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rain_gryphonSo, time to put bad news behind one, and spend the next few days obsessing over the Five Hundred, I think. This feels very good right now.
*****
Of the six drivers I've identified so far, I have seen every one of them race. Foyt, Unser, Rutherford, and Johncock in the Five Hundred itself, and Jones and Goldsmith (both long-retired before I started going to the track) in the Legends of Racing series when it came to Raceway Park some years back. I'll be gone pretty soon myself, I think, but I've seen some amazing things and people.
*****
The car that Goldsmith drove to third place in 1960 was that Epperly "laydown" that Jim Hurtibise set the track record with in 1961. Quinn Epperly's cars were always works of art to begin with, and this one was no exception.
Norm Demler, who owned the car, had a somewhat offbeat sense of humour, and in consequence had the grillework in the shape of his initials. It was also a common practice at the time to extend the driver's headrest back into a big tailfin, on the theory that this reduced drag. This car, for whatever reason, was built without one. Demler subsequently put that goofy little "shark fin" on the back, which you can get a good look at in:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/56/ba/ca/56bacac028163ab5efad89b1e32928ed.jpg
The page I found this on misidentifies the car as the Salih Offenhauser. This was apparently taken at the Monterey Classics in 2007, which is a bit of a revelation to me, as I'd long thought that the car was completely destroyed in a practice crash in 1962.
I'm glad it's still around - it was a fierce old car. George Amick drove it to second place in its 1958 debut, and then Goldsmith took fifth and third with it the next two years. Hurtibise set a lap record with it in 1961, and led the early part of the race until the engine started going away.
*****
Of the six drivers I've identified so far, I have seen every one of them race. Foyt, Unser, Rutherford, and Johncock in the Five Hundred itself, and Jones and Goldsmith (both long-retired before I started going to the track) in the Legends of Racing series when it came to Raceway Park some years back. I'll be gone pretty soon myself, I think, but I've seen some amazing things and people.
*****
The car that Goldsmith drove to third place in 1960 was that Epperly "laydown" that Jim Hurtibise set the track record with in 1961. Quinn Epperly's cars were always works of art to begin with, and this one was no exception.
Norm Demler, who owned the car, had a somewhat offbeat sense of humour, and in consequence had the grillework in the shape of his initials. It was also a common practice at the time to extend the driver's headrest back into a big tailfin, on the theory that this reduced drag. This car, for whatever reason, was built without one. Demler subsequently put that goofy little "shark fin" on the back, which you can get a good look at in:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/56/ba/ca/56bacac028163ab5efad89b1e32928ed.jpg
The page I found this on misidentifies the car as the Salih Offenhauser. This was apparently taken at the Monterey Classics in 2007, which is a bit of a revelation to me, as I'd long thought that the car was completely destroyed in a practice crash in 1962.
I'm glad it's still around - it was a fierce old car. George Amick drove it to second place in its 1958 debut, and then Goldsmith took fifth and third with it the next two years. Hurtibise set a lap record with it in 1961, and led the early part of the race until the engine started going away.
