00:00:00
Speaker 1: Only the best run here at the Indianapolis five hundred.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: Who do you feel we'll have to beat this year's race?
00:00:06
Speaker 3: People like a J point and Bobby Answer.
00:00:10
Speaker 2: Press and live with the kicker.
00:00:11
Speaker 4: Flatly and incredible.
00:00:13
Speaker 5: Danny Sullivan spun in Crona Mario and Freddie aj have a gun, he has.
00:00:20
Speaker 6: Five hundred Beyond the bricks with Jake Querry and Mike Thompson brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think outside the box store on ninety three five and one o seven five the fans.
00:00:39
Speaker 7: Inside the Hinsley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley. My name is Jake Querry, Mike Thompson here as well. Landon Koons is the man that puts it all together for us, as you hear. As we are now midway through the month of May, and inside of just two weeks inside of that, actually before the one hundred and tenth running of the Indianapolis five hundred mile race. Tonight, it's a unique evening because yes, this is May the fifteenth, and each year I always say when it comes to May the fifteenth, I reflect upon and think about and I don't know why it is. There have been a number of drivers who have been fatally injured at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I think the one accident that visually speaking is the most haunting is that of Gordon Smiley. And then ten years after that, it was on May fifteenth when a young driver by the name of Jovi Marcello was fatally injured at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And there have been obviously others but that have passed tragically in the pursuit of the Ultimate Racing Prize. But we certainly reflect upon those two men on this day on May the fifteenth, and are aware I think of each and every year when I see that date. I also know Mike that for you, you remember May the fifteenth probably was somewhat mixed emotion because of the somborg nature of the Gordon Smiley aspect, but also it was the day that you first walked in and felt that energy that everybody feels when they come underneath the tunnel and enter the Indianapolisimutter Speedway.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: Oh, I agree one hundred percent.
00:02:23
Speaker 8: I mean it was my first day at the speedway, and like you said, it was definitely mixed emotions because you know, the Gordon Smiley crash happened, you know, basically in front of us. But you know, you just you can't put any you can't really describe the energy of nineteen eighty two. It was just it was so big and that and being there with all those fans for qualifications on the first day.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: It really was truly special.
00:02:45
Speaker 8: And I always remember May fifteenth is my first day at the speedway and finally reflect on that day. So it's exciting to be on the air tonight on May fifteenth.
00:02:54
Speaker 7: Now, nineteen seventy two, that was the year that greatness would happen in Indianapolis. That was the year right off of sixteenth Street where this city and its landscape would forever change, because in September of that year, I was born at Methodist Hospital, but in reality I was not. I would have been in Utero for the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred, So seventy three was the first year that I was living. But the seventy two race was one that had so much that took place that even though Mike, this is not a year on a round number, it's the fifty fourth anniversary of nineteen seventy two, but nonetheless we're going to bring that race back into life, and we're going to do it tonight.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: That's right, Jake.
00:03:37
Speaker 8: Now sometimes I fall into the cliches. I'll do the you know, since this is this ending year, ending in a six, I'll do a bunch of different sixes, and then we do the twenty fifth anniversary. But I thought I'd give you something special tonight, Jake, and give you the fifty fourth anniversary of nineteen seventy two.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: So I went completely off the.
00:03:53
Speaker 7: Board for well, nothing wrong with that. We like going off the board from time to time, right, And here's the right thing. You did it sometimes, and you did that math of fifty four years. You did that in your head in like record time, record speed, right, which was a theme in nineteen seventy two, because if you think about it, that was a time period where speeds really jumped up.
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Mike, that's right.
00:04:15
Speaker 8: I mean speed was the story of the month in nineteen seventy two, because in seventy one, you got to remember, the qualifying record for four laps was just under one hundred and seventy nine miles an hour. I think it was one seventy eight six ninety six or something like that, and then in nineteen seventy two, with the rear wings and all those things, the changes and things like that that were going on and tire technology and aerodynamics, that the record jump by seventeen miles an hour. Can you imagine that the record jumping seventeen miles an hour one day.
00:04:45
Speaker 2: It just boggles my mind.
00:04:47
Speaker 7: Bobby Uncers sat on poll at one ninety five point nine four zero miles an hour in nineteen seventy two. Speedway historian emeritus Donald Davidson on that qualifying speed and the record speeds in nineteen seventy two.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: The other thing was the speeds just skyrocketed because after McLaren had been allowed to use a trick rear wing that was molded into the engine cover for nineteen seventy two, the huge Bolton rear wings were permitted for the first time, and probably a little more of caution should have been exercised because the teams were had to put huge wings on. The downforce was massive, and the track record had gone from one seventy one to one seventy nine, and then in nineteen seventy two they went all the way through. In fact, Bobby Unster I think did two laps at one ninety six, So they went up sixteen seventeen miles an hour in one year and not two, you know, approximately twenty five miles an hour in two years, which was pretty scary, and because it changed the handling characteristics of its just a whole different technology came in to the mix and the drivers were pretty much on edge having to go that much faster. Bobby Unscher won the Paul full lap average of one ninety five nine I think in a couple of laps at one ninety six.
00:06:13
Speaker 7: And again it would be nearly a half a decade before Tom Sneva would eclipse the two hundred mile an hour mark in qualifying, But that huge jump in nineteen seventy two, A big portion of that, a big responsibility for it was that constant innovation of Dan Gurney. Dan Gurney of course coming out with that seventy two Eagle and the All American racers. Bobby Unser was one that loved working with Dan Gurney on that loved it, as he would say, and he talked to Mike in an interview about exactly that.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't just the rear wings.
00:06:46
Speaker 9: It was a different concept of how to build race cars. That was in nineteen seventy two, and what happened is is Roman Slobodinsky. It's a hard name to pronounce, but Roman was a engineer, and Gurney, of course, at extremely smart guy. Not a good business man, okay, but really good with race cars. I mean, you just can't imagine he was a Roger Pinskey of that era. He just but he was also an engineer. He's also a mechanic and a hell of a good race driver. So when I took that job over, I really was at the forefront of the entire world. And that car in nineteen seventy two caused the entire world in motor racing to change, even to the stock cars. They started changing their concepts of where the weight should be, where this and that and the others should be, The height of the cars, the center gravity, and all of that type of stuff just changed, and it changed overnight.
00:07:45
Speaker 7: Bobby Unzer and Bruno Mars by the way there with Mike Thompson. Mike, one thing is we'll continue to hear from Bobby Uncer that needs to be said. I shouldn't say that. Actually, it doesn't even need to be said, but it is factual, and that is that those that were fortunate enough to meet Bobby Uncer, which is the vast majority of race bands, because of his accessibility, in particular in his post racing career, there just was nobody like him.
00:08:09
Speaker 8: Oh, I agree, I mean he was so accessible, easy to talk to.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: I've had I have a.
00:08:15
Speaker 8: Lot of memories that I could share Bobby Onnscer spending time with him. He was just an incredible person to spend time with, and just he would he would needle you if he barely met you, you know, and it was just a lot of fun to be around Bobby Unscer. And that interview actually was at the late Great Grindstone Charlie's and Speedway, I believe that's where I conducted that interview. So it was just a lot of fun to spend anytime you could with Bobby.
00:08:38
Speaker 7: Answer well, Bobby Anser loved that seventy two Eagle that we mentioned, which was obviously an incredible race car and incredible comments here from uncle Bobby.
00:08:48
Speaker 9: Well, actually he's seventy two car had a super super good record because it would have should have said on the poll every race it ran that year in fact, every place that it qualified, it broke a record. It was a new record, boom boom boom all year long, and the car was just the car was just too unbeatable, Josh unbeatable, so it didn't make any difference. It was the record. We won four races. Well, I used to tell everybody we won every race we finished. Unfortunately, we didn't finish all the races, and that hurt us pretty bad because our reliability wasn't too good. The car was so fast that it was just breaking pretty often, all engine problems. In fact, I don't even think I ever wrecked that car. And it was just such a fun, fun, fun era to drive because no matter what, it's hat new records and no matter what, if it finished, it's going to win the race. Nobody can beat that car all year. And it was just so much fun to drive. And then all the Eagles after that were like little Eaglitz that got reborn. Slight minor changes, basically the same car, basically the same answers, always fast, always just fly. The Eagles used to fly.
00:10:20
Speaker 7: You know, I'll be honest with you, Mike. My middle school basketball team, we were the Eastwood Eagles. The cheerleaders were the Eagle Ettes very similar to those cars, right.
00:10:28
Speaker 8: I would think so. I mean Uncle Bobby. One thing you have to say about Uncle Bobby. He was a storyteller, wasn't me. I mean he can the littlitz. That was good stuff.
00:10:36
Speaker 7: Best and of course that characteristic, that unique delivery that Bobby Uncer had would become a mainstay with ABC. Boy come to here, turn two, wide open, Paul, as we heard for so many years once he made the move to ABC Television after his racing career. Speaking of ABC, we have some clips from the nineteen seventy two month of May from ABC Television rare lips as a matter of fact, including this one with Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart discussing the increase in speeds in nineteen seventy two and.
00:11:08
Speaker 3: Sitting with me and we're very proud of having with us again this year as we did on race day last year. Is the world champion race driver Jackie Stewart of Scotland.
00:11:16
Speaker 2: Jackie, the speeds.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: Are incredible here this year, seventeen miles an hour faster than the pole position of last year. It's an area and nobody's really explored before. What's your reaction to it.
00:11:27
Speaker 10: I think I've never been so surprised by speed, Jim. I think we always expect speed to increase every year, we expect lap wreckers to be broken, but never by the margin that we're seeing this year at Indianapolis. The Bobby answer effort is something unbelievable. I think technicologically, it's been a year of great advance, it's been a great year of high development. It's been a great year of aerodynamics. It's been a great year of engine horsepower, and apart from anything else, it's been a great year for drivers because some of the drivers really are excelling themselves.
00:11:58
Speaker 1: So happened.
00:12:01
Speaker 7: Nineteen seventy three, Of course, a year later would be one that was marred by all kinds of tragedy and trouble at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nineteen seventy two was not immune to that. Jim malloy is a driver that was attempting to qualify or hoping to qualify that year for his fifth Indianapolis five hundred, but he was involved in an accident on May fourteenth that would prove fatal. On May the eighteenth, Donald Davidson on Jim Malloy.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: Jim mlloy was at the Indianapolis Speedway from nineteen well actually in the five hundred from nineteen sixty eight through seventy one. Jim and then lost his life in nineteen seventy two on a day when he was clearly going to be on the front row. In fact, he was going to challenge Bobby Answer for the poll. But Jim malloy was from Denver, and then his starts forteen sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy and seventy one, and in the best run by far was nineteen seventy one when he came with actually with the Shelby team, Shelby Dowd, and they were having a bit of a struggle and in fact he was in several cars and it looked like that he wasn't going to make the race. And I remember he said that he was out on the grass verge that used to go next to the pitwall and down the pit lane, and that's where the drivers would go out and kind of to be by themselves. And he said that I got to know Jim Lloyd pretty well, and he said, I was really down and thinking we're going to miss the show. It was with MVS and he said, we're going to miss the show and he said, I was just lying on the grass. They're kind of staring at the ground, and I was aware of a shadow and I looked up and it was Dan Gurney and he said, you want to give us a try, And they needed a driver because they'd come with Bobby Unser and Lee Roy Yarborough and Lee Roy looked like it was going to be his best shot, and he had an accident in practice and a concussion, so he was out. And so anyway molloy took over and then finished fourth. And I remember that all the way through the winter, and certainly the early part of the new roup of nineteen seventy two. He was really pumped because the new Eagle, the new Dan Gurney Robin Slobodinski designed Eagle. A few people had those, and Bobby Unswer was clearly, you know, all of the records were going to be shattered, and in early entire chests, Jim malloy he thought that he had a shot at the pole. And then on a day I remember very well that had all kinds of problems. In fact, there was a tornado touching down on the east side. Now, everything at the speedway was okay. It was windy, but it was sunny. But we could look across to the east side to probably about Eastgate Shopping Center, and I didn't actually see a funnel cloud, but it looked pretty nasty over there. And I remember that the cars were in and out. They hadn't started qualifying yet. It was still practice session, and it was one of those really annoying situations where it the green would come out, they'd go out and just take to three four laps, and then another yellow for tow in or something, and then Jim went out to do another hot lap or try and at least get one good one in, and then I had a disaster up at the north end.
00:15:56
Speaker 7: But again Donald Davidson talking about Jim Malloyd. When we come back more on the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred, including a driver that happened to be one of the favorites of the late great Bob Jenkins. We'll explain when we return to Beyond the Bricks.
00:16:19
Speaker 6: Beyond the Bricks with Jake Query and Mike Thompson, brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think Outside the box Store on ninety three five and one of seven five fan.
00:16:28
Speaker 7: We are inside the Hensley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley taking a look back at the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race, and Mike, I'm going to assume one of the top shows in that era, one that would go into syndication and live on for generations beyond just those in which it was initially intended. But I'm going to assume that at times you watched Scooby Doo when you were a kid. Correct.
00:16:55
Speaker 2: I watched a little bit of Scooby Doo as a kid. Yeah, yeah, for sure, not a ton, but I didn't see it a few donald.
00:17:01
Speaker 7: You would know that the van they drove around in was the Mystery Machine, and that's somewhat parlays into the next car we'll talk about. It was driven by Jerry Grant in the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred. Grant was trying to be a car owner. It wasn't working out, so he was doing what we often see walking around with that helmet, just trying to find a ride, and he found it with that mysterious car. The Mystery Eagle Jerry Grant, one that Bob Jenkins would always say was one of his favorite drivers, Donald Davidson with Moore on the Mystery Eagle.
00:17:33
Speaker 1: The Mystery Eagle that was the second Gurney Eagle. Jerry Grant or his teammate to Bobby Unser. And the sponsor was a fellow named Chris Fallow who lived and I'm trying to think exactly where Ray Nichols was from. I think Highland was where the Nichols engineering business was in partnership with Paul Goldsmith, and Chris Fallow was called the Mystery Greek and he supposedly had one hundred and fifty companies, I think, and I really don't know what any of them were, but Chris Fallow was supposedly this multi millionaire that really got heavily into racing, and he was part of Ray Nichols stock car team. I think David Pearson drove a car that was painted purple. But anyway, there was on the rear wing the slogan you name it was on there and a lot of people wanted what that meant, and I think what that meant was that Chris Fallow supposedly owned one hundred and fifty companies. He did everything. What did he do? You name it? And I think that's what it was about.
00:18:56
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant, by the way, would start ten Indianapolis five hundred mile races. And he not only was a driver that was around for a while that made him popular, but also his personality quick with a joke if you will, which you can hear in this nineteen seventy two qualification coverage clip from ABC.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: That came Jerry Grant, the man who came here just the day before yesterday, and yesterday took his first laps in the number forty eight car, the Mystery Eagles, so called of Dan Gurney. This is a sister car with the car that qualified fastest, the one of Bobby Hunser, and Jerry Grant really.
00:19:30
Speaker 11: Got it going.
00:19:32
Speaker 10: I think this matter to Jerry and the car because this illustrates with so very few lamps competing, perhaps of the twenty lamps, practice to go out into a time like he did. To course, the fastest time of the day isn't fact an achievement, and agreed, I think achievement for Dan Gurney and the car builder because the mechanics obviously have done a great job. Jerry's been around a long time, He's been racing at Indianapolis.
00:19:54
Speaker 3: A long time.
00:19:54
Speaker 10: Perhaps this year he's got the best chance of success that he's never had. I think his friendship with Gurney doing a great neal.
00:20:02
Speaker 3: Okay, this was Jerry Grant who turned in the time of one eighty nine points one four five fastest qualifying time of this day. But remember he was not eligible to compete for the first spots and for the pole position.
00:20:11
Speaker 4: He was a second day qualifier.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: And therefore is somewhere back in the middle of the field, or will be on race day Jerry Grant into the field there is that's the.
00:20:23
Speaker 5: Here you where his name wasn't on the entry list, and we haven't seen you until yesterday.
00:20:27
Speaker 12: Well, I went out of business as a car owner, and I decided that either I was going to drive a competitive car or go dig ditches.
00:20:36
Speaker 9: And I got together with Dan.
00:20:40
Speaker 12: And I got the greatest opportunity of my life and we're going racing here.
00:20:46
Speaker 3: That what appeared to be a hat on Jerry's head is actually the protective mask the drivers wear nowadays, and he just kind of rolled it up after he finished. We'll be back in a minute at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:20:58
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant would go on to race until nineteen seventy six each year, by the way, in the Indianapolis five reun mile race. Now, what are your favorite clips?
00:21:08
Speaker 4: I know?
00:21:08
Speaker 7: And one that still sometimes when you hear it, Mike, you say, did I hear that correctly? Is a history lesson and I'm using that in air quotes from Chris Aconomaki. Correct.
00:21:19
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is one I actually just found not that long ago, and I'm not really sure how to describe it because it starts off with this kind of unusual introduction from Keith Jackson, who was you know, he was acting as the anchor on Bump Day that year, and he does his own sort of version of.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: How the speedway was built. And then there's this long piece from Chris A. Konamaki.
00:21:39
Speaker 8: I mean, it was one of those filler pieces, and this thing is probably ten minutes long, so I only cut part of it in there, but it ends in what I'm going to play, ends in a pretty weird way, which we'll hear.
00:21:50
Speaker 13: Back in nineteen oh nine, a group of businessmen decided to have themselves a festival here.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: They put together a.
00:21:56
Speaker 13: Balloon race and assaulted. Other entertainment devices were brought in and they had a good time. Then they decided they should have some car racing, so they added that, and in nineteen eleven they decided to have a five hundred mile automobile race, and they had one. It wasn't terribly successful from point of view in time, but then it was most successful and from that has come what we have today, the Indy five hundred. So again let's join Chrissy Konamacky for a reflection on the post war years of the Indy five hundred.
00:22:30
Speaker 5: Then Jack Brabham appeared at the speedway with a rear engine car. He didn't know it, but he was starting a new trend. The former world champion placed in the top ten with an underpowered car in a race that saw a wild accident on the main stretching.
00:22:43
Speaker 1: The car skid it his bond.
00:22:44
Speaker 5: Others dodged the left to the right. They were t bone crashes, and then Jack Turner came upon the seat of the wet sideway, hit the wall and tumbled over and over. He walked away from this track uninjured.
00:22:55
Speaker 14: As did all the other drivers.
00:22:58
Speaker 5: Aj Foyd came back to win at a record speed, and then a youngster from California, Rufus Carnell Jones arrived on the track at nineteen sixty three. He was the first man to cover what is now all asked for track has better than one hundred and fifty miles an hour. J c Agajanian, who had a winner in fifty two, was hoping for great things in sixty three. The press in Indianapolis doesn't wait.
00:23:24
Speaker 4: Very long.
00:23:26
Speaker 5: To show their headlines, but the.
00:23:30
Speaker 4: Winner that year was Roger Ward.
00:23:33
Speaker 5: He is now an all pro at the speedway, a regular victory lane hands. Then Dan Gurney brought the Lotuser engine car to Indianapolis, having a little bit of trouble here, but it was the beginning of still another trend, vight engines in rear engine cars. Jack Turner had trouble qualifying what is now an old roaster on the track. He walked away from this accident and the sport of automobile racing as well, calling it foots after two straight clips. Eddie Sack the next year tried to climb the wall in his car.
00:24:02
Speaker 9: This is now.
00:24:03
Speaker 1: Nineteen sixty three.
00:24:05
Speaker 5: And Finelli Jones dives down underneath and uses the grass carry on to victory.
00:24:12
Speaker 13: The chicken flag goes over.
00:24:14
Speaker 5: The only bricks on the circuit, now a thirty six inch wide panel across the start finish line.
00:24:19
Speaker 7: The rest of the.
00:24:19
Speaker 5: Speedway entirely covered by asphalt. Jim Clark zoomed from pole position to lead this race in nineteen sixty five and a British made Ford Engine Bloatus. Then early in the going, a spin took place as Dave McDonald hit the inside wall. His car exploded. Eddy Sack's chowed head on. The resultant holocaust cost both McDonald.
00:24:43
Speaker 1: And Sacks their lives.
00:24:45
Speaker 5: But there was a plus to it, for it was at this point in time the fire suits were made mandatory, cars were made more safe, fuel cells were ordered mandatory on all cars, and the great emphasis on safety prevailed.
00:24:59
Speaker 7: I don't know well, Mike, that I would say that there's a plus to it. I guess you could say there is one thing that came out of that, in the continued pursuit of safety. But to use the term a plus to it with that most horrific crash perhaps in race history, probably a bit of a miswording there by Chris Economaki correct.
00:25:19
Speaker 15: I believe so I think that whole segment was a little weird because he's talking about Jim Clark leading in sixty five, when then he's talking about the sixty four race, and then he goes back, you know, to saying it's sixty four again, and then we have the accident and then Yeah, I.
00:25:34
Speaker 2: Just thought the wording was so strange. It was these two.
00:25:37
Speaker 8: People died a horrific death in front of thousands of people, but there was a.
00:25:40
Speaker 2: Plus to it.
00:25:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was all of it. Not to make light of that, but but all of it was. That was kind of all over the place, right, Like I had motions.
00:25:47
Speaker 2: It was, yeah, yeah, it was about it.
00:25:50
Speaker 12: Now.
00:25:50
Speaker 7: One driver that had problems as well in nineteen seventy two was Wally Dollenbach. He was bumped from the line up on bump day, caught a ride replacing Art Pollard who had been injured that on race day. He was really cooking literally Donald Davidson on dollond Back's month of May in nineteen seventy two.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: It was Wally dollon Back. It's the car that Art Pollard had qualified and then Pollard had an accident, broke his leg and couldn't run, so they actually that they were allowed to substitute a car, and Wally Dollondback had got bumped. He was the first alternate starter. And so what they made an arrangement to put dollon Back in the replacement car, not the one that he got bumped in, but a replacement car for the Pollard car, which was STP Corporation, And so he would start thirty third regardless, and so it was Vince Granatelli, the Andy's brother. The first stop, the fuel spilled and they had the methanol fire, and they got the extinguishers. They he made four stops, and stops one, two, and four all had a fire, but the third stop went unscathed and they did get a standing ovation. And oh, on one of either the first or second stops, Vince's clothing was not fire returnant and he had to get his his pants up in a hurry, and he was in jukie shorts and there was something about they were either red of hearts on on on white or something, but he had very very colorful pants. And but then on the third one, which was resulted in no fire, and here's Dollenback going back out into competition, and the crowd great fans in the bleachers all cheer as you said, and then the Granitellies turned around, lined up, and then took a bow.
00:27:56
Speaker 7: As a course, the Indianapolis Motorspeait Radio network had their own garbage, of course, of Wally Donandback's race day misadventures. Here's how it sounded for the south pit, Loue Palmer.
00:28:06
Speaker 14: And doesn't it look smoky down here? We have it's just reaching me now a car. The driver is all right, let's set it in order as I caught through it. Wally dolland Back is out of the car. It is the stp Andree, the forty car Art Pollard's ride. He pulled into the pit about his forty third forty fourth lap, came in for what should have been a routine pit stop.
00:28:27
Speaker 4: They had it fueled up.
00:28:28
Speaker 14: He was ready to be pushed away, and suddenly, well we could just begin to see the indication of alcohol papor in the air around it, and wham, and it ignited Doland.
00:28:38
Speaker 4: Back climbed out of the car. He is all right, no scorch on the uniform.
00:28:41
Speaker 14: Everything seems fine except the car I suspect.
00:28:44
Speaker 4: Has ben Roar will be retired from the field.
00:28:46
Speaker 2: Itself.
00:28:47
Speaker 14: We don't know the reason for it. The fumes were most accurate, but they got it out quickly and we've got no danger situation now at the moment, Doland Mack's anxiously looking over the car, hoping maybe there's something they can do.
00:29:00
Speaker 4: Seems unlikely. We'll keep you.
00:29:01
Speaker 16: Advised, Sid, Thank you, and we said that we would tell Arthur Polly what was doing with the car, and unfortunately that isn't the greatest news.
00:29:08
Speaker 4: I hope he doesn't suffer a relapse. We're thinking about you, Art. It irks me so much, Lamb.
00:29:13
Speaker 16: When I see some of the stories here, people say that people come to auto races to see action that harm somebody.
00:29:18
Speaker 4: I'm certain that's not true. The yellows on Hitlu Palmer in this hot pit.
00:29:22
Speaker 14: I'm not sure this corresponding your yellow SID. But we've got Wally Dollar back bouncing out of that car again. Wally's all right, but it's on fire again and just not getting this pit stop worked out in the STP number forty car. It isn't yu, Lola, and this is the second time we've had it come up in flame coming into the pit area. Now one of the fire trucks itself. I've been using the CO two extinguishers on it. Donald Back's attempting to get them to stop now if he leaves the fires off, But they don't want to get any of that car loaded up.
00:29:50
Speaker 4: With any more of this than they need to.
00:29:52
Speaker 14: Wally can't be a happy man, nor Convince Grannitelly, who is by the way, fully clothed again in one of the fuel changing uniforms down here.
00:30:00
Speaker 4: The last time, Well, finally they got the fire out.
00:30:02
Speaker 14: Vince was actually changing a wheel on that car, or they moved it out on the track again in just a pair of jockey shortz. Now Wally is looking into the cockpit of the car, and the question is will we see it like before? The fire did not last as long this time. He may yet get back out on the track, but at the moment, the Morty car has a problem.
00:30:23
Speaker 4: In the pit.
00:30:23
Speaker 7: Say it just another example of how Lou Palmer was considered one of the all time greats when it comes to his descriptions of Pitt Road during his time with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. We come back, one of my favorite songs in the eighties. Dare I say even a one hit wonder. I'll explain what I mean next. I'm Beyond the Bricks.
00:30:49
Speaker 6: Beyond the Bricks with Jack Query and Mike Thompson, brought to you by Quality, Supply and tool Think outside the Box Store on ninety three five and one of seven five.
00:30:57
Speaker 2: A fan No again.
00:30:59
Speaker 3: We have a few track records and I'll stay tuned for the greatest spectacle in racing.
00:31:06
Speaker 2: This is the Big Country out here.
00:31:09
Speaker 3: A special breed of men and a great breed of forces care for the needs of the lifestocks that feed the nation.
00:31:16
Speaker 2: The days are long for the actions fast.
00:31:19
Speaker 3: That's why Lone Star is one of the world's finest.
00:31:22
Speaker 2: And lightest beers to go all the way with the thirst demand gets when one is not enough.
00:31:28
Speaker 13: Lone Star the beer every beer would like to be like Lone Star.
00:31:37
Speaker 7: Mike. One of my favorite songs from the eighties is in the Big Country by Big Country, and that's exactly what Lone Star makes you feel like you're at and the times when you just need that extra beer.
00:31:47
Speaker 2: Right, You got to give a Lone Star credit.
00:31:50
Speaker 8: Though they had a lot of vivid word pictures that they portrayed.
00:31:54
Speaker 2: Don't you think well?
00:31:55
Speaker 7: And nothing says the speed of raising racehorses like dropping that into an ad for the Indianapolis five hundred mile race.
00:32:02
Speaker 2: Right, that's right. You know, we lived the big life and we have big horses and all this stuff.
00:32:08
Speaker 17: But yeah, I'm telling you a Lone Star They did run a lot of spots back in the early seventies, and so I had to give you for nineteen seventy two. Tonight, Listen, anytime we can get a Loan Star spot, because you know the brand is Lone Star.
00:32:22
Speaker 7: I will tell you I do love me some Lone Star beer. I've had it before in the state of Texas, and it always just feels better when in Texas, which is in fact a whole other country. Jay Querry along with Mike Thompson, Land and Kuons here as well inside the Hinsley Legal Group Race Command Center, it happens higher. Hinsley taking a look back at the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race. One of the fan favorites always at Indye, of course, with the Bettenhausen family. Gary Bettenhausen in nineteen seventy two, and it looked like it was going to be his day. He was running there up towards the front, looked like he had it, and then an issue inside of twenty laps to go, and a NISSI one for Gary Bettenhausen who dropped out.
00:33:03
Speaker 4: Okay number four and Jim Shelton.
00:33:05
Speaker 18: Oh, you wouldn't believe it, but hard look is apparently hit number seven.
00:33:10
Speaker 11: There.
00:33:10
Speaker 18: He went by here very slowly, and I believe he will probably be down in the.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: Shall shoot right now?
00:33:17
Speaker 3: Pick him up, potty bell, all right, we were trying to reach you the last two lamps that Gary Bettenhouse is gone by.
00:33:24
Speaker 4: His engine is extremely a sour.
00:33:27
Speaker 3: We took our headset off to get a closer listen because we're only.
00:33:29
Speaker 4: About fifty feet away.
00:33:30
Speaker 13: From him, and his engine is sour and he's up the back stretched nowt but he is not at racing speed.
00:33:35
Speaker 2: Back to the tower.
00:33:37
Speaker 16: How's he doing?
00:33:38
Speaker 4: As he comes up to three?
00:33:39
Speaker 16: Can you pick him up?
00:33:40
Speaker 11: Wrong?
00:33:42
Speaker 13: He went by me just a moment, Ago said, And that engine.
00:33:45
Speaker 4: His quite sour, and as you may have guessed, Jerry Grant passed.
00:33:48
Speaker 11: If you're on free just about two laps.
00:33:50
Speaker 16: Ago said, Okay, we'll watch him as he comes by here. I want to check the one hundred and seventy laps four Hudred and twenty five miles. See the fizzlov going out. We'll watch four Gary and there he goes by, and you're certainly arriets. How much would you say he slowed down?
00:34:04
Speaker 11: Lynn?
00:34:05
Speaker 4: I would say that he's.
00:34:06
Speaker 19: Running about ninety miles an hour, just about yellow lap speed, and I would think that a turbo charger has gone out. That's usually what happens when you slow down about that speed, a turbocharger which takes the bulk of the powerway and it's actually running on about one hundred horsepower right now.
00:34:21
Speaker 7: With Bettenhausen dropping out, the lead switched from a Gary to a Jerry, because Jerry Grant would take over the lead on lap one seventy six, but then an unscheduled pit stop as well. What happened to Jerry Grant so unscheduled that it didn't even take place in his own pit.
00:34:38
Speaker 19: And also I would say that that Jerry Grant is getting some coaching from his crew.
00:34:42
Speaker 2: That Marcus closing down on him. Let's see if he can stretch that back out.
00:34:46
Speaker 19: I'm sure right now we're going to have a tremendous race.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: From here to the finish.
00:34:49
Speaker 16: One has to have a commercial sun place in a broadcast, isn't the stranger? It would come just then Jerry Grant has just come into the pit area for an unscheduled, unexpected that's stop.
00:35:00
Speaker 2: Are you nearing?
00:35:02
Speaker 4: Apparently not, so we'll watching from here.
00:35:04
Speaker 16: He's back being pushed back out again, and there he goes.
00:35:08
Speaker 11: As Mark Donahue goes by.
00:35:13
Speaker 19: I'm sure that Mark must be a lamp up though that kept him a whole map, because he was in there for thirty three seconds, and I'm sure that as close as they were spaced together that there must be a.
00:35:23
Speaker 2: Full lap now between the two.
00:35:25
Speaker 7: Remember that anecdote by the way, about Grant and missing his pit stop. More on that coming up. But the lead would then't go over to Mark Donahue, and he would cruise his way home to Victory.
00:35:36
Speaker 18: Well, Blueskuy's over him, a beautiful blue car leading, they're saying. There he goes right now, he's into that home stretching boy, a big pucket full a green Max and his bucket and here's shit Colin.
00:35:48
Speaker 11: And here he comes, and there's the checkod flag for Mark whu Weather of the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race.
00:36:02
Speaker 4: Now turning into.
00:36:03
Speaker 16: Victory Lane is Mark Donahue and standing by is Lou Palmer.
00:36:08
Speaker 4: Right.
00:36:08
Speaker 14: We are down here and we're awaiting him now. The pipes have begun, the Gordon pipers. The crew is running down toward the car and Mark donoughhughe's getting a final push. He's made it all the way home and he is our winner. And the Sonoko McLaren. Mark Donahue arrives. The crowd throngs around him, the congratulations and being heamed upon him, a rith the flowers based on it, the board Warner trophy behind it, and a glass of milk also being prepared for Marc as soon as he gets out of that helmet. Finally, the full face helmet coming off, and Mark Donahue is surrounded by well wishers here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:36:45
Speaker 4: Mark Donahue has at his way today. We're looking for Roger Penske as well, who must be here in the crowd.
00:36:50
Speaker 14: That is almost impossible to determine just who is at the car. I see Larry Trusdale over in the corner, but Porman as well helping him out. Now the car, the flowers being placed around the neck, and we're moving a little bit closer. I think behind the bear that maybe James Garner over here as well. And Mark Donahue has arrived in Victory Lane and the first kiss I don't think was from Mark Queen a five hundred festival Queen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mark Donahue sitting high at back the car is day to day.
00:37:21
Speaker 4: Did you get top? Well, Hey, welcome home. Mark. It's been a flight, hasn't it.
00:37:26
Speaker 20: Oh, this is really the happiest moment of my life. And I I really a lot of cork Einhopper and Roger Penske and all the guys that work so hard for to get to this point. We had some good luck and it's kind of a change for us, I guess, but our whole team worked really well and I just can't express how happy I am. Well, okay, we're happy to have you here. And the com you were really racing at the end. It was almost like a spread event, not a five hundred mile bw and grant we're having something go out there?
00:38:00
Speaker 14: Did you know how close it was? And how about a sip of built before you answer. Go ahead, Mark, take us in all right, hey, and you've got to be thirsty as well. As happened another one, Hey, glad to hear it. And have you met our queen? H all right, another reason to arrive in victory lane. Now about that duel at the end, Man, that it really looked like it was a push you and Jerry If.
00:38:34
Speaker 4: You were really racing each other out there, were you aware how tight that contest was?
00:38:37
Speaker 11: Well?
00:38:38
Speaker 20: Yeah, h Roger told me all along what was happening, and we'd kind of agreed to start racing a little bit towards the end of the race, and the car was pushing a bit, so we couldn't go as fast as we wanted. But unfortunately, I think Jerry had some little bad engine luck at the end and that was a break for us.
00:38:57
Speaker 4: How about the heat today? Was this a tie race forrial? You've had other five hundred miles here the others. Every race is a tiring race, but one is not very tired if he happens to win.
00:39:11
Speaker 7: Mark Donahue started five races in the Indianapolis five hundred. He never started outside of the front two rows. He would return in nineteen seventy three, again starting in the third spot, which is where he won from in nineteen seventy two, but a piston issue would drop him out in that seventy three race on lap ninety two. He was fatally injured in nineteen seventy five, of course of injuries in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. Now, as for Jerry Grant, you heard Lou Palmer make reference to the fact that Grant finished second in that race. He was the second to come across and take the checkered flag, behind Mark Donahue. But if you were to look at the box score, he is scored as twelve. Remember what we talked about earlier with that pit stop. Donald Davidson explains all of it.
00:39:57
Speaker 1: He had already used up his fuel supply and he was waved into the adjoining pit, which was Bobby Unsers, and Bobby Unser had gone out early, and supposedly the refueling mechanism from Bobby Unser's tank was hooked up to Jerry Grant's and whether any fuel went in or not, he went out and finished the race, and he actually crossed the line second behind Mark Donahue. Now, Jerry always contended that he won, he actually crossed the line second. So when it was reported that they had gone into the Bobby Unswer pit next to Grant's and the refueling mechanism had been hooked up, somebody of note on the team said, well, we didn't put any fuel in, while there was no way to know whether they did or not, and so Harlan Fegler disallowed the final twelve laps, which dropped Grant from second to twelth, and then of course moved everybody else up one.
00:41:04
Speaker 7: That would mean that al Unser would technically finish second, followed by Joe Leonard, Sam Session, Sam Posi, Lloyd Ruby, Mike Kiss, Mario Andretti, Jimmy Carruthers, hell Yarborough, George Snyder, and then Jerry Grant finishing in the twelfth position. Back to Mark Donney, you the race winner in the final minute here, Mike, he is one that I think had a precision at the speedway that, unfortunately, due to his early passing, were Roger Penske's first win at the speedway. I think people forget just how good Mark Donnie he was.
00:41:35
Speaker 11: No.
00:41:36
Speaker 2: I totally agree, Jake. I mean, he's a guy that there's a lot of fans of.
00:41:39
Speaker 8: Mark Donahue out there, but you know, it's a name that probably should be more known than it is.
00:41:44
Speaker 2: But Jerry Grant, I was going to tell you about this. He was told you before.
00:41:49
Speaker 8: He was a good friend of mine, and he used to sign autographs a lot of times. On the picture of the Mystery Eagle, he would write nineteen seventy two indy five hundred winner and then put no money in parentheses because he felt like he still won the race even though he didn't.
00:42:03
Speaker 2: But he would tell rite that on fans photos sometimes.
00:42:07
Speaker 8: I have a couple photos that he did that for me, where he wrote nineteen seventy two winner, no money.
00:42:12
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant again, one of the great characters and that sense of humor that we saw earlier, and another example of at times fortune and heartache and how they can all intertwine when it comes to the greatest race in the world. A lot of fun on this the fifteenth of May, taking a look back at the twenty seventh of May of nineteen seventy two and the Indianapolis five hundred mile race for Mike Thompson for Landon Koons who put it all together. My name is Jay Query, and we thank you for listening to be on the bricks
Speaker 1: Only the best run here at the Indianapolis five hundred.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: Who do you feel we'll have to beat this year's race?
00:00:06
Speaker 3: People like a J point and Bobby Answer.
00:00:10
Speaker 2: Press and live with the kicker.
00:00:11
Speaker 4: Flatly and incredible.
00:00:13
Speaker 5: Danny Sullivan spun in Crona Mario and Freddie aj have a gun, he has.
00:00:20
Speaker 6: Five hundred Beyond the bricks with Jake Querry and Mike Thompson brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think outside the box store on ninety three five and one o seven five the fans.
00:00:39
Speaker 7: Inside the Hinsley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley. My name is Jake Querry, Mike Thompson here as well. Landon Koons is the man that puts it all together for us, as you hear. As we are now midway through the month of May, and inside of just two weeks inside of that, actually before the one hundred and tenth running of the Indianapolis five hundred mile race. Tonight, it's a unique evening because yes, this is May the fifteenth, and each year I always say when it comes to May the fifteenth, I reflect upon and think about and I don't know why it is. There have been a number of drivers who have been fatally injured at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I think the one accident that visually speaking is the most haunting is that of Gordon Smiley. And then ten years after that, it was on May fifteenth when a young driver by the name of Jovi Marcello was fatally injured at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And there have been obviously others but that have passed tragically in the pursuit of the Ultimate Racing Prize. But we certainly reflect upon those two men on this day on May the fifteenth, and are aware I think of each and every year when I see that date. I also know Mike that for you, you remember May the fifteenth probably was somewhat mixed emotion because of the somborg nature of the Gordon Smiley aspect, but also it was the day that you first walked in and felt that energy that everybody feels when they come underneath the tunnel and enter the Indianapolisimutter Speedway.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: Oh, I agree one hundred percent.
00:02:23
Speaker 8: I mean it was my first day at the speedway, and like you said, it was definitely mixed emotions because you know, the Gordon Smiley crash happened, you know, basically in front of us. But you know, you just you can't put any you can't really describe the energy of nineteen eighty two. It was just it was so big and that and being there with all those fans for qualifications on the first day.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: It really was truly special.
00:02:45
Speaker 8: And I always remember May fifteenth is my first day at the speedway and finally reflect on that day. So it's exciting to be on the air tonight on May fifteenth.
00:02:54
Speaker 7: Now, nineteen seventy two, that was the year that greatness would happen in Indianapolis. That was the year right off of sixteenth Street where this city and its landscape would forever change, because in September of that year, I was born at Methodist Hospital, but in reality I was not. I would have been in Utero for the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred, So seventy three was the first year that I was living. But the seventy two race was one that had so much that took place that even though Mike, this is not a year on a round number, it's the fifty fourth anniversary of nineteen seventy two, but nonetheless we're going to bring that race back into life, and we're going to do it tonight.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: That's right, Jake.
00:03:37
Speaker 8: Now sometimes I fall into the cliches. I'll do the you know, since this is this ending year, ending in a six, I'll do a bunch of different sixes, and then we do the twenty fifth anniversary. But I thought I'd give you something special tonight, Jake, and give you the fifty fourth anniversary of nineteen seventy two.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: So I went completely off the.
00:03:53
Speaker 7: Board for well, nothing wrong with that. We like going off the board from time to time, right, And here's the right thing. You did it sometimes, and you did that math of fifty four years. You did that in your head in like record time, record speed, right, which was a theme in nineteen seventy two, because if you think about it, that was a time period where speeds really jumped up.
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Mike, that's right.
00:04:15
Speaker 8: I mean speed was the story of the month in nineteen seventy two, because in seventy one, you got to remember, the qualifying record for four laps was just under one hundred and seventy nine miles an hour. I think it was one seventy eight six ninety six or something like that, and then in nineteen seventy two, with the rear wings and all those things, the changes and things like that that were going on and tire technology and aerodynamics, that the record jump by seventeen miles an hour. Can you imagine that the record jumping seventeen miles an hour one day.
00:04:45
Speaker 2: It just boggles my mind.
00:04:47
Speaker 7: Bobby Uncers sat on poll at one ninety five point nine four zero miles an hour in nineteen seventy two. Speedway historian emeritus Donald Davidson on that qualifying speed and the record speeds in nineteen seventy two.
00:05:05
Speaker 1: The other thing was the speeds just skyrocketed because after McLaren had been allowed to use a trick rear wing that was molded into the engine cover for nineteen seventy two, the huge Bolton rear wings were permitted for the first time, and probably a little more of caution should have been exercised because the teams were had to put huge wings on. The downforce was massive, and the track record had gone from one seventy one to one seventy nine, and then in nineteen seventy two they went all the way through. In fact, Bobby Unster I think did two laps at one ninety six, So they went up sixteen seventeen miles an hour in one year and not two, you know, approximately twenty five miles an hour in two years, which was pretty scary, and because it changed the handling characteristics of its just a whole different technology came in to the mix and the drivers were pretty much on edge having to go that much faster. Bobby Unscher won the Paul full lap average of one ninety five nine I think in a couple of laps at one ninety six.
00:06:13
Speaker 7: And again it would be nearly a half a decade before Tom Sneva would eclipse the two hundred mile an hour mark in qualifying, But that huge jump in nineteen seventy two, A big portion of that, a big responsibility for it was that constant innovation of Dan Gurney. Dan Gurney of course coming out with that seventy two Eagle and the All American racers. Bobby Unser was one that loved working with Dan Gurney on that loved it, as he would say, and he talked to Mike in an interview about exactly that.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't just the rear wings.
00:06:46
Speaker 9: It was a different concept of how to build race cars. That was in nineteen seventy two, and what happened is is Roman Slobodinsky. It's a hard name to pronounce, but Roman was a engineer, and Gurney, of course, at extremely smart guy. Not a good business man, okay, but really good with race cars. I mean, you just can't imagine he was a Roger Pinskey of that era. He just but he was also an engineer. He's also a mechanic and a hell of a good race driver. So when I took that job over, I really was at the forefront of the entire world. And that car in nineteen seventy two caused the entire world in motor racing to change, even to the stock cars. They started changing their concepts of where the weight should be, where this and that and the others should be, The height of the cars, the center gravity, and all of that type of stuff just changed, and it changed overnight.
00:07:45
Speaker 7: Bobby Unzer and Bruno Mars by the way there with Mike Thompson. Mike, one thing is we'll continue to hear from Bobby Uncer that needs to be said. I shouldn't say that. Actually, it doesn't even need to be said, but it is factual, and that is that those that were fortunate enough to meet Bobby Uncer, which is the vast majority of race bands, because of his accessibility, in particular in his post racing career, there just was nobody like him.
00:08:09
Speaker 8: Oh, I agree, I mean he was so accessible, easy to talk to.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: I've had I have a.
00:08:15
Speaker 8: Lot of memories that I could share Bobby Onnscer spending time with him. He was just an incredible person to spend time with, and just he would he would needle you if he barely met you, you know, and it was just a lot of fun to be around Bobby Unscer. And that interview actually was at the late Great Grindstone Charlie's and Speedway, I believe that's where I conducted that interview. So it was just a lot of fun to spend anytime you could with Bobby.
00:08:38
Speaker 7: Answer well, Bobby Anser loved that seventy two Eagle that we mentioned, which was obviously an incredible race car and incredible comments here from uncle Bobby.
00:08:48
Speaker 9: Well, actually he's seventy two car had a super super good record because it would have should have said on the poll every race it ran that year in fact, every place that it qualified, it broke a record. It was a new record, boom boom boom all year long, and the car was just the car was just too unbeatable, Josh unbeatable, so it didn't make any difference. It was the record. We won four races. Well, I used to tell everybody we won every race we finished. Unfortunately, we didn't finish all the races, and that hurt us pretty bad because our reliability wasn't too good. The car was so fast that it was just breaking pretty often, all engine problems. In fact, I don't even think I ever wrecked that car. And it was just such a fun, fun, fun era to drive because no matter what, it's hat new records and no matter what, if it finished, it's going to win the race. Nobody can beat that car all year. And it was just so much fun to drive. And then all the Eagles after that were like little Eaglitz that got reborn. Slight minor changes, basically the same car, basically the same answers, always fast, always just fly. The Eagles used to fly.
00:10:20
Speaker 7: You know, I'll be honest with you, Mike. My middle school basketball team, we were the Eastwood Eagles. The cheerleaders were the Eagle Ettes very similar to those cars, right.
00:10:28
Speaker 8: I would think so. I mean Uncle Bobby. One thing you have to say about Uncle Bobby. He was a storyteller, wasn't me. I mean he can the littlitz. That was good stuff.
00:10:36
Speaker 7: Best and of course that characteristic, that unique delivery that Bobby Uncer had would become a mainstay with ABC. Boy come to here, turn two, wide open, Paul, as we heard for so many years once he made the move to ABC Television after his racing career. Speaking of ABC, we have some clips from the nineteen seventy two month of May from ABC Television rare lips as a matter of fact, including this one with Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart discussing the increase in speeds in nineteen seventy two and.
00:11:08
Speaker 3: Sitting with me and we're very proud of having with us again this year as we did on race day last year. Is the world champion race driver Jackie Stewart of Scotland.
00:11:16
Speaker 2: Jackie, the speeds.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: Are incredible here this year, seventeen miles an hour faster than the pole position of last year. It's an area and nobody's really explored before. What's your reaction to it.
00:11:27
Speaker 10: I think I've never been so surprised by speed, Jim. I think we always expect speed to increase every year, we expect lap wreckers to be broken, but never by the margin that we're seeing this year at Indianapolis. The Bobby answer effort is something unbelievable. I think technicologically, it's been a year of great advance, it's been a great year of high development. It's been a great year of aerodynamics. It's been a great year of engine horsepower, and apart from anything else, it's been a great year for drivers because some of the drivers really are excelling themselves.
00:11:58
Speaker 1: So happened.
00:12:01
Speaker 7: Nineteen seventy three, Of course, a year later would be one that was marred by all kinds of tragedy and trouble at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nineteen seventy two was not immune to that. Jim malloy is a driver that was attempting to qualify or hoping to qualify that year for his fifth Indianapolis five hundred, but he was involved in an accident on May fourteenth that would prove fatal. On May the eighteenth, Donald Davidson on Jim Malloy.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: Jim mlloy was at the Indianapolis Speedway from nineteen well actually in the five hundred from nineteen sixty eight through seventy one. Jim and then lost his life in nineteen seventy two on a day when he was clearly going to be on the front row. In fact, he was going to challenge Bobby Answer for the poll. But Jim malloy was from Denver, and then his starts forteen sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy and seventy one, and in the best run by far was nineteen seventy one when he came with actually with the Shelby team, Shelby Dowd, and they were having a bit of a struggle and in fact he was in several cars and it looked like that he wasn't going to make the race. And I remember he said that he was out on the grass verge that used to go next to the pitwall and down the pit lane, and that's where the drivers would go out and kind of to be by themselves. And he said that I got to know Jim Lloyd pretty well, and he said, I was really down and thinking we're going to miss the show. It was with MVS and he said, we're going to miss the show and he said, I was just lying on the grass. They're kind of staring at the ground, and I was aware of a shadow and I looked up and it was Dan Gurney and he said, you want to give us a try, And they needed a driver because they'd come with Bobby Unser and Lee Roy Yarborough and Lee Roy looked like it was going to be his best shot, and he had an accident in practice and a concussion, so he was out. And so anyway molloy took over and then finished fourth. And I remember that all the way through the winter, and certainly the early part of the new roup of nineteen seventy two. He was really pumped because the new Eagle, the new Dan Gurney Robin Slobodinski designed Eagle. A few people had those, and Bobby Unswer was clearly, you know, all of the records were going to be shattered, and in early entire chests, Jim malloy he thought that he had a shot at the pole. And then on a day I remember very well that had all kinds of problems. In fact, there was a tornado touching down on the east side. Now, everything at the speedway was okay. It was windy, but it was sunny. But we could look across to the east side to probably about Eastgate Shopping Center, and I didn't actually see a funnel cloud, but it looked pretty nasty over there. And I remember that the cars were in and out. They hadn't started qualifying yet. It was still practice session, and it was one of those really annoying situations where it the green would come out, they'd go out and just take to three four laps, and then another yellow for tow in or something, and then Jim went out to do another hot lap or try and at least get one good one in, and then I had a disaster up at the north end.
00:15:56
Speaker 7: But again Donald Davidson talking about Jim Malloyd. When we come back more on the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred, including a driver that happened to be one of the favorites of the late great Bob Jenkins. We'll explain when we return to Beyond the Bricks.
00:16:19
Speaker 6: Beyond the Bricks with Jake Query and Mike Thompson, brought to you by Quality Supply and Tool Think Outside the box Store on ninety three five and one of seven five fan.
00:16:28
Speaker 7: We are inside the Hensley Legal Group Race Command Center. It happens higher Hensley taking a look back at the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race, and Mike, I'm going to assume one of the top shows in that era, one that would go into syndication and live on for generations beyond just those in which it was initially intended. But I'm going to assume that at times you watched Scooby Doo when you were a kid. Correct.
00:16:55
Speaker 2: I watched a little bit of Scooby Doo as a kid. Yeah, yeah, for sure, not a ton, but I didn't see it a few donald.
00:17:01
Speaker 7: You would know that the van they drove around in was the Mystery Machine, and that's somewhat parlays into the next car we'll talk about. It was driven by Jerry Grant in the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred. Grant was trying to be a car owner. It wasn't working out, so he was doing what we often see walking around with that helmet, just trying to find a ride, and he found it with that mysterious car. The Mystery Eagle Jerry Grant, one that Bob Jenkins would always say was one of his favorite drivers, Donald Davidson with Moore on the Mystery Eagle.
00:17:33
Speaker 1: The Mystery Eagle that was the second Gurney Eagle. Jerry Grant or his teammate to Bobby Unser. And the sponsor was a fellow named Chris Fallow who lived and I'm trying to think exactly where Ray Nichols was from. I think Highland was where the Nichols engineering business was in partnership with Paul Goldsmith, and Chris Fallow was called the Mystery Greek and he supposedly had one hundred and fifty companies, I think, and I really don't know what any of them were, but Chris Fallow was supposedly this multi millionaire that really got heavily into racing, and he was part of Ray Nichols stock car team. I think David Pearson drove a car that was painted purple. But anyway, there was on the rear wing the slogan you name it was on there and a lot of people wanted what that meant, and I think what that meant was that Chris Fallow supposedly owned one hundred and fifty companies. He did everything. What did he do? You name it? And I think that's what it was about.
00:18:56
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant, by the way, would start ten Indianapolis five hundred mile races. And he not only was a driver that was around for a while that made him popular, but also his personality quick with a joke if you will, which you can hear in this nineteen seventy two qualification coverage clip from ABC.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: That came Jerry Grant, the man who came here just the day before yesterday, and yesterday took his first laps in the number forty eight car, the Mystery Eagles, so called of Dan Gurney. This is a sister car with the car that qualified fastest, the one of Bobby Hunser, and Jerry Grant really.
00:19:30
Speaker 11: Got it going.
00:19:32
Speaker 10: I think this matter to Jerry and the car because this illustrates with so very few lamps competing, perhaps of the twenty lamps, practice to go out into a time like he did. To course, the fastest time of the day isn't fact an achievement, and agreed, I think achievement for Dan Gurney and the car builder because the mechanics obviously have done a great job. Jerry's been around a long time, He's been racing at Indianapolis.
00:19:54
Speaker 3: A long time.
00:19:54
Speaker 10: Perhaps this year he's got the best chance of success that he's never had. I think his friendship with Gurney doing a great neal.
00:20:02
Speaker 3: Okay, this was Jerry Grant who turned in the time of one eighty nine points one four five fastest qualifying time of this day. But remember he was not eligible to compete for the first spots and for the pole position.
00:20:11
Speaker 4: He was a second day qualifier.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: And therefore is somewhere back in the middle of the field, or will be on race day Jerry Grant into the field there is that's the.
00:20:23
Speaker 5: Here you where his name wasn't on the entry list, and we haven't seen you until yesterday.
00:20:27
Speaker 12: Well, I went out of business as a car owner, and I decided that either I was going to drive a competitive car or go dig ditches.
00:20:36
Speaker 9: And I got together with Dan.
00:20:40
Speaker 12: And I got the greatest opportunity of my life and we're going racing here.
00:20:46
Speaker 3: That what appeared to be a hat on Jerry's head is actually the protective mask the drivers wear nowadays, and he just kind of rolled it up after he finished. We'll be back in a minute at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:20:58
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant would go on to race until nineteen seventy six each year, by the way, in the Indianapolis five reun mile race. Now, what are your favorite clips?
00:21:08
Speaker 4: I know?
00:21:08
Speaker 7: And one that still sometimes when you hear it, Mike, you say, did I hear that correctly? Is a history lesson and I'm using that in air quotes from Chris Aconomaki. Correct.
00:21:19
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is one I actually just found not that long ago, and I'm not really sure how to describe it because it starts off with this kind of unusual introduction from Keith Jackson, who was you know, he was acting as the anchor on Bump Day that year, and he does his own sort of version of.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: How the speedway was built. And then there's this long piece from Chris A. Konamaki.
00:21:39
Speaker 8: I mean, it was one of those filler pieces, and this thing is probably ten minutes long, so I only cut part of it in there, but it ends in what I'm going to play, ends in a pretty weird way, which we'll hear.
00:21:50
Speaker 13: Back in nineteen oh nine, a group of businessmen decided to have themselves a festival here.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: They put together a.
00:21:56
Speaker 13: Balloon race and assaulted. Other entertainment devices were brought in and they had a good time. Then they decided they should have some car racing, so they added that, and in nineteen eleven they decided to have a five hundred mile automobile race, and they had one. It wasn't terribly successful from point of view in time, but then it was most successful and from that has come what we have today, the Indy five hundred. So again let's join Chrissy Konamacky for a reflection on the post war years of the Indy five hundred.
00:22:30
Speaker 5: Then Jack Brabham appeared at the speedway with a rear engine car. He didn't know it, but he was starting a new trend. The former world champion placed in the top ten with an underpowered car in a race that saw a wild accident on the main stretching.
00:22:43
Speaker 1: The car skid it his bond.
00:22:44
Speaker 5: Others dodged the left to the right. They were t bone crashes, and then Jack Turner came upon the seat of the wet sideway, hit the wall and tumbled over and over. He walked away from this track uninjured.
00:22:55
Speaker 14: As did all the other drivers.
00:22:58
Speaker 5: Aj Foyd came back to win at a record speed, and then a youngster from California, Rufus Carnell Jones arrived on the track at nineteen sixty three. He was the first man to cover what is now all asked for track has better than one hundred and fifty miles an hour. J c Agajanian, who had a winner in fifty two, was hoping for great things in sixty three. The press in Indianapolis doesn't wait.
00:23:24
Speaker 4: Very long.
00:23:26
Speaker 5: To show their headlines, but the.
00:23:30
Speaker 4: Winner that year was Roger Ward.
00:23:33
Speaker 5: He is now an all pro at the speedway, a regular victory lane hands. Then Dan Gurney brought the Lotuser engine car to Indianapolis, having a little bit of trouble here, but it was the beginning of still another trend, vight engines in rear engine cars. Jack Turner had trouble qualifying what is now an old roaster on the track. He walked away from this accident and the sport of automobile racing as well, calling it foots after two straight clips. Eddie Sack the next year tried to climb the wall in his car.
00:24:02
Speaker 9: This is now.
00:24:03
Speaker 1: Nineteen sixty three.
00:24:05
Speaker 5: And Finelli Jones dives down underneath and uses the grass carry on to victory.
00:24:12
Speaker 13: The chicken flag goes over.
00:24:14
Speaker 5: The only bricks on the circuit, now a thirty six inch wide panel across the start finish line.
00:24:19
Speaker 7: The rest of the.
00:24:19
Speaker 5: Speedway entirely covered by asphalt. Jim Clark zoomed from pole position to lead this race in nineteen sixty five and a British made Ford Engine Bloatus. Then early in the going, a spin took place as Dave McDonald hit the inside wall. His car exploded. Eddy Sack's chowed head on. The resultant holocaust cost both McDonald.
00:24:43
Speaker 1: And Sacks their lives.
00:24:45
Speaker 5: But there was a plus to it, for it was at this point in time the fire suits were made mandatory, cars were made more safe, fuel cells were ordered mandatory on all cars, and the great emphasis on safety prevailed.
00:24:59
Speaker 7: I don't know well, Mike, that I would say that there's a plus to it. I guess you could say there is one thing that came out of that, in the continued pursuit of safety. But to use the term a plus to it with that most horrific crash perhaps in race history, probably a bit of a miswording there by Chris Economaki correct.
00:25:19
Speaker 15: I believe so I think that whole segment was a little weird because he's talking about Jim Clark leading in sixty five, when then he's talking about the sixty four race, and then he goes back, you know, to saying it's sixty four again, and then we have the accident and then Yeah, I.
00:25:34
Speaker 2: Just thought the wording was so strange. It was these two.
00:25:37
Speaker 8: People died a horrific death in front of thousands of people, but there was a.
00:25:40
Speaker 2: Plus to it.
00:25:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was all of it. Not to make light of that, but but all of it was. That was kind of all over the place, right, Like I had motions.
00:25:47
Speaker 2: It was, yeah, yeah, it was about it.
00:25:50
Speaker 12: Now.
00:25:50
Speaker 7: One driver that had problems as well in nineteen seventy two was Wally Dollenbach. He was bumped from the line up on bump day, caught a ride replacing Art Pollard who had been injured that on race day. He was really cooking literally Donald Davidson on dollond Back's month of May in nineteen seventy two.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: It was Wally dollon Back. It's the car that Art Pollard had qualified and then Pollard had an accident, broke his leg and couldn't run, so they actually that they were allowed to substitute a car, and Wally Dollondback had got bumped. He was the first alternate starter. And so what they made an arrangement to put dollon Back in the replacement car, not the one that he got bumped in, but a replacement car for the Pollard car, which was STP Corporation, And so he would start thirty third regardless, and so it was Vince Granatelli, the Andy's brother. The first stop, the fuel spilled and they had the methanol fire, and they got the extinguishers. They he made four stops, and stops one, two, and four all had a fire, but the third stop went unscathed and they did get a standing ovation. And oh, on one of either the first or second stops, Vince's clothing was not fire returnant and he had to get his his pants up in a hurry, and he was in jukie shorts and there was something about they were either red of hearts on on on white or something, but he had very very colorful pants. And but then on the third one, which was resulted in no fire, and here's Dollenback going back out into competition, and the crowd great fans in the bleachers all cheer as you said, and then the Granitellies turned around, lined up, and then took a bow.
00:27:56
Speaker 7: As a course, the Indianapolis Motorspeait Radio network had their own garbage, of course, of Wally Donandback's race day misadventures. Here's how it sounded for the south pit, Loue Palmer.
00:28:06
Speaker 14: And doesn't it look smoky down here? We have it's just reaching me now a car. The driver is all right, let's set it in order as I caught through it. Wally dolland Back is out of the car. It is the stp Andree, the forty car Art Pollard's ride. He pulled into the pit about his forty third forty fourth lap, came in for what should have been a routine pit stop.
00:28:27
Speaker 4: They had it fueled up.
00:28:28
Speaker 14: He was ready to be pushed away, and suddenly, well we could just begin to see the indication of alcohol papor in the air around it, and wham, and it ignited Doland.
00:28:38
Speaker 4: Back climbed out of the car. He is all right, no scorch on the uniform.
00:28:41
Speaker 14: Everything seems fine except the car I suspect.
00:28:44
Speaker 4: Has ben Roar will be retired from the field.
00:28:46
Speaker 2: Itself.
00:28:47
Speaker 14: We don't know the reason for it. The fumes were most accurate, but they got it out quickly and we've got no danger situation now at the moment, Doland Mack's anxiously looking over the car, hoping maybe there's something they can do.
00:29:00
Speaker 4: Seems unlikely. We'll keep you.
00:29:01
Speaker 16: Advised, Sid, Thank you, and we said that we would tell Arthur Polly what was doing with the car, and unfortunately that isn't the greatest news.
00:29:08
Speaker 4: I hope he doesn't suffer a relapse. We're thinking about you, Art. It irks me so much, Lamb.
00:29:13
Speaker 16: When I see some of the stories here, people say that people come to auto races to see action that harm somebody.
00:29:18
Speaker 4: I'm certain that's not true. The yellows on Hitlu Palmer in this hot pit.
00:29:22
Speaker 14: I'm not sure this corresponding your yellow SID. But we've got Wally Dollar back bouncing out of that car again. Wally's all right, but it's on fire again and just not getting this pit stop worked out in the STP number forty car. It isn't yu, Lola, and this is the second time we've had it come up in flame coming into the pit area. Now one of the fire trucks itself. I've been using the CO two extinguishers on it. Donald Back's attempting to get them to stop now if he leaves the fires off, But they don't want to get any of that car loaded up.
00:29:50
Speaker 4: With any more of this than they need to.
00:29:52
Speaker 14: Wally can't be a happy man, nor Convince Grannitelly, who is by the way, fully clothed again in one of the fuel changing uniforms down here.
00:30:00
Speaker 4: The last time, Well, finally they got the fire out.
00:30:02
Speaker 14: Vince was actually changing a wheel on that car, or they moved it out on the track again in just a pair of jockey shortz. Now Wally is looking into the cockpit of the car, and the question is will we see it like before? The fire did not last as long this time. He may yet get back out on the track, but at the moment, the Morty car has a problem.
00:30:23
Speaker 4: In the pit.
00:30:23
Speaker 7: Say it just another example of how Lou Palmer was considered one of the all time greats when it comes to his descriptions of Pitt Road during his time with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. We come back, one of my favorite songs in the eighties. Dare I say even a one hit wonder. I'll explain what I mean next. I'm Beyond the Bricks.
00:30:49
Speaker 6: Beyond the Bricks with Jack Query and Mike Thompson, brought to you by Quality, Supply and tool Think outside the Box Store on ninety three five and one of seven five.
00:30:57
Speaker 2: A fan No again.
00:30:59
Speaker 3: We have a few track records and I'll stay tuned for the greatest spectacle in racing.
00:31:06
Speaker 2: This is the Big Country out here.
00:31:09
Speaker 3: A special breed of men and a great breed of forces care for the needs of the lifestocks that feed the nation.
00:31:16
Speaker 2: The days are long for the actions fast.
00:31:19
Speaker 3: That's why Lone Star is one of the world's finest.
00:31:22
Speaker 2: And lightest beers to go all the way with the thirst demand gets when one is not enough.
00:31:28
Speaker 13: Lone Star the beer every beer would like to be like Lone Star.
00:31:37
Speaker 7: Mike. One of my favorite songs from the eighties is in the Big Country by Big Country, and that's exactly what Lone Star makes you feel like you're at and the times when you just need that extra beer.
00:31:47
Speaker 2: Right, You got to give a Lone Star credit.
00:31:50
Speaker 8: Though they had a lot of vivid word pictures that they portrayed.
00:31:54
Speaker 2: Don't you think well?
00:31:55
Speaker 7: And nothing says the speed of raising racehorses like dropping that into an ad for the Indianapolis five hundred mile race.
00:32:02
Speaker 2: Right, that's right. You know, we lived the big life and we have big horses and all this stuff.
00:32:08
Speaker 17: But yeah, I'm telling you a Lone Star They did run a lot of spots back in the early seventies, and so I had to give you for nineteen seventy two. Tonight, Listen, anytime we can get a Loan Star spot, because you know the brand is Lone Star.
00:32:22
Speaker 7: I will tell you I do love me some Lone Star beer. I've had it before in the state of Texas, and it always just feels better when in Texas, which is in fact a whole other country. Jay Querry along with Mike Thompson, Land and Kuons here as well inside the Hinsley Legal Group Race Command Center, it happens higher. Hinsley taking a look back at the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race. One of the fan favorites always at Indye, of course, with the Bettenhausen family. Gary Bettenhausen in nineteen seventy two, and it looked like it was going to be his day. He was running there up towards the front, looked like he had it, and then an issue inside of twenty laps to go, and a NISSI one for Gary Bettenhausen who dropped out.
00:33:03
Speaker 4: Okay number four and Jim Shelton.
00:33:05
Speaker 18: Oh, you wouldn't believe it, but hard look is apparently hit number seven.
00:33:10
Speaker 11: There.
00:33:10
Speaker 18: He went by here very slowly, and I believe he will probably be down in the.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: Shall shoot right now?
00:33:17
Speaker 3: Pick him up, potty bell, all right, we were trying to reach you the last two lamps that Gary Bettenhouse is gone by.
00:33:24
Speaker 4: His engine is extremely a sour.
00:33:27
Speaker 3: We took our headset off to get a closer listen because we're only.
00:33:29
Speaker 4: About fifty feet away.
00:33:30
Speaker 13: From him, and his engine is sour and he's up the back stretched nowt but he is not at racing speed.
00:33:35
Speaker 2: Back to the tower.
00:33:37
Speaker 16: How's he doing?
00:33:38
Speaker 4: As he comes up to three?
00:33:39
Speaker 16: Can you pick him up?
00:33:40
Speaker 11: Wrong?
00:33:42
Speaker 13: He went by me just a moment, Ago said, And that engine.
00:33:45
Speaker 4: His quite sour, and as you may have guessed, Jerry Grant passed.
00:33:48
Speaker 11: If you're on free just about two laps.
00:33:50
Speaker 16: Ago said, Okay, we'll watch him as he comes by here. I want to check the one hundred and seventy laps four Hudred and twenty five miles. See the fizzlov going out. We'll watch four Gary and there he goes by, and you're certainly arriets. How much would you say he slowed down?
00:34:04
Speaker 11: Lynn?
00:34:05
Speaker 4: I would say that he's.
00:34:06
Speaker 19: Running about ninety miles an hour, just about yellow lap speed, and I would think that a turbo charger has gone out. That's usually what happens when you slow down about that speed, a turbocharger which takes the bulk of the powerway and it's actually running on about one hundred horsepower right now.
00:34:21
Speaker 7: With Bettenhausen dropping out, the lead switched from a Gary to a Jerry, because Jerry Grant would take over the lead on lap one seventy six, but then an unscheduled pit stop as well. What happened to Jerry Grant so unscheduled that it didn't even take place in his own pit.
00:34:38
Speaker 19: And also I would say that that Jerry Grant is getting some coaching from his crew.
00:34:42
Speaker 2: That Marcus closing down on him. Let's see if he can stretch that back out.
00:34:46
Speaker 19: I'm sure right now we're going to have a tremendous race.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: From here to the finish.
00:34:49
Speaker 16: One has to have a commercial sun place in a broadcast, isn't the stranger? It would come just then Jerry Grant has just come into the pit area for an unscheduled, unexpected that's stop.
00:35:00
Speaker 2: Are you nearing?
00:35:02
Speaker 4: Apparently not, so we'll watching from here.
00:35:04
Speaker 16: He's back being pushed back out again, and there he goes.
00:35:08
Speaker 11: As Mark Donahue goes by.
00:35:13
Speaker 19: I'm sure that Mark must be a lamp up though that kept him a whole map, because he was in there for thirty three seconds, and I'm sure that as close as they were spaced together that there must be a.
00:35:23
Speaker 2: Full lap now between the two.
00:35:25
Speaker 7: Remember that anecdote by the way, about Grant and missing his pit stop. More on that coming up. But the lead would then't go over to Mark Donahue, and he would cruise his way home to Victory.
00:35:36
Speaker 18: Well, Blueskuy's over him, a beautiful blue car leading, they're saying. There he goes right now, he's into that home stretching boy, a big pucket full a green Max and his bucket and here's shit Colin.
00:35:48
Speaker 11: And here he comes, and there's the checkod flag for Mark whu Weather of the nineteen seventy two Indianapolis five hundred mile race.
00:36:02
Speaker 4: Now turning into.
00:36:03
Speaker 16: Victory Lane is Mark Donahue and standing by is Lou Palmer.
00:36:08
Speaker 4: Right.
00:36:08
Speaker 14: We are down here and we're awaiting him now. The pipes have begun, the Gordon pipers. The crew is running down toward the car and Mark donoughhughe's getting a final push. He's made it all the way home and he is our winner. And the Sonoko McLaren. Mark Donahue arrives. The crowd throngs around him, the congratulations and being heamed upon him, a rith the flowers based on it, the board Warner trophy behind it, and a glass of milk also being prepared for Marc as soon as he gets out of that helmet. Finally, the full face helmet coming off, and Mark Donahue is surrounded by well wishers here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:36:45
Speaker 4: Mark Donahue has at his way today. We're looking for Roger Penske as well, who must be here in the crowd.
00:36:50
Speaker 14: That is almost impossible to determine just who is at the car. I see Larry Trusdale over in the corner, but Porman as well helping him out. Now the car, the flowers being placed around the neck, and we're moving a little bit closer. I think behind the bear that maybe James Garner over here as well. And Mark Donahue has arrived in Victory Lane and the first kiss I don't think was from Mark Queen a five hundred festival Queen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mark Donahue sitting high at back the car is day to day.
00:37:21
Speaker 4: Did you get top? Well, Hey, welcome home. Mark. It's been a flight, hasn't it.
00:37:26
Speaker 20: Oh, this is really the happiest moment of my life. And I I really a lot of cork Einhopper and Roger Penske and all the guys that work so hard for to get to this point. We had some good luck and it's kind of a change for us, I guess, but our whole team worked really well and I just can't express how happy I am. Well, okay, we're happy to have you here. And the com you were really racing at the end. It was almost like a spread event, not a five hundred mile bw and grant we're having something go out there?
00:38:00
Speaker 14: Did you know how close it was? And how about a sip of built before you answer. Go ahead, Mark, take us in all right, hey, and you've got to be thirsty as well. As happened another one, Hey, glad to hear it. And have you met our queen? H all right, another reason to arrive in victory lane. Now about that duel at the end, Man, that it really looked like it was a push you and Jerry If.
00:38:34
Speaker 4: You were really racing each other out there, were you aware how tight that contest was?
00:38:37
Speaker 11: Well?
00:38:38
Speaker 20: Yeah, h Roger told me all along what was happening, and we'd kind of agreed to start racing a little bit towards the end of the race, and the car was pushing a bit, so we couldn't go as fast as we wanted. But unfortunately, I think Jerry had some little bad engine luck at the end and that was a break for us.
00:38:57
Speaker 4: How about the heat today? Was this a tie race forrial? You've had other five hundred miles here the others. Every race is a tiring race, but one is not very tired if he happens to win.
00:39:11
Speaker 7: Mark Donahue started five races in the Indianapolis five hundred. He never started outside of the front two rows. He would return in nineteen seventy three, again starting in the third spot, which is where he won from in nineteen seventy two, but a piston issue would drop him out in that seventy three race on lap ninety two. He was fatally injured in nineteen seventy five, of course of injuries in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. Now, as for Jerry Grant, you heard Lou Palmer make reference to the fact that Grant finished second in that race. He was the second to come across and take the checkered flag, behind Mark Donahue. But if you were to look at the box score, he is scored as twelve. Remember what we talked about earlier with that pit stop. Donald Davidson explains all of it.
00:39:57
Speaker 1: He had already used up his fuel supply and he was waved into the adjoining pit, which was Bobby Unsers, and Bobby Unser had gone out early, and supposedly the refueling mechanism from Bobby Unser's tank was hooked up to Jerry Grant's and whether any fuel went in or not, he went out and finished the race, and he actually crossed the line second behind Mark Donahue. Now, Jerry always contended that he won, he actually crossed the line second. So when it was reported that they had gone into the Bobby Unswer pit next to Grant's and the refueling mechanism had been hooked up, somebody of note on the team said, well, we didn't put any fuel in, while there was no way to know whether they did or not, and so Harlan Fegler disallowed the final twelve laps, which dropped Grant from second to twelth, and then of course moved everybody else up one.
00:41:04
Speaker 7: That would mean that al Unser would technically finish second, followed by Joe Leonard, Sam Session, Sam Posi, Lloyd Ruby, Mike Kiss, Mario Andretti, Jimmy Carruthers, hell Yarborough, George Snyder, and then Jerry Grant finishing in the twelfth position. Back to Mark Donney, you the race winner in the final minute here, Mike, he is one that I think had a precision at the speedway that, unfortunately, due to his early passing, were Roger Penske's first win at the speedway. I think people forget just how good Mark Donnie he was.
00:41:35
Speaker 11: No.
00:41:36
Speaker 2: I totally agree, Jake. I mean, he's a guy that there's a lot of fans of.
00:41:39
Speaker 8: Mark Donahue out there, but you know, it's a name that probably should be more known than it is.
00:41:44
Speaker 2: But Jerry Grant, I was going to tell you about this. He was told you before.
00:41:49
Speaker 8: He was a good friend of mine, and he used to sign autographs a lot of times. On the picture of the Mystery Eagle, he would write nineteen seventy two indy five hundred winner and then put no money in parentheses because he felt like he still won the race even though he didn't.
00:42:03
Speaker 2: But he would tell rite that on fans photos sometimes.
00:42:07
Speaker 8: I have a couple photos that he did that for me, where he wrote nineteen seventy two winner, no money.
00:42:12
Speaker 7: Jerry Grant again, one of the great characters and that sense of humor that we saw earlier, and another example of at times fortune and heartache and how they can all intertwine when it comes to the greatest race in the world. A lot of fun on this the fifteenth of May, taking a look back at the twenty seventh of May of nineteen seventy two and the Indianapolis five hundred mile race for Mike Thompson for Landon Koons who put it all together. My name is Jay Query, and we thank you for listening to be on the bricks
