The Silent Screamer - Andy Granatelli’s gas turbine car run at the 1967 Indy 500 

Agreed, those days are long gone. Today it's "how can we make it more fair for everyone, I know lets make the better car add weight and restrict the airflow at the intake"

Not in these days. Snowflakes have ruined all racing.

@@smokeylovesfire1589 bullshit. Racecars are better than ever. Go piss and moan in the past if you want, but don’t act like there’s nothing valuable or innovative in racing anymore.

@@TheHannukahZombie things are so out of control with racing costs now that the organization are making the cars all the same. Perfect for parade laps until the big wreak.nascar fans are leaving. Empty stands. Enjoy you parade! This

@@smokeylovesfire1589 You do know that NASCAR isn't the only racing series out there, right? NASCAR is stagnant because that's what the fans want. The same old bullshit year after year. They want pack racing and big wrecks. That's NASCAR. World class engineering wasted on garbage, outdated thinking and living 50 years in the past. The engineering is world class, the series is garbage.

Tim Ford , sir you are so right,,,, It's so sad being 66 years old and watching Indy and nascar, try new things thru the years some great some not so good. But now there pretty much equal,,,,,,,,, makes for some boring races at times. I won't even watch a F1 race now. Take care!

A few years ago I met Al Unser Sr. at the fabulous Unser Family Racing Museum in Albuquerque. He agreed that modern racecars are much less interesting to him, as they've grown so much alike.

Win or lose it wouldn't have changed anything. USAC banned turbine engines and four wheel drive.

This film is not a documentary. It only provides a snippet of true information implying that this was a great USA development. In reality Rover cars in the UK, were the first to develop a gas turbine car with a prototype in 1949/1950 called the Jet1. Further development produced the T2, T3 and T4. In 1962 BRM (British Racing Motors) then took the idea and produced an F1 car driven by Graham Hill. They even took it to Le Mans in '62. So as a documentary it's completely rubbish, however as "let's make the American's feel good" it works. Bit like the travesty of the film Fury with Brad Pitt. Wrong war, wrong tank crew nation.

Wow, are you still sore about 1776? It's about Andy Granatelli and the 1967 Indianapolis 500. So yea, it's a documentary. No one suggested he invented the wheel either. But damned if there ain't wheels on that car.

Ya THANK GOD for that not happening. Would've ruined autoracing for this young boy I assure you.

If I remember correctly from the book "They Call Me Mister 500" (or it may have been from later statements), Granatelli was more upset with them banning the 4-wheel drive system than the turbine. He considered the drive system to be a big safety implement and his dream was to resurrect the famed NOVI engine.

There's more innovation today in Motorsport than in any other period in the history of the sport.

This was the Neanderthal period. There’s more technology in your street car than they had.

Rocket cars take the fun out of land speed record cars as well. The challenge is keeping them down.

@@simonmusgrovewethey True enough, but it's all in the tiny detail which is not interesting to the race fan and cannot be seen. Nobody is using completely different power plants, 6 wheels or sucking the car onto the road with a fan anymore.

@@LTV_inc you have missed the point. There was a time in the history of racing when a man with a brain was more powerful than a machine. We have to suffer watching racing series that suffer from the handicap of the everybody deserves a trophy generation.

There are tradeoffs. Back in the day only eight cars finished and they were all on different laps.

They banned the “vacuum cleaner” car Jim Hall was going to run one year. He was famous for the #66 Chaparral car in the ‘60’s & ‘70’s. There’s a museum in Midland, Texas that houses the different Chaparral race cars that are kept in running order. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars

Yeah, how dare a sanctioning body make it about the racers ability rather than the sponsors/teams wallet size.

@@rallywagon261 the more rules there are the more expensive it is. Our local track had the same problem, every time they added a rule it cost more to run up front.

@@kclaptraffic Much like government regulations in ... well, everything.

For awhile STP ran ads in magazines that included a free sticker in an envelope.

It was difficult to find items that didn't have STP stickers on them in the late 60s.

I remember when having STP in your street car was a sign of a junker on its last legs. Ranked right up there with oatmeal in the radiator.

They had to be or else Roger Penske would keep dominating every Indy series race up to now, in the early1990's it was not fun to watch Indy style racing due to his cars dominating all the races with the money thrown at the cars due to sponsors and having 2 turbos for every cylinder or a Turbo and a Supercharger for each piston still fitting in the rules of having a Piston engine vehicle and the other rules of body/materials. They had to change so that people would still watch the sport when NASCAR was becoming the Dominate Auto racing watched in the USA.

@@caseysmith544 a turbo or supercharger for each cylinder?? You sure that’s right? How many cylinders did the cars have??

@@domestikriders 6 cylinders not 8 that the others had. This was only in the early 1990's, then Penske had to use less but still a 6 cylinder engine. Then after Penske teams most went to both a supercharger and Turbo as they could only have one, but rules did not ban both, still needing the 6 cylinder engines. Soon after the Indy track did ban Turbos and supercharging of engines in 1995 to lessen the Penske team. Then in 1997 for the 1998 season Indy tried to leverage its power to CART to ban the supercharger/Tubrbo and Penske got CART to walk from Indy who then formed its own season using mostly the 1997 season and CART picked time slots The Cart/Indy spilt was not resolved until early high school for me in fall of 2003 with Indy finally winning the war. We now see Indy with the more strict rules on the cars to prevent teams from doing what Penske did and buying wins even though now Penske just buys contracts of top drivers in other series like F2 that can't break through or spends money shaping really good drivers they have scouted into top drivers.

political parasites always play a role in technology suppression

USAC had to ban it, it was to quiet. Motor racing is about noise and it's taken until now with the obvious superiority of electric power to change it.

The turbines were not outright banned. Their intakes were restricted. Turbines are frightfully expensive as well.

@@blackbirdxx928 😂😂😂

That particular car didn't return, but Andy had three newer cars entered in the 500 in 1968 with Joe Leonard on the pole in one. If I remember, none of them finished. These cars were faster than the '67 car, but so was everyone else.

You're absolutely right, along with those that survived but suffered burn disfigurement for life.

My experience with a kerosene stove say no

@@RobertJamesChinneryH Then try a gasoline stove

@@daddi275 at one time they had a car engine ran on water but the oil industry stop that

@@coryburns9161 naaah, that was just a con that didn't work. Water is a combustion product, not a fuel. Running an engine on water would be like trying to run one on clinker.

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

That is how my bike looked. My dad worked at a gas station and I would get STP stickers from him. My bike was completely covered in stickers lol

Exactly!

@@BlazinRiver1 yeah, I had STP stickers everywhere too. My uncle owned a gas station, and would give me stickers. I had them on my bike, bedroom door, my school notebooks, I even had a model of the car on my little desk at home.

Rule books would be much thinner if not for Andy and Smoky Yunik.

As a kid, I build a scale kit model of number 40.

I got a couple Turbine Car stickers Here somewhere for Ya!

@@kendoughty7309 that would be awesome!

I worked for Andy's Son years ago

@@kendoughty7309 Vince? On Roberto's car? I was lucky enough to meet both at Indy in 88-89.

Vince , Roberto and Tom Sneva. I wired the cars and Vince's Dyno in Deer Valley, AZ. Great Times ,Brudda!

I agree! It probably wouldn't have failed if the race could have continued. As it had the heat, and it was consistent heat while still running, and not having to heat up again after cooling, that changes the Rockwell hardness rating.

Who cares. It worked out in motorsport history's favor and that's all that counts. This car would've ruined Indy had it been successful.

@@plantfeeder6677 I love piston engines as much as you do but I also love innovation and experiment in the quest for THE best for an application. Now you have stagnation locked in with indy cars and that is boring regardless of the sound. You are gonna h8 the electric indy cars coming down the pike lol. So will I to tell the truth but I'd still like to see a turbine or Doble steam powered or even electric indy cars compete with the pistons, all 4 in the race.

@@plantfeeder6677 Define "ruined" and use Unlimited Hydroplanes as your example...

The heat cycles had very little to do with it.the fact that the way it was constructed without a bell housing had everything to do with it.end of story.

NO, it is called a "glow plug" used in diesel also. Once the engine is running they are turned off.

@@davidm7824 Whoosh!

That doesn't look like any diesel glow plug I have ever seen. The open heating coil would get fouled with carbon in the cylinders.

First thing that came into my mind was the glow plug was a borrowed cig lighter.

@@davidm7824 look up the word "sarcasm".

Good memories but it was Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.

Jimmy Stewart, the actor from Vertigo? I didn't know he raced at Indy! 😂😂😂

Same here...1968 time trials. We could have been there at the same time . On a different note, those STP uniforms looked like pajamas.

Ya when that car broke everybody cheered. Then A.J. won and that capped a perfect day.

Freedom….unless you were a certain age and met certain guidelines

And you know it's 1971 if the pace car blasts down pit road, loses control, and crashes into the photographers' stand.

In my opinion, one of the finest pace cars ever.

Good to see there are people out there who remember "who killed the electric car" and the hurdles EV had to jump through only to be knocked to the ground repeatedly. Backed into the corner by the steadily approaching wave of progress "big oil" and what was once Detroit are now preparing to run along side the presence of EV in the market to a degree not yet seen. Sure would have enjoyed a turbine car as an option to go with Diesel and Gasoline. The closest I've seen was Wankel (rotary) and it is a technological wonder they reached extended production at all in my opinion. Every time I see an electric Vehicle I think of Doug Korthof. Liveoilfree here on youtube. I can't afford one or find one yet but I'll probably get an electric car to mess around with before I'm dead.

@@btwbrand We have an electric car... and I love gas cars... was brought up around racing... but electric cars are so much better in so many ways and to watch how the multibillion dollar industries of car makers and BigOil forced their development back is sickening. Kind of reminds me of BigPharma...

You have an Avanti ?!

@@sking2173 No sir I don’t, but I do have a 1953 C-Cab 1/2 ton pickup that I love.

I was there too! I couldn't remember if it was that car or a rotary engine. It was SO fast with a high pitched whine. Sadly they only had the one race there and eventually the track became a waste dump and recycling facility.

I guess it scared them... shook up their world.

Why ?

A different kind of turbine where the power output is to a shaft to drive wheels whereas a jet plane produces thrust.

Lol, snort!

2:49 Another one. Glow plugs were COMMON and still are on Diesel engines. They are NOT unique to Turbines, and in fact there are quite a few turbines that DO NOT USE THEM.

The air intake is protected by the screen visible in the middle.

Weight distribution. Putting the engine on the left moved more weight there, which is what you want on an oval.

Im also curious as to why they felt they needed to make it 4 wheel drive. A ton of extra cost, weight, engineering, complicated parts to make etc and for oval racing im pretty sure that the old non computerized 4wd systems doesnt typically benefit the performance enough to warrant all the drawbacks it brings along.

@@TheSupradude26 all that torque through the rear wheels only probably would have made it a handful. The roadsters were 4wd.

It was a Pratt & Whitney of Canada PT6 with 450 hp.

In the book by Gerard Crombac he cites the Pratt & Whitney ST6B as having 550 bhp and 138 mkg (998 ft-lbs). "Turbine Grand Prix pg 17"

And he looked like Clemenza from The Godfather

Agreed. Andy was a genius and a visionary. He loved cars, racing, mechanics and engineering. I read his autobiography many years ago and gained great insight into what he and his brothers were all about. Monster gear heads!

Speaking of *bad* luck, it's somewhat ironic that Mario Andretti was at the pole this year...a driver who although he won Indy once, had so many other failed opportunities/attempts.

@@wordcarr8750 ... He got to be on Tool Time. What's left after that?

@@JW...-oj5iw 🕶

I was 11 and watched this race on ABC ..

My exgirlfriends Dad was there. He told me all about this car and how special it was to see in person

I've been to time trials but never there on race day. Nothing quite like the brickyard.

My dad took me to qualifications when I was 4. I still remember them starting this car, with difficulty, and the crowd cheering when it finally spun up.

My gosh I would give anything to go back to one of those races in that era period any Motorsport out there but Indy cars F1 cars and NASCAR would have been amazing.

Thank God it wasn't on race day.

@@plantfeeder6677 it wasn’t the engine that failed

@@mikekuczynski1552 who cares. It failed and that's what counts. Never was happier in my 14 years on earth as I was that day PJ came rolling to a stop. It also gave AJ the victory which I was very happy about.

Now, if they made a gear box to match. Listening on the radio and rooting for Parnelli Jones both years, course I was always a PJ fan. PJ or AJ anyway.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IhVq9X-Y9hY.html

That WAS a pretty hot exiting speed for a pace car! Wonder who was driving it? Sort of reminded me of a couple of years ago when Richard Petty drove the pace car at a race, and they were having a tough time getting him to exit the racetrack! It was just too cool, and The King just didn't care! "What are they gunna do to me? Make me retire again??

@@walter2990 Mauri Rose was the driver and I'm sure he was going as hard as they would let him. Or maybe a little harder. 😉

I'm with you, brother. The loss of power at 197 cannot be in a movie script. Nobody would believe it! It is the tragedy of real life, which eclipses fiction.

@@Redmenace96 a very welcome trajedy by 99% of us there. The cheer was deafening when that thing broke. Also gave AJ(my favorite driver at Indy)his 3rd win. All around great day in motorsports history😊

@@Redmenace96 And unfortunately the Granatellis had many bad luck races at Indy.

You lucky dog... I loved this car

Umm, you do know about LeMans prototypes and F1, don’t you?

Ummm, yes, and not only.

Dear Ricardo Juliet, I miss innovation. I miss Dan Gurney's A.A.R. shop bringing something so good 2/3 of next years' field either bought one from Gurney or copied his, or the other teams had it banned. If you entered the 1983 (Pepsi Challenger) Eagle in the 2021 race would it look out of place? Nothing against the philosophy of the Dallara DW 20, or the hybrid power plant 2.4 to come. The cost cutting "stock block" engine combined with your innovative aerodynamics would have been my preference, BUT I'm grateful IndyCar arrived at some kind of solution/ANY SOLUTION that it survived- whatever it was. I was in the CART/Champ Car camp but also watched the IRL. It's the best racing series to watch now. I want it to continue that way.

@@blacksquirrel4008 ÷4qby

I was at pole day qualifying, hard to believe how quiet it was. I always wondered if the spin might have contributed to the failure.

Granatelli is legend. We are lucky that a lot of his best work was captured on film.

Turbines have killed other motor sports. The Unlimited hydroplanes are no longer a chest thumping excitement. Sure the turbines are faster, but they don't bring in fans like the big Allison piston engines did.

@@PeterWMeek Look at what electrics are doing. No noise. Just the sound of their tires rolling, them rushing through the air. After an initial excitement, people lose interest. The vacuum cars were noisy but they went around the tracks like they were on rails.

@@PeterWMeek I think a big consideration with any innovation that causes the average speed to increase is the related risk to human life whether it is the drivers or spectators.