100th Anniversary Running Of The Indy 500.....

[hideyoursheep]

I owned a white '72 for a short time back in '93...the last year for the chrome bumpers.....nothing special, just a 350 auto, 4bbl, dual exhaust...I had cars with those engines before, but the light weight and stance of that thing made it run like a scolded dog! Insurance was outrageous...I sold it to my brother for 4 bills. It was cool....just impractical...couldn't carry shit with me, and kinda didn't like climbing down to get in...it was all hood!

[Nitro Express]

I owned a white '72 for a short time back in '93...the last year for the chrome bumpers.....nothing special, just a 350 auto, 4bbl, dual exhaust...I had cars with those engines before, but the light weight and stance of that thing made it run like a scolded dog! Insurance was outrageous...I sold it to my brother for 4 bills. It was cool....just impractical...couldn't carry shit with me, and kinda didn't like climbing down to get in...it was all hood!

It's thrust to weight. Cutting weight equals more engine in a heavier car. I've driven some light little cars that go zero to 60 as fast as some big muscle car.

[Hardrock69]

Some guy in my neighborhood back in the 60s had a 66 Stingray as well. I used to walk by his house, and would go up and stare at it really closely, wishing someday I could own one. It was a hardtop as well, but was a sky-blue color.

[SunisinuS]

Some guy in my neighborhood back in the 60s had a 66 Stingray as well. I used to walk by his house, and would go up and stare at it really closely, wishing someday I could own one. It was a hardtop as well, but was a sky-blue color.

As I remember Stock Color that year. My first two were a '74 and then a '64 Cad Convertible. Front wheel drive on a 500 cubic inch engine on that '74. Used to the cover the whole car in Grey Smoke when she took off. She was Black. The 2nd one was pure White.

[ashstralia]

i was a member of the 02 aussie pit crew, and have the photo's.

[jacksmar]

It was a pretty good spec 500. Finally we can forget about DP and GoDaddy in Indycar. They’re moving to NASCRAP. (Spec series also). They let go Tom Anderson at Andretti for lack of results. Long Beach must have been a long ride back (Mike Conway). I wonder if they’ll let go Marco for lack of results?

The double file restarts were a joke. The cars and drivers usually make the race interesting, not the rules. Let them double file in NASCRAP. Ask Cheever about restarts after the Andretti’s stormed Cheever’s entrance into turn 1 Lap 1 back in 1992. The Andretti’s had an issue with Cheever that year anyway.

Paul Tracy, get your act together. Reputations are important. Still had the best quote: "some people say the car qualifies and starts the race not the driver, then why don't they put the image of the car on the Borg Warner Trophy"

Penske was funny to watch if you like watching a stellar organization turn into the Keystone Cops.

Graham Rahal is the real deal. 29th to 3rd.

Chevy will return to real IndyCar. Ganassi gets to be the anchor Honda engine team.

Congrats to St Petersburg resident Dan Wheldon. Well Done.

[ashstralia]

world champ 02 cristiano da matta pitting during the surfers paradise indy 300... yep, ol' ash was pretty close to the action.

[Hardrock69]

Stupid question.....shows how long I have been out of the loop on this....so they have jacks built-in to the car now to change the tires? I fucking tripped out on the pitstops....WTF?
That surely saves a few seconds, and means they only need four guys for tires and one for gas.....nobody out there jacking the car up or down....

[ashstralia]

dunno HR..back in 02 they even had external starter motors to cut weight. unfortunately after the irl/cart split i kinda lost interest, and we don't get indy racing on free to air anymore. i will say that day in october 02 was one of the best days of my life. our v8 supercar series is much more popular here than open wheel racing, and the queensland government stopped funding the indy race a few years ago which is a terrible shame because all the drivers/teams/tourists i spoke to said it was their absolute favourite stop on the tour.

[Nitro Express]

Stupid question.....shows how long I have been out of the loop on this....so they have jacks built-in to the car now to change the tires? I fucking tripped out on the pitstops....WTF?
That surely saves a few seconds, and means they only need four guys for tires and one for gas.....nobody out there jacking the car up or down....

You would think they would avoid that because it adds weight to the car. I guess the extra weight vs. time in the pits is the opportunity cost of doing it. You could make the jack out of aluminum, titanium, or even carbon fiber but something has to make it move and that means a pump or motor of some kind. Even if it's air pressure something has to inflate that. You could use the exhaust of the engine but again you are adding weight.

[Nitro Express]

Stupid question.....shows how long I have been out of the loop on this....so they have jacks built-in to the car now to change the tires? I fucking tripped out on the pitstops....WTF?
That surely saves a few seconds, and means they only need four guys for tires and one for gas.....nobody out there jacking the car up or down....

You would think they would avoid that because it adds weight to the car. I guess the extra weight vs. time in the pits is the opportunity cost of doing it. You could make the jack out of aluminum, titanium, or even carbon fiber but something has to make it move and that means a pump or motor of some kind. Even if it's air pressure something has to inflate that. You could use the exhaust of the engine but again you are adding weight.

[ashstralia]

faaaaarrrrrk yeeeeeaaaaahhh!!!!
i'd love to drive one.

[Hardrock69]

Exactly what I was thinking Nitro, but I never once saw any pit crew guy sliding a jack under the car. Used to be that was a given, but I kept watching the pit, going WTF? Unless some top secret government agency has leaked anti-grav technology to the Indy car teams....

[Hardrock69]

Seems it is some kind of pneumatic jack system. Check out this thread at hotrodders.com:

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/indy-style-air-jack-system-108582.html

[Hardrock69]

Here....Anatomy Of An Indy Car...note items 9 and 20:

http://www.aaim1.com/pdfs/anatomy.pdf

Here is the answer:

http://jimsgarage.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/indy-500-techno/

Complete description of what happens when they change tires at a pit stop is at the link above, but here is a short history of the air-jack system:

Changing Tires

Actually it is changing wheels and tires as a unit. You see a lot of tire changes during the race and it sure happens fast. Back in the very early seventies Roger Penske was the guy who brought the “unfair advantage” to every form of racing his teams participated in. One of the innovations that really made a difference was the air jack system. That is where a pressurized hose is connected to a quick disconnect on the car and it pops the car in the air so that the tires can be pulled off and a fresh set can be installed. This reduced pit time tire changes to a matter of seconds rather than dozens and stunned the competition. The next year at Indy everyone used them............


............First the car rolls up and needs to stop exactly where it should. There are marks in the pit for that. The tire changers have the replacement wheel and tire set in a specific spot, too. Just as the car reaches the marks the gun goes to the wheel’s nut and it is loosened. Meanwhile the guy with the air hose plugs it in and the car is immediately jacked up. By this time the wheel is being pulled off the hub and dropped in position and the tire guy has picked up the replacement to push it on the hub. When he spun the nut off the hub he dropped the gun on its side. In doing so the push pin struck the ground and was slid over so that the gun would now rotate in the opposite direction. That way, when the tire guy picked up the wrench he didn’t have to waste any time flipping a switch on the wrench, he just shoved it on the hub and pressed the trigger. The tire changer on the right front side of the car has to be sure the gun and hose gets out of the way of the car so he tosses it toward the pit wall and a team mate pulls it out of the way from the other side of the wall. By that time the air hose has been pulled from the connector on the car and the car slams to the ground.

So it takes four people, one on each wheel, plus someone on the air hose. In a race there is also the guy handling the fuel hose and the guy at the nose of the car telling the driver when it is safe to hit it and take off for the track.