PART ONE
In a modern day multimedia onslaught of COVID-driven event date changes, track ownership mega-news, sanctioning body design updates and “what’s happening today-tomorrow” pressure scenarios — sometimes the rich histories and unique personalities of racing are clouded — even lost. Ultimately, all of racing is about people and their pursuits. And nowhere other than each year’s Indianapolis 500 is there a more explosive alchemy of historic personalities and competitive striving that illustrates such outpouring. The supreme riches of motor sport, in design innovation, car craft and competition driving all combine to create automobile racing’s timeless melting pot. And nowhere is this phenomenon better illustrated than at America’s annual Indianapolis 500, an effervescent theatre of human effort and excellence at its zenith.
JIM HURTUBISE
Jim Hurtubise was a swashbuckler. He dared fear, goaded other drivers, tested racing’s bureaucratic constraints and laughed at rules. Once, on “bump day” for the 1972 Indianapolis 500, Hurbubise put his car in the qualifying line in the final minutes before the Sunday closing deadline of 6PM. When the time expired before it was his turn to qualify, Hurtubise removed the engine cover of his racecar only to reveal that it had no engine. Instead, the engine compartment was filled with five chilled cases of Miller beer from his namesake sponsor. Track officials stood in shock at Hurtubise’s guffaws as he handed out Miller Beers to fellow drivers and their mechanics, up and down the Indy hot pit! In a 1978 incident, when Hurtubise failed to meet the certified minimum lap speed in his underpowered Indy car, track officials denied him a chance to qualify. Furious, he sat in the qualifying line and locked his brakes, refusing to move and insisting to qualify. Losing this argument, Hurtubise accelerated onto the track without clearance and ran until finally apprehended by local police. He was headstrong, gritty and competitive as a driver in USAC Champ/Indy cars, Sprint Cars and Stock Cars for over 25 years. And at Indy, he continued to run front-engine cars until 1968, long after rear-engine cars had become dominant at the Brickyard. In all, Hurtubise ran ten Indy 500s between 1960 and 1974, with his best finish a 13th in 1962. In ‘68 he ran the last front-engine car ever to run in an Indianapolis 500. Although Jim Hurtubise’s career statistics don’t reflect the placements and podiums of a branded champion, “Hurt” amassed a huge and dedicated fan following due to his never-say-die racing style and scrappy performances against better-funded competitors. While in the hospital being treated for serious burns from an accident at the Rex Mays Classic in 1964, doctors asked him how he wanted his damaged hands shaped permanently. His answer: “just make ‘em so I can hold a steering wheel.” He held that steering wheel for nearly twenty more years. Hurtubise’s simple white “football style” helmet with classic racer’s goggles bespoke his style: pedal down and hang on.
JANET GUTHRIE
A.J. Foyt said she was the real deal. Based on Foyt’s endorsement, most folks would say, “nuff said.” But A.J. went a leap further. He was so incensed at what he felt was gender bias from male racers against Guthrie that he loaned her his racecar for a shakedown test to prove she was worthy. Guthrie’s lap times at Indy in A.J. Foyt’s racecar made the grade; they would have put her into the field for the 1976 Indianapolis 500. The grousing among male competitors didn’t stop, but it quieted. Janet Guthrie was a lady racer with earned stripes. Yet despite her true skill and steely courage, hers was an uphill battle. An aerospace engineer by profession, she began SCCA racing in a Jaguar XK 140 in 1963. By ’72 she was an established pro and racing Stock Cars. After notching a 15th place in the ’76 World 600, she went on to become the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup super speedway race. From there, she sought a 1976 Indy 500 ride and gained respect from A.J. Foyt and others for her solid practice lap times in Foyt’s backup car. In ’77 she competed in her first Daytona 500, achieving top rookie honors and a 12th place finish, even with two blown engine cylinders. Her 6th place at Bristol remains the best finish in history by a woman in a top-tier NASCAR race, tied with Danica Patrick’s 6th place in 2014. Guthrie qualified for and competed in three Indy 500s; 1977, 1978 and 1979, qualifying in the top quarter of the field each time, with finishes of 29th, 9th and 34th respectively (mechanical issues thwarted her finishes in ’77 and ’79). While her driving suit and one of her helmets can be found in the Smithsonian, another of her helmets rests in the collection of the Malloy Foundation, Inc., with its identifiable red/yellow swooping stripe.
WILLIE T. RIBBS
Lewis Hamilton is widely known for being the first person of African descent ever to drive a Formula 1 car. But in fact, he wasn’t. It was American Willie T. Ribbs, when he was invited to test for the then-Bernie Ecclestone-owned Team Brabham in 1986 at the Autodromo d’ Estoril in Spain. Although he didn’t get the ride, Ribbs was a respected and highly versatile driver in both Europe and USA racing series. Immediately after high school in California, Ribbs moved to Europe in 1975 and won the prestigious Dunlop Championship. He followed this by winning six of eleven starts in Britain’s competitive Formula Ford Series in 1977, after which he returned to the USA for the Formula Atlantic series in 1978, where he excelled. After his 1979-80 efforts in NASCAR were sabotaged by racial discrimination, Ribbs returned to Formula Atlantic in 1981 where he was again impressive. Although he couldn’t make a living from this series, his happenstance meeting with a supportive Paul Newman led to a 1982 top-rung Trans Am team that was sponsored by Budweiser (also Newman’s sponsor). Ribbs won four races and Pro Rookie of the Year and his teammate David Hobbs won the championship. While he continued forward in Trans AM, Ribbs also was accepted as a qualifier-candidate for the 1985 Indy 500, however ultimately withdrew due to an inferior car. After a second shot at NASCAR in 1986, Ribbs held his own but with a marginal car and team. He moved on to IMSA in ’87, where he drove a Toyota Celica for Dan Gurney. In 1990 Ribbs was back in an Indy car, partially funded by Bill Cosby. He became the first African American to qualify for the Indy 500 in 1991 and ran a full CART Indy car season. Follow-on years consisted of varied racing venues, principally NASCAR trucks where he drove a Dodge Ram for the Bobby Hamilton team. Although Willie T. Ribbs’ firebrand style of racing was abrasive to some, most who competed against him held him in high regard. “I preferred to show my stuff on the track,” he said in a recent interview. Today, Willie is a pro racing agent and an active supporter of USA vintage racing, sometimes competing in the SVRA organization. His hot pink and white helmet displays both his determination and occasional temper.
PETER REVSON
Peter Revson had it all. He had no need to work and no need to take risks. Yet he became a professional race driver in one of the most compelling and dangerous periods in the history of motor racing. Revson, nephew of Revlon cosmetics founder Charles Revson and an heir to his father Martin Revson’s billion-dollar fortune, Peter chose auto racing as his primary life pursuit while still a university student. His beginnings with British sportscars in 1960 quickly progressed to open-wheel formula cars, followed by “big iron” cars; Indy cars, Can Am cars and ultimately Formula 1. His rise in racing paralleled the 15-year period between the early 1960s and mid-1970s when horsepower, aerodynamics and tire technologies progressed exponentially, culminating in cars that became virtual rockets on wheels with few safety features. Early on, after cutting his racing teeth through a series of 1963-66 European barnstorming years in Formula Junior and other open-wheel classes, Revson found his way into the highly publicized USA Trans Am series, commencing with AMC’s new Javelin racing team in 1968. A 12th overall and 5th in class finish put him on the map. After scoring an Indianapolis 500 ride in ’69, Revson’s top rookie finish of 5th place launched him to top driver status. That same year he scored seven top-five Trans Am finishes in a Ford Mustang, followed by a 2nd place finish at Sebring in 1970 with co-driver Steve McQueen. After returning to the Penske AMC Javelin team in a joint effort with Mark Donohue, he also signed with the L&M Lola Can Am team and excelled in both series. In ’71 his star continued to rise, when after joining the McLaren team he became the first-ever American to win a Can Am championship. After a spectacular 2nd place finish in the 1971 Indy 500, Revson was named to the McLaren Formula 1 team for ’72, which led to wins in the 1973 British Grand Prix and ’73 Canadian Grand Prix. Following his controversial move to the Shadow Formula 1 team for the ’74 season, Revson was killed in a practice crash at Kyalami in South Africa when the Shadow’s front suspension failed. To this day Revson’s silver and blue helmet signifies him as the last American-born driver to win a Formula 1 race.
PART TWO
Over the full course of the 110-years of the annual Indianapolis 500, no single event has ever followed the predictions of auto racing journalists, enthusiasts, Indy veterans or even racers. Every Indy story, each and every year, springs anew upon a motor sports world of endless racing punditry — from the paddock to the grandstands, and to the press.
BOBBY UNSER
Bobby Unser is one of only two drivers in motorsports history to have won the Indianapolis 500 in three different decades: 1968, 1975 and 1981. The only other driver to have accomplished this feat in 100 years of this pinnacle event is Rick Mears. With a background opposite that of legends Dan Gurney and Mark Donohue, Unser hails from the dusty oval tracks of Midwest America. Yet his career has seen equal success on both dirt and pavement, in nearly every meaningful type of racing venue. He has excelled at all of them. Unser, the eldest of four racing brothers that carried forth a racing dynasty started by their father Jerry with brothers Joe and Louie, has logged the most on-track wins and records of them all, however brother Al would challenge him on any day. Brother Jerry was killed in the 1959 Indianapolis 500, but Bobby and Al continued on as race drivers and each rose to greatness. Bobby is also the only 13-time winner in the history of the annual Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb. This 12.4-mile time trial event, inaugurated by Unser’s father Louis Unser and his two brothers in 1917 as “The Race to the Clouds,” is proclaimed by some to be the most dangerous automobile competition event in the USA. After retiring from Pike’s Peak in 1974 to focus on Indy Car racing and Formula 1, Bobby returned to Indy in 1981 and won the most controversial Indy 500 in Indianapolis history. First proclaimed the winner, he was disqualified for a yellow flag infraction and 2nd place driver Mario Andretti was awared the win. But a USAC ruling five months later restored the ’81 Indy win to Bobby Unser for all time. Well into his 40s, Unser wasn’t finished with top tier auto racing. He returned to Pike’s Peak in 1986 and won yet again in a factory Audi Quattro.
BILL VUKOVICH
Cut from the coarse cloth of 1940s USA dirt track chargers, Bill Vukovich learned to drive the hard way: on rough oval tracks, dirt showered from the rooster tails of competitors’ cars, risking life and limb while he was still a teenager. During post-WWII, that’s how it was done. Although known for his dominant driving in the annual Indy 500 during the early-mid 1950s, “Vuky” drove Midgets for the formidable west coast Edelbrock dirt track racing team in the 1940s, winning the Midget Car Championships in ’45 and ’46 against the best drivers of the day. After graduating to larger more powerful Sprint Cars and then Champ Cars, Vukovich earned his way to the AAA Championship trail, which included the venerable Indianapolis 500. He was dominant in his four consecutive years at Indy, leading an untouchable 71.7% of the laps he drove in Indy 500 events. After qualifying on the 3rd row and leading 150 laps of the 1952 500, a steering failure ended his race on lap 192. In both 1953 and 1954 he led going away, to decisive Indianapolis 500 victories. Then, while leading the 1955 Indy 500 by 17-seconds, two slower cars tangled in front of him, triggering a top-speed head-on collision that vaulted his car over the back straightaway fence, killing him instantly. His respectful competitors deemed Vuky the best of the best, long after his passing. Bill Vukovich’s soiled white half-helmet, standard for its time, resembled that of a jockey and was only recognizable by the handwritten script, “Vukovich.” Never one to flaunt, he proved his metal with superior driving and matchless racecraft, setting a benchmark for racing professionalism that has stood the test of time.
TROY RUTTMAN
Originally a kid from the 1940s southern California hotrod scene, Troy Ruttman was back-road trail racing behind the wheel of fast cars before he was old enough to get a driver’s license. Street racing led to track racing, where his skills proved immediately superior. In 1945, Ruttman entered the family car in his first official race at age 15, while still an unlicensed driver. Competing against seasoned drivers in the dangerous Track Roadster class, Ruttman won the race and went on to victories in 19 of 21 dirt circle track races that season. He followed with honors as the California Roadster Association (CRA) Track Roadster champion in 1947 and 1948, winning 23 times in ’48. Also in 1948, he progressed into the open-wheel Midget ranks, winning five races against the toughest racers in the game. After signing to drive car owner Emmett Malloy’s “Black Deuce” Sprint Car for 1949, Troy headed for the Midwest AAA Sprint Car and Champ Car circuits where he excelled, supported by mechanic Bob Pankratz. His on-track exploits continued to soar, all the way to the Indianapolis 500, which he won in 1952. To this day Ruttman remains the youngest Indianapolis 500 winner in history. He competed in twelve Indy 500s from 1949 to 1964, won numerous Sprint Car championships, was the youngest American driver to ever start a Formula 1 event and raced in the top rungs of early NASCAR events until his retirement at the 1964 Motor Trend 500 at California’s Riverside Raceway in 1964.
JIMMY BRYAN
Again and again from circa 1950 to 1960, Jimmy Bryan proved his skill and raw courage as a race driver on USA oval tracks of every size and surface variety. Known as a risk taker, he would run hard and fast on difficult dirt tracks that other drivers shied from. Turning to pro as a USAC Sprint Car driver in 1952, Bryan was phenomenally successful. In just 72 starts in 8 years, he finished in the top ten 54 times and won 23 times. This meant he was “top ten” in 75% of his races and he won 25% of his races outright; incredible accomplishments in a period of gnarly perils and relentless competitors who raced to put basic food on the table. In 1954 the burley, stogie-smoking Bryan won the AAA Sprint Car National Championship and in 1957 snatched the USAC National Championship. He qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in every consecutive year from 1952 to 1960, finishing in the top five three times, the top ten four times. He won the Indy 500 decisively in 1958. Unique in automotive history, Bryan won the inaugural “Race of Two Worlds” at the Autodromo Nazional, Monza, Italy. This extraordinary event pitted top American Indy Car drivers against top European Formula 1 drivers on the legendary high-banked Monza oval. Sadly, Bryan was killed on lap 1 of a 100-mile USAC National Championship race at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania in June, 1960. Driving an unfamiliar car on a rutted track that the car’s regular driver, Rodger Ward, refused to run on, Bryan caught a divot that caused his Leader Card Special to violently roll over several times.
RODGER WARD
He calculated risks and probabilities as though with a computer – before computers existed in racing. He drove fast – but just fast enough to win. Engine preservation and car control were essential to him, because he realized that these two factors were more likely to put him in victory lane than adrenalin behind the wheel. This approach to race driving stemmed from his WWII years as a P-38 Lightning fighter pilot, when survival was Priority 1 if he wanted to stay alive to shoot his opponents out of the sky, lest they get him first. En route to becoming a professional peace-time pilot after the War, Rodger Ward was attracted to a quarter-mile dirt racetrack in Wichita Falls, Texas, near his final military post. From an early background in cars, he gravitated immediately to the track and its activities. Even before military completion, he horse-traded his way into an old racecar and began competing in 1946, soon after discharge. Different from super stars like Bill Vukovich, Troy Ruttman and Jimmy Bryan, Ward started slowly. Although not a fast driver in early races, he improved through dogged diligence. After winning the San Diego Grand Prix for Midgets in 1948, he won several races in 1949 and then shocked the Midget racing world in 1950 by breaking the Offenhauser engine’s long standing dominance with a Vic Edelbrock-built Ford “Shaker” engine at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. Ward progressed to larger displacement cars in the early 1950s, excelling in AAA Sprint Cars, Champ/Indy cars, Stock Cars and even road racing. Initially qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 in 1952, he competed in the 500 for fifteen straight years, winning the event and the USAC Championship in both 1959 and 1962 with the Leader Card Racing team, also known as the renowned “three W’s;” Wilke (car owner), Watson (car builder) and Ward. In 1966, after surviving two decades of top-tier racing, Rodger Ward hung up his duck-billed gold-and-white helmet and went on to successful broadcasting and management pursuits in racing.
PARNELLI JONES
Known as a relentless aggressor on any track, Parnelli Jones’ performances were spectacular in several types of racing over three decades. Jones was an all-out racer from green flag to checkered flag, all the time. His multi-faceted racing career spanned a dizzying variety of racing disciplines, including Midgets, Modifieds, Sprint Cars, Indy Cars, Stock Cars, Trans Am cars and more. After talking his way into the driver’s seat of an old jalopy racecar at Emmett J. Malloy’s Carrell Speedway as teenage kid, Parnelli was a spark from the start. Initially keeping his racing a secret from his parents, Rufus “Parnelli” Jones earned his stripes the hard way, racing week in, week out throughout the 1950s, during which he logged fifteen pro Stock Car wins on the early NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model circuit. When he won the Midwest region Sprint Car Championship in 1960, well known race promoter and car owner J.C. Agajanian became his main sponsor and signed him to an Indianapolis 500 ride in 1961. He tied Bobby Marshman for Rookie of the Year in ‘61 with a 12th place finish. In 1962 Parnelli was the first to officially qualify at over 150 mph at Indy. Then, in 1963 he won the Indianapolis 500 outright. Incredibly, Jones also won the ’63 Pike’s Peak Hill Climb in a Ford factory sponsored Mercury Marauder that same year. Always a trail blazer, in 1967 Parnelli made history by stepping into the revolutionary Granatelli STP-Paxton Turbine engine Indy Car for the 500. He led the race until a gearbox bearing forced retirement just three laps from the win. A pioneering driver of the late 1960s Trans Am cars that ushered in the “Pony Car” era, Jones awed crowds in his Mercury Marauder and the Bud Moore Boss 302 Mustang against the likes of Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney and George Follmer in duels on racetracks coast-to-coast that remain historic.
MARIO ANDRETTI
One of the most successful American race drivers in the history of auto sport, Mario Andretti is a full-blooded Italian, born in Croatia during World War II. Transfixed by cars before the age of 5, the hand-crafted wooden cars that he and his twin brother Aldo raced as youngsters led to Formula Junior competitions by age 13 and their witnessing firsthand the grandeur of legends Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio dueling in the 1954 Mille Miglia. Soon after the Andretti family migrated to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1955, both brothers teamed-up to build a crude Hudson Commodore dirt track racecar, with funds earned from working in their uncle’s auto repair garage. The brothers traded-off driving and wrenching, and both were equally successful. However, a serious injury that put brother Aldo in a coma left Mario to face the challenges and dangers of racing solo. Despite Aldo’s ultimate recovery, he was not able to race again but supported Mario’s continued efforts. For the next 35 years, Mario Andretti mounted a relentless motor racing onslaught that recorded more victories, near wins, last lap losses, crash survivals, poles, championships and almost-championships in more types of racing than any ten of the next-best drivers. Just a few examples include multiple 1960s wins in Midgets and Sprint Cars, wins at the 1967 NASCAR Daytona 500, 1969 Indianapolis 500, IROC IV championship, 1969 USAC Championship, ’69 Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship, the 1984 Champ/Indy Car championship, three 12-Hours of Sebring wins (1967, 1970 and 1972), the 1972 Daytona 24-hour and top finishes in CART Indy Car races until his semi-retirement after the 1994 Indy 500. (He remained competitive in world-class sportscar endurance racing until 2006). With awards, accolades and motorsports accomplishments that fill volumes, today Mario Andretti is an ardent supporter of his son Michael’s successful Indy Car team and an iconic world racing ambassador.
