Truly The Greatest

In a previous post I showed two 1961 USAC Sprint Car photos (not mine) with AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones competing in both. The nature of the tracks and the cars make them almost too scary to look at, if you understand racing. Below is a mid 1960s (1965?) photo that I borrowed from WoO Sprint Car chauffeur Joey Saldana’s Twitter post. I don’t know who took the photo. It shows a Championship Dirt Car (Silvercrown). Mario Andretti is in the lead (#2) car, and Parnelli Jones is in the #98 car. The saying on the photo originated with Mario. These cars only raced on 1 mile dirt tracks at that time. I believe this track is the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indy, or possibly the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. I photographed “dirt car” races at these venues in the mid 1980s. The cars had cages on them when I photographed those races.

I wonder how many young people that will view this picture understand how dangerous this is. It would not be permitted to happen today. An upright car with narrow tires. A small roll bar in back but no cage of any sort. No full face helmet. Just a pair of plastic goggles and a piece of cloth to keep the dirt out of their mouths. A stone on a dirt track has killed more than one racer in these earlier days. One ambulance with a non-medically trained crew. No helicopters for transport. No specialty hospitals. The drivers of the 1960s and before were amazing.

Another point about the racing you see in this picture is that these are Indy Cars. I mean the USAC circuit had rear engine Indy Cars that raced on paved ovals and road courses, and upright cars like this that raced on dirt tracks. The same series and the same points. The cars you see were legal on paved tracks (including road courses) and the rear engine cars were legal on dirt. I remember Bay Darnell racing a rear engine car on the mile dirt in Springfield. To this day Mario Andretti holds one particular USAC Indy Car championship above all his other championships. He won that title in rear engine cars on paved ovals and road courses, and won on dirt in the car you see below.

I have always proclaimed that the Indy Car Drivers of the 1950s-1970s were the greatest race drivers ever. They almost all came up through midgets and sprints and raced dirt and asphalt. They all drove stock cars many to championships. Foyt and Andretti won the Daytona 500. They all road raced. Jones was a road racing superstar. Foyt (with Dan Gurney) won the 24 Hours of LeMans. Andretti won CanAm races, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the World Driving Championship in Formula One. None of this was unusual for this group of drivers. Members of the group also won the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti and so on. Drag races, Andretti. The Bonneville Salt Flats, Andretti. Off road racing, Jones, A. Unser and others. Unlimited Hydroplanes, and Air Racing, Johnny Rutherford . There were many stock car, sprint car, and midget championships among this group.

I am not saying that stock car racing’s Richard Petty or David Pearson or F1’s Jimmy Clark or Jackie Stewart were not great. Only that you have to show the versatility of those Indy Cars guys to have been best. You have to show the courage to possibly fail and fall flat on your face. They took every challenge, and more often than not, they turned it into victory.

Truly the greatest ever