Indy Car History - 1968 Eagle Offenhauser Indy Car Feature // Mecum Kissimmee 2023

This fabulous 1968 Eagle Offenhauser Indy Car-Serial No. 404-has incredible racing provenance that brings together some of the most legendary racing names in the sport, such as Dan Gurney, A.J. Watson, Leader Card Racers and J.C. Agajanian. The car was driven by Gurney to a stellar second-place finish in the 1968 Indianapolis 500 while racing for his own All American Racers team-a feat made even more spectacular by the fact that the Eagle was Gurney’s creation. Gurney’s new race car was sponsored by Olsonite and powered by a wholly unconventional 305 CI Weslake Ford V-8 stock-block engine, and soon, the entire memorable package will cross Mecum’s auction block in Kissimmee, Florida.
The second-place finish was an amazing accomplishment for several reasons, primarily because the Weslake stock-block engine was not at all the hot ticket when compared to the purpose-built, smaller-displacement Ford V-8 engines or the venerable, but equally bespoke, 4-cylinder Offenhauser engines. Gurney finished second to Bobby Unser driving for Leader Card Racers in another Eagle sourced from Gurney, although this one was powered by a turbocharged Offenhauser engine. Turbocharging the Offenhauser was a relatively new concept, and although these engines could prove fragile when the boost was turned up, the little 4-cylinder made tons of horsepower in this configuration. This gave Unser’s Rislone-sponsored Leader Card Eagle a sizable power advantage over Gurney’s much larger, but technically inferior, Weslake stock block. It was the third and final Indianapolis 500 victory for Leader Card Racers.
In addition to the Unser and Leader Card duo, Gurney also had to contend with a trio of Andy Granatelli’s STP Turbines, using wedge-shaped Lotus chassis supplied by Colin Chapman for Joe Leonard, Graham Hill and Art Pollard. One year earlier, Parnelli Jones had run away from the field in his bulbous STP Turbine, only for it to fail with three laps remaining. In 1968, polesitter Leonard was in a duel with Unser for the lead when he experienced a mechanical failure only eight laps from the finish. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for Gurney against the Turbines and the turbocharged Offenhauser. That said, Gurney raced the Eagle to second place at Indianapolis, a glorious testament to his skill, determination and savvy behind the wheel.
In contrast to its definite deficiencies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the normally aspirated nature of the Weslake Ford proved to be a viable weapon on road courses. While turbocharger lag conspired against the Offenhauser’s throttle response off of slow corners, the big stock-block V-8 had a nice torque curve. Gurney used the torque curve to great effect, winning three Indy Car races during the 1968 season in this car. The first two of those wins came in a doubleheader at the Mosport road course in Canada on June 15, 1968, and another at the Rex Mays 300 at Riverside road course in Southern California on December 7, 1968.
After one successful season, Gurney moved on to a new creation and sold his winning car to Marshall Robbins of the Jim Robbins Company in 1969. Lee Roy Yarbrough was hired and drove the car in both the 1969 and 1970 Indianapolis 500 races. Leader Card Racers, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winning team who had beaten Gurney with his own customer car in 1968, acquired No. 404 late in 1970. The legendary team hired George Snider to drive No. 404 in the 1971 Indianapolis 500.
For 1972, Agajanian, a two-time Indianapolis 500-winning team owner in his own right, joined Leader Card Racers as a sponsor at the Indianapolis 500. The car hardly resembled the racer that had finished second in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. In a testament to A.J. Watson’s mechanical wizardry, hard-charging driver Mike Mosley led the 1972 Indianapolis 500 in this car until a hub failed and he crashed.
This performance was all the more incredible when one considers this car was originally conceived to do a lap average of around 170 MPH in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, but by the time Mosley led the 1972 Indianapolis 500, the now-winged creation with wide slick tires instead of its original grooved tires, and turbocharged Offenhauser power instead of its original stock-block Weslake, was in a race where the fastest car had set an average lap speed of more than 196 MPH.
Still, the car’s extensive provenance was not yet complete, as Watson rebuilt the crashed car to be raced by future Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva at the California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1973. In addition, Johnny Parsons, the son of the 1950 Indianapolis 500 winner, also drove this car for Leader Card Racers in some of its final competitive races that same season.
www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-539...

[@rayisland23]

It will end up in a private collection and never seen again.

[@pdinardo9472]

Awesome IndyCar. A piece of history!! Its beautiful.👍👍

[@akf5235]

That's awesome.

[@juggalojjr]

Yo ✌ beautiful car

[@Habs8691]

There's videos online of this car plowing into the outside wall coming out of turn 4 and Mosley desperately trying to get out while it's still going 100+MPH. He jumps out and rolls around as his legs are on fire. So, extensive rebuild done. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIHUaWh4prV8fLc kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHKsfoKhbreAhpY