Category: Auto Racing

It had to happen. This may seem like a “get off my lawn” post. I have been thinking the last couple of days about the names of cars and how I miss the term “Special” in the name.  A Special added the air of romance to the race. The car name gave a hint of its personality. The Bardahl Special sounds like a mean machine. Travelon Trailer Special?  It had to be a sleek cruiser.The Bowes Seal Fast Special just rolls off the tongue.

Of course there is nothing special about the current Indycar. They are all the same except for the engines.

Cars in the 500 weren’t always called specials. From 1911-1919 the car was just the manufacturer’s name. There were no company sponsors.  The first instance of the term special I found was in 1920, when John Boling drove the Richards Special to an 11th place finish. In 1923 all top 10 finishers’ cars carried Special in the cars names.

In 1924 all cars in the field were Specials. While not every car in following years was a special, the majority of cars were. In the era in which I grew up, which was the 50’s and 60’s, it seemed as if every car was a “Special.”  The term made sense as each car was individually built by people who had their own ideas of how a winning Indianapolis car should look.

In 1959 Roger Ward won the 500 in the Leader Card 500 Roadster. This smal drip away from Special was barely noticed. In 1961 jack brabham brought his rear engine Cooper-Climax to the race. We were back to just the car maker as the name. In 1963 Jim Clark entered the race with the Lotus powered by Ford. Dan Gurney entered his Eagles and then McLaren joined, all with thesponsor and car manufacturer name instead of Special.

Mark Donohue won in 1972 in the Sunoco McLaren. The term Special was still on some cars up until around 1990. Now the name has completely disappeared.

It’s understandable, since the cars are spec. When Special first began disappearing, however, cars were still produced from several sources. Somke manufacturers like Swift, March, P,enske, Foyt, March, and Lola began making cars.

What I mostly miss are the great sponsor names that Special just seemed to fit at the end of. My all time favorite car names-  Bowes Seal Fast Special, Travelon Trailer Special,  Thermo-King Special, Dean Van Lines Special, and Wynn’s Friction Proofing Special.

I’d like to hear what your favorites from the “special” era are. Send them to me in the3 comments section and I’ll do a follow up column next Wednesday. I know I’m forgetting some.

Reminder- The mildly popular Bump Tales returns tomorrow.

Photo of Bobby Rahal from the 1993 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Official Program

Drivers don’t normally like seeing rain on a track day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Bobby Rahal was happy to see it.  As Bump Day 1993 began Rahal had the slowest speed  in the 33 car field. His backup car was ready if needed, but early on it didn’t look as if anyone would run this Sunday.

The rain stopped,  the track dried and was opened a little more than an hour late. 33 mile an hour winds persisted for much of the afternoon. No one wanted to take a chance of bumping Rahal and putting themselves on the bubble. On Saturday Rahal watched as his time fell to the bottom of the speed ranking as four cars bumped their way into the field, leaving him on the bubble. Late in the day the winds died down and the qualifying line began to form.

Didier Theys bumped Mark Smith from the field. To this day a driver with the last name of Smith has not driven in the Indianapolis 500.

Eddie Cheever and Mark Smith bumped each other out of the field Saturday, and both were prepared to get back in the race. John Menard offered Cheever a Lola Buick for Sunday. Cheever took to the track at 5:10 and turned three laps good enough to bump Rahal. Menard waved the run off, surprising everyone. He thought they could go faster.

At 5:40 Cheever returned to the qualifying line. This time he completed the four laps at 217.599 to beat Rahal’s 217.140. The time was slower than the run he waved off, but still good enough to get in.

As 6 o’clock approached, Rahal got on track in his backup Miller Genuine Draft Special . His first lap was not good enough, and when he lost two miles an hour on lap two, his chance to make the field ended. Four years earlier, former winner Johnny Rutherford failed to qualify for the 500.

Miller made an attempt to buy a ride for Rahal, but did not succeed.  Rahal’s statement after qualifying seems relevant in light of the recent qualifying controversy today. This clip is from The Indianapolis Star, May 24, 1993:

Rahal and Carl Hogan abandoned their cars and purchased two Lolas to run the rest of the season.

The race was one of the most competitive 500s I’ve seen.  Emerson Fittipaldi won his second Indianapolis 500 when he and Arie Luyendyk went past Nigel Mansell on a restart with 15 laps left.

Rahal would return to the race in 1994 and 1995, finishing third in each of his final two 500s after starting 28th and 21st respectively.

 

Last week the Indianapolis Motor Speedway honored A. J. Foyt,  the first four time winner of the 500 mile race, with a bronze brick set into the yard of bricks at the start finish line.  I’m not sure if the track plans to bestow the same honor on the other four time winners, Al Unser and Rick Mears, but I think they will eventually.  It will be a while before there is another driver who will accomplish this feat. The best bets to get to four are Alexander Rossi and Will Power. One of them just might get halfway there May 26.

I hope the Speedway limits these bricks to the four time winners. They deserve a special place of honor. What better spot than the one they got to first more than anyone else?

The challenge now is to keep the stock car guys from doing burnouts on the bricks. This bronze  brick especially should be off limits.

Wilson, Howard Will Miss 500

Jay Howard has abandoned efforts to secure a ride for the 10rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

Stefan Wilson announced last week that his efforts to get funding for a ride have fallen short and he will look to 2020. Wilson drove for the Drive2SaveLives program in 2018. Pippa Mann will carry that sponsor this year.

Porsche the 3rd OEM? Not So Fast

Stories appeared last week that Porsche and Indycar were close to a deal that would make the German engine the series’ long sought third engine company. Then, overnight it seemed, stories came out saying Porsche was cooling on the idea.

I think a third OEM may have to wait another year. Jay Frye said there will be a couple “game changer” announcements in May. One is presumed to be the next phase in cockpit protection. I’m not sure if the second one was to be about the third OEM. I hope it is, but I’m not optimistic at this point.

At any rate, you won’t hear a word from me about a third OEM until there is an official announcement.

May Coming Attractions

The Pit Window will be on site everyday the track is open and will have updates daily.

I hope to visit the Mario Andretti special exhibit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum this week and post about it this coming weekend.

Also, look for the return of Bump Tales every Thursday starting this week. The two people who read them last year have asked for more.

here are the links to last year’s Bump Tales:

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8290

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8197

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8197

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8137

The Pit Window will post Quick Thoughts after qualifying sessions and races. My full reports on those sessions will appear on Wildfire Sports. Also look for previews on Wildfire Sports.