Indianapolis 500

[KiaofMuncie]

Anyone coming to town for the race?

 

[mldavis2]

Wish I could. I saw it a couple of times when I was in college in Richmond, but that was back in the days of Bill Cheesman's turbine car and the Andy Granatelli Novi. You kids don't remember that stuff.

 

[KiaofMuncie]

I know of Granatelli. I use to travel with an IndyCar team during the summers when I was a kid.

 

[RVance]

I know of Granatelli. I use to travel with an IndyCar team during the summers when I was a kid.

How I envy you! The closest I got was the day my father dropped me off at a theater-in-the-round ( the Carousel, I believe) in L.A. county with closed circuit TV to watch the 1967 race. I was 15 years old. When the race started and the STP turbine started whooshing around the track like a low flying jet, I thought I was seeing the future. It was very exciting for this young gear head. But I was surprised at the loud booing by the crowd every time the car came into view. Parnelli Jones was a friend of the family of one of my schoolmates and I was a huge fan. My father later explained that the turbine was not popular with those who saw it as an interloper into their pistonic way of life. Then the rain came. I was crushed. I couldn't go back the next day to see the resumption of the race because of school and my father working. The rest is history. Although it dominated the field, a bearing failed with four laps to go. It was so dominant that USAC changed the air intake rules for the turbine to keep it from competing and an exciting chapter in auto development was closed. Some day, I hope to be there in person.

 

[mldavis2]

The turbine was not very successful because it lacked engine braking. As I recall, it blew around cars on the straight but burned the brakes out on corners. Maybe that was before the days of carbon fiber, don't know.

The Novi, as I recall, was always having problems unrelated to the engine - oil line leaks, that kind of stuff. Never finished a race, either. Granatelli went on the sell STP and gave up.

 

[RVance]

The turbine was not very successful because it lacked engine braking. As I recall, it blew around cars on the straight but burned the brakes out on corners. Maybe that was before the days of carbon fiber, don't know.

The Novi, as I recall, was always having problems unrelated to the engine - oil line leaks, that kind of stuff. Never finished a race, either. Granatelli went on the sell STP and gave up.

There wasn't a lot of braking going on in the corners at Indy, IIRC, but braking would have been an issue on a road course. But then the left turn bias side pod configuration of the STP car wouldn't have made sense.. USAC so restricted the intake for the turbine that it couldn't develop enough horsepower to compete. They intentionally kept it from racing.

 

[Joseph Spiegel]

Wish I could. I saw it a couple of times when I was in college in Richmond, but that was back in the days of Bill Cheesman's turbine car and the Andy Granatelli Novi. You kids don't remember that stuff.

I do...

Oh and big Pontiac fan here. ‘74 Formula 400 (my first car, new), ‘76 Grand Le Mans (got Mom to buy it, I was hit taking it to the dealer. Sadz beyond belief), ‘91 Grand Prix GTP.