Rapid Response

A film review

The author recently had the opportunity to watch the documentary film Rapid Response based on Dr. Stephen Olvey’s excellent book of the same name. The author highly recommends this film  - all automobile racing fans and particularly open wheel racing fans need to see this two-hour film, which was directed, edited, and produced by Indianapolis native Michael Miles through Mile A Way Productions.

This film uses vintage footage provided by First Turn Productions and still photos from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway film archives, which are a real treat for racing historians. The film opens with historical color footage that features the Cummins Diesel Special starting from the pole position and Troy Ruttman winning the 1952 ‘500,’ and then continues with historical footage of crashes through the years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).

The film weaves the story of Dr. Olvey into the history of safety developments of our sport, beginning with his days working for IMS’s Dr. Tom Hanna because he wanted to “help the drivers.” Interspersed with the historical footage are recent interviews with Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones that add flavor of what safety was like in the “old days.”  

Olvey tells the story of his role that helped improve medical response at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through the years, and tells the story of the eventual formation of a dedicated safety team that traveled the USAC Championship Trail created by Steve Edwards to provide “consistency of performance by qualified capable people.”

The film then introduces orthopedic surgeon Dr. Terry Trammell and follows his story from his days as volunteer medical student who worked at IMS in 1973, to his treatment of Danny Ongais after his awful Indianapolis crash in 1981. Together through the 1980’s and 1990’s Trammell and Olvey worked together to improve the response to accidents and later to the collection of scientific data to help redesign the race cars to better protect drivers.

The film focuses on critical events such as Rick Mears’ Sanair accident and Chip Ganssi’s Michigan accident in 1984, complete with interviews with Mears and Ganassi. Olvey reviews the events that led to the cancellation of the CART race at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2001, and the film closes with the story of Alex Zanardi’s gruesome accident at the Eurosport oval in Germany and his triumphant return to racing.  

The film Rapid Response is unrated and contains footage of fatal accidents. 

Visit the film’s website at   https://rapidresponsemovie.com/ to find a theater near you.

“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 

The CART-IRL Split

open wheel racing’s second civil war

 

Author's note: This article appeared in print in The Classic Racing Times. To subscribe to this excellent publication, visit http://www.theclassicracingtimes.com/

 

 

Several years after the contentious split with the United States Auto Club (USAC), in 1983 the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series began to include the results and award points from the Indianapolis 500-mile race. This was an odd arrangement as the ‘500’ was still sanctioned by USAC, but this unlikely marriage continued until the second American disastrous open-wheel racing civil war which erupted after the creation of the Indy Racing League (IRL).

 

The IRL was the brainchild of Anton “Tony” George President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). George was racing royalty, as the son of the 1957 American Automobile Association (AAA) Sprint car series champion Elmer George and the grandson of IMS Speedway’s savior Anton “Tony” Hulman. After he assumed the role of President of IMS in 1989 following the death of Joseph Cloutier, George used as the leader of world’s most famous auto racing course to push for changes in CART rules and the series’ direction.

 

 

During early 1991, George attempted to buy CART, but in his own words he later admitted that his offer was “too low and poorly presented.” After his offer failed, George floated a proposal to CART Chairman William Stokkan a former Playboy executive to reorganize the CART board from its frequently unworkable 22-member board to a six-member board comprised of three groups.

George suggested the board made of representatives of car owners, sponsors and race promoters, with the latter group to be represented by George. On November 15, 1991, following a meeting with the CART owners, Stokkan sent George a letter that rejected the offer which CART characterized as a “counter proposal,” but George branded it as a “complete failure of CART to do what was promised.”

In the middle of 1992, some peace was achieved when Tony George was placed on the reorganized CART five-man board as a non-voting member. In his new role George advocated that CART series become American-based, with lower costs and a schedule with more oval course races.  George became frustrated by CART’s direction the made championship car racing a more world-wide road racing sport and refusal to accept more track owner input. Even worse the CART board subsequent expanded back to 16 members which diluted George’s influence.

William Stokkan’s turbulent three-year reign ended on January 7, 1994 when CART hired British marketing executive Andrew Craig as the new CART President and Chief Executive Officer. George quit the CART board that same day; an IMS press release claimed that George's resignation had nothing to do with Craig’s hiring, that instead George was dissatisfied with CART's organization.  Steve Horne, himself a former CART board member told the New York Times that George’s resignation was “not a good sign; you can't make up with your wife if you're continually divorcing her."

On March 11, 1994 George announced the formation of the IRL as a “lower-cost, American-based oval series” set to begin competition in 1996.  In explaining his actions George explained that he felt that “the long-term protection of the ‘500’ depended on a solid series of top level open-wheel, oval track races. To that end, this league was created because CART provided no long-term guarantees to the ‘500’ or to oval track racing.” George also cited CART’s lack of long-term stability, as he pointed out that CART had “four different board voting structures and four different chief executives over just five short years.”

While the racing world was processing the implications of the new series, the team owned by one of CART’s original founders Roger Penske pulled off a stunning upset at the 1994 Indianapolis 500-mile race.  To fully understand the Penske coup, we must first review the history of the USAC “stock block” engine rule.

In some ways reminiscent of the American Automobile Association (AAA) 1920’s “junk formula,” for thirty years the USAC rulebook included a provision for "stock-block" pushrod engines limited to two valves per cylinder actuated by pushrod and rocker arms. The rule was promulgated under the guise of encouraging participation by automobile manufacturers, smaller teams and independents.  

Through the years, traditional "stock block" engines such as fuel-injected small-block Chevrolet engines were fielded by independents on occasion joined by factory funded attempts by Plymouth and American Motors, but a new “stock block” arrived at Indianapolis in 1984 – the 209-cubic inch turbocharged Buick V-6.

 

The Buick engines returned to Indianapolis year after year, and while the engines generally were fast over short runs due to the higher allowed turbocharger boost levels, the Buick engine’s reliability always remained a problem due to the mechanical stresses on components from those boost levels.

In 1991, USAC relaxed its previous rulebook requirement that “stock block” engines must use some production parts, intended to help the Buick teams to develop more robust parts to extend their durability.  As an unintended consequence USAC rule 1107 also opened the door for a purpose-built pushrod engine, but since USAC only sanctioned one race a season the construction of such an engine was not considered economically viable.

 

 

In an audacious effort during late 1993 and early 1994, Penske Racing in partnership with Ilmor Engineering designed built and test a “clean sheet” pushrod engine that carried the Mercedes-Benz nameplate. As related in Jade Gurss’ book Beast, the Mercedes 500I 72-degree V-8 engine was developed by Penske Racing in secret and was unveiled to the public just a month before the 500-mile race.

Upon arrival at Indianapolis, the dominance was obvious from the moment that the Mercedes-Benz powered Penske PC-23B cars appeared on track on the first day of practice. The dayglow orange and white PC23B cars consistently exceeded 244 miles per hour (MPH) in the back straightaway speed trap. The 209-cubic inch engine, with 10 inches more boost then the competing double-overhead cam racing power plants, developed 1000+ horsepower and over 580 foot/pounds of torque at 8000 revolutions per minute (RPM).

At the drop of the green flag on May 29, 1994 Mercedes powered cars of pole sitter Al Unser Jr. and outside front row starter Fittipaldi ran away and hid from the rest of the field, and “Little Al’ led the first 23 laps before he pitted. Unser stalled his engine in the pits which allowed Fittipaldi to assume the lead and “Emmo” eventually lead 145 laps.

 

At one point Fittipaldi the defending Indianapolis ‘500’ champion had Unser Jr. down one lap, but Unser battled back and unlapped himself on lap 183. On lap 185, Fittipaldi attempted to re-pass Unser and crashed hard into the outside retaining wall in turn four. Unser Jr. then cruised home to claim his second and Penske Racing’s tenth Indianapolis 500-mile race victory. Roger Penske had pulled off the ultimate ‘Unfair Advantage.’

In August 1994 Roger Penske already perturbed by the pending CART-IRL split was further angered when for the second time in three months, the USAC rule makers reduced the allowable maximum boost level for purpose-designed pushrod engines for the 1995 Indianapolis ‘500.’ USAC’s moves relegated the Mercedes-Benz 500I engine which had won the 1994 Indianapolis ‘500’ in dominant fashion to museum status after just one race.

In July 1995, the IRL announced its “25/8 rule,” which guaranteed 25 spots in the 1996 Indianapolis 500-mile race for the top IRL drivers, and no CART teams entered the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ The CART teams claimed they were effectively locked out by new Indianapolis qualifying rules. While IRL stalwarts countered that the CART teams were boycotting the ‘500,’ in truth the IRL one-season carry-over rules package for the 1996 ‘500’ would not allow CART teams to use their 1996 Penske, Reynard and Lola chassis.

 

 

In December 1995 CART retaliated and announced plans for the inaugural “U.S. 500” race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) to be held on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ Looking back through the lens of history, there was much ugliness exhibited by both sides leading up to Memorial Day but in the end neither race was an artistic success.

In qualifying for the 1996 Indianapolis 500-mile race, the apparent pole position winning car driven by former champion Arie Luyendyk was disqualified for being underweight.  On May 17 a pall was cast over the race when pole-sitter Scott Brayton was killed in a practice crash. With the 33-car starting field comprised of ex-CART Lola and Reynard chassis, only nine cars finished the race itself won by second-generation driver Robert “Buddy” Lazier who drove the race with a broken back suffered two months earlier in an IRL crash at Phoenix International Raceway.

The starting field for the competing CART ‘U.S. 500’ which aired live on cable television channel ESPN2, featured only 27 cars, as two cars driven by Teo Fabi and PJ Jones were withdrawn before the race. A  crash before the initial start involved eleven cars and in a bizarre turn of events, CART officials allowed five of the drivers involved in the accident to start the race in their original position in their back-up cars.

The 250-lap CART ‘U.S. 500’ race, contested on the wide high-banked MIS 2-mile oval, was also marred by a remarkably high attrition rate as eleven cars experienced engine failure. Pole-sitter Jimmy Vasser won the race and the Vanderbilt Trophy replica by eleven seconds over former Formula One driver Mauricio Gugelmin in the only two cars to complete the entire 500-mile distance.

 

CART officials considered the 1996 “U.S. 500” a success with a reported 120,000 fans in attendance but CART never again scheduled the ‘U.S. 500’ directly against the Indianapolis 500-mile race and instead scheduled the race in late July through the 1999 season after which the race dropped from the schedule.

In January 1997 the IRL unveiled its new cars and engines - competitors had the choice of a Riley & Scott, Dallara or G-Force chassis and the choice of an Oldsmobile Aurora or Nissan Infiniti V-8 naturally aspirated powerplant. On May 17, 1997 days before the running of the 1997 Indianapolis ‘500,’ the Indy Racing League abolished its controversial rule that guaranteed 25 of the 33 ‘500’ starting positions to IRL regulars of the new series, but still no CART regulars entered the Indianapolis ‘500’ until 2000 after CART became a publicly traded company stockholders and competitors began to complain about series mismanagement.

CART car owner Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the Indianapolis ‘500’ five times between 1982 and 1986, assembled a two-car team to compete in the 2000 Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi team sponsored by Target department stores dominated the race as winner Juan Pablo Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps. Although a CART regular team won the race, public sentiment became that the tide had turned and that the IRL was now winning the championship racing sanction war.

Two other CART regular teams entered the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race - Team Penske (formerly known as Penske Racing), and Team Kool Green, while Chip Ganassi returned  with a four-car team with a driver line-up that included NASCAR regular Tony Stewart, Jimmy Vasser, and rookies Bruno Junqueira  and Nicolas Minassian. 2001 marked the first appearance of a Penske race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) after a five race absence.

Penske’s 2001 Indianapolis driver lineup in the Oldsmobile-powered Dallara chassis included the 2000 CART champion Gil de Ferran who had driven in 1995 “500’ paired with Brazilian Helio Castro-Neves who had two years of CART experience but was an Indianapolis rookie.  In a startling result, Team Penske claimed the top two finishing positions, as Castro-Neves claimed his first of three Indianapolis ‘500’ wins.

Beginning with the 2002 season, Marlboro Team Penske competed exclusively in the Indy Racing League, and the championship was won by Castro-Neves. Team Penske’s defection as followed by Ganassi Racing and Andretti/Green Racing for 2003 after the package forwarding company Federal Express pulled their sponsorship of the CART series at the end of the 2002 racing season, and engine suppliers Honda and Toyota switched from the CART to the IRL series after the 2002 season. CART reportedly lost $100 million during the 2003 season and declared bankruptcy in early 2004 with the assets of CART scheduled to be liquidated.

IRL President Tony George made a serious attempt to purchase certain CART assets (the Long Beach race, the safety operation and the series’ engine contract) at the bankruptcy auction. George’s plan to acquire only select CART assets was designed to cripple the series and eliminate competition for the IRL

However, George’s effort was opposed by a trio of CART owners - Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, and Kevin Kalkhoven. George's bid of $13.5 million was not accepted as Southern District of Indiana United States Bankruptcy Court Judge Frank Otte ruled in favor of the three car owners who bid $3.625 million because their plan intended to continue the series which would satisfy the many vendors and sponsors still holding long-term contracts. 

 

 

The CART series, rebranded as the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) celebrated its’ 25th anniversary season in 2004 and carried on through the 2007 season, While the IRL concentrated on holding races at American oval track venues the CCWS staged races at tracks around the globe, that included races in Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Mexico. In its final season of 2007, the CCWS series only averaged seventeen cars at 14 races with the cancellation of two races during the season.

While CART supporters derided the IRL series as a “spec series” with all the competitors piloting visually identical cars, the CCWS series became no different all the competitors in the 2005 and 2006 CCWS series all drove English-built Lola chassis powered by Ford Cosworth engines and in its the final year after the loss of Ford Motor Company as the series sponsor, all the CCWS cars were Panoz chassis powered by Cosworth XFE engines.

Following the troubled 2007 season, CCWS filed for bankruptcy on February 14 2008 and on February 22 2008, the CCWS and IRL series were reunited under the banner of IRL. The IRL purchased certain races (such as Long Beach) and assets from the CCWS with the remaining assets sold at auction on June 3, 2008. Most significantly for racing historians, as part of the agreement IRL became the owner of all CART and CCWS so all CART/CCWS history became part of the AAA-USAC-IRL history timeline.

For the 2008 racing season, after twenty-nine years of turmoil, American open-wheel racing was finally reunited under a single banner. Peace was restored in the top rung of open-wheel racing, but the Indy Racing League would experience growing pains in the coming years.

The 2001 Dallara Indianapolis winner

 

 

The fourth IndyCar car included in the 50th anniversary tribute to Penske Racing at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis is the Dallara IR2 owned by the Team Penske Collection. This car was driven to victory in the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race by Helio Castroneves.

This was the first Penske race car to reappear at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a five race absence due to the second American open-wheel racing split which began with the creation of the Indy Racing League (IRL) on March 11, 1994 to begin competition in 1996.

 

 

IMS President Tony George began to agitate for changes in November 1991, and he continued to push for changes as a non-voting member of the CART board from 1992 to1994.  Eventually frustrated he quit the CART board and formed the IRL 

Roger Penske already unhappy with the split was further  angered when in August 1994 United States Auto Club (USAC) the sanctioning body for the Indianapolis ‘500’ for the second time in three months reduced the allowable maximum boost level for purpose-designed pushrod engines. USAC’s moves relegated the Mercedes-Benz 500I engine which had won the 1994 Indianapolis ‘500’ in dominant fashion to museum status after just one race followed by Penske Racing’s humiliation of failing to qualify for the 1995 Indianapolis ‘500.’

 

 

The nineteen seventies Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART)-USAC split was very divisive, but the CART-IRL split reached new levels of rancor.  No CART teams entered in the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500’ as CART teams claimed they were effectively locked out by new Indianapolis qualifying rules which guaranteed starting positions to the top 25 drivers in IRL points. Although the IRL countered that CART teams were boycotting the ‘500,’ the IRL one-season carry-over rules package for the 1996 ‘500’ would not allow CART teams to use their 1996 Penske, Reynard and Lola chassis.

In retaliation, in December 1995 CART announced the inaugural “U.S. 500” race at Michigan International Speedway to be held on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ Neither race was an artistic success, as the Indianapolis ‘500’ 33-car starting field was comprised of 1995 and 1995 Lola and Reynard chassis most of which were bought from CART teams.

The apparent ‘500’ pole position winning car driven by Arie Luyendyk the only former ‘500’ race winner entered was disqualified for being underweight, then a pall was cast over the race when pole-sitter Scott Brayton was killed in a practice crash on May 17. Only nine cars finished the 1996 ‘500’ won by second-generation driver Robert “Buddy” Lazier who drove the race with a broken back

The starting field for the “U.S. 500” which aired live on ESPN2, featured only 27 cars, as two cars withdrew before the race. A nine-car crash before the initial start eliminated at least seven cars and in a bizarre turn of events, CART officials allowed six of the drivers involved in the accident to start the race in their back-up cars. The 250-lap race contested on the wide high-banked 2-mile oval was marred by a remarkably high attrition rate as eleven cars experienced engine failure. Jimmy Vasser won the race and Vanderbilt Trophy replica by eleven seconds over former Formula One driver Mauricio Gugelmin as theirs were the only two cars to complete the entire 500-mile distance.

CART officials considered the 1996 “U.S. 500” a success with a reported 120,000 fans in attendance but never again scheduled the “U.S. 500” directly against the Indianapolis 500-mile race. In January 1997 the IRL unveiled its new cars and engines; competitors used either a Riley & Scott, Dallara or G-Force chassis and had a choice of an Oldsmobile Aurora or Nissan/Infiniti powerplants.

Days before the 1997 Indianapolis ‘500,’ the Indy Racing League abolished its controversial rule that guaranteed 25 of the 33 ‘500’ starting positions to IRL regulars of the new series, but still no CART regulars entered the Indianapolis ‘500’ until 2000. In 2000, after CART became a publicly traded company and competitors began to complain about series mismanagement.

CART car owner Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the Indianapolis ‘500’ five times between 1982 and 1986, assembled a two-car team to compete in one IRL sanctioned race- the 2000 Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi Target team dominated the 2000 ‘500’ as winner Juan Pablo Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps. Although a CART regular team won the race, public sentiment became that the IRL was now winning the championship racing sanction war.

Two other CART regular teams entered the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race - Team Penske (formerly known as Penske Racing), and Team Kool Green, while Chip Ganassi returned  with a four-car team sponsored by Target department stores with a driver line-up that counted  NASCAR regular Tony Stewart, Jimmy Vasser, and rookies Bruno Junqueira  and Nicolas Minassian. 

 

 

 

Penske’s 2001 Indianapolis driver lineup in the Oldsmobile-powered Dallara chassis were 2000 CART champion Gil de Ferran who had driven in 1995 “500’ paired with Brazilian Helio who had two years of CART experience but was an Indianapolis rookie.  The 121-inch wheelbase Dallara IR2 (Indy Racing League second generation) was built in Parma Italy of carbon fiber and aluminum honeycomb construction with aluminum wishbone suspension front and rear.  

The 244-cubic inch all-aluminum Oldsmobile Aurora V-8 engine was based on the production engine used in the short-lived (1995-2003) Aurora luxury sedan. The methanol-burning race engine with four valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts which teams purchased from one of four engine builders for $80,000 produced over 700 horsepower at 10,500 RPM (revolutions per minute).

 

The red square object attached to the rear of the transmission case is

the attenuator designed to absorb the energy of a direct rear engine contact  

 

Both Penske cars appeared in Marlboro-themed livery (neon red and white) sans the Marlboro name and logo at the request of the Indiana Attorney General.  In In time trials, de Ferran who the year before ran the fastest official IndyCar lap ever at over 241 MPH at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California qualified his #66 in fifth place, while teammate Castroneves qualified eleventh and was the fastest rookie in the 33-car starting field  

After a start led by John Mellencamp’s then-wife Elaine behind the wheel of an Oldsmobile Bravada sport-utility vehicle (SUV), the early stages of the 2001 Indianapolis 500 were marred by three crashes in the first twenty laps which eliminated four cars. Rain fell on lap 107 and the field was slowed under caution flag with CART regular Michael Andretti in the lead. After the race resumed De Ferran took the lead for the first time and held on until lap 136 when he made a pit stop under caution.

On lap 148 rains returned with Tony Stewart in the lead but he pitted the following lap under the caution flag which handed the lead to Castroneves.  The rain then became heavy enough that it brought out the red flag and officials stopped the race for seventeen minutes on lap 155 with Helio’s #68 in the lead. After the lap 157 restart, Robbie Buhl grandson of legendary mechanic and car builder Floyd “Pop” Dreyer battled Castroneves for the lead, but Buhl spun and hit the wall on lap 166.

 

Buhl’s elimination moved De Ferran into second place and when the green flag flew again the two Penske drivers cruised through the final laps to complete a sweep of the top two positions. Castroneves’ ‘500’ win was the ninth for a rookie driver and Roger Penske’s eleventh. After his victory lap, Helio stopped on the main straightaway and climbed the outer crash fencing. CART drivers took the top six finishing positions in the 2001 Indianapolis ‘500.’

For the 2002 season, Team Penske competed with the Indy Racing League, followed by Ganassi Racing and Andretti/Green Racing in 2003 after Federal Express pulled their sponsorship of the CART series at the 2002 racing season.  Honda and Toyota switched their engine supply from CART to the IRL after 2002. CART declared bankruptcy after the 2003 off-season and the assets of CART were liquidated.

 

 

The Champ Car World Series (CCWS) continued on after CART’s failure until CCWS’ bankruptcy in 2008 and its assets were sold at auction on June 3, 2008. For the 2008 racing season, after twenty-nine years of turmoil, American open-wheel racing was finally reunited under one banner.

The Dallara IR2 /Oldsmobile on display at the PRI show is part of the Team Penske Collection and is usually shown in the Penske Racing Museum in Scottsdale Arizona.     

All photos by the author

The car that won the

longest Indianapolis ‘500’

Roger Penske

The 1981 ‘Norton Spirit’ Penske PC9B owned by the Malloy Foundation was part of the tribute to Penske Racing’s 50th anniversary at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in the Indiana Convention Center. This was the car Bobby Unser used in 1981 to notch his (and car owner Roger Penske’s) third Indianapolis 500-mile race in what proved to be the longest 500-mile race ever contested. Thirty-five years later it remains the most controversial Indianapolis 500-mile race.

Even before the 1981 ‘500’ there was controversy, as the sport of championship auto racing was entering the third turbulent year of the sanctioning war between Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and the United States Auto Club (USAC).  The initial skirmish had been resolved in CART’s favor by a temporary injunction issued by United States District Judge James Noland on the first day of practice for the1979 Indianapolis ‘500.’ 

The war intensified as CART and USAC each issued their 1980 season schedules. CART planned 13 races that included many events at former USAC tracks, while the 10-race USAC schedule contained some surprises with new 500-kilometer races scheduled at Talladega International Speedway, Road Atlanta, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway tried to bolster USAC’s position by providing “automatic invitations” for the ‘500’ to teams which had been loyal to USAC during 1979,  but eventually concern over a lack of entries led to the Speedway also inviting the CART teams. In the early months of 1980 Leo Mehl of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company struggled to get the two feuding groups to compromise, and finally Goodyear’s threat to charge teams for race tires brought about an agreement.

On April 13 1980, the two groups jointly announced the formation of the ‘Championship Racing League’ (CRL) to be governed by a six-member board (five of which were car owners) to present a combined 1980 schedule to consist of “about 15 races.” The races would be run with USAC as the officiating body and use 1979 USAC rules with the proposed races at Talladega Atlanta and Charlotte dropped.  

Alas, the truce did not hold. After the running of the 1980 “500,’ new Indianapolis Motor Speedway President John Cooper publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with USAC’s “lack of independence” due to the stacking of car owners on the CRL board. After Cooper requested proposals to sanction the 1981 Indianapolis ‘500’ from NASCAR, IMSA (International Motorsports Association), the SCCA, and even the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), USAC panicked.

After the fifth race of the 1980 CRL season the ‘Red Roof Inns 150’, USAC President Dick King issued a statement in mid-July, that USAC was withdrawing from the Championship Racing League and that the organization was dissolved. CART continued the 1980 season under their own sanction and ran seven more races, while the USAC 1980 schedule abruptly ended after five races.  

For 1981, the USAC championship racing division really sanctioned only two IndyCar tracks – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Pocono International Raceway and the remainder of the new USAC ‘Gold Crown’ schedule consisted of three one-mile dirt tracks. The 1981 CART 11-race schedule did not include the Indianapolis 500-mile race but it did not have any races scheduled during the month before the ‘500’ or against it.

Penske Racing contested the 1981 championship racing season with three drivers; Bobby Unser, Rick Mears, and new addition Bill Alsup, a 42-year Formula Vee and Super Vee veteran. Unser and Mears drove the Geoff Ferris-designed Penske PC-9B an updated full ground effects car fitted with 750 horsepower turbocharged Cosworth 4-valves per cylinder 4-camshaft DFX engine, while Alsup piloted a year-old PC-9.

The 106-inch wheelbase aluminum monocoque PC-9 rode on special 4-spoke Penske magnesium wheels fitted with Goodyear tires. In 1980, Ferris won the annual Louis Schwitzer Award from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE for his innovation and engineering excellence in the design of the PC-9 chassis.   

On the second day of May practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Unser ran the fastest lap of the month so far at 197 miles per hour (MPH). Unser and Mears then upped their pace to over 200 MPH on Friday afternoon before the first scheduled weekend of time trials. Due to rain the first weekend both Penske drivers were forced to wait until May 15 to make their time trial runs.

Unser averaged 200.546 MPH for his four-lap qualifying run, then the defending pole winner Rick Mears took to the track and posted a first lap of 200.9 MPH. Mears’ PC-9B ‘Gould Charge’ developed a vibration during the second lap so Mears wisely aborted that attempt and Unser held onto his second career ‘500’ pole position start. 

Bobby Unser and the #3 ‘Norton Spirit’ dominated the running of the 1981 ‘500,’ as he led the first 21 laps and eventually the most laps, 89, as he led on eight different occasions. Teammate Rick Mears led once on lap 57 before he pitted, then a pit fire eliminated the ‘Gould Charge’ and sent Mears and four of his crewmembers to the hospital with burns.

On Lap 149, under caution due to a crash by sophomore driver Gordon Smiley, race leader Mario Andretti and second place runner Bobby Unser both made a pit stop. The pair swapped positions as they emerged from the pits. As Andretti prepared to slot his #40 STP Oil Treatment-sponsored WIldcat into the middle of the pack in the short chute between Turns 1 and 2, he watched as Unser passed eight cars before blending into traffic. ”Bobby’s going right to the front!” Andretti told his Patrick Racing crew chief, Jim McGee via radio.

Unser led 47 of the remaining 50 laps and Andretti crossed the finish line 5 seconds behind Bobby who had backed off to save his car in the later laps.  When the race was over, Andretti’s team owner U.E. “Pat” Patrick told Chief Steward Tom Binford that he wanted to file a protest, but Binford replied that a protest could not be lodged until the official results were posted at 8 AM the following day.

Back in 1981, the ABC television broadcast of the ‘500’ was tape-delayed, with commentary added during post-production rather than recorded live which has led to much confusion and false claims of bias against Unser years later as fans watch the replay.  ABC producers knew there was a potential controversy so they included footage of Unser passing cars under caution on the broadcast and commentator Jackie Stewart uttered “oh, that’s a no-no.” ABC television pit reporter and veteran racing journalist Chris Economaki asked Binford to comment on Unser’s documented violation and Binford stated on the broadcast that “right now and later on this evening, we will be reviewing all the facts.”

Overnight a committee of five USAC stewards reviewed the videotapes and voted, 3-2, to penalize Unser one lap for the “blend rule” violation which made Andretti the winner, while the same group voted, 3-2, not to penalize Andretti for the same offense as it appeared that some lapped drivers may have legally waved Andretti past.  

The official results were posted at 8 AM on May 25 with Andretti listed as the race winner. Unser was furious.  "We weren't cheating," Sports Illustrated quoted Unser, "We had the fastest car, no matter what the decision." Unser understandably boycotted the victory banquet where Andretti was given the keys to the silver Buick Regal V6-powered Pace Car and the winner’s ring.   

Roger Penske, represented by flamboyant Philadelphia attorney Jimmy Binns, filed his formal notice of appeal of the finish of the 1981’500’ with USAC on May 28. Penske and Unser's primary argument concerned the vague definition of the "blend rule" in the USAC rulebook and USAC’s lax enforcement.  USAC appointed a three-man appeals board that included former USAC presidents Charlie Brockman and Reynold MacDonald with University of Louisville law professor Edwin Render as the chairman.  

The hearing was held on June 12, but it dissolved into complex legal arguments and personal bickering between Binns and USAC General Counsel Henry Ryder, and mid-way through the hearing, the meeting was adjourned. Due to upcoming races the hearing was scheduled to resume on July 29. Instead of being concluded in an afternoon, the USAC appeal hearing eventually took five days over a two month period, with various drivers, team members, and race officials offering interesting testimony. 

Under questioning from Ryder, three time ‘500’ winner Johnny Rutherford said he “probably” passed cars under the yellow on his way to victory in 1980 while fellow three-time ‘500’ winner Al Unser stated that the pits did not end until turn two. USAC official Art Meyers could not recall whether he had asked observers, as Binford had requested, for a report on “blend rule” violations during the race. Bobby Unser had missed the pre-race driver’s meeting and testified on his recollections of a private meeting with Art Meyers in which he claimed Meyers told him “go to the yellow line in turn two and blend in where you can.” 

On October 9, 1981, the three-member USAC appeals board voted 2-1 (with Render casting the deciding ballot) to reinstate Unser as the 1981 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, but fined $40,000 for the “blend rule” violation. The ruling written by Render stated that while Unser gained a competitive advantage by passing cars during the caution flag period, the penalty assessed was inappropriate. 

The controversy was not over, as the following day October 10 1981 Mario Andretti with his Indianapolis attorney Forrest Bowman announced their intention to file a protest to the USAC appeals board decision. Mario claimed he had not been given sufficient notice to attend or prepare for the hearings, so by article 22 of the USAC bylaws the unlawful appeals board decision should be set aside.   

On November 18 USAC president Dick King denied Andretti's appeal as he said that adequate notice had been given when a telegram was sent and a telephone call placed to Patrick Racing.  Pat Patrick and Andretti then took their appeal to the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS) Court of Appeals. On February 2, 1982 ACCUS officially informed Patrick and Andretti that the group declined to hear the appeal because the pair had failed to exhaust all their appeals with the USAC Board of Directors.

On March 4, 1982 Mario Andretti and Pat Patrick announced that they had reached the end of the appeals process and were dropping the matter, although they stated "we have decided to let stand this decision we believe to be unacceptable to the majority of racing fans who love the sport and respect the rules."  35 years later, Andretti told the Allentown Pennsylvania Morning Call "I have the ring, but he cheated and was given the race. It was one race that Roger Penske did not win."

The longest Indianapolis ‘500’ on record ended on March 12, 1982, when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway released the prize money which had been held in escrow, 292 days after the start of the 1981 Indianapolis ‘500.’ Unser’s win marked the third consecutive Indianapolis 500-mile race victory from the pole starting position, and at the time Bobby was the oldest ‘500’ winner at 47 years, 93 days but he was later edged out by his younger brother Al who was 47 years, 360 days old when he won in 1987.

It is an often repeated inaccuracy that an embittered Bobby Unser retired at the end of the 1981 season. While it is true that in 1982 Bobby took on the role of team manager and driver coach for the 1981 Indianapolis Rookie of the Year Josele Garza and his ‘Schlitz Gusto’ team., Unser was entered and took some test laps during May 1982. 

Bobby might have entertained ideas of racing in the 1982 ‘500’ in the team’s second car but those hopes were dashed when Garza crashed on May 13 and totaled the team’s primary car.  After the 1982 season, Pat Patrick offered Unser a ride for the 1983 season but Bobby formally announced his retirement on December 20 1982.

No matter who you think was the winner of the 1981 Indianapolis ‘500,’ collector and vintage racer Tom Malloy is covered. Not only does Malloy own Unser’s Penske PC9B shown at PRI, he also owns the Wildcat chassis that Mario Andretti drove in the 1981 Indianapolis ‘500’ as well as the ‘Red Roof Inns’ McLaren M24/Cosworth that Vern Schuppan used to capture a third place finish for good measure.    

photos by the author

1979 Penske PC-6 Indianapolis winner

 

The 2016 edition of the Performance Racing Industry trade show held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis featured a special display devoted to the 50th anniversary of Penske Racing, with special focus on four of the sixteen Team Penske Indianapolis ‘500’ race winners.  

 

Click to enlarge and notice the discrete CART sticker on the engine cover

 

The earliest Roger Penske-owned Indianapolis 500 winner on display was the Penske PC-6 driven by Rick Mears to victory in 1979 an event which was dogged with controversy in the weeks leading up to running of the race itself.

In November 1978, the United States Auto Club (USAC) 21-man board of directors which governed the ‘500,’ rejected a series of demands from a group of dissatisfied championship series car owners led by Dan Gurney. Days later, that core group of disgruntled car owners which included Gurney, Bob Fletcher, U.E. ‘Pat’ Patrick, Roger Penske, Team McLaren and Jim Hall formed Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART).

CART soon allied with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and announced plans to sanction a 13-race championship racing series in direct competition with USAC which saw its 1979 schedule shrink to seven races. In mid-April 1979, 19 entries for the International 500-mile Sweepstakes submitted by CART car owners were refused by USAC “because you are not in good standing with USAC" with the $1,000 entry fee for each car returned. On April 26 1979 CART filed suit against USAC in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and cited violations of antitrust and right to work laws.

Roger Penske had entered only two drivers for the 1979 Indianapolis 500-mile race; veteran Bobby Unser who won the 1968 and 1975 Indianapolis 500-mile races and 27-year old Rick Mears from Bakersfield California. Penske hired Mears in 1978 to run a limited USAC championship schedule in place of Mario Andretti who was focused on winning the world Formula 1 driver’s championship. 

In his second attempt at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Mears qualified the red and white #71 Penske PC-6 “CAM2 Motor Oil Special” in third position for the start of the race.  Although Mears fell out with engine failure on lap 103 and finished 23rd, he was named the co-winner of the 1978, Stark Wetzel Rookie of the Year award with Larry Rice who had finished eleventh.  Mears scored three race wins in his remaining nine 1978 USAC races and finished ninth in USAC points despite missing seven races.    

After a three-day hearing, on May 5, the official first day of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Judge James Noland agreed with CART that USAC and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had conspired to keep the six racing teams out of the 500-mile race and granted the temporary injunction due to the “severe hardship the drivers would suffer far outweighs the harm to the defendants by allowing them to race.”

On May 7, his first day of practice after having his entry reinstated Rick Mears turned the fastest of the day at 187.578 miles per hour (MPH). His teammate Bobby Unser elected to race with the new Penske PC-7 chassis which had limited aerodynamic ‘ground effects’ while Mears stuck with a proven year-old PC-6 chassis which had been driven to the USAC/Citicorp Cup championship in 1978 by Tom Sneva.

The following day May 8 Mears ran the Speedway’s fastest unofficial lap to date for the year at 193.5 MPH. After the first day of qualifying was rained out, on Sunday May 13, Mears as the last pole position eligible driver recorded a four-lap average of 193.736 MPH to take the pole position, his first of his record six career Indianapolis  pole position starts.   

The Penske PC-6 is widely publicized as “the first Penske IndyCar” which is incorrect. During 1973, as part of his push to race in Formula 1, Roger Penske bought the McRae Cars Limited 5000 square foot race car fabrication shop in Poole England from John Heynes. The first Penske built race car, dubbed the PC-1 was designed by Geoff Ferris for Formula 1 competition in 1974, and was followed by the Formula 1 PC-3 in 1975 and the PC-4 used during the 1976 Grand Prix season.

Meanwhile the Penske USAC championship teams used McLaren customer cars until the latter part of the 1977 USAC season, and the debut of the Penske PC-5 an improvement on the design of the McLaren M24 chassis. Tom Sneva drove four 1977 USAC races in a Penske PC-5 entry on his way to the USAC championship while Mario Andretti drove a Penske PC-5 chassis once at the Michigan Grand Prix, the first race where two Penske Cars Limited chassis appeared. 

 

 

The Penske PC-6 also designed by Geoff Ferris which used a fiberglass body over an aluminum monocoque tub, debuted at the start of the 1978 USAC season and won the season championship for Tom Sneva. The PC-6 recorded just one race win in 1978 as the #7 “Gould Charge” driven by Mario Andretti which won the Machinist Union 150  in Trenton New Jersey The 1978 PC-6 was later immortalized in 1/25 scale as AMT sold three versions (Unser, Mears and Andretti) as styrene model kits.   

 

 

The Penske PC-6 was powered by the Cosworth DFX the 161-cubic inch turbocharged version of the Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine. The Vel’s Parnelli Jones/ American Racing Wheels team exclusively used the DFX engine during the 1976 USAC season and won two races.  For 1977 onward multiple teams had access to the DFX power plant and the engine won the first of its string of ten consecutive Indianapolis ‘500’ race victories in 1978.

Despite qualifying for the pole position, Mears in the #9 Penske PC-6 “Gould Charge” was far from dominant on May 28 1979 as the race was dominated by the Unser brothers Al and Bobby who between them led 174 of the 200 laps. Bobby Unser in the #12 Penske PC-7 “Norton Spirit” appeared destined for victory until his car’s Hewland transmission lost high gear on lap 181. Rick Mears led the final nineteen laps to score his first ‘500’ victory as the first winner in the history of the world’s greatest race to be born after World War Two.   

 

Rick Mears won the inaugural 1979 PPG Cup emblematic of the CART championship 

Penske drivers won it five more times before the ward was retired in 1999

 

Mears drove the PC-6 chassis in the “Trenton Twin Indy” races on June 10, then switched to the PC-7 chassis for the balance of the 1979 CART season and scored wins in the “Ditzler 150” at Trenton New Jersey and the “Rich’s (department stores) Indy Atlanta Classic” at Atlanta Motor Speedway on his way to capturing the first PPG Cup for Team Penske.

The restored PC-6, Penske’s second Indianapolis 500-mile race winner displayed at PRI 2016 is part of the Penske Racing Collection and is typically displayed in the Penske Racing Museum located in Scottsdale Arizona.

Photos by the author