A Lola T70 Mark 3 with an interesting history

As he wandered through the garages at the CSRG Charity Challenge at Sonoma Raceway the first weekend of October 2019 , the author found this Lola T70 Can-Am car that competed in the famous Group 7 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Canadian-American Challenge Series in 1967 and 1968 owned by a famous mechanic, sponsor and with a pair of well-known drivers.

This car, chassis number SL73/127 was originally sold to famed racing mechanic George Bignotti sometime during the middle of the 1967 season.  Bignotti at the time was employed by Texas oil man and racer John Mecom, who was the Lola Cars importer for the United States. In 1967, Bignotti had already amassed three Indianapolis 500-mile victories – two with AJ Foyt in 1961 and 1964, and a third in 1966 with rookie driver Graham Hill in a career that would eventually total seven Indy ‘500’ wins.  

While the Ford Motor Company was very successful in Indianapolis-type car racing with Indianapolis 500-mile race wins in 1965, 1966, and 1967, as well as United States Auto Club (USAC) national championships those years, along with victories at LeMans in endurance racing in 1966 and 1967, Ford struggled for success in Can-Am racing.

Despite well-funded efforts with Dan Gurney’s All-American Racing team, Shelby American, and Holman & Moody, as well as its own G7A program with the unique three-valves per cylinder Calliope V-8 engine, Ford had been unable to break the McLaren/Chevrolet stranglehold in the Can-Am series. The 1967 Bignotti effort was another innovative Ford effort that used the proven-at-Indianapolis Ford double overhead camshaft DOHC "four cam" V-8 engine bored out to 305 cubic inches of displacement.  

The Bignotti Lola T70 with race number #98 was initially entered for the third round of the1967 SCCA Can-Am series, the ‘Player’s 200’ at Mosport Park in Canada in late September for driver Al Unser, but the car did not appear as the engine was not yet ready. The car appeared finished in metallic blue at the series’ fourth round in mid-October at Laguna Seca Raceway carrying race number 21 for driver ‘Parnelli’ Jones with sponsorship from American Rubber and Plastics Corporation.

American’s owner John Chalik Junior from LaPorte Indiana had raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1961 through 1964, with his first year the most successful. Veteran Hoosier midget car racer Gene Hartley started the 1961 ‘500’ in fifteenth place in a Floyd Trevis built machine and finished eleventh, two laps behind winner AJ Foyt. 

In 1962, Chalik expanded his efforts to two cars, a new Quinn Epperly-built laydown for driver Paul Goldsmith and the previous years’ Trevis built chassis was assigned to Eddie Johnson. Both entries made the starting field, but both cars retired early in the race within laps of each other with magneto failure.      

For 1963, Chalik contracted with famed car builder Frank Kurtis to build the final Kurtis Kraft chassis built for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the KK500L roadster, which incorporated three innovations – first, a roll cage around the cockpit to reassure the driver, NASCAR stock car star Robert “Junior” Johnson, second, fully independent suspension on all four corners and finally, the car’s Offenhauser engine used a battery and distributor ignition system, as Chalik now mistrusted the common magneto ignition system after the team’s Indianapolis 1962 debacle. Chalik remained a two-car team owner, as he also entered the Epperly laydown roadster for New Mexico rookie driver Bobby Unser.

Johnson was never comfortable in the Kurtis-Kraft and stepped out of the car before his completed his rookie test and was replaced by Colby Scroggin. The battery system in the KK500L did not allow the Offenhauser engine to develop full power, and Scroggin could not generate enough speed to qualify for the 33-car starting field. Unser successfully completed his rookie test, then spun and afterwards, Chalik asked Unser to buy his own tires. After Unser landed a Novi ride and left the team, Chalik replaced Unser with Bob Harkey, who crashed in practice and the seriously damaged car could not be repaired in time.

In 1964, the repaired Epperly was entered for journeyman driver Chuck Rodee, but early in the month, Rodee ran over some debris and crashed. Later in the month, the engine blew during practice and car owner Chalik elected not to repair the damage. 

Chalik’s Indianapolis efforts ended with a whimper, and most historians assumed that was the end of Chalik’s involvement in racing. While it is unclear on how (or why) John Chalik Jr.  became involved in the Bignotti Can-Am effort it is without question as the American Rubber and Plastic Corporation sponsorship was (and still is) emblazoned on the Lola’s front fenders.  

At the 1967 Laguna Seca Can-Am race, Parnelli Jones qualified the metallic blue #21 fourth for the ‘Monterey Grand Prix’ behind pole sitter Bruce McLaren, a Weslake Ford-powered Lola T70 Mark 3 driven by Dan Gurney, and Denny Hulme.   On race day, October 15, Jones dropped out after 14 of the 106 scheduled laps with fuel vaporization issues. 

Two weeks later, at Riverside International Raceway, Jones qualified sixth for the ‘Los Angeles Times Grand Prix’ and finished in fourth place, one lap behind winner Bruce McLaren.

At the 1967 Can-Am season finale, held in early November at the Stardust International Raceway outside Las Vegas Nevada, Jones qualified fourth only ½ second behind pole-sitter Bruce McLaren. In the October 12^th ‘Stardust Grand Prix,’ Jones jumped the start from the second row and surged into the early lead, but the Lola was eliminated after just four laps when the gear selector linkage broke at the shifter. This race marked Parnelli’s final appearance in North America’s famed Group 7 racing series.

For 1968, the driver of the Bignotti DOHC Ford-powered Lola T70 Mark 3 for the Can-Am series was two-time USAC National Champion Mario Andretti, who had appeared at five 1967 Can-Am rounds behind the wheel of the fast but unreliable Holman & Moody ‘Honker II.’ At the opening round of the 1968 Can-Am series at Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin, Andretti qualified eighth and was running in third place on lap 48 of 50 when the DOHC Ford engine lost oil pressure and grenaded in spectacular fashion.

   

Two weeks later, on September 17^th at the ‘Bridgehampton Grand Prix’ held on the Bridgehampton Road Course on Long Island, Andretti again qualified the metallic blue #21 to start eighth on the grid, but this time during the race the DOHC Ford Indy engine lost oil pressure on the fourth lap and Andretti retired in the car’s final SCCA Can-Am race appearance.

Andretti and Bignotti skipped the next two rounds of the 1968 Can-Am series but reappeared at the final two rounds with a new car, the red #3 Lola T160, chassis number SL160/1 which was powered by a Ford 427 cubic engine built by Holman & Moody that carried STP Oil Treatment sponsorship. The Lola blew its engine during the qualifying session at Riverside, but in the season finale at Las Vegas, Andretti qualified the red T160 sixth and finished twelfth after a lengthy mid-race pit stop.

The appearance of such a historic machine as Lola chassis SL73/127 that appears as it did in 1967 and 1968, even though it is now equipped with a small block fuel injected Chevrolet engine at the CSRG Charity Classic highlights the importance of vintage car racing in keeping racing history alive. It was true joy to watch car owner Carl Moore of Alamo California put this restored beauty through its paces.      

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 18^th 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 

Don Weaver's South Bay 

Auto Body sprint car

On display as part of Race Car Day at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo California was the restored South Bay Auto Body sprint car once owned by Don Weaver. 

Don Weaver like many young men in Southern California caught the racing bug attending midget races at the legendary Gilmore Stadium, working with such famed drivers as Ray Crawford and Bill Vukovich. After he served his hitch in the Army in Korea, Don and his brother Bob bought a midget race car which Don drove for awhile. 

Later in his career, Don worked as a racing mechanic, including a stint with Vel Miletich's very successful team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Don became a well-known California Racing Association (CRA) car owner, and the quality of Don's equipment attracted top-name drivers like  Bobby Unser, and the driver of this sprint car, Keith "Porky" Rachwitz.

In the early 2000's Don Weaver became an event promoter as he staged the annual Legends of Ascot banquet for eight years.      

Yes, this was how a top-flight sprint car team went racing in the glory days of the 1960's - with their 301 cubic inch fuel-injected Chevrolet powered sprint car loaded on open single axle trailer. 

The beautiful restoration was a fitting tribute to the Southern California racing legend Don Weaver. 

Photos by the author 

Hanford Speedway – Hanford California

Part three of the rich history of the first superspeedway west of the Mississippi

From the debut of automobile racing with jalopy races in May 1951 through 1962, racing events on Marchbanks Stadium’s paved ½-mile, oiled dirt 1/3-mile and 1-3/8-mile high paved tracks had been promoted by the track builder and owner Bircha Lewis “B.L”. Marchbanks.

The racing facility southeast of Hanford California was managed during the 1963 season by Bakersfield boxing promoter Ed York’s Racing Associates Inc. then in late June 1964 it was announced that race driver “Caveman” Bob Christie and his partner Tommy Francis had signed a lease with an option to buy the facility.  Writer Jack Lattimer, who broke the story in the San Mateo Times newspaper, noted that the big oval with three 22-degree banked turns had seen very little use lately outside of some “small time races.”

Christie, a 40-year old racing veteran from Grant’s Pass Oregon had qualified for eight consecutive Indianapolis 500-mile races between 1956 and 1963 with a best finish of tenth in 1960. Outside of Indianapolis, much of Christie’s racing career was spent in AAA (American Automobile Association) and USAC (United States Auto Club) stock cars. Christie appeared to be an unlikely candidate for a race track promoter as when not racing, he traveled the country as an employee of JC Penney Automotive Centers.

Just over a month after that surprising announcement, a United Press International wire article revealed that KS Enterprises Inc. had signed a 20-year lease for Marchbanks Stadium. T L “Tommy” Francis, identified as the KS vice president and general manager, said that the facility would immediately be renamed Hanford Speedway.

Francis a former stock car racer from San Gabriel California had notably competed in the 1950 Carrera Panamericana Mexican road race. Francis and co-driver Jimmie Crum were initially reported as killed after their 1950 Ford crashed and rolled over in the final stage, but that report was corrected after the pair and their battered car appeared at the finish line in Chiapas after the time limit had expired.   

In an extended newspaper interview, Francis related that the newly-formed company headed by Kalmon “Kal” Simon planned to spend $200,000 over a two-year period to develop the track into “the Indianapolis of the West.”  Simon, a machinery dealer, was virtually unknown although he had been involved in racing previously as the owner of a late model stock car. The new business, KS Racing Enterprises, Inc. was registered as a California corporation on May 11, 1964 with the 12-story Taft Building in Hollywood listed as its official address.   KS also maintained business offices in an industrial section of the City of El Monte and the Yucca Vine Tower office building in Hollywood.

The new company’s plan was to bring Indianapolis-type cars to Hanford “possibly within six months” to race for a purse of $20,000 before projected crowds of 35,000 to 75,000. In the UPI article Francis stated that “California is the breeding ground for racing with 48 race car builders located in the state,” and he noted that “of the 311,000 fans at the Indianapolis ‘500,’ 48,000 were from California.” 

Francis also revealed that Henry Banks, the USAC Director of Competition, and Louis Meyer, the first three-time Indianapolis ‘500’ winner, had recently inspected the Hanford facility and given a “100% okay for USAC stock car racing” and that the pair of retired champions thought that the track would be suitable for Indianapolis-type cars with a “few minor changes.”   

On September 5, 1964, the California Racing Association (CRA) sprint cars ran a 100-lap feature on the Hanford Speedway paved half-mile track in a program with a purse of $3,500. The entry list for the 24-car starting field included local favorite (and three-time Hanford track champion) Frank Secrist in the #94 Boghosian Brothers car, but it was Bob DeJong from San Francisco who set quick time in qualifying.

Speedway General Manager Francis reported paid attendance of 7,156 fans who watched Paul Jones (Parnelli Jones’ younger brother) flip down the backstretch during the feature and suffer a broken leg and collarbone in the crash. Hal Minyard in his Leonard Surdam owned Chevy-powered sprinter beat defending CRA champion “Lover Boy” Bob Hogle to the checkered flag with the race completed in 42 minutes 41.3 seconds.   

Due to the success of the first CRA visit, Hanford Speedway hosted the sprint cars again on Sunday afternoon October 11, with additional grandstands erected to accommodate up to 12,000 fans. In the penultimate CRA race of the 1964 season, things were not much different as DeJong again set quick time and Minyard won the feature again - this time Hal edged out 1961 CRA champion Jack Brunner who had started the 100-lap feature from eighteenth starting position.

In notching his tenth CRA feature win of the season on a warm 90-degree day, Minyard also shaved two minutes off the track record for the 50-mile distance. Bob Hogle second in points raced the Morales Offenhauser powered sprinter with an arm injury suffered in a crash the week before, but soldiered on to finish sixth after he stopped twice for new tires.  Two weeks later after the CRA season finale at Ascot Park, Minyard at age 40 was crowned the 1964 CRA driving champion as his car owner Leonard Surdam from Rialto California won the car owner’s title.

On Sunday afternoon November 29, 1964 the Hanford Speedway, which was now referred to as a mile and half long track, hosted the USAC stock cars, with qualifying held on Saturday the 28^th. 1964 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner AJ Foyt won the pole position with an average speed of over 109 miles per hour (MPH) followed by Joe Leonard and Rufus “Parnelli” Jones, who three days earlier had won the Turkey Night Grand Prix for midgets with Bobby Unser in the fourth starting position.    

Other USAC ‘stars’ in the field included Lloyd Ruby, Bob Christie, Norm Nelson, defending USAC stock car champion Don White, Dempsey Wilson and Eugene “Jud” Larson who made an unusual stock car start.  With Hanford the penultimate event on the USAC schedule, Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner held a 300-point advantage over Nelson for the title of 1965 USAC stock car champion but Parnelli needed a solid finish to clinch.    

Bobby Marshman, who shared Rookie of the Year honors in the 1961 Indianapolis 500 with Jones, was scheduled to appear at Hanford but he suffered critical burns on November 27 in a tire-testing crash of his Pure Oil Firebird Lotus 29-Ford at Phoenix International Raceway. Marvin Porter winner of the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Marchbanks race was called upon to substitute for Marshman.  

KS Enterprises predicted more than 20,000 fans would attend the 200-mile ‘Billy Vukovich Memorial’ race, but only 6,500 fans passed the turnstiles.  Foyt in a 1964 Dodge charged into the lead trailed by Leonard, and the top remained static until the pair pitted around halfway through the race. Jones who had pitted earlier around lap 50 took the lead on the pit stop exchange but was forced to the stop for more fuel on lap 105.

When Jones stopped, Foyt regained the lead and raced to the win over Jones, Leonard, Unser and Marvin Porter with Lloyd Ruby in sixth place. Jones had secured his 1964 USAC stock car championship earlier in the race when the engine in Norm Nelson’s Plymouth blew up on lap 39. With his third-place finish at Hanford, former AMA motorcycle champion Joe Leonard clinched the USAC stock car division’s Rookie of the Year honors.  

During the 1965 season Hanford Speedway, which KS Enterprises billed as “Big H” that they advertised offered racing that included “stock, Indy Cars, sprint, sport and unlimited,” hosted two CRA sprint car races, both 50 lap events. The first CRA event was held on Sunday February 21 on what was now billed as Hanford’s 5/8-mile track. In practice on Saturday, Ernie Koch in Ben Zakit’s rear engine Offenhauser-powered sprint car from Oregon crashed and the crew was unable to make repairs in time for the car to compete in the next day’s races.

Ray Douglas in the Fisher Chevrolet-powered car topped the 31 cars that presented for qualifying and he set a new track record of 21.95 seconds. Second and third qualifiers Dick Atkins and Dee Hillman, teammates on the team owned by John Pestana and Bob Lang that used the former Fike Plumbing machinery, also eclipsed the old track record.  Don Thomas, Tink Elenberg, and Billy Wilkerson were the winners of the three five-lap preliminary heat races.

Douglas started the feature from the pole position and led the first 16 laps of the feature which was slowed by four caution flag periods for oil on the track, spins and crashes. Atkins powered past Douglas on the backstretch on the 17^th lap and then held off his teammate Hillman to win by two lengths. Bob DeJong the former track record holder finished third trailed by Hal Minyard and Bob Hogle.  

In the week following the CRA sprint car race, San Mateo Times writer Jack Lattimer reported that with new financial backing, Hanford Speedway manager Tommy Francis was remodeling the “poorly designed” 1.8-mile track. “Parts of the track are being rebuilt and the racing groove stretched to two miles,” Lattimer’s article claimed “the turns will be 65 feet wide with two short and two long straightaways similar to Indianapolis. All turns will be equal and banked 15 degrees.” According to Lattimer, Francis hoped to have the new track ready by April 7 for a 200-mile USAC national championship race.

A month later, Lattimer wrote in the San Mateo Times that Hanford would host a 200-mile USAC championship race on the two-mile oval on November 7, followed by a 150-mile USAC stock car race on November 27.  There is no confirmation that the USAC schedule actually planned on a 1965 Indy Car race, but neither the race or the promised track construction ever occurred.  A planned 1965 American Motorcycle Association (AMA) 125-mile championship road initially scheduled for April or May 1965 was cancelled during the month of March according to the AMA “due to the promoter’s failure to confirm date.”

Hanford Speedway hosted an open-competition 200-mile race for cars with “early late model stock bodies (1950 to 1962) with big late model mills” for the weekend of April 17-18, 1965.  The $5000 purse event, run over the track’s 15-turn 1.8-mile road course was sanctioned by California Auto Racing Inc (CAR), the successor to the California Jalopy Association.

CAR president and race promoter Art Atkinson, a used car dealer and former race car driver, explained that the race was part of a “new trend of road racing stock cars which is spreading fast.” Advertised entries for the “Cotton Picker 200” included Frank Secrist, Jim Cook of Norwalk, Marshall Sargent of San Jose Speedway fame, and drivers from the nearby towns of Bakersfield, Shafter, Oildale, Porterville and Delano. Practice was scheduled for Friday with qualifying on Saturday to determine the “100 fastest cars to start.”

The promotion was a disaster as only 31 cars entered with some of the entries Atkinson described as “so bad we warned them not to run over 30 miles per hour.” Atkinson claimed that a “calculated cold-blooded plot” was the reason for the failure, because “other minor league local clubs called mandatory inspections for Sunday to sabotage my program.”  Bobby Mills of Porterville won the race despite that fact that during a pit stop an excited crewmember accidentally poured two gallons of water into the car’s fuel tank. 

The CRA sprint cars returned on Saturday night May 29 1965 for a scheduled 24-car 50-lap feature race. Entries included earlier winner Atkins and Frank Secrist, but Jay East drove Leonard Surdam’s orange #1 car to victory in place of regular driver Hal Minyard, who was “back East” as sale representative for his ‘McHal’ line of racing helmets. East started the feature from eighth place and made a daring last lap pass in turn two to claim his first career CRA feature victory.    

The November 28 race at Hanford Speedway was the final date on the 1965 USAC stock car schedule, and the Rookie of the Year honors had already been awarded to Canadian phenom Billy Foster but the driver’s championship still hung in the balance. Norm Nelson held a 260-point advantage over second-place driver Paul Goldsmith with 400 points available to the race winner. Behind the lead pair, Don White and Jim Hurtubise were separated by just 215 points in their battle for third place.   

Other big-name USAC drivers entered for the 200-mile included Sal Tovella, Bay Darnell, 24-year old Gary Bettenhausen and the 1965 Indianapolis 500-mile race rookie of the year and new USAC National Champion Mario Andretti in a 1964 Ford sponsored by Hanford Speedway promoter Kal Simon. Other entries included midget racer Tommy Copp, Dempsey Wilson, Lloyd Ruby, and USAC stock car rookie and three-time race winner Bobby Isaac although none of that quartet was able to crack their way into the 31-car starting field which was led by fast qualifier Goldsmith in Ray Nichels’ 1965 Plymouth.

The race day crowd of over 9,000 fans saw Foster start second in a 1965 Dodge and Hurtubise from third in Norm Nelson’s #56 1965 Plymouth. Hurtubise, Foster and Goldsmith all lead early but each retired with engine failure, and Goldsmith’s retirement on the 87^th lap not only handed the lead to Norm Nelson, but clinched Nelson’s second USAC stock car championship.  Nelson crossed the finish line several laps ahead of Scotty Cain to claim the $2,000 winner’s check with Mario Andretti in third, five laps behind Nelson, with only 11 cars were still running at the finish.  This marked the USAC stock cars final appearance at Hanford, and it would be four years before the CRA sprint cars would return.    

1968 Gurney AAR Eagle

One of the stars of the recent Vintage Motor Racing exhibit with a special tribute to Dan Gurney at the Lyon Air Museum was Dan Gurney’s own 1968 Eagle race car.

The 1968 Eagle chassis designed by former Lola engineer Tony Southgate featured a lower flatter nose due to the use of outboard suspension assemblies. The car’s main tub was also lower in profile, with a laid-back windscreen and a body/engine cover which ended with a squared off tail section instead of the earlier rounded tail used in the 1966 and 1967 Eagle designs.

There were five 1968 Eagles built by All American Racers on Santa Ana California in the 33-car starting field for the 1968 Indianapolis 500-mile race,  First was the featured car owned by Gurney’s primary sponsor Oscar L “Ozzie” Olson of the Olsonite Corporation, manufacturer of molded one-piece plastic toilet seats. 

Gurney’s entry was powered by a 303-cubic inch stock-block Ford V-8 engine fitted with Gurney-Weslake Mark Four cylinder heads. For qualifying with the addition of nitromethane to the alcohol fuel the Gurney-Weslake engine could develop 525 horsepower.

1968 was the height of innovation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was reflected in the variety of powerplants fitted to the other AAR Eagles that were entered. Roger McCluskey drove an Eagle owned by Atlanta sportsman Lindsey Hopkins that was powered by a 159-cubic inch 4-cylinder Offenhauser engine fitted with a turbocharger which was sponsored by G C Murphy stores. 

Bobby Unser drove a similar chassis and engine combination owned by Bob Wilke’s Leader Card Racers with sponsorship from Rislone oil treatment. IN 1968, a turbocharged Offehauser engine could develop 625 horsepower in qualifying trim.  

Gurney’s teammate on the Olsonite team for the ‘500” would be 1967 Formula One world champion Denis Hulme who became available after his original entry, the Shelby-Wallis turbine powered machine was withdrawn. Hulme drove the #42 Olsonite AAR Eagle which was powered a conventional 255-cubic inch DOHC (double overhead camshaft) Ford V-8 engine.   

The last Eagle entry in the Indianapolis 500-mile race field was owned by PSA airline heir Tom Friedkin powered by a 159-cubic inch turbocharged DOHC Ford engine driven by Jerry Grant with sponsorship from Bardahl oil treatment. 

While it could potentially produce the highest horsepower of the available engine, at high boost levels, the Schwitzer turbocharged Ford engine suffered both head gasket and fuel distribution issues which resulted in burned pistons.

In qualifying time trials, Unser led the Eagle contingent as he started third, on the outside of the front row, with McCluskey next in seventh place. Gurney himself started the 1968 ‘500’ in tenth place, while Grant started fifteenth, and Hulme in a late-developing program started in twentieth place.

After the leading STP Lotus turbines broke with nine laps left in the race, Bobby Unser lead the final nine laps and won by 53.81 seconds over Gurney. In a stunning debut, the 1968 AAR Eagles swept three of the top five finishing positions as Hulme finished in fourth place.

Two weeks later at the mid-June 1968 two-heat ‘Telegraph Trophy 200’ at the Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville Ontario Canada, Gurney and his Eagle swept the program. 

A new 1968 Eagle powered by a 305-cubic inch Chevrolet V-8 stock-block engine built by Traco Engineering was entered for the event by Roger Penske for sports car ace Mark Donohue which finished in the top five of both heat races. This marked Penske’s first Indianapolis type racing car entry.

Gurney started from the pole position with a 110 MPH (mile per hour) average speed around the 2.5-mile road course. At the drop of the green flag, Dan led all forty laps of the first heat as Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Bobby Unser crashed his 1968 Eagle on the first lap. In the second Mosport heat with only 15 starters, Gurney again dominated from the pole position,as he led every lap and finished the 100-mile heat race in 55 minutes.  

Gurney did not race his Eagle Indy Car again for five and half months as he next appeared at the 1968 United States Auto Club (USAC) season finale at the Riverside International Raceway for the ‘Rex Mays 300.’ 

Gurney qualified the AAR Eagle now fitted with stubby front wings on the nose and a rudimentary wing that spanned across the rear exhaust pipes, qualified for the pole position with an average speed of 118-1/2 MPH around the historic 2.6-mile road course.

Gurney led the first four laps of the race, before Mario Andretti in a tight battle for the 1968 USAC national championship led the next four circuits. Gurney surged back into the lead on lap nine and never looked back as he led the remaining 108 laps and won by a lap over Bobby Unser’s 1968 Eagle which had been repaired from its Mosport damage and fitted with a DOHC Ford engine. 

The #48 Olsonite AAR Eagle raced five times during the 1968 USAC season and scored three victories and one second place result  was displayed at the Lyon Air Museum as it appeared at its final race as a tribute to Dan Gurney who passed away on January 14 2018.  

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