Jimmy Clark's last Indy Car Race

[IndyJim]

http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/qrace.asp?C=CH6720

Suprised to see Jimmy drove a Vollstedt in his last indy car race.

He won 20 percent of the races he entered (2 for 10)! and if you throw out the 1967 500, his average starting position was 2.6

http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/qcareer.asp?D=Jimmy_Clark

This last race could not have been very long before his untimely death.

I was only 4 when he died, but as a Jimmy, he was my favorite driver!

[Shadow101]

Good job IndyJim. I've always considered Clark to be one of my heroes, and I'm even younger than you. He passed away the day before my first birthday...

This is one of those stats that makes you wish things were a bit different today. Guys would jump into the best available car at a given race and just wail..I think the years 66-68 were some of the best, especially at Indy, as guys from all disciplines showed up to race at the big races, be it Indy, LeMans, or whatever. Sigh..time moves on I guess.

[Michael Oliver]

Re: Jimmy Clark's last Indy Car Race

Originally posted by IndyJim
http://www.motorsport.com/stats/cham...e.asp?C=CH6720


Suprised to see Jimmy drove a Vollstedt in his last indy car race.

He won 20 percent of the races he entered (2 for 10)! and if you throw out the 1967 500, his average starting position was 2.6

http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/qcareer.asp?D=Jimmy_Clark

This last race could not have been very long before his untimely death.

I was only 4 when he died, but as a Jimmy, he was my favorite driver!

Hi IndyJim

I don't know how the drive in the Vollstedt came about (maybe someone can enlighten us?) but there is an interesting story linked to it.

The Vollstedt had a sort of wing-like device fitted to it and this impressed Clark so much that, when he went 'Down Under' to Australia and New Zealand for the Tasman series in early 1968 he persuaded his mechanics to fabricate a small wing (made from the rotor of a derelict helicopter salvaged from a nearby airfield!) and fit it to his Lotus 49.

When Colin Chapman got to hear of it he went ballistic and ordered the wing to be removed, so it was never raced. However, a few months later - but after Clark's death - his cars appeared first with an upswept 'wing cowling' over the engine at Monaco and then with a massive high suspension-mounted wing!

So it seems like Clark's Vollstedt outing may have contributed to Chapman introducing wings on his Formula 1 cars, although of course Chaparral had been using them for a long time on their Can-Am and sports prototype cars and Ferrari and Brabham actually beat Chapman to it with Formula 1 wings, introducing them at the '68 Belgian GP.

Cheers

Michael

[IndyJim]

http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/qdriverby.asp?C=T&D=Jimmy_Clark

Team Sperex? Can anyone tell us anything about this team that Jimmy drove for at Riverside? A quick check of the team on motorsport.com doesn't show any points earned during the season, so this may have been a one race deal/team.

Thanks for the info on the wing issue. I don't mean this to sound bad but when I was young, the Vollstedt efforts usually consisted of cars and drivers just struggling to make the 500, as in a Simon or a Guthrie. It is neat to think that someone like Clark took something from one of their cars back to F1.

[Martyj]

Clark just loved to drive, plain and simple, and if Chapman wasn't providing him with a car on any given weekend, Jim kept his eyes open for other opportunities, and at that point Clark was developing a strong relationship with Ford.

After doing the last North American rounds of the World Championship in the fall of 1967, Jim remained in America to run some races which may (I'm speculating here) have been at the behest of Ford. He did the Rockingham NASCAR race in a Holman-Moody Ford and the Riverside USAC race in a Volstand Ford.

It's also likely that for the Riverside race there was an appearance fee involved that sweetened the deal. In previous years Clark had raced in the Riverside Times 500 sport car races in an underpowered Lotus, and made a good account of himself. It's easy to see that an Indy winner and two-time world champion would be considered a draw by the organizers.

[IndyJim]

Good point. Sir John Surtees made his only indy car start at this same race back in 67.

I read somewhere that Jimmy qualified pretty far back in his one nascar drive at the rock, but he was moving up the field pretty good when a mechanical ill knocked him out.

Looks like Riverside attracted a lot of extra teams and drivers, they had 32 cars show up!

[Shadow101]

Originally posted by IndyJim
http://www.motorsport.com/stats/cham...&D=Jimmy_Clark

Team Sperex? Can anyone tell us anything about this team that Jimmy drove for at Riverside? A quick check of the team on motorsport.com doesn't show any points earned during the season, so this may have been a one race deal/team.

Thanks for the info on the wing issue. I don't mean this to sound bad but when I was young, the Vollstedt efforts usually consisted of cars and drivers just struggling to make the 500, as in a Simon or a Guthrie. It is neat to think that someone like Clark took something from one of their cars back to F1.

Team Sperex doesn't ring a bell. However, Vollstedt was one of the first US fabricators to get the rear engine bug. Len Sutton drive his first (?) creation in the 1964 500, and in subsequent 500's Sutton, Billy Foster, Cale Yarborough, and LeeRoy Yarbrough were behind the wheel of his designs for both Vollstedt himself and Jim Robbins entries IIRC.

Wouldn't it be nice nowadays if there was some racing off-season that might encourage cross-discipline participation?

[indyrjc]

Sperex was (and is) the heat resistant paint , in many colors, for automotive high temperature applications. The brand name that they sold their paint under was VHT and it is mainly for use on exhaust headers. It looked really good on the "bed of snakes" exhaust on the top of the 4 Cam Fords (looked great on zoomie headers on AA fuelers, too). This was a one shot sponsorship for Vollstedt and Clark at Riverside. The #21 Vollstedt car campaigned the rest of the season as the Bryant Heating & Cooling Special and the driver was Carl Williams except for Indianpolis where Cale Yarbrough drove it. Someone else mentioned John Surtees. At the 1967 Rex Mays race at Riverside he drove the same Bowes Seal Fast Special Lola that Jackie Stewart drove at Indianapolis that year. Also, I have heard that after Rolla Vollstedt saw the nice book that his friend and former driver Len Sutton just published he now has the bug and is planning on doing a book of his own.

[theunions]

Originally posted by indyrjc
Also, I have heard that after Rolla Vollstedt saw the nice book that his friend and former driver Len Sutton just published he now has the bug and is planning on doing a book of his own.

"The Rolla Vollstedt Story, from Portland dirt tracks to the Indy 500"
8 1/2"x 11" , Hardcover, to reserve your copy, send 34.95 + 4.5 shipping and handling to
Rolla Vollstedt
4525 SW Lee Street
Portland OR 97221

[Vitesse]

Originally posted by IndyJim
Good point. Sir John Surtees made his only indy car start at this same race back in 67.

Distinguished though he might be, I'm afraid John Surtees is not among motor racing's current crop of knights who are: Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Frank Williams.

[Martyj]

Originally posted by indyrjc
Also, I have heard that after Rolla Vollstedt saw the nice book that his friend and former driver Len Sutton just published he now has the bug and is planning on doing a book of his own.

I thought Len Sutton died a number of years ago? Guess I was wrong.

[Gerr]

The Vollstedt Clark drove at Riverside was in (still is?) the York Motor Museum (now moved to Fremantle) in Western Australia. It is in the "Bryant" livery from 1968, as driven by Arnie Knepper
In this link the car is in the background of the main photo.

http://www.yorkwa.com.au/Motor.Museum/

IIRC, the car was sold to the owner of this museum, described as the last "Indianapolis/USAC" car that Jim Clark raced. He assumed he was buying an STP Lotus 38.

Clark was leading at Riverside, missed a shift and tagged a valve. It was reported that he split his portion of the purse with his mechanics as he felt that his error had cost them the win.

[Shadow101]

Originally posted by Gerr
Clark was leading at Riverside, missed a shift and tagged a valve. It was reported that he split his portion of the purse with his mechanics as he felt that his error had cost them the win.

What a classy guy! I was watching Indy practice in the early 90's, when an older gentleman sat down next to me. We started talking and he related how he used to be a waiter at St Elmo's and shared some anecdotes about various drivers he met over the years that patronized the place. Parnelli & AJ were his favorite drivers, but he said the absolute nicest person he ever met was Jim Clark. He said he was just a polite, quiet, unassuming guy - you would never connect him with the typical race driver personality of the day. And he said he cried when he heard about Clark's passing. Almost made me cry too.

[exfasteddy]

I remember when I was ten sneaking into my oldest brother's bedroom and reading the books he had on F1 that reviewed each season. The 1960 book mentioned a young rookie Jim Clark (it's a long time ago and I depend on memory) and the synopsis said he was fast but drove bit over his head. For whatever reason Jimmy became my favorite driver, and I rooted for him in his battles with BRM the following couple years. When he came to INdy Iwas so excited I couldn't believe it. Listenng to the race on the radio, and the arguments between all four of us brothers over PArnelli dropping oil. Me and my oldest brother arguing for the black flag. I did cry when he died. I gave a presentation in SPeech class that year (Sr. in high school) on the relative merits of safety between NASCAR and FI! I do still plan to visit his grave.

[IndyJim]

As always, this board amazes me. Thanks for all the info, all the way down to where that car is sitting today!