Conference oass::racers

> 7. What is Mario's wives name?

How many wives has Mario had?  Amazing that they all had the same name.  :-)

--PSW

    Mario's only ever had one wives! :-)
    
    Roger

	re Question #29

	The Bethlehem Pennsylvania College was really Lehigh University.


	Jim, who grew up in Bethlehem, Pa.

    Which qualifiers of the 1992 Indy 500 raced USAC dirt cars?  (re:
    913.42 for qualifiers)
    
    I think there are five.
    
    Roger
    

    let's see.....how about
    
    AJ
    Tony B
    Gary B
    Al Sr.
    Stan Fox
    Mario???

    AJ, Al Sr. and Mario for sure.  Gary B, most likely.  I've seen Merle
    B. race dirts at Springfield with one arm, I'm not sure about Tony. The 
    other person I was thinking of was Gordon Johncock, he comes from that 
    era.  I don't believe Stan Fox was around then.  I believe he raced for 
    A.J. his rookie year at Indy?
    
    Roger
    
    Two more:
    
    What year had the most rookies?  How many?
    
    Who was the last overseas winner before Jimmy Clark in 1965?
    

Either Jeff or John Andretti also raced USAC midgets don't know about USAC 
Champ cars though.

    Stan Fox comes from the USAC midget ranks.  I didn't think you wanted
    only those from CHAMP cars...just USAC dirt drivers in general.
    
    sorry
    Terry

    RE: .4
    
    The question was not clear.  Years ago, (until about 1971/2?), before
    CART, USAC was the governing body for Indy cars.  The USAC circuit
    included both Indy cars on ovals, and dirt cars (I think only sprints) 
    on flat ovals (usually a half mile).  Both types of racing counted
    points toward the USAC championship. Most of the USAC boys drove both.
    
    Winning Indy almost assured the championship because USAC awarded 2
    points per mile (the longer the race the more points).  The dirt track
    races were much shorter of course. 
    
    I can still remember Al Unser racing his 'Johnny Lightning' special
    sprint care with paint job to match his two-time Indy winning car in 
    1970-71.
    
    ---
    
    Does anyone remember the Viceroy/Samsonite 'Super Team' owned by Parnelli 
    Jones with drivers Mario, Al, Joe Leonard, and one year Jan Opperman?
    Mario still wears a helmet design that originated with that team.
    
    Roger
    

    	My stepfather loved racing. We lived in Ohio, about 100 miles
    	from Indy. I remember going one year to the Hoosier Hundred
    	and seeing this fella tearing up the circuit. Guy's name was
    	Parnelli Jones.
    
    	Scott

    I lived in Illinois about a 100 miles from Indy.  The fella who was
    tearing up the circuit when my father started taking me to races was
    Mario Andretti. Hoosier, Springfield, Des Moine, Terra Houte, 
    Milwaukee, and of course, Indy.
    
    Roger
    

    1. Anybody know what the original race surface of the Indianapolis motor
    Speedway was?
    
    2. Who was first to win three Indy 500s?
    
    3. What is the largest winning margin in Indy history? (nearest minute)
    
    4. What was the narrowest winning margin in Indy history? (nearest
    100th)
    
    5. Who was first to qualify a rear (mid) engine car at Indy?
    
    6. Who was last to qualify a front engine roadster?
    
    7. Who drove with a special socket style gove that fit onto a ball on 
    the steering wheel?
    
    8. Who the famous millionaire who never raced, but owned cars... always
    number 98?
    
    9. Who is the youngest driver ever to win at Indy?
    
    10. Who is the oldest driver ever to win at Indy?

    
    I think I know that answer to question 1, the rest ?>!?@@? .
    
    
    some time ago british Tv done a series on motor racing, indy racing
    included. The original surfaces that oval were raced on was wood,not
    sure if Indy was ever wood. after all the wood tracks close ( cost of
    maintanence )  the indy track was laid in brick . Hence the name The 
    brick yard. Some time after it was relayed in tarmac.
    
    
    I think I read that somewhere else in this conference too. Not bad for 
    someone who dislikes oval racing , and live in the UK.
    
    
    
    Garry

    Yes there were wooden tracks in the old days.  I remember reading in a
    book some years ago that one of the original racing surfaces was
    crushed white rock.  In fact, the original races were motocycles
    before the track was sold to Hulman, and shortly after began the Indy
    500. If I remember correctly, it was owned by two people in the first
    two or three years of existance.  One of the original objectives was an
    endurance test for car manufactures.  The track was build with large
    curves to allow cars to essentially run flat out continuosly. 
    
    It was paved with brick (3 million I believe) some years later, which 
    at the time was the highest quality surface available. The start/finish 
    line today is a three foot strip of the original brick.
     
    Roger

Indy was never a wood track. Also the first races were not 500 miles either.

I believe the track was dirt before it was paved with bricks. The first 500
was in 1911(?).

FWIW, Rockingham Race Track (horse track), in Salem, NH, was a wood track 
(for cars) back in the 1920's!!!

    let me try a few:
    
    #98 owner======Agaganian (sp)
    first to win 3=======Ralph Depalma
    oldest winner========Al Unser Sr. ??????
    first mid/rear engine qualif======Jimmy Clark
    

    >#98 owner======Agaganian (sp)
    correct.
    
    >first to win 3=======Ralph Depalma
    Louis Meyer
    
    >oldest winner========Al Unser Sr. ??????
    correct, 48 yrs, 11 mos.
    
    >first mid/rear engine qualif=====Jimmy Clark
    I also believe this is correct.  I am sure he was the first to win with
    a rear engine in 1965.  He was a rookie two years before that
    
    Roger
    

Wasn't the guy with the socket glove Mel Kenyon ???

    >Wasn't the guy with the socket glove Mel Kenyon?
    >
    That's right!
    
    They may have been others... Jim Hurtubise drove with three fingers on
    each hand after his 1965 firey crash at Milwaukee.
    
    Roger
    

When was the last time the pole sitter DNS'd?

Dave

>>When was the last time the pole sitter DNS'd?

I thought they said it had never happened before!

    re: last 2
    
    That's what I thought I heard also....it was a first.
    
    Speaking of firsts, I wonder if this years' "spectacle" set the record
    for twisted ruined chassis, at least as far as $$$ amount goes?
    At 1/2 mil per pop, a good case could be made for a record of sorts.
    

Okay, I didn't hear them say it was the first time for that.  I watched it on tape
so sometimes I was only listening for exciting parts.

One interesting bit during the race..  I was holding my 14 month old daughter and
she was facing the TV (I guess whe was watching it, but who knows).  Mario spins and
crashes into the wall and SHE STARTS CLAPPING!!!  She even clapped again during one of
replays of the crash!

Dave

.23>  I was holding my 14 month old daughter and she was facing the TV 
.23>  (I guess whe was watching it, but who knows).  Mario spins and crashes 
.23>  into the wall and SHE STARTS CLAPPING!!!  She even clapped again during 
.23>  one of replays of the crash!
    
    the question is, was she clapping because she's another Andretti
    anti-fan, or because she just likes racing for the crashes?
    
    1/2 :-)

She was silent (relatively) during other crashes, so it has to be the Andretti thing :-)

Dave

When did the tradition of the winner of the Indy 500 drinking milk in the 
Winner's Circle start, and why?

Dave

This started when a milk producer's co-op sponsored Indy and required the 
winner to take a drink of milk in the winner's circle ala Gatorade in WC.  
I believe it started in the late 40's early 50's.

Jilly

It all started when one of the winners, way back when, asked for a drink of 
buttermilk, his favorite refreshment, after the race.  The milk producer's co-op 
saw the widely-published photo of him drinking milk in front of the Borg-Warner 
trophy and realized the promotional potential.  Since then, the winner has been 
offered a substantial sum if he will let himself be photographed drinking from a 
milk bottle in the winner's circle.

--PSW

The info I have gives the year as either 1928 or 1936, but apparently it
was started with Louis Mayer (he won in both those years).  The reference I
found to 1928 indicated it was done in support of Prohibition (Mayer was
paid to drink the milk, which is a given), but if it started in 1936,
it would have simply been done for publicity since the Volstead Act had
been repealed, I believe.

Dave