Emerson Fittipaldi at Daytona, circa 1995. Photo by Bill Warner. He’s won a pair of Formula 1 world driving championships, the first, at age 25, marking him as the then-youngest champion in the histo...
Images courtesy Tom Kimmel. Bill Lear gestured confidently off toward the horizon outside of Reno while bulldozers pushed dirt behind him. Here, he told reporters, would rise an Indianapolis Motor Sp...
1967 Gerhardt Ford Indy Car. Photos courtesy Mecum Auctions, unless otherwise noted. Car owner Walter “Wally” Weir wanted a shot at running competitively in the Indianapolis 500, so for 1967 he purch...
Scott Brayton’s 1995 (L) and 1996 (R) pole-setting Indy cars, both powered by a turbocharged Buick V-6. Photos courtesy Mecum Auctions. To change a long-stodgy image and promote its line of turbochar...
Photo by the author. For years the Studebaker National Museum’s collections committee has maintained a wishlist of just five cars the committee members feel belong in the museum. While four of the fi...
Photos by Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy Gooding & Co., except where noted. Though Ab Jenkins never got the chance to round out his racing resume with a run at the Indianapolis 500 due to a case of bloo...
While the story of Andy Granatelli’s STP turbine car entry at the 1967 Indianapolis 500 should be familiar territory for readers of the Hemmings Daily, nothing beats actually hearing the whoosh of th...
Mario Andretti (standing) with his twin brother, Aldo. All photos courtesy World of Speed Collection. Even among those who don’t follow racing, and nearly two decades after his retirement from the sp...
The IMS Museum announced this week that it has digitized a good number of recordings of Indy 500 races past and is now offering the digital recordings for sale. * The story that Alex Pappademas wrote...
1975 Plymouth Road Runner (top, image by Terry McGean); 1976 Buick Century Indy Pace Car Replica (bottom, image by the author). Editor’s comment: Please note that the This or That column is not a com...
Parnelli Jones at Indy in 2015. Photo by Sarah Stierch. He was successful as a driver, on pavement and off, and later enjoyed wins and championships as a team owner. Mario Andretti called him “the gr...
Joe Leonard leads Johnny Rutherford in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. All images courtesy of and copyright IMS. Some parent one day once said, “If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again.” Andy G...
The Simeone’s 1913 Mercer Raceabout. Photos by Andrew Taylor, courtesy Simeone Museum, unless otherwise noted. In 1911, the two-year-old Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first “International Swee...
Photo by The359. The Jim Clark color scheme might not be accurate, but the Lotus 29 in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s collection does carry significant history, which is why museum official...
Ed Justice, Jr. (L) and Scott Pruett. Photo courtesy Justice Brothers, Inc. In a racing career that spanned five decades, Scott Pruett earned countless wins, poles and podiums, along with championshi...
1957 Kurtis Kraft 500G Indy roadster. Photos courtesy Worldwide Auctioneers unless otherwise noted. By the mid-1950s, Smokey Yunick’s skill as a mechanic and crew chief was well-established in NASCAR...
Looking to bring both spectators and American automakers back to the Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker proposed a series of rule changes in 1929 that would become kno...
Rolla Vollstedt, in yellow cap, with Jim Clark’s 1967 Rex Mays 300 car. Photo courtesy Michael McKinney. If a career spent designing and building racing cars and serving as a team owner is measured s...
Bill Puterbaugh, after qualifying for the 1975 Indianapolis 500. Photos courtesy Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 was a childhood dream of racer Bill Puterbaugh, whose...
Bill Puterbaugh, after qualifying for the 1975 Indianapolis 500. Photos courtesy Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 was a childhood dream of racer Bill Puterbaugh, whose...
Photo by DoctorIndy. While plenty of drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 multiple times over the century-plus history of the great American race, only five have managed to do so in consecutive year...
The Dadamore might never have progressed beyond the drawings of an eight-year-old boy, but it still caught the attention of AMC Canada President Bill Pickett. Old Cars Canada has the full story on ho...
Photos by Dave Friedman, courtesy The Henry Ford. Among the first to arrive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on race morning in 1964 was Firestone’s junior rep Humphrey “Humpy” Wheeler. One of his ...
Photos by Dave Friedman, courtesy The Henry Ford. When the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened for practice on May 1, 1964, four different tire brands had moved into Gasoline Alley in pursuit of one o...
Joe Leonard, in his final appearance at Indy in 1973. Photos courtesy Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Joe Leonard was equally fast on two wheels and four, capturing American Motorcyclist Association (AM...