Historic pics - the numbers game

ALD 02 with a BMW engine

#94 Johnny Parsons | Pocono 1973

That's awesome who's pulling/pushing who

If it was AJ's car, I'd say he found a new way of getting some more hp, but here I'm not sure.

Careful JP we have a strong pro-Ayjay gang around here (I'm not one of them ).
Single seaters and particularly ones made for speedway racing cannot be driven under their own propulsion anywhere but on the track : that would put a lot of unecessary strain on many vital organs of the car such as the clutch, bearings, gearbox and engine. Hence the little auxilary vehicles to push them from the paddock to the pits and back. In Europe we rely more on the mechanics' arms and sweat for this, so most often they use very narrow tires on the cars to make it easier to hand-push the thing, as you maybe have already seen at Monaco JP ?

Ah didn't know about that. They are lazy

Frank Verplanken wrote:

Careful JP we have a strong pro-Ayjay gang around here (I'm not one of them   ).

That's why we like you

Mario FTW

Yea Mario is verry cool   . Not trying to be rude but i never understood why he is so famous? Can anyone enlighten me.

Quote :

Careful JP we have a strong pro-Ayjay gang around here (I'm not one of them)

Me neither. One of the reasons of the 96 split was AJ's stupid inability to do constantly well at road courses, which had made him hate those till he retired in '91. A dirt tracker at the start, he had not the same talent outside ovals than Mario or the Unsers, had always lobbied in favour of "only ovals" schedules for US open wheel racing.

Quote :

Not trying to be rude but i never understood why he is so famous? Can anyone enlighten me.

There were many factors IMHO. For the EU public in general he was an F1 champion, for the US gang he was an USAC champion, Daytona 500 champion and as italian inmigrant, an encarnation of the american dream. For the italians he was of course a hero and even more when matched to ferrari ocasionally.

Plus he was in general a likeable and marketeable character, something that counted a lt entering the era of advertising and sponsors.

In the end he wasnt the most talented driver ever, but he certainly was one of the best all around ones, he drove almost anything and adapted very fast to a high level of racing it.

Mike Mosley back-up car  | Pocono 1973

Things are going to become harder after Greg Moore

Toyota IMSA

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

Quote :

Not trying to be rude but i never understood why he is so famous? Can anyone enlighten me.

There were many factors IMHO. For the EU public in general he was an F1 champion, for the US gang he was an USAC champion, Daytona 500 champion and as italian inmigrant, an encarnation of the american dream. For the italians he was of course a hero and even more when matched to ferrari ocasionally.

Plus he was in general a likeable and marketeable character, something that counted a lt entering the era of advertising and sponsors.  

In the end he wasnt the most talented driver ever, but he certainly was one of the best all around ones, he drove almost anything and adapted very fast to a high level of racing it.

Gotcha. Yes every video or race i've watched he has a great attitude a very likable character.

Austin Johnson wrote:

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

Quote :

Not trying to be rude but i never understood why he is so famous? Can anyone enlighten me.

There were many factors IMHO. For the EU public in general he was an F1 champion, for the US gang he was an USAC champion, Daytona 500 champion and as italian inmigrant, an encarnation of the american dream. For the italians he was of course a hero and even more when matched to ferrari ocasionally.

Plus he was in general a likeable and marketeable character, something that counted a lt entering the era of advertising and sponsors.  

In the end he wasnt the most talented driver ever, but he certainly was one of the best all around ones, he drove almost anything and adapted very fast to a high level of racing it.

Gotcha. Yes every video or race i've watched he has a great attitude a very likable character.

"He won everything he touched" answers the question pretty well also.

I remember a game back in the 80s called something like Mario Andretti racing. It had stock cars, F1 and Indy cars. Solo play only. Great game for the time.

Jukka Maattanen wrote:

This was without a doubt my fastest and favorite Aurora HO scale slot car. It stuck like glue!

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

Me neither. One of the reasons of the 96 split was AJ's stupid inability to do constantly well at road courses, which had made him hate those till he retired in '91. A dirt tracker at the start, he had not the same talent outside ovals than Mario or the Unsers, had always lobbied in favour of "only ovals" schedules for US open wheel racing.

To be honest I gotta say I always respected Foyt the racer. He had at least three crashes that would have put an end to the career of most other racing drivers, and he's paying the price for it now as he's a real wreck physically . The first one at Riverside in 1965 in particular was really bad and some say that it took the edge off him, especially regarding his speed on road courses. He was the typical racing junkie too, who lived and breathed only for racing, which will always get my admiration. But he's also one stupid arrogant morron, and I have yet to hear him say something even remotely pertinent, whether it be about racing or life in general. His constant whinning and ranting about other drivers (and even his own mechanics lol) in particular was unbearable for me. Especially compared to someone as classy as Mario !

Frank Verplanken wrote:

His constant whinning and ranting about other drivers (and even his own mechanics lol) in particular was unbearable for me. Especially compared to someone as classy as Mario !

I really had a problem with the way Foyt treated his crew when things didn't go well -- sometimes throwing them under the bus in pit interviews. Even if he had a legit reason for being upset, you can't do that to your team. You win and lose together.  At the same time, though, I admire him for his accomplishments and his tough nature. This vid with Parnelli and Bunser illustrates really well the good and the bad qualities of AJ.

Vern "Flip" Fritch

1931 Talbot still kicking!