My thoughts exactly...

Some incredible history posted in this thread....Thanks for sharing!!!

great photos , thanks for posting

The mysterious time capsule that went missing... Literally NOBODY at IMS or anywhere else for that matter knows where this item disappeared to. It was scheduled for opening in 2017 and we started asking about it already in 2015...

I would have a hard time letting that car go if I owned it. Just amazing history.

There seems to be a little confusion on my part. Hopefully someone can clarify.

1. Why was it necessary to swap out the tires? Did the originals wear out or not meet requirements?

2. Why would the spare be changed also?

3. Did I misunderstand or miss something along the way?

Great history and car!! I'm sure it's tough to let it go!

possibly had something to do with a sponsorship deal with Firestone or ad campaign that they wanted to do.

It is all theories at this point.

What is known is that the engineering build order should have stated the change but did not.

The pace car activity book (which survives today) specified Dave Welday as the individual responsible for all at track modifications on the pace cars. Since Dave did not recall authorizing a tire change he concluded that the tires must have been cosmetically marked because the tire reps from both Goodyear and Firestone were image conscious and blemished tires were being identified after arrival at the track.

Nobody reached the conclusion that there would be a deviation in complete tire specification, yet here we are. The whole set including the spare.

My theory at this point is that the original tires were examined for wear prior to the actual race and somebody at Firestone convinced GM that the original firestones needed to be changed for "safety". The new Larger gold letter tires were then prepped by the racing division in Akron, and express transported by Firestone to Firestone to Speedway Indiana for the swap.

Here is a Replica staged at the gate with what is believed to be a cosmetic Blem identified by the on site Goodyear reps. This car is equipped with Goodyear speedways. You can tell by the position of the red stripe on the sidewall.

"X" Marks the Blem.

As an aside - here is my set of NOS Speedways being nitrogen mounted 14 years ago.

Factoid: You cannot judge a reproduction tire by the stripe placement. The reproduction Wide oval offered today is cosmetically incorrect because it uses a Goodyear stripe dimension on the sidewall and is embossed as a Firestone wide oval.

Detail view on an original Firestone Wide Oval D:

----I have been wrong before so won't be embarrased. I have to ask if this particular Firestone is a retread. I remember these Firestone tires so well back before the stripe was moved inward and I don't think I have ever seen the edge so scalloped. The pictures up close in this thread don't show what is shown on the pictured tire. I will trust what ever you may comment!....Bill S

More Dave Welday, Chevrolet ZONE, and Norwood Trivia: The Pace Car program in 1967 was a local Indianapolis Zone under taking that was backed, in full, by the Central Office.

According to the surviving Zone managers and Norwood Management Blue top was the appearance that Chevrolet Officials actually wanted the Pace Car to look like and there was political pressure involved and friction between IMS and Chevrolet in advance of the race.

Anton Tony Hulman of IMS strictly specified "white cars with white tops" and then after pressure to accept Blue toppers by Chevrolet- Hulman got mad and then pushed back politically He visited Norwood to see the cars being built and further required Chevrolet to pre-deliver two pace car replicas to IMS one full week in advance of the scheduled delivery of the remaining Zone 25 Norwood Built commitment fleet to IMS - all for simple cosmetic approval by Hulman at the track.

Norwood Plant Manager Herb Leitz personally represented Chevrolet at the pre-delivery meeting at IMS.

The Leitz recollection is corroborated by the NICB reports on the commitment fleet indicating that indeed two replica's were released a week ahead of the remaining commitment fleet. These were the cars driven to the speedway for the meeting with Hulman. (Good news: Both of these cars survive today and are enthusiast owned)

Chevrolet then pushed back on the Hulman decree and decided to have it their way with blue top replicas at IMS. These cars made an appearance with Zone managers and Chevrolet Brass driving in the Blue Toppers to the track just prior to the race.

So based upon interviews of Zone personnel, and Management, including the Norwood Plant Manager, - there should be a total of 10 Blue Top Camaro Super Sports used by the 10 Top Indy Metro Area Zone Managers and another batch of 7 or 8 Blue Top Pace Car Replicas that were used for the visiting Brass from Chevrolet Central Office.

Below:

Hulman at Norwood

Indy Manager David Welday with his blue top at IMS with his "Official blue Vest" on.

Ground zero for these last minute shenanigans appears to be Indianapolis dealer Bill Kuhn.

Finally Herb Leitz who was extensively interviewed prior to his passing.

Look how gray that rally appears; not the bright metallic argent that we are painting them today.

K

Plus some guy from Texas at the wheel.

K

Foyt's previous wins were in 1961 and 1964.

I was born in '61; my sister in '64.

Let's just say my parents were kinda nervous when he won again in '67.

K

I wondered that myself. This tire is on flea bay now and I grabbed these images simply to show the correct stripe orientation just to save time digging through my images.

Yeah, that looks like a recap. Good eyes you have!:beers:

I have to add - what a great thread, great photos, and great car.

Sure brings back some good memories of the halcyon days at the Speedway. When men were men and racers were bold (but not old).

K

Primer Wheel from the factory?

I don't mean to go too far afield, but two more random thoughts and I'll quit:

Mr Estes was a very popular leader, even at the time and even among young people.

When I was at GMI I was in the room of a young lady and she had a photo on her bookshelf.

"Wow" I said. "Your dad looks a lot like Pete Estes".

"That IS Pete" she said.

At one point both my Dad and I worked directly for Herb Leitz. Dad was in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and I was in the Engineering Assembly Liaison group.

Mr Leitz had created a new position to place assembly plant personnel in the engineering environment in order to provide up front manufacturing input into the design process. I was only the second person ever to occupy that position.

When I transitioned from Chevrolet Flint Assembly to Chevrolet (truck) Engineering I kept the same title, same phone and same desk at Engineering. The only change was that my paychecks started coming from engineering rather than the assembly plant.

K

I called Pete Estes widow 12 years ago to request an interview.... boy o boy that was a mistake.

She made it hurt...:blush:

Foyt for sure!

----Pete had a summer home on the Saint Clair river in East China MI. about 4 houses north of our old house. He supposedly really enjoyed the area. The Estes had moved on by the time we lived there.....Bill S

Thanks much for the follow up! It gives me a better understanding and appreciation!

Foyt driving

His name was “Hulman” not “Holman” and he owned IMS.

Fantastic. I had no idea of some you guys would enjoy this history so much. I will be super picky on the spelling of the names from here on out since some are examining all the "details" and that's good because it keeps me on my toes.

His proper name is Anton “Tony” Hulman, Jr. From here on that's what I will call him in this thread, because that is what he liked to be called when he was alive.

Here is one of MANY images of Tony we have. Enjoy!

The image above was staged from this set arrangement:

........

Neat!

Charley is the man!

Block stampings...

Rear end.

The rear end pic shows the work order #.
under it the 3.07 gear ratio that was crossed out with a chisel.
under it the 3.31 gear ratio used.

My friend owns the L78 engine out of the "third" Indy pace car although by VIN it is between Charley's old car and the other known one. NCRS report for all three VINs was identical, Indianapolis Zone.

Wonder whatever became of the car Foyt DID take?

It was an 0-1 June build with the group that went to Canada to support Mosport.

According to people who asked him about the car, He gave it to his maid, and her boyfriend used the car to complete some armed robberies.

The trail goes cold after that although several different people have claimed over the years to own the car.

Maybe its been answered somewhere here already but why did they de-convert the 396/375 hp version to the 325 hp version?

I think for reliability. Chevy would look like egg in there face if the solid lifter L78 dropped a valve leading the race cars .

Yes. They sourced engines from other cars and build kind of L34-L35 Hybrids. The work order even says the cars to get them from.

This documentation is incredible!!! Thank you for posting. As many have said, this information is fascinating.:headbang:

How about some more trivia...

Here are images from the Commitment fleet track photo set, this is the drive by montage:

Photos show the side pinstripe termination points on car #11

Here is the assembly line human touch on display: