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AJ Foyt to drive the 2011 Indy 500 Pace Car

Posted on May 6, 2011 by truckertoggle

So the Trumpster has pulled out of driving the pace car to focus on his Presidential campaign. Well, I suppose parking it in the wall might have damaged more than just the paintwork.

Seriously, the pace car job is not for amateurs, so this scribe is very pleased to see that 4 time 500 winner AJ Foyt will be handling the job. AJ, winner in 1961, ’64’ 67 and ’77, will drive the pace car on the 50th anniversary of his first win. My only thought is that it seems slightly ironic that a man so associated with the Blue Oval should be driving a Bow Tie pace car, but AJ was always pretty versatile and I have no doubt that he’ll work it out.

This blog celebrates two of AJ’s Indy500 wins in other posts if you’d like to check them out.

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Virgin aims to ‘turn corner’ in Turkey

Posted on May 4, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

Well it would certainly help. Unless, of course, the Turkish event has been swapped for a drag race.

Good luck anyway boys, it’s good to have you on the grid.

Here’s the Autosport article on the John Booth interview that the headline refers to: Autosport.com

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Parnelli Jones, Silent Sam and the 1967 Indy 500

Posted on May 4, 2011 by truckertoggle

In 1967 Indy 500 legend Andy Granatelli made another off the wall attempt on the race with his STP Paxton turbine car. It came within 7.5 miles of the win before a small proprietary part failed and the car rolled to a stop.

AJ Foyt picked up the win, his third in the 500, having avoided last corner carnage amongst the lapped cars.

See exerpts of the race plus interviews with Foyt, Jones, Gurney and Andretti here: Parnelli Jones, Silent Sam and the 1967 Indy 500

The 2011 Indy 500 wil be with us at the end of this month. Sadly all of the innovation that Andy Granatelli and his team brought to the race are long gone, but it’s still the 500, one of the world’s greatest races.

Filed under: Indycar, Retro Moments | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

weekend round up – 1st May 2011 #NASCAR #IndyCar #BTCC #DTM

Posted on May 1, 2011 by truckertoggle

Toggle here, standing in for TCB this weekend, so off we go first with the #NASCAR from Richmond. As regulars here will know we don’t mention the name of a certain pair of brothers so we’ll ignore who won, but honorable mentions for The Dinger for a good top ten in the #43 and also welcome back to the top 10 for Brian Vickers; good to see you back mate.

#IndyCar down in Brazil saw things get a bit too wet at Sao Paulo. Will Power with his 4th pole of the season so far doing well in qualy, but the damp conditions making it a bit of a wreckfest with the inevitable red flag in the race. The attempt at a re-run got another red flag and they will try and run the remaining 61 (of 75) laps tomorrow (Monday). I’ll update this post with the results when we have them.

Update 2nd May – Having managed to re-start the race today, Will Power picked up a comfortable win after Takuma Sato’s fuel gamble didn’t pay off, and Power now leads the series by 14 points.

The Indy 500 comes up this month. One of the world’s great races, even if the current generation of cars are not as spectacular as some of those we have seen in the past. Can’t wait.

#BTCC. Thruxton is one of our favourite circuits and saw the tin top boys out to play today. The ‘ondas doing well with a pair of wins for Messers Neal and Sheddon and with Jason Plato’s Chevy taking the final win of the day.

The #DTM got under way at Hockenheim with a dominant win for Bruno Spengler’s Mercedes. Fearsome cars these, and it will be good to have another manufacturer back in next year to add to the fun.

Off to Turkey next weekend in #F1 for the start of the European season. Should be interesting to see how things pan out now we’re back from the Pacific rim races.

Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, F1, Indycar, NASCAR, Tin Tops | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

where did all the Easter motor racing go?

Posted on April 23, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

When I was really getting into motorsport as a teenager the Easter break was a veritable treasure trove of racing here in the UK.

Take 1967 for example; Good Friday saw the F2 European championship circus at Snetterton and then they all trooped over to Silverstone and did it again on Easter Monday. Both events were also supported by the British Saloon Car and Sports Car Championships. In F2 Jochen Rindt beat Graham Hill in Norfolk and his own team mate Alan Rees at Silverstone, Jackie Oliver won both saloon car outings in Alan Brown’s Mustang and Paul Hawkins in his own GT40 beat Denny Hulme in Sid Taylor’s similar car on Friday with that result being reversed in Monday’s race.

All frantic activity, and there were club races up and down the country to choose from as well. We were spoiled for choice really, but now we don’t get any major racing over the holiday weekend at all. Shame really, but there you go. At least I have the memories of the Easter weekends that I was able to enjoy as a teenager.

If you’re interested to research some of the racing further, try these links:

British Sports Car Championship

1967 British Saloon Car Championship

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