By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. After one of the best IndyCar races in recent memory took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last weekend, the biggest race on the IndyCar calendar - the famed Indianapolis 500 - is up next. I've made no secret of my affection for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and what I consider to be the greatest automobile race in all of motorsport. Through all of the trials and tribulations that the sport of open-wheel racing has endured in this country over the past ten years, the Indianapolis 500 is still vibrant and it is still great, which is remarkable considering what the sport has been through.
Are there problems? Absolutely. Despite the best efforts of the team owners, tracks, drivers and sponsors, IndyCar is still on the ropes. Will great races like last weekend in Brazil save the series? It's very possible. If IndyCar could consistently deliver the best show - and when I say "show" I'm talking about real, live racing with a capital "R" - then I believe the long-dormant television ratings will start to improve. But in the meantime, the sport struggles mightily, so the arrival of Indianapolis on the IndyCar calendar helps tremendously.
For me, talking about the glory days in the 60s when crowds of 200,000 people would show up for Pole Day to see the upward march of lap speeds is irrelevant. It was a different time and a different era and we'll never bring it back. But make no mistake, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is this nation's "Cathedral of Speed" and the historical significance of that magnificent edifice at the corner of W. 16th Street and Georgetown remains powerfully important.
It is not only IndyCar's only internationally significant race, it's one of the three greatest races in the world (along with Monaco and Le Mans). And even though I rate Indy over the other two, I get the sense that a lot of American racing fans have lost sight of the fact that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 are revered around the world by racers and racing enthusiasts of all stripes.
Is it because many of our homegrown fans have learned to take The Speedway and the "500" itself for granted? Yes, I think there's something to that. And the rise of NASCAR to prominence - especially with the American stick and ball media - just when the sport of Indy car racing sunk to its lowest during the Dark Years, didn't exactly help.
But the powers that be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy car racing didn't exactly help their cause during that "dark" period either. Spec cars and spec engines basically sucked the life out of The Speedway and the "500." True racing fans bemoaned the lack of mechanical and aero diversity and the excitement that was traditionally such a part of the race waned with each passing year, along with fan interest, I might add. And I can relate because that most interesting part of the sport - or lack thereof - as it plays out at The Speedway is still a sore spot with me too.
In spite of all of that and the incessant hand-wringing that the sport of open-wheel racing in America could and should be so much better, Indy is still Indy, thankfully.
And I say this every year but I don't mind saying it again, if you haven't been in a long time or have never been, you owe it to yourself to go.
If you do go, perhaps you will be reminded like I am that there really is nothing like the start of the Indianapolis 500.
To me it remains the most electrifying moment in all of sport.
Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD
(Photo by Dave Friedman courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives and Wieck Media)
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1963. Dan Gurney prepares to go out for a practice run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his Lotus-Ford. Gurney brought Colin Chapman at Lotus and the Ford Motor Company together to plan an onslaught on the Indianapolis 500. Gurney was convinced that Chapman's design brilliance and Ford's compact new 256 cu. in. push-rod V8 would make a potent combination. Chapman's team built three cars based on the 1962 Lotus 25 Formula One car. The new-for-Indy Lotus 29 would have a longer wheelbase (to accommodate Gurney's lanky frame), an offset (to the left) chassis and a higher fuel capacity. Chapman's Grand Prix star, Jim Clark, would qualify the No. 92 Team Lotus Powered by Ford machine in fifth position. Gurney would qualify his re-numbered No. 93 team car in twelfth. The race was won by Parnelli Jones in his No. 98 J.C. Agajanian-owned, Willard Battery sponsored, Watson/Offenhauser, with Clark finishing a close second. But there was controversy, as oil was leaking from Parnelli's car and the USAC officials let him get away with it lap after lap. Chapman and Clark declined to file a protest, but there were bitter feelings after the race, the implication being that if it had been anybody else in second place - except for the new mid-engine boys on the block - the race result may have been different. Watch videos here and here.
Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD