Two and a half million people waiting for action and the spitting rain didn't fill the drivers with great confidence. Graham Hill was all dapper in his role as non-combative commentator for closed circuit TV, with arch-rival Jackie Stewart joining him from up in the tower. He took time out to assist Denny in the appraisal of some of the better suspension characteristics in the parade.
Down at Turn 1 the zoo was getting restless. The half hour delay from rain had only partly dampened spirits and with the second delay with the pace lap crash, other diversions were arranged. Blanket tossing earned a lot of attention and applause until the law arrived. A respected protector of law and order in Indiana is known as a Billy Bad-Ass for some reason.
Rain delayed the start of Indy this year. Here Al Unser's crew holds sheets of plastic over the car while Foyt enjoys the scene
James Garner, film star and sometime race driver, received instant recognition from the caged section of the community when he wandered down with Larry ("Big T") Truesdale, boss of Goodyear's racing activities. Mr. Garner conducted one vocal group through the opening lines of "Back Home Again in Indiana" to wild applause.
The excitement as track owner Tony Hulman did his piece about starting the engines neared hysteria. Everybody waved and shouted to the drivers on the pace lap as though they honestly believed the drivers heard or cared.
Johnny Rutherford led into the first turn, courtesy of A. Unser, Esq., who didn't feel like taking his line on the inside if it was going to trigger a shunt. That's already been done. It reminded me of Bruce McLaren's story of the 1966 fiasco. He had been watching down at Turn 1 and when he saw a car arrive into the corner without any front wheels, he was about to turn to Chris Amon and say, "that's a funny way to start a motor race!" when he realized he was alone on the bank. Chris had seen the wheels in the air and departed. As it turned out he was one of the few casualties in the crash because he tripped over somebody's wheelchair and gashed his leg!
Al baby took the lead, kept it and cooled it, while Rutherford rode shotgun and all the other hot dogs tried to be third. My little lap chart was progressing in a surprisingly accurate manner as Lloyd Ruby marched up through the field from his lowly 9th row grid spot, but my mistake was in checking figures with the tower. Apparently instant electronic lap scoring isn't a feature of the Speedway yet. The electric eye was watching a race already ten minutes old. So I gave up and sat in the sun fighting off a doze. So much for the electric excitement. Peter Revson parked his McLaren not far away with magneto failure. Again. So I was able to do something constructive and ask him what had happened. He didn't know. It just stopped.
Jack Brabham had arrived late for qualifying because his crated car was delayed with truck strikes. He put his Offypowered car on the 9th row with Lloyd Ruby, and then set about sorting it out.
Some doubters in Gasoline Alley wondered whether Jack would make the field, but the general opinion was that if Jack couldn't make the grid with the car he was quite capable of qualifying the crate the car came in.
His Offy was really pouring out the horsepower and Mark Donohue reported after the race that the Brabham had him out-gunned on the straight with his new Lola-Ford. Sorry, Sunoco Special. "If Jack hadn't waved me through, I'd have had difficulty getting by," reported Captain Nice to team boss Penske.
