Indy 500 Pace Car Crash of 1971
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Now that the Indy 500 is in the books, another moment of racing history has almost been forgotten. Back in 1971, a Dodge Challenger used as the Pace Car, crashed into the photographers' stand at the end of pit lane.
Driving the pace car that day was local Dodge dealer Eldon Palmer, who fielded the car himself that year because Chrysler, along with Ford and GM, sensed the demise of the muscle car era and chose not to supply an official pace car in 1971. Palmer got together with other local Dodge dealers to round up 50 Challengers for the Indy 500. Those who were there to tell the story share that Palmer had practiced braking in the pits before the race and positioned either a flag or a cone at the point where he should have started to brake. However, before the pace lap and the start of the race, somebody removed the marker, so Palmer driving with Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman, astronaut John Glenn and Chris Schenkel of ABC Sports in the car... took the car a bit too far, ended up braking late and careening out of control into the stand. Several photographers were injured, but none fatally.
Palmer reportedly felt so awful about the incident that he kept the Challenger until five years ago did he restore it and sell it to Indiana collector Steven Cage, who currently has it in his RPM Collection museum in Fishers, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis.
No deaths, what miracle
You know something spectacular is going to happen when a pace car is going faster in the pits than the actual race
HE WAS KEEPING UP WITH THE CARS ON TRACK OMG!!!
Dude, you're driving the pace car, not a race car!
I was 17 and getting ready to graduate high school. I watched this live on TV, and it was the damnedest I'd ever seen. The driver owned the dealership that provided the pace car. I remember thinking he looked like he was going way too fast after leaving the track, but this guy is a pro and he knows what he's doing...no, wait!
The Most Unusual Crash In Auto Racing History.
Did you forget about Montoya crashed into the Jet Dryer at Daytona...he is a Professional Driver not an Amateur!!😅
🏁Whole new meaning for "Dodge"
I M B E C I L E
"Suuure I can drive I been drivin' dem dare cars for years!"
the dude driving the pace car was a clown
a car dealer who gave them the pace car
🤡
Yikes, he was going really fast down the pit lane, I guess he just got to excited and caught up in the moment of speed.
What I’ve heard was that the guy driving the pace car was ordered to pass where the finish line was the exact same time as the car in 1st.
I bet he was partying hard
I heard that this was his belief, but no-one ordered him to do it. He also had a braking marker he chose the day prior, but this wasn't there one race day@@casted_dreams
@@recuperacion420 Lol.
@@casted_dreamswhat a great plan 😂
Hey man, hold my beer while I try something.
_"Where's the cone?... I said 'where is thuuUU-AAAH!!!!"_
That pace car was hauling ass!!
That happened on my seventh birthday!
Happy belated Birthday! 🎂
who gives a shit
This is why they usually have a retired racer drive the pace car, not the owner of the local Ford dealership.
Dude driving clearly wanted to beat them to the line!!! And he did! Crazy modafoka!!! Party high rocknroll
this is most likely why Chrysler hasn't made a Challenger convertible since
Not really, they sold very poorly before the crash as did all convertibles.
What a fool. It's obvious he was going to fast. Why didn't he just go back into the track? It wouldn't of been a problem if he stayed low. Instead the guy pitches the wheel into a crowd. Go figure.
I read a story once that might explain what happened. The driver was practicing during the week and was using an orange traffic cone to mark the spot where he should start slowing down. Just before the race started, someone moved it. So he had no idea when to get on the brakes until it was too late.
@@TheMk1960 Do you really need a cone to tell you youre going too fast?
@@Toby_the_Glen The cone was the spot to either stop or to speed up and come back on the track if there was a false start.
@@Toby_the_Glenright exactly, that's the excuse?! Someone said that on another clip of this on here too.
Fast n Loud brought me here
Me too.
me too
Hahaha same
I wonder where that Shelby GT Mustang is today…I’ll bet its worth a fortune!?! 🤑 Glad everyone made it out alive!!
Wonder how it would have stopped with the big disc brakes available today.
and ABS, preventing a skid.
The car had disc brakes
@@20alphabet Thanks for that update. Disc brakes were a big deal back then. Weren't they more widely available on European cars back then?
@@mdogg1604
Beginning in the late 1960s most American made V8s came with disc brakes as standard equipment. Into the early 1970s many 6 cylinder cars still had drums at all four corners.
@@20alphabet I'm a poor kid who was lucky to have all four drums working. Bought a car once where the the brake shoe spring came off a porch screen door. Got more money now but am still old school at heart.
Mopars back then had terrible handling. The torsion bar front suspension with leaf springs rear was a terrible combination. I experienced it, with my cousins Cuda. The rear came around so easy.
That's untrue. The B-Class NASCAR Valiants had the torsion bar suspension, and was a main reason it beat everything else.
Best handling in the world can't fix stupid
Chrysler trash- then and now!
Look up the green brick valiant, they did all that with factory suspension, spanked everything except one 2200lb purpose built race car.
Your comment is entirely off base. Chrysler Corp. cars had the very best handling.
Did he have a brake failure?
Palmer was in a hurry to get to the snake pit which was right behind the stand of loads he wrecked into. Notice the pic of him with the red English style hat and coat, big Irishman was ready to take on some more fuel, high octane no doubt.
The guy is red isn't Palmer, it's the photographer for Firestone tires. He fell into the car from the stand during the crash.
The pace car driver should be a race car driver, letting a "civilian" drive like that is asking for trouble. He panicked and missed his braking point.
quite faster than the formula cars indeed
At the end when that guy showed that Newspaper Heading, There was now way he could have gotten that the same day as the crash actually happened, or did he??? LOL
Andrew Silva
Yes. In those days one of the Indy papers would print a paper the same day and helicopter them to the track so the winner could see his name in the headlines. This was probably a section of that paper.
FaL brought me here too, lol
Chrysler quality brand new car can't even stop safely
Hoosier drivers 🤣
Lol
Was that a female driving that car?
For those wondering why he didn't slow down.. brake failure
Nope. You're totally wrong.
@georgemallory797 you need to see this...
Brake failure my butt. They tried that line when Princess Grace drove off a cliff. That's as sad as "but officer my speedometer said 55". It was plain old FUBAR
At least he got the press🏁
He should have just stayed on the track. Looks like he would have won.
Those old Mopars were the BOSS. 426 Hemis, 440 Six Packs... you just _can't stop an old Mopar!_
Mopar or no car.
Looks like the photographer’s stand was able to stop this one 😂
Who's bonehead idea was it to have a local dealership owner drive a convertible with John Glenn in it as the pace car? At the 2018 Canadian F1 race someone let a super model be the flag girl, she was so busy admiring herself she waved the checkered flag one lap early.
Astronaut John Glenn was in the pace car at the time of the crash.
True. But I don't know that he was scheduled for a launch that day.
Really? He was a member and frequent attender at my church. I would have asked him about this event if I had known this fact. Sadly, he is now dead.
@@fairfaxcat1312He lived to the age of 95 and led an amazing life by most standards. Nothing sad about that.
Dodges just can't operate at those speeds.
Lol ikr. He should have watched _'Vanishing Point'_ before he accepted the pace car duties.
It looked more like Dodges couldn't _slow down_ at those speeds.
@@maxmulsanne7054 It was actually a Chevrolet which tore up in that movie.
@@fairfaxcat1312
Elaborate if you will...
I bet he got a pit road speeding penalty😉🤪. Comin' in hot!! That boy's in a Heepa trouble.
those things have brake pedal you know
Brake failure
@@thejdracer99 Operator error.
Before MADD
I came here because of the OldCarMemories youtube video.
Pssshhh. Drive american muscle they said. It would be fun they said...
David Freiburger
As far as I know an argentinean photographer was send to the hospital...but can recall the name...
Dr Vicente Alvarez
@@Jeffcatbuckeye His injuries ended his medical career.