Trip Down Memory Lane

[Crash Test]

To get some different kind of conversation going, here is a bit of a blast from the past, with a heap of drivers who have competed under CART (a fair few are Indy 500 only warriors).

Q1. Have you ever seen any of these drivers compete in a CART event?
Ken Acheson, Mauro Baldi, Juan Carlos Bolanos, Darren Brassfield, Jim Buick, Andrea Chiesa, Ross Cheever, Chuck Ciprich, Billy Engelhart, Cornelius Euser, Gregor Foitek, Bob Harkey, Billie Harvey, Doug Heveron, Jeff Heywood, Jim Hickman, Jay Hill, Paul Jasper, Peter Kuhn, Jerry Miller, Daniel Muniz, Rick Muther, Drake Olsen, Roger Rager, Eldon Rasmussen, Teddy Pilette, Larry Rice, John Richards, Michael Roe, Jose Romero, Steve Saleen, Vinicio Salmi, Franco Scapini, Billy Scott, Chico Serra, Ron Shuman, Hubert Stromberger, Joseph Sposato, Mick Thackwell, Bob Ward, and John Wood.

Q2. What can you guys and girls remember of this lot?
Bill Alsup, Tom Bagley, Pat Bedard, Tom Bigelow, Larry Cannon, Pancho Carter, Mike Chandler, Tony DeTommaso, Larry Dickson, Fredrik Ekblom, Dick Ferguson, Chet Filip, Spike Gehlhaussen, Bruno Giacomelli, Tom Gloy, Dean Hall, Pete Halsmer, Howdy Holmes, Cliff Hucul, Herm Johnson, Jerry Karl, Sheldon Kinser, Tom Klausler, Chris Kniffel (go on...), Jan Lammers, Greg Leffler, Graham McRae, Chip Mead, Rocky Moran, Mike Mosley, Ted Prappas, Terro Palmroth, Hector Rebaque, Vern Schuppan, Jan, Jerry and Tom Sneva, George Snider, Didier Theys, Rich Vogler, Bill Vukovich JR & Bill III, Salt Walther, Bill, Dale and Don Whittington, and Desire Wilson.

[macdaddy]

Question 1:
No. Never even heard of any of that lot.

Question 2:
I've seen Pancho Carter race MIS, and it's hard to remember a "500" from the '80's where he didn't start. Likewise, I've seen Ekblom race, and certainly remember Mosley, Tom Sneva, and Didier Theys. Guys like Rocky Moran, Snider and Vokovich were way before my time!

[macdaddy]

In keeping with the theme "Trip down Memory Lane..."
My first autograph was Ross Bentley.

[BobbyB]

I recall the name of Billy Vukovich at Indy when I was a kid in the 50's. Tom Sneva is a name recognizable in drag racing circles. Don Whittington sounds familiar from Unlimited P-51 Mustang air racing at Reno, NV (back in the '80's).

[macdaddy]

I'm not sure about linking Tom Sneva with drag racing...
Of course, as always, I stand to be corrected...
But to me he brings memories of I500's.

[BobbyB]

macdaddy- you may be right. I was sort of combing through the cobwebs in the back corners of my head- I may have electrically shorted some synapses between the two sports while searching.

[William Dale Jr]

Q1 - I remember Gregor Foitek running at the 1992 Gold Coast Indy for AJ Foyt. In 1995, Hubert Sromberger became the first Austrian to race in Champcars since Jochen Rindt. I remember Ross Cheever winning the Mondial support race at the 1985 AGP, but not in Champcars. I know Vinicio Salmi raced in the late 80's/early 90's, and I recognise a few other names, but not in Champcars.

Q2 - Ask Mario Andretti or Roger Mears about the Whittington's in regards to the '82 500 and see what reply you get Graham McRae, Vern Schuppan - aren't they a couple of our lot? Ted Prappas turned up at a Californian hospital in mid-May 1991 with a fractured leg - a nurse asked him how it happened and he told her he'd been in a 200mph car accident; of course, he didn't tell her it happened during qualifying at Indy... Mike Mosely ran a fantastic race at Milwaukee one year to come from near the back of the field to take victory and I think he also took the last Champcar victory for a stock block engine at the same circuit. Dean Hall made a couple of attempts at Indy in the early 90's, disappeared from the scene for a while and then popped up in a car at Surfers in 1995 - he also ran Formula Atlantics in New Zealand in the late 80's. Rich Vogler bumped Johnny Rutherford and Tom Sneva from the field at Indy in successive years.

Here are a few more names for you: Gordon Smiley, Dennis Firestone, Kevin Cogan, John Jones - ring any bells?

[jetsetter]

Vern Schuppan is a South Australian who could drive just about anything while i'm sure Graham McRae raced open wheelers in Australia many years ago while i remember Bruno Giacomelli & Jan Lammers raced F1 for some time. In response to William Dale Jr. did Kevin Cogan have a massive accident at the Indy 500 some years back?

[Crash Test]

Remember Hall running for a bit of 1995 in the Dick Simon owned Subway car. Did his season end when he failed to qualify at Indy? I think he might have kept on going, I think he was a downhill skier.

Didn't Dennis Firestone rip his car in half on the pit wall at Indy one year?

John Jones raced in CART 1988-1992, with the exception of 1990.

BTW- all of the drivers at the top of the page have raced in CART since 1979.

BTWII- I'm having a heap of fun going through all of the media guides I picked up last October... shame it is now January! More to come...

[f1manoz]

I know quite a few of those names, but back when they were in F1...

[Flatspot]

Darin Brassfield was a very strong runner in Trans-Am during the '80s. He only made a few CART starts.

I came around the corner of a transporter one day at Laguna Seca and knocked Didier Theys on his butt. Never saw him. He's a very small guy. Last I knew he was doing touring cars.

I could tell you something about most everyone in Q2 but the Q1 list is sketchy for me. It has several one-off CART racers.

[racer69]

Q1 - Mike Thackwell ran some races in 1984 in Rick Mears place after Mears accidient at Sanair. Kenny Acheson, did he not drive one of the Skoal Bandit cars in the late 80s, i oculd be way off there though.

Q2 - Tom Bigelow ran cars of his own name and design in the early 80s. Pancho Carter won the first Michigan 500 in 1981, sat on pole at Indy in '85, his qualifying record stood until Roberto Guererro broke it in 1992?. Howdy Holmes ran for the Shierson Dominoes team in the early 80s. Rocky Moran led at Road America in 1981 in an Eagle. Salt Walther, Indy 1973 start just about says it all.

[Crash Test]

Apparently Acheson only ever entered one race- 84 at Meadowlands (is that it?)

[Crash Test]

BTW- why was the 1986 Elkhart Lake race run over 2 weekends?

[DNQ]

Originally posted by Crash Test
Apparently Acheson only ever entered one race- 84 at Meadowlands (is that it?)

Yeah, it would have been 84 or 85, I think from memory he drove a RAM.

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by Crash Test
BTW- why was the 1986 Elkhart Lake race run over 2 weekends?

I thought it was the '87 race :confused:

Anyway, whichever year it was, the first attempt at the race was cancelled due to appallingly wet weather. From the brief footage I've seen, it was worse than the 1991 AGP rainstorm - and that was really bad - so they canned the race and rescheduled it for a later date.

EDIT: BTW CT, are these the Indy 500 media guides downloadable off the IMS website, or different ones?

[Crash Test]

Actually, a fair bit of this **** comes from the CART 2002 Media guide, not sure what they have on their website. I reckon if they printed more of them, they could make a mint at the merchandise tents...

[racer69]

Originally posted by Crash Test
Apparently Acheson only ever entered one race- 84 at Meadowlands (is that it?)

Originally posted by DNQ
Yeah, it would have been 84 or 85, I think from memory he drove a RAM.

I dunno what i was going on about the late 80s then

He drove for RAM in at least one F1 race in '84 or '85, and they sponsered by Skoal Bandit there, maybe thats where i got it from.

[Flatspot]

I imagine the reason they don't print too many is that they give the media guides away free of charge in the paddocks. They're great to have aren't they! Like you Crash Test, I find it enjoyable to get out the old stuff and look. Great mamories in there.

[KC]

These are the ones that I am familiar with. Most did not compete in the Indy Car series as such but did so at Indy.

Larry Rice (broadcaster for the IRL), Pancho Carter (one of Mario Andretti's contemporaries), Sheldon Kinser (part of the famous Kinser World of Outlaws clan), Greg Leffler (father of Jason Leffler), George Snider, Rich Vogler (very famous dirt oval racer) and Salt Walther all came from dirt oval racing in USAC Midgets and Champ Cars (the original ones, unwinged sprint cars). Steve Saleen (of Saleen motor racing fame), Jan Lammers (sports cars), Rocky Moran (father of Atlantics driver Rocky Moran Jr.), the Snevas (of dirt oval, drag racing, NASCAR, and Indy fame), Didier Theys (F1 and sports cars), the Vukovichs (from all sorts of motor sports in America), the Whittingtons (perennial Indy cvompetitors) and Desiree Wilson (the only woman to start an F1 race) all came from road racing or other disciplines.

Many of the names probably had one off rides at Indy back in the day when it was a fixture in world motorsports.

[bugeye]

A trip down memory lane is always better with a photo. This is Spike Gelhausen at Mospot in 1977.

[Jordi]

1. Is Ross Cheever Eddie's brother? Paul Jasper did some races in 1997 with Project Indy. Remember Project Indy? Andreas Leberle always had a car in the grid. I'd like to have him back, too. Mike Thackwell is still the youngest driver ever to qualify for an F1 race. Mauro Baldi and Cor Euser have also been doing sports cars... Baldi in touring car while Euser drove the Marcos... Chico Serra was a brazilian driver who had some success in British F3, before Senna went there and wiped the floor along with Brundle.

2. I read that Kneifel ran a private March, and had to have an extended roll bar because he was so tall! Desire Wilson was the only woman to win an F1 race, IIRC. It was an Aurora AFX race, the "British F1". Hector Rebaque ran several years in F1 with a private Lotus, and he would win at Elkhart in 1982? when virtually everyone ran out of fuel.
Jan Lammers drove in F1 in 1977 and 1994, but not much in between. Fredrik Ekblom drove the #15 Walker car in 1996 in some races. Bruno Giacomelli had some good races with Alfa Romeo in F1. He also drove the hopeless Life that was fitted with a W12 engine....

etcetera, etcetera....

[Crash Test]

Some more quiz like questions:

Q1: Who are the only four drivers to only the final lap of a race in CART competition?
Q1A: Who is the only driver to lead all laps of a race, except the last?
Q2: What are the 5 closest finishes in CART history?
Q3: When did 'Championship' competition start at the Milwaukee Mile?

[Jordi]

1: Rebaque at Elkhart'82, Andretti at Elkhart'96
1A: ?
2: a: Blundell-de Ferran 0.027, Portland'97
b: Kanaan-Montoya 0.032, Michigan'99
c: Montoya-Andretti 0.040, Michigan'00
d: Pruett-Unser Jr. 0.051, Michigan'95
e: must be Unser Jr.-Goodyear at Indy'92, but don't remember the time.

Some bonus:
-0.000: Dario-Jourdain for 2nd, Michigan'02
-0.004: Gordon-De Ferran for 3rd, Homestead'96
-0.008: Vasser-Zanardi for 2nd, Michigan'98

3rd... 1903??

[macdaddy]

Q1) Tony Kanaan at MIS when Papis ran out of fuel? Or Greg Moore at Detroit when both PacWest cars ran dry?