The racing life and times of Jerry Grant
Part nine – 1977 and
retirement
Courtesy of Hemmings
In a May 1977
interview with Bob Gallas a sportswriter for the Chicago area Arlington
Heights Daily Herald Grant revealed that he had been bothered by a fever
all during the previous summer which he treated with aspirin. Grant shared that
he had raced to a tenth place finish in the 1976 “California 500” at Ontario
Motor Speedway while suffering with a fever of 102 degrees.
Grant said after he
got home after he finished the race in Fred Carrillo’s American Motor Corporation
(AMC) 209 cubic inch turbocharged “stock block”-powered Eagle, he slept for two
days. When he awoke he said he had a 106 degree temperature so he drove himself to
the hospital.
While in the
hospital Grant nearly died twice before doctors diagnosed a severe gall bladder
infection which had spread to his liver and lungs. Once he recovered and was released
Grant rehabilitated and rebuilt his stamina by riding his off-road trail
motorcycle for hours each day. Unfortunately
he was ill during the time of the year that car owners sign up their drivers
for next year, so Grant said “I’m lucky to have a ride at all.” Grant mused “I’ve always been religious… my
recovery brought home the fact that the man upstairs has more for me to do down
here. I look forward to winning the ‘500’ and getting paid for it this time,
all my bill collectors are counting on that.”
Jerry Grant
was entered as the driver for the “Hoffman Trucking Special,” a turbocharged
Offenhauser powered 1973 Eagle chassis, a far cry from the top-flight equipment
he had commanded just a few years earlier. According to fellow historian Allen
Brown, the Eagle owned Richard and August “Gus” Hoffman carried All-American Racers
(AAR) chassis tag # 7223 had been driven in the 1973 Indianapolis 500 by David
Hobbs for car owner Roy Woods.
The Hoffman family, involved in racing since
1929, purchased the car from Woods in 1976 and fielded the “American Financial
Special” Eagle for John Mahler in seven races during the 1976 United States
Auto Club (USAC) championship season, including the Indianapolis 500-mile race.
In his 1977 interview
with Bob Gallas, Grant admitted that it was “tough competing against these new entries with a five year
old car,” but added “our engine is reliable.” Grant counted on the track
getting oily on race day as then “the difference in horsepower won’t mean as
much.” In practice early in May, Grant
posted a best lap speed of 187.797 miles per hour (MPH) which was considered
marginal by the “railbirds,” but in fact would have easily been fast enough to
make the 33-car starting field.
Grant made
two attempts on the first day of time trials, May 14, but waved off each
attempt after just one lap had been completed. In practice late on Friday
afternoon, May 20, Grant’s Eagle hit the third turn wall with the right side of
the tub, and tore both wheels away. The wounded Eagle then slid 1000 feet across
the north short chute and hit the wall again with the right side of the tub before
it came to rest in the middle of turn 4.
Grant climbed out of the wreckage of
the Eagle and was transported to the infield hospital where he was checked and
released. USAC officials reported that the right side of the Eagle was “extensive
damaged” and the Hoffman team deemed the car as “not repairable” particularly
since the crash came on the eve of the final weekend of qualifying.
Grant picked
up a ride in the Alex Foods #75 1974 turbocharged Offenhauser powered Eagle,
car originally driven by Mario Andretti during the 1975 season for the Vel’s-
Parnelli Jones Racing Viceroy sponsored team. Purchased by Alex Morales after
season’s end, the Eagle served as Billy Vukovich’s primary car during the 1976
season, and served as the Morales team’s
backup car for the 1977 Indianapolis 500-mile race.
Grant took
practice laps in the #75 on Saturday May 21, and took the green flag for his
first qualifying attempt but pulled into the pits before he completed a lap. On
a busy “bump day” on Sunday, May 22, Grant was one of two drivers, along with Daniel
“Spike” Gehlhausen eliminated by an accident as Jerry crashed the Alex Foods
Eagle on the second lap of his second qualifying attempt.
After
Indianapolis, the Hoffman team bought a 1973 Eagle, chassis tag number 7221,
originally a Leader Card Racing team car primarily driven by Mike Mosley for
two seasons. The Hoffman team bought it from car owner Patrick Santello, and
this Eagle became Jerry Grant’s entry for the balance of the 1977 USAC season.
Hoffman Racing fielded a championship car beginning with the 1973 Indianapolis
500 for Larry Cannon, and would start seven Indianapolis 500-mile races, but
the 1973 season was not a good one for the Cincinnati area team.
Grant’s next USAC
race appearance came at the end of June in the “Schaefer 500” at Pocono Raceway
in Long Pond Pennsylvania. Grant started the race 29th in an admittedly weak
33-cars starting field after he qualified for a four-lap average of 173.160 MPH
compared to pole winner AJ Foyt’s average of 189.474 MPH.
Foyt was in
rare form that weekend in Pennsylvania. An unnamed source close to the race
organizers told some newspaper reporters that Foyt had demanded “appearance
money,” which Foyt denied – he termed it as “expense money” to reimburse his
travel expenses. When the money went unpaid, Foyt became uncooperative and did
not practice his Gilmore Coyote at all on Wednesday, and told reporters that
the car was entered for a rookie named “Sam Houston” and went so far as to add
yellow rookie stripes on the rear wing.
On Thursday Foyt
delayed his qualifying run then he won the pole position with a run in the last
half-hour of time trials. After his run Foyt refused to be interviewed on the
public address system, and as the crowd continued to boo Foyt, the hot-tempered
Texan responded by showing the crowd an obscene gesture. Foyt refused to pose for a “front row”
photograph with Rutherford and Mario Andretti, and then skipped the pole winner’s
banquet which 250 fans had paid $60 a head to attend.
Foyt’s
behavior brought to a head a controversy that had been brewing all season long between
Foyt, the reigning four-time Indianapolis ‘500’ winner and Fred Stecher, the President
and self-appointed Director of Racing of Citicorp Services, Inc., at the
time the title sponsor of the USAC Championship Trail. The dispute between the two strong-willed men presented
a crisis for USAC officials.
USAC's biggest star exchanged barbed comments with the series title sponsor for which
they searched in vain for several years. The USAC national championship trail
had gone without a title series sponsor since the end of the1971 season when Marlboro
cigarettes terminated their sponsorship program after just two seasons when USAC
allowed the Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing team to sign Viceroy Cigarettes as the
main sponsor on two of the team’s entries.
The loss of
Marlboro combined with the Energy Crisis brought about a financial crisis in
late December 1973 that led to the layoffs of USAC series directors Shim Malone
and Bob Stroud. The USAC Board of Directors then forced out Executive Director
Bill Smyth in January 1974 in an awkward situation that day before the club’s
annual banquet. The Indianapolis Star quoted USAC president Reynold C. MacDonald’s statement as “the
board is appreciative of the effort and contribution Bill has made to USAC and
will prepare a letter of commendation for his services." When the Star
reporter asked if Smyth felt that he was forced to resign, he replied with a
terse "no comment."
The
sponsorship search went on for two years before on the eve of the 1976
Indianapolis ‘500,’ USAC Executive Director Dick King and James A. Melvin,
assistant vice-president of Citicorp Services, Inc. announced that First
National City Travelers Checks would be the official sponsor for the championship
division trail with $35,000 added to division point fund for 1976 while King
said the two groups were “still working out the details for 1977.”
At the end
of the 1976 USAC season, the Citicorp Services contract with USAC called for
the national champion (Gordon Johncock) to receive $20,000 from Citicorp, the
second place finisher (Johnny Rutherford) $10,000, and third place driver
(Wally Dallenbach) would get Citicorp check for $5000.
While now they are largely obsolete,
from the nineteen fifties through the nineteen eighties, traveler’s checks were
a safer way to travel with money versus carrying large amounts of cash. If the checks were lost or stolen, the issuer replaced them for free. The issuer standard fee was one to three percent of the check value plus one to three percent when the check was cashed. In the late nineteen seventies the $20+ billion-a-year traveler's check industry consisted of multiple giant banks who each spent millions of dollars annually on advertising.
The second largest player in the field with 22 percent of the market was First
National City Bank, whose holding company was named Citicorp. Citicorp Credit Services,
Inc. a wholly owned division, provided travelers checks processing, marketing
and distribution services for Citicorp. In 1976
Citicorp began a major drive for international growth which included
motorsports sponsorships.
First National City Travelers Checks first appeared as
a race cars sponsor at Indianapolis in May 1976 as the sponsor of Tassi Vatis’s
Eagle driven by Steve Krisiloff. Like many sponsors through the years, Citicorp
expanded from car sponsorship to series sponsorship which carried the potential
of more visibility.
For the 1977
season, Citicorp increased its USAC participation and rewarded top finishers in
each race on the First National City Travelers Checks Championship Trail with cash for race qualifiers and then points
for their finish towards the Citicorp Cup and a $20,000 season ending award. Citicorp also established a rookie program
that paid the top-finishing rookie of each race $500, and the season’s rookie
of year $10,000, and $1000 in appearance money at each race they appeared in
the following season.
Wearing this patch on the drivers uniform
was required to get Citicorp's money
All this money
came provided the drivers and their cars carried the required First National
City Travelers Checks stickers and the driver’s suit sported the company logo.
The exact amount of the 1977 deal was never released but in an interview
Stecher said that “$350,000 to $400,000 would not be inaccurate,” although some
of the awards required matching funds from the race promoters. In addition to
the series sponsorship, First National City Traveler’s checks provide race car
sponsorship for Roger McCluskey in Lindsay Hopkins’ entry and Johnny Rutherford
in the Team McLaren entry.
Foyt had
earned the ire of Fred Stecher at the second race of the year, the Jimmy Bryan
150 at Phoenix International Raceway, when Foyt engaged in a post-race physical
confrontation with McLaren team boss Tyler Alexander. On national television
Foyt grabbed Alexander’s collar and shook him as he claimed that Alexander had
used the team radio to instruct race winner Johnny Rutherford in the
Citcorp-sponsored McLaren to block second-place Foyt in the final laps of the
race.
Stecher
called USAC President Dick King after the Phoenix race and told King that Foyt
should be penalized. Stecher later claimed King agreed to do so, but USAC did
not penalize their most famous driver.
Foyt retaliated against Stecher at Indianapolis and refused to carry First
National City Travelers Checks stickers on his #14 car or wear the uniform patches. Stecher told the press “that’s not the way we intended this to work when we became involved,” so despite scoring his historic fourth Indy win, Foyt did not earn the 1000 “Citicorp Cup”
points for the victory. Foyt told Roger Jaynes
of the Milwaukee Journal. “I’m not required to carry stickers; they say
that I need to use stickers to be eligible but I don’t care.”
After the
Pocono incident the dispute between Foyt and Stecher further escalated and the
two men went to war in the press. After
USAC declined to reprimand Foyt, Stecher threatened to file a lawsuit against
USAC and Foyt for breach of contract. “Foyt behaved in a manner detrimental to
the sport of auto racing. Foyt is a leader and hero in sports and that
presupposes he’ll behave in a gentlemanly manner,” said Stecher. He then
blasted USAC President Dick King "Foyt’s actions
Thursday and USAC’s inability or unwillingness to the take action was the last
straw.”
Foyt fired
back “The man’s a damn fool and a liar. I’m an independent contractor and have
nothing to do with his (Stecher’s) contract agreement with USAC. I resent him
telling me how to act without the facts. If Fred is looking to get out of
sponsoring USAC, then I’m the goat.” As
an aside, Foyt was correct: in 1977, USAC did not have a rule that tied the
drivers to any series or sponsor requirements.
After all the
pre-race fireworks, the “Schaefer 500” itself was fairly exciting. Foyt and Johncock dominated the first sixty
laps, and then six drivers took turns leading until Foyt’s turbocharged Foyt
engine burned a piston on lap 1118 and retired. After Foyt’s retirement, the
race fell to the two Penske Racing drivers Tom Sneva and Mario Andretti who
between them led 73 of the race’s final 75 laps, as they both held a lap lead
over the third and fourth place Patrick Racing cars driven by Johncock and
Dallenbach. After he started 29th, Jerry
Grant and the Hoffman Racing Eagle finished 13th, the last car running 55 laps
behind Sneva, mainly due to the remarkable high attrition rate that saw 22 of
the 33 starters fall aside with mechanical failure.
The whole
ugly Pocono affair was reported in detail in an article written by Sam Moses in the July 4 1978 issue
of Sports Illustrated magazine. Stecher was quoted on his threatened
cancellation of the First National City Traveler’s Checks series sponsorship. "I
don't think that it is in the best interest of Citicorp to be identified as a
sponsor with a professional sports series where the conduct of the participants
and the tolerance of that conduct isn't governed by rules within the
sanctioning organization. I'm in no position to dictate to USAC, but on the
other hand I don't have to sit down at a riot and pay the bills, either."
Grant made an
uncharacteristic appearance at a USAC road course event, his first in over
seven years, with the Hoffman Eagle at the Mosport Park Road Course in Canada.
Grant qualified seventeenth in the puny 19-car field for the “Molson Diamond
Indy” race, and finished in fifth place, three laps behind Foyt after 75 laps
over the 2.46 mile road course on July 3.
Two weeks
later at Roger Penske’s 2-mile high banked Michigan International Speedway,
Grant and the #69 Hoffman Eagle were too slow to make the 22 car field for the
“Norton 200.” The week following that race, won by rookie Danny Ongais in his
benefactor Ted Field’s Cosworth-powered Parnelli chassis, Citicorp Services
Inc. announced its surprising decision about sponsorship of the USAC national
championship trail for 1978.
Given the
recent controversy, few would have expected Citicorp to expand its involvement,
but that’s just what it proposed- but with stipulations. Citicorp proposed a
nine-fold increase over 1977 to half a million dollars, with prize fund
enhancements at fifteen races, a $275,000 appearance fund, and the continuation
of the rookie incentive program provided the USAC board accepted the
stipulations. “We feel our association with USAC is very beneficial,” said Fred
Stecher, “we want to take a step to protect our investment.”
The previous
year's Citicorp Cup champion (in 1977 Tom Sneva) was scheduled to receive
$1,500 per race, while the defending Indianapolis ‘500’ winner would get $1,000
a race while the Pocono and Ontario winners $500 each. Interestingly, all other
past series champions or USAC “Triple Crown” race winners were scheduled to
$250 per race for each honor. This meant
that in 1978, six-time USAC titlist, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner,
two-time Pocono victor and single-time Ontario winner A.J. Foyt was guaranteed $3,250
every time he rolled his Coyote through the pit gate.
At the end of
July, Grant and the Hoffman team appeared at the Texas World Speedway in
College Station Texas for the “American Parts 200” a race sponsored the Houston
based American parts system Inc. the distributor of
auto parts, licensed and sold under the "Big A" brand. The track
record at the two-mile high-banked oval billed by track president RC Conole as
the “Indy of the Southwest” of 214.158 MPH was set by Mario Andretti in 1973.
Grant did not make a qualifying run either on July 30 or the pre-race session
held the morning of the race on July 31 but Ongais won the pole with a lap of
205.141 MPH.
Three weeks
later at the ‘Milwaukee Mile’ for the “Tony Bettenhausen 200,” Jerry Grant and
the Hoffman #69 Eagle edged out USAC sprint car regulars James McElreath and
Todd Gibson to start dead last in the 22-car field. After Johnny Rutherford
took the checkered flag, Grant was the last car running and was flagged home in
sixteenth 35 laps down.
Grant showed
up at Ontario Motor Speedway over Labor Day weekend in search of a ride but was
unsuccessful. Shortly thereafter, Grant a long time member of the Champion
Spark Plug Highway Safety team that toured schools around the country retired
as a driver and accepted a full-time position with Toledo-based Champion as a
field representative for the 1978 season.
In a 1980
interview with Bob Longwith of the Kokomo Tribune newspaper, Grant
reflected on his final USAC racing season after his recovery from the near gall
bladder infection in 1976. “When I came back there were no equipment around, so
I drove cars that were also-rans. There is no way you can be competitive in an
also-ran car no matter how good a driver you are. There is no enjoyment in
being an also-ran”’
Later in the
month of September 1977, the USAC Board of Directors accepted the Citicorp
contract and adopted a new rule known as the “Foyt Rule.” Beginning with the
1978 season, USAC officials had the authority to withhold points in any USAC
division if a driver failed to comply with the requirements of the series and
its sponsor.
For the 1978
racing season, First National City Travelers Checks dramatically expanded its
motorsports activities. In addition the USAC series sponsorship, the firm
continued to sponsor the entries of McLaren and Lindsey Hopkins and added Jim
Hall’s Chaparral entry driven by Al Unser. Citicorp also sponsored three cars
on the National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) circuit driven by Benny
Parsons, Caleb “Cale” Yarbrough and Ricky Rudd as well as support of the NASCAR
rookie program. Citicorp’s diverse sponsorship included Doug Caruthers’ USAC
midget and a 45-foot offshore racing boat.
For sports
car racing, the company sponsored the SCCA Citicorp Economy Challenge series,
the revitalized SCCA Canadian-American Challenge (Can-Am) series and
International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) competitor David Hobbs BMW race
cars. In Europe after previously sponsoring Roger Penske’s entries, in 1978 Citicorp
supported Ken Tyrell’s two-car team.
In short, the red-white and blue colors of First National and their logo appeared in some form in virtually every professional racing series in 1977 and 1978. Fred Stecher was no longer involved in racing, as the Citicorp has a triumvirate in charge of racing - Ralph McEldowney, Don Porter, and Rich Lewis.
Unfortunately
at the end of the 1978 USAC season, Citicorp did not renew its sponsorship of
the USAC national championship trail and also withdrew race team sponsorship. Dropping USAC was a precursor as over the next few years, Citicorp withdrew from all motorsports involvement.
Left without a major series sponsor, no national television contract, and the organization still reeling from the
death of seven of USAC’s leaders in an April 1978 plane crash, the stage was set for USAC’s
loss of control over championship-car racing with the formation of Championship
Auto Racing Teams (CART) in late 1978.
In early 1979,
Jerry Grant replaced Don Garner as the Director of Racing for the Champion Spark Plug
Company after Garner left to work for the new CART organization as its chief steward. Grant led Champion's racing division for ten years, during which time he ran
the Champion Sparkplug Challenge IMSA series, originally started as the IMSA RS (Radial
Sedan) series in 1971. Grant also was involved as Champion took over the NASCAR rookie program from Citicorp.
Factory brochure drawing of the Jaguar XJ220
In 1993,
Grant got a chance to return to the seat of a racing car for the 1993 Fast Masters
Championship promoted by ESPN sports network producer Terry Ligner to air as
part of the “Saturday Night Thunder” broadcast. The tournament matched a group
of over 50 year old drivers in identically prepared $750,000 Jaguar XJ220
mid-mounted twin turbocharged V-6 engine powered sports cars modified for
racing by the Tom Walkinshaw Racing shop in Valparaiso Indiana.
Grant, who in
pre-race publicity tour admitted this his participation was “all about ego,” raced in the first
of the series of five weekly heat races held on the Indianapolis Raceway Park
(IRP) 5/8-mile banked oval on Saturday June 19. Nine drivers drew for positions in the first ten-lap
heat race after the scheduled tenth driver, Gary Bettenhausen, had withdrawn
after he crashed and destroyed his assigned Jaguar during practice on Friday
afternoon.
As the field completed
the second lap Jim McElreath tried to go “three wide” coming out of turn four, but
spun and the ensuing crash took out both McElreath and retired NASCAR driver Dick
Trickle. Then on lap three, former AAA and USAC roadster driver Troy Ruttman
spun and crashed in turn three. Grant started seventh avoided the carnage and
finished fifth. The race can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv7Ku53jhIQ
Saturday night’s
second ten-lap heat race used a majority of the oval with an infield dog-leg to
create the quasi “road course.” Only six
cars started less the damaged cars of McElreath, Trickle, and Ruttman. As the
field entered the “road course” for the first time, Grant locked up the brakes
on his Jaguar, ran into the back of Bobby Allison, and damaged the front end
too badly to continue. A video of the second race can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KflOiyUIuVQ&feature=related
After the
disastrous first round, with two of the cars damaged beyond repair, the format
of the Fast Masters Challenge was completely revamped with eight competitors
each week that raced on the so-called IRP “road course.” Grant’s former AAR teammate and
rival Bobby Unser won the inaugural Fast Masters championship finale and the $100,000
purse. The series was never repeated.
At the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994, Grant contributed to an Associated Press article
on the progress of race car engineering. “The cars are so safe it’s beyond my
wildest dreams. When I started here, the drivers would limp into the garage and
that’s how the crowd knew who they were.” In response to another question, Grant
offered his opinion that in 1994 the drivers at Indianapolis were "10 percent responsible
for the overall performance of the car," and then stated that he would "like to see it
go back to the other side of 50 percent."
After
retirement from Champion Spark Plug Company, Jerry founded his own boutique
public relations firm, Motor Sports Unlimited PR and did branding work for Prolong
oil treatment and the Honda Motor Company. Jerry Grant died August 12, 2012 from liver
failure and diabetes at St Joseph Orange County Hospital at the age of 77, survived
by his wife, sister, two daughters and five grandchildren.
Dan Gurney
told Road &Track magazine "Jerry Grant was a natural; he was
brave and playful and always could rise to the challenge. Apart from being an
excellent racer, he was an accomplished story teller and after dinner speaker,
an ability which served him well in his business career after his retirement
from active driving. In the middle 60's we shared many adventures on and off
the track here in the US and in Europe. We stayed friends ever since and many
Sundays went riding our motorcycles in the Southern California countryside. We
extend our condolences to his wife Sandy and his family. Farewell Jerry, we
will miss you."
As we have
traced through the previous eight chapters, Jerry Grant had a varied career in
one of the most exciting period of Indianapolis car racing, and came close to
grabbing the win on “the greatest racecourse in the world” once in 1972. Grant was one of eleven drivers that debuted
as rookies in the 1965 Indianapolis ‘500,’ along with such familiar names as Mario
Andretti, Al Unser, Gordon Johncock , Joe Leonard, and George Snider. Combined
that august group is responsible for seven Indianapolis ‘500’ wins and seven
USAC national championships.
Jerry Grant
competed in ten races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and failed to qualify
twice- his first year 1964, and his last, 1977.
The official record which does not include the final 12 laps of the 1972
race shows that Grant completed 1,275 laps of which he led 16 with a total of
$166,403 in IMS prize money. Sadly, the versatile Grant
never had the opportunity to run for the USAC national championship; the year
with his most entries was 1967 when he entered 11 of 20 races for Tom Friedkin.
