. Gurney’s forthright honesty as
he admitted that he would have taken the same action and chanced whatever
penalty had he positively identified the need for more fuel.”
The
USAC Appeal Panel determined that a violation of the rules had occurred and
cited the 1972 500-mile race Approved Supplementary Regulation #23 which stated
that the maximum fuel supply other than that carried in the car was 250
gallons.
On the heels of the stunning loss
of more than $71,000 of Indianapolis ‘500’ prize money, Gurney and Grant found
that the mysterious Chris Vallo had disappeared. Like Ray Nichels and David
Pearson the pair wound being owed a lot of money which they would never collect. Until
his death Jerry Grant would show visitors to his home a copy of 1972 check for
$10,000 from CV Enterprises stamped twice by the bank “NSF” (Insufficient
Funds).
In
March 1976, the law finally caught with Chris Vallo, then 45 years old, as he
was convicted on several federal counts: failing to file income tax returns,
making false statements to obtain bank loans and firearms and possession of
firearms as a convicted felon. Vallo who had earlier filed for
bankruptcy to escape several civil judgments was sentenced to five years in
federal prison. Upon his release, Vallo remained out of the public eye and
passed away in 2000.
Grant’s promising 1972 USAC season
came to a halt for lack of sponsorship with the purple and white #48 AAR Eagle
grounded for three months. In mid-August, Gurney’s primary sponsor Oscar L
“Ozzie” Olson of the Olsonite Corporation, manufacturer of molded one-piece
plastic toilet seats, announced that he had purchased the “Mystery Eagle.”
Olson announced that Jerry Grant would run the final three USAC races on the
1972 schedule, starting with the third leg of the USAC ”Triple Crown” the ‘California
500’ at the 2-1/2 mile “Indianapolis of the West,” Ontario Motor Speedway.
Practice at Ontario
California began on August 22 1972 and both the Eagles of Grant and
teammate Bobby Unser soon posted practice lap speeds of over 200 miles per
hour (MPH). Experts calculated that the turbocharged Offenhauser engines in the
AAR Eagles had to produce nearly 1,100 horsepower to accomplish the 200 MPH
feat.
That huge amount of horsepower from
159 cubic inches of engine displacement came at a price as the high level of
boost pressure put a tremendous strain of the engine’s internal components.
Unser experienced two engine failures in practice and then in
pre-qualifying practice on the morning of August 26, Unser’s car suffered
another engine failure, which opened the door for Grant.
Jerry Grant’s first lap around the
Ontario Motor Speedway in the purple and white #48 “Olsonite Eagle” lap was
completed in 44.7 seconds, or 201.414 MPH. Jerry Grant was the first
man to officially turn a lap in an Indianapolis-type championship race car
at over 200 MPH. Grant’s lap broke Peter Revson’s day-old Ontario track record
of 194.470 MPH and set a new world’s closed course speed record and took the
two-year old "world’s closed course speed record" away from
NASCAR stock car racer Bobby Issac.
Grant’s last three laps of his
10-mile time trial run were progressively slower, but he would start the
‘California 500’ from the pole position with a four-lap average of 199.600 MPH.
In a post-qualifying interview, Grant explained “I didn’t want to push it, so I backed
off a little after that first lap. The track is slick, and I didn’t want to
make a stupid mistake.”
Grant seemed a bit underwhelmed by
his accomplishment. “Going
200 MPH to say you’ve gone 200 MPH is not the object. I want to get a good starting
position in the race and any of the three in the front will be fine with me.”
Meanwhile, the AAR crew replaced
the engine in Unser’s car in time for him to make his time trial run later on
Saturday, but rain showers in the area kept Unser off the track and therefore
he was ineligible to make a run for the pole position. The next day,
Sunday August 27, Unser’s Eagle blazed to a new track and world’s record with a
lap of 201.965 MPH and a four-lap average of 201.374 MPH but because his run came
a day too late, Unser started the 1972 ‘California 500’ from the twenty-third
starting position.
If there was any question of the
level of animosity between Grant and Unser, it was answered by Grant’s quote
printed by the Associated Press after Unser’s record-setting run. “Isn’t it ironic?” said
Grant, “the B team is sitting
on the pole and the A team is back in 23rd?” Unser later told
Preston Lerner "that
record should have been mine. Letting Jerry get the record irks me like
hell because I did all the development work on the car.”
In pre-race publicity, AJ Foyt
predicted race laps would be in the 175-180 MPH range with engine turbocharger
boost levels reduced and the cars carrying full fuel loads. In final practice
on September 1, Grant ran a lap with full tanks at 190.779 MPH, and Unser
practiced at 192.028 MPH. In an article published the day before the race
the Long Beach Press-Telegram ranked Grant as a 10-1 favorite
to win the race to be held on September 3 1972.
Jerry Grant’s “Mystery Eagle”
failed to complete the first parade lap of the third annual $700,000
“California 500” before a rod bolt in the Offenhauser engine broke. The magical flight of the "Mystery Eagle" at Ontario was over.
In an
interview days later with Ohio sportswriter Rick Yocum, Grant
revealed “I never felt
more confident about a race in my life than I did about Ontario. Usually we
change the engine after qualifying, but mine was running good, and you hate to
fool with something that’s working so well. We changed pistons, valves and
bearings, but not the bolts.”
Grant ran the two final 1972 USAC races - the penultimate event at Trenton New Jersey where the engine failed after 53 laps, then in the season finale at Phoenix were he was flagged as the eighth place finisher. While the 1972 season certainly did not have the results Grant and Gurney hoped for, Grant will forever be remembered as the first man to post an official lap in an IndyCar at over 200 MPH.
Fellow historian Jacques Dresang noted that the original "Mystery Eagle" was sold to Bruce Crower in 1973 who still owns the chassis. The car shown at the Lyon Air Museum is a tribute built up with a NOS (New Old Stock) tub.
All photos by the author except as noted
