Word: belond
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...mile Indianapolis auto race started taking its toll early. Defending Champion Jimmy Bryan quit after only two laps, when his Belond Special, hastily rebuilt after a disastrous engine freeze-up only one week before, developed clutch trouble. Mike Magill went to the hospital with neck injuries after hitting the Speedway wall on the 47th lap. Ray Crawford hit a wall on the 121st lap, suffered broken ribs. But through the pile-ups nothing bothered 38-year-old Veteran Rodger Ward of Los Angeles, a onetime fighter pilot who had never finished higher than eighth in eight previous "500" races...
...winning car at Indianapolis is the one that combines top speed with a minimum time in the pits-a good pit crew can refuel and change all four tires in 30 seconds. For the past two years the winner has been the bright yellow, 380-h.p. Belond Special, designed, built and owned by Mechanic George Salih of Whittier, Calif. Salih took the standard four-cylinder Offenhauser engine used in most Indianapolis cars, installed it on its side at an 18° angle for cooler running and lower center of gravity. The idea was so successful that...
Crisis. But last week, with early birds already pulling their cars into the queue outside the track gates for choice vantage points when the gates open at 5 a.m. on Memorial Day, the Belond ran into trouble. In a practice run, the car seized up on Driver Jimmy Bryan. Mechanics tore it apart, worked 18 hours straight on its battered engine, badly damaged when the oil pump failed. They got it back in action, and Bryan proved the car was as good as new by qualifying at an average speed of 142.118 m.p.h...
...Memorial Day, Bryan and the Belond could expect a stiff fight from the car with the fastest qualifying time: the Racing Associates Special, complete with cockpit built to the specifications of Driver Johnny Thomson, after an anthropologist took his measurements to determine the most comfortable driving position for a man of Thomson's size (5 ft. 7 in., 150 lbs.). Thomson's average qualifying speed: a hefty 145.908 m.p.h. Another advantage: he will start from the No. i pole position...
Driving the same Belond Special that won for Sam Hanks last year, Bryan tramped on his foot throttle and tried to pull away. At the halfway mark he was still being tailed by Veterans Tony Bettenhausen and Johnny Boyd. Coming up fast was Rookie Driver George Amick. Each of the cars was powered by a four-cylinder Meyer-Drake Offenhauser engine. The drivers' skills and the speed of their pit crews meant more than any mechanical difference...