1959 Indianapolis 500 Film

[@tealstone_]

My grandfather went to this race and went every year after ward still to this day he still goes to the 500

[@garylewis6495]

Rodger Ward was always my favorite driver since he won in '59. I was at Indy in '60 to see Rathmann edge out Ward in one of the closed battles ever. They traded the lead numerous times the last 100 laps.

[@cjs83172]

I listened to that entire race a little more than a week ago when the IMS Radio Network had it on Soundcloud (they have the 1961 race up currently, but a key sequence is missing), and from lap 124 to the finish, neither driver could gain an advantage on the other until Ward suffered a badly worn tire three laps from the end. He also lamented not running harder in '61, basically running third the entire second half of the race, and finishing there despite one less pit stop than either of the two drivers who finished in front of him made.

[@pizzasubs]

Was watching the auction today and actually saw one of the pace cars or the actual main Pace car for this years race put up for auction, nice looking car they used back then

[@asianoramaagain2269]

This race was the first of three consecutive very competitive roadster-era races.Reading the Floyd Clymer yearbook from 1959 one can tell by the elapsed times at ten-lap intervals how close the race was for the first 400 miles.Rodger Ward did manage to lead from Lap 86 to the finish although he was never very far ahead.

[@cjs83172]

Basically, all of the roadster-era races from 1956-'61 were competitive, especially as pre-1979 Indy races went. The reason was that the top cars were close to each other in performance and the fact that the older track surface, combined with the the brick main straightaway, ate up tires, meaning that the drivers could not really run that hard for that long. Add that to the effect of the draft, which was considerable because of the bigger cars, and it all added up to the fact that the top cars were able to stay closer together for longer. The races in 1959 and '60 were especially competitive because you had identically built A.J. Watson roadsters racing against each other with experienced, highly competent drivers. Ironically enough, neither finish was particularly dramatic because one of the cars ran into unexpected trouble near the finish. In 1959, Jim Rathmann had to slow down because he was low on fuel and in 1960, Rodger Ward had to back off the pace because of a badly worn right front tire (which is also what cost Eddie Sachs in 1961), so the fans were robbed of the great finish that seemed inevitable. When the track was repaved (and the main straightaway resurfaced with asphalt) after the 1961 race, the competitiveness went away, though the ability of the teams to run setups lower to the ground and the coming of the rear-engine cars, beginning in '61, but with more powerful engines beginning in '64, meant that the ultra-competitive roadsters went the way of the do-do bird. But for five or six years, they produced some of the greatest racing Indy ever saw.

[@asianoramaagain2269]

I agree with nearly all of what you said.The only thing that was new to me was the part about the tires getting eaten up.My friend went to every 500 between 1948 and 2014 with the exception of about 3 and,back in the late 80's,I asked what he thought was the greatest race he had seen and he said 1960 would certainly be one of them.As you said,1961 was nearly as good but starting with Parnelli's dominance in 1962 and 1963 things went downhill a bit.1965 was simply dull and the only reason 1966 was a little more interesting was because the big pile-up at the start widened the competition up.Of course 1968 was one of the greatest races ever at the time and the first half of 1969 was also tremendous.

[@ricklane8342]

I like 1982 alot .

[@asianoramaagain2269]

@@ricklane8342 Yes,the entire race was terrific...In addition to Gordon Johncock and Rick Mears,Pancho Carter and Tom Sneva were both in contention until very late.

[@skyhigh335]

Right after the tragedy of Pat O'Connor, all cars were required to install roll hoop frames to protect driver's head from flipping. This may have saved Mike Magill's life.

[@edwardbaker1331]

Yet they were still lower than the seated head level.

[@furyofbongos]

Yes, and barely!

[@WildwoodClaire1]

I'd like to see this footage restored to it's original full-color brilliance. Unfortunately, this particular film stock turned red as it aged.

[@cjs83172]

Who's to say it hasn't been restored? Keep in mind that this recording is, itself, 20 years old, having been done in 1999 on the day before that year's Indianapolis 500. Rare Sports Films may have a restored copy of this film, which would also be unedited. Remember that the films when shown on the old SpeedVision network were also edited for time, so things in the original film were cut from this particular presentation.

[@thevmanvj]

RIP....Jerry Unser Jr.

[@cjs83172]

A fact not mentioned in this version of the '59 Indy film, which I believe was edited for time, though it was mentioned by Brock Yates in one of the host segments he did for the presentation this came from. Jerry went down as the only driver ever to take the green flag at Indy at least once, and never complete a lap in the race (Jerry's car went over the wall in that massive first lap crash in 1958). Dale Whittington also failed to complete a lap in his only Indy start in 1982, but he never actually got the green flag, as he was one of four taken out before the race even began in '82.

[@lemonparty6595]

jerry unser was a family friend. may he rip in piece.

[@artisticgizmo8654]

Roger Ward's 1st and only Formula One Victory

[@cjs83172]

One of the ironies about that is that, from 1950-1960, the Indianapolis 500 was officially a part of the F1 World Championship (Ferrari even went to Indy in 1952 with Alberto Ascari, but struggled badly), yet it wasn't until the year after it was dropped from the official F1 calendar that John Cooper brought his revolutionary rear engine car to Indy with driver Jack Brabham. Even though the car was underpowered and beat only one other car that finished, the lightweight car's superior handling caught everyone 's attention, and in just three more years, with the help of the Ford Motor Company, the roadsters that had dominated Indy since their arrival in 1952, had become a dinosaur. Frankly, I'm not sure it would be such a bad idea for the Indianapolis 500 to officially become part of the F1 World Championship again, and I'm not entirely sure it should've ever been dropped. Consider how the F1 standings might have been altered in the mid-to-late 60s had it remained part of the World Championship.

[@artisticgizmo8654]

So sum.up what the person avove me said, is that the indy 500 officially counted for points in USAC/AAA Champ cars AND formula one at the same time.

[@cjs83172]

Yes. From 1950-1960, the Indianapolis 500 officially counted for both championships. Of course, none of the top USAC drivers competed anywhere else on the F1 World Championship trail, and it was a rare event for one of the teams and/or drivers from Europe to come to Indy in those 11 years. One of the reasons why the FIA made the Indianapolis 500 an official part of the F1 World Championship was to give it (the F1 series) some prestige, and how better than to make the biggest race of them all officially part of the world championship, which started in 1950, meaning the Indianapolis 500 was officially part of the F1 World Championship in it's first 11 years of existence. They managed to entice Ferrari to come in 1952, but they struggled and Juan Fangio failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 the one time he tried. And when USAC's teams went to Monza in 1957 and '58 for the "Race of Two Worlds", which consisted of USAC's roadsters against the sportscars the Europeans ran, along with a couple of specially prepared cars one or two of the F1 teams ran, the USAC teams cleaned house on the high banked oval. The event was cancelled after two years due to costs and the fear the teams had of the speeds, particularly the teams from Europe that ran sports cars and the F1 teams that ran specially prepared cars. Jim Rathmann won all three heats in 1958 and averaged a cumulative 166.756 MPH over the 500 miles, a speed that would not be beaten for any 500-mile race until the 1976 Winston 500 at Talladega, which was won by Buddy Baker at an average speed of 169.887 MPH.

[@mark3p]

There was no formula 1 championship back then, both F1 and the 500 both counted toward the FIA World Drivers Championship. That WDC in 1952 was held for formula 2 races and the 500.

[@aureliobrighton1871]

The way how they closed up under top speed is unbelievable. Open wheeled cars of that design touching rubber is not a pretty thing. I am watching this from Germany and the setting and breed of 'riders' resembles a lot the days of the Mercedes Benz, Auto Union and Talbot-Lago monsters on e.g. the Avus track. It must have been indeed like flying an open cockpit Mustang or Spitfire. Thankyou.

[@cjs83172]

Regardless of the design, any wheel-to-wheel contact with open-wheeled cars is a formula for disaster. The first attempt to start the 1973 Indianapolis 500 and what happened in turn two during the 1975 race that sent Tom Sneva's car airborne, are classic cases of that. One reason why the old Indy roadsters closed up like they did was because the cars were bigger, and had better effects of the draft than the cars of future decades would. In addition, they weren't going fast enough to trigger any kind of aerodynamic-related handling issues, hence they were able to stay in groups of cars for much longer. For that reason, the races from 1956-'61 saw prolonged battles for the lead, as well as back in the pack.

[@aureliobrighton1871]

@@cjs83172 Thankyou. I was obviously of the wrong impression relatively high and thin wheels close to the cars' body might worsen the 'touch' effect. Of course wide slicks turn faster and stick. And thanks for the aerodynamics comment. :)

[@cjs83172]

@@aureliobrighton1871 Make no mistake about it. The high, thin wheels created their own safety hazard by making those cars, which were much bigger than the cars of a few years later, much less the cars of today, much more difficult to steer, and at Indy, the brick-paved main straightaway made matters worse by causing the tires to wear much faster, especially when lap speeds climbed over 140 MPH. The tires they were using in 1960 were no wider than the tires they were using in 1925, when the "balloon tires" were first brought to Indy, but the speeds were significantly higher. It wouldn't be until after the 1961 race that the greater part of the main straightaway was paved over, which partly came as a result of Tony Bettenhausen, Sr.'s fatal crash and was also partly due to the coming rear engine revolution that began in '61, which would lead to wider tires as early as 1963.

[@Zoomer30]

How did the new roll hoop help if the drivers head is still higher than it?

[@peterhaggar4900]

at 15.:00 - I've not seen a guy on fire *not* want to get our of his car before...unreal.

[@cjs83172]

That is odd, though it's likely because he (Dick Rathmann) wanted that badly to finish the race, especially after what had happened on the opening lap the year before (when he and Ed Elisian tangled racing so hard to led the first lap of the '58 race, leading to that massive crash that was to take the life of Pat O'Connor). There had been times when a driver got out of a car on fire during a pit stop and then got back in, including Troy Ruttman when he won the race in 1952, but the Dick Rathmann situation late in the '59 race might have been the only known instance to date of a driver wanting to stay in the car while it was on fire, thinking that he could still finish the race, which a then-record 16 cars ended up completing the full distance in.

[@paulapplegate7167]

Roger Ward was truly one of the best drivers in Indy history!

[@affandi99]

Why Jimmy Bryan out from this race, before race begin ?

[@orbyfan]

He went out after 1 lap because of engine failure.

[@artisticgizmo8654]

@@orbyfan Not his engine, but his car's Cam Housing

[@briantaylor9285]

Speedvision...🥺😢😭💔

[@grouchydropbear3981]

When the last caution-free Indy 500?

[@cjs83172]

Going all the way back to the mid-1930s, when caution lights were first installed, there has NEVER been a caution-free race at Indy. The closest Indy has had to a caution-free race was the rain-delayed 1995 Brickyard 400, when there was just one caution for a minor spin in the latter part of that race. And I believe the fewest number cautions for an Indianapolis 500 is two, a record matched in this year's race but until this year's Indianapolis 500, the last time that happened was back in 1969.

[@billr8667]

Scriptwriter's attempt to equate space flight (which didn't exist quite yet) with driving a race car around a track was pretty lame. Rocket "stuff" was all the rage in the late '50's.

[@noviranger88]

Well... these cars were (and F1 cars still are) essentially earth rockets.

[@lemonparty6595]

i ain't watching all that just get to the good part 👀👀👀🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

[@paulapplegate7167]

Roger Ward was truly one of the best in Indy 500 history!