Word: johncock
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...Leonard-Hearns. Hearns-Hagler. Leonard-Hagler. LeMond nipped Fignon on the last day. Salazar beat Beardsley by two seconds after 26 miles. Johncock beat Mears by a nose after 500 miles. Bruce Hayes somehow held off Michael Gross...
Just as qualifying trials began for next week's Indianapolis 500, the illustrious class of 1965 lost Gordon Johncock, a two-time winner. His car was ready: it had been running near the front at over 210 m.p.h. But the driver was out of tune and time. "That morning I lay there in bed thinking about everything. All of a sudden I sat up and said, 'That's it for me.' " Mario Andretti, a classmate present later at Johncock's valedictory press conference, called his friend's retirement "clever," an odd word. "I've always thought of race-car drivers...
Twenty years ago, Andretti finished third, Johncock fifth and Al Unser ninth in their first Indy, when a bumper haul of eleven rookies made the field of 33 and five finished in the top ten. "An eternity ago," says Andretti, 45, a compact man with a Roman bearing. "It doesn't seem that long" to Unser, 45, who at first professed to understand Johncock's decision. "No, that's not fair," he amended. "I don't understand it. I haven't done it." This is the usual difficulty in discussing anything about auto racing. No one who hasn't done...
...outings at the Indianapolis 500, Gordon Johncock, 45, had been stymied by broken crankshafts, flat tires, dry gas tanks and fuel-pump failures. His one earlier Indy win, in 1973, had come in a race that was stopped by rain after 332.5 miles. "It seems throughout my career," he says, "that it hasn't been meant for me to run 500 miles." This year Johncock managed to hold on for a full-length victory, though the jaws of defeat were snapping close behind. With 13 laps left, Johncock's STP Wildcat-Cosworth was 12 sec. ahead...
...race resumed after a 75-minute delay, but finally and mercifully, with night and another downpour descending, the action was halted after 133 of the scheduled 200 laps. Gordon Johncock, whose Eagle-Offenhauser was one of only eleven cars still running, was declared the winner and given a check for $236,022. The traditional victory banquet was canceled - one of the few smart moves of the entire event...
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