Comments on: What A Sight To Behold!

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 00:59:05 +0000

Chills. That’s all I can say.

I’m 45 and pretty much live at the track each May. Several years ago on Carb Day I had the chance to actually sit in one of the two front-drive Novis. This is the privately owned one that was there for the vintage car laps. I didn’t drive it. It didn’t turn a wheel while I sat in the seat. But I sat there for a couple of minutes, smiled for a few pictures, and got a thrill I will NEVER forget. I literally was so overwhelmed at the opportunity that I had tears in my eyes for much of the rest of the day. I know that sounds weird, but these cars have that pull on some of us.

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:31:10 +0000

A person could get wrapped in nostalgia for hours looking at these wonderful photos. What a great idea! Now if we could get that Japanese man to give the “Start your engines” command and listen to them all fire up, that would be grand.

Being an old rat, my favorite is the #99 Belanger Special. Tony Bettenhausen tore up the USAC circuit in that car in 1951 I believe. I do not know how Lee Wallard got the 500 ride instead of Tony.

Vukovich just flat out ran away and hid from the field for four succesive years so that 14 car is another favorite of mine. I was on the backstretch in the infield when he went over the wall. Everyone was stunned.

Thanks for posting this George. Like you I can (and do) wander around that museum for hours.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:13:56 +0000

Donald Davidson is right to use the word.

This is the very definition of awesome. This is the kind of thing that can make even a non-racing fan stand up and say “wow”.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:57:43 +0000

Thanks for including the shot of me…!

By: Mark Wick

Mark Wick — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:53:52 +0000

Had I had the opportunity, I would have been at IMS for this! Just WOW, WOW, WOW!!
I was at the 500 in some capacity in ’63, ’65, ’67-’95, ’01-03, ’06-09, so I saw many of these cars win. In ’83 (probably), the day before the race I was wandering through the old garage area and the doors to one were open and there sat “Ole Calhoun” #98, the ’63 winner. The person in the garage offered me the chance to sit in it and I did and had my photo taken while in it. It was so small I couldn’t move at all. there is no way I could have driven it as it was configured.
From ’64 through the early 80s I built 125th scale models of more that 50 of the cars, some were hand built, and to my knowledge the only models of some of the cars ever built. (Roger McCluskey’s G. C. Murphy Spl. of ’68 for one.) A photo my my model of Andretti’s ’69 winner in in the ’78 Carl Hungness Indianapolis 500 Yearbook. I am intimately familiar with many of these cars.
The Vukovich car will not run. It does not have valve lifters. The engine in the Donohue car is not the same as the one in it when it won. (For several years Jim Hurtubise had that car, with somewhat different body work and painted white, in one of his garages in Gasoline Alley. The rear wing served as a bar.)

By: The Lapper

The Lapper — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:33:29 +0000

Stunning, however, I find IMS stunning with the track empty. Hallowed ground and I am always thinking about Vuky whenever the backstretch is shown.

By: JP

JP — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:55:51 +0000

Brilliant!

By: redd

redd — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:19:20 +0000

I thought that was an example of what the new Dallara would look like with all the new aero packages…

By: Jim Gallo

Jim Gallo — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:19:05 +0000

After reading the negative comments about this photo shoot on Indycar.com about not allowing fans in for this opportunity, I have to agree with the speedway. I too would have loved to have been there before dawn and watch all of this unfold. But, the cars, all alone, on that front stretch, the early morning sunlight, the clear sky. It was just another arm hair raising scene. The history, the memories, the sounds and the smells from the past are all there.
Comments about the cemetary feeling are only partially true. The machines are not dead though, they continue to live on and on as they come back into our minds as we each see and hear something different.
Thanks again George for your words. I could not have said them any better.