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I haven't missed the "Indianapolis 500" since my dad and I caught a ride in a row boat, powered by an outboard motor, on May 30, 1956, with our good neighbor Bill Davies, across the flooded yards and cornfields near our house at 1729 East 77th Street, along the banks of White River on the north side of Indianapolis. Spring and summer floods were a regular occurrence for us "river rats" on East 77th Street in the 1950s.

Exactly one year before I attended my first "500," I found the love of my life -- my soul mate -- "the greatest spectacle in racing." It's the only love affair I ever had that is successful. My new love took wings the previous summer after I listened to the 1955 "Indianapolis 500" on the radio. That was the day the legendary Bill Vukovich, one of the most talented drivers to ever compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was killed in a violent four car crash while leading and if not stopped by breakdown or accidents, would have certainly been on his way to an unprecedented third consecutive "Indy" victory.

It's been reported the great Vuky was "partially decapitated" in the horrific crash in which his number 4 Hopkins Special flipped end over end countless times in front of horrified spectactors watching from the infield. Had he not been killed instantly in the impact, Vukovich would have likely burnt to death in the fire which erupted as the car came to a stop on the access road running along the outside of the backstretch where the old white wooden Speedway golf course maintenance shack was located.

There isn't a day that goes by when I do not think about the previous "Indy 500," the next one or another May from the past. I am thinking about the 100th anniversary of Ray Harroun's inaugural victory on May 30, 1911 which will take place on May 29, 2011, as I wrote these words.

It's January now with snow swirling around and frigid temperatures making everyone in central Indiana as miserable as they were last summer with daily highs well above ninety degrees. When I drive by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for whatever reason however, I warm to the reminder of "Indy 500" memories and I start thinking about the next May to come. 

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On May 30, 1956, neighbor Bill Davies transported Dad and I to our car (a 1956 Ford station wagon) which was parked on a hill a few blocks from our house. We drove to downtown Indianapolis and rode a shuttle train from Union Station west on the railroad tracks that ran on an angle to where 16th Street, Crawfordsville Road and Georgetown Road intersect across from the main gate at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I looked out the window when the train arrived at the Speedway. I caught sight of the grandstands on the south end of the track along 16th Street and saw the racing flags flying in the stiff breezes blowing. The sky was overcast early but as the day progressed, the sun shone and the temperature reached 84.9 degrees in Indianapolis, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.com website.

Indianapolis was inundated with rain the week prior to the 1956 "500" and for a few days, it was feared the race would be postponed because most of the IMS grounds were under water. A magnificent effort by legendary Speedway superintendent Clarence Cagle and his staff succeeded in making the track acceptable for racing but as late as race morning, maintenance crews were sweeping water off the bricks on the main straightaway.

I was thrilled and overwhelmed as dad and I departed the train to join the throng jamming into the IMS. This was my second trip to the Speedway. My first visit came eleven days earlier on May 19 when Dad took me to IMS for pole qualifying day. The crowds were huge that day but they were even larger on race day. As we walked north towards our seats in Grandstand C halfway up the main straightaway, I was caught in a mob of humanity.

Pat Flaherty, who won the pole on the previous day I was at the Speedway, was victorious on May 30, 1956. The red haired Flaherty usually wore a green shamrock on his white crash helmet and it was visible from my grandstand seat as he flashed by lap after lap in the white and rose colored number 8 John Zink Special, a radical machine for those times. The car was longer and lighter than the other cars in the 1956 "Indianapolis 500" and it was the first "Indy" roadster designed and built by the legendary A.J. Watson.  

Pat Flaherty was one of those racers who happened to find himself in the right place at the right time. He was something of a racing journeyman with three previous appearances at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1950, 1953 and 1955). Tenth place finishes in 1950 and 1955 were his best results. 

Flaherty managed his tavern in Chicago. He heard about an opening on the 1955 "500" winning John Zink team early in 1956 from a patron and applied for the ride. 1955 "Indy" winner Bob Sweikert had accepted a more lucrative offer to drive the D.A. Lubricant Special. Flaherty was picked to replace Sweikert and race the new car built by Watson over 1952 "500" winner Troy Ruttman, who was entered in the other John Zink car, the same Kurtis Kraft 500D roadster Bob Sweikert had driven to victory in the 1955 race. Car owner Zink wanted to put Ruttman in the new car but Watson insisted on Flaherty. Ruttman finished 31st in the 1956 race after spinning out on lap 22.

Pat Flaherty was the right man for the job with the right car on that day and drove a masterful race. He played his cool during the first third of the race, running at the front with Jim Rathmann, Pat O'Connor, Paul Russo, Johnnie Parsons and Don Freeland. When the competition faded, Flaherty took command of the race, leading the final 125 laps and winning the race by 20.46 seconds over Sam Hanks.

I remember seeing Flaherty's white and rose number 8 coming through turn four so fast during the 1956 "500," there were laps when the weight shifted to the right rear while the car slid and the left front tire raised off the track surface. Those old time Indy cars would drift through the four corners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and that was fascinating to see.

Remember there was no downforce on those Indy roadsters and the only adhesion the cars had were the four very narrow tires and the weight would shift around from one corner to the other as centrifugal force forced the machines to the right. In comparison to today's ground based rockets, the roadsters were brutes to race and after 500 miles, the drivers were not only mentally exhausted as they are today, but their bodies suffered from nearly four hours of physical beating.

Although I was on top of the world after seeing my first "Indianapolis 500" on May 30, 1956, I left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway disappointed. My earliest racing hero Tony Bettenhausen started the race fifth in the beautiful navy blue (with gold accents) Belanger Motors Special KK500D number 99. Navy blue is still my favorite color today and that began with Tony Bettenhausen's Belanger 99 in 1956. Tony ran as high as second during the early laps but then drifted back into a fight for fourth, fifth and sixth before blowing a tire (there were a lot of tire problems in the 1956 "500"), hitting the wall off turn two on lap 160 to break a collar bone and finish 22nd

The memories, created in May in central Indiana that surround the "Indy 500" are much like those generated by Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons with family and friends. Memories are probably the best part of the "Indianapolis 500" experience. These personal associations we share with all those who have fallen in love with the big race are like gifts from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- lifetime treasures. Each May is packaged with so much history and tradition that it is nearly impossible to detach anything significant that happens on the track from all the historic moments that have come before. The "Indianapolis 500" takes the physical form of a huge coffee table art book filled with vivid, colorful images, compelling stories and personal associations. With each month of May, a new chapter is added to the book and with that addition, comes a link to all that has come before.

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Despite my disapopointment that Tony Bettenhausen did not win the 1956 race, I could hardly wait until May 30, 1957 and my second "Indy 500." It's been that way ever since. There are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same way I do. We are those folks who live and breathe the "greatest spectacle in racing" and the month of May. It's the center piece of our lives. We are the hard core and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can always count on our support. We will always be at the Speedway on "500" race day and a lot of us will also be at IMS most of the other times race cars are on the track at IMS in May.

Unfortunately there are also negatives and they are troubling for those like me who love the "500" and the Indy car series. What most concerns me is that after more than three decades of often spectacular and constant growth, beginning with the years of the rear engine revolution and turbine powered race cars in the 1960s, extending through the 1970s when Indy cars grew wings and speeds increased thirty miles per hour from one end of the decade to the other, continuing into the 1980s when fathers raced against their sons and a new generation of stars competed with long time legends for supremacy, through the first half of the 1990s, when long held resentments finally came to all out conflict between CART and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is the realization the "Indianapolis 500" is not as powerful as it once was.  

No doubt about it, the "500" is still the largest single day sporting event in the world. The generally accepted crowd estimate was 250,000 people at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 2010 for the 94th "Indy 500." The race remains the "greatest spectacle in racing" and attendance continues to be the largest crowd in racing although the 300,000 fans who visited Circuit Gilles Villenueve, in Montreal, over the three day Formula One weekend last June surely caught the attention of IMS management. If it didn't, it should have and the crowd at Silverstone for Grand Prix weekend should have drawn notice as well.

It was very disappointing to see large blocks of visibly empty seats, not only the north end of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as has been the situation in recent years, but also on the main straightaway and at the south end of the 2.5 mile oval too. There were more open spaces in the grandstands than I have seen in my 54 years of attending the race, with the exception of races run after rain delays such as 1967, 1973 and 1997. Even the 1986 "500," which was run six days late due to rain, had a larger crowd than those who attended this year's race under 90 degree temperatures and blazing Indiana sunshine on May 30, 2010.

 May 30, 2010

To be fair, there was ten plus percent unemployment in Indiana last May and ten percent nationally and if you count the numbers accurately and include people who have given up looking for work, the national unemployment figure would be 18 to 20 percent. That's getting close to the jobless figures during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Folks are hurting everywhere and are watching their money closer than ever. The nation recently repudiated President Obama's economic policies severely in the 2010 mid term elections. Me too. Go Tea Party! I have never been what you would call thrifty but I watch my money close these days like most everyone else -- very close. These are hard times for many people.

Therefore it is understandable IMS would sell fewer tickets during a time of such economic decline and uncertainty for the future. I cannot provide numbers but crowds were lower at the Speedway in the 1930s too. It is disappointing to see the sharp drop in attendance from the crowd for the 2009 "Indy 500" regardless. Race attendance for the 2009 "500" was the largest since 2002, which was the most recent year the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced a sellout for the "500."

I was hoping the huge crowd at the Speedway on May 24, 2009 was a trend, a signal that the "Indianapolis 500" was on the way back to the popularity and the prestige that marked the event in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and first half of the 1990s. I forgot to factor in the effect such hard times would have on the "greatest spectacle in racing" since I had not seen this kind of impact on "500" race day before - regardless of national economic conditions.

There were observations the infield spectator mounds from turn two down the backstretch were packed with more people than usual on race day. That would indicate people still wanted to be at the race but they needed to do so for the cost of general admission rather than the higher cost for a reserved seat. The infield area inside turn three, across from where I was located in the North Vista, did not look nearly as crowded as the previous year to me however. There were a lot of people but not nearly as many as on May 24, 2009.

May 30, 2010

The economy had to play a leading role in the drop off in attendance for the "500." When people have to choose between feeding a family and paying a mortgage or spending money on entertainment, when future employment is in question, it's understandable what they are going to select.

Despite the fact I was fortunate enough to be at the Speedway all ten days there were cars on track (including race day) and thoroughly enjoyed each one of the ten, the most vivid image I will retain in memory of May 2010 will be all those empty grandstand seats around the track on race day.

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The smaller race day crowd had an immediate effect. The total purse paid at the winner's banquet on May 31 was $13,592,815, with winner Dario Franchitti receiving $2,752,055. That is a five percent drop from the payout for the 2009 "500" (14,315,315) and even more of a drop than the all time record "Indianapolis 500" prize of $14,406,580 paid in 2008. Franchitti received a winner's share of $2,752,055 which represents nearly a ten percent reduction from the all time winner's purse of $3,048,005 paid to Helio Castroneves for his 2009 "Indy" victory.

It is little consolation that NASCAR cut the purses at all their races by ten per cent in 2010, nor that attendance for nearly every Sprint Cup event was about sixty percent of what it was a few years ago. It doesn't make much difference to Indy car racing that revenue for the France family International Speedway Corporation was off by nineteen percent for 2010 except it made ISC tracks less likely to pay Indy car sanctioning fees and there won't be any ISC tracks on the 2011 schedule.

The huge NASCAR buzz that exploded when Dale Earnhardt was killed in the 2001 "Daytona 500" lost much of its intensity in the past three or four years. The 2010 "Brickyard 400" only attracted 140,000 (maybe) spectators on July 25, 2010 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dover Downs only offered one half of the 100,000 seats at the facility for sale for their fall Cup race, which is one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup chase events. Even the night race at Bristol in August, where waiting lines for tickets have been in existence for twenty years, was not at capacity this time. There are an ever increasing number of Cup cars running without the big time sponsorship seen at NASCAR events a few years ago. Even Jeff Gordon, arguably the most famous NASCAR driver, had problems securing a new full time sponsor to replace Dupont for 2011. Wal Mart declined a pitch from Rick Hendrick. There are four or five "start and park" entries that have no intention of running many laps in the race at each Cup event. These are racing operations who are running their business from the bottom purses paid at individual Sprint Cup races.

Unfortunately the NASCAR downturn has not translated into an upturn for Indy car racing. The "Indianapolis 500" has always been a bigger deal than any single Cup event including the "Daytona 500" even if the France family wants to argue that point. The other events on the Indy car schedule, other than the "Indy 500," pale in comparison to NASCAR races in general in terms of attendance and TV ratings however. Therefore although NASCAR's numbers have become considerably smaller from what they were not that long ago, they are still substantially larger than Indy car racing numbers by comparison.

What makes the numbers even more disappointing is that attendance at all Indy car events on ovals, except Indianapolis, Texas, Iowa and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, were terrible this season and only Motegi actually saw an actual increase in attendance. I was embarrassed at the number of fans for the Indy car races at Chicagoland and Kentucky. I went to each of the ten events at Chicagoland and to all the Kentucky races except for 2002 and 2009. The fan count was the lowest ever at both venues this time. It is too bad. There were so few people at the Indy car finale at Homestead-Miami, the TV cameras actually avoided showing the grandstands and when a quick glimpse of the fans came into view, it made me wince to see the seats at least 90 percent empty.

If the lower crowd count for the 94th "500" can almost be justified because of a terrible economy, the terrible TV ratings cannot. That only four million viewers tuned into the ABC telecast of the "500" is discouraging. It's true the ABC "Indy" coverage seems to get worse each May but all people have to do is turn on their high definition wall size flat panels and watch the race. It was the worst network audience for the "Indianapolis 500" since ABC first presented the race live in 1986. That is bad news. It either reflects nationwide apathy or shows the "Indianapolis 500" has essentially fallen off the American radar screen -- or both.

It makes me recall how Tony Hulman resisted televising the "Indy 500" live. Mr. Hulman always worried TV would cut into ticket sales and was reluctant to take the plunge despite receiving lucrative offers over the years.

One of the more interesting bits of information to become public in May was the comment by Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Jeff Belksus that a primary reason for not allowing the live telecast on Indianapolis TV was because seventy percent of "Indianapolis 500" tickets are purchased by residents of central Indiana. To me that is a significant piece of knowledge. What it says is the primary audience for the "Indy 500" comes from the area encompassing metropolitan Indianapolis and surrounding Indiana counties.

What it also suggests is that Indy car racing has returned to the status of a niche sport for all intents and purposes. The "Indianapolis 500" is once again a regional event, not unlike the way things were in 1956 when I attended my first "500."

How many people attended my first "Indianapolis 500" in 1956? Maybe 200,000 people. I don't really know. What I do know is the "Indy 500" was the biggest event in the state of Indiana each year. Indianapolis was the 24th or 25th largest city in the U.S. with a population around 450,000. There wasn't a lot going on around here in those days; three huge events - the four week IHSAA boys high school basketball tournament in February and March, qualifications for the "Indy 500" and race day on May 30.

There were no Indianapolis Colts to command the community's attention from September through January and sometimes longer. We weren't hosting the Super Bowl yet. Actually the Super Bowl was not played until January 1967. We did not have the NCAA Final Four every few years. For that matter the NCAA wasn't a big deal in the 1950s anyway. Neither was the NBA and the Indiana Pacers were a distant dream -- or nightmare as happenings in recent years suggest.

Nationwide, auto racing was a minor league sport when compared to major league baseball, the big boxing title fights or top notch college football. In those days college football was more popular than the National Football League, which had yet to captivate the nation as it did beginning in the 1970s. There was no network TV coverage for the "500."

The "500" race highlights were featured on the newsreels shown at local movie theaters. Across the country, there were millions who tuned into the "Indianapolis 500" radio broadcast to listen to Sid Collins call the race while they did chores or had holiday picnics. That was likely the only connection most of the rest of America had with the "greatest spectacle in racing." After the race, those listeners probably did not think about auto racing again until the following Memorial day when they listened to another "500" broadcast.

The exception was the 1955 "500" when two time winner Bill Vukovich was killed in a four car crash while leading. The death of the legendary driver from Fresno, California plastered the story on newspaper front pages across the U.S. Photo footage of Vukovich's violent and deadly crash made Life magazine, which at that time was the most popular magazine in America. Most years however, the "Indianapolis 500" passed without much notice from anywhere outside Indiana.

Interestingly, on the evening of May 30, 1956, Pat Flaherty appeared on the popular nationwide, network TV program "I've Got a Secret," that was hosted by popular early TV personality Garry Moore. During Flaherty's appearance, celebrity panelists tried to guess his secret, which was he had won the "Indy 500" that day, from hints the racer provided. None of the panelists guessed who Flaherty was. Even after his identity was revealed, the celebrities on the panel showed little recognition what the new "Indy" winner had accomplished. That is how it was in May 1956.

However in Indiana, the "500" was everywhere. When you drove through many Hoosier towns in May, such as Crawfordsville, which is an hour northwest of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there was a large banner stretching across main street, proclaiming the Memorial Day classic was set to run again on May 30. The race was pervasive. If a Hoosier did not go to the "500," they went to qualifications, listened to Sid Collins on the radio or at the very least followed the happenings at the Speedway in three Indianapolis daily newspapers.

The "Indy 500" was a cherished Hoosier treasure during the 1950s but the race did not have a large national audience. The event began to transform from a regional classic to a national major league enterprise, with a brand and identify as familiar as all but major league baseball and the National Foorball League, during the decade of the sixties.

The extreme rise in national popularity and prestige for the "Indianapolis 500" began with the rear engine revolution that started in 1961 when 1959 - 1960 World Champion Jack Brabham, of Australia, brought a modified version of his Grand Prix winning Cooper - Climax to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and finished ninth in the 1961 "Indy 500."

When Scotland's Jim Clark, the runner up for the 1962 World title, finished second in the 1963 "500" in a rear engine Lotus - Ford and led 28 laps near the halfway point of the race, the move to European Grand Prix style racing cars began in earnest.

There were four rear engine cars in the starting field for the 1963 race. By 1965, there were only six cars in the starting field for the 1965 "500" with engines mounted in front of the driver. By 1969, the legendary front engine Indy roadster had been eliminated from "Indianapolis 500" competition altogether. Therefore over the period of nine years, the design of the Indy racing car changed completely. It was the most remarkable transformation in American racing history.

Do a quick comparison to the present day. The same cars and engines have been racing in the "Indianapolis 500" since 2003. Think about this! How much have Formula One race cars changed in physical appearance since the mid 1990s when the upturned nose section came into fashion? Under the skin they have changed dramatically but to the casual untrained eye, there isn't much difference in the shape and characteristics. In the 1960s, racing cars changed as completely as they could with horsepower pushing the car rather than pulling it. The size of the rear engine racing machine reduced by one third the dimensions of the Indy roadster. The approach to driving the new cars differed radically from the traditional race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Dan Gurney made his debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1962. Although Gurney took his rookie test at the wheel of a traditional roadster, entered by the same John Zink who owned the "500" winning cars driven in 1955 by Bob Sweikert and in 1956 by Pat Flaherty, he qualified a new rear engine creation powered by an aluminum Buick V8 that was designed and entered by hot rod legend Mickey Thompson. Gurney was talking to Ford Motor Company about making a competitive return to the "Indianapolis 500" for the first time since the 1930s. Dan felt that Colin Chapman's Team Lotus would be the perfect partner for Ford in its Indianapolis assault. He paid for Chapman's flight to Indianapolis to watch the race in an attempt to interest the creator of the Lotus racing cars.

Indy car racing design followed the evolution of Grand Prix Formula One racing cars by four or five years. Although Colin Chapman did not invent the modern rear engine racing car, he did perfect the breed with the monocoque chassis. In years to come however, such concepts as the stress member chassis, the wedge shape, side mounted radiators and ground effects were introduced by Colin Chapman on his Lotuses and became the standard for race car design.

Colin Chapman first entered Grand Prix competition with front engine Lotus entries in 1958 but switched to the Lotus 18 rear engine car for 1960. The initial Grand Prix victory by a Lotus came at Monaco in 1960 with Stirling Moss driving a new Lotus 18 - Climax entered by Rob Walker. The following season Moss drove a Walker Lotus 18 to victory at Monaco and won again at Nurburgring in another Rob Walker prepared Lotus 18 with many pieces from the new Lotus 21 fitted on the car. The first World Championship victory for Team Lotus came in October at Watkins Glen with Innes Ireland at the wheel of a Lotus 21.

Chapman signed Jim Clark to drive for Team Lotus in 1960 and the young Scotsman did his first full Formula One season in 1961, producing promising results. Clark began winning World Championship Grand Prix events with a victory on June 17, 1962 at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium and in my personal opinion, the greatest racing career of all time began in earnest.

Clark won again at Silverstone and Watkins Glen and the 1962 World Championship came down to the final race of the season on December 29 in South Africa. If Clark won the race, the title would be his. Jim dominated, leading on lap 62, twenty laps from the finish, when he had to pit for an oil leak, thus handing the race victory and the 1962 World title to Graham Hill. Few doubted that Clark could be stopped for the championship in 1963 however.

During summer 1962 an agreement was reached between Ford and Lotus, an association which lasted nearly twenty years, to join together to compete in the 1963 "Indianapolis 500." In October, a few days after winning the Grand Prix of the United States, at Watkins Glen, Colin Chapman, Jim Clark and a handful of Team Lotus crew members came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to test at the 2.5 mile oval with Clark's U.S. Grand Prix winning F1 Lotus 25 - Climax. Within a few laps, Clark reached 144 - 145 mph, almost fast enough to have qualified for the 1962 "Indy 500" despite the fact the Climax engine powering the Lotus had much less horsepower than the standard Offy four cylinder power used primarily in front engine Indy cars.

Having an entry that caught the attention of the motoring and sporting press for the 1963 "Indianapolis 500" brought more focus to the Speedway in May 1963 than usual. That Ford Motor Company was officially participating in the "500" alone was big news but the fact that the cars were running competitively with the traditional Offy roadsters brought people curious about the new cars to watch practice in May in unprecedented numbers.

In previous years there were two and sometimes three weeks of practice from opening day May 1 to the start of qualifications and activity unfolded at a leisurely pace. Sometimes there wasn't a lot to see as there were days early in the month when only three or four cars would take to the track. After the Lotus - Fords arrived in 1963, people began to anticipate that this might be the shape of the future and came to see what was going on -- perhaps not unlike the curious farmers and folks from rural Indiana who came to IMS in the early years to watch the new phenomenon, the automobile, engage in high speed competition around the 2.5 miles of the old "Brickyard."

Ford Motor Company, under the direction of Lee Iaccoca, who introduced the Ford Mustang to the American public the following year, developed a V8 engine specially designed for the "Indianapolis 500." This was Ford's answer to the venerable Offenhauser power plant which dominated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1947. The new engine was not ready for the 1963 "500." Colin Chapman and Ford officials decided on a modified version of the Ford Fairlane production V8 for 1963. Chapman reasoned that even though the production based Ford V8 gave away a large horsepower advantage to the Offy, by using twin Webber carburetors and high octane pump gasoline rather than the methanol racing blend which powered the Offy, better fuel mileage combined with the maneuverability of the Lotus would be a superior package. That decision almost proved to be correct in May 1963.

Jim Clark finished second to Parnelli Jones in the 1963 "500," and likely would have won the race had USAC officials followed their own rules and black flagged Parnelli's number 98 Agajanian Special for throwing oil. It created a stir in the media and caused more attention by the general public than usual for the "Indianapolis 500."

After leaving Indianapolis as the new stars of Indy car racing, Jim Clark and Colin Chapman returned to Europe and the Grand Prix circuit. They followed up their "Indianapolis 500" accomplishments with seven victories in the nine remaining Grand Prix events and the "Flying Scot" won the World Championship. Then to add to his American fame, Clark's Lotus - Ford led from flag to flag in the 200 mile Indy car race in August at Milwaukee, lapping all but second place A.J. Foyt. The suspicions that Clark and his Lotus - Ford had raised at Indianapolis in May were confirmed on the Milwaukee Mile in August. The front engine roadster was a dinosaur and the Grand Prix style rear engine racer was coming on fast.

It was an exciting time; change unprecedented in the annals of racing. The cars and the stars of "Indy" were transforming right before our eyes. I am so glad I got to see it first hand even if the price is being sixty four today and a lonely existence because I am not sure exactly where I fit in the current scheme of society.

The "Indy 500" took a big leap in the collective consciousness of the American public from 1962 to 1963. The success of Team Lotus, Ford Motor Company and Jim Clark coincided with other new companies getting involved with the "Indianapolis 500." Goodyear decided to challenge Firestone's "500" supremacy and began testing with A.J. Foyt in 1963 and announced its intention to enter the 1964 race. MCA, a big name in entertainment and communication at that time, signed to telecast the 1964 "Indianapolis 500" to closed circuit audiences across the nation.  

 May 1964 at Indianapolis saw Goodyear tires on several cars including the Watson Offy roadster driven by A.J. Foyt, the 1961 "500" winner and three time Indy car champion. A few days before the start of qualifications however, Firestone brought a new tire that was three to four miles per hour faster than Goodyear's best and Foyt and the other Goodyear drivers quickly switched to Firestones.

The innovation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1964 was not limited to rear engine cars. The British firm Ferguson Research produced a four wheel drive front engine chassis to be powered by the legendary Novi V8 engine for Andy Granatelli and STP with Bobby Unser as the driver. Smokey Yunick brought a strange creation with the cockpit in a capsule mounted alongside the actual race car and outside the wheels. Unser qualified well for the "500" but Yunick's car, driven by NASCAR veteran Bobby Johns, was not fast enough to make the field and crashed on the final day of qualifications.

The Mickey Thompson cars were heavily modified versions of the two Chevy V8 stock block powered cars that raced in the 1963 "500." Thompson added body work at the front and side of the cars that surrounded the four Sears Allstate tires. As a result, the Thompson cars were like a vision of the future with features not seen since. In that respect, the Thompson entries was the Delta Wing concept car of its day, although unlike the narrow front track of the Delta Wing, Mickey Thompson's 1964 Indy cars were more wide than any cars to ever race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Parnelli Jones broke the one minute 150 mph barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a lap at 150.729 mph on May 12, 1962. The rear engine cars and the tire war between Firestone, Goodyear, Sears Allstate on the Mickey Thompson cars and Dunlop on the Clark and Gurney Lotus - Fords all combined to raise the speeds to unbelievable highs in May 1964. Jim Clark's one lap track record of 159.377 mph on pole day May 16 was more than seven miles per hour faster than the previous record of 151.847 mph that was set by Parnelli Jones in 1963. That represented the largest jump in speed in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history to that time.

On pole qualifying day, fifteen (of 16) cars beat Parnelli's four lap record of 151.153 mph, set in 1963. A total 29 cars in the 1964 starting field were faster than the previous four lap mark. It was incredible! In addition to the blazing speeds, there was the classic struggle of old versus new. Clark, Bobby Marshman and Rodger Ward filled the front row of the grid with Ford powered rear engine cars. Dan Gurney, in the other Lotus - Ford, qualified sixth. In between the four fastest Fords were two traditional Watson roadsters with Offy power, driven by the top Indy car stars of the day, Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt.

*****

Jones and Foyt each brought Offy powered rear engine cars but other than a few laps in practice, both drivers focused on their roadsters. In attempt to hold off the rear engine car from taking command, both Parnelli's Agajanian number 98 and Foyt's Sheraton Thompson number 1 had been heavily modified. The Agajanian car was a 1960 roadster which Lloyd Ruby qualified for that year's race. Then Parnelli Jones took over in 1961 and number 98 was revamped in 1963 and even more for 1964. Foyt's car was a 1963 Watson chassis that Ebb Rose ran in the "500" for the Sheraton Thompson team and was streamlined and modified for the 1964 "500" although not as much as Parnelli's car 98.

Jim Clark was the biggest star on the international racing scene in May 1964, coming off his spectacular 1963 season, in which he won seven of ten championship Grand Prix events on the way to the World title, finished second in the "Indianapolis 500," after having run in front for 28 laps, and then punctuated his "500" run with a flag to flag Indy car win at Milwaukee. A.J. Foyt, Rodger Ward and Parnelli Jones enjoyed nearly equal prominence in the United States. Dan Gurney, although not having accomplished as much as Clark in Formula One, was considered by many observers at that time, as being the most versatile race driver in the world, with Grand Prix and sports car victories and even some success in NASCAR.

One of the most prominent story lines surrounding the 1964 "Indianapolis 500" was America versus Europe, an outright fight between the best racers on both sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps even more significant was the expectation the "500" would prove to the world once and for all whether the traditional machines of "Indy" could withstand the challenge of the new, smaller rear engine Lotus design coming from Colin Chapman.

Sports Illustrated magazine picked up on the story with a preview of the upcoming 1964 "500" featuring America's champion A.J. Foyt on the cover of the issue preceding the race with a profile on the 29 year old Texan.

*****

Humble Oil Company, who made a grand entrance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with its Enco/Esso brand, to challenge Mobil's flying red horse for oil and fuel supremacy, telecast an hour long network TV documentary spotlighting all the changes taking place at Indianapolis. The accents were on the Lotus - Ford versus Offy roadsters and Jim Clark and Dan Gurney versus the Indy car regulars. It was a good show with a lot of major story lines. I think Rodger Ward did some of the narration. It would be interesting to watch today forty six years later. I wish I could find it on video. It is also interesting that once great rivals like Enco/Esso and Mobil were such fierce competitors but today are consolidated into one corporation - Exxon Mobil.

I was beside myself with excitement. This was my ninth "Indy 500" and it was shaping up to be the best I had experienced. I became a strong Jim Clark fan over the previous two racing seasons and I wanted him to win the 1964 "500" in a big way. I was ready and eager for a rear engine car to win the race too. It was time. I had decided the year before it was time for the new cars to take over. I did not hang on to the roadster and the Offy. I wanted Ford Motor Company to be victorious. I wanted the world's best Grand Prix racer Jim Clark to win the world's biggest race. I was ready for change at IMS!

May 1964 presented new opportunities for me. I had my first car (a 1957 Buick -- Lord what a beast!) but it provided me with transportation to get to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway each afternoon. I was a junior at Carmel High School, making good grades, digging The Beatles, in love with Paula Sanders even though she hardly knew I was alive and was moving away in June, and at 3:30 pm when I got out of school, I would take off for the Speedway and "500" practice. It was neat to have that freedom and I made the most of it.

I arrived at IMS most days about 4:15 PM. I sat in the dark green Tower Terrace seats that were located behind the pits. I was already a smoker and since I had told my parents, I smoked openly. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I also sucked on a lot of peppermint Life Savers. My buddy Dave Willmuth often accompanied me to the track.

The first week of practice started slow but the action began to build as the week progressed. The fastest cars early were A.J. Foyt's Sheraton Thompson Special Watson - Offy and a new rear engine chassis built by Rolla Vollstedt, from plans he purchased from A.J. Watson (or did Watson borrow Vollstedt's design for his own Leader Card rear engine cars?) powered by an Offy, and driven by Len Sutton. Foyt hit 154 mph and it became obvious there were going to be new track records in qualifications which were still nearly two weeks away. Throughout that first week of practice Foyt ran exclusively on Goodyear tires.

Later in the week, Parnelli Jones raised the speed to 155 mph. On occasion Jones and Foyt brought out their rear engine backup cars and ran a few laps, but neither Parnelli nor A.J. seemed very interested in their new cars. Both cars were Offy powered. Joe Huffaker built the Foyt rear engine entry. This car was later qualified by Bob Veith as the MG Liquid Suspension Special. Parnelli's car was built by Troutman and Barnes. Jones' rear engine car was unattractive, boxy, looking older like Colin Chapman's 1960 model Lotus 18. Parnelli exceeded 151 mph in the car. Foyt was able to get his rear engine car up to 154. A.J. hedged his bets to the media but Parnelli was more decisive in public indicating he would probably choose his beloved roadster "Calhoun," which was the only race car he had driven at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to that time. It became obvious a few days before qualifications that Foyt and Jones were both locked into their roadsters.

Rodger Ward threw caution to the wind and bet his future on the new approach however. A.J. Watson built two new rear engine cars, one for Ward, painted in the traditional Leader Card Racers white with red and blue trim and powered by the new Ford DOHC V8. The other Leader Card entry was powered by an Offy, painted in the yellow symbolizing the car's sponsor Wynn's Friction Proofing, and driven by Don Branson. Ward raised the high speed to 156 mph, knocking Parnelli off the top of the speed charts.

Bobby Marshman was a 27 year old racer from Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He started racing Indy cars in 1961 and finished seventh in the 1961 "Indianapolis 500" after starting 33rd. That performance earned him a share of the Rookie of the Year award with Parnelli Jones. He qualified for the outside of the front row and finished fifth in the 1962 "500." Marshman won the 1962 Indy car season finale on the dirt one mile oval at Phoenix, which predated the current paved mile venue now called Phoenix International Raceway.

Lindsey Hopkins, a multi-millionaire businessman operating out of Atlanta and Miami, entered cars in Indy car competition for three decades. Bill Vukovich was driving for Hopkins when he died in the 1955 "Indianapolis 500." Racing legends Jim Rathmann and Tony Bettenhausen both drove for Hopkins but did not win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the long time car owner although Rathmann had a pair of second place finishes in 1957 and 1959 driving for Hopkins. Lindsay Hopkins continued to enter cars for the "Indianapolis 500" into the 1980s. His best chance, other than Vukovich's run before his fatal crash, was perhaps 1964 with Bobby Marshman. After Jim Clark's success in the 1963 "500," Hopkins decided he wanted a Lotus - Ford for 1964. He purchased the Lotus 29 that Dan Gurney crashed on May 18, 1963, during a qualification.

On May 12, four days before pole day, Bobby Marshman hit 157.1 mph. Marshman's rise to the top of the speed charts caught people's attention as speculation centered on how fast the cars were going to go. Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Colin Chapman arrived in Indianapolis following the Grand Prix of Monaco and started preparations for qualifications to be held the coming weekend. The new Lotus 34 Indianapolis model was basically a modified version of the Lotus 33 Grand Prix car that was still being built in England.

Clark's May 1964 was a busy month. He shuttled back and forth to Britain and Europe as he sought to defend his World Championship and his time in Indianapolis was limited. Team Lotus was in the midst of trying to develop their Lotus 33 Grand Prix car to replace the 1963 title winning Lotus 25. The Scotsman was heavily involved with that project which left less time to prepare for "Indy" as Team Lotus rushed to complete work on their new Formula One challenger.

When Jimmy was in the dark green number 6 with the traditional Lotus yellow racing stripe, he was near perfection to watch. Soon Clark and Marshman were locked into an intense battle for supremacy on the speed charts. Rodger Ward and Dan Gurney were in a similar battle for "top dog" in the second tier. Meanwhile, Jones and Foyt were probably grinding their teeth in frustration. Obviously Parnelli and A.J. were getting everything possible out of their roadsters and sometimes ran within a couple mph hour of the Fords, but both had to realize they were on a steep uphill climb.

What was going on at 16th and Georgetown that week was unlike anything I had seen before and they were rocking and rolling at the old track. The finest racing driver in international racing, a 28 year old Scotsman, was trying to capture the big prize from the best race drivers on this side of the Atlantic with his tiny dark green British Lotus - Ford at speeds nobody would have thought possible a year earlier. It was the most radical departure from the past the "Indy 500" ever experienced before or since.

At the same time, the United States -- for that matter the world -- was into the fourth month of international Beatlemania and it was like the British had returned to America and taken control of the "colonies" -- via the youth culture. Elvis Presley was relegated to the past. Of course as we would find out in the following decade, the "King" would re-emerge bigger than ever with primarily the same audience that worshipped him in 1956 when he ruled the nation with his greasy hair, sideburns and swiveling hips. That was still more than 4 1/2 years off however and in 1964, Elvis had gone flat and The Beatles were everywhere you looked and any time you turned on the radio it was a good bet a Beatles recording would be playing.

To punctuate the British atmosphere that was in the air at that time, the James Bond craze was about to hit the nation. When the film "Dr. No," with Jim Clark's fellow Scotsman Sean Connery portraying agent Bond, was released in 1962, it earned box office receipts of nearly $60 million from a $1.2 million budget. "From Russia With Love," the next Bond film earned $78 million from a $2.5 million investment after it was released in late 1963. The third Bond film "Goldfinger," was released around the Christmas holidays in 1964. The new movie was a smash hit. Agent 007 became a household name as did the actor who portrayed him, Sean Connery. Obviously that the Bond craze and Beatlemania coincided with each other and both with the rise of Jim Clark was pure irony, but nevertheless this was a time for Great Britain to dominate the pop culture in the U.S. and Indianapolis, Indiana as well.

I was concerned that I would get caught in traffic on the way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the radiator on my brute of a Buick would overheat, but early morning Saturday May 16, 1964, I got in my 1957 two tone beast, to start my second favorite day of each year - pole qualifying day for the "Indianapolis 500."

Accompanying me on that day was Steve Hansen, my all time friend Bill Correll's younger step brother, and Rex Doom. Rex was among the most original characters I ever met. He was in my junior class at Carmel High School. School was not one of Rex's better endeavors. He was more what you would call street smart than talented in the class room. Rex went with me on one of my after school trips to the Speedway that month. He embarrassed the hell out of me by shouting insults at people waiting to catch the city bus we passed on our way from Carmel to the track. Rex Doom could be a red headed devil when he chose and that is what he usually chose.

On May 16, Steve, Rex and I made it safely to the Speedway about sixty minutes before the 11 am start of qualifications. In those days, there were extensive festivities and parades going on before time trials started and practice already concluded. Bobby Marshman turned 160 mph in practice shortly before we arrived. IMS filled with fans at near race day levels excited to see what the day would present in terms of new speed records. Tom Carnegie's voice boomed over the public address system. I took a few deep breaths and waited for the big show that was about to begin.

As Bob Ottum reported in his Sports Illustrated article posted above, A.J. Foyt and Parnelli Jones were among the earliest drivers who attempted to qualify. Foyt was slower than he wanted to be and called off his run. Jones blew an engine and things did not look good for the Offy roadsters.

A short time later, Rodger Ward pulled on to the track in the white number 2 Kaiser Aluminum Special, A.J. Watson's new tube frame rear engine racer powered by the new Ford DOHC V8. Earlier I referred to Rolla Vollstedt's rear engine Offy entry in the 1964 "Indy 500" for Len Sutton. The physical appearance of the silver Vollstedt car and the two rear engine Leader Card racers entries for Ward and Don Branson, who was running a new Watson chassis with Offy power, were very similar in appearance.

Although I was not aware of it at the time, the Watson and Vollstedt cars were built from identical blueprints. You would think that Vollstedt would have used Watson's design just as many fabricators did several times a few years earlier, at the height of the roadster era. Wayne Ewing built an Indy roadster from Watson's plans for the Dean Van Lines operation for the 1960 "Indy 500." Eddie Sachs placed Ewing's Watson copy on the pole for the 1960 and 1961 races. Veteran Indy car mechanic Floyd Trevis built another Watson copy for George Bignotti which carried A.J. Foyt to his first "500" win in 1961. In recent years however, I have read that it was Watson who borrowed Vollstedt's rear engine design after falling behind with the construction of a radical rear engine design which made its debut at the Speedway in May 1965.

Rodger Ward had one of the most successful careers in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ward was one of those drivers for whom success did not come easy in a race car. He was a P38 fighter pilot in World War II and began racing in 1946 after being released from the U.S. Army.

Ward made his "Indianapolis 500" debut in 1951. The most notable footnote to Ward's career in the early years was that he started the four car chain reaction crash that claimed the life of Bill Vukovich in the 1955 "Indy 500." It took him six years to finish in the top ten in the "500" when he was eighth in 1956. Bob Wilke, a Milwaukee businessman, hired A.J. Watson to create a racing team. Jim Rathmann was the first choice to drive for Leader Card Racers. Rathmann did not want to run the dirt ovals which comprised most of the Indy car schedule in those days. So Watson hired Ward and a hard luck veteran was suddenly transformed into a racing legend.

In May 1959, with a new Watson roadster to drive, Ward qualified a comfortable sixth for the "Indy 500." On race day, Ward battled pole sitter Johnny Thomson, Jim Rathmann and 1956 "500" winner Pat Flaherty for the first 84 laps. The Leader Card team had the fastest pit stops. A.J. Watson devised a hydraulic jack for Ward's number 5 and being fastest in the pits, combined with Rodger's solid run on track, was enough to beat the field. Ward took the command on lap 85 and beat Jim Rathmann to the checkered flag by 23.27 seconds, with Thomson, Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Goldsmith following. Wilke, Watson and Ward won three more Indy car races and took the 1959 season championship.

Ward's consistency in the "Indianapolis 500" was phenomenol. In 1960, Ward and his closest pursuer in the 1959 race, Jim Rathmann, put on one of the all time classic battles in the "Indy 500." Fourteen times during the final 100 laps, Rathmann and Ward exchanged the lead. Ward was leading on lap 197 when he slowed because the front tires on his car were showing excessive wear and Rathmann went by to win with a 12.67 second advantage.

Ward finished third behind A.J. Foyt and Eddie Sachs in the 1961 "500." In 1962, Ward won his second "Indianapolis 500," taking the lead when Parnelli Jones faded with failing brakes. In 1963, Rodger finished fourth behind Parnelli Jones, Jim Clark and A.J. Foyt.

Rodger Ward was a stocky man, with dark curly hair, an engaging smile and a friendly, charming demeanor. Rumor has it that Ward romanced some of the most prominent ladies in the local community during his years in Indianapolis. I don't how many times Ward was married but I know there were at least three wives -- maybe more. Unlike many of his fellow racers, Ward loved to talk and was perhaps the first of the new breed of drivers to capitalize on the commercial opportunities to come his way as a result of his racing success and his likeable personality.

Rodger Ward was a late bloomer in every sense. When the package finally came together, Ward took advantage of all opportunities and became a great champion. Of today's Indy car racers, in terms of racing style, the contemporary driver who most reminds me of the 1959 and 1960 "Indy 500" winner is Helio Castroneves. Like Helio, Ward's presence in a race was always felt and on his day, he could be unbeatable. Ward's race craft was excellent. He was smooth as silk, managed his car well and when everything came together, Rodger, like Castroneves, was magic. Just as Helio Castroneves would not be driving for Roger Penske if he was not a terrific competitor, Rodger Ward would not have been A.J. Watson's choice during the early 1960s if a wealth of racing talent was not apparent.

Rodger Ward started from the front row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1960 and 1962 but never held the track record in qualifications -- until May 16, 1964. Rodger broke the existing one lap record (151.847 mph by Parnelli Jones in 1963) with a lap at 157.563 mph. Ward's four lap average of 156.406 mph surpassed Parnelli's 151.153 mph record from the previous year. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway track records belonged to Ford Motor Company. It was the first time since May 15, 1954 the IMS speed honors were not held by a race car powered by the four cylinder Offy.

The spotlight then turned to Bobby Marshman, who had been slightly faster in practice than Jim Clark. It was Marshman and not Clark who was the odds on favorite to take pole and his 160 mph lap earlier in morning practice was plastered on headlines on the front page of special editions of The Indianapolis News on sale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We didn't have the Internet in the old days at the Speedway. What we had was exciting and more dramatic. In 1964, there were three local daily newspapers in Indianapolis and each had people covering "500" activity closely. On race day and pole day, there would be three or four editions of the newspapers with front pages proclaiming in large, boldface type what was happening on track. It was really cool. Within a few moments after pulling into Victory Lane, a helicopter would land in the IMS infield and a copy of the newspaper, with headlines reporting his win, would be delivered to the new "Indy 500" winner. The situation was almost the same on pole qualifying day, with vendors wandering the grandstands with updated editions, with headlines proclaiming what had taken place earlier in the day.

What was interesting about the Clark versus Marshman rivalry was that an American racing team, the Lindsey Hopkins operation, with no previous experience preparing a rear engine racing car, took a 1963 model Lotus 29 chassis and placed an engine which the car was not designed for, the new Ford DOHC V8, into the chassis and managed to compete on equal terms with the World Championship Grand Prix operation Team Lotus. Marshman and Clark were both born in 1936. Jim's birthday was in March and Bobby's was in September. Marshman had shown promise during his three seasons in Indy car racing. By 1964, observers felt the Pennsylvania driver was ready to break out. Jack Beckley, one of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway veteran mechanics, was crafting Marshman into a strong racer and a star in waiting.

So when Marshman, who had also tried Goodyear tires in practice, pulled out of the pits in the white and red Pure Firebird Special number 51, there was a sense of drama and the big question was how high would Bobby raise the track record. The answer came quickly as Marshman took speeds into the 158 mph range with a new one lap record of 158.562 and a four lap mark of 157.867 mph.

The atmosphere was electric and the fans packed in the grandstands roared their approval. Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt all had yet to put their cars in the race. Clark came out a few cars after Marshman and as he pulled on to the track in his dark green Lotus - Ford number 6, the sun disappeared behind the clouds momentarily.

Clark was wearing an uncharacteristic black visor attached to his customary Border Reivers dark blue Bell helmet. Jim borrowed the visor from Dan Gurney. The reigning World Champion was faster than Marshman with one lap at 159.377 mph and four laps at 158.828. The "Indianapolis 500" pole belonged to a foreign born driver for the first time since Italian born Ralph DePalma, winner of the 1915 "500," started on pole for the 1921 race.

I was ecstatic. Had Marshman won pole, that would have been okay with me as long as Clark was competitive. Winning the "500" was what counted, but I was very happy to see the "Flying Scot" add America's second biggest racing prize, at that time, the "Indy 500" pole position, to his growing collection of major successes.

For much of the day, on May 16, 1964, there were four rear engine Ford powered cars occupying the first four spots on the grid after Dan Gurney qualified his Lotus - Ford at 154.480 mph. Gurney expressed some disappointment that he had not run as fast as Jim Clark. Later, Gurney indicated some discontent with his situation at Team Lotus, suggesting that Colin Chapman was showing too much preference for Clark. The truth is Dan Gurney was not as fast as Clark in a race car. While Gurney and Jimmy remained close friends, Dan's relationship with Chapman soured.

As the day progressed into the afternoon, and the field began to assemble for the 48th "Indianapolis 500," the suspense began to build. What were the two American headliners, one the defending "Indy 500" winner and the other the previous season's Indy car champion, Jones and Foyt, going to do? The answer came in the final hour of qualifications. Jones gave it everything he could and qualified fourth with an average speed of 155.090 mph. Foyt's run was slightly slower at 154.670 mph.

In 1964, "Indy 500" pole day was an even bigger show than usual. I would classify the three most significant pole days as 1962, when Parnelli Jones shattered the 150 mph barrier, 1964 and 1977, when Tom Sneva broke 200 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The track record jumped 7.53 miles per hour from one year earlier and that was unprecedented. More than that was the fact that in one day, the definition of an Indy car changed from the traditional American Indy roadster, with the invincible four cylinder Offy in front of the driver, to a British race car about 65 percent the size of the roadster, with the new Ford V8 behind the driver. Almost as significant, the "500" pole position winner from the previous year, the 1963 "Indy 500" winner Jones, a traditional American speed demon who had come up the hard way, dodging death as he made his way to the top, was replaced by the number one race driver in the world, Clark, the reigning World Champion, a soft spoken sheep farmer from a prominent family in Scotland.

Jim Clark propelled himself into the primary starring role at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1964, with an outstanding cast of supporting players, arguably the three best racers in the United States, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt and Rodger Ward. America's leading road racer Dan Gurney and a Pennsylvania "hotshot" Bobby Marshman, who was ready to burst through to the big time, were also in the forefront as the story of the 48th "Indy 500" took shape and form. It was fabulous!

Five more cars qualified for the "500" on Sunday May 17. Eddie Sachs was fastest with an average at 151.430 mph in a radical semi-monocoque rear engine chassis designed and built by Ted Halibrand and powered by the new Ford DOHC V8. I went to the Speedway with Dave Willmuth that day. The pace was slow after all the excitement from the day before.

The following day, Team Lotus conducted extensive testing with Dan Gurney driving, as Jim Clark had returned to England. Lotus ran Dunlop tires in Grand Prix competition and the British tire maker was the principal supporter for the Lotus Formula One program. For commercial reasons, Team Lotus wanted to take Dunlop to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Despite the fact, the Lotus - Fords ran on Firestone tires in the 1963 "Indy 500," Colin Chapman was able to persuade Ford to allow his cars to run Dunlops at Indianapolis. Ford officials expressed misgivings about that decision. During his limited time at the Speedway in May 1964, Jim Clark wore a powder blue Dunlop driving uniform when he was in the number 6 Lotus Powered by Ford.

Both Clark and Gurney qualified on super soft Dunlop Formula One rain tires. That might have provided Clark with his advantage in qualifications over Bobby Marshman. Gurney did a 60 lap test with Colin Chapman watching closely. During the test, bits of rubber were shredding as Gurney drove the Lotus - Ford through the corners. As things turned out, although not much was made of it at the time, this was probably the turning point in the outcome of the 1964 "Indianapolis 500."

My next trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the Saturday following pole day, on May 23. I went to the track with Bill Correll, who had missed pole day because he had to get ready for his senior prom at Carmel High School. First however, Bill dragged me to a car dealer in Noblesville, Indiana and we did not get to IMS until mid afternoon. I was in a less intense mood than I had been the previous Saturday although it was a busy day in terms of track action. Most of the headliners had already made it into the race the previous weekend but there was still a lot going on. Unfortunately, it took us so long to get to the Speedway that Bill and I missed most of the important action.

There was a small crowd at the track on Saturday May 23. Two time World Champion Jack Brabham, from Australia, the man who started the rear engine revolution three years earlier with the Cooper - Climax, had to make an unplanned trip to Indianapolis from Zandvoort, Holland, where he was preparing for the Grand Prix of Holland. Brabham had been left in line waiting to qualify the previous Sunday at 6 PM which necessitated his emergency return to Indianapolis to qualify his own new tube frame Offy powered race car, which had been entered by John Zink, who owned Pat Flaherty's winning car in the 1956 "500." Brabham was the first car on the track to qualify at 152.504 mph and then rushed to return to Holland and the Formula One race taking place that weekend.

Five other cars qualified that day including Bobby Unser and Jim McElreath in the popular Novi entries. Unser averaged 154.865 mph in the Ferguson four wheel drive Novi. That speed would have placed Bobby in the middle of row two the previous Saturday.

One thing I specifically recall from that day was that when we were leaving the penthouse section of the grandstand where we had been watching (I don't recall exactly where we had been sitting) Bill wanted to empty the ice from the cooler he had brought. In later years, Bill said it was me who emptied the cooler on the people walking below. I was laughing my head off when Bill emptied the cooler on those unfortunate fans who happened to be walking below, several of whom yelled up at us after having unexpected ice water falling on them. It was Bill that emptied the cooler but I encouraged him throughout. What a couple of smart aleck teenage assholes we were! It's funny to think about though. Oh "Morris" I really miss you!

Bill could be a naughty guy at times and in those days he was a rebel. People who did not know him well called him arrogant and I suppose there was some basis for that. He was my all time friend however. Bill died in July 2007. I would give anything to have him here today.

I was so excited about the 1964 "Indianapolis 500," it seemed to take forever for the next week to pass. I ran the race in my head over and over again. There was no way I could see that Jim Clark would be stopped. Jimmy was coming off his eleventh Grand Prix victory in Holland and to me he looked unbeatable. Marshman worried me a bit, and although Bobby was fast, I felt that over the course of 500 miles, Clark would be better. I considered Parnelli Jones to be the foremost racer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I did not believe the pearl and candy apple red Agajanian Bowes Seal Fast number 98 could match the speed of the number 6 Lotus Powered by Ford. I gave passing thought to Ward, Foyt and even Gurney as possible challengers but I did not think any of that three were strong enough to beat Jim Clark.

1964 was going to be the year when my favorite driver finally won the "500." Five times I had come to the race to cheer for Tony Bettenhausen, from 1956 through 1960 and the closest the "Tinley Park Express" came to winning during those years was in 1958, when he led 24 laps in the race (the only time Bettenhausen led the "Indy 500") and presented a strong challenge to eventual race winner Jimmy Bryan. Slow pit work by Tony's part time Jones & Maley crew hampered the effort and he ended up in fourth place.

Tony Bettenhausen's Lindsey Hopkins Autolite Special Epperly - Offy was the fastest car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1961. Bettenhausen flirted with the magic 150 mph lap a few days before qualifications and he was the odds on favorite for the pole and considered a good bet to beat the one minute barrier at the Speedway. If Tony were ever going to win the "Indy 500," at age 44, the 1961 race looked like his best chance. It broke my heart that Tony Bettenhausen was killed testing a car for his buddy Paul Russo, in the early afternoon of May 12, one day before the battle for pole position. I was in the doldrums for two years after Tony's death, and discovering Jim Clark in May 1963 brought me back to being as intense about racing as I had been before Bettenhausen was killed.

I awoke early on May 30, 1964 to clear blue skies and cool temperatures. Bill Correll, Dave Willmuth and Jim Mace accompanied me to the race and we had tickets in the lower rows at the south end of Grandstand B, leading into turn one. I drove my dad's 1962 Chevrolet station wagon (maybe I drove my big Buick -- I'm not sure) to Glendale shopping center and the four of us caught a city bus that would take us downtown, where we caught another bus to the Speedway, as Dave Willmuth and I had done on race day 1963. My memories about the ride to the track are a bit hazy after forty six years but it seems as if we ran into a delay making the bus trip from downtown to the Speedway and we did not get to the track as early as I intended.

These days, with photography being my primary consideration at any racing event, including the "Indianapolis 500," I am ready to shoot and only need about thirty minutes to get into race mode. More important, and thankfully so, the specter of tragedy and death does not hang over the pre-race proceedings the way it did in the 1960s. Therefore, the biggest anxiety I face on "Indy 500" race morning in recent years is getting to IMS and having time to set up my photo gear so I can be ready for the start of the race. I spend the immediate moments before the pack of race cars comes by the first time continuously focusing my camera on a crack in the asphalt of the track surface or the white line on the inside of the corner. Once that is accomplished I am ready and anxious for the action to begin. The element I am most nervous about is being able to get a clear image from my race location.

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I did not start doing 35 mm race photography until 1981, which is about the time racing began to make great progress in safety. In the years before however, there was always a violent atmosphere on "Indy 500" race morning. It was always sort of a we cannot turn back now feeling of dread -- like I wasn't ready for it yet -- not knowing whether death on the track awaited us or not. Perhaps this pall of impending doom that I associated with the "Indianapolis 500" in the 1960s came naturally. My initial exposure to the "500" was the radio broadcast of the 1955 race which claimed the life of the first race driver I was aware of -- Bill Vukovich.

My third trip to the "500" came in 1958. There was a multi-car first lap crash in turn three that killed Pat O'Connor. I can still feel the chill when I remember Tom Carnegie coming on the IMS public address to tell us in a somber voice the Speedway regretted to announce Pat O'Connor was fatally injured. My first reaction was to ask my dad, who took me to the race, what that meant. My father looked away from me when he told me O'Connor had died. In the immediate years after 1958, my big hope was that my favorite racer Tony Bettenhausen would come through the race alive. Even if Bettenhausen fell out of the race, I was disappointed but also somewhat relieved.

On May 30, 1964, the overwhelming sense of danger was still the leading emotion as I waited for the 48th "Indianapolis 500" to start. My stomach was so tied up in knots that day I gagged several times and my friends thought that was hilarious. Eating before the "500" was unthinkable. About thirty minutes before the start of the 94th race last May 30, I consumed a couple bratwursts before going to my seat. In 1964, I would not even think of food until hours after the race ended. Another race day trait back in 1964 was that I would walk as fast as I could through the crowds in a frantic attempt to get to my seat, even though in those days I often arrived at the Speedway by 8:30 AM, a full 2 1/2 hours before the start of the race. In 1964, it was closer to 9:30 AM. My pre-race ritual was running behind schedule. I left Bill, Dave and Jim far behind and did not see them for several minutes until we all met at our seats in Grandstand B.

What can I say? I am obsessive and compulsive by nature anyway. When you placed me, a 17 year old high school student, in the middle of the most dramatic and important moment of the year, with electricity filling the air like an impending thunderstorm storm and the prospect of doom constantly reminding us it might be waiting in turn one, my obsession and compulsion increased 10,000 fold.

Bill Correll and I attended the "Indianapolis 500" together for four years beginning with the 1964 race and then we were together in later years again in 1983 and 2000. On May 30, 1964, we started a three year tradition of walking north from our Grandstand B seats up to the concrete retaining wall, which in 1964 was approximately three foot high, and watching the cars being pushed on to the grid. Prior to 1974, there were box seats located within a foot of the wall and Bill and I went as close to the track as we could get. Bill was always more interested in the people at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway than the cars or for that matter the race. He would later become a very successful real estate broker in Carmel, Indiana and perhaps that explained why he was more interested in the demographics of the racers than the competitive circumstances and story lines.

When the Team Lotus crew pushed Jim Clark's pole winning Lotus - Ford number 6 to the grid, it was resplendent. The wheels were painted in day glow yellow which complemented the dark British racing green that covered the car and pale yellow stripe and nose on the Lotus 34. A white circle with a black number 6 was freshly painted on the nose. Those race day flourishes enhanced the look of the Lotus and made me even more excited for a Jim Clark win.

A group of assembled racing media in Indianapolis for the race had been polled on May 29 and Marshman received the most votes as probable race winner with Clark a close second and the remaining votes spread among Ward, Jones, Foyt, Gurney and Bobby Unser in the Ferguson Novi. That Marshman got more votes did not deter me from thinking it was going to be Clark's day.

In the thirty minutes leading up to the start, I pissed, smoked my final pre-race cigarette and said my customary prayers, which I have done prior to the start of every "Indianapolis 500" I have attended since. Back then I resolved not to smoke during the "Indy 500," treating the race as if I were in church; a religious experience.

The sun was shining and it was clear and cool. The high temperature that day was sixty eight degrees. The Speedway was jammed with the largest "Indianapolis 500" crowd to that time and as the Ford Mustang pace car rushed into the pits, Clark brought the 33 cars to Pat Vidan's green flag and the race was on -- for better or worse.

Clark rushed into turn one with Parnelli Jones immediately behind, from the inside of row two, with Marshman, Ward and Foyt following. Marshman passed Parnelli for second and Clark jumped to a big lead with a record speed of 149.775 mph as he completed lap one. The dark green and yellow Lotus - Ford number 6 was even faster on lap two, as the Scot exceeded 154 mph. Clark raced into turn one with Marshman a couple seconds behind and Ward even further back, followed by Gurney. A huge explosion erupted at the north end of the main straightaway. It looked like early 1950s film footage of atomic bomb testing and in the seconds which followed, the horrifying flames and a monstrous cloud of black smoke engulfed the north half of the track.

My first thought was the grandstands were on fire and everyone was in immediate danger, perhaps a much larger scale blast than had occurred the previous Halloween October 31, at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum, when a leak, from a propane tank in a concession stand, ignited an explosion underneath seats where the public was viewing the closing moments of an ice skating program. The Coliseum blast blew human bodies sixty feet into the air. The morning following the Coliseum tragedy, the front page of The Indianapolis Star featured a photo showing the body of a victim without shoulders and a head. That disaster killed 74 people. Three weeks later, President John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas. Violence seemed to be ever present during that period. If something like the explosion at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1964 happened today, the first reaction would be that a terrorist attack had taken place.

It was the most frightening moment I ever witnessed at any race in the fifty five years I have been attending motor sports events. There was mass confusion and hundreds of thousands of people were screaming and shouting at the top of their voices. Then after several moments, the clouds of black smoke began to dissipate in the Indiana sky. I wonder what people a few miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway thought when they saw the smoke. The fires continued to burn on the track and we heard Tom Carnegie shouting over the public address. The race was being stopped. It was the first time in history the "Indianapolis 500" was halted for a crash.

After several moments, the black smoke from the crash was replaced by billowing clouds of fire extinguisher. The cars of Clark, Marshman and the other leaders cruised to a stop at the sound end of the straightaway and parked. The atmosphere became surreal. Dave, Bill and Jim (better known as Ace) and I looked at each other puzzled and confused like the most of the rest of the record crowd at the Speedway, questioning what we had just witnessed. There was mayhem all around us. Then suddenly a collective hush took control as if the crowd was unsure how to react or what to do.

We looked up the track and saw racing crew members and drivers standing in groups trying to reconstruct what had happened on lap two of the 1964 "Indianapolis 500." There was very little commentary over the public address for several minutes and no report about what had happened at the north end of the Speedway. There might have been some vague references to some of the cars involved in the second lap crash but little else.

There was still general confusion in the crowd around me, at the south end of the main straightaway forty minutes after the race was stopped. People spoke quietly if at all and I did not see anyone get out of their seats. Then I heard Tom Carnegie's voice, using the same solemn tone as on May 30, 1958, when he announced to the crowd that Pat O'Connor had been killed. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway regrets to announce that driver Eddie Sachs was fatally injured." What followed was almost like a momentary collective expression of disbelief and then sadness from the IMS crowd.

Bill, Dave, Ace and I all looked at each other after the announcement and my biggest day of the year ceased to be fun. Some people got up from their seats, packed their picnic baskets and coolers and left the Speedway. Death had visited the "Indianapolis 500" for the twenty ninth time. A pall covered IMS and the sunshine went behind the clouds.

Over the next few moments, once the death of Eddie Sachs had been announced, Carnegie began to report some of the details of the second lap crash and which cars had been involved. Seven cars were eliminated from the race; those driven by Johnny Rutherford, Chuck Stevenson, Dave MacDonald, Sachs, Ronnie Duman, Bobby Unser and Norm Hall. I started remembering Eddie Sachs' racing career in my mind now that he had paid the ultimate price in his search for victory in the "Indianapolis 500."

Eddie Sachs turned 37 two days before his death. Sachs was perhaps on on the downside of his career as one of the top race drivers in the U.S. in May 1964. He was no longer a full time competitor, although he did compete at early season races in Phoenix and Trenton. Sachs made the decision to reduce his racing schedule after finishing third in the 1962 "Indianapolis 500." Prior to that however, Sachs was one of the most popular and visible competitors on the Indy car scene. He scored eight Indy car race wins and was the 1958 USAC Midwest Sprint Car champion as well as winner of the prestigious "Hoosier Hundred," held each September at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the second richest stop on the Indy car schedule in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Sachs, a native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, had a friendly, outgoing personality and loved to mix humor with his approach to racing. Sachs qualified second for his first "Indy 500" in 1957 and two years later, started the 1959 "500" from the same position. Eddie qualified for pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1960 and 1961. He was considered the odds on favorite to win in 1961, at the wheel of his Wayne Ewing Watson roadster copy Dean Van Lines Special. Eddie made an emotional statement in the days leading up to the 1961 race that if he won the "500," he would retire from the sport.

The 1961 "Indianapolis 500" was the fiftieth anniversary of the "greatest spectacle in racing" - the forty fifth running of the race. For many, the most important story line was the entry of two time World Champion Jack Brabham and his rear engine Cooper - Climax. From a technical point of view, Jack Brabham's Cooper was one of the most significant entrants in the history of the "Indy 500." The 1961 race also featured one of the all time classic battles for victory and that competition created a new star who ranks among the greatest racers ever.

A.J. Foyt attended the 1956 "Indianapolis 500" the same way I did. He sat in the grandstands too. He came to the Midwest from Houston, Texas the following year, a handsome, unheralded twenty two year old. Driving a shit box of a race car, Foyt finished ninth on the dirt mile at Springfield, Illinois in his Indy car racing debut. Foyt showed up at seven more races in 1957, although he was too slow to qualify in three of those races.

The young Texan caught the attention of Clint Brawner, who prepared the Dean Van Lines race cars for three time Indy car champion Jimmy Bryan. Bryan was leaving the Dean Van Lines cars after four successful seasons and three Indy car championships with Brawner, to drive the 1957 "Indy 500" winning Belond Special that was vacated by winner Sam Hanks, who announced his retirement as a racer in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the previous May.

Foyt and Brawner paired for thirteen Indy car races in 1958, including A.J.'s rookie run in the "Indianapolis 500," where he crashed in turn one, after 148 laps, to place sixteenth. Foyt finished the season strong with a third place at Sacramento and a fourth in the season finale on the dirt at the old Phoenix mile. Al Dean, the owner of the Dean Van Lines cars, purchased a new Eddie Kuzma roadster for 1959 and Foyt finished tenth in the "Indianapolis 500." One week later, A.J. finished third at Milwaukee. At the Phoenix dirt mile, in October, the Texan took second to Tony Bettenhausen.

For 1960, George Bignotti, who was a rising Indy car star himself, persuaded Foyt to leave Clint Brawner and the Dean Van Lines cars, for the Bowes Seal Fast Specials entered by Bignotti and his partner Bob Bowes. A.J. started the 1960 season with a fourth place finish at Trenton, behind Rodger Ward, Tony Bettenhausen and Jim McWithey. Six days following the 1960 "Indy 500," Foyt finished second to Rodger Ward at Milwaukee. Foyt was out after 19 (of 100) laps with steering problems at Langhorne shortly after Jimmy Bryan was killed racing into turn one. A.J. spun out on the first lap at Springfield. Foyt redeemed himself at Milwaukee, finishing second to Len Sutton.

On Labor Day September 5, 1960, in his 34th Indy car start, at the age of 25, A.J. Foyt won the first of 67 Indy car racing victories, on the dirt mile at DuQuoin, Illinois, beating Tony Bettenhausen. The following Saturday, Foyt finished third behind Bobby Grim and Tony Bettenhausen in Syracuse, New York.

I was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on September 17, 1960 to see the "Hoosier Hundred." A.J. Foyt was victorious, once again beating my hero Tony Bettenhausen. I was surprised when I heard that Foyt won at DuQuoin. Certainly I was aware of A.J. and thought of him as a regular, one of a large group of second tier competitors, promising and on the way up but not one of the upper level drivers such as Rodger Ward, Jim Rathmann, Tony Bettenhausen and Eddie Sachs. After seeing how easily he won at the State Fairgrounds dirt mile, my awareness of A.J. Foyt rose considerably.

Foyt finished third at Trenton, behind Eddie Sachs and Rodger Ward. Then A.J. won the season's two final events while his nearest competitor Rodger Ward finished seventeenth and thirteenth respectively. The late season surge pushed Foyt past Ward 1680 to 1390 points and there was a new 25 year old Indy car champion.

The 1960 Indy car season had seen the loss of not only Jimmy Bryan but Johnny Thomson, one of the most talented and fastest drivers of the time. Obviously the rise of A.J. Foyt came at a good time for the sport. Jim Rathmann did not run on the dirt mile ovals that comprised most of the Indy car schedule in those days. Jim Hurtibise and Foyt were the young guys on the rise hoping to fill the void along with a rookie driver from Torrance, California by the name of Parnelli Jones and to challenge the perrenial veterans Rodger Ward, Jim Rathmann, Tony Bettenhausen and Eddie Sachs

The opening race of the 1961 Indy car season was on April 9, 1961 at the paved Trenton mile. Eddie Sachs won, followed by Jim Hurtibise, Troy Ruttman, Dick Rathmann and Foyt. Sometime around the end of April, 1961, I was at Steve Schern's house and he had the latest edition of Hot Rod magazine. On the cover was a color photo of Foyt sitting in his new Indy ride, an A.J. Watson roadster copy built by veteran "Indy 500" mechanic Floyd Trevis. Bignotti was standing alongside the new Bowes Seal Fast Special, which looked gorgeous in pearl, metallic red and black, with a large pearl number 1 on the nose.

My May 1961 was destroyed by the death of my hero Tony Bettenhausen in a practice crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday May 12. The rest of the month was a half hearted attempt to follow the activity at the Speedway. Eddie Sachs seemed like an appropriate "500" champion to me as my dad, mom and I drove inside the Speedway to park on race morning May 30, 1961. It was a perfect day with beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the low seventies.

Going over the list of potential winners in 1961, I looked at Sachs, Rodger Ward, 1960 "500" winner Jim Rathmann, Speedway track record holder Jim Hurtibise and exciting rookie Parnelli Jones. I did not consider Foyt however. A.J. qualified seventh. Based upon his surprise 1960 Indy car championship, I knew he was a talented driver, but all of his wins had come on dirt ovals and to that point, he had yet to show strength at the Speedway.

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the "500," the winner of the inaugural race in 1911 Ray Harroun drove his winning Marmon Wasp around the Speedway in ceremonies before the race started. I was feeling a huge letdown without Tony Bettenhausen, who was killed in practice eighteen days earlier. The thought that kept running through my mind was the fastest car in the race was the number 5 Lindsey Hopkins Autolite Special Epperly - Offy being driven by Lloyd Ruby. That was Tony Bettenhausen's car; probably the best car he ever had for the "Indianapolis 500." It should have been Tony's year to finally win the "Indy 500" in his fifteenth attempt.

When the "Golden Anniversary" 1961 "Indianapolis 500" got underway, Jim Hurtibise grabbed the lead from the outside of the front row on the first lap in his yellow Demler Special number 99. This was a laydown Offy roadster built by Quinn Epperly for the 1958 "Indy 500," featuring a small, somewhat strange looking fin on the rear of the car. The car had an excellent record at the Speedway. George Amick finished second in the 1958 race in the car. Paul Goldsmith was fifth and third in 1959 and 1960 respectively in the same yellow Demler 99.

Hurtibise was flying during the early laps of the 1961 "500." Bill Cheesbourg, Eddie Sachs and Rodger Ward took turns taking the chase to the Speedway one and four lap qualifying record holder Hurtibise. The 28 year old native of North Tonawanda, New York looked mighty however and began lapping back markers by lap 20.

I had not been as excited about Hurtibise's unexpected track record (149.601 mph) on the final day of qualifications for the 1960 "Indianapolis 500" as a lot of other race fans were at the time. After he shocked the racing world with his record run, Jim Hurtibise became an instant crowd favorite. My racing mentor Steve Schern was a big Hurtibise fan. Hurtibise seemed half crazy the way he drove. He worried me the way he raced in an erratic fashion -- but I also realized he was good. When he was out of the race car, he often wore a straw cowboy hat, with a shit eating grin spread across his face. Throughout the years he raced, Jim Hurtibise acquired the reputation of a crackpot and he was known to drink too many beers on a regular basis.

I was cutting the grass at my parents' home, in Carmel, Indiana, on Sunday May 22, 1960, in a rush to finish the job before it rained. I felt a tap on my back and looked around to see Steve Schern, my all time racing mentor and my number one race buddy at that time. He had a big smile on his face and started telling me about Jim Hurtibise's qualification run. Steve was as excited as any time I ever saw him.

After thirty laps of the 1961 "Indianapolis 500," Hurtibise had a six second lead on Rodger Ward, with 1960 "500" winner Jim Rathmann running third, followed by Parnelli Jones, Eddie Sachs, A.J. Foyt and Len Sutton. Rathmann began to catch second place Ward and eventually passed his rival from the previous two years. His blistering pace had taken a toll on his tires and Hurtibise came to the pits on lap 36, relinquishing the lead to Rathmann. When Hurtibise came out of the pits after a fast 24 second pit stop, he fell to seventeenth place.

Before the other leaders made their pit stops, rookie Parnelli Jones grabbed the lead on lap 42 and three laps later, Sachs went by to take the lead for the first time since the start of the race. After 48 laps, Jim Rathmann lost power in turn four and limped into the pits to retire with magneto problems. The first and second place cars of Sachs and Jones then came into the pits for scheduled stops.

Within a few moments, Don Davis spun at the south end of the main straightaway, got out of his race car and walked across the track to the pits in in a daze, oblivious to the cars approaching at 180 mph. Within seconds a group of cars descended on the Davis car and a four car pileup that involved Bill Cheesbourg, Roger McCluskey, A.J. Shepherd and Jack Turner, who flipped violently, unfolded in front of the pits.

After 50 laps, Sachs led Jones, Foyt, Sutton, Troy Ruttman, Eddie Johnson and Ward. A few laps later, Sutton spun in turn one while the field was under yellow, but Len was able to continue. Ten laps later, at the 60 lap mark, Parnelli Jones led Foyt, Sachs, Sutton, Ward, Ruttman, Rathmann, Boyd, Hurtibise and Shorty Templeman while the race was still under caution from the big crash.

The caution lights were on for twenty one laps. When the race restarted, Jones led with Foyt challenging for the lead. On lap 76, Foyt passed Parnelli to run at the front for the first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Within a few laps, 1952 "Indy 500" winner Troy Ruttman passed Jones for second and went after the leader Foyt.

Parnelli began to slow his pace and fell out of contention, eventually coming into the pits. Hurtibise also began to experience problems and pitted. Ruttman passed Foyt for the lead on lap 84. The personality of the race began to change as problems began to occur to some of the early leaders. Ruttman and Foyt had a tight battle and exchanged the lead on consecutive laps beginning on the 89th circuit.

Foyt eased off for a few laps and then made another charge at the leader Ruttman and regained first place on lap 95. Eddie Sachs was sitting comfortably in third place, followed by Rodger Ward. When the field passed the 100 lap 250 mile halfway point, Foyt was running a couple seconds in front of Ruttman, with Sachs and Ward following.

Parnelli Jones was hit by a wheel nut and he was cut severely above the eye which filled his goggles with blood. This caused Parnelli's Agajanian number 98 to slow for a few laps and Jones fell off the pace, after declining relief from Jim Rathmann.

Hurtibise's car 99 lost a piston and he was out after 102 laps. Troy Ruttman's number 52 John Zink Special retired after 105 laps with clutch problems. This left Foyt, Sachs and Ward at the head of the pack as the battle for victory began to take shape, with the three top mechanical talents in Indy car racing in 1961, George Bignotti, Clint Brawner and A.J. Watson watching from the pits while their drivers Foyt, Sachs and Ward battled on the track.

As the race moved into the second half, Foyt began to stretch his lead and by lap 110, he had fifteen seconds on the field. After the leaders stopped at the pits for fuel and tires, Foyt led Sachs by seven seconds with Ward another seven seconds farther back. Then on lap 120, Eddie's Dean Van Lines Special began to close on the leading Bowes Seal Fast Special. Ward's Leader Card entry moved within 12.5 seconds of the leader Foyt.

Sachs picked it up even more and pulled right behind Foyt and passed A.J. on lap 125. The Texan kept up the fight however and remained close. After 130 laps, Sachs led Foyt, Ward, Dick Rathmann, Paul Goldsmith, Shorty Templeman, Chuck Stevenson, Al Keller, Bob Christie and Jack Brabham. The Australian's Cooper - Climax looked strange -- the only rear engine car on the track.

Foyt grabbed the lead from Sachs on lap 138 but Eddie took it back the next time around. The intensity of the fight for first place between Sachs and Foyt saw both drivers circling the Speedway in excess of 147 miles per hour. Three laps later, A.J. regained the lead. The race was developing into a classic struggle at this point as Foyt's pearl, red and black car fought Eddie's pure white Dean Van Lines number 1. I remember thinking to myself as I watched Foyt's car was that it resembled a peppermint candy cane as it sparkled in the bright Indiana early afternoon sunshine.

Those old Indy roadsters were great looking cars. There wasn't much advertisement on them. Some decals were displayed. The decals were advertisement from accessory firms who provided free spark plugs, motor oil, piston rings, hoses and shock absorbers in exchange for display on the race cars. Aside from that, since most of the cars were entered by sportsman and racing enthusiasts, with their names scripted on the engine cover, the cars were often painted in exotic colors like the pearl and candy apple red on Foyt's car or the bright rose pink featured on the winning John Zink Specials that carried Bob Sweikert to victory in 1955 and Pat Flaherty in 1956.

The Sachs - Foyt battle was very reminiscent of the previous year's fight between Jim Rathmann and Rodger Ward in the 1960 "Indy 500." Eddie and A.J. were racing each other so hard that Ward fell off the pace and dropped twenty seconds behind the leading duo. Sachs motioned to the rear of his car as he passed his Dean Van Lines crew in the pits and Foyt regained the lead on lap 152.

As Foyt and Sachs continued their contest, Ward fell thirty seconds behind them. Sachs made his final scheduled stop of the race in 27 seconds while Foyt stayed on track until lap 161 when he came to the pits. George Bignotti and the Bowes Seal Fast crew rushed to get A.J. out but they had trouble disconnecting the fuel hose and the stop lasted 31 seconds. This placed Ward, who had yet to pit, in first place for the first time in the race. Behind Rodger, Sachs had about 100 yards on Foyt after both had made their stops.

Ward held a twelve second advantage, while Foyt chased Sachs and then caught and passed the number 12 car, waving at Eddie as he went by into second place. Sachs retaliated by passing Foyt. Ward finally pitted on lap 168, receiving quick service from his Leader Card Racers crew with a 24 second stop. Sachs took over the lead but Foyt passed him again on lap 170.

A.J. charged with laps in excess of 147 mph and began to pull away from Sachs while Ward dropped back forty six seconds from the leaders. With only twenty laps remaining, Foyt pulled out 3.5 seconds on Sachs. During Foyt's earlier stop however, he did not receive a full supply of fuel and though A.J. lapped Ward, chief mechanic George Bignotti realized the Bowes car would have to come in for fuel before the end of the race.

There were only ten other cars still running with Foyt, Sachs and Ward. Those still racing were Ward, Shorty Templeman, Al Keller, Chuck Stevenson, Bobby Marshman, Lloyd Ruby, Jack Brabham, Norm Hall, Gene Hartley and Parnelli Jones, each one lap behind the two leaders.

As I wrote earlier, Foyt seemed to me to be an unlikely contender to win the "Indianapolis 500" as the final laps of the race passed. I wanted Sachs to catch Foyt. Eddie seemed a legitimate "Indy 500" winner while A.J. had not earned the right to take the number one prize in racing -- or so I thought at the time.

On lap 184, Foyt rushed into the pits and he overshot his stall before his crew splashed enough fuel into car number 1. I felt pleased from my seat inside the main straightway as Sachs went by to take the lead and a thirty second advantage with only sixteen laps to go. The fueling mechanism in the Bowes Seal Fast pit was faulty and the crew borrowed a rig from their neighbors on pit road that belonged to the car 8 driven by Len Sutton, who had dropped out after 110 laps with transmission problems.

As the race passed the 190 lap mark, Sachs held a 27 second lead over Foyt. Eddie looked set to win for Clint Brawner and Al Dean, who only two years earlier had watched another Dean Van Lines Special driven to tenth place by A.J. Foyt. Now, after coming close to "Indy" victory but not achieving it in four years with the late Jimmy Bryan, they were waiting out the final laps with their car in first place.

With the race in hand, Sachs eased his pace and appeared to be cautiously approaching "500" victory. All of the sudden, on lap 198, Sachs slowed and raced into the pits for fresh tires and Foyt went by to regain the lead. Eddie rushed back to the track in a desperate attempt to catch A.J. It was a futile effort however, as Foyt took the checkered flag 8.28 seconds in front of Sachs for the second closest finish in "Indianapolis 500" history.

A humble 26 year old A.J. Foyt seemed surprised when he was interviewed in Victory Lane. Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Hulman was pleased that Foyt, who had already become a family friend, had taken his first "Indy 500" win. One of the greatest careers in racing history took flight on May 30, 1961. Meanwhile Sachs accepted his defeat graciously but was obviously heartbroken at his failure to win the "greatest spectacle in racing." Eddie stopped with certain victory only three laps away when he saw excessive wear on his front tires. This was the same situation that occurred one year earlier when race leader Rodger Ward pitted with three laps remaining for the same reason -- tire wear. Some speculated that Sachs made the decision to stop because he had promised his wife he would quit racing if he were to win the 1961 "500" and he wasn't ready to retire.

Three years later to the day, after Eddie Sachs' most notable racing accomplishment, that of losing to A.J. Foyt in one of the greatest battles for victories in "Indianapolis 500" history, he lost his life trying to capture the same prize. Eddie Sachs was dead. It was always very difficult to accept the death of a well known racing driver back in those days even though it occurred so frequently. On May 30, 1964, it was hard to come to the reality that Eddie Sachs was no longer on planet Earth.

The crowd surrounding my three buddies and I stood quietly, in shock, for a long time after Tom Carnegie's announcement that Sachs had perished. Dave, Bill, Ace and I said little. At first slowly and then with more definition, the tragic details of the lap two crash began to be revealed. I only caught the explosion, a half mile away from where I was standing, out of the corner of my eye because I was watching Jim Clark at the front. I did not know what happened in the crash.

Click to look at this violent video footage of the big crash on the second lap of the 1964 "Indianapolis 500." It brings back the horror of that day.

The following morning, the headline on the front page of The Indianapolis Star read FOYT VICTOR IN TRAGIC 500. I think most "Indianapolis 500" fanatics were relieved to see the 1964 race pass into history. However, despite the unhappy conclusion to May 1964 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was one of the most significant months in the history of the "greatest spectacle in racing." Although the traditional front engine Offy roadster continued to rule the "Indy 500," the event took a giant leap in terms of public consciousness. The curiosity over the entrance of the Lotus - Fords and Jim Clark in 1963 translated into full scale acknowledgement that Indy car racing and its showcase event would never be the same again. In the process, the "Indy 500" was instantly transformed from a regional late spring early summer Midwestern celebration into a world class major league sporting event.

As a postscript to his 1964 "Indianapolis 500" victory, A.J. Foyt followed up with the most successful season in his legendary career, winning seven of the ten remaining races on the 1964 Indy car schedule. That gave Foyt a total of ten wins in thirteen races for the 1964 Indy car season and his fourth championship. The Texan branched out, winning the "Firecracker 400" NASCAR classic, on July 4, at Daytona.

The three races that A.J. Foyt did not win in Indy cars in 1964 were won by rear engine cars. Lloyd Ruby won the season finale at the new one mile Phoenix International Raceway, on November 22, in an Offy powered Halibrand chassis, similar to the one in which Eddie Sachs had been killed on May 30. The other two races, at Milwaukee and Trenton, were won by Parnelli Jones, in the same British racing green Lotus - Ford, driven by Jim Clark at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Parnelli carried number 98 instead of the number 6 on the car when Clark drove it. Though the car was prepared by the regular Jones crew, it was still owned by Team Lotus until after the season when Colin Chapman sold it to J.C. Agajanian for 1965.

After the Dunlop tire disaster, Colin Chapman was summoned to Ford Motor Company headquarters, where he was berated for the tire decision which cost Jim Clark "Indianapolis 500" victory. Ford threatened to end their Indianapolis partnership with Team Lotus in favor of A.J. Foyt or Parnelli Jones until Chapman revealed plans for an advanced rear engine Lotus specifically designed for the Speedway he had been planning since first coming to race in the "500" in 1963. This would become the legendary Lotus 38. Chapman apparently convinced Ford to remain with Team Lotus for another year but only if the car raced on Firestone or Goodyear tires and also only if Clark were the driver.

When Jim Clark left Indianapolis after the 1964 "Indy 500," he expressed some uncertainty about returning in 1965. The fiery lap two crash made Jimmy aware of the violent potential of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and left a negative impression on him. He raced a different Lotus 34 than the one he race at Indianapolis, at Trenton on September 27, but only qualified seventh and was out after 96 (of 200) laps with a broken drive shaft.

Clark focused on developing the new Lotus 33 Grand Prix car for the remainder of 1964 and defending his Formula One World Championship. The Lotus 33 did not make its debut until August 2 in the Grand Prix of Germany. Clark won in Holland, Belgium and Great Britain, in the Lotus 25 which carried him to the 1963 World title. New cars from BRM, Brabham and Ferrari proved to be formidable challengers to Clark and Lotus. Although he was nine and four points behind his rivals Graham Hill (BRM) and John Surtees (Ferrari) respectively, Clark was still in the running for the championship at the Grand Prix season finale in Mexico, on October 25.

Starting from pole, in Mexico, Clark's new Lotus 33 grabbed the lead at the start and was dominating the race and outpacing his title rivals Hill and Surtees. As the race entered the final laps, Jimmy looked on his way to a repeat championship. With seven to go, in the 65 lap race, Clark's Lotus 33 began leaking oil. On the final lap, the Climax engine seized, and he fell to fifth, handing the championship to Surtees who went by to finish second behind Dan Gurney's Brabham, while Hill finished two laps behind in eleventh but still managed to grab enough points to take second in the season final World standings.

Although he failed to win any Indy cars races in 1964, Bobby Marshman ran strong and was often A.J. Foyt's leading challenger. Marshman's car owner Lindsey Hopkins requested a new Lotus from Colin Chapman for 1965 but the offer was declined. Lotus offered Hopkins another 1964 car for 1965. Hopkins decided his 1963 Lotus was just as fast and also placed an order for a new Lola Indy car being built in England by Eric Broadley who decided to become an Indy car participant in 1965.

Marshman was testing tires at Phoenix (I believe for Goodyear) in his 1963 Lotus - Ford a few days after the season ending race. He was wearing a tee shirt, rather than his regular fireproof driving uniform, due to hot weather. Marshman had a bad crash and his fuel tank ruptured. Bobby died of burn related injuries on December 4.