Indy 500 Program of the Day: Talk of Gasoline Alley

If Sid Collins is considered the all-time Voice of the 500 and Tom Carnegie the Voice of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then Donald Davidson surely is the Voice of May. One of the benefits of growing up in Indianapolis was being able to listen to Donald on WIBC each night as he recited all manner of fact obvious and arcane as well as minutiae connected to the Indianapolis 500.

When I lived in Springfield, Missouri, and would travel back to Indianapolis for the race or qualifying, I would seek out WIBC as I drove in on Interstate 70. Once I heard his familiar voice near the end of this (about) 500-mile trek – the signal usually picked up around Terre Haute – that’s when I started feeling I was back home again in Indiana (so to speak).

The advent of streaming radio means his program, The Talk of Gasoline Alley, can be heard around the world through www.1070thefan.com starting Wednesday night from 8-9 p.m. Eastern, according to the program schedule. Though it’s still more than another week before the track opens, Donald’s stories are really what get the month of May started.

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Quick IndyCar Thoughts from the Couch: Brazil

1.) Will Power does it again. That’s three out of four this season, and this one was his most dominant performance, in my opinion. Click here for the press release from IndyCar.

2.) No fireworks between Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal. No nothing, actually.

3.) Still not sure what defines “avoidable contact,” especially after Mike Conway speared Dario Franchitti. In my view, Beaux Barfield decided to swallow the whistle on Sunday and let them play. This happens in other sports (football, basketball), which doesn’t necessarily make it right.

Photo credit: Shawn Gritzmacher / Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis 500 Item of the Day: View-Masters

It’s hard to explain to a child of today what exactly View-Masters are. Simply, they are slides you looked at through a special, uh, viewer. Three reels, with seven photos each, came in each package.

View-Masters might still be around – I bought a few for my kids when they were younger – but I suspect the low-tech approach to entertainment just doesn’t resonate today. On the other hand, if you grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s, you definitely remember them, probably fondly. Maybe you even had talking View-Masters.

Just about any subject was ripe for the View-Master treatment, including the Indianapolis 500. This set chronicles the ill-fated 1973 race. It has some great pictures, like of the old main gate (with a red Pinto poised to travel onto the grounds of the World’s Greatest Race Course), the old museum (remember having to stand in line outside to wait your turn?) and some of the top cars of the day.

Indianapolis 500 DVD of the Day: 1974

I don’t need much of an excuse to pop in a DVD or video tape of Indianapolis 500 highlights. A cold and gray day, like we’re having in Southeast Michigan today, provides as good a reason as any. These films are a product of a bygone era when companies such as Firestone produced promotional films for use at schools, churches, Boy Scouts, Kiwanis and so forth. For kids in Indianapolis, these popped up quite a bit on rainy days in May when we couldn’t go outside for recess. I can remember seeing both the 1971 and 1964 highlight films while in elementary school, and I’m sure I saw others.

Each film was about 25 minutes, and the Speedway used to sell VHS copies in the gift shop.

Fortunately, the folks at Rare Sportsfilms have been transferring these films onto DVDs. Today’s selection from 1974 includes three titles for a running time of one hour, 13 minutes. Rare Sportsfilms has most of the races from post World War II into the early 1970s, and hopefully they will add more (1972 and 1975 are at the top of my wish list).

You can find the titles on eBay or by going to www.raresportsfilms.com.

Indianapolis 500 Post Card of the Day: Tom Sneva

It’s hard to believe that Tom Sneva won only one Indianapolis 500. The “Gas Man” was a top contender for about 10 years during the mid to late 1970s into the mid 1980s. He won the pole three times - 1977, ’78 and ’84. Each time, Sneva set the track record (remember those?). He also was the fastest qualifier in 1981. “Snively” finished second three times as well. In 1980, he had qualified 14^th, then totaled his car during practice. He was forced to go to a backup, started 33^rd and finished runner-up to Johnny Rutherford.

Sneva is perhaps best known for being the first driver to officially lap the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in excess of 200 mph, which he did in 1977 in the Norton Spirit, pictured here. Sneva’s lone Indy victory came in 1983, giving George Bignotti his final 500 victory as a chief mechanic. 

Quick Thoughts from the Couch: Long Beach

1.) Guess it doesn’t matter where Will Power starts, he’ll make up the deficit. Back-to-back excellent drives to victory give him a 24-point cushion.

2.) That hill Dario Franchitti has to climb to catch Power is looking more like a mountain – a steep one at that. Maybe he needs to borrow some Kentucky magic from Ashley.

3.) Josef Newgarden’s front-row start didn’t last long. Given that this underfunded team needs all the TV exposure it can get (even on NBC Sports Network), an overly optimistic pass attempt seconds after the green flag fell that ended up in the tire barrier wasn’t a great idea. Whether you think Franchitti nudged him or not, it’s unlikely a rookie is going to get that call against the reigning series champion.

4.) Been waiting for Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal to make some noise, and, well, they didn’t disappoint. There’s defending, there’s blocking and then there’s chopping. Rather disturbing to see a car launched again. That could have been a LOT worse.

5.) Marco needs to catch up to his teammates. James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay continue to get solid results.

6.) Simon Pagenaud is something else.

7.) What happened to Justin Wilson?

8.) I have more appreciation for the smoothness and precision with which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway executes its pre-race ceremonies.

9.) Be interested to see what the ratings are. No Sprint Cup race on Sunday, not much else going on, either.

10.) One more race – Sao Paulo – before Indianapolis. Would like to see at least one oval before the 500. Would an early May event at Kentucky work?

Photo credit: Dana Garrett/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis 500 Lineup of the Day: One and Done

I meant to have this post done in time to go in tandem with the Indianapolis 500 / “May Madness” bracket from a few weeks ago because it’s also sort of college-basketball themed.

Like college basketball today, the Indianapolis 500 also has had its share of “one and dones” – one-time participants in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. By my count, 737 drivers have been in the race. Of that, nearly one-third drove only once, which astounded me. (Note: I counted 240 drivers with only one appearance; I did NOT count the five rookies from last year – J.R. Hildebrand, James Hinchcliffe, Jay Howard, Charlie Kimball and Pippa Mann – because it’s possible they will be in the 500 again. I also didn’t count Sebastien Bourdais, who drove in the 2005 race and seems a likely candidate to compete again this year.)

The most notable “one-timers” of course are Ray Harroun and Juan Pablo Montoya. It’s well known that Harroun had retired from racing, came back to drive the Marmon Wasp in the inaugural Indianapolis 500, then retired again. It’s possible Montoya could race again in the 500, but at this point he seems content to have traded an excellent open-wheel career for a middling one in NASCAR.

From the list of 240, I listed everyone alphabetically from best finishing position (Harroun and Montoya, first) to worst finishing (Francis Quinn, listed as 40^th in 1931).

So here’s the “Greatest 33” among one-time participants (finish in parentheses):

Row 1

1. Ray Harroun (1)

2. Juan Pablo Montoya (1)

3. Arthur Duray (2)

Row 2

4. Christian Fittipaldi (2)

5. Howdy Wilcox II (2)

6. Fabrizio Barbazza (3)

Row 3

7. Percy Ford (3)

8. Bob Carey (4)

9. Al Holbert (4)

Row 4

10. Carl Marchese (4)

11. Eddie Miller (4)

12. Myron Stevens (4)

Row 5

13. Johnny White (4)

14. Theodore Pilette (5)

15. Sam Posey(5)

Row 6

16. Lewis Durant (6)

17. Ray Pixley(6)

18. Mickey Rupp (6)

Row 7

19. Len Zengel (6)

20. Louis Chiron (7)

21. I.P. “Red” Fetterman (7)

Row 8

22. Carl Forberg (7)

23. Jim Hickman (1982) (7)

24. Tony Renna (7)

Row 9

25. Luigi Villoresi (7)

26. Joe Horan (8)

27. Art Johnson (8)

Row 10

28. Charlie Keene (8)

29. Jeff MacPherson (8)

30. Johnny Mauro (8)

Row 11

31. Andy Michner (8)

32. Max Sailer (8)

33. W.H. Turner (8)

Some interesting names in that top 33. The third-place finish by Fabrizzio Barbazza in 1987 won a little money, er, a few jelly beans for me, from the 500 pool at the Jewel/Osco I worked at while in college. Sports car ace Al Holbert finished a fine fourth in 1984 and couldn’t even snag a share of Rookie of the Year honors. (That went to Michael Andretti and Roberto Guerrero.) There were two Jim Hickmans who started once. In addition to the Jim Hickman noted above who finished seventh in 1982 (winning Rookie of the Year), another Jim Hickman was 22^nd in 1933.

That’s one of the fun things about the 500 – there is so much history that you can spend an afternoon (or a few weeks) going through the drivers and concocting your own “best of” races or lineups – drivers who never won, Rookies of the Year, drivers who qualified on the front row and so forth.

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway photos.