Eagle 1978 Indy car-by-car histories
Bobby Unser in AAR's ARCOgraphite Eagle 78 at Mosport Park in 1978. Copyright Jim Allen 2021. Used with permission.
AAR produced an entirely new Indycar design for 1978, powered by the Cosworth DFX engine and heavily inspired by Roman Slobodynskyj's Lightning design, but nowhere near as light, svelte or elegant. A tidier version of this car was used through the 1979 season.
After two years of racing for Bob Fletcher, Bobby Unser was lured back to Dan Gurney's AAR team for 1978 with the promise of a new car powered by a Cosworth DFX engine. Unser had raced a Lightning for Fletcher in 1977 and had been impressed by the design of the car despite its poor reliability and its turbo Offy engine, which was no match for the new Cosworth DFX used in the Parnellis and McLarens. With sponsorship arriving from ARCO and from Unser's friend Teddy Yip, John Ward was able to embark on the design of a new Cosworth-powered Eagle for 1978, along similar lines to the Lightning, and Gurney even acquired a Lightning for Unser to use in the early races of 1978 until the Eagle was ready. The new Eagle looked like a tubby Lightning, and the two cars are often mistaken for each other in photographs. Chief mechanic Wayne Leary, who had followed Unser to Fletcher's team in 1975, duly followed him back and was re-established as AAR chief mechanic.
The new car proved too heavy, but a significantly modified version was produced in time for the two USAC races held in England in October. This revised design was used through 1979 as well, while Gurney and Ward were focused on the team's new ground effect design for 1980. AAR records say that only one Eagle 78 was built, but a photograph of "Gasoline Alley" at Indy in 1979 shows that two almost identical Eagles were present.
At present it is impossible to know how these two cars were used, so the 1978-79 histories have been broken into four entities: the original 1978 car, the modified late-1978 "Mk II", the first 1979 car with black rollhoop wrecked at Trenton, and the second 1979 car with chrome rollhoop used after Trenton. One plausible possibility is that the "Mk II" was built with a new monocoque, and that the older original monocoque was later built up into the second 1979 car.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Bobby Unser in the ARCOgraphite Eagle 78 at Mosport Park in 1978. Copyright Jim Allen 2021. Used with permission.
New for Bobby Unser to drive at the 1978 Indianapolis 500 as AAR's #48 ARCOgraphite entry. Unser started Indy practice in his #48 despite a crash on 10 May, but the #48T Eagle set a quick time on 16 May and reached 199.9 mph the next day. He qualified the new Eagle 19th, with a speed of 194.6 mph, and finished sixth. He was then third in qualifying at Mosport and fourth at Milwaukee, but retired from both races. His best race finishes were fifth at Michigan in July and third at Atlanta a week later, but the latter was in the Lightning. The Eagle was last seen at the California 500 in September. It is likely that this car was rebuilt into the Mk II that first appeared at the two UK Indycar races in October 1978.
Driven by: Bobby Unser. First race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (R5), 28 May 1978. Total of 8 recorded races.
Bobby Unser in the Eagle 78 Mk II at Silverstone in 1978. Copyright Martin Lee 2017. Used with permission.
When the AAR team appeared for the Silverstone race in October 1978, Bobby Unser was driving a heavily revised Eagle 78 "Mk II". The main visual change was much slimmer and tidier aluminum bodywork crafted by Phil Remington to replace the original fiberglass, but there were also improvements to the suspension. Unser qualified well for the three remaining races of 1978, but retired from each. Mike Mosley took over the Eagle drive for 1979, and raced the revised 1978 car at the opening race, at Phoenix in March. This is then likely to be the white car he drove at Atlanta in April, but this remains unresolved.
Driven by: Bobby Unser and Mike Mosley. First race: Silverstone (R16), 1 Oct 1978. Total of 4 recorded races.
Mike Mosley in the AAR Eagle 78 at the Indy 500 in 1979. Copyright Glenn Snyder 2009. Used with permission.
AAR appeared at the twin Atlanta 250 races in April 1979 with a white Eagle, similar in other regards to the car Mike Mosley had raced at Phoenix a month earlier. Like the Phoenix car, it had a black rollhoop. Photographs show that he drove the same car at the Indy 500, although a second very similar car with a chrome rollhoop was on hand. The Atlanta car is presumably the same car Mosley drove at Trenton in June and Michigan in July. At Trenton in August, Mosley crashed heavily and "crumpled the chassis". This car was not seen again.
Driven by: Mike Mosley. First race: Atlanta International Raceway (R2), 22 Apr 1979. Total of 7 recorded races.
At the 1979 Indy 500, AAR had two cars on hand for Mike Mosley to drive, both wearing #36. This backup car, distinguished by its chrome rollhoop instead of the black rollhoop of his regular car, does not appear to have been on track at the Speedway. It was next seen when it was Mosley's race car at Watkins Glen in August. Two weeks later, Mosley wrecked his regular car at Trenton, and he then used the Watkins Glen car, with its chrome rollhoop, for the remainder of the season. This was presumably the "1978" Eagle entered by AAR as a spare car at the 1980 Indy 500. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Mike Mosley. First race: Watkins Glen (R9), 5 Aug 1979. Total of 4 recorded races.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Gerry Measures, Luis Mateus, 'gbl' and Simmo Iskül for their help with these histories. Thanks also to John Zimmermann, author of "Dan Gurney's Eagle Racing Cars" (David Bull Publishing, 2007, ISBN 9781893618824) for going back to his original research notes and providing further information.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
These histories were last updated on .