Word: carly
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Indianapolis 500 is the oldest* big-car auto race in the U.S., and victory at the Brick Yard is the crowning achievement in a driver's career. For many years, the 22-mile Indianapolis oval was the world's fastest auto course. Its long straightaways and well-banked curves make possible lap speeds of 140 m.p.h...
...safety regulations now require roll-bars on every car, flameproof coveralls for every driver. Still, two drivers have died in practice runs this month. Says 45-year-old Fred Agabashian, longtime 500 driver who quit racing last year: "You don't reach retirement age in one of those things." Even the toughest drivers find the Indianapolis toughest of all. Johnny Parsons, the 1950 winner, retired this month with the explanation: "When you get down to the end of those straightaways and can't hold your foot down any more, it's time to quit...
...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...