I was 14 in '77. I heard this all on the radio that morning, then watched it on tv that night. The first time I ever heard the 500 on radio was 1974, and I quickly became addicted to Indy and have loved it ever since. Thank you for bringing this wonderful race back to life again.
This was my very 1st time I sat and watched this race and I`ve been hooked ever since. I remeber it well because of Gordon Johncock going out at lap 185
In the early laps Clay Reggazoni was the star of the show. It is also worth mentioning the Lloyd Ruby accident was very violent and was Ruby's last race. Two great, great drivers who left an indelible print on the Indianapolis "500".
I notice that Johncock had an extra wing on the front of his car. They used to have those in F1 but they were pretty much abandoned because of the extra weight.
The high nose wings were used in many different series as a way to add down force to the nose of a car. The main problem is that they created a great deal of turbulent air over the car that caused the rear wing to be less efficient.
Really useless bit of trivia: The segment with Jackie at the racetrack in the early morning can be dated to May 14, 1977-not because of anything he said, but because of something at the very beginning of the video. When they show the Moon, there's a very bright spot to the right of it. That's not a flaw in the video-that's the planet Venus, which made a very close pass (called a conjunction) with the Moon on May 14. In fact, if you'd been in northern Canada, you'd have seen the Moon move in front of Venus
Poor Quality due to television production employees being on strike that year. Networks had to use "scabs" and middle management to get the work done. No one took time to index and catalog video tapes during that period. Finding a good quality version might be difficult.
Yeah you're right.....but their opening theme wasn't the same then. They used that theme at Indy prior to transferring it to football. And since ABC aired both the 500 and Monday Night Football I guess they had the rights to the song and could use it where ever they wanted.
I thought the lead Johncock had on Foyt when he broke was 13 seconds. In the official film of the race, Bud Lindemann, who narrated the film, mentioned that Johncock had a 13-second lead with 16 laps to go before he broke.
What's up? Haven't talked to you in a while.I thought the same thing(That Johncock was further ahead than 8 seconds) but recently I saw somewhere that it was indeed only 8 seconds.I am rather dismissive of people who say Foyt would have passed Gordie as Johncock would have never backed off (regardless of the gap when he broke.)
Foyt would never have caught Gordy had he not broke. He was catching Johncock before the final pit stops, but Johncock had a much better stop and expanded his lead to about 13 seconds before his crankshaft broke. What ABC missed after that was that there was a brief caution for the spin of Johnny Parsons, Jr. between Johncock's mechanical failure and the end of the race, which likely gave Foyt a chance to reflect on just what he was about to do. That took place with under 10 laps remaining, but because they did not bunch up during caution periods back then (that wasn't allowed until 1979), Tom Sneva, the only other driver on the same lap with Foyt, was unable to close a 35+ second deficit.
***** Interesting about the Parsons spin.That was new to me.The 1977 '500' yearbook was the last year that Donald Davidson did not write the race story (which was much more detailed.) Much has to be pieced together because of that.As you said the ABC film on You Tube is not complete but it's the best we have got.
Actually, the ABC broadcast was the compete version, as seen in this upload, as the race was broadcast two hours on tape delay, so with the commercials edited out, the length is just about right. However, I was mistaken about what happened to Johnny Parsons, Jr. His car actually stalled and was towed in, and the caution was brought out for three or four laps for that. He did not spin out, and I apologize for the error. However, there seems to be conflicting information as to exactly when that happened. The original information I used, which was the basis for the previous comment, said that Parsons stalled with 9 or 10 laps remaining, but according to racingreference.info, his tow in and the caution for it happened much earlier, and before Johncock had his broken crankshaft. The source I used had the caution from laps 191-194, while racingreference.info has the caution at laps 163-166. Either way, it's never mentioned, either on the ABC broadcast or in the official film the speedway put out.
1978. My favourite Indy 500 of all time apart from many others.
I was 14 in '77. I heard this all on the radio that morning, then watched it on tv that night. The first time I ever heard the 500 on radio was 1974, and I quickly became addicted to Indy and have loved it ever since. Thank you for bringing this wonderful race back to life again.
This was my very 1st time I sat and watched this race and I`ve been hooked ever since. I remeber it well because of Gordon Johncock going out at lap 185
Greatest race of all time!
Bignotti and Foyt fought like brothers, but there was respect.
In the early laps Clay Reggazoni was the star of the show. It is also worth mentioning the Lloyd Ruby accident was very violent and was Ruby's last race. Two great, great drivers who left an indelible print on the Indianapolis "500".
I notice that Johncock had an extra wing on the front of his car. They used to have those in F1 but they were pretty much abandoned because of the extra weight.
The high nose wings were used in many different series as a way to add down force to the nose of a car. The main problem is that they created a great deal of turbulent air over the car that caused the rear wing to be less efficient.
Really useless bit of trivia:
The segment with Jackie at the racetrack in the early morning can be dated to May 14, 1977-not because of anything he said, but because of something at the very beginning of the video.
When they show the Moon, there's a very bright spot to the right of it. That's not a flaw in the video-that's the planet Venus, which made a very close pass (called a conjunction) with the Moon on May 14. In fact, if you'd been in northern Canada, you'd have seen the Moon move in front of Venus
And it was my birthday 🎂🎉
The 1977 Ford Coyote in Forza 5 brought me here.
As it was in '77, it's true in 2023: Never give up!
Poor Quality due to television production employees being on strike that year. Networks had to use "scabs" and middle management to get the work done. No one took time to index and catalog video tapes during that period. Finding a good quality version might be difficult.
They must have supplied their own cameras as well...their grandpas he bought in 1929. Lol
@@BoilerBloodline no shit lol
Indycar Series has a pristine copy on their site. Although they cut 12 minutes out of it.
Good Tasting beer and what's your Preference in beer
Michelob ultra
Why are they using the Monday night football theme ?
+rob mush Monday night football didn't even exist in '77. They used a different theme for Indy every year, and in '77 it happened to be this one.
Monday Night Football debuted in 1970.
Yeah you're right.....but their opening theme wasn't the same then. They used that theme at Indy prior to transferring it to football. And since ABC aired both the 500 and Monday Night Football I guess they had the rights to the song and could use it where ever they wanted.
Johncock had a 8-second lead on Lap 185 with all pit stops complete.No way Foyt would have caught him had the crankshaft not broke.
I thought the lead Johncock had on Foyt when he broke was 13 seconds. In the official film of the race, Bud Lindemann, who narrated the film, mentioned that Johncock had a 13-second lead with 16 laps to go before he broke.
What's up? Haven't talked to you in a while.I thought the same thing(That Johncock was further ahead than 8 seconds) but recently I saw somewhere that it was indeed only 8 seconds.I am rather dismissive of people who say Foyt would have passed Gordie as Johncock would have never backed off (regardless of the gap when he broke.)
Foyt would never have caught Gordy had he not broke. He was catching Johncock before the final pit stops, but Johncock had a much better stop and expanded his lead to about 13 seconds before his crankshaft broke.
What ABC missed after that was that there was a brief caution for the spin of Johnny Parsons, Jr. between Johncock's mechanical failure and the end of the race, which likely gave Foyt a chance to reflect on just what he was about to do. That took place with under 10 laps remaining, but because they did not bunch up during caution periods back then (that wasn't allowed until 1979), Tom Sneva, the only other driver on the same lap with Foyt, was unable to close a 35+ second deficit.
***** Interesting about the Parsons spin.That was new to me.The 1977 '500' yearbook was the last year that Donald Davidson did not write the race story (which was much more detailed.) Much has to be pieced together because of that.As you said the ABC film on You Tube is not complete but it's the best we have got.
Actually, the ABC broadcast was the compete version, as seen in this upload, as the race was broadcast two hours on tape delay, so with the commercials edited out, the length is just about right.
However, I was mistaken about what happened to Johnny Parsons, Jr. His car actually stalled and was towed in, and the caution was brought out for three or four laps for that. He did not spin out, and I apologize for the error. However, there seems to be conflicting information as to exactly when that happened. The original information I used, which was the basis for the previous comment, said that Parsons stalled with 9 or 10 laps remaining, but according to racingreference.info, his tow in and the caution for it happened much earlier, and before Johncock had his broken crankshaft. The source I used had the caution from laps 191-194, while racingreference.info has the caution at laps 163-166. Either way, it's never mentioned, either on the ABC broadcast or in the official film the speedway put out.
Jacky Stewart's hairstyle - even back in 1977 it was an out of date joke
@van wray They were just as out of date as wee Jacky - he and I come from the same Scottish towm
@@buckfaststradler4629 wee Jacky lmao, he’s about 1/2 pint low
3 time world driving champion. Damn near won Indy in 1966. Engine let go 8 laps from the end.
@@michaeljacobs2954 Fantastic driver - Horrible hairstyle
@@buckfaststradler4629 It was the 70s man.