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Qualifying for the 2018 pole has just started, which I am recording. It got me thinking about how much it has changed so much since I became hooked on it and attended for many, many years - too many to count.
My love of motor racing included the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the Indy 500! Nearly every year since I started college in Indiana I tried to attend qualifying weekend.
Qualifying at Indy was an event in and of itself. The driver’s had two weeks to prepare for four laps. Drivers all agreed it was the most uptight time ever. Winning the pole position at Indy brought a great deal of prestige and a hefty paycheck. Only first day qualifiers were eligible for pole position. That meant you had to get the most out the car in each corner for all four laps. There was no room for error. The quest for a 200mph lap at Indy seemed an unimaginable goal. That speed could be reached on the straightaways but to manage that speed for an entire lap with the pressure of qualifying was an unbelievable achievement. In the late 1960’s most considered it impossible.
But by 1972 aero devices and wings provided enough down-force that driver’s no longer braked for turns except to balance the car. By May 1973 the anticipation of breaking 200mph was enormous. Could it be done? Who would be first? The fans couldn’t get enough. An estimated 250,000 of us saw Rutherford turn a fastest lap of 199.07mph. Oh, so close. The race that year was a disaster with fiery crashes and deaths. Major rule changes to slow the cars came in 1974.
Conquering 200mph would have to wait another three years. I was there along with 250,000 delirious fans on their feet to hear the track announcer report a new fastest lap track record of 200.4mph! Tom Sneva driving a McLarn M24 Cosworth for Roger Penske racing set it. His second lap was even faster at 200.5mph.
Qualifying at Indy in 1977 was certainly a highlight that I will never forget. The following year Sneva’s four lap average was 202.1mph, another record.
Fast forward 40 years and cars are approaching 230 mph, and it appears the driver's hardly are breaking a sweat, fans take it all for granted, and its a totally different format. Sadly, I can't get excited about qualifying at all; although I suspect it should be a really good race.
Speeds that fast scare the hell out of me with respect to fans.
Cars at that speed can take an incredible amount of air.
Those catch fences aren't all that high when you get right down to it.
Was there at practice in ‘87 (‘88?)( every road warrior in the area did this)
Free and informal, one could get near the pit wall.
Always competitors, Rick Mears and Mario were trying to record the first 220mph lap.
IIRC, Mears edged Mario by < .05 mph. I saw Mario twitch at the start of the main straight(wind gust ?) maybe affecting timing. Mario’s team protested the timing.
( when you get near the cars you realize how small and toylike that are, large insects)
Having lapped that track a number of times in the old MG at speeds of less than 100 mph, it always boggles my mind the speeds they reach now. But as we saw yesterday, even highly skilled pros can have the car snap on them in the turns. I was happy to see Powers in the winner's circle!
There's something about the aerodynamic styles, loss of intimacy with the drivers, and owners that has drawn me away from the Indy events. I haven't watched or recorded any for the last few years --earlier I was drawn to the TV or traveled to view their events.
Bill, that is a wonderful car and I have seen it many times in its Belleville museum, which was the last Hudson dealership!
But, I'm holding out for this car.
(Ford Racing Archives/Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Jim Clark, Colin Chapman and the Team Lotus crew the morning after Clark won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965 in his Lotus-Ford.
05-19-2018, 12:28 PM
Indy 500 Qualifying & the Race
