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By Jason Siu Nov 01, 2016

After you look at the pictures, here is the link to seeing the unrestored car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsWycGKav18


A time lapse of the restoration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiE7x412zWs
Is it a replica or the real car restored?

























It’s not just modern cars that are being shown off at the 2016 SEMA Show.
Helping kick off the annual aftermarket convention in Las Vegas is the first-ever Indianapolis 500 winner, the Marmon Wasp. As one of America’s most historic automobiles, it was driven to victory in 1911 and is part of a special public display at the Shell Pioneering Performance exhibition that features other significant race and performance cars. The Marmon Wasp is currently owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and the public display at SEMA is part of a broad national program spearheaded by the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) to bolster appreciation of America’s automotive heritage.
Earlier this year, the Marmon Wasp became the 11th vehicle on the HVA’s National Historic Vehicle Register, just before the start of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. The car was originally raced by Ray Harroun, who long with Howard Marmon, designed the car. At the time, it was a study of innovation from nose to tail, using a four shock system up front to counteract the bumpy conditions of the dirt and gravel surfaces of the new brick surface at Indy.
On his way to victory, Harroun determined that speeds over 80 mph were disastrous for tires, so he kept his speed in check and only had to change two tires during the race. In comparison, the second-place finisher had to change tires 14 times during the race.
“The yellow #32 Marmon Wasp is arguably one of the most important race cars in America,” said Mark Gessler, President of the Historic Vehicle Association. “That first Indianapolis 500 mile race was designed to attract widespread attention from both American and European racing teams and manufacturers. It proved to be successful and immediately establishing itself both as the premier motorsports competition in the nation and one of the most prestigious in the world. Having the car on display at the SEMA Show provides the public with an opportunity to see the Marmon Wasp and appreciate the role it played in the development of motorsports in the United States.”
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A "LOOSE" reproduction for the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew7mPmWXuOg

How they built the movie car, not the original restoration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtd4Rx64xOw

The guys tackled the monumental task of recreating the Godfather of all race cars.The Marmon Wasp won the inaugural 500 mile race at Indy back in 1911, setting new standards on race car technology and strategy along the way.

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The Andretti curse by Dr Indy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt6k5-7RpF8

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INDY 500: Rookie Rossi wins 100th Running
Sunday, 29 May 2016
Alexander Rossi held off Andretti stablemate Carlos Munoz to earn a shock win in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

A long spell under green during the final stint turned the race into a battle of fuel mileage, and Rossi, who’d been hovering on the outside of the top five, spent the final laps watching the cars around him peeling into the pits for a top-up and wondering whether he’d need to do the same.
It was close – his car came to a stop shortly after crossing the yard of bricks – but by then the job was done. Rossi backed off so much at the end that his final lap was 40mph slower than race pace. But it was enough.

“We did it,” he said in disbelief. “We did it. I have no idea how we pulled that off. We struggled a little in the pit stops, but Bryan [Herta] came up with an unbelievable; strategy. I just can’t believe we’ve done this. I didn’t know [if we’d make it]. It’s an amazing result.”

Munoz, who completed the Andretti one-two, was among those who’d had to make a late stop for a top-up – just five laps from the finish, he’d been leading.
“I know I could have had that one,” he said. “To be half a lap short of fuel … it is what it is.”
Josef Newgarden had been among the front-runners all afternoon, but ultimately had to settle for third and best of the Chevys, with Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball rounding out the top five.
The result was an amazing reversal of fortune for Andretti, which had earlier watched what had looked like its two best prospects for the race drop out of contention in a friendly fire incident. Townsend Bell, who ran strongly at the front during the middle period of the race, was released from a pit stop into the path of Helio Castroneves, hit the Penske, and then bounced back into Ryan Hunter-Reay. Consequently, both Andretti cars lost time in the pits undergoing repairs. Bell eventually finished 21st; Hunter-Reay 24th.
It was a similarly dramatic afternoon for another of the big teams, with all four of Penske’s cars striking some sort of misfortune. Will Power was sent to the back of the field early on for an unsafe release in the pits, and Simon Pagenaud later suffered the same fate, and then had his problems compounded with an intermittent engine problem. Helio Castroneves was strongly-placed in the late stages until he had a rear pod knocked off by JR Hildebrand, and defending race champion Juan Pablo Montoya was the first to the showers when he lost the rear of his car at Turn 2 and crashed into the wall on lap 63.
A similar fate awaited Sage Karam, who’d climbed up to sixth only to crash while trying to run side by side with Townsend Bell through Turn 1, and Mikhail Aleshin, whose spin into the wall was followed immediately by Conor Daly spinning right behind him and clouting the stricken SPM car.
Elsewhere, Ed Carpenter was eliminated by an undisclosed mechanical problem, and Buddy Lazier by a very visible one – his left-front wheel fell off as he was exiting the pits after a stop. The 1996 winner had earlier endured a delayed start to the race after spending the opening 30-ish laps in the pits having a throttle problem dealt with.

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INDY 500: Patience was key, says Rossi
Sunday, 29 May 2016

Mark Glendenning / Image by LAT

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0vjWGm91Q

Alexander Rossi says that resisting the urge to push during the final stint of Sunday's Indianapolis 500 despite having a fast car ultimately proved to be the key to his surprise win.
Rossi stretched his final tank of fuel to an extraordinary 36 laps while all those around him were forced to make late stops to top up, but admitted that hitting the fuel numbers that Bryan Herta was asking of him required self-discipline.
"It was just patience," Rossi said. "Bryan kept reminding me the way we were going to win this race was by hitting the fuel number. It was very difficult because obviously I had cars in front of me that I knew I was quicker than. Throughout the whole race we were overtaking cars. It was very hard to then not do that, look big picture. I wouldn't have been able to do that without Bryan on the radio and offering the support and wisdom that I needed."
Although he only emerged as an obvious threat in the second half of the race, Rossi says that he began to feel confident about his chances very early on.
"Probably lap five, if I'm honest," he said. "I had a bit of a conservative start. I was able to overtake cars. I knew if that was the case, we definitely had the opportunity to go forward. There were a couple setbacks we had; every time we fell back, we were able to come forward. I knew we were strong, the pace was there, we were able to pass cars, follow cars."
Rossi's win in the 100th running of the 500 came exactly five years after the late Dan Wheldon won the centennial race, also in the No.98.
"Maybe Danny was out there pushing the car for us today," Herta told RACER. "But Alex executed the perfect race. We had a plan with 50 to go that we were going to make it work with one stop and it was hard, because he had to save fuel and hold track position. It's impossible to do both, but somehow he managed it and just got to the end.
"We had two bad stops where he couldn't get plugged in, couldn't get fuel in the car; we fell all the way back to 25th. But he just kept going forward. We knew we had a fast car, we just kept burying ourselves in the field. We started marching forward, and we finally saw the opportunity to get off strategy. We knew that if we could get in the lead, we could stay up there. And from thereon we put the race in his hands, and he did a great job."

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Indy 500 2017
Watch 2017 101st Indy 500 full race replay here - https://youtu.be/eAY092FOxjk

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INDY DIARIES: "Heeeeeee's on it!"

Friday, 27 May 2016


RACER Staff
Over 99 runnings, the Indianapolis 500 has become the most famous event in motorsport. That iconic status is built on a bedrock of hundreds of small stories, and to celebrate the centennial race, RACER.com has asked some of the people who are part of Indy's fabric to share a few of those stories with us. Check back with Tampa Racing every day between now and race day for a new 'Indy Diary' entry.

Tom Carnegie was a well-known high school basketball announcer who called the famous ‘Hoosiers’ game. He was the voice on the Speedway public address system from 1946 to 2006. He passed away in 2011 at 91. The following is from ‘Tom Carnegie: The Voice Remembered’ on RTV6 ABC, Indianapolis, and appears in Art Garner's new book 'Indy 500 Memories - An Oral History of The Greatest Spectacle In Racing'.
Tom Carnegie was a well-known high school basketball announcer who called the famous 'Hoosiers' game. He was the voice on the Speedway public address system from 1946 to 2006. He passed away in 2011 at 91. The following is from 'Tom Carnegie: The Voice Remembered' on RTV6 ABC, Indianapolis.
Nobody gave me any help [his first year] or anything like that. I just had names and numbers. Like calling a football game. I somehow got through it and satisfied Wilbur Shaw and Tony Hulman because they asked me to come back next year.
It took me 10 or 15 years to have any confidence that what I was saying was right. And then you begin to realize that this is theater. Speed theater. And growing up in the theater like I did, you begin to do those little things. Then when somebody said, 'Hey, I like that' about 'Heee's on it', then why not use it again?
I began to play to the audience. I got them excited. You get them excited and then you become excited.
My favorite day was when Tom Sneva told me the night before on the radio and on television that he would do 200 miles an hour the next day. I said, 'What? You're kidding me'. He said, 'No, you watch it, I will'. Sure enough, I was ready for him. On the very first lap, he got over 200 miles an hour. What do you do? You get excited. It gave me a chance to say, 'It's a newwwwwww track record'.
And then lap number two, 'Still faster. And you won't believe it, another new track record.' That's two track records in the first two laps. Third lap, still higher. Fourth lap, 'And it's a new all-time speed record'. I got more fun out of it than anybody. The crowd was really there for that occasion.
That's one I really remember. I was ready to quit, because that was the highlight of my day, my year, my life.

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INDY 500: Willy T Ribbs, 25 years on
Saturday, 28 May 2016

Marshall Pruett / Images by IMS Photo
Twenty-five years after Willy T. Ribbs broke the color barrier at the Indy 500, RACER spoke with the retired open-wheel and sports car ace about the 1991 race, his views on its impact, Ribbs' life today, and whether the recent scandal involving former sponsor Bill Cosby has altered their relationship.
"I thought I was going to stop traveling when I quit racing," Ribbs said of supporting his son Theo, a top marksman and competitive skeet shooter. "I'm traveling more now than ever. Theo's top five in the world. He is incredible. Tony Parella of SVRA, he is one of Theo's sponsors. And it is a good deal. And I will do anything for Tony. That [vintage] race he has at Indy every year, I told Tony 'I'll be in there when you want as long as you want.'"
As a byproduct of being the first African-American to race in the Indy 500, Ribbs hoped to see more drivers of a darker hue follow in his footsteps, just as he credited his hero and stock car driver Joie Ray for inspiring him to pursue his dreams. A quarter century later, Ribbs says Indy has succeeded in becoming more gender neutral, but that's all.
"The biggest difference is that there have been nine women that have competed in the Indianapolis 500," he continued. "That's history. There's been two African-Americans. And [George Mack] only did it once and I was there twice. It really shows that the sport has really gone nowhere in terms of its ... not 'diversity', that's a broad term ... it's gone nowhere in this country as a series for all Americans to enjoy."
Ribbs points to three-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton as the beacon for what is possible in IndyCar.
"You look at Lewis Hamilton today, for example. When I tested Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 car in Estoril, Portugal in 1985, that was the year that Lewis Hamilton was born. That puts it all into perspective," he said.
"You look at Lewis, what he has done for the sport of Formula 1 in terms of its market value and the image of Formula 1, how great it looks. And Bernie Ecclestone wants that for his sport. My question is: does IndyCar want it for their sport?"
Widening IndyCar's appeal to more than its traditional base is, in Ribbs' estimation, key to restoring its popularity.
"If they can't see it by looking in the stands and if they can't see it by looking at their rating numbers, then they are totally ignorant and should not be in the position that they are in," he said of the series' leadership. "The sponsors of the sport should be looking at the same picture. They should be looking into the stands. They should be looking at their TV numbers and be able to get it figured out. They couldn't be that dumb.
"Right now IndyCar ... IndyCar can't pay people to watch it. I saw the numbers from Long Beach. That, to me, after 25 years, is probably the most glaring observation."
In light of the more sensitive times we live in, Ribbs was asked whether the racial-tinged humor that took place between himself and his former employer Dan Gurney at Indy in 1991 would even be possible to carry out today.
"Well, the PC police in this country and a lot of the PC police are among the so-called mainstream media or liberal media, they need a job," he said of the odd gift exchange between the two. "Gurney would send me watermelon and fried chicken, and I'm sending him back a jar of mayonnaise. If the PC police feel that in their mind they don't like or feel it is appropriate in their mind, then they are going to attack.
"Look, I've known Dan my whole life. I know the man who I raced for and he was a mentor to me. When it came to being fair and equal and putting me on a level playing field, it was Dan Gurney. What Dan knew is I could win. And I won for him. That was Dan's number one priority, was to win.
"And then after when we were going to have the greatest champagne parties in restaurants - I mean, we shut down three restaurants one time. I mean, they had to close it down to clean the place up because there was champagne everywhere. It was very 'family'. I'm still close to members of All American Racers to this day. We had fun with each other back then, and if people didn't like it, or don't like it today, they can kiss my ..."
Ribbs will also be the subject of a new documentary produced by Adam Carolla's team in 2017, to which Willy T says, "It's going to be huge, it's going to be amazing, as my old buddy Donald Trump would say."
Ever the rebel, and rarely concerned with taking the popular viewpoint, Ribbs' loyal nature hasn't changed in reaction to the troubling charges against Bill Cosby, who backed Ribb's 1991 Indy entry. Most people would distance themselves from the alleged and accused sexual predator, but Ribbs' ride-or-die mentality won't allow that to happen.
"I'm really glad you asked, because in the last five years, that is one of the biggest changes from the standpoint in my life that is directly related to Indy. It was his money that put me in Indy. Without Cosby I would not have been there in 1991," he said.
"I'm going to back Mr. Cosby. I'm going to support him. I've never bolted from a fight. Or from backing someone who backed me. I know the kind of person he has been to me and to my family. Being a single father, his wife, Camille, helped me feed my kids when I was out of racing. I haven't forgotten that and I will never will. I'm not that way. I've never been that kind of person. I will fight for those who have fought for me."

senor honda

A continuation of this is at post #109 related to an "illegal" engine and a book review:



INDY DIARIES: 'We didn't have 15 engines sitting in the transporter'

Saturday, 28 May 2016

Marshall Pruett / Image by IMS Photo
Over 99 runnings, the Indianapolis 500 has become the most famous event in motorsport. That iconic status is built on a bedrock of hundreds of small stories, and to celebrate the centennial race, RACER.com has asked some of the people who are part of Indy's fabric to share a few of those stories with us. Check back with Tampa Racing every day between now and race day for a new 'Indy Diary' entry.

Danny Sullivan drove for Penske from 1985 to 1990, and added to Team Penske's Indy 500 win tally in '85.
"Roger Penske ... there’s a lot of polish and sophistication there and all that sort of stuff, but he doesn’t waste money. Roger just doesn’t say, 'Oh, that sounds a good idea, let’s get 10 of those.' He is smart about how he spends his money; you have what you need. But if you want Roger to spend money on something, it better make sense.
"Remember, Roger put that Ilmor thing together, but it wasn’t all of Roger’s money. Roger had been saying for years over the pushrod engine at Indianapolis, if anybody ever does this right – remember the Buicks sat on the pole and they were fast – he said if anybody ever does that right, they’re going to kick everybody’s ass. He had been saying that for years, before he put that Mercedes deal together. He was talking about the year that [Pancho] Carter sat on the pole [1985]. That was 1994 when Penske did it? That was nine years later.
"But Roger just didn’t rush out and throw tens of millions of dollars in it – he had to have the right partner. He couldn’t have done that by himself without the technical know-how from Mercedes and Ilmor to put all that stuff together. You know that was a big project. But look what he did with it. That’s what I’m talking about being smart and finding a way.
"It wasn’t like even when the Ilmor was around and Roger was the founder of that company, with those guys, orchestrated it and was a partner in it, I think he is still a partner in it, I could be wrong. But my point is, it wasn’t 100 percent Penske money in that deal. He went into that with Chevrolet. He went out and he became the salesperson for that program and made it work.
"We didn’t have 15 engines sitting in the transporter. We had the bare minimum of what was required and what we needed. It was like, OK, we’re going to push the envelope enough to make the thing to work and be reliable. Ultimately, you can go out and be fantastic and not win the race, [but] that didn’t cut it with Roger. He wants to be fantastic and perfect, but he wants to win the race. So you have to deliver. Then there is that philosophy – OK, let’s not push it to the nth degree, let’s back it off a little bit to make sure we’ve got enough reliability.

"So there was times to push and times to be conservative, but it was a very dynamic time for me there, and just learning, and learning how to run an organization and see how they do it. And the quality in which they do it, the quality of people they get. When you go in and out of the pits, along the back of the board on the paddock side, it was 'Effort equals results.' And that is Roger’s motto. He lives and dies by. The harder he works, the luckier he gets, sort of thing."

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No1Kiwi
As posters on this forum know, I will never forgive Rodger Penske for building the "cheater" pushrod motor. A flagrant violation of the spirit of the rules. These pushrod motors were allowed higher boost, because it was always assumed that they would be based on inexpensive production motors. An unwritten rule that all honored. Except the Captain. Pure poor sportsmanship on the Captains part. He literally bought the victory.

No1Kiwi jde, I've read "Beast". It's a superb read, and well researched. If you read it carefully, you will be hard pressed to come to the conclusion that Jade Gurss disagrees with me.

Rodger the Dodger right from day one knew he was skating on thin ice. Building a pure racing engine that obviously wasn't within the spirit of the "stock block pushrod" engine rules. That's the reason lImor was instructed to keep it secret. Not because any other team would copy his approach - no other team had a hope in hell of matching the Penske/Mercedes spending. But because he knew that USAC would probably put the kybosh on it. Even with his successful efforts behind the scene to have the rules "changed" he still knew that the engine had little chance of being ruling legal in '95. Right up until the day of the race, he knew that he was pulling a Smokey Yunick.. That's why he instructed Tracy and Emmo to sandbag big time in the month of May and in Qualifying. And sadly, USAC did not have the balls to disqualify this obvious "cheater" engine, until after the '94 race.
And most ironically of all, the engine was hardly a "pushrod" engine at all in the sense of American engine architecture and definitions. The "pushrods" were inches long in a complex overhead cam pure racing engine. No automotive engineer will ever be fooled into believing that this "cheater" engine was a production based pushrod engine like the rules envisaged.
GM's seeking to design and build a new block for the Buicks was entirely within the rules. And USAC was quite happy to humor Greenfield pushing the envelope. He was a bit player with little chance of upsetting the apple cart. Penske, however, with his deep pockets, used his huge influence behind the scenes to upset the apple cart big time.
This Indycar fan, will never forgive him for that.

senor honda

"Cheater" pure racing engine made for a zillion dollars

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No1Kiwi
Stock block pushrod engine, made by a Hardware store guy for a few bucks and some hot rod parts. LOL

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