Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 30 May 1964

Notes on the cars:

1. Watson 64 (Rodger Ward): Built new by AJ Watson for Rodger Ward to race in 1964 for the Leader Card team as the #2 Kaiser Aluminum entry. Fitted with a Ford V8. Finished second at Indy that year and had two other second places later in the season. Taken by Leader Card to Indy again in 1965 as the #15 backup and used in practice by Jud Larson but wrecked and did not start. Brought back out later in the 1965 season for Bob Mathouser, and again for the same driver once at the start of 1966. Sold to Norm Hall over the 1966/67 close season who linked up with Barney Navarro to use the 199 ci 6-cylinder AMC Rambler turbo engine that Navarro had been developing. Appeared from 1967 to 1972 but, as a general rule, failed to qualify or failed to start. It appeared at Rafaela 1971 - only its fourth actual race start - driven by Dave Strickland and in practice at Indy that year by Les Scott. Jigger Sirois made another unsuccessful attempt to qualify the #50 Navarro-Rambler at the 1972 Indy 500. It was later acquired from Navarro by Rodger Ward and restored to its 1964 specification in the late 1980s. Subsequent history unknown until part of a display of Indycars at Monterey in August 2007 when it was owned by Tom Malloy and said to be "s/n 001" and then at Fontana in March 2008 alongside the Branson sister car.
2. Watson 64 (Don Branson): Built new by AJ Watson for Don Branson to race in 1964 for the Leader Card team as the #5 Wynn's Friction Proofing entry. Fitted with an Offenhauser engine. Rebuilt over the winter and sold to Gil Morcroft for Bob Wente to drive as the #67 GC Murphy car but crashed by Art Malone at Langhorne in August 1965 and not seen again. At some point reacquired by AJ Watson and restored to 1964 specification. Some time around 2000 the restored car was hanging from the roof of Watson's garage. Then unknown again until part of a display of Indycars at Fontana in March 2008 alongside the Ward sister car.
3. Huffaker 64 (Walt Hansgen): Walt Hansgen's Huffaker at the 1964 Indy 500 was the prototype car that AJ Foyt had crashed at Phoenix in March (Sports Car Graphic August 1964). Returned for the 1965 Indy 500 as a "new" Huffaker and raced by Bob Veith as the #54. Presumably then the #54 Huffaker raced by Bob Unser through the rest of 1965 for Gordon Van Liew's Vita Fresh Orange Juice team. At the start of 1966, Unser wrecked this car at Phoenix in March.
4. Lotus 34 [1] (Dan Gurney): New for Dan Gurney to drive at the 1964 Indianapolis 500 as the #12 entry. Gurney qualified sixth and ran as high as third during the race but his car had to be withdrawn due to concerns about its tyres. Next outing for the car was at Milwaukee on 23 August but both Gurney and teammate Jim Clark were committed to the Austrian Grand Prix, so to drive Gurney's car Lotus recruited sports car racer Walt Hansgen, who had impressed in the Indy 500 driving one of the MG Liquid Suspension Huffaker Indy cars. He had an introductory test in Gurney's Lotus 34 at Trenton on the Monday before the Milwaukee race, but crashed the car. It was rebuilt in time for the start of practice on the Thursday, but Hansgen crashed again, this time hitting the wall after the throttle stuck and extensively damaging the Lotus. Hansgen was taken to hospital with concussion and burns to his right arm. The car was returned to Lotus at Cheshunt where it was decided it was too badly damaged to repair. It disappeared from the record when its salvageable parts were shipped to Ford at Dearborn.
5. Huffaker 64 (Bob Veith): Originally built in 1964 intended for AJ Foyt but only used by Foyt in testing. Taken over by Bob Veith as the #54 for the race. Identified by Clymer as the #53 car used by Walt Hansgen in the 1965 "500". Then sold to Tassi Vatis and run as the #18 Konstant Hot Spl for Arnie Knepper through the rest of 1965. Then entered for Gary Congdon in 1966, becoming the Valvoline Special from the Indy 500 onwards. Wally Dallenbach took over the drive for 1967 and drove this car in the first three races, but an accident at the Indy 500 meant he had to drive the sister car for the rest of that season. His primary car was rebuilt in time for the 1968 season, and he drove it for the majority of that season, again as the #54 Valvoline Spl. In 1969, Vatis's chief mechanic Bill Finley again described the team's Indy 500 entries as "new Finley-built Valvoline Specials". Exactly how those 1969 cars relate to the 1964-1968 cars is still to be determined.
6. Brabham BT12 [I-1-64] (Jack Brabham): New for Jack Brabham to drive at the 1964 Indy 500 as the #52 Zink Trackburner Special. Then raced by Jim McElreath later in the season but either retired or significantly delayed in each of his races. Crashed in testing in September and repaired but then crashed more seriously while testing at Indianapolis and retired from competition. It was then given to Clint Brawner so he could make copies. Many years later, following Clint Brawner's death, his workshop was inherited by his nephew Tom Brawner and the old BT12 was found lying in a corner. Tom Brawner used it to build a replica of the 1965-type Hawk chassis in 1990 after which the Brabham was sold to Mike Welland in Vancouver. He started to restore the car to its original condition but never completed the rebuild and instead it was reportedly sold to Bruce McCaw about 1998. However, this story appears to be untrue as Nereo Dizane (Sydney, NSW, Australia) reports buying the BT12 from "an elderly gent in Canada" who had owned the car for about ten years, placing this at around 2000. Dizane had the car restored by Lou Russo and drove it at Phillip Island in February 2002 and it was driven at the Goodwood Festival of Speed by Jack Brabham in 2004. Dizane died in 2004, aged only 53, but his collection of cars has been kept together by his wife Anna Dizane (Wantirna, Victoria).
7. Lotus 34 [3] (Jim Clark): New for Jim Clark at the 1964 Indianapolis 500 as his #6 car. Clark qualified on pole position but retired early with broken suspension. Next used at the August Milwaukee but Clark was not available so a deal was done with 1963 Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones and his car owner JC Agajanian for Jones to drive it as the #98 entry. Jones qualified on pole and won the race. It was driven at Trenton in September by Clark and then at Phoenix in November by Jones. The car was then sold to Agajanian for Jones to race in 1965, and extensively rebuilt by Agajanian's veteran chief mechanic Johnny Pouelsen and "body man" Eddie Kuzma, who reported that they had replaced every inch of English metal with stronger and heavier American metal. Its weight increased by 200 lbs to 1250 lbs. Despite this rebuild, a rear wheel came off during practice, which was still blamed on the "funny car". Jones finished second in the Indy 500 in the Lotus, and won at Milwaukee a week later. After being retained unused by Agajanian during 1966, the car became part of Parnelli Jones' new team for 1967 when it was raced a few times as a backup car but was heavily damaged in the multi-car accident at Langhorne in July in which driver Arnie Knepper was badly burnt. The car was retained in boxes for many years at Vel's Parnelli Racing until it was restored by Phil Reilly & Co (Corte Madera, CA) in 1998. Then retained as part of the Vel's Parnelli collection in Torrance but also on display at other museums on occasion, such as the Petersen Automotive Museum (Los Angeles, CA) in 2006. Sold with the rest of the VPJ collection to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in May 2012 and the Lotus was on the podium in the entrance of the museum in 2012 and 2013.
8. Lotus 29 [2] (Bobby Marshman): New for Dan Gurney at the 1963 Indianapolis 500, entered as #91, but crashed during practice. Repaired by Lotus in England and sold to Lindsey Hopkins who entered it as the #51 Pure Oil Firebird car for Bobby Marshman during 1964. Crashed by Marshman at Milwaukee in June and replaced with the sister car, 29/3. After Marshman wrecked 29/3, both damaged cars were sold to Jerry Alderman who had 29/2 rebuilt by his chief mechanic Carroll Horton as a runner. It was raced at Indy in 1965 by Al Miller as the #74 car and finished fourth. Raced again during the 1965 season and returned to Indy one last time in 1966 where Miller crashed it. Alderman then withdrew from racing, and the Lotus was taken over by Horton, together with Ford's entire stock of Lotus 29 components. It was rebuilt by Horton as a show car for team sponsors the Stewart-Warner Corporation, then reportedly to "Nelson Carr" for "libre racing". To Jim Toensing (Newport Beach, CA) 1976, who sold it to a UK consortium led by Tom Candlish (Burnham, Bucks) in 1991. Fully restored in England, and first raced in historic events in 1995. Acquired by Richard Drewett some time in the next few years, and appeared several times at the Goodwood Revival. Some time between 2003 and 2006, Drewett sold his Lotus 70 to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (Birmingham, AL), and his Lotus 29 is thought to have gone at the same time. It was fully restored for the museum by Classic Team Lotus to Gurney's #91 colours. Driven by John Surtees in a Gurney parade at the 2012 Goodwood Revival.
9. Halibrand Shrike 64 (Eddie Sachs): Driven by Eddie Sachs at the 1964 Indy 500 for American Red Ball (DVS). Wrecked in Sachs' crash and presumed destroyed.
10. Huffaker 64 (Pedro Rodriguez): The second Kjell Qvale Huffaker at the 1964 Indy 500 for Pedro Rodriguez as the #48 MG Liquid Suspension Spl. Rodriguez crashed the car on 9 May, damaging it severely and putting himself in hospital. The car was repaired and returned to competition as Qvale's #48 Bardahl entry for Jerry Grant #48 Bardahl car at the 1965 Indy 500. He qualified in mid-grid but was an early retirement. This car was then one of two sold to Tassi Vatis but was not raced again in 1965, Vatis driver Arnie Knepper using the sister car that season. It was next seen at the 1966 Indy 500 where it was entered as Vatis team's backup #54 Valvoline entry, which journeyman Eddie Johnson qualified on the back row and took to seventh place as others retired. With lead driver Gary Congdon having wrecked his car at the Speedway, he drove this ex-Grant/Johnson car at Milwaukee, Langhorne and Atlanta while his regular car was repaired. It was then driven by Wally Dallenbach as a second Vatis at Fuji and Phoenix at the end of the 1966 season. Congdon moved to Mickey Thompson's team for 1967, so Dallenbach took over the Valvoline-sponsored Vatis Huffakers. He again drove the team's preferred primary car, and this ex-Grant/Johnson car was entered for veteran Chuck Stevenson to drive at the 1967 Indy 500, but he made no attempt to qualify. As Dallenbach damaged the primary Huffaker during the Indy 500, he drove the ex-Grant/Johnson car for the rest of the 1967 season. For the 1968 season, both cars were signficantly rebuilt and Dallenbach returned again to the team's preferred primary car, leaving this ex-Grant/Johnson car to be entered for Stevenson again at the 1968 Indy 500. After an accident quite early in the month, the veteran decided to retire from racing, and Sammy Sessions was recruited as his replacement. He qualified on the back row but kept going to finish ninth. This car was not seen again until the last few races of the season when Dallenbach raced it at Michigan and Hanford, and then Rick Muther drove it in the final race, at Riverside in December. In 1969, Vatis's chief mechanic Bill Finley again described the team's Indy 500 entries as "new Finley-built Valvoline Specials". Exactly how those 1969 cars relate to the 1964-1968 cars is still to be determined.
11. Huffaker 64 (AJ Foyt): Originally built in 1964 intended for AJ Foyt but only used by Foyt in testing. Taken over by Bob Veith as the #54 for the race. Identified by Clymer as the #53 car used by Walt Hansgen in the 1965 "500". Then sold to Tassi Vatis and run as the #18 Konstant Hot Spl for Arnie Knepper through the rest of 1965. Then entered for Gary Congdon in 1966, becoming the Valvoline Special from the Indy 500 onwards. Wally Dallenbach took over the drive for 1967 and drove this car in the first three races, but an accident at the Indy 500 meant he had to drive the sister car for the rest of that season. His primary car was rebuilt in time for the 1968 season, and he drove it for the majority of that season, again as the #54 Valvoline Spl. In 1969, Vatis's chief mechanic Bill Finley again described the team's Indy 500 entries as "new Finley-built Valvoline Specials". Exactly how those 1969 cars relate to the 1964-1968 cars is still to be determined.
12. Gerhardt 64 (Jerry Grant): The 1964 Gerhardt was entered at the 1964 Indy 500 for Jerry Grant with Bardahl backing but did not qualify. In disgust, Gerhardt put the car up for sale, and sold it immediately to Nick Fulbright (Niles, Michigan). Entered by Fulbright and Harry Lane entered it for Bob Christie at Milwaukee, but he could not qualify, and then he crashed it heavily in practice at Milwaukee in August. Once it was rebuilt, Chuck Rodee drove it at Phoenix in November. Fulbright entered it at Indy in 1965 as the #47 WIFE Radio Good Guy Spl and Bill Cheesbourg qualified it in 33rd position, much to the team's delight. Cheesbourg continued with it at a few more races in 1965, but after qualifying last at IRP in July, it was reported that the car was sold. Subsequent history unknown.
13. Halibrand Shrike 64 (Duane Carter): DVS' second Halibrand Shrike sold to Bill Forbes Racing for Lloyd Ruby to drive after the 1964 Indy 500. It's not clear what happened to this car in 1965.
14. Halibrand Shrike 64 (AJ Foyt): DVS' second Halibrand Shrike sold to Bill Forbes Racing for Lloyd Ruby to drive after the 1964 Indy 500. It's not clear what happened to this car in 1965.
15. Philipp 64 (Johnny Rutherford): This car was originally built by Bob "Rocky" Phillip in Culver City, CA as the Rose Trucking Co.'s #10 rear-engined Offy entry for the 1964 Indy 500 to be driven by Ebb Rose. It was used in practice by Johnny Rutherford, running as a Racing Associates entry, but no attempt was made to qualify it. It was raced by Rutherford at Sacramento in October with a Chevrolet engine and then again at Phoenix (as the #24) at the start of 1965 with an Offy again. Rose drove it in practice for the 1965 Indy 500 where it was the #79 but crashed during practice. What happened next is unknown, but an article in the Decatur Daily Review in April 1970 revealed that the car had been bought by Richard 'Unk' Blacker (Champaign, IL) and repaired. Blacker then fitted a Chevrolet engine and entered it for Super-Modified class driver Larry 'Boom Boom' Cannon (Danville, IL) in 1970 Indy racing as the #47 Autotron Photoelectric 'Blacker-Chevrolet'. After two failures to start a race early in the 1970 season, Cannon then crashed the car during practice for the Indy 500. He qualified for a couple of short track events later in 1970, and then joined the trip out to Argentina for the Rafaela race in early 1971. After two more failures to qualify later in 1971, the car was not seen again. Blacker, a former owner of Unk's Tavern in Champaign, died in 2002, aged 82. Cannon died in 1995. Nothing more is known of the history of their car.
16. Lotus 34 [2] (Jim Clark): New for the 1964 Indianapolis 500 as the #36 backup car and used in practice by Jim Clark. Then assigned to AJ Foyt when the cars were next seen at Milwaukee in August. Foyt qualified third but retired with transmission problems. Then for Parnelli Jones to race at Trenton where the car was entered as #98, the usual number of Jones' backer J.C. "Aggie" Agajanian. Jones had won from pole in the other Lotus 34 at Milwaukee five weeks earlier, and repeated that performance at Trenton. The car was sold by Lotus to Sheraton-Thompson for Foyt to race in 1965 and was one of the fastest cars of the season, qualifying on pole position seven times and winning three races, but ultimately losing the championship to the new Brabham-based car of Mario Andretti. Used once by the Foyt team early in 1966 but then retained by Foyt until 1992 when sold at auction to Patrick S. Ryan (Montgomery, Alabama, later Fletcher, North Carolina) who displayed it in his Automobile Museum of the Southeast (Montgomery, Alabama) until 1997. The car was then retained by Ryan as part of his Prisma Collection in Asheville, North Carolina. Walter Goodwin started a full restoration of the car in 2016, and in May 2017 it was on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum as part of a Foyt exhibition. It was sold at Bonham's Quail Lodge Auction in August 2017 for $1.15M.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

The foundation for this research is the work done by the late Phil Harms collating the results of all AAA, USAC and CART races, including the period covered here. His data was refined by Michael Ferner who added more information before making it available to OldRacingCars.com. Since the start of the USAC project on OldRacingCars.com in 2004, a wealth of further information has been gleaned from the Carl Hungness and Donald Davidson Yearbooks, Formula and On Track magazines, USAC News, National Speed Sport News and other published sources. Gerry Measures has also provided much information from his files as have others on TNF and Trackforum. Since 2009, the work of Simmo Iskül and others identifying cars from period photographs has has moved this research forward significantly.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.