From the Victory Circle series, Dave Despain hosts this look at the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1966. The footage is from the Perfect Circle film series.
JIM CLARK - By far the greatest driver ever - no doubt. He is and was "The Best of the Best" (Fangio, Senna, Prost, Stewart and countless others about Clark). No other driver in history until today was so superior as Clark - No other driver as so much "Grand Slam" - Pole/Win/Fastest Lap/Leading every lap of the race - like him. And all that from just 72 starts... ! This man is the Olymp of driving - the Michelangelo of racing - a dynamic art at the highest level. So smooth, so precise, so fast....simply out of this world. One, who won in Spa by 5 minutes (!) in monsoon rain with only one hand at the wheel (!) because of gearbox trouble...One, who takes back a complete lap (!) in Monza and back into the lead... One, who took pole on the original 22,8 km Nürburgring track by 9 (!) seconds and more....One who won Indy by 2 whole (!) laps...For eternity and by lightyears unmatched in the sport. That`s just four examples of his mesmeric unique genius...
Well, Graham was really good aswell.. So is Jackie. From USA Mario Andretti has been their ambassador. It s really hard to say who is the best ever. But those days risks where 50 x bigger than today
He was a damn good representative of the sport too. Some clown who worked for either The NY Times or Chicago Tribune wrote an editorial in the paper after Gordon Smiley’s fatal accident. In it he claimed there were only fans of auto racing because it was a “bloodsport” and that fans liked to see drivers “grinded up like hamburger.” Despain responded with a commentary of his own at the end of his weekly (Saturday) show on _’Motorweek Illustrated’_ the following week; explaining the nature of the sport and its’ fans. As well as including that the editor should perform a better research of a topic before he mistakenly criticizes it with a false narrative. Good man that Dave Despain. God Bless him. 👍🏁💨
Good post.The 50th Anniversary race was one of the wildest and most confusing races ever.If Lloyd Ruby had not broke all the confusion wouldn't have mattered.According to the 1966 '500' yearbook , Ruby dusted Clark off around Lap 139 with a clean pass and had the fastest car by that point but......everyone knows the Lloyd Ruby story.
This is one of the better highlight reels. It’s still got the cheesy narrations, but the use of driver interviews and snippets of Tom Carnegie on the PA adds a lot to it.
Things this video either does not show or mention. 1. Jim Clark spun TWICE during the race and continued. 2. Clark's car was so similar looking to teammate Al Unser's that it was thought for a time that the scoring error was made due to a scorer confusing Clark's car with Unser's. Clark's team thought that the scorer had attributed one of his laps to Unser by mistake. 3. Chuck Rodee died after crashing during a warm up lap on Pole Day. 4. It is not mentioned, but if you pay attention at 7:50, you will notice the only front-engined car in the race. Inside Row 11, driven by Bobby Grim. He was eliminated in the start crash and finished 31st. 5. Although Graham Hill was a rookie, the Rookie of the Year award for the race was given to Jackie Stewart. Stewart led a total of 40 laps before he broke. Hill led only 10 laps.
I also saw the Bobby Grims car and after googling and googling found him and the car. I immidiately saw it. Didn't know Someone had died on that weekend..
It was, according to Granatelli when Al crashed and the scorer thought it was Clark and stopped scoring him. He then recognized his mistake but missed one of Clark's laps. Other people said it was BS so...
At 08:40 during the start crash slow-mo, a piece of debris--must be from a car--flies over the safety/catch fence and into the crowd. It lands out-of-frame. Per Sports Illustrated archived article, 14 spectators were hit by debris, with one hospitalized for a short time. Lucky. If you haven't seen "The Deadliest Crash" about Le Mans 1955, it's on YT. Horrible accident; the 55-minute film is a superb study of 1950's racing technology, strategy, and of accepted risk...for the drivers, at least.
5:41 Jim Clark qualified next to Mario Andretti. 5:56 Al Unser (Jim Clark’s teammate) in an “almost identical” car only qualifies *18th!* LOL 😂 Unless the ‘almost’ means his car was 50 kilograms heavier, then that just shows the gulf in class between Jim Clark & Al Unser!
Again...as said before in other films about this 500 Indy race of 1966, by me. I believe Jim Clark actually won this race...not England's famous driver, Graham Hill. Does anyone really know...or ever will? The great A. J. Foyt who climbed the track's "catch fence" was within 100 feet where I was with my dad , uncle and a couple prominent business men from Atlanta. One was the general plant manager for the Ford Motor Company in Hapeville, Ga. He's the man who got all of us tickets to the race from Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. We actually were right across from the track's " Victory Lane". Funny...one thing the Ford plant manager wanted to know of the car ( Hill's) in "Victory Lane" was - what brand of tires did Hill have on his car.? I, just a few months turning 16 years old at that time said: "Firestone". He wanted them to win along with a Ford racing engine...not Goodyear ( which several of the 33 cars had, including Foyt & Dan Gurney - with, I think, Gurney's first year Indianapolis designed " Eagles" had. )
Looks like AJ scaled that fence after all the cars had stopped. He looks kinda like “the Elvis of Auto Racing” back then. :-) Always my favorite driver. My dad worked for a company who’s CEO was on the board of Rose-Hulman and got tickets whenever we wanted to go. Dad packed us into the camper of the truck and we bounced around the bed of the truck in transit. We were in the first turn in 65, I think. Mom went to a breakfast at the 500 or another dining event and sat at a table with Lloyd Ruby, brought home a Firestone ashtray, with a rubber tire wrapped around a glass ashtray, brother has it now. Mom didn’t think it was very safe so she stopped going and didn’t want us kids to go either.
@@terrykrall - No doubt...this 1966 Indy 500 is one that had excitement. A.J. IS a "one-of-a-kind" no doubt. Of the few of several recaps of the race, this one seems to have had the best filming view and exciting narration also. Your parents were blessed to be able to experience some great I.M.S. events in those years. Something in hindsight of watching the race from this view...Driver Jim McElreath's car stall in one of his pit stops...Had that not happened, I wonder if he could have pulled off the 500 victory? He came in third and was consistent with the front runners. Well...there are so many "what ifs" for the '66 race over the previous year's and the '67 race (which, I think, Parnelli [Jones] and the unique turbine car would have easily won had it not been for the infamous "$6 transmission bearing"). And, as to the turbine car...it, it had won, would may have been either 1) a complete "game changer" or 2) just a one time victory at Indy due to the main automotive industry complaints about the turbine engine. I don't think that the turbine car of 1968 would have won due to its power restrictions. Andy Granatelli and his brothers said that the '68 turbine was well under power for the race compared to the turbcharged Offenhauser and Fords. I think even Dan Gurney's Eagle Ford-Westlake stock block had more power than the turbine.
It is funny that European (particularly English manufacturers) had to show the Americans in the 60’s that front-engined cars were archaic in design, and that rear-engined cars were obviously the way to go. The Americans were reluctant to believe it until they were summarily thrashed in their own back yard before they would change their ways.
Yes, I’m *sure* the Champ cars & IndyCars were all loosing the Indy 500 for years because they were still thinking about “dirt tracks”, which they weren’t even racing on (!)🤦♂️
Two points to make here: If you are not familiar with Graham Hill what you get at 20:40 tells you a lot. 500 miles and the man takes off his helmet, with a sly smile, and his hair looks terrific. This is "Mr. Monaco" and he truly was one of a kind. Also, who would have thought that seeing Colin Chapman eating a doughnut would have made me smile as it did?
The race that started Lloyd Ruby's hard luck run and also the race that retired Roger Ward. Ward parked it at his first pit stop while on the lead lap driving for the same team as Hill and Stewart. He was supposed to get the same equipment as Hill and Stewart but Ford would not supply an engine for his car so his Lola had a supercharged Offy. He was very upset as he had won the Phoenix race just before and was supposed to be the lead driver and he had convinced himself he had no chance. How was he to know that only 8 cars would be running at the finish? After the race was over he decided to quit and that was the end of his career. By the way, even in the miserable Offy he qualified he was still faster than Hill had been. It bothered him for years. He really wanted that third win.
I was at that race. I went with my dad and uncle Johnny, we sat on the outside of turn 4. I was 15 and don't remember a great deal about the race because I was too busy starring at the girls in the bikini tops setting about six rows down. If the truth was known, I doubt if dad or uncle Johnny remember much of the race either.
I dont want to hear Kyle Busches name mentioned with the top half of this incredible field unless and until he gives THIS a shot instead of piling up meaningless victories for All American Toyota against children and old guys who couldnt get to top series
Sorry to you Americans, but 3 drivers from Europe (Great Britain) and they all finished in top 6. Graham won, Clark second and Jackie sixth.. Ok, Bill Foster was Canadian, but still. Maybe this is why there hasn't been a champion since Andretti (Almost Italian).. Scott Speed, Rossi and Logan.. Got to give it to you that Rossi had a shit car and won after f1 Idianapolis 500 on first try.. Still, makes you question why is it like that.. Ohm and Eddie Cheever was a bit of a difference on the list, but yeah.. It's weird.. I'm from a country with only 5,5 miljion people and we have 3 different champions from 1982..
Very few Americans are in any F1 feeder series. And if they are they have to move to europe as children with rich parents basically. F1 may be the "pinnacle of motorsport" globally, but its not like everyone over here is trying to get into it. Have our own series, plus motorsport is kinda different here...its not a plaything for rich people...its more of a hard work, grit, and good ol' boys thing in the US (some negative people might say redneck). You gotta have millions behind you in sponsorship at least to sniff F1. (And be a carting champion at, like, 12 years old or whatnot) Maybe we'll see some change if Andretti gets a team and if F1 popularity keeps growing here. Still, it'll probably take a decade or so to get some kids in the pipeline. Lastly I guess I should mention that carting isn't really that popular here as far as I am aware. Most get their start on dirt short tracks driving things called "midgets" or "legends" cars.
