The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix and Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix. It is located six miles (9.7 km) west of Downtown Indianapolis.
The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapolis 500. USAC serves as the sanctioning body for a number of racing series, including the Silver Crown Series, National Sprint Cars, National Midgets, Speed2 Midget Series, .25 Midget Series, Stadium Super Trucks, and Pirelli World Challenge. Seven-time USAC champion Levi Jones is USAC's Competition Director.
The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers.
Maurice Rose was an American racing driver. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1941, 1947, and 1948, becoming the race's third three-time winner. He also won the AAA National Championship in 1936.
John James McGrath was an American racecar driver. McGrath died in an accident at Bobby Ball Memorial, he lost control of his car at Turn 3, crashed and flipped, dying instantly.
Marshall Pleasant Teague was an American race car driver nicknamed by NASCAR fans as the "King of the Beach" for his performances at the Daytona Beach Road Course.
Louis Meyer was an American racing driver who was the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He is generally regarded as one of the finest racers of his generation. Meyer is perhaps best known as the driver who started the tradition of drinking milk after winning the Indianapolis 500.
David Earl "Swede" Savage Jr. was an American race car driver. He died at age 26 from complications while recovering from injuries suffered in a crash during the 1973 Indianapolis 500, nearly five weeks earlier.
Bill Alsup was an American race car driver. He was the first Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Rookie of the Year in 1979 and competed in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 11th. He made 57 CART & USAC Champ Car starts in his career. His best race finish of third came 3 times and he was the 1981 CART Championship runner-up, putting in a winless but consistent season for Penske Racing, his only effort with a top-level team. He returned to his own team the next year and struggled until leaving Champ Car following the 1984 Sanair Super Speedway race.
Joseph Paul Leonard was an American professional motorcycle racer and racecar driver.
Harry Henry Hartz was an American racing driver and auto mechanic.
The 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season, the third in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 11 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 22 and concluding at the same location on October 31. The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion was Rick Mears despite missing Round 2 at Milwaukee due to injuries sustained in the Indianapolis 500. Rookie of the Year was Bob Lazier. After the disagreement with the USAC during the previous season, the 65th Indianapolis 500 was not part of the Series, however no competing race was scheduled and most CART teams and drivers did take part.
Indianapolis 500 Evolution is a racing game, developed by British studio Brain in a Jar Ltd, based on the Indianapolis 500 and American Championship car racing from 1961 to 1971. It is similar to Destineer's 2007 game Indianapolis 500 Legends. In the game, players take on the roles of various famous racers from that time period with 21 missions, photos, and movies, as well as competing on courses such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as well as the Milwaukee Mile, Trenton, Riverside, Hanford and Langhorne Speedway. Honey Creek, the name for inner road course of the Milwaukee Mile, is also included, and is still used for various club racing events in the present day.
The Cooper T54 is a rear-engined open-wheel race car chassis, designed, developed, and built by Cooper, for U.S.A.C. Indy car racing, between 1961 and 1963. It was powered by a 250 hp (190 kW) 2.75 L (168 cu in) Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder, but later used an Aston Martin six-cylinder engine, installed by automotive mechanic and engineer Joe Huffaker, after the car had been by Jim Kimberly to Kjell Qvale. After competing in IndyCar racing, it competed in a variety of different motorsports, including sprint car racing, where it was powered by larger Ford, Buick, and Chevrolet V8 engines.
Leo William Goossen was a draftsman, mechanical engineer and automobile designer. He is known for his work with Harry Miller and his long involvement in the design and ongoing development of the four-cylinder Offenhauser ("Offy") racing engine.
The McLaren M16 was a race car designed and built by McLaren between 1971 and 1976 for American open wheel racing. It is the most successful car of the 1970s at the Indianapolis 500 with three wins in 1972, 1974 and 1976 and the last one to win with the Offenhauser engine.
The McLaren M15 was an open-wheel race car designed and built by the McLaren team for a single season of competition in 1970, and was their first attempt at making an Indy car. It was unsuccessful, and failed to qualify for the 1970 Indianapolis 500. It was later replaced by the more successful McLaren M16, which went on to win three Indy 500s; in 1972, 1974 and 1976.
The Lola T150, and it's the derivatives, the T152 and T153, were open-wheel racing car chassis, designed and built by Lola Cars to compete in USAC IndyCar racing series, between 1968 and 1970. The T150 and T153 were powered by the 159 cu in (2.61 L) 780–900 hp (580–670 kW) Ford Indy V-8 turbo engine; while the T152 chassis used a 159 cu in (2.61 L) 900 hp (670 kW) Offenhauser 4-cylinder turbo engine. Both the T150 and T152 used a unique four-wheel-drive system, which would be banned after the 1969 season. The T153 only used a conventional two-wheel-drive (rear-wheel-drive setup. The different chassis would, over the span of three years, win a total of 9 races, all while being driven by Al Unser.
The Eagle 69, also known as the Eagle Mark 7, was an open-wheel race car developed and built by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, designed to compete in USAC IndyCar racing, starting in the 1969 season. In its most powerful form, It was powered by a small-displacement turbocharged Ford V8 engine, capable of producing over 800 hp (600 kW).
The Eagle 70 was an open-wheel race car developed and built by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, designed to compete in USAC IndyCar racing, starting in the 1970 season.
Mark Donohue