1949 INDIANAPOLIS 500 MOTOR RACE "BEHIND THE CHECKERED FLAG" BILL HOLLAND 68434

[@steven2212]

You folks need to be commended for your preservation of history. Thanks a ton.

[@tsf5-productions]

This is the first time to my knowledge as well as love of Indy car racing and designs over decades of following this motor sport that I seen the technology of the Offenhauser engine and the famous Lou Moore design. I'm glad this was made and put in the archives of the Periscope Production. The drivers back then were of various sizes. Compared to the usual "littler guys" of these days.

[@rivotrich7]

Great visual explanation on the workings of a racing automobile,especially for 1949! I wish complicated things could be explained that simply and efficiently today without constant annoying in your face advertising. Also love the narrator’s calm voice and tasteful relaxing background music of the era.

[@Sticks-of-TNT-tf1tn]

Wow, what a piece of history! Since I’m a Hoosier from Indiana, born in 1952, it’s fascinating to see what the Speedway looked like around the time I was born. I can’t believe how primitive things were compared to today. The vast expanses of trees along sections of the track compared to the gigantic grandstands of today, the casual pace of pit crews compared to the precision, choreographed pit stops of today. Even Lou Moore’s Hollywood machine shop seems so small and quaint compared to the almost industrial scale operations like Roger Penske’s and Chip Ganasi’s. (sp?) The track itself, except for the very large size of it, looked more like something at at a midwestern county fairground than the major motor speedways of today. Ditto for the concessions and the activity around the track - more like county fairground than the modern place that is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of today. And I guess I should mention safety - every aspect of it made me shudder- from the dinky little helmet and lack of protective gear of the drivers, to the people milling around the track in close proximity to the speeding race cars, lack of retaining walls and protective fencing, the list goes on and on. The spectators and pit crews seemed to unknowingly flirt with danger right along with the drivers. It’s really amazing to see how much auto racing has advanced just during my lifetime. And of course I can’t finish without acknowledging a little pride at seeing the performance of the marching band of my alma mater, Purdue University. Even they have come a long way. Go Boilermakers!

[@jerrynowicke583]

Sticks-of-TNT }

[@noviranger88]

As a modern roboticist I appreciate this engineering feature!!

[@donlove3741]

Loved this.. Ticket holder from 1985 to 1998. The track has changed but the crowds !!!! Time trials , Carbonation Day.. The month of May is 500 month.. Great memories and traditions. Purdue still marching Back home again in Indiana!

[@olsonspeed]

An amazing video featuring the Offenhauser engine. Gorman Auto Repair was a few blocks away from my childhood home, many times I heard the sound of their twin supercharged Indy racer being test on Gilman Blvd in Seattle during the middle of the night. Thanks for sharing this classic film.

[@trh55]

Just for the heck of it, I looked up Lou's North Hollywood shop address on Google Earth. It's still there!

[@BSNFabricating]

When Mauri Rose fell out with just a few laps to go, Lou Moore fired him as soon as he got back to the pits...never mind that Rose had won the last two Indy 500s in a row. Tough boss, that Lou Moore was.

[@brianvogt8125]

Driver history had nothing to do with it. Lou Moore (who built the cars) gave a clear instruction to "hold position" but Mauri Rose disobeyed and went on a hard charge. What happens when you cost a hard-nosed boss a bundle of prize money and prestige? You get what's coming to you.

[@danielcarroll5667]

Thank you , wonderful film , the year I was born .

[@partysugar519]

For his high school graduation present, James Dean's methodist minister, James DeWeerd took him to see this race.

[@MrChristopherHaas]

Anyone who really loves this should check out “Big Wheel” film starring Mickey Rooney who portrays racer driving in THIS event

[@DrivetoSleep-yo1mk]

Great vid. The engineering was impressive regarding performance but safety for the driver was nonexistent. Absolute death traps, those guys had the guts of WW1 fighter pilots. Hence Eddie R!

[@lawrencekalapus9566]

Nice to hear engine sounds and not some stupid music

[@danieljohnson9351]

No roll bar, no fire suits, just brave men. Remember though, this was just 4 years after WW2.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

It was an amazing time...

[@cjs83172]

It should be no surprise that the makers of this film did not show what a brutal race this really was, as none of the three major crashes that occurred during the race were seen in the film. back in the 1950s, '60s, and even into the '70s, racing films of this nature often skipped over any mentions of bad crashes, so there is no mention of the crashes suffered by Duke Nalon, George Lynch, or George Van Acker, one of which was a fiery crash and the other two being rollover crashes. In addition, the scoring of this race was a total mess, as cars finishing the race that were dozens of laps behind cars that had completed more laps but had dropped out were placed ahead of those cars that had finished more laps but had dropped out. For instance, rookie Troy Ruttman ran 41 fewer laps than did Mauri Rose, yet was placed ahead of Rose, who completed 192 laps, and should have been awarded 10th place, instead of 13th, where the official results show him as finishing. Ruttman was placed ahead of FIVE cars his car finished fewer laps than, and should have been credited with a 17th-place finish, instead of the 12th place finish he was given credit for. (Duane Carter, Sr., Duke Dinsmore, Mack Hellings, and Bill Sheffler also completed more laps than Ruttman, but were placed behind Ruttman in the final order of finish.) It was a total mess, and beginning with the 1950 race, it was decided that drivers would be listed in the final running order by number of laps completed.

[@achecase]

52 second pit stop, veritable blur. Fun watch.

[@brendaproffitt4807]

They are faster on the the tracks nice engine i love my NASCAR❤❤❤❤and the 590 better in person than tv awesome thank you

[@sam21462]

Ahhhh good old Socony Vacuums. I still remember their slogan! "Nothing Sucks Like a Socony"

[@dlbarney2]

😂

[@keithstudly6071]

Beautiful film of the race! I find it a bit odd that the fact that The team finished 1-2 in the preceding two races was not mentioned nor was Holland having finished in second place the two years before his victory. Also sad that the pole sitter and other race leaders were not mentioned. I guess they were told to stay focused on the Socony-Vacuum sponsored cars (Standard Oil Company of New York or Mobil). I guess the idea that the people you beat makes your victory more outstanding had not occurred to them.

[@naughtmoses]

Can anyone say, "Harry Miller, " or "Leo Goosen," "Fred Offenhauser" or "Emil Deidt?" I guess not. ... Moore's much simpler and hardier front drive differential was far superior to either Harry's & Leo's 1925 original or the marginally improved 1928 version on Cliff Durant's & Tommy Milton's Detroit Special... and a significant factor in the Blue Crowns' dominance from '47 to '49 and near win in the rain-shortened 1950 race. By contrast, the Maserati 8CTL that Wilbur Shaw drove to victory in '39 and '40 -- and that continued to be the most competitive with the Crowns post-war in the hands of Ted Horn -- was many times more complex.

[@generalpatzer6893]

It must've been uncomfortable for the drivers in the cockpit of these cars because of their massive balls!

[@thetreblerebel]

Copper lead bearings...no corrosion. Wonder how long they lasted

[@AHOOSIER]

This being the 1949 race, I wonder why the, Duke Nalon, Novi crash was edited out?

[@MrChristopherHaas]

They showed it BEFORE the race

[@davidstout8604]

Pat O’Connor’s death in 1958 was left out, too. It was the thing to do way back when

[@stargazer5784]

It's strange that race car designers hadn't figured out at that time that lower and wider works better, along with being safer.

[@kaykay4149]

Cool

[@davenone7312]

Socony Vacuum? Didn't know they made Vacuum cleaners.

[@scottyjett6017]

Basically an overhead hemi

[@ivanleterror9158]

Our 2 Dodge Darts and my 80 Toyota pickup have torsion bar suspension and it works well. Why it's not used more I don't know why.

[@DL-ls5sy]

Remember jim clark 7 april 1968 Hockenheim

[@thetreblerebel]

It's got brakes like a US Army Hummvee

[@danielcarroll5667]

And XKE Jaguars & lots of other early performance vehicles , for the same reason , less unsprung weight as the narrator mentioned .

[@frankpowell1778]

A lot of trees just outside the track

[@lebensbornguardianazis3907]

...brazil.....2020😅👿💙💚💖

[@MrChristopherHaas]

A jail?