Ah the era of the space race. Putting men in space and turbines in race cars. Steve McQueen thrashing a Mustang Fastback around the streets of San Fransico. What a time to be alive. :) I was but a new born baby.
They could return to it in an instant, if they just got over the stupid communist idea that everyone has to drive the same thing. It's not like we don't have templates for rulebooks that even allow for aircraft engines, circa 1967.
Plenty of innovation happens these days, the rules and restrictions are made in such a way that it pushes innovation in a certain direction. The 2019 rules are a bit wider but still quite restrictive. The challenge of F1 is finding everything the rules DIDN'T cover and using that to your advantage. Thats how the infamous "fan car" was born, same with computer adaptive suspension. Both were banned from the race, but those technologies are still noteworthy.
Boy, I miss the good old days. My driver was Joe Leonard. The turbine engine was cool. But short lived. Those cars rocked. Jim Mckay was the best. The Indy 500 was in its glory years then. It was the greatest race in the world.
Growing up in Indy as a Kid! We had no professional sports teams, The Pacers arrived in '68, All These guys Drivers were my Hero's From Andretti, Gurney, Foyt, Ward Etc to the Unsers..... Shout out to Andy G, Colin Chapman, Penske, Pat Patrick, Etc for dedicating their time & lives for making Racing a better place...
During the years the Indianapolis "500" was shown on a same-day tape delay, my family would listen to the live radio broadcast of the race during the afternoon and then watch the edited tape of the race that evening. I suspect millions of other families did the sane thing.
Bobby and Al Unser were favorites of my dad. We lived and I was born in the 1967 in Colorado Springs and my dad worked for Firestone at the time. He got to meet many of these drivers over the years as my dad’s store at the time supplied many tires for the racers. He always said how nice the Unser family was and always pulled for them.
A day like today, May 26th. 1968, 52nd. Indianapolis 500 Miles was run. Three actives Formula 1 drivers ran there: British Graham Hill 1966 Indy 500 winner , New Zealander Dennis Hulme 1967 Formula 1 World Champion and Austrian Jochen Rindt who would became the only Formula 1 Post Morten World Champion in 1970. God bless them all! 😦 And God bless James Kenneth McManus (1921 - 2008) better known professionally as Jim McKay, an excelkent sports broadcaster and commentator. Regards from a venezuelan citizen who emigrated to Chile searching a better way of life.
USAC had its head in the ground. Turbine-powered cars had always been allowed in their races and several failed attempts had been made to field them, but as soon as the STP Turbocar showed up in 1967, a breakthrough car that was actually competitive and a threat to the old guard, they panicked and slapped restrictions on it, violating their own rule (2-year notice on engine changes) by reducing the allowable intake size for turbines and making the restrictions effective immediately. When the STP team countered with the cars seen here (smaller intake, smaller engine, but innovative body style and retaining 4-wheel drive), they restricted the intake size again and banned 4-wheel drive.
Mario broke 2 cars in one day! Turbine cars actually failed due to excessive heat produced by the engines on common parts. 4 wheel drive and gobs of torque was the big advantage though. I was there on qualifications watched the wooshmobiles qualify
It must have been 50 years ago when I saw this "Wide World of Sports" taped program ( which I think would have been somewhere in the summer of 1968). The scenes and comments are, I think, better than the other Indy coverage that had been shown. I was in the grandstands on the 4th turn. I did see the spins of "Vucky" and Mosley's ( which Mike Mosley did "know" over the next few years...some really hard hits. )
So, what was the real reason that the maximum turbine intake area was reduced from 23.999 square inches in 1967 to 15.999 square inches in 1968 to 11.999 inches for 1969 (which limited the power that the turbine could develop to a point where they were uncompetitive)? Drake Engineering (Offenhauser) and Ford Motor Company were providing the majority of the piston engines competing with the turbines. I’ve been a Ford fan all my life, but I have come to believe that FoMoCo, after spending millions of dollars to develop their four-cam engine, put the squeeze on USAC to eliminate the turbines as a source of competition. Ford probably figured that they had Drake covered-but then Bobby Unser upset their calculations by producing the first Indy win for a turbocharged engine, a Drake.
Thank you! Please upload more of the classic races. I am currently in the process of watching through each year's highlight video from 1946 to 2011 anyway.
Ok try this again for a comment, I remember back when I was young, going to the track watching qualifications and practice, but when it came to the race we, meaning me and Dad would listen to the race on a transistor radio, also keep track on who's in the lead and all, who were in what place, by the newspaper score card. To me that was fun even year after year. You see living in Indy and having the greatest spectacle in racing within miles of your home was a big deal in those days. Im talking 200 thousand people attendance yeah so Big! and awesome you had the whole month of May, we would go out to practice and qualifications. See the men AJ Foyt, Bettenhousen thought he was Bettenhouser, Johncock, Dickson, McClusky,Andretti,Vukovich,Mosley,Snider and my Dad's favorite Flloyd Ruby. Ok yeah Gurney when watching them, kick start his car from the pit, I thought was priceless.
heh yes but that was no ordnary engine, that was a turbo offy those things were beasts, I mean even the modern indycars dont put out that much power 1000-1400 hp that small engine with such high compression and strength, the offenhouser was as I keep reading basicly written out of competition it was that good, and the dominent engine for this type of racing for so long. they are very throaty and distinctive sounding the old classic offenhouser engines.
@@manga12 Yeah, the Offy's ruled when I first became an Indy 500 fan, but I don't remember anybody claiming more than 1000 hp back in the day. (I'm an old guy.) But after the '73 race, USAC started putting boost and fuel limits on, so the engines got less powerful. What killed the Offy was fuel economy. The turbocharged Cosworth was more fuel-efficient at the same level of power.
the crowds were huge and the fans lived and breath the race Indy was in its glory days so sad its lost so much of that it will always be No1 in my heart forever!
TRADING CIRCLES? Im looking for the guy who has ALL of the Car and Track episodes. Specifically im looking for 1968 or 69 not sure which year USAC stock car race from short track in northeastern wisconsin, Shawno or DePere not sure which track. If people are holding back im always looking to buy.
I was nine years old at the time. I remember Bobby Unser drinking a Mountain Dew from a bottle after the race. Just something that stuck in my mind for 50 years.
This is great, back when innovation was king, all kinds of powerplants, totally different cars. Cool to see all these cars competing against each other. These days are gone forever. Would be cool if someone started a series where you could run anything, unlimited, run what you brung. 👍👍🏁🏁
There was a closed circuit TV version of this race that covered it in full. I had hopes that the Speedway would own it, but they probably would have uploaded it if they had.
The 69’ closed curcuit race was the first race i ever saw at a theater in milwaukee. Then, the following week, my first in person race at the mile. Still remember the packed house laughing at the commentators alot and howlin fir their favs. Impossible to forget that energy
Jimmy was slated to be the #1 driver for the Lotus STP turbine racer. Given how Jimmy could go like the wind, but still keep the car out on the track, he very likely would have won the 1968 "500".
This race was on a special closed circuit TV broadcast that was shown in theatres that year. My Dad took my brother and myself to a theatre in downtown LA to watch and it was great to see it on the big screen.
This particular footage is not the closed circuit telecast you would have seen but film of the race done separately and aired on "Wide World Of Sports" one week later. ABC didn't use the closed circuit telecast footage because it was still being done in B/W at the time.
This Was A Popular Win!🏁🏎🏆 Don't Worry, Andy! You Will Get Them, Next Year, With Mario Andretti!🏁🏎🏆( 1969 ) Rest In Peace, Bobby Unser.🥺😢😭🙏🏁🏎🏆( 1968 )🏁🏎🏆( 1975 )🏁🏎🏆( 1981 )🥺😢😭🙏
This is the taped (and edited) version seen a week or so later on "Wide World Of Sports". I suspect a segment showing clips from the time trials was also part of the original telecast, but not seen here.
Thanks for the correction. I woukd think that despite RFK's assassination, the tape was probably edited on schedule and just sat on the shelf for an extra week before finally being broadcast.
Jimmy Mac will ALWAYS be the Narrator's voice while the guy EATS IT big time going off the side of the downhill ski-jump during the WWof Sports intro. "The THRILL of Victory, & the AGONY of Defeat"... & Baby, THAT was the AGONY...
"Vehicular high five?" I backed it up to that point & I still didn't catch it. I was 8, & saw the evening broadcast on TV, but don't recall anyone saying anything about that, though probably EVERYONE knew that in open-wheel, that's usually DISASTER!!! The U.S. 500 start, I wondered some if that wasn't "advanced corporate espionage" or somethong, considering that CART had just lost Indy as the crown jewel of its season & @ least 1 CART driver had commented to the effect of, "yeah, but the BEST cars & drivers are gonna be HERE, & EVERYBODY KNOWS IT." Then for nearly their whole field to be taken out on the pace lap; my 1st reaction was, "someone @ Indy with a 'dirty tricks budget' didn't like the trash-talkin'!"
And of course, the turbine was banned for 1969. "Luck" has always been a funny thing @ Indy. I used to hate Emmo after he finally got over here, until in 1 race he was running AWAY from everyone in, some relatively cheap part had broken & put him on the wall, just like anything that happened to AJ or Mario or any of 'em..... I believe I got to see him win 1 more 500 after that!
Phenomenal cars, great drivers. ACC. to my knowledge Jochen Rindt is the only German racing driver to drive in both F1 and Indianapolis. A huge talent who later died a very tragic death. RIP Jochen, still not forgotten.
Felt so Bad for Joe Leonard, One can only image coming so close, Joe was One of the true Ironmen of Racing, He could drive anything, He also risked his life & pulled Mel Kenyon outta of a burning car,
@@thethirdman225 Designer Colin Chapman was so devastated two of his best mates lost in those 2 months! In '69 he designed the AWD Lola for Granatelli. Beautiful Machine which was totalled the day before qualifcations, Mario would drive the spare car Brawner Hawk to victory. I think '69 was Chapmans last year at Indy, He would focus only in F1 & pass way to soon, Glory days!
And when he went out of the race he gave a memorable interview on the radio broadcast where he said bluntly, "No," when asked if he'd come back next year.
epaddon although he did come back - he would have raced in the Lotus 64 for the 1969 500 until Andretti put one in the wall and it was found that the rear hubs would not hold up to the stress of Indy.
According to Emerson Fittipaldi (Rindt's young team mate in 1970), Jochen thought Indy was "a💩place". The Austrian certainly did not get a handle on The Brickyard.
This race of Indy 500 was on the air of the greek television in Thessaloniki (1968). The newspaper "MACEDONIA" (03/07/1968) has an advertsment of this race in p. 04. Unfortunately the film of this greek broadcast is destroyed.
Cars look different. This is what we need in indycar . Competition between different manufacturers .Spec cars of 2018 are good but we need real innovation which only comes when there is real competition between different manufacturers.
Well we need the money to do that, would be great but unfortunately AOWR doesn't have the support right now. They are looking at it for the future however, if they can find a third engine manufacturer for 2021 then they may look at another chassis provider as well. I would love it!
Nate N yes but that man named Tony George killed of that classic INDY 500 chassis and engine competition that lasted into the 90s. CART still had a chassis competition and engines competition as well. However the sponsors in the late 90s would still be able to support the series and be able to outweigh the costs of the sport that that time. However the lost of the tobacco sponsorships would have be Cataclysmic in about the early to mid 2000s. Tony then could have formed a new racing league in the mid 2000s much later than the mid 90s. However if their wasn’t a split the big time owners and teams could have easily accepted and raced in the new league easily. Their never would have been a US 500 in 1996. That is what the right approach should have been done by Tony George in the mid 90s. CART in the mid 90s still had major popularity levels in parts of the country. NASCAR was making huge gains and leaps with a lot of fans but the INDY 500 was still the BIG race and not the Daytona 500.
If aero and other technologies weren't so minute, I would say "Yes". However, a second chassis supplier would be about as short-lived as the Lotus engine. Rick Mears explained why it wouldn't work on his Dinner With Racers interview. Basically, if Lola built a considerably better car than March, not many teams (except maybe Dale Coyne and some Indy-only efforts) would buy from March, who had spent several million dollars on production and development that won't be adequately recovered. If the performance of next year's March is no closer to the next year's Lola (perhaps both brands made the same gains), March probably has to bow out soon because they'll be out of money. If wind tunnels and CFD technology could somehow be banned (I don't know how IndyCar could police that), and carbon fiber legislated away (slim chance, given its safety record), then teams could build their own chassis again, or buy used cars from others. It would be awesome to see again, but spec racing isn't going away anytime soon, if ever.
I think I finally figured it out. Mario didn't have a curse or bad luck. He was just unbelievably hard on cars! He drove them too hard. He trashed TWO of them in this race! He had some of the best equipment ever, yet they always broke down on him. Had Al Unser Sr. or Rick Mears or Rutherford or Johncock been in them, they'd have made it to the finish line. I finally figured it out after his teammate was bumped out of his car so Mario could ruin yet one more car in this race!! 😆
Granatelli was basically assuring himself at least one Indy win by going on and on about lack of grunt in the turbine. Truth be told Leonard yanked a massive holeshot at the green flag and was tearing people up in the short chute. Seemed as though all three of those cars were sandbagging. Funny how indy people lamented the death of the roadster when it became obsolete but their disdain for the turbine was even worse.
Indycar ! please get this footage to a hipster that can do a real transfer of this film. This footage is amazing!! If this is film it can look much better!!! Please keep posting!
That Has To Be One of The Best Races I've Ever Seen!! Bobby Unser What a Race Car Driver I Didn't Know He Got His Start at Pikes Peak.!That Is A Strong Finish For 3rd! 👍
The big wigs who set the rules did everything they could to shut down the turbo prop turbine engines from competing. They restricted the air inflow to where they would produce about 200hp less than the piston engines. Yet, the body design, the wedge shape of their Lotus cars would become the next generation body style for aerodynamics. By the way, it was a fuel shaft that failed in Leonard's car shutting fuel off completely.
Before he was killed, Jim Clark had agreed to drive one of the STP turbine cars. I believe that Joe Leonard inherited the car that Clark was to have driven.
There have been lots of "sure winners" whose atrocious luck robbed them. The all time bad luck champion was Ralph DePalma, who "should" have won at least three Indy 500s (1912, 1920, 1921) besides the one he DID win (1915). In 1912, he led 196 of the 200 laps, only to have his car's engine seize up two laps from the finish.
from what I can tell.the turbines had only an advantage in the corners with four wheel drive and probably more downforce with wedge shape. Banning them looked to be purely political. Something like this now would have a BOP adjustment
Un día como hoy, Domingo 26 de Mayo 1968, se corrió la 52da. Edición de las 500 Millas de Indianápolis. Allí participaron tres pilotos activos en Fórmula 1: el inglés Graham Hill, quien ganó las 500 Millas de 1966; el neozelandés Dennis Hulme, Campeón Mundial en 1967 y el austríaco Jochen Rindt, quien sería el único Campeón Mundial Post Morten en 1970 ¡Dios los tenga en su Reino junto a James Kenneth McMahon (1921 - 2008) mejor conocido como Jim McKay, excelente narrador y comentarista deportivo que también transmitió durante muchos años las carreras de caballos de la Triple Corona.
Racing needs to go back to the NON SPEC race car. And you know, here we are 51 years later and where is 250 m.p.h. ? These old bombs were doing 200 way back then. Indy banned the turbine car and we will never see a racing Indy Turbine again. Thanks for the memories.
Thank you for this, this was the year my grandpa Mel finished 3rd.
Mel Kenyon
Your grandpa is a super guy and driver
Absolutely very respectable..not many people alive in this world who can say that...very few
He sure did. Mel. And I was there.
Starting grid sounds like a racing Hall of Fame list.
All legends
3 years before this, Jim Clark was there too
Ah the era of the space race. Putting men in space and turbines in race cars. Steve McQueen thrashing a Mustang Fastback around the streets of San Fransico. What a time to be alive. :) I was but a new born baby.
True innovation back in these days... the cars were as much of stars and the drivers.
yup
should be^
They could return to it in an instant, if they just got over the stupid communist idea that everyone has to drive the same thing. It's not like we don't have templates for rulebooks that even allow for aircraft engines, circa 1967.
Plenty of innovation happens these days, the rules and restrictions are made in such a way that it pushes innovation in a certain direction. The 2019 rules are a bit wider but still quite restrictive.
The challenge of F1 is finding everything the rules DIDN'T cover and using that to your advantage. Thats how the infamous "fan car" was born, same with computer adaptive suspension. Both were banned from the race, but those technologies are still noteworthy.
S31Syntax that's how racing should be
Boy, I miss the good old days. My driver was Joe Leonard. The turbine engine was cool. But short lived. Those cars rocked. Jim Mckay was the best. The Indy 500 was in its glory years then. It was the greatest race in the world.
i greatest sporting event in the world sad to say its lost much of that but its still Indy!
Growing up in Indy as a Kid! We had no professional sports teams, The Pacers arrived in '68, All These guys Drivers were my Hero's From Andretti, Gurney, Foyt, Ward Etc to the Unsers..... Shout out to Andy G, Colin Chapman, Penske, Pat Patrick, Etc for dedicating their time & lives for making Racing a better place...
@10:22 The last time a front engine roadster was on the track during the Indianapolis 500... RIP Jim Hurtubise!!
The Lotus 56 was such an insane concept for 1968!
I was there in 68. The roar that went up when Unser passed Leonard was electric. Great memory.
I was 2. My first Indy was probably 1979. Tape delay on ABC until 1986. I used to watch in evening and avoid news so I didnt know who won.
During the years the Indianapolis "500" was shown on a same-day tape delay, my family would listen to the live radio broadcast of the race during the afternoon and then watch the edited tape of the race that evening.
I suspect millions of other families did the sane thing.
I attended this race with my Dad. Brings back a lot of memories.
Sadly, I doubt we'll see a time like this in American auto racing ever again.
RIP Bobby you were a great driver.
Bobby and Al Unser were favorites of my dad. We lived and I was born in the 1967 in Colorado Springs and my dad worked for Firestone at the time. He got to meet many of these drivers over the years as my dad’s store at the time supplied many tires for the racers. He always said how nice the Unser family was and always pulled for them.
Thanks for giving us a look back at a very historic race... Lot's of innovations and legendary drivers. Awesome.
MR Joe Leonard has raced motorcycles,cars,turbo's.Former California hi-way patrol motorcycle cop.Anything to do with racing he was probably there.
A day like today, May 26th. 1968, 52nd. Indianapolis 500 Miles was run. Three actives Formula 1 drivers ran there: British Graham Hill 1966 Indy 500 winner
, New Zealander Dennis Hulme 1967 Formula 1 World Champion and Austrian Jochen Rindt who would became the only Formula 1 Post Morten World Champion in 1970. God bless them all! 😦 And God bless James Kenneth McManus (1921 - 2008) better known professionally as Jim McKay, an excelkent sports broadcaster and commentator. Regards from a venezuelan citizen who emigrated to Chile searching a better way of life.
USAC had its head in the ground. Turbine-powered cars had always been allowed in their races and several failed attempts had been made to field them, but as soon as the STP Turbocar showed up in 1967, a breakthrough car that was actually competitive and a threat to the old guard, they panicked and slapped restrictions on it, violating their own rule (2-year notice on engine changes) by reducing the allowable intake size for turbines and making the restrictions effective immediately. When the STP team countered with the cars seen here (smaller intake, smaller engine, but innovative body style and retaining 4-wheel drive), they restricted the intake size again and banned 4-wheel drive.
USAC is a 4-letter word in racing😄
Ну прямо как в недавние времена. Ансер кажется ехал на шасси Лола с двигатем Оффенгаузер?
RIP Dan Gurney. Gone in 2018
Saw a Bumper Sticker in Calif Dan Gurney for President
And then, the race ends, they pack up, go to MY track, the Milwaukee Mile. I lived 6 blocks from the track. I miss being young. Never missed a race...
RUclips is more for us old guys reliving our youth than anything else...lol
Back when the Indy 500 was about pushing speeds not done before. It’s time the lap record gets broken again.
One of the truly great 500's!
Superb track, superb cars, superb racing, superb coverage !! and It's all happening again in just a few days.
(who the heck gave it a thumbs down ??)
RIP ANDY GRANATELLI! The Roger Penske of this era of Indy 500 racing...
especially in 1969.
Mario broke 2 cars in one day!
Turbine cars actually failed due to excessive heat produced by the engines on common parts. 4 wheel drive and gobs of torque was the big advantage though. I was there on qualifications watched the wooshmobiles qualify
It must have been 50 years ago when I saw this "Wide World of Sports" taped program ( which I think would have been somewhere in the summer of 1968).
The scenes and comments are, I think, better than the other Indy coverage that had been shown.
I was in the grandstands on the 4th turn. I did see the spins of "Vucky" and Mosley's ( which Mike Mosley did "know" over the next few years...some really hard hits. )
It's good watching old races back in the day because you can remember what you seen
So, what was the real reason that the maximum turbine intake area was reduced from 23.999 square inches in 1967 to 15.999 square inches in 1968 to 11.999 inches for 1969 (which limited the power that the turbine could develop to a point where they were uncompetitive)?
Drake Engineering (Offenhauser) and Ford Motor Company were providing the majority of the piston engines competing with the turbines.
I’ve been a Ford fan all my life, but I have come to believe that FoMoCo, after spending millions of dollars to develop their four-cam engine, put the squeeze on USAC to eliminate the turbines as a source of competition. Ford probably figured that they had Drake covered-but then Bobby Unser upset their calculations by producing the first Indy win for a turbocharged engine, a Drake.
Thanks for sharing this Indy car👍🏁
what a pleasure to see this !! been going to the 500 since 1976 but never seen this footage..
Thank you! Please upload more of the classic races.
I am currently in the process of watching through each year's highlight video from 1946 to 2011 anyway.
Ok try this again for a comment, I remember back when I was young, going to the track watching qualifications and practice, but when it came to the race we, meaning me and Dad would listen to the race on a transistor radio, also keep track on who's in the lead and all, who were in what place, by the newspaper score card. To me that was fun even year after year. You see living in Indy and having the greatest spectacle in racing within miles of your home was a big deal in those days. Im talking 200 thousand people attendance yeah so Big! and awesome you had the whole month of May, we would go out to practice and qualifications. See the men AJ Foyt, Bettenhousen thought he was Bettenhouser, Johncock, Dickson, McClusky,Andretti,Vukovich,Mosley,Snider and my Dad's favorite Flloyd Ruby. Ok yeah Gurney when watching them, kick start his car from the pit, I thought was priceless.
I believe Bobby Unser's win in 1968 was the first for a turbocharged car at Indy. And, my goodness, wasn't that crowd huge?
heh yes but that was no ordnary engine, that was a turbo offy those things were beasts, I mean even the modern indycars dont put out that much power 1000-1400 hp that small engine with such high compression and strength, the offenhouser was as I keep reading basicly written out of competition it was that good, and the dominent engine for this type of racing for so long. they are very throaty and distinctive sounding the old classic offenhouser engines.
@@manga12 Yeah, the Offy's ruled when I first became an Indy 500 fan, but I don't remember anybody claiming more than 1000 hp back in the day. (I'm an old guy.) But after the '73 race, USAC started putting boost and fuel limits on, so the engines got less powerful. What killed the Offy was fuel economy. The turbocharged Cosworth was more fuel-efficient at the same level of power.
the crowds were huge and the fans lived and breath the race Indy was in its glory days so sad its lost so much of that it will always be No1 in my heart forever!
Very awesome film footage! Thank you for sharing
It with us.
Very nice, historic race!
SUPERB video ! The motorsport and the cars of the 60's were beautiful
R.I.P. Bobby. You were one of the greatest ever.
Great quality! Thanks for posting
Thanks, this one's never been released, nor has it been in the trading circles. I really hope you guys get around to posting the 1976 race this month.
TRADING CIRCLES? Im looking for the guy who has ALL of the Car and Track episodes. Specifically im looking for 1968 or 69 not sure which year USAC stock car race from short track in northeastern wisconsin, Shawno or DePere not sure which track. If people are holding back im always looking to buy.
Thanks for posting. Great to go back in time.
I was nine years old at the time. I remember Bobby Unser drinking a Mountain Dew from a bottle after the race. Just something that stuck in my mind for 50 years.
This is great, back when innovation was king, all kinds of powerplants, totally different cars. Cool to see all these cars competing against each other. These days are gone forever. Would be cool if someone started a series where you could run anything, unlimited, run what you brung. 👍👍🏁🏁
No! That's why we have rules, not so many dying now as in the "Old Days."
There was a closed circuit TV version of this race that covered it in full. I had hopes that the Speedway would own it, but they probably would have uploaded it if they had.
The 69’ closed curcuit race was the first race i ever saw at a theater in milwaukee. Then, the following week, my first in person race at the mile. Still remember the packed house laughing at the commentators alot and howlin fir their favs. Impossible to forget that energy
Considering the era, I’d say the close circuit TV version is lost, a victim of the junking policies of the day.
God Bless Jim Mckay & Chris Economaki
and Rodger Ward. I saw him finish second to Jim Rathmann back in 1960...what a race!
@@garylewis6495 And sadly, Bobby Unser.
Sid Collins... nuff said.
I can't help but wonder where Jim Clark would've finished in this 500. Thank you indycar for the awesome content on RUclips!
Jimmy was slated to be the #1 driver for the Lotus STP turbine racer.
Given how Jimmy could go like the wind, but still keep the car out on the track, he very likely would have won the 1968 "500".
Finally! The thrilling 1968 race has been posted! Can't wait to watch this!
This race was on a special closed circuit TV broadcast that was shown in theatres that year. My Dad took my brother and myself to a theatre in downtown LA to watch and it was great to see it on the big screen.
This particular footage is not the closed circuit telecast you would have seen but film of the race done separately and aired on "Wide World Of Sports" one week later. ABC didn't use the closed circuit telecast footage because it was still being done in B/W at the time.
Didn't they broadcast live?
Yes, the closed circuit was a live feed but not on ABC
Amazing that such tech existed there, truly ahead of its time.
Thanks for beautiful video!
Look at this Liberty Media LOOK AT THIS, this is Fan Service thank you Indycar
Exactly! Lib Med is doing little or nothing for the sport.
Freddy Chale yep liberty are only interested in making sure they make more money.
Partially true. Indycar destroyed the online community when they gave NBC pass the only access in the world to everything except the race itself.
In 1961, there was one rear-engine car in the race. In 1968, there are 32.
1961: Jack Brabham
amazing how close non spec cars raced aint it :P
"50 years from now".
Impensável hoje 2020 esse tanto de gente na pista na largada. Belo vídeo.
This Was A Popular Win!🏁🏎🏆
Don't Worry, Andy! You Will Get Them, Next Year, With Mario Andretti!🏁🏎🏆( 1969 )
Rest In Peace, Bobby Unser.🥺😢😭🙏🏁🏎🏆( 1968 )🏁🏎🏆( 1975 )🏁🏎🏆( 1981 )🥺😢😭🙏
This is the taped (and edited) version seen a week or so later on "Wide World Of Sports".
I suspect a segment showing clips from the time trials was also part of the original telecast, but not seen here.
As I understand it, this broadcast was postponed a week due to coverage of Robert Kennedy's funeral.
Thanks for the correction.
I woukd think that despite RFK's assassination, the tape was probably edited on schedule and just sat on the shelf for an extra week before finally being broadcast.
THANKS FOR THE POST. Sooo awesome melts my heart.
One of the best videos on RUclips!
there was more talent, authority, and personality in jim mckay’s PINKY FINGER than in the entire bodies of the announcers we have today!! 😂
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think the trio that leads the current NBC broadcast team is pretty good! (No disrespect to McKay)
Jimmy Mac will ALWAYS be the Narrator's voice while the guy EATS IT big time going off the side of the downhill ski-jump during the WWof Sports intro. "The THRILL of Victory, & the AGONY of Defeat"... & Baby, THAT was the AGONY...
Bob Varsha has entered the chat.
Grew up in Indy. That tire patch laid down by Foyt when racing Gurney side by side in turn 1 just owns it.
3:18 Joe Leonard and Graham Hill nearly US 500ed the field. What on earth were they thinking banging wheels there?
I think Hill was almost sideways on some of the turns (a miracle he survived) - old F1 habits die hard !
I wonder if that touch contributed to Hill's problems later.
"Vehicular high five?"
I backed it up to that point & I still didn't catch it.
I was 8, & saw the evening broadcast on TV, but don't recall anyone saying anything about that, though probably EVERYONE knew that in open-wheel, that's usually DISASTER!!!
The U.S. 500 start, I wondered some if that wasn't "advanced corporate espionage" or somethong, considering that CART had just lost Indy as the crown jewel of its season & @ least 1 CART driver had commented to the effect of, "yeah, but the BEST cars & drivers are gonna be HERE, & EVERYBODY KNOWS IT."
Then for nearly their whole field to be taken out on the pace lap; my 1st reaction was, "someone @ Indy with a 'dirty tricks budget' didn't like the trash-talkin'!"
And of course, the turbine was banned for 1969.
"Luck" has always been a funny thing @ Indy.
I used to hate Emmo after he finally got over here, until in 1 race he was running AWAY from everyone in, some relatively cheap part had broken & put him on the wall, just like anything that happened to AJ or Mario or any of 'em.....
I believe I got to see him win 1 more 500 after that!
Phenomenal cars, great drivers. ACC. to my knowledge Jochen Rindt is the only German racing driver to drive in both F1 and Indianapolis. A huge talent who later died a very tragic death. RIP Jochen, still not forgotten.
Jochen Rindt was Austrian and the only posthumous world driving champion
@@johnallison6474 he was born in Germany, but raced with an austrian license.
Remembering the 1960s Indy 500 after the 2020.
Voiceover says "this race will still be commented on in 50 years time". Its 2018, 50 years later. "yep, it was a good race, eventful for sure.....
LOTUS TURBINE, THE MOST COOL RACE CAR OF ALL TIMES !!
It dropped out of the sky in early May and hovered.
And unreliable
@@jamesgentry13 like every other British car.
Felt so Bad for Joe Leonard, One can only image coming so close, Joe was One of the true Ironmen of Racing, He could drive anything, He also risked his life & pulled Mel Kenyon outta of a burning car,
Feel pretty bad for Mike Spence too. Killed in practice after taking over the car Jim Clark was supposed to drive.
@@thethirdman225 Designer Colin Chapman was so devastated two of his best mates lost in those 2 months! In '69 he designed the AWD Lola for Granatelli. Beautiful Machine which was totalled the day before qualifcations, Mario would drive the spare car Brawner Hawk to victory.
I think '69 was Chapmans last year at Indy, He would focus only in F1 & pass way to soon, Glory days!
Before this video was uploaded, the ABC telecast of this race had never been uploaded onto RUclips before!
I didn't know Jochen Rindt had an Indy 500 start.
And when he went out of the race he gave a memorable interview on the radio broadcast where he said bluntly, "No," when asked if he'd come back next year.
epaddon although he did come back - he would have raced in the Lotus 64 for the 1969 500 until Andretti put one in the wall and it was found that the rear hubs would not hold up to the stress of Indy.
According to Emerson Fittipaldi (Rindt's young team mate in 1970), Jochen thought Indy was "a💩place". The Austrian certainly did not get a handle on The Brickyard.
This race of Indy 500 was on the air of the greek television in Thessaloniki (1968). The newspaper "MACEDONIA" (03/07/1968) has an advertsment of this race in p. 04. Unfortunately the film of this greek broadcast is destroyed.
Look at the trees next to turn one and two! The track looks in disrepair too! Crazy how far IMS has come since then.
Thanks for this! Any chance of posting the 1972 race?
Jim Clark was to drive one of these Turbines but lost his life the month before in Formula 1
Yeah..?
At an F2 race in Hockenheim.
So sad.
Cars look different. This is what we need in indycar . Competition between different manufacturers .Spec cars of 2018 are good but we need real innovation which only comes when there is real competition between different manufacturers.
Well we need the money to do that, would be great but unfortunately AOWR doesn't have the support right now. They are looking at it for the future however, if they can find a third engine manufacturer for 2021 then they may look at another chassis provider as well. I would love it!
THE OLD DAYS OF RACING WAS SOOOO MUCH BETTER!
Nate N yes but that man named Tony George killed of that classic INDY 500 chassis and engine competition that lasted into the 90s. CART still had a chassis competition and engines competition as well. However the sponsors in the late 90s would still be able to support the series and be able to outweigh the costs of the sport that that time. However the lost of the tobacco sponsorships would have be Cataclysmic in about the early to mid 2000s. Tony then could have formed a new racing league in the mid 2000s much later than the mid 90s. However if their wasn’t a split the big time owners and teams could have easily accepted and raced in the new league easily. Their never would have been a US 500 in 1996. That is what the right approach should have been done by Tony George in the mid 90s. CART in the mid 90s still had major popularity levels in parts of the country. NASCAR was making huge gains and leaps with a lot of fans but the INDY 500 was still the BIG race and not the Daytona 500.
Yes but with same specs.
If aero and other technologies weren't so minute, I would say "Yes". However, a second chassis supplier would be about as short-lived as the Lotus engine. Rick Mears explained why it wouldn't work on his Dinner With Racers interview. Basically, if Lola built a considerably better car than March, not many teams (except maybe Dale Coyne and some Indy-only efforts) would buy from March, who had spent several million dollars on production and development that won't be adequately recovered. If the performance of next year's March is no closer to the next year's Lola (perhaps both brands made the same gains), March probably has to bow out soon because they'll be out of money.
If wind tunnels and CFD technology could somehow be banned (I don't know how IndyCar could police that), and carbon fiber legislated away (slim chance, given its safety record), then teams could build their own chassis again, or buy used cars from others. It would be awesome to see again, but spec racing isn't going away anytime soon, if ever.
I think I finally figured it out. Mario didn't have a curse or bad luck. He was just unbelievably hard on cars! He drove them too hard. He trashed TWO of them in this race! He had some of the best equipment ever, yet they always broke down on him. Had Al Unser Sr. or Rick Mears or Rutherford or Johncock been in them, they'd have made it to the finish line. I finally figured it out after his teammate was bumped out of his car so Mario could ruin yet one more car in this race!! 😆
Mario used to say, "If you're not on the verge of losing control, you're going too slow."
Yeah, he tended to be tough on race cars.
michael was also hard on equipment!
Crazy the track is unrecognizable to how it looks today but turn 1 hasn’t changed a bit!!
Some of this footage was used in the movie “Winning”, released the same year.
SovietOnion actually that footage used in the movie was from 1966
And 1967.
Dan Gurney Creations! That Chevy short Block sounding so Sweet that year
やっぱり昔のインディはすごい迫力だなぁ。
Granatelli was basically assuring himself at least one Indy win by going on and on about lack of grunt in the turbine. Truth be told Leonard yanked a massive holeshot at the green flag and was tearing people up in the short chute. Seemed as though all three of those cars were sandbagging. Funny how indy people lamented the death of the roadster when it became obsolete but their disdain for the turbine was even worse.
Indycar ! please get this footage to a hipster that can do a real transfer of this film. This footage is amazing!! If this is film it can look much better!!! Please keep posting!
djart +
That Has To Be One of The Best Races I've Ever Seen!! Bobby Unser What a Race Car Driver I Didn't Know He Got His Start at Pikes Peak.!That Is A Strong Finish For 3rd! 👍
Esses caras eram extremamente corajosos!
Awesome footage =) Thank you!
another one for the venerable, wonderful Offy, the great survivor.
1968 was such a turbulent year in our history, but this was such a cool race.
Fantastic race
The big wigs who set the rules did everything they could to shut down the turbo prop turbine engines from competing. They restricted the air inflow to where they would produce about 200hp less than the piston engines. Yet, the body design, the wedge shape of their Lotus cars would become the next generation body style for aerodynamics. By the way, it was a fuel shaft that failed in Leonard's car shutting fuel off completely.
Great history,f1 world champ ,can am champ and must be one of the first kiwis to race Indy 500 Denny Hulme paving the the way ..
Before he was killed, Jim Clark had agreed to drive one of the STP turbine cars.
I believe that Joe Leonard inherited the car that Clark was to have driven.
Great stuff
Those guys were true daredevils!
There have been lots of "sure winners" whose atrocious luck robbed them. The all time bad luck champion was Ralph DePalma, who "should" have won at least three Indy 500s (1912, 1920, 1921) besides the one he DID win (1915). In 1912, he led 196 of the 200 laps, only to have his car's engine seize up two laps from the finish.
Rest in Peace, Bobby Unser.
from what I can tell.the turbines had only an advantage in the corners with four wheel drive and probably more downforce with wedge shape. Banning them looked to be purely political. Something like this now would have a BOP adjustment
The FIA also banned them & 4WD when they saw the car running so well in the rain in F1.
Beautiful
OMG the turbine car.
Rodger Ward was a great color commentator
I wonder if kids today are as fascinated by this as I was when I was 8 years old...
I love that there’s a flagger on the inside wall. I love seeing the 🏁 to the winner.
Un día como hoy, Domingo 26 de Mayo 1968, se corrió la 52da. Edición de las 500 Millas de Indianápolis. Allí participaron tres pilotos activos en Fórmula 1: el inglés Graham Hill, quien ganó las 500 Millas de 1966; el neozelandés Dennis Hulme, Campeón Mundial en 1967 y el austríaco Jochen Rindt, quien sería el único Campeón Mundial Post Morten en 1970 ¡Dios los tenga en su Reino junto a James Kenneth McMahon (1921 - 2008) mejor conocido como Jim McKay, excelente narrador y comentarista deportivo que también transmitió durante muchos años las carreras de caballos de la Triple Corona.
The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, amirite?
PS - Pistons drool, turbines rool! lol
Racing needs to go back to the NON SPEC race car. And you know, here we are 51 years later and where is 250 m.p.h. ? These old bombs were doing 200 way back then. Indy banned the turbine car and we will never see a racing Indy Turbine again. Thanks for the memories.
a real dangerous era of the Indy 500 - no pit speed limit, the Swede Savage angled wall off of Turn 4, low fences, exposed drivers and a lot pit wall