Book Description

For race fans in America, the month of May has always meant one thing: the biggest spectacle in racing, the Indianapolis 500. It's a race that has captured our attention from the moment Ray Harroun took the first checkered flag in 1911. Indy racing has been so fascinating because it has always been a showcase for racing technology -- big purses and major sponsors have ensured that Indy would always attract the fastest of the fast. Over the years, the 500 and its racers have produced a pendulum-like swing between periods of wild innovation and a conservative "run what wins" philosophy. The latter is exemplified by the '20s, when the Millers dominated so thoroughly, and the '50s, when the traditional Offy-powered roadsters ruled. The Miller era was upset by the Great Depression and subsequent introduction of the "Junk Formula" in 1930. The new rules resulted in a "run what ya brung" ethic that brought all kinds of machines and ideas to the brickyard. In the '40s though, it became clear that an Offy-powered roadster was the way to go, and those cars began a new era of domination that lasted into the early '60s. And that's when all hell broke loose. In 1961, a diminutive British Grand Prix car tried its hand at Indy. Jack Brabham's rear-engine Cooper-Climax didn't have the horsepower to beat the roadsters, but its light weight and nimble handling gave it a decided edge in the corners. Suddenly, the Offy roadsters were under attack. Rear-engine cars, stock-block engines, turbines, twin-engine Porsches, Diesels ... you name it, somebody tried racing it at Indy in the 1960s. The battle intensified when Ford entered the fray in 1963, leading to the first rear-engine win when Jimmy Clark drove a Lotus-Ford to victory in 1965. Within a few years, the roadsters were little more than relics, as advances in tires, engines, aerodynamics, and race car engineering left them in the dust. It was the wildest decade ever for America's biggest race. Book jacket.