The Greatest Spectacle in Racing: Indy 500 Sunday start @ 12:45 pm ET

[steve...]

A Memorial Day weekend tradition.

The 106th Indy 500 is on NBC, Peacock and Universo (subject to local blackout restrictions). Prerace coverage is at 11 a.m., and the broadcast runs through 4 p.m.

(eastern times)

NBC Sports

[gadje]

12:45 PM? what is 12;45 EA?

[Racer X]

My old room mate's dad had a car run in '69. It was an Eagle chassis/body https://www.oldracingcars.com/eagle/66/ chassis #202

We never got to know John, he died in '71, when we were 6. But his brilliance lives on.

He loved the '66 and ''67 Olds Toronados. He had 4. The Blue car https://www.orlandoclassiccars.net/vehic...e-toronado It is painted Cadillac blue from the '50s I believe. It pains me that the family sold it, but I think it was the down payment for my friend's house.

The white twin engined, twin transaxled all wheel drive one https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1062...ks-why-not https://www.ronsusser.com/inventory/list...car-850hp/ It is up in BC Canada, and shows up at the Oldsmobile Club track days up there from what I understand. Here is the other one. John designed and built both https://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/01/ebay...-toronado/

The other white car, which was his wifes', and the 4th was the parts car that was the donor for the original twin drive train Toronado. It might have been the sole '67 he owned.

[Speedy]

RacerX, good stories.

[chopper]

So do you think he knew Dan Gurney?

[SteveG]

What's remarkable is that within a few years, this carbon-based tech will have been replaced and the only place you'll be able to see these gasoline monsters will be at Indy.

It will probably resemble horse-racing. The ubiquitous horses, formerly seen on the streets and fields by the millions have been reduced to a handful running around an oval and of interest to horse-riding hobbyists. (Of course, the city streets are smelling a LOT better for it.)

[RecipeForDisaster]

A friend of mine is going to work towards some world record of playing accordion while Mario Andretti drives… cool but weird? He is a 3x world champion accordionist and a huge racing fan.

[Lizabeth]

NBC went awol on my cable for some reason…

[Racer X]

chopper wrote:
So do you think he knew Dan Gurney?

Yes, he must have, as they raced same time/place.

His oldest son, 20 years older, raced Pro Sportsman drag cars and raced with John Force, and a number of others I can't recall. And everyones' kids were all friends because the whole family went to the track, and they kids would run around like idiots, ride bikes, tow wagons with the tiny ones in them. A number of the kids followed in the parents' paths. I would have to look at some of the race results from the late 80s to early 90s and remember names. John Force for sure. Jim was national TRW Top Sportsman in '89

And my brother's boss was the team manager for the unlimited hydro U-8 Miss Oberto (beef jerky) They are local in Seattle. Back in the piston boat days. Merlins are what they ran.

[Lizabeth]

Steve G. wrote:
What's remarkable is that within a few years, this carbon-based tech will have been replaced and the only place you'll be able to see these gasoline monsters will be at Indy.

It will probably resemble horse-racing. The ubiquitous horses, formerly seen on the streets and fields by the millions have been reduced to a handful running around an oval and of interest to horse-riding hobbyists. (Of course, the city streets are smelling a LOT better for it.)

At least technology will advance because the Thoroughbred sure hasn’t. Breeding better horses is a crapshoot at best without an injection of new genes - and Thoroughbreds are breaking down more often now than they did before.