By Al Robinson
indy500.com
Saturday, May 26, 2007
For the second year, every starter in the 2007 Indianapolis 500 will use a Honda V-8 engine. But the lack of engine diversity doesn't mean there's a lack of on-track competition in the race.
Some of the most competitive races in Indy 500 history have come when all, or nearly all, the competitors used the same powerplant, making the human performance factor of driver and team the key ingredient to victory.
In the category of a dominant engine falls the Aurora period from 1997 to 2001 and the turbo Cosworth era of the early 1980s. But the age of the Offy was longer, more dominant, and even more fascinating for the races and the characters it produced.
The four-cylinder Offenhauser engine was designed and initially produced by Harry Miller, whose supercharged straight-8's dominated the Brickyard in the Roaring Twenties. His shop foreman, Fred Offenhauser, acquired the company in 1934. The four-cylinder engine made its debut under the Miller brand in 1930, first won the "500" as a Miller in 1935 and first carried Offenhauser's badge to victory lane in 1937.
In 270 cubic-inch form, and later at 256 inches, it won 18 consecutive Indianapolis 500's from 1947-64.
Framed Panoramic
Framed Panoramic Photo Of The Indianapolis Motor Speedway With Actual Piece of Start/Finish Line Track And Original 1909 Start/Finish Line Brick. Limited Edition Of 500. 42.5" X 17".
Four times the field was all-Offy (1954, '55, '59, '60). Only one car, Paul Russo's supercharged Novi V-8 in 1957, was able to complete 500 miles without an Offy under the hood in the 1950s. While it couldn't match the power of the Novi, the big, unsupercharged Offy's torque curve was perfect for the Speedway when lap speeds were in the 130- to 150-mph range, and anyone could buy one at Meyer-Drake Engineering in Los Angeles for around five grand.
A new $5,000 Offy of the late 1950s went into a roadster chassis, meaning the front-mounted engine was offset to the left, usually built by A.J. Watson for $12-15,000. According to Jim Rathmann, the entire cost of the start-up team for which he won the "500" in 1960 was about $30,000.
A close look at the great teams of the Offy era may help appreciate which team is most likely to deliver the goods in the Honda era.
Six teams won multiple races during the Offy era. First came Lou Moore's Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials from 1947 to 1949, with Mauri Rose at the wheel in the first two years and Bill Holland to complete the cycle. Howard Keck's Fuel Injection Special won with Bill Vukovich in 1953 and '54, John Zink Specials with Bob Sweikert in 1955 and Pat Flaherty in 1956, George Salih's Belond Exhaust "sidewinder" in 1957 with Sam Hanks and 1958 with Jimmy Bryan, and Bob Wilke's Leader Card Specials in 1959 and 1962 with Rodger Ward. While the owner and sponsor were different in A.J. Foyt's first two victories, in 1961 and 1964, the presence of George Bignotti in the pits as well as A.J. at the wheel linked them together. J.C. Agajanian fielded two winning cars in the Offy era, but they came 11 years apart.
Lou Moore's name already was etched in the Speedway record book when he assembled his Blue Crown team in the first wave of post-World War II racing development. As a driver, he ran second in 1928, and as an owner he had already won in 1938 and 1941. He returned to the popular 1930's layout of front-wheel drive for its lower profile, but he reportedly never pushed his engines to the limit, giving them great reliability and performance despite only 250 horsepower. A good 270 Offy of that time was rumored to be good for 300 horsepower; a few years later with fuel injection and a shot of nitromethane for qualifying, 360 horses were claimed.
Moore also relied on his pre-war driver, Rose, who recorded three wins in four races spread from 1941 to 1948 because of the wartime interruption.
The Keck-Vukovich era combined a mildly innovative car, the first successful Kurtis roadster with offset engine, with a driver of incomparable natural talent and almost frightening competitiveness. Had a steering link not broken while be was leading with less than 10 laps to go in 1952, Vukovich would have achieved the Indy hat trick. He was leading again at the time of his fatal acccident in 1955. His racing career provided "The Mad Russian" with an escape from his hard life as a California farm worker. When asked about the brutal heat that accompanied his first victory in 1953, he retorted: "You think this was hot? You should drive a tractor in Fresno in July."
Tulsa oilman John Zink fielded the car which captured the 1955 victory with Bob Sweikert at the wheel. It was the standard chassis for that era, a Kurtis Kraft KK500 roadster, used by 20 of the 33 starters. For 1956, Zink commissioned his mechanic A.J. Watson to improve on the Kurtis product, which he did by making the basic design lighter and simpler. Pat Flaherty then won the pole and the race over 22 Kurtis machines.
George Salih, who was a foreman in the Meyer-Drake plant that built the Offy in the 1950s, took the roadster concept one step further by laying the engine on its side, 72 degrees from vertical, for lower frontal area. His engineering was sound, but it never caught on, and the Watson roadsters retained an upright engine configuration. More than anything else, what made the "sidewinder" a double winner was Salih's employment of the best drivers for hire in that era, Hanks and Bryan. In a memorable pun combining the name of the sponsor with the name of a popular movie of the time, a headline writer labeled Hanks, "The Gentleman Who Preferred A Belond" after his 1957 win. Hanks retired from racing in Indy's victory lane, opening the seat for three-time national champion Bryan the following year.
If there was a car owner who bridged the gap from five-time winner Lou Moore to 14-time winner Roger Penske in Indy history, it was probably Bob Wilke. He hired first-rate talent, including Rodger Ward as driver and A.J. Watson as in-house car builder as well as crew chief. He paid them well enough to keep them from taking their skills down Gasoline Alley to the next team with an open checkbook, and he regularly ran multiple-car teams. The one-two finish by Ward and Len Sutton in 1962 was the first team sweep since Moore's Blue Crown Specials in 1948.
A.J. Foyt wasn't the car owner in either of his two roadster-era Indy victories, but his force of personality was strong enough that he had no trouble making sure that Bignotti turned the wrenches for whomever he chose to drive. That pairing of driver and mechanic was as strong as any the Speedway has ever seen. In 1964, the Foyt-Bignotti team would win 10 of 13 starts on the USAC championship trail. After the two intense characters went their separate ways, Foyt would win two more "500's" as a driver in 1967 and 1977, and again as an owner in 1999, while Bignotti would have his second trip to victory lane as a co-owner in 1983.
So what do we learn from the teams that achieved multiple success in the Offy era? They pushed the technical envelope a little, but they anchored their success in the talent behind the wheel and behind the pit wall.
Now fast-forward to 2007. There's not much that can be done to gain a high-tech edge with a single engine serviced by the manufacturer, limited chassis options carefully defined by the rulebook, and a spec tire from Firestone (also the supplier during the Offy era, by the way). An aerodynamic tweak here, a spring and shock package there; the rest, as Eric Clapton once said, is in the way that you use it.
Four teams have won the "500" in the last seven years -- Team Penske in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006; Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2000, Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004 and Andretti Green Racing in 2005. They also have accounted for the last four IndyCar Series championships. How do they stack up against their illustrious forebearers?
It's inevitable to compare Team Penske of today to Lou Moore's Blue Crown Specials of the late 1940s, since they are the only organizations in 90 runnings of the event to win three in a row. The stability of both is amazing. Team Penske has fielded just three drivers at the Speedway since returning victoriously in 2001 from five years of self-imposed exile. All three - Helio Castroneves, the now-retired Gil de Ferran and Sam Hornish Jr. - have won the "500" at least once. Moore's team came within one place of three straight one-two finishes: Rose and Bill Holland were first and second, respectively, in 1947 and 1948, while Holland and George Connor were first and third, respectively, in 1949. Holland brought the Blue Crown era to a close by finishing second in 1950.
But the Blue Crown drivers were far from a happy family, especially when Holland complied with a slow-down signal while leading in 1947 and Rose drove past to win, precipitating a post-race shouting match between Holland and Moore. Team Penske has maintained an all-for-one, one-for-all public face which is more reminiscent of the Leader Card teams of the roadster era.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing may be the logical successor to Howard Keck's team of the Vukovich era, at least with regard to Dan Wheldon's side of the garage. The polished Englishman may seem a far cry from the "Mad Russian," but he shares both Vukovich's self-confidence (remember his "I Really Won The Indy 500" shirt at the height of "Danicamania" in 2005?) and the willingness to stand on the gas until he wins or the car breaks under the strain. His teammate, Scott Dixon, is a bit lower profile, but no less competitive.
As the mega-team of IndyCar Series, Andretti Green Racing can't help but attract attention. Five cars, counting among the drivers two members of the sport's first family, the world's most prominent female driver, and the 2004 series champion gathered under one roof make Dario Franchitti, who would be a headliner on any other team, look like a nominee for best supporting actor. While it may seem like heresy to compare an Andretti to A.J. Foyt, even the Foyt of 45 years ago, the single-mindedness of Michael Andretti may bind this team together in the way the Texan did in his turbulent but successful years with Bignotti.
Rahal Letterman has seen major change since their Indy win in 2004 and the "Danicamania" of 2005. All the drivers and sponsors from just two years ago are gone, along with the advantage they enjoyed over Toyota-powered Penske and Ganassi before the adoption of Honda as the series powerplant in 2006. But in Scott Sharp they have a cool hand, a veteran with both an Indy 500 pole and a series title behind him, who could lift the team in the way veterans Hanks and Bryan did George Salih's Belond team of 1957 and 1958.
Finally, there's a team in the field which hasn't won in recent years but probably comes closer to the concept and attitude of most Indy teams in the Offy era than the big four. That's Panther Racing, a Hoosier-owned outfit which has never raced in any other series and won the championship in 2001 and 2002 with Sam Hornish Jr. Their lead driver, Vitor Meira, didn't do his apprenticeship driving a tractor in Fresno, but his talent and determination may approach those of the Mad Russian.
ically, perhaps, the initial "V" appears in Vitor, in Vukovich and in Victory.
***
Indianapolis 500 tickets on sale: Tickets are on sale for the 2007 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 27, the 91st running of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Fans can order tickets online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com, by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, or at the ticket office at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Parking and camping information also can be obtained through the ticket office.
Hours for phone orders and the ticket office are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (ET) Monday-Sunday during May, with special hours of 6 a.m.-1 p.m. on Race Day, Sunday, May 27. Online orders can be made at any time.
Race Day ticket prices start at just $20.
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