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IMS Museum offering radio broadcasts of Monza “Race of Two Worlds” races for sale


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#1 lotuspoweredbyford

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Posted 23 June 2020 - 19:21

Hello. I just wanted to let folks here know about a project I have been working on for more than a year.




Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Releasing Crisp, Digitally Restored Broadcasts of Famed 1957, 1958 ‘Race of Two Worlds’ at Monza Featuring All-Star Driver Lineup
INDIANAPOLIS, Monday, June 23, 2020 – Imagine American racing champions A.J. Foyt and Jimmy Bryan competing alongside European Grand Prix stars Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio – all on the same track at the same time. It sounds like a fantasy racing scenario, but it happened in 1958 at the “500 Miglia di Monza,” better known as the “Race of Two Worlds.”

For the first time in history, the recorded radio broadcasts of that epic event 62 years ago – plus the broadcast of the 1957 “Race of Two Worlds” – will be available for digital download as part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s ongoing archival restoration and preservation efforts.

The broadcasts will be available June 29 for just $9.99 each at the following address: https://www.indianap...race-broadcasts. The timing honors the race date of both “Race of Two Worlds,” for it was June 29, 1957 and 1958 when many of the world’s best drivers clashed at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy – or simply “Monza.”

For many years it was believed these rare broadcasts were lost to history, but 1/4-inch audio recordings of the races were discovered in the IMS Museum vault. As part of the Museum’s ongoing audio preservation project, the recordings were sent to Memnon Archiving Services in Bloomington, Indiana for preservation and digitization.

The “Race of Two Worlds” was a special non-points event sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and took place on Monza’s daunting 2.64-mile oval, which featured gradient banking in the corners up to 38 degrees at the top. The events were a total of 500 miles – but consisted of three 63-lap heat races and the winner was determined by the overall elapsed time.

Due to safety concerns, the European racing fraternity didn’t show up for the 1957 race except for the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar team – which had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans the week before! For 1958, however, Europe was well represented by standouts including Moss, Fangio, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso.

USAC star and multi-time champion Bryan won the inaugural race in 1957, and Jim Rathmann took the 1958 event.

The original radio broadcasts were facilitated in a partnership between the Air Trails Network in Dayton, Ohio and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. Beloved IMS radio Chief Announcer Sid Collins did not make the trip, so it was Jack Wymer, station manager of Dayton’s WING, fellow WING on-air personality Alex Buchan, and Charlie Brockman, a veteran of the IMS Radio Network broadcasts, who called the races.

“We are thrilled to offer these unique broadcasts to the public for sale for the first time since they aired,” said Mike Thomsen, curator of media and historic archives for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. “We are proud of our ongoing project to preserve our vast audio and video archives and hope fans worldwide will enjoy hearing these unique races which featured some of the greatest stars of USAC and Grand Prix racing.”
***

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#2 Dave Ware

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 01:10

Thanks for letting us know.  Sounds interesting for sure.  

 

I like that part about discovering a recording in the IMS vault.  Sounds like the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with a bunch of boxes and no one knows what's in them.  I would happily volunteer to help search those vaults....



#3 Henri Greuter

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 13:17

Now these are two races that would not have been on my list of options to think about.

Because of having no idea that these existed thus could be considered to be an option.

 

Nice to see these coming up.

 

Hope that your diehard local fanbase that buys these reports will also cherish these ones, despite not being "500".



#4 Risil

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 20:58

It was a 500!



#5 Glengavel

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 07:20

It was a 500!

 

More like a 3 x 166...



#6 Henri Greuter

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 07:31

It was a 500!



Apologies, I should have written Indy.

But I think I need to thank Glengravel as well as for saving me with remembering us that, to phrase Dr Spock: "t's a 500 Jim, but not as we know it."

#7 Collombin

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 07:45

Does anyone get unjustifiably credited with having a doctorate as much as that guy? Unless the real Dr Spock was an Indy fan, which is a possibility of course.

#8 Henri Greuter

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 08:11

Does anyone get unjustifiably credited with having a doctorate as much as that guy? Unless the real Dr Spock was an Indy fan, which is a possibility of course.



Gee, I'm really off.

I intended to quote Mr. Spock from Star trek. And You're right, I'm not sure if he was a Dr.
I Leave it to your own imagination If I made a typo or confused him with the real Dr Spock.....

#9 Collombin

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 08:32

I will give you the benefit of the doubt! Anyway there are far worse examples of confusion between famous people that have similar names. The things that actor Harry H Corbett was falsely accused of doing to small animals such as Sooty would shock you.

I'm impressed with how off topic we now are!

#10 Michael Ferner

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 08:35

Hey, this is DNF - the Digressers Nostalgia Forum!

 

:)



#11 Claudio Navonne

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Posted 25 June 2020 - 09:18

Does anyone get unjustifiably credited with having a doctorate as much as that guy? Unless the real Dr Spock was an Indy fan, which is a possibility of course.

Fanaticism is a human emotion that Vulcans don't experience



#12 lotuspoweredbyford

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Posted 29 June 2020 - 17:37

Hopefully both Dr. Spock and Mr. Spock will be happy to know that both races are now available for purchase.   ;)

 

https://www.indianap...race-broadcasts



#13 Henri Greuter

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Posted 30 June 2020 - 08:05

Hopefully both Dr. Spock and Mr. Spock will be happy to know that both races are now available for purchase.   ;)
 
https://www.indianap...race-broadcasts



Some of the confusion between quoting Mr. Spock or Dr. Spock may be explained by the fact that, despite I know the name of Mr. Spock and one of his quote, I was anything but a Star Trek fan. I have a lot of interest for space, the space race and so on but Scifi never did it for me.

#14 Collombin

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Posted 30 June 2020 - 09:01

Scifi never did it for me.


Same here. Too easy to resort to absurdity over clever storytelling, and a weird assumption that being surreal equals being funny.

#15 Henri Greuter

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Posted 30 June 2020 - 18:59

Hopefully both Dr. Spock and Mr. Spock will be happy to know that both races are now available for purchase.   ;)

 

https://www.indianap...race-broadcasts

I have just finished ordering '57, you probably understand why. :)

Curious to see how this works out.

 

 

 

Edit: received the link within half an hour after the purchase.


Edited by Henri Greuter, 30 June 2020 - 19:07.