Wednesday, May 29, 2019

1972 Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Team VPJ-1


1972 Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Team VPJ-1




Maurice Philippe started his career designing airplanes before he joined Lotus Cars in 1965. Phillipe worked with Colin Chapman and redesigned the Lotus 39, and then drew the BRM-powered Lotus 43. The next Phillipe design was the classic Lotus 49 and later Philippe was involved in the design of the 1968 Lotus four-wheel drive turbine Indianapolis cars.




Phillipe’s master stroke was the Lotus 72, a dramatic Formula 1 design which broke new ground by mounting the radiators alongside the driver in sidepods, a design that McLaren Cars adapted for the M16 USAC car that won the Indianapolis pole position in 1971. In late 1971, Maurice left Lotus to work as a free-lance designer.




Philippe's 1972 design for the Vel’s Parnelli Jones (VPJ) Racing Team featured wings sprouting at a 45-degree angle off the monocoque known as dihedral wings which also contained the radiators. Most shocking there was no rear wing mounted behind the turbocharged Offenhauser engine.
The new Parnelli also featured new Phillipe-designed suspension technology known as dual camber compensators meant to keep the triangular shaped chassis monocoque level in all racing conditions.



The VPJ team was the first of the modern “super teams” with a lineup of top drivers, mechanics, and strong sponsorship so expectations were high for the new car. The team featured drivers Joe Leonard, Al Unser and Mario Andretti, Leonard was the defending United States Auto Club (USAC) national champion in the PJ Colt, a chassis that was copied from a Lola design.  



Unser was the two-time and defending Indianapolis 500-race race winner, while Andretti was a three-time USAC national champion and the 1969 Indianapolis champion. George Bignotti the multiple time Indianapolis winning mechanic was the team’s chief mechanic paired with mechanics John Capels and Jim McGee.  




Leonard’s car carried season long sponsorship from Samsonite luggage, while Andretti’s and Unser’s cars carried full sponsorship from Viceroy cigarettes. The sponsorship was supplemented with a massive influx of funding from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which was engaged in a “tire war” with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. 


A press photo from the 1972 VPJ-1
 unveiling at Ontario Motor Speedway
author's collection
  

The VPJ team and the national auto racing media gathered at the Ontario Motor Speedway in March 1972 for the car’s introduction, and after a coin flip with teammate Mario Andretti, Al Unser took the prototype out for its first laps. After several laps Unser pulled into the pits and Andretti then took the car out for some slow laps, then drove directly to the garage area. Shortly thereafter the press outing ended.  




Not disclosed to the press was the fact that the car, known as the VPJ-1 was a horrible combination – it was both scary and slow. The team went to work to revise the design and develop the VPJ-1. The team used the older Colt chassis at the season-opening race in Phoenix, then the new car debuted at Indianapolis minus the dihedral wings, with a conventional suspension system and more typical front and rear wings.



In the 1972 Indianapolis 500, the VPJ-1 finished second, third, and eighth.  Later in the 1972 USAC season, Joe Leonard won three consecutive races – a 200-mile race at Michigan, the Pocono 500-mile race, and the Tony Bettenhausen 200 at Milwaukee. On the strength of those results, Joe Leonard captured his second straight USAC national championship with Al Unser in fourth place in the 1972 points.



Despite the early problems, Maurice Phillipe penned the 1973 Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing Team entry, the VPJ-2, the VPJ-3 used sparingly in the 1974 USAC season (the team switched to 1974 AAR Eagle customer chassis for most of the season) and the VPJ-4 ill-fated Formula 1 car powered by a Cosworth engine.    



The Vintage Indy Registry displayed VPJ-1 chassis #102 owned by Chuck Jones was shown in its original dihedral wing configuration at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show. The car is expertly restored as it appeared in early season testing. 

This chassis was driven by Joe Leonard to a third-place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Leonard drove chassis #102 to the three wins during the 1972 season at Michigan, Pocono, and Milwaukee until the was damaged in a tire testing crash before the season-ending race at Phoenix, and Leonard drove VPJ chassis 104 at Phoenix. 

Leonard crashed chassis #104 in practice and did not start the Best Western 150. Fortunately for Leonard, he had a commanding points lead over second place Billy Vukovich and claimed his second consecutive USAC National driving Championship.    

All photos by the author except as noted 

Sunday, May 26, 2019


The short-lived 
Argonne Forest Park Speedway

Part one

Note - the author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of his friend and fellow racing historian Bob Lawrence, who provided information about Bowen & Onley and the results of the 1939 races referenced in this article. A link to Bob’s website is provided at the end of this article.
  
Growing up in the Linden Heights neighborhood of Dayton Ohio, Null M. Hodapp’s childhood best friend was his neighbor Ralph Clemens. The pair shared many adventures as young men, grew into adulthood, graduated college and became prominent men in Dayton in the nineteen-teens. 

Hodapp worked as an attorney with the firm of Burkhart, Heald and Pickrel, in downtown Dayton while Clemens was a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with the pioneering Dayton accounting firm of Louis G. Battelle.   

With the entry of the United States into the Great War in Europe, both men registered for the draft in June 1917 and were drafted into the United States Army in September 1917. Assigned the same unit, the 322nd Field Artillery Unit, they reported to Camp Sherman near Chillicothe Ohio for training.




Clemens became a sergeant in Battery ‘A’ while Hodapp was assigned to the Headquarters Company. The 322nd
shipped out of Camp Sherman on June 4, and then boarded the SS Canopic in Hoboken New Jersey on June 12, 1918 for their deployment overseas.


Upon the 322nd Unit’s arrival in Europe, they were sent to the Western Front.  The 322nd supported the US Army's 37th Ohio Division in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest and bloodiest operation of World War I, which cost more than 26,000 American lives.  Sergeant Ralph Clemens was killed in action just hours before the Armistice went into effect at 11 AM on November 11, 1918 in the dense Forest of Argonne near Belgium.

Hodapp, heartbroken at the loss of his life-long friend, returned to Dayton after his wartime service. Nell continued his career in the law, in partnership with his brother, married, had two children and was elected a municipal court judge in Dayton in 1926.


That same year he bought land southwest of Dayton along Germantown Pike on the banks of Possum Creek. On the site Hodapp created the Argonne Forest Park in memory of his childhood friend and the place where he had fallen, to provide a place for veterans and their families to enjoy the outdoors.  

The clubhouse for veterans was the first building constructed on site and was dedicated on October 15, 1927 along with a reenactment of the Meuse-Argonne engagement. Later Hodapp and a group of investors incorporated as Argonne Forest Park, Inc. and through the years added an 80-foot by 40-foot dance pavilion, a carnival midway, a horse race track and stables, a gasoline filling station and a football field.


The Park also featured a baseball diamond with bleachers, a shooting range and a swimming hole with a diving platform. Later after his divorce from his wife, the noted soprano LoRean Hodapp in 1932, Hodapp built a home on the Park site.

Argonne Park became a popular destination for family picnics and group gatherings, and the hall hosted dining and dancing on Wednesday and Saturday nights and the occasional boxing match.  For many years on his birthday, July 4, Hodapp and members of the 322nd Field Artillery Association would reenact the artillery battle of the Forest of Argonne.  Through the years thousands of Daytonians attended the reenactments which always closed with a huge fireworks display.

The deepening Great Depression caused attendance at the park to decline so additional activities were added which included auto races known as “junk yard derbies” on a new figure-eight dirt track in the Summer of 1939. These races were promoted by Don C. Onley, onetime partner with his brother, W. W. Bowen in the Bowen & Onley racing promotions company from 1926 to 1931 until Bowen retired. In addition to auto races, Onley Amusements & Sports Promotion promoted events from Ohio to California that included automotive and motorcycle stunt shows and boxing matches.

“Junk yard derbies” were popular in the late nineteen thirties in the Midwest with events held in dozens of cities in the state of Ohio. Oftentimes, these events were not held on established race tracks, but instead on roughly-hewn tracks in a farmer’s field and generally attracted several hundred spectators that paid 25 or 30 cents each for admission.

Many of these tracks had no names, but others used colorful names with references to Lucifer, such as “Satan’s Merry Go Round” which was located one mile north of Piqua Ohio and was also known as the “Devil’s Bowl.”  Early in 1939, the ½-mile figure-eight track at the Argonne Forest Park was promoted as the “Devil’s Race Bowl”, then became known as the “Argonne Forest Speedway.”   

The vehicles entered in these “junk yard derbies” could scarcely be called race cars, as the only rules were that the driver had to 21 years of age and the car had to be stock and worth $100 or less. Safety was of little concern and these type of “junk yard” races sadly had a high fatality rate, with many of the driver deaths recorded as traffic accidents.  As many as seven “junk yard” racers died in Ohio during the Summer of 1939, including one man who left behind a widow and ten children. 

It appears that the first automobile race at the Argonne Forest “Devil’s Race Bowl” was held Sunday July 30, 1939 on what was described in advance promotional articles as “the world’s most hazardous auto race course,” and the “famous hair-raising figure eight track.” Despite the threat of rain, a reported 4,000 fans attended – children were admitted for 10 cents while adults paid 40 cents each, except for “blonde ladies and plump ladies over 200 pounds,” who were admitted free. 

The inaugural fifty-lap feature race, with all the cars carrying a driver and a rider, was described the following day in the Dayton Herald as a “comic novel event with chills and thrills,” was won by “Doc” Ashbaugh of Miamisburg, Ohio but not without some controversy, as other racers filed post-race protests. 

The other racers claimed that the #22B 1929 Ford driven by Ashbaugh, appearing in his first race, was equipped with a “full-fledged race motor.” Although “Doc” kept the victory, officials would not accept his entry for the next week’s race unless he agreed to race with a different motor.

Despite the early controversy, Ashbaugh proved to be a solid competitor in jalopy racing at Argonne and moved up the ladder and became a favorite in modified stock car racing across the state of Ohio. “Doc” later raced track roadsters with the Mutual Racing Association after the World War II with fellow Daytonian and Argonne alumni, negro racer Leroy Nooks, and participated successfully in a series of midget races held in Pomeroy Ohio in 1948 and 1949.   

The next race at Argonne Forest on Sunday August 6 introduced a novel idea - the Gold Cup Trophy. Each week’s top six qualifiers were eligible to compete in a 10-lap dash, and the first man to win three of these weekly dashes would win the permanent trophy, a 24-inch tall gold cup filled with silver dollars.  

The first dash was won by Ashbaugh, the days’ fastest qualifier at 50 second flat, while the feature was won by Jim McCabe of Dayton driving a 1929 Ford. Two racers were injured in a grinding crash at the figure 8 intersection – driver Glen Tyler sustained a compound leg fracture and his rider Henry Vrining suffered a fractured spine. Several of the drivers had equipped their car with “safety hoops” and officials encouraged this addition for safety but did not yet require their use.

For the August 13th race at the “Devils Race Bowl” in the Argonne Forest Park, officials eliminated the requirement for cars to carry a rider, trumpeted as a safety measure. The racing program opened with “Doc” Ashbaugh of Miamisburg as the winner of the 10-lap dash, to complete his second leg in pursuit of the Gold Cup Trophy.  The day’s feature race was marred by a serious accident in which Daytonian Robert Dulinsky’s car tangled with the machine of John Eaton also of Dayton and left the 21-year old Dulinsky with a fractured skull.

With Dulinsky transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital in grave condition, the race was called complete at 30 laps following the accident. The leader at the time Jim Edwards of Franklin Ohio a small community about a dozen miles south of the racetrack was declared the winner with Bud Cider second and Bates Lewis scored third in a 1929 Ford.

Dulinsky lingered in the hospital for nearly a week then died at 9:20 AM on Saturday August 19, survived by his parents with whom he lived, and two married sisters. The next day’s race at the “Devil’s Bowl” became a benefit race for injured drivers that also featured automotive and motorcycle daredevil stunts interspersed into the racing program. In addition to the money raised through gate receipts, fans donated $70 for Dulinsky’s family during the program.

In qualifying Jim Edwards set quick time, a new track record of 47 seconds, then in the feature ran down the early leader Ashbaugh, passed him on lap four then led the rest of the distance. Ashbaugh finished second as he edged 20-year old driver Ray Kruger, younger than the track’s 21-year old age limit, but who raced with the permission of his mother, Etta, who was in attendance.  

On Sunday afternoon August 27, the track debuted its new oiled surface designed to control dust, and brunettes were admitted free of charge. After his car lost a wheel during a special four-car 15-lap match race, Ashbaugh came back and again visited victory lane in his 1929 Ford.  During the week before the next race held the day before the Labor Day holiday, Ashbaugh spilt with the owner of the successful #22B 1929 Ford but come Sunday, in a new car, Ashbaugh smashed the track record by three seconds. Jim Edwards won the feature.

On September 10, the program featured a special 10-lap race for women drivers won by 23-year-old Margaret Quire in a time of 9 minutes and 47 seconds. Jim Edwards swept the race of the program as he won the 10-lap heat race, the 15-lap match race and the 20-lap feature over Ashbaugh and Ray Kruger.

Ashbaugh, a crowd favorite who drove in house slippers, claimed three wins on September 17 – the “slow” feature, the “fast” feature and the 10-lap heat race, while John Turner finished second in all three races. Ms. Quire won the 10-lap ladies’ race and lowered her winning time to nine minutes flat. 

On September 24, the Argonne Forest course was quiet, as many of the track’s stars, including Ashbaugh, Krueger, McCabe, and Edwards were all scheduled to take part in the modified stock car races at Frank Funk’s high-banked ½-mile oiled dirt Dayton Speedway.

Argonne Speedway officials put the off week to good use as they added a ¼-mile track for midget car racing and graded and resurfaced the ½-mile figure-eight track which had seen more accidents since the oiled surface was adopted. 

Argonne officials cancelled the scheduled October 1 event early due to predicted rainy weather and many of the track’s top drivers raced instead at Funk’s Dayton Speedway modified stock car event. Ashbaugh led the first 35 laps at Dayton Speedway before his car experienced mechanical troubles; Ashbaugh’s retirement handed the lead to Jim Roberts of Springfield, Ohio who led the rest of the way to victory.

The October 8 feature victory which featured 20 cars was copped by 21-year old Orval (alternately spelled “Orville”) Epperly of Dayton, who went on from his start racing at Argonne to have a growing career in post-World War II American Automobile Association (AAA) “big car” racing until he lost his left leg in a gruesome heat race accident at Winchester (Indiana) Speedway on July 25, 1948. 

The 50-lap 1939 Argonne season finale on October 15 was captured by Russ Cowic also of Dayton in a time of 36 minutes flat. Russ Cowic raced for many years until he was seriously burned in an accident at Eldora Speedway in 1971.  It appears that no driver was able to win a total of three “Gold Cup Trophy” dashes and claim the permanent trophy. 

Don Onley’s promotional efforts at Argonne Forest Speedway ended at the close of the 1939 racing season with the promotion and sanction taken over by the Central States Stock Car Racing Association.

We will continue with the history of the Argonne Forest Speedway by looking at the 1940 season in the next installment.



Visit Bob Lawrence's websites: http://winfield.50megs.com/

Bobby Unser's first Indy winner 




The big storyline leading up to the 1968 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway centered around turbine-powered race cars. Andy Granatelli had his team of four day-glo red four-wheel drive Lotus 56 cars sponsored by STP Oil Treatment, while Carrol Shelby had a pair of turbine-powered cars sponsored by Botany 500 men’s clothing, and last but least Jack Adams had his single car entry.

Through the month, the Granatelli turbines were fast, but driver Mike Spence was killed in an accident in practice on May 7 as he tested teammate Greg Weld’s machine. After Spence’s accident the #30 car was withdrawn, and veteran Art Pollard was hired to take over Spence’s original ride. Meanwhile, the Shelby turbines were withdrawn under a cloud of suspicion and the Jack Adams car proved noncompetitive.    

On May 18th in time trials, Graham Hill in a STP Lotus 56 reset the track one-lap and four-lap records with a four-lap average of 171.208 miles per hour, then his teammate Joe Leonard reset the one-lap record at 171.953 and took the pole position with a new record four-lap speed average of 171.559 MPH. The third STP turbine entry driven by Pollard qualified in eleventh place.  



The third fastest qualifier set to start on the outside of the front row on Memorial Day was a conventional rear-engine rear-wheel drive turbocharged Offenhauser All-American Racers Eagle mark four driven by Bobby Unser. The car owned by Bob Wilke’s Leader Card Racers and sponsored by the Rislone Oil additive company, qualified with a four-lap average of 169.507 MPH. Unser came to Indianapolis on a three-race winning streak at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Trenton New Jersey and had surprised many railbirds on May 16 when he recorded the first 170 MPH lap in practice.




Joe Leonard led from the pole position at the start of the ‘500’ for the first seven laps, before Unser took over, and the race continued as a battle between Unser, Lloyd Ruby, and the Pollard and Leonard turbines.  On lap 188, Pollard’s STP turbine coasted to stop inside of turn one, and three laps later Leonard’s race-leading turbine car rolled to a stop alongside Pollard’s, both cars victimized by broken fuel shafts.  




Leonard’s retirement handed the lead to Unser, who lead the last eight laps and crossed the finish line 53.81 seconds ahead of AAR’s owner Dan Gurney’s Eagle. On the strength of his Indianapolis win, Unser won the 1968 United States Auto Club (USAC) national championship by just eleven points over Mario Andretti. Surprisingly, Unser did not the Indy-winning car much the rest of the season because as he told an interviewer, “we had a hard time making that car handle.”



Owned today by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway  Foundation, Bobby Unser’s winning car from the 1968 Indianapolis ‘500’ was on display at the special Unser Family Tribute at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis.  Besides it’s historical significance as an Indianapolis winning car, Unser’s Rislone Special was the last car to win at Indianapolis without the benefit of added aerodynamic devices.  

Footage of Unser's car shot during the 1968 '500' were used in the 1969 Hollywood film "Winning" that starred Paul Newman as Frank Capua as the race winner in the "Crawford Special."  

All photos by the author 

Monday, May 20, 2019

Ed Carpenter's quarter midget at PRI 2018 



One might ask how did a man who has started from the coveted pole position for the Indianapolis 500-mile race three times and finished as the runner-up in the 2018 Indianapolis ‘500’ get his start in racing?




The answer is quarter midget racing, and Ed Carpenter’s quarter midget was part of the “Hoosier Thunder: Indiana’s Short Track Heritage” exhibit. at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis.




Ed began to race his quarter midget in 1989 at age eight, comparatively old for that type of car, as some quarter midget drivers start at age four. Before he moved up to up to three-quarter midgets at age 16, Ed won several local and regional titles. At age 17, Carpenter debuted in full-size midgets and during his career, he has driven in all three of the USAC national series - midget, sprint and Silver Crown championship cars.


Carpenter started in the Indy Lights series in 2001 and the Indy Racing League (run by his step-father Tony George) in 2003. Ed has won three IndyCars races - in 2011 at Kentucky Speedway, 2012 at Fontana Speedway and Texas Speedway in 2014. 


Carpenter started from the pole position at the Indianapolis ‘500’ in 2013, 2014, and 2018. As an IndyCar owner/driver since 2011,Ed Carpenter has only driven on oval tracks in IndyCar since 2014. 

For comparison, we share photos of a modern quarter midget race car as shown at the Bilstein booth at the PRI show. Compare with Ed Carpenter's 1990's era quarter midget to see how technology has advanced. 





All photos by the author 






Sunday, May 12, 2019


Al Unser's 1978 Triple Crown winner 




Midland Texas’ Jim Hall ended his Chaparral Can-Am program in 1970, after a series of ground-breaking race car designs, the last being the famed 2J ‘sucker car” which was outlawed. 

In 1974, Hall teamed up with Lola Cars US importer Carl Haas to field a car in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Formula 5000 road racing series for open-wheel cars powered by American stock-block V-8 engines driven by Brian Redman.

The Boraxo-sponsored team used a Lola T332/Chevrolet that won the Formula 5000 championship three consecutive years – 1974, 1975, and 1976 when the series ended.  The team tried the revitalized Canadian-American Challenge Series in 1977 but Redman crashed in practice for the first race and was seriously injured.



Jim Hall next set his sights on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1978 with a Lola T500-1 powered by a turbocharged Cosworth DFX engine driven by two-time Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Al Unser. Although the car was a Lola, it carried the name Chaparral for sponsor First National City Travelers Checks and the number “2” to denote Al Unser’s finish in the national points in 1977.



 The new team performed well at the first two rounds of the 1978 USAC (United States Auto Club) championship series, but Unser crashed in practice and destroyed the first T500 chassis at the third race at Texas World Speedway, and the team skipped the fourth race of the season at Trenton New Jersey. 



Al Unser qualified in fifth place for the 1978 Indianapolis 500-mile race and did not move into the race lead until lap 76, and he led three times for 121 laps and beat Tom Sneva to the checkered flag for 8.09 seconds for his third Indianapolis ‘500’ crown.



 A month later, Unser won the Schafer ‘500’ at Pocono International Raceway in the original rebuilt T500 chassis, then on Labor Day, Al and the Chaparral chassis number 2 won the California ‘500’ at Ontario Motor Speedway to become the first man to win the USAC “Triple Crown” – all three of the 500-mile races on the schedule. Although Unser won those three major races, he lost the 1978 USAC national championship by Tom Sneva by 122 points, due to the two races that Unser missed.

The restored 1978 First National City Travelers Checks Chaparral Lola now is owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation and was shown as part of the Unser Family Tribute at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis.    



All photos by the author

Friday, May 3, 2019


“Little Al’s” Indy ‘500’ rookie ride




Al Unser Junior, born April 16, 1962, was known as “Little Al” when he arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1983 to differentiate him from his father at the time a three-time “500 winner. 

After he started racing in sprint cars, Al Junior had worked his way up the road racing ladder, as he won the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Super Vee series in 1981 in a Ralt RT5, then the SCCA single-seat Canadian-America Challenge (Can-Am) revival series in 1982 in a Lola Frissbee-Chevrolet owned by New Mexico car dealer Rick Galles.

Al Junior made his CART (Championship Auto Racing teams) IndyCar debut in the 1982 ‘Air Cal 500’ at Riverside Raceway in a March 82C owned by Gerry Forsythe and finished fifth in a race marked with high level of mechanical carnage, as only four of the race’s 28 starters finished. The following year, Unser Junior was slated for a full 13-race slate for the 1983 CART season.



The 1983 Indianapolis 500-mile race appeared on the CART schedule although the race was still sanctioned by the United States Auto Club. Junior in the Coors Light Silver Bullet/Roman Wheels Special, an All-American Racers Eagle chassis powered by a 167-cubic inch turbocharged Cosworth DFX V-8 engine that developed approximately 750 horsepower.  



Al Junior easily passed his required rookie test and qualified on the first day of time trials with the fifth fastest average speed of 202.146 miles per hour for his ten-mile run.

In the late stages of the Memorial Day race, Unser Junior ran in tenth place as he father led, with Tom Sneva in second place and in pursuit of the lead. Unser Senior passed his son, and Junior blocked Tom Sneva for over a dozen laps. With 10 laps to go, Sneva finally passed Junior in lapped traffic and then quickly cleared Unser Senior for the lead and the eventual victory over Unser Senior. Unser Junior's Eagle ran out of fuel and he was scored in tenth place.



“Little Al” was roundly criticized for his late race blocking of Sneva, but it was his earlier action of passing two cars before the green flag off a caution period that netted him a two-lap penalty form USAC officials. Despite the criticism, everyone recognized that “Little Al” was bound to be a star, a prediction proven correct when he won the Indianapolis 500-mile race in 1992 and 1994 and reigned as the CART champion in 1990 and 1994 with 31 race wins during his 17 seasons in CART.  

Yes, that is Tom Sneva's signature on the rear wing! 

  
Al Unser Junior’s restored rookie ride was shown in the special Unser Family Tribute presented by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis Indiana.  

All photos by the author 

Wednesday, May 1, 2019


Pennzoil history at the Indianapolis ‘500’

Author photo



The Shell Oil Company’s outdoor display at the 2018 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas featured the #3 Pennzoil-sponsored Dallara IR-12 with the UAK (Universal Aero Kit) IndyCar as driven by Helio Castroneves in the 2018 Indianapolis 500-mile race.

Pennzoil, a division of Shell Oil since 2002, has a long history of involvement at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar racing. The company claims to have sponsored the machines of Russell Snowberger and Wilbur Shaw during the nineteen thirties, but the earliest Pennzoil sponsorship the author is aware of at the Indianapolis ‘500’ dates back to 1951, when Pennzoil sponsored the Emil Deidt built front-wheel drive car owned by Howard Keck.

This well-funded effort owned by the Southern California oilman was considered a “super team” at the time as it combined a proven winning car design, a superstar driver, three-time Indianapolis ‘500’ race winner Mauri Rose, and superstar mechanics, the “Whiz Kids” Frank Coon and Jim Travers. The Deidt-built front-drive machine was a later version of the design which Rose had driven earlier for car owner Lou Moore. Moore’s twin Blue Crown Spark Plug front-drive machines dominated the 500-mile race between 1947 and 1950, with three victories and two sweeps of both first and second place.

After Rose’s Blue Crown Special broke a magneto strap and dropped out of the 1949 race with just eight laps to go, he angrily quit Moore’s team and was entered for the 1950 ‘500’ as the driver of Keck’s shiny black unsponsored machine replacing the 1948 and 1949 pilot Jimmy Jackson. Rose started the 1950 ‘500’ on the outside of the front row for the start, led the first nine laps, then led again on two occasions but ultimately finished in third place behind winner Johnnie Parsons and Bill Holland in a Blue Crown Spark Plug Special.


Mauri Rose poses with a can of Pennzoil in 1951
Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library
Center for Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection






In 1951, Rose who was 45 years on race day with over 5,000 miles of competition at the Speedway to his credit, was entered as the driver of the same sleek black machine but with addition of Pennzoil as the sponsor. Rose was the first driver out for 1951-time trials and wound up fifth fastest to start his fifteenth ‘500,’ but during the 1951 Memorial Day Classic, the car’s right rear wire wheel collapsed on his 126th lap as Rose entered the fourth turn and the #16 Pennzoil Special slid into the infield, rolled over and came to rest in a drainage ditch.

Pennzoil returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1979 as the sponsor of the Jim Hall-owned Chaparral 2K designed by John Barnard which made use of the new “ground effects” technology that used the underside of the car to create downforce to hold the machine onto the racing surface.  In 1979 driver Al Unser, the defending champion battled his brother Bobby for the race lead during the first half of the race before the car retired with a broken transmission seal on lap 104.

Johnny Rutherford and his crew pose after qualifying for the 1980 Indy 500
JR's wife Betty (the team's scorer) on the sidepod and car owner Jim Hall in cowboy hat
Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library
Center for Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection



The updated Pennzoil Chaparral 2K-02 retuned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1980 with a new driver, two-time Indianapolis champion Johnny Rutherford. Rutherford and the machine dubbed the “Yellow Submarine” won the pole position and dominated the race, as Johnny led seven times for a total of 118 laps, which included the final 21 laps. Rutherford would score four other victories during the controversial 1980 co-sanctioned season and was crowned the 1980 CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) series champion. Rutherford continued to drive the Pennzoil Chaparral in 1981, but in 1982 the Hall team turned to a March 82C chassis.

Rick Mears enroute to victory in the 1988 Indianapolis 500 mile race
Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library
Center for Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection




Chaparral car owner Jim Hall at the end of the 1982 CART season so for 1983, the Pennzoil sponsorship moved to Penske Racing. Pennzoil was the primary sponsor of the car of Rick Mears the 1979 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, a pairing which lasted through the 1990 season. The combination resulted in seven CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) wins and two Indianapolis ‘500’ victories in 1984 and 1988.  In 1984, Rick started third, led a race-high 119 laps, which included the final 56 circuits. In 1988, Mears started from the pole position, after he set new one and four lap records and led the final 77 laps to capture his third ‘500’ title.
Teo Fabi 1993 Indianapolis 500 qualifying photo
Author's personal collection



In late 1990, Jim Hall returned to racing from retirement and Pennzoil moved its sponsorship to the new partnership known as Hall/VDS Racing.  From 1991 to 1993, the Pennzoil machine was driven by John Andretti who won his debut race for Hall/VDS. In 1993 Andretti was replaced by Teo Fabi at Hall/VDS Racing, and beginning with the 1994 season the team was known as Hall Racing as team partner brewery heir Count Rudy Van Der Straten, the VDS part of the team had died in late 1992.  Teo Fabi remained as the team’s driver through the 1994 season but in two seasons, Teo was unable to find the winner’s circle.  In 1995 and 1996, Brazilian Gil DeFerran carried the Pennzoil colors in CART for Jim Hall Racing and scored one race win each season.

With the cataclysmic 1996 split of American open-wheel racing, Pennzoil joined forces with Pagan Racing for partial sponsorship at the Indianapolis 500-mile race. After Jim Hall retired again at the end of the 1996 season, Pennzoil came on board for the full 1997 Indy Racing League (IRL) season with the team owned by Texas oilman Jack Pagan and his son Allan.   

At the end of the 1997 season, Pagan Racing crew chief John Barnes left to form his own team, with five partners, football player Jim Harbuagh, television producer Terry Lingner, Indianapolis car dealer Gary Pedigo, radio personality Mike Griffin, and Indianapolis politician Doug Boles.

The Pennzoil sponsorship followed Barnes to the new team known as Panther Racing, although the entries driven by Scott Goodyear in the 1998, 1999, and 2000 IRL seasons used a non-traditional yellow and black livery.  When Goodyear’s planned teammate for the 1999 Indianapolis ‘500,’ sprint car driver David Steele, was unable to compete due to lingering injuries, Pennzoil provided partial sponsorship to the already-qualified car driven by Tyce Carlson.

Sam Hornish Jr. at Indianapolis 2003
Author's personal collection



Although Goodyear respectively scored three victories in his three seasons with Panther/Pennzoil before he retired, it was his replacement, Sam Hornish Jr. that brought the Panther/Pennzoil team its greatest successes. Hornish won in his debut race with the team at Phoenix International Raceway in 2001, and notched a total of eleven IRL races wins and two IRL driver championship titles in his three seasons in the Pennzoil colors from 2001 to 2003. 

When Hornish moved to Penske Racing for the 2004 season, his seat in the Pennzoil Panther was taken over by 24-year old South African Tomas Scheckter. Over his two seasons with Panther/Pennzoil, Tomas, the son of 1979 Formula One world champion Jody Scheckter was often fast in qualifying but only scored one race win at Texas Motor Speedway where he out-dueled Hornish for the win by .0534 seconds.

Pennzoil remained on the sidelines of IndyCar race team sponsorship from 2006 to 2011, but returned in 2012 with Penske Racing and three-time Indianapolis ‘500’ champion Helio Castroneves as part of the Penske line-up of rotating sponsors. Castroneves carried the Pennzoil colors at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the ‘500’ in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018.    
Author photo


The #3 Dallara IR-12 seen at the 2018 SEMA show is powered by a DOHC Chevrolet Ilmor twin-turbocharged V-6 engine that displaces just 134 cubic inches, but produces up to 700 horsepower at the highest boost level for qualifying for the Indianapolis 500-mile race with Pennzoil Ultra Platinum motor oil in its dry sump oil tank.