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Old 30 Oct 2000, 14:02 (Ref:45875)   #12
enzo
Racer
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location:
Indy,IN,USA
Posts: 272
enzo should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
I don't know where it is officialy listed, but here's what I know about it:

Two cars were prepared, both were enclosed body specials using an '86 MARCH Indy car chassis as the base, and the Oldsmobile 4-banger with twin turbos. One was prepped by GM Special Projects, and the other by a group of old-time hot-rodders. One of the engineers in the hot-rodder group was a guy named Chuck Matthews, then a GM Senior Research engineer, who is currently one of Montoya's engineers, with racing experience going back another 25 years, including time with Jacques Villeneuve in his Can Am days.

The GM prepped engine, while it had better HP, proved to be extremely unreliable, so after many attempts, it was abandoned in favor of the hot-rodders version. Foyt himself was.by this time, getting impatient with the engineers & set the car up to his own specs, which included pushing the brake pads away from the rotors as far as possible to decrease drag. His first run included trap speeds of 300 mph on the straights, and dirt-tracking style sideways speeds in the corners in the 270 range. Call Foyt what you want, but his driving skills & shear bravery is unquestionable - it was one ballsy run ! He was probably the only guy alive who could have pulled it off.

If my memory is correct, it was done in either '88 or '89, and there was a great story written about it in Road & Track. I don't know what the problem is with these commentators, but I also remember tv commentators mentioning it during a brodcast of the Michigan 500 a few years ago whn speeds hit the 230 mark.
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