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100 years of Indy cars at La Quinta, California


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#1 T54

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Posted 20 February 2011 - 23:42

Next weekend in (hopefully) sunny La Quinta, California, quite a batch of vintage Indianapolis cars will be on display at the Desert Classic Concours, to celebrate 100 years of racing at the famous oval for 500 miles.
I will be participating with the kind help of the Riverside Auto Museum with my own 1972 Eagle-Offy. If some of you make it there, don't forget to stop by and say hello! I will be the old guy with the pretty blond lady who has suffered all these years next to me. :)

For the ones who cannot make it, I will take pictures and post them here. There will be cars from at least the 1916 race I am told (a works Peugeot), all the way to the latest modern (and for me, much less interesting) machinery.
One of the stars of the show will be the first AAR-Eagle Indy car ever built and driven for 1/4 of a mile by Dan Gurney in the 1966 race before he ran into a wall of crashed machinery, restored last year by Doug Magnon and his capable crew.

The weather predictions were dire about 4 days ago, but have now settled to "sunny" and 71-degree F, should be a really nice day. :cool:


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#2 asapiro

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Posted 22 February 2011 - 15:52


looking forward to your pictures also

I'm attending the Boca Raton concourse this coming weekend

http://www.bocaraton...urs/details.php

Which is also featuring some Indy winners

but if I had my choice of coasts, I'd pick your event

enjoy. Would love some detailed engine bay and cockpit shots of the Peugeot and/or the early Eagle

yours, too!

#3 Paolo

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Posted 22 February 2011 - 17:15

Good Luck to you both!

The 1972 Eagle is a recent subject of puzzling to me: see http://forums.autosp... never happened , post 69.

It was a BLAT car (and a very beautiful one) so I wonder... do you have info on how BLAT actually worked?

#4 RA Historian

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Posted 22 February 2011 - 20:41

The 1972 Eagle is a recent subject of puzzling to me: see http://forums.autosp... never happened , post 69.

It was a BLAT car (and a very beautiful one) so I wonder... do you have info on how BLAT actually worked?

I may be wrong, but wasn't it the 1981-84 Eagles that used BLAT technology?

#5 T54

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Posted 25 February 2011 - 04:06

Actually, the technology was first used by AAR in 1980. They sure were beautiful cars...
The weather prediction appears to be improving for Sunday. :well:

#6 carl s

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Posted 26 February 2011 - 05:07

Next weekend in (hopefully) sunny La Quinta, California, quite a batch of vintage Indianapolis cars will be on display at the Desert Classic Concours, to celebrate 100 years of racing at the famous oval for 500 miles.
I will be participating with the kind help of the Riverside Auto Museum with my own 1972 Eagle-Offy. If some of you make it there, don't forget to stop by and say hello! I will be the old guy with the pretty blond lady who has suffered all these years next to me. :)

For the ones who cannot make it, I will take pictures and post them here. There will be cars from at least the 1916 race I am told (a works Peugeot), all the way to the latest modern (and for me, much less interesting) machinery.
One of the stars of the show will be the first AAR-Eagle Indy car ever built and driven for 1/4 of a mile by Dan Gurney in the 1966 race before he ran into a wall of crashed machinery, restored last year by Doug Magnon and his capable crew.

The weather predictions were dire about 4 days ago, but have now settled to "sunny" and 71-degree F, should be a really nice day. :cool:


I'll be there with my 1927 Boyle Vale Spl Miller 91 Tribute Car.
For once I have an easy tow, 10 miles down the street from Indio.
Please dress in layers - it is to be brutally cold and showers (near record cold) on Sat, clearing Sat night and then more cold and sunshine moving in for Sunday.
Carl Schulz
Indio, CA

#7 Terry Walker

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Posted 26 February 2011 - 15:32

Chains and snowshoes recommended. In the absence of snowshoes, use tennis racquets.

Edit caused by an Aussie beer induced inability to type racquets correctly.

Edited by Terry Walker, 26 February 2011 - 15:34.


#8 carl s

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Posted 28 February 2011 - 17:43

I'll be there with my 1927 Boyle Vale Spl Miller 91 Tribute Car.
For once I have an easy tow, 10 miles down the street from Indio.
Please dress in layers - it is to be brutally cold and showers (near record cold) on Sat, clearing Sat night and then more cold and sunshine moving in for Sunday.
Carl Schulz
Indio, CA


btw: by noon it was t-shirt weather

Link to some photos from local paper, Desert Sun
http://s1011.photobu...2011/?start=all

#9 E1pix

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Posted 28 February 2011 - 19:45

Thanks for providing the photo link. Nice turnout, glad that the weather cooperated.


Brian, I have to ask.... are you a Shoshone Brown?

If so, we know each other.... through DV history and date trees, not racing.

[edited 3 minutes later.... checked your profile, my mistake.]

Edited by E1pix, 28 February 2011 - 19:51.


#10 T54

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 16:29

Took me a while to get back home as we decided after the Concours to wander the back roads and trails of the Californian desert... anyway we came back home and here are some of the pictures I took.
The weather on Friday and Saturday was pretty awful, we even had hail! Comes Sunday morning and we had the most glorious sunny day! You never know what California can be like...

This is the kind of weather we had Saturday. The little white pellets are hail. Taken from my car on its way to La Quinta.

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We went through the Joshua Tree park and encountered this free spirit on his way to nowhere:

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Definitely an interesting way to customize a Toyota truck...

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To La Quinta, a beautiful Sunday morning...

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I love American cars of the 1950s and this one is a good example of my favorite excess...

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NOT your Nissan Merda dashboard:

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Fins, fins...

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As we arrive on the grounds, this Maserati looks pretty nice:

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The tach is a definite attention getter...

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There were about 20 old Indy cars celebrating the IMS 100th anniversary, thankfully, no Dallara-Honda or similar machinery to disgrace the place:

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Dario Resta's 1916 winning Peugeot of the Bothwell family, that gave the inspiration to the Miller 8 and eventually the Offy:

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Larry P's Watson looked its usual gorgeous:

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My favorite at the show, the Ward Mecom Lola-Offy:

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Hilborn supercharged Offy and individual exhaust port for each valve:

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Well patina-ted Isotta-Fraschini with nicely oil-puking open-valve engine, marvelous and smelly...

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Our own 1972 baby, a little too modern for the overall display?

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Its large wing provides relief to the missus from the rather aggressive sun after days of rain and slit...

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Tom Malloy brought quite a few really nice machines including this Penske-Cossie:

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Tony Adamowicz admiring his former Daytona ride, a 911T car that nearly won the 24-hour race until the very end, when an ignition module cost them the win. They still finishjed in 3rd...

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Another fave, an ex Bob Challman Elite...

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A Zagato body on a Fiat 500? Yes!

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OK, I have a soft spot for these 220S...

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Pinin Farina's Eden Rock:

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A glorious day worth the trip, and my thanks to the Magnon family and the Riverside Auto Museum personnel for having kindly brought our Eagle to the show!

#11 RA Historian

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 16:42

Marvelous photos, Philippe, thanks much for posting them and letting us enjoy what had to have been a wonderful trip.

The loaded vehicle at the rest stop; looks like something out of Autoweek's "Moving Miscues" series of photos! Certainly a candidate!

I appreciated the photos of the Mecom Lola T-90 with which Ward won at Trenton in 1966. It seems to me that this car ran only a couple or so races, and that the supercharged Drake engine four came and went in a hurry. Hence, I was quite interested in these photos, because such shots are rare indeed.

Thanks again,
Tom

#12 T54

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 17:02

Thanks Tom, really appreciated. I am told that the Lola was restored by the very competent Walter Goodwin, and it shows. I am fascinated by these mid-1960s Indy cars and I always wanted one, but I guess it is becoming a bit too late for me...


#13 T54

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 19:23

I see my Internet friend's Aaron's 1973 STP-Eagle-Offy in the background... :)

#14 RA Historian

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 20:47

Great shots, Brian, thanks!
Tom

#15 xj13v12

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 21:48

I see my Internet friend's Aaron's 1973 STP-Eagle-Offy in the background... :)

Actually that must be the Brayton STP Eagle which was in Walter's shop at the same time. That is the genuine Johncock 1973 winner I believe.

#16 T54

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Posted 13 March 2011 - 01:12

Yes, correct, and I believe that my friend Aaron presently owns it... :)