Jack's race ended with a Goodyear-smoking slide through the chaos surrounding Roger McClusky's wreckage at Turn 3. Jack came into the pits with square tires, some down to the canvas, and took on fresh rubber as is mandatory at the Speedway. He went back into the bunched field creeping round under the yellow and being herded through Turn 3 on the grass to dodge the safety workers cleaning up the muck on the track. When the green came on, Jack turned the wick up and passed several cars but then the fire went out and he pitted with number one piston in pieces. Bobby Unser also went sad in the down paced yellow running while he headed the pack which also included brother Al and hot-to-charge A.J. Foyt nigh on a lap down and unable to improve because the Unser family had him surrounded. Bobby's engine lost manifold pressure and he trickled round to the finish with what was then a 2.4-liter normally aspirated Ford V-8. Foyt dived out of the pack on the green, unlapped himself and set out to try and catch Al but then the Coyote's 2-speed box had a seizure and the top cog went up the slot. This left SuperTex in low running that TurboFord mutha just as high as it would go. Eleven-four made the Ford really wail as he crept along below the pit wall. It finally expired and AJ was given 10th place three laps down on the leaders.
The Foyt crew had done quite a job getting four cars in the lineup, but when it came to pit work on the boss's car they weren't so razor sharp. Fighting fractions of seconds on the track in his pursuit of Unser, AJ arrived for his pit stop to find the lot so cluttered with Coyotes that he couldn't find a place to park. He made another hurried lap by which time a space had been cleared. In his haste to get out on the last pit stop he departed before the last wheel jack had been removed. When the power came on, the wheel dropped to the road flinging the jack over the wheel and coming close to beaning Mr. Foyt.
Donohue came in second with the immaculate Sunoco Lola. Penske certainly does the job right. I think he plans on winning next year. He has to keep that Lear in the air and pay for the groceries somehow, although I believe American Motors have taken care of that for the next few years.
Mario didn't star. The McNamara started out just fine, but after four or five laps the handling went sour and by his own admission in the papers the next morning he was an accident looking for a place to happen. Oddly enough Mario took to the grass in the place where the accident did happen and clanked over something that rectified the handling problems.
It was a bad year for road racers, except for Donohue and Gurney. Bruce McLaren had made up his mind beforehand that he wasn't going to drive anyway, Denny Hulme fell victim to nasty fuel burns on his hands when a breather cap snapped open during practice and he watched the race with bandaged hands, while Chris Amon called his attack off after (a) seeing the extent of Denny's burns, (b) seeing Bobby Unser run four laps in the Amon McLaren for a pair at 166 when the best Chris had managed all month was 163, and (c) he was generally unhappy with the whole operation. He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it, so he went home. Hulme tried to persuade him to at least have a try at qualifying but Amon left Denny's hospital room saying, "no way I'm going out there again. If I do, I'll probably wind up in the room next to you." We pondered on the chances of them getting a twin room if this should happen.
Denis Hulme and friend. Hulme was a spectator this year after suffering burned hands as a result of fire in his McLaren-Offy.
