1967 Indy 500 Retrospective

[Otto Puzzell]

The 1967 Indy 500 was probably the most anticipated running of the race to date. All eyes were on the dayglow red STP turbine car, driven by Parnelli Jones. The car was the brainchild of STP president Andy Granatelli, and threatened to revolutionize the sport. A combination of a gas turbine helicopter engine and the Ferguson 4-wheel drive system pioneered on the Novis that Granatelli had previously entered, the car looked rather ungainly, but was capable of running much faster race speeds that the competition.

Read it here...

[Ultra]

Thanks again Dan for this great article.  It is a fantastic contribution to the site.

[Otto Puzzell]

Great research and insight, peppered with some awesome pics, most of which I've never seen.

Thanks for a wonderful article, Dan!

[porridgehead]

Great article! The turbine car was my secret weapon on the hotwheels track as a youngster. There was something so alien, so wonderful, so magic about the set up of the car and how it diverged from all the other race cars of the day. I probably bought a dozen of them because I'd eventually beat them to bits when the axles inevitably bent. Wish I had them today. They're probably worth something.

[porridgehead]

Ah nostalgia... it's such a nice whitewash of reality. So I just went to see how much a Hotwheel (or Matchbox) STP Turbine car was worth. Answer: nuthin'. They don't exist. No such thing.

However... there was a Shelby Turbine that bore a familiar likeness to a certain Indy Car sponsored by a company whose initials sound almost, but not quite, like Sexually Transmitted Disease.

Humph... Shelby Turbine. Right.



On the plus side, I just discovered that the Beach Bomber that sits on my desk that I had since I was seven is probably worth $100. So I've got that going for me.

[Tifosi]

Ah nostalgia... it's such a nice whitewash of reality. So I just went to see how much a Hotwheel (or Matchbox) STP Turbine car was worth. Answer: nuthin'. They don't exist. No such thing.

However... there was a Shelby Turbine that bore a familiar likeness to a certain Indy Car sponsored by a company whose initials sound almost, but not quite, like Sexually Transmitted Disease.

Humph... Shelby Turbine. Right.



On the plus side, I just discovered that the Beach Bomber that sits on my desk that I had since I was seven is probably worth $100. So I've got that going for me.

Ken Wallis designed both the original STP Turbocar and the Shelby Turbine.  The Shelby debuted at Indy in 1968, and Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme were to be the drivers.  As I remember, sponsorship was Botany 500.  The cars were withdrawn after it was discovered that the air intake for the engines was able to be manipulated by the driver to be made larger than the rules allowed.  USAC didn't like that, and the cars left the track after Mike Spence was killed in one of the STP cars early in the month.  Shelby issued a atatement about the cars not being able to be made safe within the rules, and promptly left the track.

I would imagine that those Hot Wheels versions are pretty rare by now.

Dan

[Rich]

I can only comment that this article flatly amazed me.  Straight out of any current autorag it could have came....excellent job, Dan...

r

[porridgehead]

Well color me embareassed.  See, I never realized there was a real Shelby Turbine. I thought it was just a hotwheels thing, but lo and behold, there she be. Obviously the Shelby version didn't get nearly as much press as the STP because she never ran.

Still, sure does look like the STP.

[Ultra]

If you do a Google search for 1967 Indy, Dan's article is the number 4 item returned.

We need to publish more retrospecitves of races like this one, focused around their anniversaries, in order to increase readership and awareness of the articles and the site in general.

[Ultra]

I would imagine that those Hot Wheels versions are pretty rare by now.

Dan

Just re-reading this gem, Dan.  Thanks again for your stellar contribution.

[TomOsiecki]

Mecum Auctions has a Shelby Turbine Indy car consigned for their May event at Indy. I've consigned the Mad Dog IV of Bob Osiecki for the same event and was told there would be one of Shelby's Indy Turbine cars on the block as well. No reserve on the Mad Dog, so all you Indy Champ car collectors (This is Kurtis' 500KK SPL-3) get signed up to bid.

[Ultra]

With the race coming up it might behoove us to give this a front page spot.

[DeAutogids.nl]

"STP turbine car"

Of course this is the Lotus also mentioned in the article

[Otto Puzzell]

With the race coming up it might behoove us to give this a front page spot.

That, and more, are coming soon.

[Paul Jaray]

Otto, where is that great article with all the pics form Indy?
I can't find it back!

[Otto Puzzell]

Read it here...

[Paul Jaray]

Thanks Otto, I was referring to the other one...I found it and left a comment there.

[Otto Puzzell]

I've since seen it - sorry for the mix-up.

[Ultra]

Bump.

[memorylanetoys]

I thorougly enjoyed reading the article too. It (and this site) came up #2 in my Google search for "1967 Indy 500 turbine".

I recently discovered that ESPN Classic is running old '500's and last night I watched the 1967 race (edited down to 1hour as it was from the old ABC Wide World of Sports series). It brought back memories of listening to the race as a 7 year-old boy; I grew up 50 miles from Indy but never got to attend any races/ events.

Does anybody remember "carburation day"? That's the day most of my lucky friends got to go to the track.

Thank you for providing a nice new site for me to spend too much time at