60 Years Ago: Hill Triumphs Amid Chaos, Attrition

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Last in a series

1966 became a watershed year for the Indianapolis 500 and for North American auto racing. The race put the final in the coffin of the front engine roadster, solidified the European drivers as a force to be reckoned with, and caused the retirement of one of the last of the stars of the 1950s.

Mario Andretti qualified for the pole at 165.899 miles an hour, and he was joined in row 1 by Jim Clark and George Snider. The field also featured former F1 champion Graham Hill and a second year F1 diver, Jackie Stewart.

The 50th running of the Indianapolis 500 had all the ingredients to be one of the great races in IMS history. There were champions from both sides of the Atlantic, 14 different chassis, and nine Offenhauser power plants making one of their last stands against two dozen Fords.

Highly anticipated events sometimes don’t live up to their hype, and thus it was with 1966 Indianapolis . The field di not even get to turn after the green flag before cars spun, crashed into each other contacted both walls, and sent tires and parts flying. At least 15 cars were involved, 11 of the starters eliminated.

The consensus was that Billy Foster, starting 12th, ran over the wheel of sixth place starter Gordon Johncock. Foster slammed the outside wall, the tires broke free from his car and flew into the paths of the field as they hurtled toward turn 1. The only injury was to A. J. Foyt, who cut his knee and hand climbing the fence at the spot where his car came to rest.

Foster insisted that he was hit from behind, but the official cause pf the accident was that the Canadian hit Johncock.

After 1 delay of 100 minutes, the race resumed under caution. When the green flag waved on lap 5, Johnny Boyd crashed in turn 1. At this point in the race the green flag was out for less than five minutes.

The race resumed on lap 17. Andretti had the laps under caution, but Jim Clark took over the point on lap 17, followed by Lloyd Ruby leading on lap 65 after Clark spun without contact on the previous laPp. The race looked to be a fight between Ruby and Clark, with Ruby having a slight edge until Ruby retired with engine trouble on lap 166.

Clark still ran strong, but he spun again on lap 86. This spin may have led to the confusion at the end of the race.

Graham Hill was a dapper figure with a distinctive helmet.

After Ruby lost the lead to Jackie Stewart, the Scotsman appeared to be in control. His only concern was Graham Hill. ;’Stewart lost oil pressure with 10 laps to go, handing the lead and the victory to Hill. Or did it? Clark and his team owner, Colin Chapman and sponsor Andy Granatelli were positive that Clark had won despite the two spins. With Hill in Victory Lane, Clark headed toward the winner’s area only to be stopped.

The Lotus team insisted that Clark had lapped Hill, but I recall seeing in a race replay that Hill passed Clark during one of his spins.

Behind the action among the leaders, cars failed and crashed. Only seven cars were running at the finish, the last runner, Jerry Grant was 33 laps behind. Grant finished 10th. The top four were the only cars to complete 200 laps.

The course for open wheel racing in North America was set, the Offenhauser engine would fade from the scene, and a new generation of drivers would rule for years.

Notes

Hill would race in just two more 400s and fail to finish either. He would win a second world championship in 1968. He died in a plane crash in 1975.

Jackie Stewart went on to win three world championships.

Rodger Ward, two time 500 winner, retired the day after the race, saying racing ” just wasn’t fun yesterday.”

Billy Foster never got the chance to redeem himself at Indianapolis. He was killed in a stock car accident at Riverside, California, in January of 1967.

INDYCAR Announces Push to Pass Update

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Announcement from IndyCar, followed by the report from IndyCar officiating:

  Expanded Availability of Push to Pass in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDY NXT by Firestone To Provide Additional Opportunities for Enhanced Action

INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, May 5, 2026) – INDYCAR has announced an update for Push to Pass usage for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone.
Beginning with this week’s events on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and for all subsequent road and street circuit races, Push to Pass – a driver-controlled system that provides roughly 60 extra horsepower via increased turbocharger boost – will be available and allowed for use at all times once the car passes the alternate start-finish line following the start and once the green flag has been displayed.
Expanded availability, which now includes use on race restarts, will provide teams and drivers additional tools and overtake possibilities during the crucial moments of race restarts. The rule prohibiting passing prior to the restart line remains in effect.
“The Push to Pass software failure at the Streets of Long Beach allowed INDYCAR an opportunity to fully review the rules of the system and consider any improvements, including leaving Push to Pass available on restarts,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said.
“Push to Pass is a driver and team enhancement, which has evolved since its introduction in 2009, and – working with stakeholders – we believe it’s time for this additional update.

“While maybe ironic on how we transitioned to this procedural revision, we look forward to seeing how this new opportunity to use Push to Pass will enhance strategy and the potential for even more wheel-to-wheel action.”

Push to Pass timing parameters, including time and maximum time per push, remain unchanged.The update comes as INDYCAR Officiating, in a separate announcement, provided its findings following a thorough review of the Push to Pass software failure, corrective measures and other rule updates.

“This has been a superb example of INDYCAR Officiating and INDYCAR working together to provide our sport outcomes that will greatly benefit on-track competition,” Boles said.
“We are confident in the update to the software and are gratified with the outcome of this full review.”
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Sonsio Grand Prix, round six of the 2026 championship, Saturday, May 9. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One and the FOX Sports app.
INDY NXT has its second doubleheader of 2026 with Race 1 on the IMS road course scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Friday, May 8 on FOX Sports’ FS2 and Race 2 at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9 on FS1.
Audio coverage is available via INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls on SiriusXM channel 218 and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA. 

The report:

INDYCAR Officiating Announces Long Beach
Push to Pass Review Findings, Action  INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, May 5, 2026) – INDYCAR Officiating has announced its findings and updates following a thorough review of the Push to Pass software failure during the Sunday, April 19 INDYCAR SERIES race on the Streets of Long Beach.Following the race, INDYCAR Officiating followed the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Push to Pass rule (Rule 14.19.16.), which placed the burden of the Push to Pass system on the series to assure that the software performed properly.

As such, all cars that competed on the Streets of Long Beach were deemed legal and using Push to Pass software that was compliant to the rules
.INDYCAR Officiating’s review of the Push to Pass software failure also included the detailed use of by all 12 cars that used it on Lap 62 and revealed the following:





Analysis of the restart again showed that no cars received a position change as a result of the software error with the exception of car No. 66, which passed car No. 14 despite the fact both cars used it in near-equal amounts. Based on the findings and the fact INDYCAR Officiating did not view this as a team or driver infraction, no changes were made to the official result
.Push to Pass Responsibility Update

Moving forward, beginning with the event this weekend on the IMS road course and for all subsequent road and street circuit races, INDYCAR has rewritten the rules around Push to Pass to place the burden on competitors to ensure Push to Pass is not used at restricted times. In further analysis and discussion with teams and drivers, INDYCAR Officiating believes the rule update better serves the point of the rule while also simplifying the interpretation for all competitors.The update comes as INDYCAR, in a separate announcement, established expanded availability of Push to Pass on race restarts to provide teams and drivers additional tools and overtake possibilities.
Push to Pass rules for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone are effective immediately.
Root Cause of the Software Failure An intense examination of the system revealed that in the moments before the full-course yellow and following the Lap 61 restart, simultaneous CAN (Controller Area Network) messages were mistakenly sent from the INDYCAR software to the receivers on the cars on track. The system is designed to only send individual signals to the cars. These signals provide telemetry such as ranking, lap count, gaps, differential to the leader, and Push to Pass information and availability.
The simultaneous nature of the signals – instead of an individual signal – led to the Push to Pass system shutdown, resulting in the cars never receiving the signal to disable Push to Pass. Instead, the system remained available during the full-course yellow and subsequent restar

Corrective Code and Measures
Beginning with the event May 8-9 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, an updated and corrected code will be used for the CAN messages, which includes a “lock” around the sequence of events that writes the message to the server to send to the cars. The new code provides for only one-at-a-time messaging and avoids simultaneous signals. The “lock” is a common industry practice and does not pose any risk to the functionality of the code.Internal testing of the updated code signal, including testing during the Indy 500 Open Test on Tuesday-Wednesday April 28-29, validated the system and resulted in zero errors.
Subsequent to the code, INDYCAR Officiating will utilize an additional software engineer and measures to monitor the outgoing CAN messaging to the cars to confirm and validate its operation and to monitor Push to Pass
.“The Independent Officiating Board would like to thank INDYCAR’s software and powertrain engineers who have helped us work through this review,” board chair Raj Nair said.
“We believe the protective measures that have been established will ensure there are no more system issues moving forward. Additionally, the board fully endorses the rule change involving the burden of responsibility and also supports the Push to Pass rule update made by INDYCAR to allow overtake on race restarts. This has been a comprehensive and thorough process, which has led to a favorable result.”
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Sonsio Grand Prix, round six of the 2026 championship, Saturday, May 9. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One and the FOX Sports app.
INDY NXT has its second doubleheader of 2026 with Race 1 on the IMS road course scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Friday, May 8 on FOX Sports’ FS2 and Race 2 scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9 on FS1.
Audio coverage is available via INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls on SiriusXM channel 218 and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA. 
 

Doug Boles Statement on Alex Zanardi

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IndyCar President Doug Boles issued the following statement on the passing of Alex Zanardi:

Editor’s note:

I never saw Zanardi race in person, but I enjoyed watching the telecast. He was aggressive yet measured in his approach. After his accident at Lausitzring in 2001, he became a paralympic hand cycling champion.

It is a shame that the politics of Open Wheel racing at the time prevented him from racing at Indianapolis. His face would surely have been on the Borg-Warner trophy. Alex Zanardi was a champion in competition and in life.

Merle Bettenhausen, 1943-2026; The Last of the Bettenhausen Line

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Some deaths of retired drivers sting more than others, and the passing of Merle Bettenhausen, 82, hurts a lot. Merle was the last surviving member of the Bettenhausen family, one of IndyCar racing’s legendary families. They didn’t have the succeess of the Unsers or the Vukoviches of the world. The Bettenhausen story is one of tough luck, tragedy, and injury.

Patriarch Tony, the 1951 and 1958 national champion, had a second-place finish in the 1955 Indianapolis 500, But he only led a few laps in 1958. He entered May in 1961 mas a heavy favorite to win, but h suffered fatal injuries while test driving a car for his friend Paul Russo the day before Pole Day.

Brother Gary lost the use of his right arm in a racing accident at Syracuse, which prompted Merle to retire soon afterwards. Brother tony, Jr. owned an IndyCar team and died in a plane crash in 2000.

Merle’s story follows the family lineage of setbacks and resiliency. In 1972, after showing promise in USAC dirt champ car races, Merle got a ride at Michigan. Early in the race Bettenhausen tangled with Mike Hiss, his car slammed the wall and caught fire. Bettenhausen lost his right arm below the elbow. He had a prosthetic made with clip at the end so he could still race.

He returned to the track just about one year later, in a midget race. Bettenhausen won his 14th race after his return. H raced for another year, but retired in mid 1974 after Gary’s accident.

Merle Bettenhausen in his first race after losing his arm. USAC photo.

Merle stayed active in racing. he started a business selling fuel and tires at sprint and midget races. He mentored some drivers hlped his brothers in their efforts at IMS.

The Bettenhausen brothers, 1981. 9L tor_ Tony, Jr. Merle, Gary. Photo courtesy of Mike Thomsen.

With Merle gone, Unser, Rahal, Andretti, and Foyt are the last legacy families left who have had descendants race in the 500. If you see a member of one of these families, stop, say hello, and thank them for the memories. The foundation of IndyCar racing was built on these families.

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X To Pace110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge

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From IMS:

  INDIANAPOLIS (Thursday, April 30, 2026) – The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X – a true American hypercar and America’s quickest production car– will lead the field to the green flag for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.The Corvette ZR1X Pace Car invites race fans to celebrate America’s semi-quincentennial anniversary with purpose-driven patriotism and American craftsmanship forged into this year’s bold livery
.Indiana University Head Football Coach Curt Cignetti, in celebration of IU Football’s undefeated National Championship season, has been named honorary Pace Car driver and will pace the field of 33 drivers in the Corvette ZR1X to start “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
“America’s hypercar will be front and center at the Indianapolis 500, and it has the speed to stay there,” Global Corvette and Performance Cars Team Executive Chief Engineer Tony Roma said.
“The ZR1X is made for the racetrack. This Corvette, inspired by America’s 250th anniversary, will absolutely give Coach Cignetti and the fans a thrill.”
The Corvette ZR1X delivers 1,250 horsepower across all four wheels, combining a 186-hp electric motor on the front axle with a 5.5L twin-turbo V8 putting 1,064 hp to the rear wheels. For Pace Car duty, the ZR1X is equipped with the Carbon Aero package, including dive planes on the front bumper, underbody aero strakes and the rear wing, which creates more than 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed.The Corvette ZR1X achieves incredible acceleration – capable of zero to 60 mph in under 2 seconds – and can reach 233 mph, approaching speeds seen by race cars in the field
.“As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, this Pace Car design reflects both where we’ve been and where we’re headed,” Chevrolet Global Executive Design Director Phil Zak said.
“Every element – from the badging to the colors – were deliberately crafted to honor this milestone while expressing a forward‑looking vision of Chevrolet design.”Designed in tandem with the Stars and Steel Collection, the Pace Car features the stars‑and‑stripes decals running across the car.
This exclusive ZR1X was custom painted, appearing Arctic White from the driver side and Admiral Blue from the opposite profile. Every detail was considered, including the painted striping running down the ZR1X’s carbon fiber spine on the rear hatch.
Inside, Santorini Blue seats are paired with red accent seat belts and red stitched floor mats for a cohesive, performance‑driven interior.
“Having America’s sports car, the Corvette, pacing the field feels especially fitting this year as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” INDYCAR and IMS President J. Douglas Boles said.
“With race car-like performance, the Corvette ZR1X is the perfect choice to pace the field of 33 in the Indianapolis 500.”Corvette is the longest-running car nameplate in automotive industry history, so it’s no surprise Corvette has paced “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” more times than any car.
The 2026 race marks the 37th time for Chevrolet to pace dating back to 1948 and the 23rd time overall, all since 1978, for America’s favorite sports car.
Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on all Month of May events and activities at IMS. 

Collet Tops Overall Chart; Newgarden Best in Final Practice

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Caio Collet had the fastest speed of two day IndyCar Open test in this morning’s session at 226. 381 miles per hour. The speed held through the afternoon round, which was led by Josef Newgarden at 225.617.

Practice began 75 minutes late as the track dried from overnight and morning rain, bvut once things started, the morning session got very busy quickly.

The 24 year old Brazilian rookie driver for A J Foyt Racing was very happy with his run, but a bit surprised.

Caio Collet

“No, no, never expected that,” Brazilian driver Collet said. “Obviously, the team has a good background here and has done really, really well the last couple of years, especially last year. As a rookie, I was just trying to learn things and see how everything went. But the team, they did a really good job and got me up to speed quickly, and I got really comfortable.

“Obviously, a lot of things I still have to learn, especially in traffic. I have to understand how to manage traffic and how to get by people. But I think by myself I felt really good, and the team gave me a really good car both days.”

The cool, windy afternoon was not without issues. A caution came out as a fox scampered across the track between turns 1 and 2. IndyCar’s television partner just had to get a plug in.

Katherine Legge completed the two phases of the refresher program with an hour alone on the track and the remainder during the final practice.

Late in the session, Jack Harvey’s car began trailing a large plume of smoke between turns and three and four. The white contrail followed Harvey into the pits where he was greeted by the AMR Safety Team. The wind took the smoke cloud southward through the pits where it lingered for a minute or two.

While a loo at the combined results of the four sessions shows Collet on top, some things stand out. Newgarden and Conor Daly were consistently near the front of the charts. Takuma Sato finished seventh overall but showed consistent lap times.

Alex Palou ranks fourth on the combined sheet driving e the car in which he won Long Beach. How fast will, he be in his speedway car?

I was struck by the /slowness of the Andretti cars- Will Power 18th, Kyle Kirkwood 27th, and Marcus Ericsson 31st.

It was fun to see cars on track in oval trim. Next week’s Sonsio Grand Prix may be a bit anticlimactic..

Notes

Some sad news today as we learned of the death of Merle Bettenhausen. Bettenhausen is the last of the Bettenhausen family, whose patriarch, Tony, won two national titles. He achieved on of his titles without winning a race.

Merle’s brother Gary was a talented driver popular with fans in the 80s. Another brother, Tony, drove and then owned a champ car team until his death in a plane crash.

I will have a more detailed story about Merle and his family on Friday.

Happier stuff

IMS looked race weekend ready this week. The grounds crew obviously has worked hard to make the facility almost sparkle.

Saturday the Month of May kicks off with the Mini Marathon in the morning and the REV event at IMS at night. Preparations for REV were underway this we3ek.

It appears that the track is about 10 days away from selling out the grandstands.

The 2028 car may be revealed sometime this month.

Thanks for following along the past two deays. I’m justb getting started.

Collet Tops Morning Session

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Caio Collet turned the fastest speed of the two-day open test at IMS in the just completed first practice period of the day.

The top six:

  1. Collet 226.381 mph
  2. Newgarden 226.223 mph
  3. Daly 224.785 mph
  4. Malukas 224.377 mph
  5. Sato 224.130 mph
  6. Rosenqvist 224.104 mph
  7. It’s nice to see an A. J. Foyt Racing car ahead of the field,

Overnight and early morning rain pushed the sstart of the first round to 11:15 am Eastern time. Katherine Legge has the track to herself to complete the refresher program.

The next all car session is scheduled to begin at 2:15 pm and run until 5 pm.

The pace car for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be revealed tomorrow morning. The pace car announcement used to be o I looked forward to, but since it has become exclusively a Chevrolet product, it’s just not that big a deal to me. I loved the anticipation of seeing which car company would lead the field to then green flag. Another fun tradition assigned to the dustbin of history.

I will have a wrap-up this evening.

From earlier:

70 Years Ago: USAC Begins, Pagoda Goes; Flaherty Dominates

70 Years Ago: USAC Begins, Pagoda Goes; Flaherty Dominates

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A year of endings and beginnings.

1956 marked a new era in auto racing. The American Automobile Association (AAA), which had sanctioned racing in the United Staes since 1903, announced at the end of 1955 that they would no longer run the sport.

AAA decide that they had had enough after 1955, which saw three drivers – Mike Nazaruk, Manny Ayullo, and Bill Vukovich- killed on track in May, and the deaths in non-championship events of Jerry Hoyt and Jack McGrath.

Speedway owner Tony Hulman created the United States Auto Club (USAC), which would serve as the sanctioning body of championship open wheel racing fora little more than 40 years.

The old Pagoda would witness its final race after a 30- year reign as the focal structure at the track. The old guard of pre-World War II drivers was dwindling, although some had a few more years left.

Heavy rains put the chances of running the race on May 30 in doubt, but brilliant work by groundskeeper Clarence Cagle and his crew got the track ready for the scheduled day.

The race itself was a chaotic affair with seven incidents between laps 21 and 160. Despite the carnage 19 cars were still running at the finish. The front row of Pat Flaherty, Jim Rathmann, and Pat O’Connor all led laps.

Flaherty took the lead for on lap 76 and was never caught.

Flaherty made Indianapolis 500 appearances off and on. 1955 and 1956 were the only consecutive years in which he ran the race. He was injured severely in a race in August but survived. He would not return to the speedway until 1959, his final 500. One of the fortunate drivers of the era, Flaherty died in 2002 at age 76.

The Pagoda was razed about a month following the 40th running of the 500, and its replacement was the rather pedestrian steel and glass master control tower, a non-descript square typical of architecture of the time. The tower was replaced by the current pagoda in the early 2000s.

1957 would also see a wall separating the pits from the race track, and the modern pit lane began to take shape. The modern era had begun.

Notes

Flaherty’s driving career at Indy had some unusual characteristics. He drove in five races, but only two consecutively as noted above. He finished 10th in 1950 and 1955. In all five races Flaherty finished within two positions of where he started.

Flaherty replaced 1955 winner Bob Sweikert, who had left the Zink team earlier in the year.

Trepidation for the 1956 race was high after the previous year. The post-race headline in the Indianapolis Star read “Flaherty Wins As Death Shuns Wreck Strewn 500.”

While the race was going on, in Fresno, California, the family of 1953 and 1954 500 winner Bill Vukovich unveiled a memorial.

From Indianapolis Star . (left to right0 Vukovich’s daughter Marlene, widow Esther, son Bill, Jr.