indy500 1967/1968

[sam tyler]

Hi there great minds of ten-tenths,
I hope you can help me.i recently inherited some slides etc that my father in law took at the 67 and 68 indy 500.
Thing is ,it was during a previous marriage and he wouldn't talk about it so no ones knows for sure what occured.
I'm just wondering how difficult would it have been (and expensive) to go to these races meets? And how difficult would it have been for him to get onto the start line to take pictures (which he did) i havent got the slides transferred onto CD yet,but i hope to be able to post up pics soon.it also appears he had a pit pass! i would have thought that they would have only been for team personnel and VIPS.could a everyday joe get hold of these.
sorry to pose so many questions in one go but i am now immensly intriuged by my own little mystery.

[Juarez Jed]

It must have been a traumatic marriage if he can't even talk about attending the Indy 500 over 40 years ago !Seriously though , how much it would have cost would be very dependent on where you were living at the time. Did he live in Indianapolis or the UK ?To have access to pit lane and the start line would require a special pass, but you can get very close up to the cars from the stands in front of the pagoda, plus coming and going thru gasoline alley to the garages. If we could see the pictures we would have a better idea of where they were taken from.Perhaps this fellow had a press or photographers pass, or was a marshal or was the driver or passenger of an emergency vehicle ? There are many possibilities.Any suggestions that he was mates with anyone at Lotus or anything like that ??

[sam tyler]

Originally Posted by Juarez Jed

It must have been a traumatic marriage if he can't even talk about attending the Indy 500 over 40 years ago !Seriously though , how much it would have cost would be very dependent on where you were living at the time. Did he live in Indianapolis or the UK ?To have access to pit lane and the start line would require a special pass, but you can get very close up to the cars from the stands in front of the pagoda, plus coming and going thru gasoline alley to the garages. If we could see the pictures we would have a better idea of where they were taken from.Perhaps this fellow had a press or photographers pass, or was a marshal or was the driver or passenger of an emergency vehicle ? There are many possibilities.Any suggestions that he was mates with anyone at Lotus or anything like that ??

Hi mate,
no he lived in the uk,and AFAIK he was just a private man,it was in his past and he didnt feel that it warranted a public airing.i'm getting the pics onto a cd soon, but they clearly show he was in the pit area etc.He did let slip a few years before he died that he had done some race driving and i know that he was pretty good as a mechanic,though he didnt leave behind any clues or further information.

[chunterer]

Welcome sam!

Sounds to me like your late f-i-l was part of a team at that time or something, that could account for the pass and being on the grid along with what you say about him having been a mechanic and having done some driving as well?

[Vitesse]

So, if we make the reasonable assumptions that:

1 He's associated with a British team
2 He was working with the same team in both years

That really narrows it down to two possibles: Team Lotus and Anglo-American Racers (Eagle). So - it might help to know where he was living at that time. Norfolk would obviously mean Lotus; Sussex or Kent would point to Eagle, who were based at Harry Weslake's premises in Rye.

Are you able to share his name with us?