Odds and ends from Team Penske Press Conference

Roger Penske on the dominant performance of the Mercedes-Benz engine in 1994, which was outlawed soon after that year’s Indianapolis 500: “If you do too well, typical, you get slapped.”

That year, Al Unser Jr. won the pole and the race; he and Emerson Fittipaldi combined to lead 193 of the 200 laps.

Rick Mears on possibly climbing a fence after his fourth 500 victory in 1991: “No, not at all. They didn’t have fences back then.”

Mears on the old qualifying format when drivers had three attempts per car, and on Pole Day likely had just one opportunity: “I enjoyed that only, having one shot at it. I felt it really put the pressure on. You had to get four laps, every corner. If you blew one corner, you blew the whole deal. I enjoyed that pressure.”

Juan Pablo Montoya on changes to the car to accommodate the increased turbocharger boost: “I don’t know. I know we’re doing gears. But I don’t know. I just drive it.”

Photo credit: Chris Owens/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Byrd’s Racing To Fly Again

Jonathan Byrd’s Racing, a team with some notable heritage at the Indianapolis 500, will return for next year’s Indianapolis 500 with open-wheel star Bryan Clauson.

Clauson, who made his lone Indianapolis 500 appearance in 2012, is a two-time national sprint car and midget champion.

“The Byrd family has a tremendous history not only at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but also among the short-track community as well,” Clauson said.

Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria is one of the more notable eateries in central Indiana and traces its involvement in Indy cars back to 1985. Arie Luyendyk set the one-lap and four-lap qualifying records of 237.498 mph and 236.986 mph, respectively, in 1996 in a Reynard/Ford Cosworth.

Past Byrd drivers include Rich Vogler, Stan Fox, Gordon Johncock, Buddy Lazier, Scott Brayton, John Andretti, Davy Jones, Mike Groff and Jaques Lazier. 

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Pennzoil Colors Agree With Castroneves

And we’re off and running. Please check back for more news and analysis over the next couple of days while I’m trackside.

I was able to grab Helio Castroneves after this morning’s formal press conference for a couple of comments about any added pressure driving the Pennzoil car for Team Penske. Rick Mears scored two wins and three poles in this livery in the 1980s.

“Pressure is good because it makes you better,” said the three-time race winner and four-time pole winner. “I don’t feel pressure. It’s an honor to wear those colors and want to represent well what the champions did. So far, there’s a good vibe and I really like it.”

Castroneves enters today’s Fast Friday practice session (weather does not look overly promising at this point) with the fastest lap of the week at 227.166 mph.

Photo credit: Jim Haines/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Time for the Trek to the Track

I don’t know the first time I went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The first house I lived in was on Fuller Drive, which is off 30^th Street across from the Coke field. From there I could easily hear the race cars. I remember taking my cars – an assortment of Tootsie toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox, almost none of which looked like an Indy car - and playing with them on the back porch while the real racers roared around the track.

(“The track,” by the way, is how people in Indianapolis refer to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.)

So I’m guessing that a gentle suggestion and/or incessant whining led my parents to take me to see where all the noise was coming from and what the fuss is all about.

My best guess would be when I was 3 and maybe we wandered down to Turn 1- inside the old main gate – to watch tire testing in the spring.

Certainly I was there in 1972 as Bobby Unser’s gleaming Olsonite Eagle made quite an impression on me.

From that point, I was hooked. I would hurry home to hear the track reports from Lou Palmer on WIBC. I pored over the articles in the Indianapolis News and Indianapolis Star. (When I moved out of state, I got the monthly subscription to The Star.) I watched “Trackside 6.” I listened to “The Talk of Gasoline Alley” (still do, actually).

I’ve been going ever since. No matter where I lived – West Lafayette, Indiana; Logansport, Indiana; Springfield, Missouri; Portage, Indiana; or Canton, Michigan – I made it a point to make the trek back to 16^th and Georgetown for practice or qualifying, if not the actual race.

Later, I brought my children. In an example of the lugnut not falling far from the tire, they immediately scampered down the hill in the infield to get next to the fence to watch the cars accelerate down the backstretch out of Turn 2.

Saturday, my son and I will leave for Indianapolis to be trackside for the first day of practice for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

On the way down, I will treat him to another edition of my oft-told tales of the Unsers, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva, Gordon Johncock, Mike Mosley, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue and the other drivers of my youth.

As well as Eagles, McLarens, Coyotes, Dragons and Parnellis. Offenhausers and Coyote V-8s. Sponsors like Gulf, Sunoco, STP, Sugaripe Prune, Cobre, Bryant, Gilmore and Thermo-King.

When cars were still called “specials.” Or had clever names. The Norton Spirit. The American Kids Racer. The Pepsi Challenger. The Texaco Star.

I hope someday he does the same with his son, telling him about Will Power, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon.

It’s May. Finally.

Indianapolis 500 Memorabilia of the Day: A Textbook

The cover of this book immediately grabbed my attention. Number 0? Based on the helmet, this has to be Swede Savage getting ready for a practice run in 1973. Did the “4” fall off somewhere? (Also, I love the Wheel Horse tractor behind the pit wall.)

The cover isn’t the only intriguing thing about this book, however. This is a textbook, or at least was intended to be – there are no school district markings inside, only a stamp from the Oconee County Library in South Carolina.

The book is filled with photos from the 1972, 1973 and 1974 events, including some pretty rare ones. Besides the STP “0” Eagle, there also are a few shots of Graham McRae practicing in the No. 60 STP Lola in 1973. A shot of Peter Revson in a Formula One car snuck in as well.

From an academic standpoint, this book is designed to build vocabulary and reading ability. A list of 20 follow-up activities is suggested in the back.

All and all an interesting bit of Indianapolis 500 memorabilia.

Vintage ad of the day: Hoosier Grand Prix

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to snag some vintage programs. One was for the July 18, 1965, national championship race at Trenton Speedway.

This ad was on Page 10. First time for Indy-style cars on a road course. With an OK from the FIA as well.

Of course, this year for the first time Indy cars will compete on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It’s hoped that having a race to kick off May will somehow reinvigorate the activities leading up to this year’s Indianapolis 500. We’ll see.

IndyCar Memorabilia of the Week: Michael Andretti car

This week’s race is Long Beach, site of Michael Andretti’s first win in 1986.

Other than being No. 18 and having “Kraco” written along the side, his car looked nothing like this.

Not sure where you would’ve found this. There’s no punch for it to hang on a rack, like in a store.

Maybe you got it for free if you bought a cassette player, floor mat or CB radio from Kraco.

Kraco also sold cellular phones. In those days, cell phones were carried in a bag, not on your hip. They  looked like one of those field telephones you see soldiers carrying around in a World War II movie.