|
1981 Pocono 500
The 1981 Pocono 500, the 11th running of the event, was held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 21, 1981. Branded as the 1981 Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 for sponsorship reasons, the race is notable as the final win for all-time IndyCar race winner, A. J. Foyt. It is also notable for its role in the confrontation between separate Indy car racing sanctioning bodies, USAC and CART, as well as the inclusion of older indycars and 8 front-engined dirt cars from the USAC Silver Crown Series in the race. Background Shortly after the 1980 Pocono 500, the USAC and CART compromise sanctioning body, the Championship Racing League was dissolved. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that they would not allow USAC to sanction the 1981 Indianapolis 500 as part of the CRL, and USAC withdrew their support. Pocono Raceway was still planning an antitrust lawsuit against CART that stemmed from a boycott of the 1979 Pocono 500. That left Pocono to join Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pocono 500 (IndyCar)
The ABC Supply 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, located in the Pocono Mountains. The first Indy car race at Pocono was held in 1971. It was the first major event held at the track, shortly after its completion. The race was sanctioned by USAC from 1971 to 1981, and then by CART from 1982 to 1989, and was known as the Pocono 500. The race was removed from the CART calendar following the 1989 running, due to poor track conditions, as well as poor revenue for the promoter. After a 23-year hiatus, the event was revived by the IndyCar Series in 2013. Following management changes at the facility, and after comprehensive safety improvements were completed at the track, the race was scheduled for Independence Day weekend. For 2013, the race was scheduled for 400 miles, and was part of the IndyCar Triple Crown. For 2014, the race returned to its traditional 500-mile distance, and was scheduled in mid-to-late August. A. J. Foyt is the mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in sports cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy cars (1967), the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya. In 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with A. J. Foyt, Gurney spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium, which thereafter became a custom at many motorsports events. As owner of All American Racers, he was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. At the 1968 German Grand Prix, he became the first dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Sneva
Jan J. Sneva (born August 17, 1953 in Spokane, Washington) is a former race car driver, and the brother of Jerry Sneva, as well as Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva. The youngest of the three brothers, Jan was primarily a midget car and sprint car racer, but he made 2 starts in the USAC Championship Car series (1 each in 1979 and 1981 at Milwaukee and Pocono respectively) and 1 start in the CART Champ Car series when he finished 10th in the April 1980 race at the Ontario Motor Speedway. He also attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 twice but failed rookie orientation in 1980 and failed to qualify in 1982. He now resides in Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area), East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by ....Jenkins, RichardWhere are they now? OldRacingCars.com References External li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Rice
Larry Rice (24 March 1946 – 20 May 2009) was an American racing driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He was the 1973 USAC National midget driver's champion and won the USAC Silver Crown series in 1977 and 1981. He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1993. Racing career Larry's father Bob got him started in racing. Bob purchased Larry's first race car, a Kurtis Craft Half Midget from Bob Cunningham in Covington, Indiana prior to turning twelve years old. Larry went to Modified Midget racing at the Logansport, Indiana track from 1965-1967. While in modified midget racing Larry and his father introduced the first car with a suspension system in this type of racing. It was made by Kurtis out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Eventually all cars would have suspension systems on them. Larry graduated from college with a teaching degree. He taught school briefly while racing the modified midget racing circuit. He was fondly known as "The Flying S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Hewitt
Jack Hewitt (born July 8, 1951, Troy, Ohio), is a former racecar driver who was prolific in various open wheel and sprint car series. He was a two-time champion in the USAC Silver Crown Series in 1986 and 1987 and is second all-time in Silver Crown wins list with 23. In the USAC National Sprint Car series, he is 4th in all-time wins with 46. He also won the All Star Circuit of Champions championship in 1985 and his 56 wins in that series place him in the top 5 all-time. Racing career Hewitt began his sprint car racing career in 1975 at Eldora Speedway, taking three wins in his inaugural season He raced in the 1998 Indianapolis 500, placing 12th. After his venture into Indycars he returned to sprint cars until he had a very serious crash in 2002 from which he was lucky to escape with his life. On September 26, 1998, Jack won the USAC Sprint, USAC Midget, USAC Silver Crown, and UMP Modified features at Eldora Speedway. By doing so he became the first and only driver to win al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and formerly it was "Newsday, the Long Island Newspaper". The newspaper's headquarters is in Melville, New York, in Suffolk County. ''Newsday'' has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes and has been a finalist for 20 more. As of 2019, its weekday circulation of 250,000 was the 8th-highest in the United States, and the highest among suburban newspapers. By January 2014, ''Newsday''s total average circulation was 437,000 on weekdays, 434,000 on Saturdays and 495,000 on Sundays. As of June 2022, the paper had an average print circulation of 97,182. History Founded by Alicia Patterson and her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the publication was first produced on September 3, 1940 from Hempstead. For many years until a major redesign in the 1970s, ''Newsday'' copied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Mattioli
Joseph Mattioli (April 14, 1925 – January 26, 2012) was an American businessman. He is best known for founding and managing Pocono Raceway, a race track that has hosted NASCAR and Indy Car racing. Early life Mattioli was born to Joseph and Mary (Marzzacco) Mattioli. His father, Joseph Mattioli Sr. was a lightweight boxer who fought under the name Pep O'Brien. As a teenager, Mattioli worked jobs including stonemason, ice cream man, railroad worker, and factory hand. Mattioli served in World War II in the Pacific as a Navy and Marine medic. Mattioli was in an outfit slated for the proposed US invasion of Japan before the war ended. After the war, Mattioli used the benefits from the G.I. Bill to enroll in the Dentistry program at Temple University. It was there that he met Rose Nocito, a student of the podiatry program. Joseph and Rose Mattioli had their Dentistry and Podiatry offices in their family home in Philadelphia. Working up to 90 hours a week in Dentistry, Mattioli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ontario Motor Speedway
Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now IndyCar Series) for open-wheel oval car races; NASCAR for a oval stock car races; NHRA for drag races; and FIA for Formula One road course races. Additionally, several motorcycle races were held at the track. Constructed in less than two years, the track opened in August 1970 and was considered state of the art at the time. The first full year of racing included the Indy-style open wheel Inaugural California 500 on September 6, 1970; the Miller High Life 500 stock car race on February 28, 1971, the NHRA Super Nationals drag race on November 21, 1970 and the Questor Grand Prix on March 28, 1971. Each of these inaugural races drew attendance second only to their established counterparts, the USAC Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR Daytona 500, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1977 Pocono 500
The 1977 Pocono 500, the 7th running of the event, was held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 26, 1977. Branded as the 1977 Schaefer 500 for sponsorship reasons, the race was Tom Sneva's first victory in a 500-mile race and the first 1-2 finish for Team Penske in Indy car racing. A.J. Foyt versus Citicorp The Pocono 500 was the culmination of a year-long feud Foyt had with Citicorp, sponsor of the season-long USAC Championship with their First National City Travelers Checks division. Beginning in 1976, First National City Travelers Checks, a division of Citicorp, was the title sponsor of USAC's Indy car championship. At the end of the year, the Citicorp Cup was awarded to the series champion along with a $20,000 bonus. In total, they gave roughly $300,000 in annual support for USAC. During the race at Phoenix on March 27, 1977, Johnny Rutherford (driving a car sponsored by First National City Travelers Checks) hit Gordon Johncock, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim McElreath
Jim McElreath (February 18, 1928 – May 18, 2017) was an American racing driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. Racing career Jim began his racing career in 1945 at the age of 17. He raced stock cars in Dallas, Texas. Jim would race in the local Texas bullrings for the next fifteen years while working as a bricklayer. It was in 1960 when he and fellow Texan racer Johnny Rutherford decided to race in the Midwest. Both would eventually find super modified rides in the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA). Jim did well enough that by late-summer 1961 that he was offered a ride by fame car owner Lindsey Hopkins in the Hoosier Hundred, a race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Championship Trail. He finished third in this race, an impressive start to his Indy Car career. He raced in the 1961–1983 seasons, with 178 combined career starts, including 15 in the Indianapolis 500 in 1962–1970, 1973–1974, and 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Rager
Roger Rager (September 3, 1948 – February 16, 2022) was an American racing driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. Early life Rager was born on September 3, 1948 in Lincoln, Nebraska. When he was four years old he ran a "space ship" go-kart around a track during an intermission for a race program that included his dad, Bob, at the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln. At age 14, Rager purchased a stock car for $35 and raced at a local track. He later moved to Lincoln and raced on weekends. His first sprint win was at Jefferson County Speedway in Nebraska. Career Rager enjoyed numerous milestones as a sprint car racer in the early 1970s. He won many races all over the country and also was the United States captain for a sprint car team competing in South Africa in 1973. He returned to North America and moved to the Twin Cities in the mid-1970s. It was about that time that Rager also set a world record for the fastest lap on a one-mile dirt track, piloting a spring car wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Simon
Richard Raymond Simon (born September 21, 1933) is retired American auto racing driver and racing team owner. Simon drove Indy cars in USAC and CART, and made 17 starts at the Indianapolis 500. At the 1988 Indianapolis 500, Simon set a record as the oldest driver in Indy 500 history (54 years, 251 days), a record that was later broken by A. J. Foyt. Simon was a longtime car owner, founding Dick Simon Racing, helping to begin the Indy car careers of Stéphan Grégoire, Arie Luyendyk, Raul Boesel, Lyn St. James, and many others. Simon had a notable record at the Indy 500. Of the many rookies he entered at Indy over the years, not a single one failed to qualify for the race. Simon never won a race as a driver or as an owner. His best finish as a driver was 3rd at Ontario, and as an owner he had six second place finishes. Simon had a best finish at the Indianapolis 500 of 6th in 1987 (as a driver), and 4th in 1993 as an owner with Boesel. Simon sold his race team to Andy Evans who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
